In November I went to New Orleans. I had a great time. I’ve been there several times, but this time I visited a few new places. I have a timeshare condo in the French Quarter at the Quarterhouse, an awesome place! I went to the New Orleans Botanical Gardens in City Park and the new location of my favorite restaurant, Old Dog New Trick. My friend, Matt, joined me, and it was really nice to show him around to some of my favorite places. Highlights of the trip were City Park, Audubon Park, Café Du’Monde, Central Grocery (Matt loved the Muffaletta sandwich!), walking around the French Quarter, sitting on the levy people-watching, and one of the Haunted History tours. There are so many things to do in New Orleans! You can’t be bored when you are there!

Next door to the Awareness Village office is my friend, Jan Foss’, Studio and Gallery, Watercolors by Jan Foss. Jan has been a painter for 20 years and teaches watercolor classes and workshops throughout the Tahoe/Reno area and in Minnesota, where she works with a greeting card company. She paints mostly flowers (which she is particularly passionate about) and landscapes. Her teddy bear paintings are soooo cute! She uses a watercolor technique to make the teddy bears look really fluffy, and then she adorns the finished product with a real ribbon! Check out her website!

One of Jan’s favorite things to paint is personal angel portraits. All she needs is someone’s name to develop the portrait. Before she sits down to paint, she meditates and prays. The portraits represent a deep trust in the creative process, and a connection with the source of her creativity. Who do you know who would like to have an original, one-of-a-kind, personal angel portrait?

On November 7, Jan hosted a show of one of her students, Trina Gold. Trina has done some fantastic watercolors, including some of irises and scenes from a family ranch in New Mexico. Trina and her husband also have a music studio, here on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, Big Water Studios.