Hangin' at the Courtyard and Writing...in the Chicago Area

Most of you probably know, but my brother and sister joined the Navy back to back. Their boot camp experiences overlapped by nine days. My sister's graduation was in December and my baby brother's graduation was this morning. There were too many of us here today, so I'm waiting in my room at the hotel for them to finish up and give us a call. Depending on the amount of time I have today, I might be able to get a little bit of writing in. I added about a 1k words last night I think. Anyway, here's a pic of where I'm working today. I've got a great view of the snow covered courtyard! I wish one of them could have graduated in mild weather so I could do more than look at the courtyard though! But still, it's nice and relaxing to look out over it. I also overload myself with books when I travel. I never know what I'll be in the mood to read, or how much time I'll have so I'm overly prepared. This time I brought the book Finding the Lost, by Shannon K. Butcher with me. I've been waiting about a month on the library waiting list, and I only have 100 pages or so left. Here's the book with the courtyard behind it. And another view, don't you love the cover? I do! I especially love this book because the main character's name is Paul :) Almost feels like I brought my husband along!

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

More Mermaid Cards

As you may know, I've been sending mermaid cards to my brother at boot camp. He's in the Navy, and in my round about way, I think mermaid cards are perfect for sailors. Can you call him a sailor if he's going to be working on a sub? Dunno. Anyway, I used my prismacolor pencils on all of them, as well as stickles for their bling. I used my wishblade to cut out frames and anchors and words. The mermaids are from Coronado Island Designs and the ship's wheel (I don't know what they're called) is from there as well. The anchor is from Jen Adkins, a designer at paperthreads.com. I think that's all.

Thanks for stopping by!

For My Brother

My baby brother, who is no longer a baby, left last week for Navy boot camp. He's at the same location as my sister who left in November.

Tomorrow is her graduation, and we hope we get to see him too.

Before he left, he requested a picture of my heels for motivation. Are you thinking - what the heck? How is that motivation? Let me tell you.

When they purposely teased me, I would take off a shoe, chase them around the house and smack them with it. I got a lot of good hits in too! Always though, the shoes I used were flats, but I made sure they had a floppy sole for maximum flicking.

I guess he thought the spikes would be an even bigger incentive.

Instead of just sending giving him a picture of my shoes though, I dressed it up a little for him. I've got an old frame I'm not using, so he can hang it if he wants. I hope I can give it to him in person on Thursday or Friday, but if not, I hope I can leave it for him. Most of all, I hope it brightens his time there.

Today I Said Goodbye

to my sister. She joined the Navy and she leaves tomorrow for bootcamp in Illinois. She's only 16 months younger than I am, so I don't really remember a time that she wasn't around. Because we were close in age, and I've always been little, my mom constantly fielded the same question, "Are they twins?" For the longest time we shared a room, my sister was always around. When I went to school, she was there the following year. When I learned to drive, she was in the backseat waiting for her turn. When she played softball...I tried...I wasn't very good at it though, but we were out there. We were on different teams one year, and I asked her what she would do if she was guarding the base I needed. She said she'd let me have it. Family came before the game. She was there when I got married. When my children were born, even came to some of the sonograms with us. She's always been forgiving and supportive. As much as we did together, we were nothing alike...she was actually good at sports, and she was scared to death on a stage. I'm not too squeamish about bugs, spiders, and snakes...she runs the other way, often times with a high squeal, a shiver, and a few tears. I've often thought that if you meshed us into one person, we'd be a very well rounded, nearly perfect person...and now she's moving away and it's hard to see her go. I didn't cry much when I said good bye to her today, but I'm by myself now, and that's usually when I cry. I'm going to miss my sister. She's one of the bravest, strongest women I know. I'm proud of her, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch her go.