Heading to the Beach

Today I came home to find an unassuming postal box sent from my favorite cousin. Earlier this month I had entered his blog contest, to send an artistic representation of Jacksonville, North Carolina. I've never been there, but was sad to see no one enter his contest. To remedy this situation, I sent him a little painting sketch I had done for a larger project. Since I "won" his contest with a painting of "Jacksonville," he sent me, as promised, a jar of sand from the coast. I must admit, I do enjoy going to the beach any time I want now. Especially since today it was only about 45 degrees outside and rainy. I also enjoyed the irony of the sand, all the way from North Carolina, was placed inside a strawberry jam jar from Minnesota.

Check out Phil's blog here to see my wonderful winning artwork :) You can also see his day to day experiences and his journalism skills in use at the Jacksonville Daily News. Thanks for the trip to the beach Phil!

Norwegian Goodness

Last Friday was Matt's birthday. He's not too much into birthday cake and I kept tempting him with how great my Great-Grandma's Norweigan blitz torte recipe is, so I decided to make it for his birthday. For the most part it was a success. I don't have the right pans for it, but it was still delicious and I even got the meriange to work out :) Too bad its all gone now...

Quick post of a great find!

I'm in love with this stamp. I may have to buy some just to make my letters (aka bills) prettier :) They are very Jim Flora inspired. He illustrated albums covers and children's books in the 40's, 50's and 60's.

Here is what the USPS website said about this stamp:

"On September 8, 2008, in Washington, DC, the Postal Service™ issued a 42–cent, Latin Jazz commemorative stamp.With the issuance of the Latin Jazz stamp, the United States Postal Service® celebrates the rich musical heritage of the United States of America. The stamp features a bold, graphic design by San Francisco–based artist and Latin jazz fan Michael Bartalos of San Francisco, California. The design conveys the multicultural aspects of the music, its percussive and improvisational nature, and its rhythmic complexity"