Sunday, January 18, 2009

BONJOUR!


Yes, believe it or not I am in Paris!!! I have taken 5 students on an art field trip. I'm not nuts.....I have 6 other adults with me! I have logged onto a computer at our hotel and trying to figure out where some of the keys are.....So, bare with me if there are mistakes! And...........it has been an extremely long 24 hours with little or no sleep. We lost 7 hours on the way over here!
Here's how it all began....We left our local airport around 10:20AM (CDT). We arrived in Atlanta with no major drama. We left Atlanta for a loooong flight to Paris. About an hour into the flight the pilot announces that there's a medical emergency on board and if there is a doctor or nurse on board to please identify themselves. Well, out of over 200 passengers there's no doctor on board. 2 of the moms traveling with us are nurses-- Now these 2 just happen to be a little nervous about the flight anyway, so we were all laughing that they are the only medical professionals on the plane. But, their professionalism truly showed as they both were escorted to first class to assist the passenger. It seems that the man was a diabetic and was having complications from that and a stroke. He just also happened to be from our home state. After they get him stabilized, they were able to return to their seats. The flight crew was extremely gracious to them....thanking them numerous times, bringing their kids ice cream, and giving them travel packs, etc. Unfortunately, before we landed one of the nurses was called back to first class to again assist the passenger. We now think he was having TIAs or small strokes. As we arrived at the gate, paramedics boarded the plane and were ready to take him to a hospital. The pilot and other crew once again thanked the nurses and took some information from their tickets. My guess is that she will once again be thanked from Delta.
Now for the flight.....bumpy, bumpy landing!! It was raining pretty hard when we arrived and the wind was pretty bad. Let's all pray for a better landing on the route to Rome and thenhome!!
We arrived in Paris an hour earlier than expected (5:00AM)....thanks to those tailwinds! It was dark and we were surprised that the sun doesn't rise here until almost 8:00. The ride from the hotel was very pleasant. The hotel was kind enough to let us check in early. The rooms are SMALL, but that's normal for Europe. The hotel is right next to the train station which is cool.
So, what did we do with little or no sleep in the last 24 hours?.....We hit the road! We ventured out to the Eiffel Tower! Yes, we all went up to the 2nd level. It was pretty cool considering I'm afraid of heights! We have learned how to use the Metro---which is their subway system. It's also pretty cool. After the Eiffel Tower we had lunch in a sidewalk cafe....pizza and pasta. After that we headed to Notre Dame Cathedral....That was AMAZING!! The steward on the plane told us there would be a High Mass at 4:00, so we were all going to attend. It wasn't ...we think it's at 6:00. We still walked through the Cathedral......ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. We have walked all along the Seine River today. I have TONS of pictures that I would love to download on here, but I don't know how from here. I will download plenty when I get home.
For those of you that I gave this blog address to, be sure to leave a message and I will try to respond back tomorrow. Someone be sure to tell Mama that I miss calling her!! I started to call, but was afraid she wouldn't recognize the number.
Also a few other notes..... Thanks for all the prayers....they are surely felt as today was suppose to be a rainy , windy day. Instead, the sun has shown most of the day and it's rained only when we were inside eating lunch. It's been windy, but tolerable--except at the top of the Eiffel Tower!
I will try to update again tomorrow,
Take care and thanks again for the prayers!
Also, here's something that's funny that Mary and Sharon will recognize.....The steward on the plane was originally from Bordenlonville (sp?). He is also cousins with the Coco's that lived next to Aunt Dee. How bizerk is that?!?!?
Well, as you can expect we are all exhausted. All are up in the rooms "refreshing", so I'm headed that way. By the way, it's 5:20PM here!!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Another "Painting A Day"

It's been an extremely busy week, but I did manage to get at least one P.A.D. completed! I will be updating the blog in the next few days about the exciting project that I am currently involved with!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Painting A Day


Here's another "Painting A Day"---- although, I have to confess, this one was done about a month ago. I have been super busy this last week and haven't had time to paint. I have a really awesome adventure coming up soon that has totally consumed most of my time lately. I will share more details of this adventure in about 2 weeks. It's really awesome, but involves a lot of work!!

