Princess Valerie of the Greater Los Angeles Region

Princess Valerie of the Greater Los Angeles Region
Originally uploaded by V G.

Here I am as Princess Valerie of the Greater Los Angeles Region.
The first photo is more me. The second photo on the right, I seem to look a little unsure of my role as princess. Or maybe it is the double edge sword of being a princess, being the fact that with such power comes great responsibility.
I consider myself a casual princess.
Having just returned from a journey up north to the Bay Area I will keep my post short to rest up for my routine duties here at home.
*** *** ***
I love the Blog world and the real world. I love it when these two worlds meet :) If you haven't noticed I like to spend a lot of time in Fantasy.

Velma and Shaggy

Velma and Shaggy
Originally uploaded by V G.

Here's the final version of me as Velma and my friend Bill as Shaggy.
In this photo you can't see the orange socks or Mary Janes, but I do have them on.
I found the perfect Velma wig the day before the party.
It was a lot of fun.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day
Originally uploaded by V G.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!
I had a mellow Mother's Day with my son and husband.
It started out a little rocky, because my son was sleepy and cranky.
I didn't get the clue until a couple tantrums later... then realized he was sleepy earlier than his usual naptime.
So, we took a late morning nap...then, we had the best Mother's Day.
It ended up we had a "green" Mother's Day. After a late lunch, out at Islands, which I love, we went to Home Depot. I got to pick out any flowers I wanted, so I went for the classic rose. This is a Chicago Peace Rose. I'm still learning about roses. I just know they need to be pruned in Oct.-Jan. for a good bloom in May, which is right now.
All of the roses are so wonderful right now. My grandma was good with roses, so I feel like there is hope for me. I planted this rose bush today. I felt like it was a nice way to celebrate Mother's Day and
be good to Mother Earth. We got a couple of Spanish Lavendar plants too. I didn't get a chance to plant them yet. We also purchased our first 4-pack of energy saving bulbs. They look like spirals. They use only 14 watts but give off 60 watts of light. Plus, they are supposed to last longer than a regular bulb. They seem to work great so far. We are composting too. It seems like the least we can do to do our part for the environment. That was my "green" and happy Mother's Day.

Red Mary Janes

Red Mary Janes
Originally uploaded by V G.

I have been searching for Mary Janes, red Mary Janes to be specific.
Finally, after hunting diligently for a couple weeks...I decided to paint these off-white canvas colored ones. It's for a costume. Later this week I am going to be Velma from Scooby-Doo and my friend is going to be Shaggy. It seems like I have seen Mary Janes everywhere in every color possible, but when it came time to actually find a pair then it was a different story.
Then, before the hunt of this type of Mary Jane shoe, I was looking for more of a classic leather Mary Jane with a low heel which is closer to what the character Velma wore. After finding some that were black, not red and out of stock in my size, I decided to broaden my shoe possibilites for Velma. My friend who will be Shaggy suggested the canvas type of Mary Jane or even just the old school red Converse. I almost did the red Converse. Then tonight I stumbled across these canvas Mary Janes. They weren't red...but, hmmm...they could be painted. So that's what I did. Doing an internet search crossed my mind many times, but I don't have time to wait for shipping, or surprises if they don't fit properly. If I had more time...I would have definitely searched for stuff on the internet.
Now I still need a pair of "Velma" glasses. To be continued...

Happy Mother's Day to all of the blogging moms on the internet.

In-progress Mural.

Here's the mural in-progress.
I'm still hacking away at it, little by little.
I worked on the mountains in the background.
This photo is not very good, but at least it gives you an update.
It also shows you the time of day. It's the afternoon when the shadows of the tree start to take effect on the mural.
It's starting to really warm up around here...summer is almost here.
So, I don't mind the varied leaf patterned shadows, since it provides shade.
That's it for now on the mural. Any little bit of time I can paint on it is good.

Outside Time

Outside Time
Originally uploaded by V G.

Here's my little guy outside. He loves his outside time!
He used to like to pick the little leaves off the plants, but he's getting better about leaving the leaves on the plants now. There is usually a routine tantrum when we have to return inside. He just loves the outside. He lets us know he wants outside by bringing us his shoes and pointing at the backdoor. Or, he'll bring over his jacket. He's learning to say "outside" or "outdoors". He calls it "ou-da". We all have fun outside.
I try to do some weeding, watering, pruning the trees or I just run around with Zach hitting golf balls, bouncing rubber balls and playing with his trucks.

Last Weds. evening I made an attempt to work on the backyard mural. I thought I could paint while Zach was playing outside. Nope. Zach immediately stopped playing to see what I was doing. He wanted to play with the water containers, the brushes and the paint. I painted two rocks in the ocean section of the mural. That was it. I had to pack up the stuff before Zach could reach over for the quart of latex.
Maybe tomorrow during Zach's naptime I can do a little painting.
That's my only hope. The one weekend when I made a ton of progress, my mom was staying over for the weekend and watched Zach while I got a chance to paint. When she was here, I had a good solid 2 hours to paint. That never happens. Now, I'm back to brief moments here and there of painting. It'll happen little by little.