Ever heard of a little island called Turks and Caicos?

well, that's where i'm heading....SOON!

i'm packed

i'll miss you...but i'll survive!

Fur Coats at the Beach and other Michigan goodness

Oh, I hope you all had a GREAT 4th of July weekend!!  We went to Lake Michigan, I ran a 5k (i know, i'm addicted!), we went to West Michigan's longest parade (and I forgot my camera-still cringing), went to a carnival, ate an ox burger, saw fireworks, and got a few mosquito bites!  It was AWESOME!!  I know you all love to see the beauty of MI and that's why I make sure to ALWAYS take my camera to the beach, so enjoy!!

1st up, new HOT trend: Fur coats at the Beach!!

 Mmmmmm!

 I wondered what this fella was doing, I thought he was just cooling off... 

 Silly me!!! He was taking a bath...it WAS Saturday!

 This little gal was putting on quite a show!!  She was mad at her dad for pulling her sister around on a raft, so she was pulling out all the stops and wailing like she'd been shot!  See that spot of all those sticks?  It was just 1 random spot on the beach where they all landed...gross!

 Apparently Sports Illustrated was there!  The photographer was sporting spandex, it was awesome!

 You may wonder how I get such great shots... I go in disguise and sit in a camouflage beach chair!

 How do you leave your undies in a parking lot at the beach?  There is a bottle of water and a coke there... Hmmm, does that wet spot on the ground look a little yellow to anyone else?

 Hope your weekend was as great as ours!!

PS: Don't forget about the HAT DRIVE, details above under the hat drive tab and if you'd rather just donate $, the button is at the very top left of the blog!!

Welcome to Lake Michigan!

Oh..... the things you'll see at the beach!!  Darling is a water baby and LOVES the beach!  We don't live too far from Lake Michigan and the weather was nice last Saturday so we headed over to this GREAT little town, Grand Haven.  Can you believe the temperature was about 20 degrees cooler on the water?

Guess who wished she'd brought her snow pants!?

 1st off save the comments, I am in NO way making fun (ok, a little) of this gal or commenting on her weight, she was actually quite darling, but....or should I say BUTT?!  If you butt is trying to eat your swimsuit, just get the next size up... it's ok, really!!

 After Tiger-booty got done throwing the football around with her boyfriend, they got down to BUSINESS.... and by "business" I mean: digging a GIANT hole.  I told the Mister they must have seen Darling and how cute she is and they were digging their way to China to get their own little sweetie!!  They borrowed someones shovel and frisbee and dug as if their life depended on it....

 and that was the last we saw of those 2....but their hole lives on!

 I also saw a lady walking a giant blue parrot down the beach.  I don't know, is that weird only to me?  Next time I'm taking my goldfish, Goldie, in a zip loc baggie-she LOVES the water!

and Yes, I do have a great zoom on my camera!  Gotta go, the National Enquirer is calling, I promised them a close up of the Sperm-a-nator and his love child....

My long, long...LONG weekend

Ok, not "long" as in bad, but let's just say "it was time for school".  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my daughter, but she was ready, I was ready and today is a good day!  Monday we decided to head out to Lake Michigan because we heard there were some GIANT waves and I wanted to see if I could be rescued by a helicopter and make the 11 O'clock news!

1st off: see how Darling is dressed?  1. hat, 2. hooded sweatshirt, 3. jeans... guess what? It was CHILLY, really chilly...

but do you see this?:

a lady in a bikini with a surfboard!

 the water WAS warmer than the air, which is fine if you plan on staying IN the water.

I found this pill and sold it to a hooker

Now this guy may have made the 11 O'clock news.

this is him walking along the EDGE (NOT THE main walk out to the lighthouse) with his 2 VERY young boys.  It's wet, it's slippery and the waves were totally crashing up along here... 

Can you even believe what a chance people are willing to take with their kids?  To the right (ON the walk) is Mom, I couldn't believe she was letting her idiot husband take her babies onto that ledge!!!

a little piece of "art" carved into the boardwalk.

We walked out to the lighthouse, watched some fisherman, walked on the beach and had a stranger take a picture of the 3 of us with my new camera (after we figured out that I didn't have it turned on).  

Suddenly Darling had to go potty-go figure.

We didn't have shoes (we left them in the truck)...

Yep:

public bathroom at the beach with no shoes!

1 toilet was FULL 

the stall Darling chose had a pantie liner stuck to the floor

wet toilet paper

sand all over

EXTREME grossness

So gross, even I didn't take pictures (yes, I know.... You're welcome!!).

I was beyond grossed out, I'm still shivering just thinking about it.

Headed home and saw this

No, not the camper... the GARAGE!!  

Can you say "Hoarder"?  The Mister even turned around so I could see it (and take a picture).  I would guess the inside of his home wasn't much better and who wants to bet that trailer is being used as a storage unit?!

Then as we drove up the road to our drive we saw our "Friendly" neighbors place

Nice, hun?

and then TODAY at 8:05 this little sweetie headed off to 2nd grade!

No, I didn't pick the outfit.  She's been dying to wear this shirt that says "Pick me, Pick me".  Out of all the adorable new outfits, she wanted the t-shirt.

Her face?

Well, I had this weird email a while back that "someone" was searching for me.  They wouldn't tell me who unless I joined their group, but by the 3 clues they gave me I knew just who it was.

It made me a little paranoid that perhaps she (yes, it's a she) was trying to keep tabs on me or spy on us.

It's not someone dangerous, just someone that is nosy and nasty and has no business being in my business, so I think I'll just keep my sweetie's face for us right now...

Ok, school has started and that means it's time for this girl to get to her studio and start makin' some stuff!

Have a great day!!

Lake Michigan, you aren't the ocean, but i still love you....

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the water!

I love the sound, I love the sand, I love the people watching, I LOVE the beach!!

Many of you know that once the temperature drops below 72, I start whining.  I hate the cold, I detest the cold, I abhor the cold!!

BUT...

right now it is NOT cold, and I am oh so happy!!

My darling girl and I are going to meet a couple of our gal pals over by the lake in the cutest little town called Saugatuck.

http://www.saugatuck.com/welcome/welcome.asp

Saugatuck is where we go to the film festival every year.  It's full of fun shops, vintage shopping, great food and tons of boats to watch.

Hope you have something fun to do today! 

I'll be back tomorrow!!

My head is BURSTING with fun ideas to work on in my art room.  It seems like the more I have to do and the less time I have in my studio the more I have ideas.  I'm storing them away in my head until I get down there!!

lator tators!