Tip #1
It’s kindergarten, not kindergarden. Kindergarten is the next step after preschool. A kindergarden is a made-up word that someone might assume is the opposite of a mean garden.

Tip #2
When that high school senior gets his diploma, you’ll likely send him a card, and he’s hoping that card has cash in it. When signing the card, keep in mind that it’s congratulations, not congradulations. I understand that some people could be so excited that they somehow think graduate and congradulations have the same root word (?!). They do not. Congradulations isn’t a real word.

If you’re guilty of using kindergarden or congradulations, no need for embarrassment. In fact, you don’t even need to thank me. Just remove the toilet paper from your shoe, walk away with your chin up, and remember to check your shoes in the future.

…and there he is in the local newspaper!

Remember when Brick says “I love lamp” in Anchorman? That’s what I think of every time I see the cat lamp Andy made from an old boat motor.

I love how Andy has been using cards on some of his recent pieces. I’m thinking about putting this fish on a t-shirt. What do you think?

Donnie Sundal performed Saturday morning. His band, Boukou Groove, just released a new CD.

Guess whose art is on the CD sleeve? Andy‘s! (This is the second time Donnie and Andy have mixed music and art. Watch this video.) We’re selling these CDs at Andy’s gallery for $20. Email me (lori@saczynski.com) if you want one. Yes, we’ll ship it.

I wish I had a good excuse for why I don’t spend much time in Seaside. It takes less than 30 minutes to drive there from my house. Seaside is magical, especially at night. Living here is a dream come true.

Some of our friends also participated in ArtsQuest, so I’d love to tell you a bit about them.

Francisco Adaro won Best in Show! We are so proud of him. He’s one of our favorite artists. I can’t wait to have one of his pieces hanging in our home.

I especially love Francisco’s piece on the top left. Awesome!

Our pastor’s sister, Lisa Young, drove up from south Florida.

I especially love Lisa’s flamingos.

Which flamingo piece is your favorite?

This is Alan Moore‘s tent. He’s a fellow folk artist and graduated from the same high school that we did. He lets his kids make art with him, which is cool. And they have five kids, so they are just as crazy as we are.

This is Alan. He received an Award of Merit.

Justin Lyons participated for the first time this year, and he won Best in Mixed Media. His work is really cool! He comes from a talented family.

Speaking of Seaside being magical, how awesome is this piece?! It’s a collaboration between Beeb Benson and Mary Hong. I love it!

PS – Sorry about all the links in this post, but dang… you should really click on them. Really.

Jonah

Taylor and Noah (playing dead again)

Knox

Josiah

Madison and Nathan

Jackson and Caleb

Keith and Katie

Kaeden

Izzy

Delaney

someone who should have worn eye make-up and Andy

Matt and Jessica

Jim and Beth

If you’re interested, we stayed at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.

[click image to enlarge and download]

photos: Luminary Prayer Ceremony for Colin Gillis

P.S. – On your results page, you can un-check the box to avoid candidates who have dropped out from appearing in your results.

Our family has visited them… wait, let me count… zero times. Why? Because (1) we suck, (2) we always seem to have a dang baby, which makes traveling not as fun as you might imagine, and (3) if they’re coming to Destin, anyway, why would I drag my whining, crying kids to the middle of Alabama?

We adore Stuart, Hope, and their daughter Bri. We are thankful for their long-lasting friendship, which gets even better through the years. I sincerely hope these biannual trips last a lifetime.

Rainy has lived with our family for three weeks now. The kids love her, I love her, and Andy talks “baby goo goo ga ga” to her, so I’m guessing he also loves her. As you know, we’re attempting to toilet train her, even though she spent the first 2.5 years of her life using a litter box. It supposedly takes 4-8 weeks to toilet train a cat, and we’re only on week 3. We had the tray next to the toilet for the first two weeks, then moved it on top of the toilet for the last week. So far, she’s only peed in the tray – no accidents. She pooped in the tray when it was on the floor, but once we moved it on top of the toilet, she pooped next to the toilet instead. I’m guessing she doesn’t like the way the plastic “gives” when she’s pushing out her tootsie rolls, and I’m well aware you want to know this information. Alas, we’re only on week 3, so I’ve forgiven her for the accidents. SHE WILL GET THIS. I just know it.

However, there’s been so much discussion about the Twilight books/movies over the past few years, I finally said to myself, “Wow, Twilight is so popular. I guess I should go ahead and read the books so I can be in the loop. After all, how else will I know if I’m Team Edward or Team Jacob?”

Of course, this meant I would have to read a lot in order to catch up. So, I watched the movies instead. I borrowed the DVDs from a friend and spent three days in a row catching up before watching Breaking Dawn in the theater. I’ll admit that the story line drew me in, but the movies weren’t that fantastic.

“Oh, the books are SO much better! You HAVE to read them!” I heard this from countless friends. So, I borrowed all the books from a friend. I found Twilight to be so painfully boring and shallow, that I could only get through the first half of it before giving up. I asked my friend to give me the major points of each book so that I could skip books two and three. At that point, I just wanted to read Breaking Dawn so that I knew how it all ended before the final movie comes out in November (?) 2012.

You guys, I’ve been trying to read Breaking Dawn since the beginning of January. I’m still on page 618 (of 754). I just cannot get into it. I’m sure this sounds like blasphemy to many of you. Am I the only one who feels this way? I like the general story idea, but it’s just not well executed. I honestly don’t give a crap about a single character in any of the books. I feel nothing for them, not even for the baby with the weirdest name ever who can’t keep her little hand off everyone’s face.

I really wanted to like the Twilight series. So, what’s the deal? What am I missing? Is it because I’m not an avid reader?