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

Happy New Year!

I spent my New  Year's Eve with six very entertaining men!  We ate, drank, sang karaoke, played air hockey, and even invaded the local bars in Mount Vernon.  Wooh- to all the ladies that left early, or stayed home, you missed out an entertaining evening!

My New Year's resolution is to spend more time with such highly entertaining people!!!!

Family Time in Wisconsin

We spent Christmas in Wisconsin up at my parents lake house.  Here are a few great sledding shots!  After a wonderful evening of appetizers, gifts, and games,  we all went to the Great Wolfe Lodge for some serious water slide action.  Out of respect for everyone's pasty white bodies, I left my camera in the hotel room, so no water park photos.   We had an excellent time but we were pretty sore from sledding then climbing all the water park stairs.  Jeremy and I had a great time!

sledding time!

Everyone was very impressed by Jeremy's skill ( or attempt to be skilled at) snowboard-sledding!  He was more successful as a part of the sled train!  It was a little cold but it was  perfect hill for sledding! 

Oh thank you Vacation!

Oh how I have missed time to make things and just hangin' out this semester!  This week, I have been enjoying this week cooking, creating, relaxing, and catching up with friends and family.  Jason came over Friday and helped me figure out how to make these great oil cloth place mats I have been wanting to make for a while.  The first one was quite a challenge but after that we seemed to get the hang of it.


Cookie Time!!!

We took some time out to make ginger bread men with Sophie and Marissa on Sunday after their church program.  Here are some of the highlights of decorating....

Decorating the walls...

Here are a few fun projects I have been working on to decorate my mom's house and Jeremy's little sister's new room! 

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Jeremy and I are the same age today!  He's off to school in the freshly fallen snow- the first snow of the winter this week!  Everything looks beautiful. 
We had a great weekend celebrating Jeremy's birthday.  Bowling and birthday cake with Jeremy's family on Friday night.  I cooked a big breakfast on Saturday and then we went shopping to get Jeremy some new clothes.  Sunday we went to our favorite Sushi house and to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was great to finally see!

 

Happy 34th Birthday Jeremy!!!!

MA students present their theses

My MA students at UNI presented their theses on Tuesday in preparation to graduate in December.  They each presented their papers along with displaying art from their project or studies at UNI.  It was a fantastic exhibit filled with student work from my MA students' classrooms as well their own personal work too.  I am looking forward to attending my first commencement at UNI on the 19th. When I taught elementary school, I never really got to see the students all the way through so this is an exciting experience for me too.  I will also have seven undergraduate art ed majors that will be graduating this month.  I feel like I have finally gottten used to my new position! As this semester ends this week, I am sad because I think this was my best one so far but I am excited to start planning for my next one.

Happy End of the Semester to all you college students and professors out there!!!

UNI Faculty Show

 

Here is a quick picture of the piece I submitted to the Faculty Art Show.  My piece is called Post- Traditional. It is made of envelopes sewn together and four wax encaustic boxes collaged with ephemera. It focuses on nostalgia and is about the lost traditions in personal communication. The show will be up from November 2-30th in the UNI art gallery on campus.

Happy Halloween!

Here are some Zombies from last weekend's festivities in Baraboo.  Great costumes! 
Tonight Jeremy and I and 11 friends are going out for drinks and pizza at a swanky lounge in Cedar Rapids before we head off to the Frightmare Forest for some fun.... We have never been there before but it's some sort of a haunted attraction with a trail that winds through over 5 acres of forest. We are excited!!


Thought I'd share our pumpkin carving skills again this year. Jeremy really outdid me this year with his saggy drunken pumpkin face.  Is it is a self-portrait of  his future-self as we begin our big night of festivities???

Zombies in Wisconsin????

Jeremy and I stumbled upon a fun event this weekend! Thrill The World is an annual worldwide simultaneous dance of Michael Jackson's “Thriller.” The event is held every year (since 2006) to raise money for local charities. We were in Baraboo, WI shopping while staying at my parent’s lake house when we saw the advertisement. We decided not to participate since we had not packed our zombie gear for the weekend trip. Here is a link to it to check out. The folks in Baraboo were working hard to help break the Guinness Book of World Records on the number of zombies simultaneously dancing. They were raising money for their local food pantry. Rumor has it that Opah will feature this event so the crowd was buzzing!
We had a great time seeing whole families dressed up as zombies, dogs dressed up and tiny little 3-year-old zombie princesses and zombie brides. The whole event took place in the downtown square in front of the courthouse, which had a great atmosphere! Way to go Baraboo! Not only does this place have a circus museum, great shopping, and a good Frisbee golf course, but also a whole crowd of cool zombies too! Here is a video of the zombies in Baraboo to check out if you want! I will post pictures later when I have more time!
Happy Halloween!!!

A new farm in town...

Bass Farms opened up outside of Mount Vernon this summer and Jeremy and I finally got around to checking it out. It's a fabulous place to visit. Right now they have the most beautiful pumpkins!  They seemed extra bright and round this year.  We had a terrible time deciding on which two to take home.  Bass farms is run by a former Prairie graduate and sells fresh organic fruits and vegetables, pumpkins, and crafty cute items.  Check it out!