REQUESTS...

There have been some requests from family and friends to post some particular photos...
Here is the new dining room table we acquired from Craig's list- thanks to my #1 step-dad who scoured Craig's list for weeks to find just the right one!  The flowers are from the Good family for my birthday- they arrived just in time to decorate the new table! Thanks everybody!

                              Here is the sneak preview of our new kitchen.... (still in progress!)

Home renovations have begun....

First the wall paper came down and then the curtains....
Currently I am sewing new curtains with some fabulous fabric from Home Ec
I loved the color so much that I went to Sherwin Williams and matched 2 gallons of paint! Take a good look at the peach and country blue, it is the last you will be seeing of it!  I am so excited to see it go away!
Next update will include paint and new curtains!!!

NAEA conference

Here are a few fun photos from my trip to Baltimore!  We went to the National Art Educators conference and I presented for the first time! 

We took some time to sight see and visit some pretty amazing art. My favorite place was the American Visionary Museum in Baltimore. I highly recommend that anyone going to Baltimore- this is a must see!!! I will admit that Rachel and I spent equal time in the museum as we did in the gift shop. 

We took a day and visited Washington DC- we walked so much, it put a day in NYC to shame!
Here are a few shots form our whirlwind tour....
Rachel holds hands with her favorite sculpture at the Hirshhorn Museum
I find my favorite sculpture in the National Gallery Sculpture Garden
Rachel insists we all see The White House even though it means we might miss our train-  we do miss it by the way but here I am in front of The White House!
Rachel and Rachael decide to become a piece of art- too much coffee that day perhaps!?

Next year NAEA is in Seattle!!!! woo hoo!!!

The End of the semester!

 Well the end of the semester arrived and I survived! 
I took my UNI students on a field trip to U of Iowa.  We went to the special collections and saw some fabulous artist books and some zines!  It was great! 

We met up with the art educators from U of I that we blogged with all semester!  It was great to put a face with a blog finally! 

Here we are in front of the zine machine at the Main Library on campus! 

Bowling Rocks

We are finally getting settled into our new house in Waterloo. We took some time to celebrate the  Easter weekend with  dollar draws and lunar bowling with some friends.  We had such a great time, we are thinking of starting up a couples bowling team.
I warned them all that I was once a "Gutter Girl"- a member of one of the most kick ass bowling teams ever...( well it was kick ass in Iowa City in the late 90's)

They were so impressed, I think they all wanted me to be captain. 

moving makes me feel like a zombie avatar....

So all I have done this week is pack!  We are moving into our new house tomorrow- yippee!  Thank you to everyone that is coming to help us move! 
Here are a few great shots from the claymation movie we are working on with some k-4 grade kids in art club.  It features some avatars that are eaten by zombies who are then creamed by a metior all in under two minutes! 
Movie premiere: Tuesday at 3:30 at Price Lab Elementary with snacks and drinks

Fun times in Mount Vernon

Jeremy and I are sitting here thinking about all the good times we had in our first home together. Here are some highlights of the 51/2 years in this sweet little house.

The kitties...... fostering 5 babies kittens that were found the play ground at the elemenatary school I was teaching at in Cedar Rapids.

Our great visits with Sophie and Marissa.Here we are at Palisades State Park enjoying the wildlife along the bank.

Sharing our gardening interests with Anna.  Enjoying Violet's golden years in the back yard.

Having lots of get togethers for yard games, karaoke, chili cook-offs, and baby showers with chocolate fountains!!

 Making lots of jewelry and other artsy projects while Jeremy cooked great meals from our great garden.

Enjoying the unique qualities of downtown Mount Vernon through Community Theater, Chalk the Walk, and the local establishments.

We'll miss you.  J&W

SOLD!!!

I guess I never thought our house would sell in 5 days or I may have waited to put it on the market until school was out for us. BUT... I didn't know this would happen so here we are moving to Cedar Falls/Waterloo area in less than a month! Holy cow, I can't believe it! We are very busy these days looking at houses, and trying to figure out how NOT to be homeless for a while!  Anyways- here is a house we are trying to buy. I will keep you all posted on what we end up with!  I guess things are not going to be slowing down any time soon. Spring break is next week and we will be packing!

Collections.

We are thinking of moving to Cedar Falls where The University of Northern Iowa is located- where my job is located.  It seems to be getting harder to commute all the time for both of us. The winter weather is not helping. We are very interested in a house in Cedar Falls and we are going to look at it this week again.  Because of this, we are very busy cleaning and giving our sweet little house a fresh coat of paint. Looking at all my possessions, and my many collections, Here are some highlights of my favorite collections that many of you have helped me build. 

Artsy fun!

I am enjoying teaching my art ed students this semester more than ever because I have been able to really incorporate my artistic interests into learning about contemporary art and lesson planning!  Here are a few shot from journal making and Artist Trading Cards about identity.

Next projects are: alter-ego paper dolls and then zines about Arts Advocacy!!!

looking for FUN...

Well if you live around my area,  check out Riverside Theatre's new production called "End Dayz".  Jeremy's drama class was invited to the dress rehearsal last night and I tagged along. It was fantastic! Imagine, an Elvis impersonator, Steven Hawking in a motorized wheel chair with his computer voice, Jesus as a main character along with an unhappy goth girl, and a crazy evangelist mom all on one stage!  Plus- a really great story to tie all these characters together.  (Well worth your time.)
Added bonus:
Mama's Deli brownies are sold there as well and they are out of this world! 

Busy weekend...

I took down the art show that I never even had a chance to advertise- sorry if you didn't get a chance to see it!  Jeremy and I are cleaning the house and de-cluttering as the folks on the HG TV say. We are going to put our sweet little house on the market this year... More news on that later!

We babysat Anna this weekend who seems to currently be obsessed with the Chipmunks.  Here are a few shot of how we helped her live out her fantasy of going to a Chipmunk concert.

Today I went to see the Lion King in Des Moines with my mom and sisters.  What a treat! Today was the last day it is showing in Des Moines but next it will be in Madison if you are interested.
Now it is back to the grind of school and work! Due to MLK day on Monday and bad weather on Wednesday, I have not started my classes at the University of Iowa yet. I am looking forward to a semester full of learning how to research. I am enrolled in Intro to Educational Research and Research in the Arts and Humanities.

Art Show

The graduate students in art education at The University of Iowa held an art exhibit this week to start off the new 2010 spring semester.  Here are some photos of our work at the Eve Drewlowe Gallery.

My Work

My newest pieces

Rachael's work

Buffy's work

Codi's work

Dan's work