Who's that blogger?

You've probably forgotten all about me by now. It's been over 3 months since I've blogged. :/

Quick update:

I lost my job at the school. I was upset about it at first, worried about my children...wondering if they will make it without a "safe person/room" to go to. I still worry about the kiddos, but i'm not upset anymore. I am LOVING just being a bus driver again!! This is the start of my 21st school year driving a bus. O, and the best part, I was one of the lucky few who received one with air conditioning!!


I spent the summer worried sick about my two daughter's traveling all over Europe. They visited 9 countries in all. Here are a few pictures from their adventures.

Spain

Portugal



Belgium

Barefoot Park in Germany (therapeutic 3 hour walk)

They both agreed that Portugal was the most beautiful place on Earth. I want to visit now.

The girls were home for most of August. They have both moved out again. Tori back to Conway, in her own apartment, for her last year in college. Meg moved to Texas where she is tutoring after school and is thinking about going back to college to get her degree in Bi-lingual Speech Pathology.

So, we are empty-nesters...again!

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Student Competitive Art Show

This past week was the 2011 Student Competitive Art Show at UCA. My baby girl, Tori, is a junior there. She entered 3 pieces and 2 were selected to be in the show. There were a total of 227 pieces entered....the largest one UCA has seen....only 57 were selected to be in show and compete.

The awards are: 4 honorable mention - 3 Awards of Excellence & 1 grand prize. The awards of excellence received $100 & grand received $500.

Tori learned early in the week that her installation was up for an award! John was home when she got the call and he said she was jumping up and down with excitement!

Out of 57 pieces....only 8 awards....Tori was the second to last called...talk about me holding my breath....she won an Award of Excellence!!

Her piece she did is very touching. It represents her memories of my Dad (he passed in 2006) and of my mother....her memories of their home....where she spent a lot of her childhood.
Here she is explaining the art work to Grandma . She is pointing to the book that happens to be my favorite.

This one! That's my parents wedding photo and that was my Dad's tie.
Here is a close up of the left side of the book.

One of his many, many hospital wrist bands. He always gave Tori his bands. Also, the blue shirt in the background was his favorite shirt.

It's hard to see it, but in the middle circle are the actual staples from one of his last surgeries.

Another piece of his favorite blue shirt.

This one is empty. I'm not sure why she left it empty. But everyone looks at art differently, right?! So, when I look at this I think of my Dad being gone...part of us is empty because he isn't with us anymore.

The artist with her work. I am SO proud of her and all of her accomplishments!! It was an honor just to be selected to be in the student competitive show, but to WIN was even sweeter!!!!

She also won 1st place in a show the week before. She has yet to get that drawing back. When she does you can bet I'll blog about it!

21 years

Our baby girl, Tori, turned 21 on October 16th.
It's quite weird that our children are both legal adults now. It seems so surreal.


Here she is opening up her birthday card from her daddy & me. That's my futile attempt at drawing a bird. (Tori calls me momma bird & I call her bebe bird)

She seemed confused when she was looking at the gift inside...it was an airplane ticket from Little Rock to Spain.
Silly girl thought it was real for a moment (it was dark in the restaurant) She was thinking OMG! You bought me a ticket...Um, I haven't picked the days yet....
We are buying her round trip ticket to Spain so she can visit her sister this summer for a month. They will be backpacking around Europe! Look at that smile...I think she liked her gift!

Tori didn't order a drink on her 21st (she actually was feeling a bit under the weather) but Bonefish gave her a box of chocolates!

We went back to Grandma's house and had birthday cake.

I wonder what she wished for?!

Daddy & his baby monkey!

Momma & her bebe bird!

Grandma & Tori!!!

Nick, Tori, Me, & John

It was a great night. But honestly, if felt weird not having Meg there to celebrate with us. I know it was hard on Tori. My girls are best friends, they are twin souls.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Tori!

Third Hand Thrift

My daughter Tori & her love, Nick, have opened an Etsy shop. They sell vintage clothing, shoes, jewelry & miscellaneous items.

Become a follower of their blog
---Third Hand Thrift----
you will find the link to the Etsy shop on the right hand side of the blog. Check it out....you just might find something you've been looking for.

Spread the word----especially if you know someone who loves vintage clothing.