Buddha Belly Weekend

Left work early Friday, hit by massive bad both-end eruptions, food poisoning from a seriously scary chicken burrito. Threw up violently the next 7 hours. Got up Saturday morning wondering if I'd be able to make it, picking up My Lovely Mother, running a few errands then heading out to The Ranch (Cam, Chris and Ciera's) ... but I did, I shook it off, told myself it was lack of sleep. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck, though. We ran our errands, drove out to their side of town, stopped in Joann's where I FINALLY managed to find an assortment of both yellow and black papers, then we went to The Ranch, and I turned into a couch slug for the remainder of the day. GEEZ!!! How to Waste A Saturday, 101!!! Very annoying. I had wanted to go in Ciera's room and rock on her WII guitar again! However, The Ranch has such a contagiously HAPPY atmosphere that after a nap, then a great night's sleep, I woke up this morning back to myself again! Here are some cool things from the weekend. (The written journal backgrounds happened Thursday evening, though.) Birdsongs. Magazine images, all. Punched heart, leftover from something else. Vintage postcard scan. Child images, top right, bottom left, from The Tuscan Rose. Crow from Ten Two Studios. Clocks from The Tuscan Rose. Paper scraps and acrylic paint. I know I recommend a lot of music on this blog. And I stand by each and every recommendation. AND THIS CD exceeds each one of the others, to-date, by far. Lyrics that I want to break down, line by line, and do a journal page to. Music that goes so far inside me I feel like a landscape turned inside out. Serene, rich voice. THIS is the lid of a tin I bought for Miss Veronica -- hee! She doesn't get it, though, until I've thought of something cool to surprise her with on the inside. This is the lid of a tin I bought, which made me burst into tears at Joann's -- how much much much I miss the seasons! [Clearly, it's a lot, and sometimes it takes me completely by surprise, like bawling in an aisle over a tin!] And cardinals and holly represent winter to me, my east coast childhood memories, wow. My Lovely Mother bought me a large square tin with the same pattern, and I bought this to hold some of my Special Pens. Finally, does anyone else have this magazine yet? And did anyone else ABSOLUTELY FLIP OUT OVER Shelley Haganman's upholstery fabric album on page 24? And Robin Marie Smith's Urban Journal on page 33? Then Kristen Robinson's The History of my Grandmothers cards on page 18? And let's not forget Nancy Gene Armstrongs' Capture the Moment cards on page 28. (No, I don't tend to read my magazines from front to back -- I'm all over the place.) Between the fabric album and the urban journal, I finally know what I want to do with all the MuthaCam photos I've taken and loved and stuffed into a box. YAY! I'm sure it's not cool protocol for me to scan any of these articles since they'd prefer you buy the magazine, which is 1 million percent worth the price. Eesh! Blimey! Shite! My brain truly can't contain that level of inspiration from ONE article, let alone 4 and more!

And Friday, in the mail, I received my order from The Artistic Outpost - a stamp plate I've been eyeballin' and lovin' for a while now called Chinese Proverbs ... Now, Miss V just doesn't respond to Asian-themed stamps. Me, I'm crazy about 'em. I have a dear dear friend in England who also loves geishas and Asian images, so I enjoy making cards and various things for him. This plate will go a long way toward that!

Hence the sensation of Buddha Belly -- full, satiated, happy, content, and also excited.