oh happy day

today is ryan's birthday - my dear hubby is 33, a young pup, really - so here is to you my love - Happy Birthday!

our evening out was wonderful - we started at the Tile Shop - which sounds romantic, and it was, perusing aisles and aisles of marble, travertine, slate and more and not have kids to corral or hear the familiar whine, "can we go?"  we then proceeded to Clay Terrace our outdoor mall, ahem, excuse me "lifestyle center."  again so nice to go into stores and not have to have "the lecture."  if you are a parent you know what this is: "don't touch anything, pay attention to where you are walking, you will be put up for sale if you break anything, yada, yada, yada..."  we had dinner at our favorite fish place, Mitchell's Fish Market - and capped off the evening at Dick's to get ryan a bike and accessories for his birthday.  

we normally don't do big gifts or anything for our anniversary- getting out is a treat and gift in and of itself.  ryan surprised me though and bought me this:

i was shocked, first because this is much more decadent than we've ever done, and second, he had it all wrapped up in a box from an etsy designer I love.  i'm not a big fan of the journey necklace series, but i love this one.  first, who doesn't love diamonds?  second, it is in the shape of a figure "8", two things here - one being it is our 8th anniversary and two, it is also the shape for infinity, which is significant to me.  needless to say i love it, i feel loved and thank you so much ryan for spoiling me.

this was a tough act to follow, so my gift for ryan was what else?  a painting!  i was sitting at a friends on the fourth of july and was inspired by the moon and its reflection on our reservoir. so i came home and whipped this little fella up:

it is on an 8 x 24 inch canvas, done in acrylic and is my interpretation of the moon rising over the water.  i've painted like this before, but this is my first public display - be gentle, k?

i promise the next post will include less me and more Penny Pickles.  tonight we will be matting jon's baseball vignette and i am almost finished with my latest project, not to mention two more that i need to start... busy... busy... busy....