Week 12: Half-Way!!

Oof.  I can't believe my residency is half over!!  Yikes.  It's been a real self-check week!!  Have I done all I'd hoped in the first three months of my residency?  Hmm... I've done a lot, but maybe not everything!  Will I be done in three months with all I have to do??  No, but I'm going to try!!  Since I have no idea what I'll be doing when the next three months are over, I suppose I'd better get on that, as well...

Anyway, this week was busy and a little odd, but mostly because I had no time in the studio.  This was through no fault of my own, but due to leaking pipes in the ceiling above the studio - boo!!  They're fixed now, the wall is repainted, and I can move back in on Monday, and hopefully not faint from paint fumes (that place has really bad air circulation...!).  

Here's some of what I did this week:

My week started out in the most GLORIOUS place on the planet (IMHO): Ludington, Michigan.  My family's been vacationing there since I was a kid, and I love it there more than I can say.  (Seriously, I could go on about it for hours!)  I was able to start of the holiday weekend at a Scottish festival in Alma, Michigan, then headed northwest and spent the rest of the weekend reading in a hammock, hiking, eating, hiking, sleeping, hiking, kayaking, and playing games.  It was exhausting, relaxing, and wonderful!! 

Massed Bagpipe Bands at the Scottish Festival

Ludington Lighthouse and SS Badger

Reading this book for the third time
and loving every minute of it!

View from some of the hiking trails

Ludington State Park has the pretties trails!

View from the hammock...!

Kayaking on Hamlin Lake

Walking along the beach to the
Big Sable Lighthouse

Possible my best game of Yahtzee! ever!!
TWO Yahtzees!! 

Skyline Trail at the State Park

Burger, fries, and lemonade at
our favorite little dive

Eskimo Kisses ice cream at House of Flavors!

The rest of the week I stayed busy!  I did an art lesson at the school where I used to teach (more on that another time), taught two private lessons, worked at Two Twelve a couple of afternoons, got sunburnt doing yard work (yay spring!), and spent some WONDERFUL time drawing outdoors!!  Since I didn't have my studio and the weather was so wonderful, I thought I'd take advantage!!  There was a bee dive-bombing me one evening, so I started a little campfire and smoked it out!  It worked pretty well - the bee got all sleepy-looking and sort of floated away! 

And I couldn't let a perfectly good fire go to waste without making any s'mores, of course!!

Aside from sketching animals for the book, I painted this thumbprint tree for my nephew's Baptism.  It will be full of thumbprint leaves from family and friends!

Next week I'm excited to be back in the studio and back on track!!