First of all, Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your friends and family.  In the spirit of thanks, I need to take a quick minute to say thank you!  Whether you’re brand new, you just hop on here once in a while for a tutorial or specific information, or you’ve been following my journey for years, thank you for reading my blog and for joining me on this journey.  This blog would be just a very time-consuming journal without you! I am not a rabid black Friday shopper.  Maybe I should be.  Maybe I’m missing out. I might troll the internet to see if something I wanted to buy anyway is on sale, but I’m not going to wait in line for doors to open, so I can race to get the latest and greatest deal. For those who are like me and take Black Friday at

I didn’t write a September Favorites post, because I figured my posts about Paris and Italy sort of covered all of my favorites!  (And I still have more to share on that trip, in fact!) As I was putting this list together, I realized I did a poor job keeping track of some of my favorite things for October.  Usually, I keep a running list, so I don’t forget the things that sparked my interest when it comes time to share, but I neglected to do that this month.  It’s been a busy month that has completely run away from me.  I keep saying that next week I’ll be back into a routine, but that just hasn’t happened this month. Anyway, here are some of my favorites (that I can remember)… Portrait Painting We have entered into the portrait painting segment of the I’m attending and I have enjoyed it immensely.  At