Monday, January 5, 2009

First Day Back To School


Today was our first day back to school after the holiday.....BUSY, COLD, and RAINY!

This cupcake is my "P.A.D." ....Painting A Day. I try to take a break and paint something most days....of course it doesn't always happen everyday. Today was extremely busy, so it was a very welcomed break today!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The LAST Post of Christmas Trees!

This is going to be my last post of the Christmas trees!
They were all very fun to do. I always tell people that I paint or create to relieve stress.....well, I guess there was a lot of stress this year! HA! HA! Seriously, I can not complain.....it's been a good year and I'm very blessed! The truth of the matter is that I love doing this stuff. The trees were all a lot of fun and I enjoyed doing them. Now taking them all down was a whole 'nother story!!!

This first tree is my son's tree.
I painted the boat paddle with acrylics. It was actually used for a tree at our school board office for their "Trim A Tree Day" last year.




This is my daughter's tree. In the 3rd picture you can see a couple of the Nativity Ornaments that I explain a little further down.






This is my snowman tree. The canvas snowman ornament is an idea I got from my good friend who is also an art teacher (suayallendesigns). The tree topper is a snow shovel that I painted a couple of years ago for our "Trim A Tree Day" that our local school board hosts every year for the art students. The "peace" ornament is part of a set of Nativity Ornaments that I made for my trees. It's a neat idea that I saw in a gift shop. There's a set of 9 or 10 ornaments. On each ornament there is a different word (peace, baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, etc.) pertaining to the birth of Jesus. I thought it was a cool idea and a great way to have something on each tree that relates to the true meaning of Christmas.









I guess I would call this my "Traditional" tree. It's the tree that's in my living room and the only tree that I didn't make any of the ornaments. I've had all the ornaments for years. The birds' nest are probably 15+ years old. Somehow (!) I ended up with lots of angels on the tree. It wasn't something I purposely set out to do, but glad it turned out this way!



















Saturday, January 3, 2009

Sweets Tree

As requested, I'm going to try to post a few more pictures of my Christmas trees. This first tree is my "Sweets" tree. I made all the ornaments on the tree with the exception of the plastic candy canes and the peppermint topper. The topper is various plunkers that I bought at crafts stores. For some reason,I love making artificial sweet treats! :>)

After decorating the tree, I thought I needed some

Christmas cookies, so I made the Christmas tree cookies and added them.




The gingerbread men are a couple of years old. I made

the cupcakes and ice cream cones this summer.








I bought the rolling pins and spatulas at a hobby store.



Friday, January 2, 2009

More Christmas Tree Pictures













This picture is one that sits on an easel at my back door entrance during the summer months. My most favorite saying is "find the joy". Most all of my paintings at my back door have this saying somewhere on them. The saying sort of evolved from the movie "The Bucket List." I LOVE THAT MOVIE! I really think it's true that if you look, you can find a little joy in something every day.

Thursday, January 1, 2009


Here's my New Year's resolution....to finally take that first step to putting some of my art work on the internet! I'm still a little lost, but here goes...........
I'm an art teacher who loves to create. I teach Talented Art and have been very blessed to have such wonderful students to teach. I'm new to the blog thing! My good friend, who's also a Talented Art teacher, has a blog and shared the information with me.
I love cupcakes.....as you can see in the picture....and love looking at Bakerella's blog . She inspired me to buy a new camera for Christmas.....Canon Rebel XSI. Now if I can just learn how to use it! I've been practicing on my Christmas trees. I've already taken 400 - 500 pictures. I have several trees.....each with a different theme. Of course I have a beach tree (my most favorite place!), cupcake/sweets tree, snowman tree, angel/traditional tree, doll tree, and fish/wildlife tree in my son's room. Once I figure this out, I'll share more pictures.