Stacie Rife Bailey's Bliss

Faceless people

I've been having fun sketching, but 1 problem... I have NOT figured out faces... Hummmm....

Maybe they can be just faceless people...

HEY,, that could be my "signature".. ~~faceless people~~

????

Darnit, I envy those people to whom drawing comes naturally!!!!

Happy Memorial Day!

Well here it is... the end of the weekend once again.

Happy Memorial Day...

Even though it was a "long" weekend it sure doesn't seem like it.

Our weekend was nice.. NO traveling which I vow to just not attempt especially on memorial day weekend.  Friday night we took "the kids" up to "the lake",, we always have called it JUST "the lake".. but we went to my Mom's property at Lake Bosworth in Granite Falls,WA.. only 30 minutes away and it's like Disneyland for the dogs. They got to swim their hearts out, which was nice because it was HOT on Friday. Jeff fished, and I read a book. It was very peaceful and nice till' some idiot on the lake decided to start shooting a gun trying to train his bird dog... THEN.. it was time to go. The dogs relate the gunshots to fireworks and get freaked.

Saturday I spent the day with my Mom, while Jeff worked his butt off on the exterior of the house.

We went to the new Seattle Outlet Mall (which is exactly 11 minutes from my house) Over 100 new stores just opened. I feel I will never have a need to go to the Mall again. It was also hot.. but we had a great time!. Saturday night we had a BBQ with mostly Jeff's family and my Mom. Jeff made a killer BBQ honey mustard chicken.. YUMmmmmmmmmmmm.

Sunday we lounged around the house and Sunday night met our friends Julie and Steve for dinner at the Metropolitan Grill in Seattle. Had a great dinner but even better company!

Monday, Jeff once again worked his butt off on the exterior, and I spent the day with my friend Tracy.

VOILA,, the weekend is OVER..

Right now Jeff is hogging the remote because we just got Digital cable.. (which he actually deserves the remote for working so hard on the house..  :) and I am updating my journal....

Almost time for bed! :(

Ahhh Thursday night!

Thursday night once again.. Oh how I love Thursdays....

(ever seen that stupid commercial " ORCA ORCA... OOOOhhhh I LOOOooove ORCAs"---Gosh I hate that commercial!--dont even know what it's for)

Well today Jeff tore off another side of the house.. a lot of work ahead. Not something we would wish on our worst enemy...

So I guess we spend the long weekend working on the house..

Jeff has tomorrow off, I envy him (for the 4 day weekend) but I don't envy him with what he'll be working on tomorrow... (the house)

Wishing ALL a safe and wonderful weekend!

((it is supposed to be in the 80's again tomorrow!)

Postcard & flowers for Juanita

This is a picture I drew, and thought of my friend Juanita. She is on vacation right now spending the entire week gardening I'm sure.

See how I love to create things,, collage, mixed media, painting etc etc...Juanita is the same with her garden...

She could work 40 hours a week (at her day job) and commute an additional 20 on top of that and then work IN HER GARDEN ANOTHER 40 HOURS each week! That is how much she loves her garden....

So,, I drew this and it reminded me of her beautiful sunflowers she grows (on top of MANY other beautiful things). **her sunflowers are MUCH more beautiful than mine***

It was a 4x6 and I turned it into a postcard on the back and will send it to her at home while she is on vacation!

:)

Tuesday...

It's only Tuesday.... first full week after being gone for vacation is killin' me!

Besides the fact we had an "eventful" weekend that I can't even go into... let's just say that Jeff and I are exhausted and it wasn't at the cost of any fun....... Long story...

Anyways.... my Mother made it home from Italy safe, sound and healthy, that is the MAIN thing. She had an absolute FABULOUS time and was kind enough (regardless of her limited space) to bring me back fabulous gifts.... olive oil, balsamic vinegar, bracelets, necklaces, a scarf,,,,etc etc... she ALwAYS brings back cool stuff for me! (lucky me!!!)

