2010 Calendars Are Now Available!

This just in! My latest MonicArtista Calendar is hot off the presses. 12 months of all new paintings make "MonicArtista Goes Fourth" 2010 Calendar a must have for planning the new year and adding a dash of original art to your walls. Available for $20.00 ($25 including shipping). To purchase one, two, five or ten, contact me via email and I'll gladly take your order. The painting shown is "Winter Storm," featured in January. I've also got notecard set available for $10 each.

Soroptimist Spring Specials

I'm getting ready for the Desert Coast Region Spring Conference where I'll have a booth selling some MonicArtista products and My Classy Glasses. Anyone who's visited my site knows that I donate a portion of sales of particular items to charity. For example, Pretty in Pink benefits Between Women, a local breast cancer resource organization in the Imperial Valley and Pride Rainbow benefits the Tijuana AIDS Project through the Imperial Court de San Diego. At Christmas I also started donating a portion of Our Flag sales to the USO. Since I am a member of Soroptimist International, I decided I'm going to add Red Hat Dazzle to my list of "special" products. A portion of sales will be donated to Soroptimist International to help improve the lives of women and girls. As an added bonus, if you are a Soroptimist, type "SIA" in the comment section of the order form and I'll donate 10% of the entire order (not just the regular special items) to Project SIerra.

Be-Decked

I can't believe I broke my resolution to blog within two weeks...I blame the holidays! I'm back on track now and working on a few more projects. The only painting I've been doing lately is outside on my new deck. No, I haven't set up an easel in the manner of the masters, but rather I've been literally painting the wood posts and handrails, balancing precariously on a rickety ladder at times. However, it is in true MonicArtista fashion: midnight blue, rather than a boring beige or washed out color. Once the sun beats down on it for awhile, I'm sure it will acquire a distressed, weather-beaten patina reminiscent of a Mediterranean villa. El Centro is no Positano, to be sure, but there's no reason I can't open up a bottle of sangiovese, fill one of my classy glasses to the rim and dream of a more romantic, picturesque locale!
One more coat and I can move on to smaller painting projects. Lucky for me we built it in December, so it's only in the 80s. The pergola goes up next weekend and the entertaining will begin. I'm polishing up the stemware for a little mardi gras soiree/deck-warming party.
Speaking of Mardi Gras, I have some really cool Mardi Gras Mask themed glassware available if you're looking to toast in Lent. I'll be at the Calexico Chamber of Commerce's annual Mardi Gras Beer Tasting Xperience on February 20th, call 760-357-1166 for tickets, or just show up at the Historic DeAnza Hotel at 7pm. Tickets are $25 for all the beer, beads and Mardi Gras fun you can handle.
Well, that's all for now. I'm off to cut off my golden tresses and donate them to Locks of Love. If you have at least 10" of hair to spare, it's a great thing to do. The organization collects hair to make wigs for children battling cancer.

'Tis the Season

OK, so last week was a whirlwind of activity...meetings here, there and everywhere, a holiday showcase, a yard sale, a golf tournament and, well, let's just say I was happy to sleep in on Monday!

I had a booth at the Calexico Chamber of Commerce Holiday Showcase on Thursday afternoon. It was a bit slow, but I sold some of My Classy Glasses as well as some artwork, notecards, calendars and massages. And drank some wine, ate some holiday goodies and wrapped up the night with dinner at the Yum Yum with Hildy for a heated discussion about local politics, politicians and the city's business climate with Yum Yum owners Louie, Johnny and Cristina Wong. Finally wound up the day at midnight (for the 5th night in a row!) and took the back roads home to El Centro. If you're ever in Calexico, head to the Yum Yum for great food, friendly service and all the latest chisme...you won't be disappointed!

SDSU held a golf tournament on Saturday to raise money for scholarships. I do my best to support as many local events and causes as possible so I donated a golf-themed gift basket to the event: a couple of pilsners, some golf balls, a hand painted picture frame, a Christmas ornament and a wine bottle stopper from my "19th Hole" collection. I don't golf and can think of nothing more boring that watching golf, so needless to say, I missed the event. It was for a good cause, though and if they ever hold a miniature golf tournament, I will do my best to round up a team!

In lieu of a day on the greens, my best friend, Kristi, and I loaded up our cars and headed to Santee at the crack of dawn to have our first ever yard sale. Inspired by Niecey Nash, we had cleaned out our homes with the intention of holding a community yard sale in Campo around Labor Day. Well, remember that little imp named Procrastination? Well, he somehow heard of our plans and systematically sabotaged our attempts for months. Finally, at Thanksgiving, Kristi and I declared enough was enough, and decided to have our sale once and for all. There is more traffic in town, so we set up at Aunt Ginny's home. It was slow, but we managed to cut some great deals with several people and donated what we didn't sell to the Campo Homemaker's Thrift Shop, Friends of the Library and our church groups. It was also a great day to bond and make plans for the holidays and beyond.

That wraps up last week...I'm anticipating as much holiday madness this week as well with a posada at Alegria Adult Day Care tonight, trips to San Diego and a Christmas Parade on Saturday...'tis the season! Hasta luego...BTW, if you're agonizing over gifts, visit www.myclassyglasses.com.

Resolution Revolution

I'm making my 2009 New Year's Resolutions early this year...or maybe I'm just way, way behind the eightball for 2008! Can someone tell me how December got here so fast?

After not so much as picking up a brush for 6 months, I experienced a sudden burst of creativity a couple of weeks ago. Armed with a bottle of wine, I painted eight pieces in a mere 6 hours while "The Motorcycle Diaries" looped in the background so that I could get this year's MonicArt Calendar out. One of my faves from this year is "Blue Hawaii," inspired by Elivis and the hibiscus margarita glass I was drinking my lambrusco from that night. So sue me! I was tired of using the same old wine glass!

So, on to resolutions: #1 is done! I'm blogging! What?! OK, you're right, #1 is really lose weight (isn't that everyone's #1, except maybe Calista Flockhart and Kate Moss??) And blogging wasn't #2 either, or #3, 4 or 5...but starting at resolution #6 isn't bad. In fact, it shows that I'm making progress on #4 (the big "P," as in Procrastination!)

I'm also resolving to drink better wine out of cool glasses, and I've got some awesome ones at myclassyglasses.com. Until next time, Salud, dinero y amor!