A couple of firsts

I'm so happy to be able to have new experiences all the time, two of them in the past week, actually!

First #1: Whale Sharks at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.
The day after Thanksgiving with my family in Chattanooga, Noah and I escaped to the Georgia Aquarium. It's been open for years now, but every time I go back to the Atlanta area I'm so bombarded with familial responsibilities that I haven't had the chance to visit. So this year, I planned to meet my awesome friend Beth, the coolest woman in the world, and go visit the fishes! The main reason I wanted to go to the aquarium was to see the Whale Shark exhibit. It did NOT disappoint. Here are some photos from that day:

First #2: My first art show!
At the encouragement of Renee (an artist here in Redding with whom I walk my dog), Noah, and Lori, I entered a couple of paintings in the Mark Twain Library Art Show. I was a little reluctant at first. I mean, I don't really think of my art as Art... I just sort of paint or draw what I see and it never turns out quite like I'd hoped... This is a juried show, and when I brought my paintings to be judged, I felt like an ant standing in the presence of giants. There are some amazing artists in this show, and some amazing art did NOT get in. Which is why I'm doubly blessed that one of my paintings did get into the show. It's encouraging... I am a little closer to being able to call myself an artist :) not just one who dabbles in paint... So we get to get dressed up on Friday and go to the gala, and I get to stand by my painting, or hide behind Noah, depending on how confident I feel... and hopefully I'll meet some more kindred spirits in the process.

I painted this after seeing Invisible Children's Night Commuter documentary. If it sells, I'll donate the money to Invisible Children to use for advocacy for the rescue of and prevention of child soldiers.

A swan, a blue moon, and a trip to the city...

I got a new camera. Did I mention that? I'm very excited about it. It's a digital SLR, Canon Rebel T1i... and it has a zoom lens. I'm very happy with it so far. I've heard from all the experts that it's a good "teach you about digital SLR" camera. And that's what I wanted! So I've been playing with it the past week... and I'd like to post some of the pictures for you to view and comment on. If you don't want to comment publicly you can always e-mail me at fairbetty at gmail dot com. (saving myself from the spambots this way).

For  now, I'll leave you with photos to view (and comment on)... and then get on to my writing, because it's still November, no matter HOW much I want to procrastinate.

The swan is back

He spends a lot of time taking off and landing on our little pond.

 

Sunday evening was a blue moon rising. We went to watch it... and Noah built a sculpture while we waited.

 

Reflection in Factory Pond

Not sure why, but I love this shot of the city.

Alexander Hamilton

 

Did I say 1000 words a day?

So, I decided to take a break from writing yesterday to do a quick painting. I have been sitting on this idea for a few days now... and needed to get it out on canvas. My style is, of course, rough and untrained, but... there you go. I feel better now :)

Also, I'm over 22,000 words! Just 8,000 more until my goal! Woo hoo!

A shameless blog of pet photos

I don't mean to brag... well... maybe I do... but I have the cutest pets ever! I am having fun experimenting with Lori's camera and our little point and shoot and snagged some lovely photos of the animals... at least the ones that hang out with people during the day. Bangs and the NNK are missing from these shots because they antisocially stay upstairs pretty much all the time.

Enjoy!

This is Tag's "I'm so cute, I know you want to take me outside right now" face

Captain Jack is such beautiful shade of orange that B/W seems an odd choice, but doesn't he look so elegant here?

Posing for his photo

This is Tag's "I'm so cute, don't you want to play with me right now?" face

Lori brought a penguin blanket over. Tag is in love. Note the super awesome octopillow behind Gill

This is Tag's "stop dancing and stop taking photos of me" face

"I'm so vicious!"

Seriously, Tag's in love with this blanket.

It's been chilly here. Who can blame him?

In other news, the novel is coming along very well. Yay! I mean, the word count is definitely rising. We'll see if the content ever actually congeals into something substantial :) But, I'm having fun with it, which is, I suppose, the point.

How it's going on day 4

This is day 4 of "NaNoWriMo"... I've done my thousand words a day for the past 3 days (technically should be doing more, but I decided to shoot for 30,000 words instead of 50,000... and perhaps I'll surprise myself).

Nanowrimo Breakfast of Champions: Black tea with cream and Entenmann's donuts

Today for breakfast we're having tea, donuts and procrastination... plenty of procrastination if you want to share.  I've dragged Tag's bed into the kitchen and given him a bully stick to chew on,

Tag is ready to write

set the pandora station to Chopin, brewed my second cup of tea for the morning, and written 100 words so far... I have miles to go... at least it's raining outside, so I won't be tempted to go out and run about in the beautiful fall weather... and I made Noah take the car this morning, so I effectively marooned myself for the day. Sigh...

A portrait of the author hard at work

So now, with breakfast devoured and much time wasted, I really will get to work... really... right this instant... see? I'm working...