A couple more pages from my journal, which I haven't touched in about almost a month. That's 1 of my closest friends, George, with me. We got a chance to spend some time together before Christmas and exchange gifts. I loaded him up with packages, including 1 for his wife, Andrea! We had dinner at 1 of my favorite Chinese restaurants and had the bartender take a picture of us. For some reason, everyone in this journal is getting a heart painted on their chest! Hearts and hands are the 2 most recurring symbols in my artwork. Anyway, lots of stuff going on with these 2 pages - several layers, writing on vellum, tape, and more tape, 2 1 dollar bills that made it into the artwork, gift wrap, pages from a book, and the gift tag that George attached to my gift, can be found within the 2 pages. I am SO looking forward to working on my book during this upcoming, long weekend I am going to have soon.

Where have I been?! The last 2 weeks have been incredibly busy on both a professional and personal level. A week ago Monday, I interviewed for a principal's position. I got the word on Wednesday that I am 1 of the finalists and will be interviewing again this coming Monday. If everything goes alright, we should know by the end of the week who the 2 principals will be for the new school that is opening up in September. The school will actually be 2 schools on 1 campus. To say I am excited, is an understatement! On a personal level, I have been busy "helping" my husband plan a small birthday dinner for my upcoming birthday this week. I CANNOT believe I am going to turn 50! It is quite a milestone! Several friends are going to join Mike and me in celebrating several birthdays; 2 friends follow my birthday and my lovely husband's birthday is February 19, so we are going to celebrate all 4 of us at this dinner. I told my husband I wanted something very small that would be about the 4 birthdays. I have NEVER been into parties, so low-key is just perfect for me. I will start off my birthday by having a 4-day weekend, and on Friday, 1 of my oldest friends, Art, will be meeting me for breakfast in Pasadena, to celebrate his birthday, which is 2 days before mine, and my birthday. By the time February winds down, I will have celebrated my birthday all month. Lastly, I am involved in 3 Valentine's Day swaps, so that means making time to make individual valentines. Here is the 1st swap - Kara's swap. I made 3 boxes and stuffed them with beautiful Valentine's Day themed items. The 4th box is a gift for 1 of my closest friends. I stuffed a beautiful, red silk tie into it, to make it an extra special gift. The photo above really shows the details of the boxes much better than the photo below. Anyway, the 3 boxes are now on their way to Kara's house so that she may separate them and send them off their new homes. Hope the new owners enjoy them...

A new president, a new day for our country, and more importantly, and much hope that the world will be a much better place under his leadership than we have seen in the last 8 years. Here's to you, Mr. Obama!

I was 4 years old when Dr. King gave this speech. I don't remember that day. But everytime I hear this speech, it moves me to tears. Dr. King's words are words that I have tried to live by each day of my life. In 1968, when Dr. King was assassinated, I was in 3rd grade. I remember that day as if it was yesterday. April 4 is my mother's birthday and I remember we were at home spending time with the family when the news was interrupted; Dr. King had been murdered. And what I remember most about that day was me crying and feeling the pain of something I could not quite comprehend; a feeling of despair and helplessness. On the eve of Obama's inauguration, Dr. King's words resonate throughout the world, but especially in Washington D.C., where a new chapter in our nation's history will be written. What a wonderful moment it has been for all of us to be able to truly appreciate and see Dr. King's "dream" come to fruition. We are grateful to Dr. King and so many others who sacrificed their lives to the Civil Rights Movement.

Happy birthday, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.!

Camellias are in the air and blooming like wild in my yard and at the Huntington! The photo above is a shot of several camellias I picked from my garden.

The Huntington Museum has quite a show going on right now! Camellias are in bloom and the museum will be having a plant sale later on, in mid-February. This particular statue stood out with what looks like a cape made of camellias.

This next shot is quite a beauty! Notice all the pinks and reds in these camellias!

Finally, this beauty caught my attention. It looks like it was painted! What a lovely flower appears amongst the branches and leaves. In a few, short hours, my vacation will come to an end. My art will have to take a back seat to my assistant principal job. But while I was on vacation, it was a truly wonderful time.

2 more pages from my latest journal. Yesterday, I had a new experience: I went to an acupunturist with my best friend, Sergio. The acupuncturist spent about 30 minutes with me, and although some might be skeptical about this type of medicine, it really helped me in terms of some relief, regarding my bad back. It was pretty painless! After dealing with my bad back for the last 6-7 years, I am willing to try alternatives to the 2 prescriptions I take. Although I would NEVER give up being active and exercising, I have also NEVER been 1 to rely on medication as a cure-all. Well, a week from tomorrow, I have another appointment with the acupuncturist. These 2 pages speak to me taking a slower pace than the 1 I have been taking for the last 5 years...

My Christmas vacation is winding down to an end. Today, I spent most of the day @ the Huntington Museum, in San Marino. The Huntington is 1 of my favorite places on the planet. Everytime I visit it, the gardens look SO different! Today, I must have taken about 100 photographs. Here are some of my favorites: the butterfly above! I had to kneel and was practically on top of that butterfly.

A close-up of the Aphrodite statue. I am getting ready for my favorite day of the year, Valentine's Day.

Love these pale roses. My favorite color of roses is peach. These look like such delicate beauties.

A shot of some red roses.

I took these next 2 shots in the Japanese Garden. I was able to get quite a shot that really shows the beauty of this particular garden.

Another shot of the Japanese garden.

This is a shot of a tree that is sprouting cotton. There was a sign nearby that read: Do not pick the cotton. This is the first time I have ever seen cotton this close.

The irises are in bloom right now! Also, this is the time of year the camellias put on a show of their own! Tomorrow, I will post some shots of the different variety of camellias @ the Huntington.

