Merry Christmas to all!  Hope you are enjoying this very beautiful and special day, no matter where you are!  xoxo

How I Have Spent Some of My Vacation...

I have been off for almost a week now for Thanksgiving break.  The time has flown!  Since the new school year started, I have been even busier than normal.  This year, I am teaching a class during the school day.  I am teaching "Creative Writing" during our third period.  I am loving every minute of it too!  Last month, I taught my students how to create mail art.  The students also added a short message to the mail art.  Once everyone completed their postcards, I walked them into the post office and had each piece (24 in total!) hand-cancelled and off to their new homes they went.  I must confess several of my students had a hard time giving up their mail art.  So to lesson the anxiety, my dear secretary and friend, Valarie (I KNOW YOU ARE READING THIS!), made copies of all of the art work and suspended each piece to the ceiling, in our main office.  This looks SUPER cool and very inviting when you visit.  During my break, I created 10 new postcards/ mail art.  The top left corner card was the piece I used as my sample for teaching the lesson to my students.   I have a lot of art I have not posted, including 2 journals I have completed in the last few months.  Being principal doesn't give me a lot of extra time to do very much outside of the job.  But creating, even in spurts, is good for my soul, like my dear red-headed friend, Kelly, says.  Speaking of Kelly Kilmer, I will be meeting her and a few other very interesting and special women, in the next few hours.  It's our journaling group and we will be hanging out at Farmer's Market and journaling. 

Happy Thanksgiving and A Gorgeous Autumn Day

Photo by Roseann Cazares

Happy Thanksgiving no matter where you are!  Today has been a spectacular day in our beloved neighborhood - just look at these colors.  Stunning.  I have been on break for the last few days and I have been making art like crazy!  Very soon, I will post the art I have made.  Enjoy the rest of your holiday and thank you for your patience and checking in on my blog from time to time.  

The Woman in a Chair Page

Another page from my journal.  I did this page in shifts.  I started the page prior to us leaving for San Francisco.  I continued working on this page while there.  I actually completed 2 pages while we hung out at the Ferry Building, in the Embarcadero.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  It was 85 (yes, 85 fucking degrees in San Francisco!).  Every time we are in San Francisco, I do not want to come back home.  I sure missing living there.  On another note, my mini-vacation is quickly winding down.  I go back to work tomorrow and although I have LOVED every minute of being on vacation, I am ready for work and the new school year.  Have a great day no matter how you spend it. 

Tattooed Hands

Another page I created in my journal when we were recently in San Francisco.  I worked on this page while at the Ferry Building, sipping on a glass of iced tea and hanging out with hubby.  If you look carefully, no matter where you are, there is inspiration, even in the daily and simple things, even in the beauty of tattoos. On another note, yesterday, I created my new blog,"Fabulous At Any Age".  I have been wanting to create a fashion blog for quite awhile now and I thought, since I am on vacation for just 2 more days, it was now or never.  I subscribe to several fashion blogs and although I find a lot of inspiration in some of them, most blogs are for young girls and women in their teens and 20's.  I am neither, but I love fashion SO much.  As a kid and into my 30's, I would sew my own clothes if I couldn't find what I was looking for.  I wanted this new blog to look at fashion from a different perspective - a middle-aged woman who is not exactly ready for the glue factory just yet.  If you want to check out my new blog, here it is:  http://fabulousroseann.blogspot.com/

P./S.  Let me know what you think of my new blog! 

My Vacation Is Winding Down...

I am getting ready to start my day,  but wanted to do a quick post.  This page is from a journal that I started back in 2009!  Ridiculous!  Recently, I was cleaning my studio and re-arranging things and found this journal tucked away with my finished journals.  I started flipping pages and found only a dozen pages had been completed.  So, finishing this journal before the end of this summer is on my to-do list.  I completed this page while we were in San Francisco last week.  Something about the city that always inspires me.  On another note,  yesterday,  I was supposed to spend part of my day with Kelly and Kara, @ Farmer's Market to hang out and work in our journals.  Instead, I had my physical, @ Kaiser.  In a very surreal moment, the power went out while my doctor was finishing up my exam.  I have been seeing this doctor since I was in my early 20's.  I said to her, "Well, at least you could do a physical with your eyes closed.  You know where everything is located."  She finished the exam in the dark.  Have a great weekend wherever you are. 

A Perfect Day

I am coming down to the last few days of my very, very, very short break before getting back to work next week.  Today, my husband and I spent the day together.  The best kind of day requires minimal planning.  First stop was at the Village Bakery and Cafe, in Atwater Village (our old neighborhood) for pastries and caffeine.  That was our breakfast.  Then, from there we cruised through several neighborhoods in West L.A., from Hollywood, to West Hollywood, to Larchmont Village, to Westwood, to Santa Monica's very quaint Montana Avenue neighborhood, to a late lunch/early dinner @ Patrick's, in Santa Monica beach, to eventually, making it to the beach. It was a short block walk to the water.  We had to walk through a tunnel to access the beach (the tunnel consists of mostly sand) on Pacific Coast Highway.  As soon as we came out of the tunnel, I immediately took off my shoes and walked on the sand barefoot.  The sand was cool and so was the temperature.  But that's okay - I LOVE the beach any way I can experience it.  As I got closer to the water, I took out my camera and started shooting and because no visit to the beach is complete without getting your feet wet, this fish girl dipped her feet into the beautiful, cold Pacific Ocean.  Yes, this was a perfect day for many reasons....