I cannot wait til she gets her pictures developed. It sounds like the most beautiful place to visit (possibly even live). Hopefully one day I too will get to see it. From what she did tell me, and from the few pictures I did see....I want to live there! :)

More to come later in the week,, I am exhausted and going to bed!

a SWEET CRAVING...

I am totally craving sweets this afternoon (which is usually only a once a month occurrence).. but what better to suffice the craving but Nanaimo Bars....

I think these would have to be one of my favorite deserts or sweet-tooth cravings!

So I went to search the Internet to find a recipe for them.. I know I have made them before and they weren't too hard but just time consuming...

Here is the recipe...

NANAIMO BARS

Hummmm,, now to I take the effort to make them and spend the rest of the afternoon doing so, or do I just run down to the local grocery to fulfill my sweet fix...???

See.. this is dangerous. If I make a whole pan, then I would possibly eat a whole pan they are so delicious!...

ok,, I am hoppin' in the car!

p.s. you can subsitute the eggs for egg beaters to avoid Salmonella, and if you can't find vanilla custard powder you can subsitute vanilla pudding mix.

Just Ducky

This is my niece Lauren. She is the cutest thing ever, and this hat is just too cute... It was made for her by a family friend of Jeff's Aunt.

How sweet is that!!!She is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen!!!

This is my husband with Lauren. You can see from this picture how much he just adores her. HE goes ga ga everytime he is near her... it is really something to see..

I can only hope that one day he will change his mind about having kids... I just don't understand why he wouldn't want one of his own.... like I said,, he just is ga ga over his niece I couldn't imagine what he would be like if he had his own... if he would just "get over" the whole analyzing, and thinking TOO dang hard about it he might for a moment think it would be a wonderful experience. I just hope he doesn't wait too much longer to change his mind... my clock is ticking and the battery is wearing out.

TGITN

"Thank God It's Thursday Night!"

because it means that ...

1.Tomorrow is the last day of the week before the weekend.

2.It will mean that my Mother has made it home safe from Italy

3.I get to have lunch with my old co-workers/friends! :) (this is a regular every payday Friday event!)

4.It's been a loooooonnnnnnngggg work week after vacation.

Jeff said the vacation has blessed him. He says when he's had a bad moment at work that he goes into his memory bank and pulls out a good memory from our trip.

Me... I wish I could look at it in Jeff's way (I will have to work on that)... it just makes me want to be on a permanent vacation even more. I will have to take the good with the bad and like Jeff search in my memory bank and pull my good memories when I'm bummed at work.

The picture posted is one of my most favorite that I took on vacation. I was actually happy (for once) how my digital camera performed. It was taken on the dock at Fisherman's Wharf. It was pouring down rain--notice the rain drops on the seagulls head. Look closely and you can also see the yellow around his eyes. Just incredible! He was very friendly, as you can see I was very close to him, but he seemed as if he was proud that I was taking his picture.

Our Trip

We had a great road trip. We left on a Friday and came back on a Saturday. Still not enough time! Today is my last day of vacation and all day I have pondered the entire trip.....wishing I was able to take another 10 or more days. The only bad thing about vacation is you WISH you were on vacation all the time!

The first night we stayed in Grants Pass-Southern Oregon. WOW --I had been to southern Oregon as a kid but totally did not even remember how beautiful it was. Rolling green hills that look manicured!

Absolutely gorgeous!

From Southern Oregon we headed to San Francisco. Heading into Northern California it was just as beautiful as Southern Oregon. The Siskiyou Mountains are also gorgeous...although similar to what you see almost everyday in Washington-but you can still appreciate their beauty. Got a wonderful photo op. of Mt. Shasta...

San Francisco was awesome. I LOVE it there. I can see why people say they leave their heart there! The architecture leaves me in awe!

We stayed in San Fran 2 nights in the beautiful Palace Hotel, built in 1875---just gorgeous!Old world charm with the latest amenities!

We went to Chinatown.. Alcatraz (loved the history part of Alcatraz)...Fisherman's Wharf... watched the sea lions romp, sleep and play in the harbor and rode the heck out of the cable cars--I love the cable cars!

