Happy Birthday America!!

Hello Everyone -

I am getting ready to head to the beach to write some postcards and just enjoy the beautiful day! But this weekend is 4th of July and what a fantastic time to just relax and enjoy our beautiful country.

Sure gas prices are awful, unemployment is high and we have service men and women oversees protecting our freedom. But use this time to be with your family and friends.

Go to the parade, see the fireworks show, grill out (yumm, I love cook outs) and have a beverage or two! I'm planning on visiting these things (sans the cook out) but I'll be on my lonesome. I'm actually going to hit up a bunch of the 4th of July furniture sales! That way I'll have something to sit on or a table to put my computer on while I write my blog!

I also have these beautiful vaulted ceilings and so I plan on buying making some artwork to put above my kitchen cabinets. The easiest (and cheapest) way to do it is to go and buy two or three large poster frames they shouldn't be more than $25 each. Then flip the piece of paper inside it over so you have the white side. Get a few tubes of acrylic paint in your favorite colors and a few different size brushes.

The color you want to be most predominant gets the biggest brush and then work your way down. This is where it gets fun! You can do swirls, zig - zags or just freestyle! You can make each frame different or line them up and make them one large mural! Once the paint has dried (give it overnight to make sure) put them back in the frames and you are good to go!

If you don't have large space to cover, get a bunch of small ones and hang them on the wall. This is a great thing to do if you have kids or you are babysitting all summer - they can make art for their bedrooms or their bathroom. And for the more mature set, kitchens, entryways, dens anywhere really! It is so easy to do.

Then when people come over to visit and they see your fabulous art display they'll ask where you got it and how much it was... you can take full credit for it! (but throw like 3% credit to me... I did give you the fantastic idea!!)

So those are my plans for this 3 day weekend!

Take care and have a great (and safe) holiday!
e*ricks - out!

My first full weekend here

Hello Friends!

I've officially got cable and internet! It feels good to be connected again. But the few days without it got me thinking. It was only 15 years ago that the internet was this luxury. Now I can hardly live without it! Oh how times have changed.

On Thursday I took a walk from my apartment to the beach. It is 2.7 miles there (and that means 2.7 miles back!) The summers are pretty foggy because of the temperature differences I guess. So it hasn't been sunny california in the mornings like I was expecting. But it clears up in the afternoons.

Today is the annual "Woodies on the Warf". People bring their old wood paneled station wagons and their surfboards. I'm going to head out that way and take a few pictures. The summer season has begun and they've got little events like that every weekend.

Also on my schedule for the weekend is to find some furniture. There are a few thrift stores and a sizeable flea market not more than 5 minutes away. I'm going to look there for some different pieces of furniture to put in my apartment. Yesterday I did get a table for my TV so it is not on the floor anymore. But I have to eat on the floor (my table is a cardboard box).

So I'm off! Keep in touch!
loves - e*ricks

"No trip to Hollywood"

... as my dad has said to me over and over again. My response... "I know, it is a trip to Santa Cruz!"

Life out in California is pretty "nard" as the kids say. I'm not kidding, in SoCal it is now "nard" not "nardly". Ah from the mouths of babes.

Another thing, I am officially a boss. I don't feel old, but I am old. At least a year older than anyone I work with. Something I will need to adjust to.

Yesterday was the first day that I saw rain in CA. It was really awesome to see the lightening over the ocean and then see the clouds come to the shore. Then I scooted to the car in order to not get drenched! But until then it has been sunny, warm and not humid! Perfecto!!

This week I am moving into my apartment, my studio with a half wall (so a "one bedroom"). And it is why "no trip to Hollywood" is the title of this post. I am starting from scratch with this apartment and I figured I'd share it on the world wide web.

The day you move in you will need:

• Toilet Paper
• Clorox wipes
• Shower curtain (or liner if you prefer)
• bottle of wine (and a glass, or bowl, or paper cup... or just the bottle)
• corkscrew (aka. church key, wine opener, life-blood)

It is nice to have a bed or sofa or a few pillows. I am excited to inflate my Aero Bed.

Finally, I have some ideas for decorating and what not, but I'll post those ideas, and how-to's, when I've done it and can put up the pictures too.

for now... e*ricks ~ out