My first painting: JP Patches

February 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Mortgage Master Service Corporation is closed today in observance of Presidents Day and will reopen for business as usual tomorrow. Since it’s a holiday weekend, I thought I’d share something personal with you.

My new hobby that I’ve recently picked back up is painting. With my son off to college, in the evenings and weekends, I’m really enjoying picking up the paint brush.

Here’s my first finished project: JP Patches on black velvet.

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For those of you who are not originally from Seattle or who didn’t grow up in my era, JP Patches is a local treasure who many of us would spend our mornings or afternoons with while watching him on TV.

My husband surprised me when he had JP Patches show up at my 40th birthday. I adore this clown.  

I don’t plan on posting all of my art on Mortgage Porter.  I’m starting a new blog for that.  Your regular scheduled programing will return tomorrow.

Happy Presidents Day.

Filed Under: Just for Fun Tagged With: , ,

Getting ready to pick up my paint brush

February 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Just for fun, I thought I'd share a new project that I'm starting: warning, this has NOTHING to do with mortgages. I'm going to attempt a black velvet painting. Not the paint by number stuff we did as kids, this painting is going to be over five feet tall. Here's my first draft (pencil) of the painting.

 

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This is a recreation of a Mucha painting, and I'm sure he didn't imagine having this done on black velvet.  We'll see how she turns out!  I've made her wine glass larger and added a label to the wine bottle… who knows, maybe I'll paint West Seattle's Luna Park in the background (don't count on it!).

I'm having a tough time finding much material about "how to paint on black velvet". I cannot find a book and this is probably the best advice I've found on the internet for painting on black velvet.

I will share the final results with you…good, bad or ugly! 

Filed Under: Just for Fun

First Seattle Snow of 2012

January 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Here are a few photos from my garden in West Seattle. I ran out to take these photos moments ago when the snow was beginning to look like it was mixed with rain. As I write this post, we're back to big fluffly snow flakes.

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This photo was taken by my son moments ago, as my husband is driving him back to Seattle U, on northbound I-5.

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Stay warm and safe everyone!

Filed Under: Just for Fun, Seattle

Happy Holidays

December 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our home to yours.

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Mortgage Master Service Corporation will be closing at 3:00 pm today for the holidays and will reopen for business on Tuesday, December 27, 2011.

Filed Under: Just for Fun

Santas Occupy Seattle

December 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Not really! Yesterday we started our Christmas shopping in Seattle and were delighted to bump into hundreds of Santas for Santacon 2011. Aparently all over the world, there were thousands of Santas coming out to be jolly before the big day.

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More photos of Seattle Santacon 2011

By the way, Christmas shopping in Seattle is one of my favorite things to do in the holidays. I highly recommend getting out to Pikes Place Market – especially on a sunny day.

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Filed Under: Just for Fun, Seattle

Sunday Drive to San Juan Islands

August 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

We recently took a family vacation and celebrated my husband’s birthday with our teens in the San Juan Islands. San Juan Island is beautiful and really not that far away from Seattle if you catch the non-stop ferry out of Anacortes.

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Gardens at Roche Harbor.

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The Mausoleum and exploring the history of Roche Harbor is a must when you visit San Juan Island.

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Lighthouse at Lime Kiln State Park where you can watch whales in a distance.

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Our ferry back home was delayed so we were able to spend a couple hours in Friday Harbor bowling and enjoying some ice cream.  Here’s a link to more photos from my San Juan vacation.

Filed Under: Just for Fun, Sunday Drive - Neighborhood Tours Tagged With: , ,

To All the Rock Stars at The Talon Group

August 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

It was announced a few days ago that First American is pulling in The Talon Group and Pacific NW Title. I've been thinking about all the fun and informative videos the group at Talon have created and thought I'd share "Rock Star" with you.

We get to enjoy these brands for a few more weeks until they're official absorbed by First American on October 1, 2011, when they all "combine forces".

For the record, I have enjoyed working with my escrow and title teams at The Talon Group for these past seven (?) years. I think you are all rock stars!

Filed Under: Just for Fun, Title Insurance

Voodoo Lilies from my Garden

July 6, 2011 by 2 Comments

Be thankful the photos in this post are not "scratch 'n sniff", voodoo lilies emit a very foul odor after blooming.

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According to Paghat's Garden:

Northwest gardeners have reported them spreading quite wildly, & requiring no special attention of any kind. They spread by self-seeding & by bulb offsets. If the seedheads are not collected, they will eventually fall over in the garden, where beetles or ants cart them away, spreading the voodoo lily more distantly. The penultimate photo below shows one of the green seed cobs in August. The final photo shows the ripened cob in October, when the stalk has softened has toppled to the ground so insects will clean & disperse the seeds.

We've had these amazing plants slowly spread through our garden.

This Q&A from the Seattle Times recommends not planting these too close to your home, especially near dining areas or your doors or windows because of the smell and the insects that are attracted to the aroma (which only lasts a few days).

This isn't something you'll find in vase in my home! But I will tolerate the smell to adore their beauty.  I was just out in my garden and had to share this with you!

 

Filed Under: Just for Fun
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