Beach for a Massage Studio

After photo of a walk down to the ocean (East Coast), a barter job for a massage studio.  The before:

Paint changes everything about a room!  Does the base color make a difference?  Yes, especially if the other 3 walls are that color.  I think it is important to tie everything together and to make sure it looks good with the flooring.  You can's see the carpet in these photos, but know that it meshes well with the blues and grays in this ocean scene.  The sand and sky have a lot of the base color showing through, washes on top layers.

This is a Good Place

Thanks to a friend at John's work, we stayed in a sweet little condo in Dewey.  Deserted off-season beach, beautiful full moon over the calm water, sunrise from a warm upstairs room looking out at the ocean.  Very relaxing and nice to get a weekend date, just us.  Cream of crab soup, crabs, lots of cheese.  Crayon drawing on the table waiting for crabs.  And 3 different thrift store shopping for sister missionary clothes for Suzanna!  (Wearing my altered tiger-t-shirt cut in half and sewn onto a sweat shirt front=easy project.)

Another place to add to the Max's ashes memorial.  Good place to remember him, honor him, tell him how we are feeling, how much we miss him.

Blue Turquoise

Magnificent colors.

Art on Every Floor of This Home!

Do you know where in the world this is?  Is it recognizable?  I spent 6 hours painting this scene...

I love to see the finished mural with furniture in place!

Before:  Downstairs Powder Room.  Dark Marine Blue on far wall, beige wall opposite toilet & sink.  This is the view when you walk in (with my chalk mark calculations in place).

Notice the circle doorstop?  Sometimes it makes best sense to paint right over things and make them invisible.

After:  Tulum, Mexico, Mayan ruins near the ocean.  This family's heritage is south of the border, and they wanted something to tie in with the pool in their backyard.

View from the door as you walk in.  Not so claustrophobic as it was!

Fun couple of days painting!

Couple Photos #3

Through Earthquake & Hurricane...

Right before 2 pm on TUESDAY we started getting frantic calls from John (still at work.  He took train down on Thursday to join us).  My cell phone, then Suzu's would ring, and then immediately disconnect.  Crazy texts "WHERE ARE YOU?"  I was driving, three children in the car, just passing Fredricksburg, so Suzanna answered him on both of our phones, reassuring him.  He wanted to know if we felt the earthquake, if we were safe?  Didn't even notice it, honestly.  Traffic had been great all the way down to Virginia Beach.  Where we were planning on staying over the weekend.  Mandatory evacuation brought us home three days early. 

 

Do you see where the children are jumping the waves?  I missed the dolphins swimming mere yards from them, but you can see in the next picture how close they were to where the waves were breaking, that blog there on left is not Nessie.  We saw the dolphins jumping out of the water, dozens and dozens of them Friday morning before the life guards kicked us out for dangerous riptides before the approaching hurricane...we obeyed the evacuation and are home safely.

A seagull picture for my mom.  Glad they are safe.  Irene passed them by before the storm gathered much power.

A Day Trip to Dewey, DE

Family @Dewey Beach

Roxie was ecstatic to get these...
So she could play here! Crowded day, but we had perfect traffic on the way down. The van's air conditioning conked out, and the wheel needed air by the time we got down to the Ocean and noticed. But we made it there and back, with no fire!



All the kids went to the midnight showing of Harry. Today Suzu was avidly reading it all again.
Sam is wearing the UV protection shirt and swim trunks Max wore last summer. Little loose, but not by much.

While we were there we watched an extended family: obvious grandma (the adult daughters were calling her "Mom" and the little kids, "Grandma!") four sisters, two brothers, a sister in-law, brothers in-law. It took us awhile of watching to figure out how the couples were linked together (kisses give it away!) Lots of little kids. One of sisters very pregnant. MODEST swimsuits. No tattoos. No beach beer. No swearing. Clean-cut haircuts (one weekend bearded young daddy). Happy. Kind to each other. Full of light. Cousins playing together. Accidentally calling an aunt mom, because she looked like their mom.

I love seeing big families, the physical resemblances, the way sisters/mom will stand next to each other and you can see they obviously belong to each other--leg shape, posture, coloring.

But our big question, "Do you think they are Mormons?" Do we stand out like that? This is with a crowded beach full of bikini beach bunnies, wild groups of people having fun...

What would you have thought?

Right before we left, I went and asked the grandma. I complimented her on her beautiful family, said we had enjoyed watching her grandchildren play kindly together, and figuring out how the families were related. Paige was flattered, explained why her husband wasn't there (I was glad Grandpa was still alive!), and quizzed me on which were her children, which were "out-laws" and married in. And then I asked it, "Are you Mormons?" "No, just irresistible!" She said they have been asked that before, but this was the first time another Mormon had asked her. I listed the things I had noticed, the reasons I knew they were a good Christian family. While growing up they lived next door to a Mormon family that had moved away, and they really missed them.

Good talk. Her pregnant daughter came and talked with us for awhile. I told her how beautiful she looks and one of my favorite quotes from my mom: "The best gift you can give your children is siblings!"

Paige asked about my children. I told her about Elder Landbeck serving, where we are from, why Church is important to our family and why living a Christian life matters.

She said I had made her day. She made mine!

Outdoor Pirates

Poolside mural! (I am so sunburned.) End result.
Before, bare cement retaining wall. Client is building a hot tub in front of back window, and wanted to continue beach theme.
During, with turquoise primer.

After, with polyurethane topcoat of protection.

Beach on Broadway

Picture this: 4:30 pm, our house. Paint up and down my arms, on my neck. I had forgotten to take a lunch to work. Very hungry. John whisks me to our favorite Chinese buffet for an early sushi plus dinner, tells our children to please eat leftovers. I still had on my scary paint clothes from finishing up this project, but was too hungry to care. Of course we run into someone we know...I should have at least brushed my hair!

As you walk into this teenage girl's room, this is what you see:

Turning towards the closet doors to the right:


And behind you (notice the ocean waves in reflected in the shell mirror!)


Downstairs, same house, in the big family room (re-modeled extension off of original kitchen--I love this room!). Goal was to be subtle, make the saying look as if it were carved right into the wall. "Priory" is name of font. Used base coat color and added Payne's Grey for shadows and basecoat plus Titanium White.