a pleasant surprise

This morning when I left for work, our patio out back was as I had seen it last night-- lots of weeds around the concrete, maple tree "helicopters" all over the place and a generally unkempt appearance. Luke and I had discussed how we needed to work on it and make it more appealing and pleasant out there.:) When I got home from work, Luke had surpised me by weeding, sweeping the entire patio and laying mulch around the concrete. It was so sweet of him and now we can check it off of our long to-do list. With the warm weather we've been enjoying grilling out and eating outside and now the patio looks great and is a much more relaxing environment!

craigslist success

Craigslist is my new best friend.:) After the move we found that there were a few things we needed and craigslist has been a good go-to for some of those items. Granted, you don't hear back on about 50% of the emails you send, but when it actually works out, it's great.:) Since we got married most of our furniture has consisted of free items that we received to help get things started (a welcome blessing), so we decided it was time to replace a few of those items. One of the main things we wanted was a new couch and we were very pleased with the acquisition of this sectional. It's great for watching all those movies.:)

But my very favorite find has been our bikes. I had forgotten how much fun it is to ride a bike.:) And with the great walking/biking trail behind our complex we have a safe and pleasant place to ride. My brother helped us fix them up and we've been enjoying putting them to good use.
We also got a brand new bookshelf and a sweet chair for my studio. It's great to be able to get things for a good deal and to be able to use things that others no longer want/need. We're still in the market for a few more items, but I'm very pleased with our success thus far.:)

a brief update

I've taken an unintentional hiatus from blogging. I'm going to blame it on moving, unpacking, illness and... well a general lack of inspiration. Things are looking better around here, but there's still plenty of organizing to be done. Inadequate shelving is partially to blame for the time it's taking me to get unpacked.:) Between books, movies and records we need a ridiculous amount of shelving.

We are loving the Zionsville area and are very happy to have located here. My work commute is about half the time and is a much less stressful drive. I'm enjoying not having to get on the interstate at all.:)

We acquired a pair of old yellow his and her cruiser bikes from craigslist (I'll post pictures soon) and, after a few minor repairs, have been taking advantage of the nice weather and biking on the trail that goes behind the apartment complex. It's been a lot of fun!

With the move I haven't been to my studio as much as I would like, but I've still been able to get a few projects done and have a few larger paintings in the works. I recently finished this piece for submission to a show at the Harrison Center in August. We'll see what happens. The painting was done on book covers with ink & acrylic. The separate pieces are bound together with a leather like cord. This photo isn't the best, but it's extremely difficult to take an accurate photo of a painting. You get the idea though.:)