Becoming an Artist

About a month ago, I attended one of those classes where they teach you how to paint a pictures in 2 or 3 hours.  No talent is necessary.  By the end of the class you should have your own work of art.  This was my final product:



It didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped and is now collecting dust.  I had fun, though and knew I wanted to try again.  Tonight I had my chance.  Here is my newest masterpiece:

In my opinion, this is definitely an improvement.  I am thinking that I may need to display this - possibly in my cube at work!

Summer

It's summer!  Can you feel it?  I know summer doesn't technically start until June 21st, but it certainly feels like summer here.  

When I was in school I don't think I ever truly appreciated summer like I should have.  I don't remember sleeping late until I was in college.  One summer day (probably before I could drive) I told my mother I was bored.  Her suggestion for entertaining myself was to do some chores around the house.  That wasn't exactly what I was looking for.  Some free time during the day sounds pretty good right now, though!

Now that I'm no longer in school, summer starts for me with a family vacation.  I recently spent a week here:

And I didn't want to come home.  I would like to spend a month (or more) at the beach just to see if I could get tired of it.  It was so nice to relax, sit on the beach, read books, and have no set schedule.  I even (unintentionally) took a technology break.  I brought my laptop and never even turned it on. 

I'm not sure what the rest of my summer holds, but I am looking forward to it.  What about you?  Have any summer plans?