Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Fast Trip to Cali

Even though I spent 15 years living in LA, somehow we never made it up to San Francisco to see the sights. Larry was attending a conference in the city and I flew out to meet him for a long weekend of sightseeing & visiting some northern friends & family. The weather was postcard perfect - clear blue skies & warmish weather - certainly not the norm for SF! We rode the cable car from downtown, toured Ghiradelli & ate chocolate, walked Fisherman's Wharf & had crab & chowder & sourdough bread. Then we took the cable car back as far as we could. It stopped short of its usual destination because of the annual Chinese new year parade. Found the Chinese version of Zoltar and didn't realize until the next night that Zoltar was just across the street! We found a sidewalk perch and watched the parade go by - quite the spectacle! The next day we picked up a rental car and started our journey north toward Napa. Crossed the Golden Gate bridge. Visited one of Larry's gradeshool friends in Benicia and had a lovely brunch on the water up there. The rock heart was from there - found it at low tide during a stretch of the legs. Then on up to Napa for a couple of days of wine "therapy." Thanks to friends for some great winery suggestions! This being the off season, most of the wineries weren't very busy and we were able to chat with most of the wine peeps. We ended up trying extra wines we probably wouldn't have been offered - big bonus! Met up with one of Larry's long lost cousins who lives in Napa. Got an In N Out fix - so good! Napa really is an incredibly lovely place - looking forward to returning some day!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Coming up Roses!

My workshop on painting acrylic stroke roses is ready to launch in just a few weeks at Acrylic Painting Club. Not only do you get my workshop but lots of other fun classes from some really great teachers. Don't miss out!!