My latest artwork. Kelly gave me several black and white copies of hand and palm prints awhile ago. I drew this hand based on 1 of those prints. And I added my letters, which are thick, to the palm. I painted the hand in my favorite base color: buttermilk. The leaf is a leaf that I brought back from our trip to Sonoma. We were up in Sonoma mid-August. I had this leaf tucked away in my studio, waiting for it to be called upon.

Baby, it's cold outside! We Southern Californians are SO spoiled when it comes to our weather! We are SO accustomed to having warm, sunny, and gorgeous days! But we do not do well when our days are cold! Today, the high was in the low 50's and it was rainy. You would have thought we had a blizzard! However, I do long for warmer, longer days again! If it were up to me, every day would be 80 degrees!

I had a lot of fun playing with these pages. I incorporated paper and stickers Kelly gave me and an email that my dear friend, George sent me sometime ago. The email congratulates me on being promoted to principal. This was back in February 2009. Now as the year is coming to a close, SO many things have happened to me on a professional level since that day 10 months ago when I got this email. When I have needed a pick-me-up this past year, this email has done just that. And with 2010 just around the corner, I anticipate that there will be more changes in store for me...