Summer Night

Hollywood transit center.
Originally uploaded by michele_maule
Last night I headed downtown for a friend's art opening.

I didn't leave until 8pm, I took the bus and the Max and it was all perfect. I kept thinking to myself, "There's no way I would be doing this if it was a rainy, cold, February night.

It was a little evening adventure. I was able to see the sun setting on our beautiful city. all the buildings and bridges were painted with such a wonderful light.

Meeting up with friends, and enjoying a couple of cold beers under white Christmas lights was also truly great.

I also enjoyed the art and meeting new friends. I'm loving this summer so far :)

Warm and Loving It

Toms tan.
Originally uploaded by michele_maule

What another great weekend. I swear the sunshine makes these weekends incredible. Being able to go outside, ride my bike and visit with friends, is making me so happy.

We both went on the NE Sunday Parkways this weekend. The weather was warm and 2,300 people attended. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, basically the city of Portland closes an 8 mile bike route in a quadrant of the city. So no cars are allowed, only bikes. They also have events set up in the neighborhood parks. So you can listen to live music, eat from a food cart, and hang out with your neighbors.

There are lots of people set up in tents along the way too. So you can get a free bike tune up, sign up to vote, and get your bike blessed along the way! Yes, there was a "Bike Temple" along the route, and you could stop and have your bike blessed, or they were freely blessing bikes as we rode by.

all in all, a great time and lots of fun.We ran into many people we haven't seen for awhile and ate delicious burritos.

Yesterday was more biking around town and visiting some friends.

I love late Spring and early Summer. We've been so lucky with the weather. I hope it sticks around for a little while longer. I think Chloe does too...

Oh Hello!

It's been awhile, huh?

I've been out enjoying Summer as much as I can this month.
My Birthday was last week and we went hiking, played Bingo, had dinner with friends, drank great wine, ate good food, and generally had an amazing time.

I've also been back to my studio for some printmaking time. I have also been getting back to screen printing! It's so much more physically demanding than painting, or drawing, but I'm really loving it. It's helping me with this block that I've been having lately and it's been forcing me to re-learn some things.

all in all I've been trying to stay away from the computer as much as I can and redirecting myself to making things and enjoying the sunshine as much as I can.

Hope everyone else is having a wonderful summer!
I may, or may not, be posting more this week ;)

I Heart Summer 2009

This summer has been so amazing. Really.
It's been one of the best summers I've had in a long time, and for the first time, maybe ever, I don't want it to end.

I've been catching up with old friends, taking days off, eating great food, and painting. I love it. I'm so happy, and it seems like such a long time since I've felt like this...

So here are some photos of my life from the last couple of days. The city skyline is about a block away from my studio. When I need to take a break from working I just head down to the water front and take a walk.

The other photos of the river is where I spent my day, with my friend Nate, yesterday. It was wonderful.

Life is good. Portland is good.

Hot.

It's hot.
It was hot yesterday, it's hot today, and it's suppose to be hot tomorrow.

I'm not a fan of hot.

I didn't go to the studio today, because the bike ride home is brutal in this heat.
I have 3 large hills that I have to ride up, and frankly, I just didn't have it in me today.

So I stayed home, worked on some aceos, baked some zucchini bread, and waited for the UPS person.

I did manage to get the bread made before it got too hot! :)

So that was my day.