Doin’ some last minute prepping’ & packin’…
making some fun trick-or-treat goodie bags for my beginner pottery students tonight!
Lots of candy, toys, goodies, some extra tools, sponges & more!!!

Fun for all… unless you don’t like spiders?!!!

Yep, good thing I rode my bike this morning!!! As it was a fun day full of sweet treats! Including a wonderful cheesecake at lunch with brownies, caramel & hot fudge. Not to be out-done with some late-night ice cream from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams… with a trio of “unique” Fall flavors!!!

Celebrating another yummy holiday… late night snacks tonight for NATIONAL HOMEMADE COOKIE DAY!!! Special thanks to Christine for making these yummy pumpkin spice oatmeal chocolate cookies for our pottery class last night!!!

Just a little snack before teaching class tonight… you know how I love a good holiday!
Just celebrating NATIONAL GUACAMOLE DAY… yum!!!

They had a birthday party yesterday for him… while I was selling pots at ART IN THE GARDEN. Many of you have known him for years as one of my art fair assistants & pottery-loaded van driver!

So here’s his birthday update… he’s still enjoying his time at Friendship Village in Schaumburg. His eyesight is not great, but he’s still very active around the place, loves excursions, karaoke & dance classes. Sure it help that he also has the cutest gal-pal in Bonnie. They’ve been together for quite some time now… ADORABLE! It’s great see them both so happy together. So here’s to many more years to come!

And it looks like my cousin Kim had all of the frosting to herself as I wasn’t there to eat it first!!!

Well, here’s the next “harvest” of pumpkins in my studio… all assembled & “pumpkintized”!!!
Now they just need some color… FALL COLORS!!! So soon?… say it isn’t so…

After a full day of Summer Camp… followed by an evening in my studio… I felt that I “deserved” to celebrate NATIONAL HOT FUDGE SUNDAE DAY when I got home!!! … burp.

After a long day jam-packed with Fourth of July fun, it was time to drive home along I-55. And you just can’t drive past WALLY’S in Pontiac without stopping for gas & a little roadtrip snack! The drive was fine, until I got to Chicago to find out that Lake Shore Drive has been totally shut-down from McCormick Place up to Navy Pier for this weekend’s NASCAR road race. So I had to back-track, re-navigate and take Lower Wacker Drive to get up through & under the City to get home! Good thing I had stopped for snacks, huh???

The highlight of the Fourth of July Celebration in Chenoa is always the fireworks on the football field. I would say “easily” the best fireworks show every year. Over a half-hour of fireworks jam-packed & set to a patriotic music soundtrack. You can get close to the action if you want to… so there are no obstructions & and you feel like you’re surrounded with the festive flashes of fun! Okay, so there may be a few ashes raining down if you’re close enough, but that’s part of the fun, right???

One of the highlights of the Fourth of July in Chenoa, Illinois is the parade through town. It’s such a retro-flashback parade with people tossing candy to the kids, one marching band, one kid on a decorated bike (Ryann), clowns with water hoses, the Shriners in their little cars… and seemingly every old tractor, vintage car, or semi-truck that wanted to be part of the festivities. It’s a loud parade… but so much fun to see the parade with the little kids having fun along the route. Excited about the candy & festivities… not so much about the LOUD noises!

The weather had cleared up & held it’s own until the very end when a small cloud of drizzle passed over. Luckily, Mimi was there to hold “down the fort” while they shuttled the kids back to the house! I was more about the AMAZING hand-dipped & freshly fried corn dog that followed downtown… a little sprinkle of rain didn’t deter me!