Happy [Belated] Thanksgiving!

Yesterday, we went to ESJ Towers and celebrated our own Thanksgiving. It was nice; all of us together!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Getting the brownies out of the oven:
Our homemade dinner:Mmm, dessert! It's not pumpkin pie... but I'd been wanting brownies (and ice cream! Yum!)!

I hope wherever you celebrated and whoever you celebrated with, your Thanksgiving was full of thanks and good food!

Finally...

As I was looking back through previous posts, I realized that I never posted to show the completed work of my store window-front paintings (post titled Sneak Peak).

A little bit about the job:

I work at an educational supplements store, Creative Curriculum. We had just moved to a new location and my boss asked if I would be interested in painting our name on the window. I did, of course! I painted some kids (similar to a product we carry, Stick Kids by Creative Teaching Press), our company name, and our hours of operation. Here are some final pictures... only a few months late! :)

Left of the doors:
Close-up of lettering:
Right of the doors (the kids):
Here's the other job --

I was asked to paint a window front for a karate/church/massage clinic with quite a few words. The work was very extensive and tedious as lettering is more difficult than pictures. There were five windows all together: two doors, and three large windows. But as always, I was up for the challenge.

The doors:
Window 1:
Window 2:
Window 3:
The whole window front:

I had a lot of fun working on these pieces! I hope this post is an inspiration for something great!

Old San Juan

We just got back from Old San Juan. We've rented a car for the weekend so we can travel around the island. Today- Old San Juan, tomorrow- Ponce, and Sunday- El Yunque (the Rainforest).

Old San Juan is BEAUTIFUL! Some of the pictures I took look more like postcards! I am astonished at the beauty of nature here! It is definitely peaceful (aside from the sirens, loud speakers, cars, and buses, of course!). Enjoy these photos:

Fort San Cristobal in Old San Juan:Mmm, also there is a Food Festival in OSJ this weekend; all the local restaurants were offering samples and discounts. We stopped by the Starbucks hut and got a Fall Apple Bar (very yummy!) and a tall Iced Passionfruit Lemonade (very yummy also!) for only $1 a piece. Mmm...

I'll take more pictures tomorrow and try to upload when we get back :)

Beautiful Bliss!

Well, we've made it through our first full week here in Puerto Rico! Here are some pictures so far!

This is Escambron Beach. It is beautiful and only 20 minutes from the dorm.

This is the school where I am teaching:
The five of us at El Ocho Blanco (a restaurant by the dorm):

Adios!

Well, in 24 hours I will be in Puerto Rico! I leave at 7:00am and get to San Juan at 8:22pm. [What a long day!] I am excited to create and experience such an exciting opportunity! I am going to miss my family and friends very very much. I will be posting pictures and such from the trip (or trying to, at least). If not, I get back December 9th and will catch you up then :)

Adios! Hasta Luego!!

Panther Consession Stand

Ever since I can remember, we'd had an old, shabby building for a concession stand (slash equipment storage) at the soccer field by the high school. During soccer games, no one even knew what the building was and concession sales were down substantially. Well, last year (2007), my mom asked if I could help her spruce it up! I told her yes and began designing. After some hot, hot summer days, a few gallons of paint, and permission from the school board, we got the concession stand in tip-top shape. Below are some pictures that were taken this summer (2008, and yes-- the grass needs cut!).

The side (seen from the bleachers):
The front (seen from the field and road, the window and door were open):The panther head in the middle:

More Senior Pictures!

I have been so busy! Between starting student teaching, lesson plans, working, my exercise routine (Thanks Meghan!) and the rest of my life, I've realized that I have no time to edit the pictures that I take, or be creative for that matter!

Fortunately, today I had some extra time and I edited some of Kyle's pictures. We have his yearbook pic to go yet also because... well... he is bald at the moment... had to cut off all his hair due to a clipper mishap...

I used Photoshop to edit this photo. There was a man walking the track in the background. I used an antiquing action to darken the photo and a shadow edge to frame.

Will be posting more soon :)