Watercolor and Some Inspiration

Every year, the school I work for closes for half a week for back-to-school cleaning and organizing and we have an in-service which usually consists of some type of team building or class. This year it was an art class with a Child Development teacher at a local community college. One of the assignments was to think back to a time during our childhood and visualize a self portrait. It didn't have to be our face; it could be a location or something physical. Next we were to cut out a piece of black paper. In no type of pattern, just cut. Once we were finished the professor handed us a piece of watercolor paper, a paint pan, and glue stick and asked us to glue the pieces of black paper into the self portrait we saw in our minds and then paint around the black paper with the watercolors. 

Every summer growing up my sister and I would stay with my uncle in Pacific Beach, CA at his condo for one or two weeks. We basically lived at the beach the time we were there and this is what I pictured when the professor asked us to go back to a memory of our childhood. After I cut out my pieces I realized there was this strange llama/dog/horse looking shape I had cut out. I decided I would make that piece my corgi, Clementine, because she ties in to the previous beach scene I had remembered. I love to take her to the beach.

The sun, the ocean, and Clementine.

Clementine at the beach! Derp!

After we watercolored that day, I found some inspiration to watercolor paint myself. It's funny because my entire life my grandmother has always pushed me to paint. Any kind of paint. Watercolor, oil, acrylic. It didn't matter as long as I was painting. She is a painter and I guess wanted to push her love on to me. Because she pushed and pushed, I believe I never really gave it a shot. That and I am not a creative person AT ALL so I figured, why try?

I went to Michael's yesterday and picked up a watercolor pad and some brushes. This morning I looked on Pinterest for some ideas and found a beautiful picture of poppies and decided to give it a go. I'm proud to say I actually really like it and I'm quite proud of myself. 

Watercolor poppies.

The only thing I would change would be the two randomly large ones at the bottom :/

I posted this photo onto my Instagram after and a lot of people have liked and commented about how I should frame it. I'm happy with how my first try has turned out.

Moral of the story?: As Nike says, "Just do it." JUST DO IT. I don't think I would have picked up a brush and painted hadn't I taken that in-service but you can. You can try right now if you'd like. You might be surprised with the outcome :)

Have a wonderful day,

Samantha 

Long Overdue UPDATE!

I am so excited to be back up and running! I have not got my laptop back up but I have figured out how to upload photos to Google+ and import them on the blog using my Asus Trabsformer Tablet! So I suppose this is how I will be posting until I find out what is wrong with my Dell :(
ANYWAY! I have been SO busy lately. I started my new work schedule. Rather than 32 hours I'm working a full 40 and have a math class at 7am Monday-Friday. No complaints here though. I am a morning person and I enjoy very much spending all day with my babies.
Ryan and I have been debating adopting a puppy for the past few months now and while his heart is set on a breeder for a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, my heart is set on adopting from a shelter. I had a dog when I was younger that we adopted from the shelter and I believe in saving those dogs. Who got the final say? RYAN. Of course I researched breeders in our area and found a wonderful woman in Riverside (about 2 hours away) who breeds her many AKC registered dogs. I really gave in because Corgis ARE adorable and it would be nice adopting an 8 week old puppy we could train and have from the beginning. I requested the health and sale agreement, looked it over, and Ryan and I decided to go for it! We mailed out the signed adoption agreement and our holding fee last Monday. She called Friday confirming and asked if we wanted a boy or girl. I let her know we wanted a girl :D She reminded us the litter is due December 10. They will be ready the first weekend in February! We will be driving up around the middle of January to pick her out and go back up to take her when she's ready! I have been probably over doing it with all the research and Corgi blogs I've been finding but I'm so excited! I already have a shopping list going for all of her things before she arrives.
I guess that's it! Here are some Instagram pics from the past week :)

I love painting my nails but I feel fall is for acrylics and shellac!

                                             I went a little crazy on crafts at Michaels...

And made some button bracelets! Possible blog post on these coming soon!

I voted for the first time! 

Driving into the fog on my way to school.

Email from DeeAnn with Noble Hearts Corgis about our baby!

Until next time, 

-Samantha

My Week On Instagram

I think every Sunday I want to post something like this. Where I can share some of my favorite photos I took that week. Yes, I think I will. I hope you enjoy :)

Instagram @sksinatra

Until next time,

-Samantha

First Post!

I am beginning my first post on the last day of summer. Isn't this the perfect time to start a blog? I have been debating this whole thing for months. I even started this blog months ago and never got around/ never sitting down to start my blog journey. Let's make this short and sweet, shall we?
My name is Samantha and I am 21 years old. I am a preschool teacher at an exceptional school here in San Diego with the most bright and beautiful children I have ever met. I am blessed to see their faces more than I see my own families. I live with my best friend and sister Jessica, her boyfriend Matt, and the love of my life Ryan. These three people know everything about me. They see me at my lowest and my highest. My bad days and my really bad days. I trust these people with my life.
I have been debating starting a blog because in the last year I feel like I have lost many people. People who obviously aren't interested in sticking with me through my journey. People who are aren't supportive of me. "Surround yourself with positive successful people." is how I want to live my life now. I want to be able to blog about my life and my struggles and my happy moments because it what makes me happy. I want to blog about the nail polish I'm wearing that day or the craft I tried. I want to make people happy with my happiness and be inspired by my words. I want to make a difference. This is a reason why I have become a preschool teacher. I am in the first few steps of molding an individual with creativity and knowledge. It's seriously mind blowing!
I hope you all stick with me and enjoy my future blog posts. I leave you now with a few pictures of my life :)

  

Until next time,

-Samantha