Thankful Thursday - Guilty Pleasure

Alright, alright, I admit it, I'm totally addicted to a reality show. Work Of Art - The Next Great Artist just started up again, and I'm so excited. Do any of you watch it? It's an art competition, and I think it's fascinating. It's this fun glimpse into other artists minds. I also really like the challenges that they put the artists through. I'd love to follow along and do the challenges myself (ahh, if there were only more hours in a day). This week the artists had to choose a from a variety of "bad" art pieces. They had a clown on velvet, dogs playing poker, etc. The artist's then had to create a "true" work of art using the bad art as inspiration, keeping at least some aspect of the original intact and recognizable. It was fascinating to see what they did. A few pieces seemed worse than when they started, but many of them were really creative and wonderful. They went in directions I never would have thought to go. It's really inspiring. Who knows, maybe I'll make a trip to the thrift shop. However, whether I paint along, or not, I will certainly be watching.
How about you, do you have any guilty pleasure that you're thankful to watch?

Flowers On A Friday - Macro Lily

Thankful Thursday - The Sun Came Out

Today, I'm thankful that the sun came so that my sky light/roof could be patched. I'm also thankful that the leak missed my art table by a few inches, hooray! That could have been a very sad story, and I'm so glad it wasn't. I prefer to enjoy my rain outside, thank you.

Meatless Monday - Seitan Bourguignon

This last weekend I made Martha Stewarts' Seitan Bourguignon and it was really delicious! It had a great rich, hearty, homey flavor. I think it's a wonderful comfort food for the fall.  Highly recommended! The meat eaters in my life were amazed that it was a vegan recipe. FYI - For those of you that are unfamiliar with it, seitan is a nice chewy meat substitute that is made from wheat gluten.

Meatless Monday - Banana Sundae

Yum! I've started making this yummy treat. I freeze bananas, then whip them up in the Vitamix (love my Vitamix!) until they are the consistency of ice cream. Place in a little bowl, pour on some chocolate syrup, sprinkle with peanuts, and totally enjoy! I use Living Tree Community Foods Organic Chocolate Syrup - it's raw, vegan, and delicious.  

Flowers On A Friday - Thistles

I love thistles!
I'm going camping this weekend, hooray! I can't wait. Its been too long since I last went camping. We are going to be right by the ocean, I can smell that salty air already. I'm off to pack-up. Have a wonderful weekend everybody. Happy (almost) Birthday Carol and Alana! See ya at camp!

Flowers On A Friday - Poppies

I wish you a weekend filled with lovelies.

Thankful Thursday - When Things Just Fall Into Place

For the longest time I'd wanted to take a picture of this lovely dilapidated old barn. Many times I'd whizzed by it wishing there was a safe spot where I could pull over to take a picture of it. Then one fine foggy day, I was stopped, for road work, right in front of this beauty. What are the chances? To make it even better, my camera was on the seat right beside me. Eureka! I was so happy. I love it when things go like that! 

Thankful Thursday - Forgiveness

I've been thinking about the power of forgiveness. It really can help me to feel better when I can manage to let go of the bitterness and forgive someone. And of course it can feel so good to be forgiven. It's not always easy, and hanging onto resentment sure does come easily, but I'm on a mission to work on forgiveness whenever possible. Olive branch anyone?
I also wanted to send a quick thank you out to Nat and Carol, I sure had a great time at the concerts. Thanks! You guys sure are fun to pal around with. xoxo

Meatless Monday - When Seasons Meet

Today, I really felt the seasons begin to shift. I had a huge bunch of very ripe tomatoes, and an ear of fresh corn, that needed to be used. It seems like everyone was giving me tomatoes from their garden, and it's such a treat, but I wasn't keeping up with the supply. So, I decided to make a pot of tomato soup with fresh corn kernels. It was all overcast, and cool here today, perfect weather for a pot of soup. It was so delicious to be so clearly on the cusp of two seasons. And the soup was great too!