I have been working on this page, on and off, for the last few days. Since I have been on vacation for the last 2+ weeks, I am reading and watching the news constantly. I am SO disgusted by the reports of what is going on in Gaza. Both sides are wrong, and unfortunately, the highest casualities are people who are civilians: people who are not involved in any of the madness that is going on and who instead, have the misfortune of being caught in the middle of a terrible situation. How can any government justify bombing, killing children, and cutting off people's essentials such as food and water, and say they are trying to stop terrorism? Obviously, that government must NOT fully understand what the word "terrorism" means. Israel's handling of this situation is repulsive. There has to be someone, a politician, the United Nations, several countries, who can step in and DEMAND an immediate cease fire. I cannot believe that the world will just watch this situation escalate any further.

2 new pages in my journal. These 2 pages speak of being at a crossroad/s of sorts. Yesterday, I had lunch with 1 of my oldest friends, Art. Art and I have been friends since I was 14. He is 2 years older than me. When I started high school, I went to a new school, a public school, after having been at the same private school for 8 years. At my old school, I knew everyone. I was lucky when I started high school, that 9th grade year, that my 2 closest friends from the previous school, went to the new school with me. Art and his cousin, Terry, were 2 of the first older kids to extend their friendship to me during that first year. Art and I were talking about all kinds of stuff during the 2 hours we met. But the thing that stuck out the most was a comment he made about traveling. Art said that the first time he visited Europe, he was in his 30's. He met people on the trip from all over the world and some of those folks had saved for many years to make that particular trip. Because they had waited so long, some of them were not able to fully appreciate the trip. He vowed he would NEVER find himself in that situation! So, these pages speak about not putting off your hopes, dreams, ambitions, etc. Saying you want to do it is NOT enough! And for those who find themselves @ a crossroad/s, hesitating is going to get you any closer to that goal or decision. You have nothing to lose by trying... and that attitude is the way I have tried to live my life. I don't have a problem landing on my ass every once in awhile. It's quite humbling! And sometimes, I really, really surprise myself by the results when that thing, whatever the thing is, turned out even better than I had hoped it would.

Some more pages from my latest journal. I am STILL on vacation and loving life! I am on vacation until the end of the week. I had 3 weeks off for Christmas vacation, so I have been making art like crazy! I started off my vacation with the hope/s of finishing this journal before I go back to work, but I don't think that is going to happen.

There are other things I wanted to accomplish before going back to work and that includes:
1) spending as much time as possible with my husband
2) spending time with my family, particularly, my siblings
3) spending time with my closest friends
4) cleaning and organizing our home (specifically, getting the tree down and putting away all the Christmas decorations)
5) taking care of myself to make sure I get as much exercise as possible and be ready for next week and all the stress that comes with the job
6) catching up on my personal reading

I still have a lot of things I want to do before next Monday rolls around. If I can stay healthy, this will be the best vacation I have had since I became an administrator, 5 years ago.

There is beauty everywhere you look. All you need to do is slow down and take a good look... These camelias are from my garden. In fact, the reddish-pink camelias can be seen from the windows in my studio. What a sight they are and right now, they are blooming like crazy. I have them all over my home, in glasses and vases, to add beauty to each room. And when I get stuck or need a jolt of inspiration, I just look straight ahead at the glass panes and see these hanging from their branches. At work, I experience cabin fever several times a day! My office has no windows and when the walls feel like they will swallow me up, I get up and go outside. I MUST have fresh air and be outside with nature. I take in the landscape which is quite a sight since my school is on a big hill. On a clear day, you get a breath-taking view of downtown Los Angeles. That quick escape gets me ready to go back into my work cave and I can then finish my day.

I am in an 80's mood! Right now, I am downloading some new music into my computer and it will later on be added to my iPod. I literally grew up watching MTV! Growing up, my dad was very worried about me because of music, and in particular, the type of music I listened to. I live and breathe music! My father and I had very lengthy conversations about me wanting to work at Music+ in high school (something that NEVER happened) and me wanting to own my own Tower Records store. He was really worried that I would drop out of school and who-knows-what else... pretty funny and I guess a conversation that every teen who is coming-of-age receives. Anyway, here I am 30 years later, and I am still addicted to the music. This video is from the late 80's and is still 1 of my favorites. LOVE Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music (I have, since junior high school).

Happy 2009! I am obsessed with leaves, specifically, the beauty of all of the different shades left on the trees that have not yet shed their leaves. The above are 2 pages from my latest journal. I sketched the leaf on the left. The 1 on the right is from a tree in my neighborhood.

Yesterday, I got my husband to take a break from studying (this reminds me of many moons ago, back when we were newlyweds!) and to take a stroll with me through our neighborhood. We walked through the Arroyo and into Old Town. Pasadena was INSANE from the Rose Parade, which had ended about an hour or so before, and the anticipation of the BIG game, USC vs. Penn, which was coming up in an hour. We walked down Colorado and ran into my cousin, Gregory and his wife, who were on their way to the Rose Bowl, for the USC game. Mike and I said a quick "hi" since my cousin was crossing the sidewalk and was into the intersection when he finally realized who was saying "hi"! As we strolled down Colorado, the street was a mess from the parade! We turned on Fair Oaks and stopped at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and I got a large iced tea with extra ice to take with us. As we walked out of the Coffee Bean, this tree caught my attention. What a beauty! The day was about as perfect a day as you could get. It was in the low '70's and is was clear and beautiful. I was able to get away with wearing my USC sweatshirt, capris, and tennis shoes throughout the day and be comfortable. Our beautiful weather is just 1 of the many things that make Southern California the envy of so many! And the trees are starting putting on a show even though it is now January...