spring is..

sitting out in the sun drawing with a beer

looking up at the beautiful sky.

sitting outside playing with a random dog.

hey cute dog..

it's much more than that you know but it felt like an awesome spring day yesterday and all the above things were lovely to do.

craving..

Finally.. I satisfied my craving for this yesterday. I have wanted one since I had it the first time a while ago.

Can anyone say southern style pulled pork with jalapeño coleslaw... enough said.

300th post.

I'm celebrating my 300th post with these awesome new "Live Art Wednesday" drawings:

You may not be able to tell but these are done on small wood panels. I really needed a good night at Live Art Wednesday. The last time I was there I was to drained to create anything. This time I just kept to my comforts and and tried something new with it and it worked. I got a lot of positive feedback which was so nice and validating. I felt proud of myself and the start of a new series.

Yesterday was just the "pick me up" I needed. Like the weather, I've been all over the place over the last month. One day I'll feel fine, the next day I will feel defeated or drained. I think it's to be expected with all the major life changes I've gone through.  Just have to make sure and keep the long term goals in sight and go for it.

Other than all that.. I just really want summer to be here. I want to the sun to decide to stay out for more than two days at a time. At times I deeply miss Utah spring/summers. You could wear a t-shirt at night and not be chilled. I miss driving through the canyons with the windows rolled down and feeling the warm air on your skin. The temperature would rarely go below 75 at night and often would stay in the low 80's. It's funny I get so nostalgic for that, I'm sure if I lived there it would be different. I never did mind being hot, I actually love to sweat in hot weather. Come on Summer!

and that my friends.. is my 300th post.

On the iPod lately:

sad pandas

I'm sad that I've lost my following with switching my website name. such a bummer.

wiener dog races

(aka dachshund races and Golden Gate fields)

Yesterday I spent the day at Golden Gate fields watching the wiener dog races and horse races. I've never been to the horse track, bet on a race, and all that. What a perfect day for me to go with the wiener dogs racing as well.

a lovely track and well maintained field.

 You didn't think I was joking did you?

Look at his little number jersey.

wieners everywhere..

 The only thing missing is our large hats.

 people get the finish line ready for the dogs.

The dogs are accompanied by two handlers/owners. One owner is at the start line and the other at the finish line. The owners at the finish line try to woo the dogs with treats, toys, and whatever else will get them to run like mad to them. It was super cute to watch.

I know the video is hard to see and even a bit wobbly but you get the idea.

Here is a better video:

We saw several horse races as well and I even bet on a couple but lost.

Horses coming out from the start gate.

Here they come..

 Before the race you can go and see them getting ready and decide up close which horse looks the strongest etc. If they poop during this time it means they supposedly will run faster during the race.

 My picks: horse 1 and 3. Horse 3 had a female jockey.. I couldn't resist but to bet for her.

dang..  better luck next time. I wish we could have bet on the dogs like we did on the horses.

catching up

I've been super terrible about maintaining my blog recently and for that I'm sorry. As you've read in the last several weeks my life has been all about tremendous change. This change has consumed the bulk of my energy and I find my myself simply wiped out and unmotivated at the end of the day. I had a feeling that would happen but the good news is that I'm starting to feel somewhat "human" again.

so what have I been up to? Well.. here are a couple of recent pictures.

I took myself out an a lovely hike in the redwoods.

Look at that awesome view.

This hike was last Sunday and I sadly fell sick after... so my week was spent getting better. I thankfully didn't feel well enough to take pictures of that.

This Friday was my nephew's birthday and I spent time with family. 

Here is Theo showing off his new lego castle thingy dingy

and of course every rose has its thorn. Here is Penelope with a very familiar angry look. (she even scares me)

No need to wonder where she gets this look. Here is my sister and her husband doing a lovely imitation of their sweet, sweet daughter. 

A family that scowls together stays together.

 and clearly Theo is not impressed.

After dinner I was surprised by some spontaneous street entertainment from my niece.

and yes.. that's her beat boxing.

I'm happy to say that I'm finally feeling a bit better and as you can see.. thoroughly entertained.

and we're back...

looks like I forgot to update my domain name so I switched back to ecoker.blogspot.com. Sorry for the hassle folks.

Napa day trip

 We had a very unnaturally warm week last week and luckily for me the hottest days fell on my days off. I convinced a friend to play hookie and take a day trip to Napa.

It was such a lovely day of soaking in the vitamin D and taking in the beautiful landscape. Look at the beautiful mustard in between the grapes.

This picture is one for their catalog:

Cuvaison was such a pretty tasting room and experience

..This is my try at a Julius Shulman shot:

The trip was short and sweet and hit the spot. 

I often forget and take for granted that I live in such a diverse area and that places like Napa are literally  in my back yard. I need to take more day trips now that I've caught the spring/summer fever.

rolling through my mind and the hills in Napa:

so not funny

look at the little April fool's gift that happened last night.

sure wish this was a joke.. but it's not. this is the result of a hit and run that happened as I was actually trying to avoid being hit/a victim of a crazy driver.

.