For Illustration Friday's "clean" challenge.

Getting in the groove again with another illustration while at Starbucks.

A quick sketch while at Starbucks today. I've noticed that when I don't sketch daily I lose my tempo and feel rusty. Note to self: don't ever be too busy to sketch!

An illustration for "skyline" and "sky"(Illustration Friday and Blind Contour First Friday-July).

Hot air balloons have always been a favorite of mine. I live very close to two lakes where often ballooners will lift off, sometimes the sky will be dotted with them. I was able to get inside one last year and actually lift off. What a thrill; my husband and I plan to take a balloon ride in the future.

I am feeling very independent these days. I am afraid I have been so busy with summer projects that I haven't been a-bloggin' much. It is just too beautiful to stay cooped up inside!

We finally did it! We found a set of patio furniture after 2 months of looking. I haven't seen it yet---go figure--(what kind of slang is that Maggie, you say) but my husband and I had a specific set of criteria-which changed 3 times! My husband found it, after almost exhausting all our choices, we lucked out. Tomorrow we will set it up; we are just thrilled!

Now that the deck is almost completely finished it is SO great to sit out on and watch the stars at night. We still have more work to do but it's really coming together nicely.

People in this state are HUGE fireworks fans. On Saturday night I watched them from the deck and they were shooting them off all around us. I couldn't keep my eye on one area for more than a moment-and loud! I don't care how old you get, I believe you never get tired of fireworks-it brings out the child in one. Fireworks are All American B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

I wish I had my bookplate finished to post for the 4th of July but it will have to wait. I have two weeks to complete another project, then maybe I will have some time.

Now I must go outside and make sure the neighborhood children aren't torching our home with those fireworks! :)