Ants, ants and more ants

If you served coffee to a guest in the designer coffee cup below you better be ready that it gets dropped on the table or the floor. After all, who wants "ants" in their coffee?

Ramblin' Rose Tri 2

We have been in Winston-Salem for a bit more than a year now and Amy decided to race the Ramblin'Rose Triathlon again. When she did it last year we had barely been here, and this time Amy actually had planned it a bit longer in prep for a Half Ironman in September. The goal was to be faster than last year and hopefully go sub 1 hour. Amy had an awesome race and finished in 59:07 and 51st out of almost 500 starters. (last year she finished in 1:04:22) Below are a few pics from the race.

Amy sets up her little transition area quite focused



Amy with neighbor Caroline before the race



The transition area with Winston-Salem in the background



The pre race meeting was busy and enthusiastic



The pool looks quite serene



Caroline and Amy in line ready for the swim



Amy about to start her swim



This race has a long run from the pool to the bike transition



Amy and Caroline in transition



A quick transition allowed Amy to get out fast



Heading out for the run after a fast bike ride



Almost home, sub 1 hour and more than 5 minutes faster than last year



The results area was quite popular

The ART piece that stayed at home

I made this mixed media art piece for the recent ARTpARTy but somehow felt that I liked it too much to give it up. I created a second piece and kept the one below. What you see are real flower elements on a black painted canvas with a really thick coat of lacquer on top.

A yard update

The front yard of our home on Clover Street was quite nice when we bought the home earlier this year. It really needed a bit of love though and some expert grooming and now it looks fantastic. Mostly bushes were trimmed back, a small rotten tree removed and some smaller bushes redistributed. Plus lots new mulch added.







This is what the front of the house looked like in April of 09

Nice cufflinks

Made from old payphones, these cufflinks are quite nice.

ARTpARTy on Clover

Last night we had our first ARTpARTy in our new home on Clover Street and it worked out great. There were lots of interesting and beautiful artworks plus a ton of nice people. Below are a few images of the people as they arrived with their creations. A few hours later everyone went home with someone else's art.

Amy finally wanted to create her own art piece



My artwork reflected too much and we had to go outside to not use the flash



Despite being a bit sick the last week, Mary was able to come



Caroline and Matt each worked on an art piece for the party



Art pieces showed up in all kinds of different ways



The older son of Nate and Jenny give them the inspiration for these popular items



Laura and Jared brightened up the party with their painting



An old tourism card print was crafted by Scott and Mitch



Tom and Travis and their candle art



An endless art piece by Laura



Luke and Melissa worked with wood



Ken is a neighbor from up the street and created an interesting Mango



Leanne and Breck worked in cork



Nancy created a 2-piece artwork



Treb ran an errand for us and thus came a bit later with his beautiful rope work



Related image galleries:
- Piedmont Leaf Lofts ARTpARTy
- 2007 Chattanooga ARTpARTy
- Late 2006 ARTpARTy in Chattanooga
- Early 2006 ARTpARTy in Chattanooga

Faded glory

We recently noticed that the dishwasher not only took the coffee stains out from inside this mug, but also the writing on the outside of it. Amy kind of felt bad because she used it a few times, but I think she is not to blame. My award seem to be fading away in conjunction with my fitness. :-)