We only wish we had more time there! It reminded me a lot of Seattle (especially all the rain) What a beautiful place it is. WE WILL be back.

Our next venture was off to Anaheim,, yes,, I will ALWAYS love Disneyland (they were celebrating their 50th anniversary) . I can't even count how many times I have been there but always love the experience. I think when you've been there as a kid, and seen Disneyland through a child's eyes.. it never really changes.I still even love to see the farm animals there.. I love animals anyways so it's always a treat to be near them! :) I wanted to take the goat home with me! ((we bonded))

Mable the cow was sweet too but she wouldn't have fit in the car

It was my first time going to the Disney California Adventure park right across from Disneyland. This park is geared more towards the ride aspect, but it was great. My favorite ride was the Twilight Zone Hollywood Tower of Terror,, what a thrill that is! We went on most of the rides there three or more times!

While in CA we met up with my Dad and his wife Martha and her kids Peggy and Anthony (good people!) My cousin Troy drove all the way up from San Diego to have dinner with us one night--which I hadn't seen him since the wedding (so good to see him!) Jeff golfed with my Dad one day, and Martha and I went into LA to the garment district-what fun that was,, I only wish I had about 3 days there,, didn't even make it past the bags and the shoes!

After staying in Anaheim for 3 days we decided at the last minute to make a detour and make our way home via Vegas and Reno... Jeff really wanted to go back to where we were married. We left Anaheim at 5am and made it to Las Vegas at 8:45am,, we made great time and had the entire day in Vegas! We went back to the Paris and to the chapel where we were married for ol' times sake.. only this time I wasn't shakin' in my shoes... We stood near the podium where we said our vows and set the camera on auto timer and took a picture of ourselves...1 year after we were married. (the picture didn't come out all that great)

We had a great day and night in Vegas,, and me winning $1300 didn't hurt either! Needless to say we ate WELL and had fun! We only stayed one night in Vegas (our vacation coming to an end...) we didn't want to make the journey all the way from Vegas home and drive the entire night so we drove as far as Reno and stayed there for the night. (no money won there)..

I think I was 10 years old the last time I was in Reno, and as a kid I played at Circus Circus (in the kiddy section) and thought it was the cats ass!!!!...well... I can say for sure I won't be back, or at least anytime soon....just didn't feel safe there. Quite a few shady characters... We left at 5am the following morning we arrived and had a transient beg for money in our hotel while we were drinking coffee.. (AT 5AM!)..

The last day of driving was the longest. From Reno, home. It was feelin good.. to be nearer and nearer to the dogs, but not good knowing our great vaca was coming to an end. It was almost like a teaser.. we saw a little bit, and now it's given us the bug to see more!!! As a kid that was all we did was drive vacations (Jeff hadn't experienced one).. I have seen several places in this beautiful country of ours, but a lot of them were when I was a kid and probably didn't appreciate them like I would now... SOOOO,, I am ready for another one..

If I won the lotto I would quit my job and get a big OL' motor home so the dogs (well and Jeff) could go too!..

Well,, that's a snippet of our vaca.. there are a lot more stories but can't go into it all.. I'd be writing forever.. (I took over 300 pics too!)

WHeW!!!

Just a quick update...made it home safe and sound!

Ironically... the FIRST hotel (and one of the cheapest) was the only hotel that had FREE Internet access (this was where I wrote my last post). The other ones charged! You would think big fancy hotels would give it to you for free.... but not a chance (must be why they are big and fancy--they charge for everything!)

We made it home from our trip tonight. We drove from 5am to 9pm today (the most driving we've done in one day!)--we took a little detour and didn't quite expect to have to drive this much today, but it was well worth it!

We are exhausted, but had a FABULOUS time! Hard to believe its already over... 

:(

BUT glad to be home....

The "kids" were SoOO excited to see us. What a nice welcome home! I missed my furry babies!!

It is time for bed, and I don't expect to get up before noon tomorrow!

zZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