New Baby

We have a new baby in the family... of the terrapin kind... a little red ear slider turtle. Her name is Mataio and she's the cutest thing ever. I'm fixed up her tank with nice river rocks and agates, a plant (fake cuz she eats them too fast), and some ledges to bask on. She never comes out to of the water to bask though... she only comes up for air then goes back under. I've made sure she can easily climb out on them, but nope, she won't. I'm going to get a turtle dock on Tuesday, and hopefully that will help. I wanted something more natural looking, so I used the stone ledges, but they don't seem to be enticing her to climb up on.
Any tips for getting her out of the water to bask?
I ordered a snazzy UVA/UVB light for her, which should be here any day now. In the mean time I've been using a 'daylight' in the hood. Maybe once the special bulb comes she'll be into basking more.
She's eating very well. I feed her floating turtle pellets (sticks) as her staple, and supplement her with veggies. I've trained her to come to me when I wiggle my finger in the water (that only took 2 weeks) and now I'm trying to get her to trust me to pop the food in her mouth, so I can hand feed her. She's pretty close. She stares at my fingers holding her food, but she won't take it from me quite yet.
My camera is at the studio, so I'll bring it home and post some pics of her soon.

What kind of pin up girl are you?

I took this little quiz and this was my answer.....

you are the smartie pants! you're very intellectual
and love to read and write..its all
good..you'll be successful later on in life!


What Pin Up girl are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

In my little 'small town USA', our annual celebration is "Rhody Days" short for Rhododendron, our flower. They grow wild and rampant here. Really pretty.
So, during Rhody Days, our quiet little town fills with thousands of bikers, families, a carnival, street vendors, hot rods, parades, craft shows, car shows, you name it.
It's coming up May 20th-22nd, so if you are in the area - stop by!!

I made it

April 1st I celebrated my first year in my studio/store. When I arrived to open that day, I was treated to an watercolored sign, pretty purple balloons framing my window (can't see them in the pic below), gorgeous cake, and oodles of food for the day & night.
Jeremy put up the balloons & sign & made food... Lauren made my cake - a gorgeous lemon, tiered cake a with cherry blossom design (and also brought more party food for the evening)... and Justin also made scrumptious appetizers that everyone loved. Later that morning Jennifer & Terry sent the pretty purple bouquet... and my Mom helped me buy party food and letters for my sign.
It was a great day. I had and open house all day, then a party that night.

Thanks to everyone who made my first year a success & a pleasure!! I'm so lucky to be doing what I love for a living.

Art & Soul Withdrawl

I am missing every aspect of my Art & Soul experience. Mingling with the other artist was inspiring, the classses were amazing, and the food great. The surge of creativity I came home with was fantastic, but now it's up to me to carry it on, on my own. Time - I need more time.