Saturday, May 14, 2016

A Beautiful Wedding - A New Life Together


Who doesn't love a wedding? On April 23rd, I had the honor and pleasure to attend the wedding of my nephew Sean, the son of my sister Lisa. It was a joyous occasion!

The day before the wedding the weather was horrible, the wind blowing like crazy, lightening, thunder, hail, rain, flooding! And the wedding was planned in an outdoor setting! The couple didn't even have a chance to hold their rehearsal because of the weather.

But the wedding day dawned bright and beautiful, much like the love between Sean and his beautiful beloved bride to be, Rocio!

Remember Baby J? I think this was the last picture I posted of her on my blog. Our little Minnie Mouse.




Minnie Mouse has grown up into a beautiful little girl who was the flower girl at her daddy's wedding. Here she is with Baby J's Nini and Poppa, my sister Lisa and her husband Sean Sr. Just Precious!

Don't my sister and her husband look way to young and gorgeous to be grandparents?




Of course I had to pin down that little flower girl and get a picture taken with her. She was starving and not about to let go of her bread so this was the best shot of all the photos I took with her and in every photo this little doll was eating! And eating carbs at that!





The Groom has three brothers who were all part of the wedding party as well. From left to right, Richard aka Richie, the oldest; Edward, then the baby of the family, Issac aka Ikie. Handsome boys!



The father of the four brothers, Sean Sr only knew how to deal with boys since he never had a daughter, but then this little Princess came into the picture and wrapped her Poppa around her little finger and life was never the same again! Here he is helping her to put her slippers back on! Like Cinderella and her Prince!



As you can see there's a lot of dirt in these photos. It was a year ago when the bride and groom choose this venue for their wedding and it was grassy and beautiful. Perhaps you've heard on the news that California is going through a drought? Well this is the result of the drought. Because this venue was outside the city limits and part of a running farm whose well dried up, the farmer was forced to use the water he has been able to get to nurture his animals and crops and not to water the lawns. A sad reality in California right now. But this couple persevered and the wedding was beautiful, dirt and all!

I wish my dad could have been here to see his "Tony" get married. Dad always called him Tony as his name is Sean Anthony. My mom was in attendance though, nothing could keep her away even though just a few weeks earlier she had been hospitalized for five days with double pneumonia! She was so happy for Sean, she's beaming in this picture!



The day was gorgeous, the bride and groom so much in love, weddings are so great!  Here's the new little family and I see so much happiness and joy in their future.



But as we all know, in marriage there are those days when you wonder, "why did I do this?" Just in case I want to post this video of a beautiful song by Kenny Chesney so that this couple always remembers this wedding day, their courtship and the many days filled with "The Good Stuff" that they will have in their future together and just let go of anything else because there will always be more "good stuff" than bad. Love you both Sean and Rocio!






 

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

My New Obsession - Art and The Red Dress



For several months I've been seeing lots of my friends and family members posting photos on Facebook of Wine and Paint Parties. Last night I had a chance to attend one of my own and I loved it. The quote above by Picasso is so true! Just spending one night creating Art helped me to forget the challenges and stresses of every day life, I recharged and it felt like I'd taken a trip to the beach...very relaxing!

The basic premise of a wine and paint party is that you gather together with a group of your friends and family at The Art Cellar. You start with a nice glass of Wine and a little social hour. Then the moment of truth and you sit at a long table with everyone and we each have an easel and paint brushes and a pallet of paint, brown, black, white, yellow and red. 



Then you follow the steps in this collage! Trace the dress image onto the canvas and take another sip of wine then draw arm holes and create the neckline, sip some wine, paint the shoulder area, get a refill on your wine glass and then the other steps just fall right into place! Play a few Trivia Games, sing along to some great music and just totally enjoy yourself!


Then it's time to look around and see what everyone else has created! You will be amazed when you see how creative everyone is and how everyone puts their own spin on the dress! They're like snowflakes, no two are alike!


Some are so unique that they aren't even a dress, like this beautiful flower my friend Pat created!



Shared the evening with my one and only favorite sister Lisa. Here we are holding up our creations. We had a great time and were both so glad that we went!




Our hostess for the evening was our friend Connie and here's her creation. Thank you Connie for a wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable evening!



Then of course the group shot! These ladies were wonderful. Our hostess Connie is the first lady from the left and you can see Pat holding up her unique flower picture. Great time beautiful ladies!



The second I walked in the door at home I found a great spot for my new work of art and I plan to return again soon! If you have one of these art galleries in your area I would recommend you take a class. I can't draw a square and look what I created!