other things i've been doing...contemplating my artist self...ooh big surprise. i was asked to do illustrations for a children's book. i find myself feeling inadequate for this task. but wanting to push myself to try anyway. i don't want to let my friend down...or myself. i've been working on some larger pieces than usual using my big watercolor paper that's been sitting over in the corner mocking me. i'm doing them with watercolor, pencil, and chalks. i'm also wanting to do more realistic figure work (as opposed to my usual figurative illustrations). i did some rough (really rough) nude sketches using photographs of myself that i have stashed away that were taken by my boyfriend in college for a photography class. they really helped a lot and i'm glad i still have them. i'd love to have a live model to draw from...and eventually do some clay figure modeling as well. anyway, here's an idea of what i've been doing:
i went to kelly lovejoy's 'conference planning for goddesses' talk while scotty loaded the car and took back the keys. it was really eye-opening to hear her talk about what it really takes to do these conferences. samuel had been putting ideas in my head about taking over the conference planning since this was the last one and he really wanted there to be more. i had told him that is not something i felt i could do. listening to kelly's talk confirmed that for me. way too much time involved...and being organized...oh my. she is definitely a conference planning guru.
but i cannot leave out that she mentioned many people that she would not have been able to do any of this without...pam genant and kathryn baptista being 2 i can remember off the top of my head. scotty joined me and sadie at some point during the talk. oh yeah, and sadie fell asleep on my monster bag lap too. she was so exhausted!
then there was scott noelle's 'pleasure principle' talk, he is really an inspiring guy. it was the first talk all week where i found the courage to speak out loud when someone in the crowd asked a question. afterward, the guy who asked the question actually came up and thanked me for my input. that felt really great. i normally can't speak when people are looking at me, i go all red and fumble my words. something must have intervened because it was real important to him that he got what i had to say. scott had done a wild and crazy dance during the talent show, that is the sort of thing he inspires...just letting go and getting in touch with that part of yourself. the part that wants to break out and just flail around like mad. 
his book is pretty amazing as well. gives you a lot to think about as a parent. as a person.
i was so ready for lunch at this point!! but i went to get scott's book first and we talked to a few people before heading over to eat. here's a great shot of a really genuinely happy scotty and broc.
after lunch, there were some extra activities that i had not signed us up for so we hung out in front of and in the lobby for awhile and then got our stuff together that we would need for the post-conference picnic.
kass, eli and i were talking when it was time to head down to the picnic. it was at this point i think i started to not know what was going on around me. i drove the car down while everyone else walked. here is our car in the wrong parking area, i moved the car twice before i got to the right spot. but i wanted to take some pix of the graffitied car before i forgot.
by the time i got to the picnic area i realized i probably should not have been driving. i kept wanting to cry and i knew it didn't make any sense. scotty got our blanket laid out and i sat down and just stared. here is one of the great things about having a partner that knows you so well. he took one look at me and knew exactly what was going on. my sugar had dropped seriously low at this point and he gave me some chocolate from the car. i started to perk up within a few minutes, i ate some pretzels and had some very zingy ginger ale that alex shared with us. it was a beautiful day for the picnic!! AND some nitro ice cream!!
a few of the girls hanging out...the girl in the middle, in the purple conference shirt, was my fairy godchild, brai!! 
mindy getting directions to alice's house for the after party.
i love this picture of alex and mindy...ya know, there aren't many 13 year old boys that i think are as sweet as samuel but alex is definitely one of them!!
at some point we took our lonely blanket over to join it up with ren's blanket. i think they are going to be having a little romance, we got them together again recently for our full moon circle party. it's a lovely thing.
there was this great documentary on the bbc about monet...
the boys showing their new sharpie marker hair.
this was just too funny...this little baby was walking around talking on a cell phone, so animated and jabbering away. we couldn't stop laughing. then i remembered i had the camera again...
after some serious discussion on where to find some food to eat (is there a chinese take out place? yes, several. well let me hear the names first) before heading to alice's house, we finally got in the car to leave. we had a big crew of tired and hungry kids in tow. we managed to escape with sierra and duncan...mwahahaha. it was decided we would just go find this great little pizza place and eat instead of doing the take out thing. sadie, who doesn't care much for pizza, said she would like to have taco bell. so we went through the taco bell drive-thru. as we were pulling up this group of teens was staring at us. we were like, why are they staring at us?? and then i remembered that our car was all graffitied, they weren't staring, they were reading. so we got some food for sadie (and silas too) and headed to the great little pizza place. it was really good! and we enjoyed having extra kids to eat with too. eating is just more enjoyable in a big group!!
then we headed out to alice's house for the after party. and that, my friends, is a whole 'nother story.
