donate, dine & wine and new paintings

I didn't write yesterday, but I did update my blogs look a little... I think this template is a little more 'me' so I hope you like it!
Yesterday was my most favorite day of the month because it was the 3rd Friday of the month, which is the day I get together with my girlfriends for Donate, Dine & Wine.
Donate, Dine & Wine was started in Edmond, OK almost 3 years ago. The concept is simple. Get a group of friends together for dinner and/or drinks and then choose a charity to make a minimum $5 donation per person to each month. There are 6 groups (4 in Oklahoma, 1 in California, 1 in Texas) and our group name is Girls Behaving Generously. We formed in July of 2009 after 2 girls heard about Donate, Dine & Wine from a co-worker. We only dine at locally owned restaurants and we donate to local charities to be sure we're giving back to our community. This year we're donating to Best Friends of Pets. The mission of Best Friends of Pets is to end pet overpopulation by helping pets, their owners and our community. They offer great services, like low cost spay/neuter clinics, pet adoptions, id tags and pet education.
(To start your own group please read how easy it is here and then email Yara... I promise you will love it!)
We ate at West last night and the best part was they served a plate of blue cotton candy for dessert! Here we are....

Diana, me, Cindi & Amber at West

Aside from blog templates and donating, dining and wining (or beering, in my case), I worked on 2 paintings yesterday which aren't completely done but I posted them to facebook and got tons of great feedback so here they are....

12" x 16" x 1.5"

16" x 40" x 1.5"

I'm really excited about both of them and have actually come up with an idea to combine the two ideas to create a collection called 'a little bird told me' (inspired by my fabulous little sister). this collection will feature cute little chubby colorful birds full of wise quotes. The quotes will either by in thought bubbles or written in the branches the birds sit on. I'm in love with little birds and letters so intertwining them makes me giddy like a little kid in a candy store!
As a side note, I also had a really successful shopping spree at Half Price Books yesterday... I found this months issue of Nylon.... Score! Now to read my new magazine and paint a little before I have to go to a birthday party tonight. Such a beautiful day! I hope you all enjoy it :)