Sea Turtle Nursery Art For Laura, By Artist Whitney Madison

**NEW SEA TURTLE PAINTINGS**

for my friend/coworker/client, Laura Hart.

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(Please contact my online art gallery for custom orders at the web address above)

Laura is expecting a baby, and these sea turtle paintings were custom ordered for her nursery decor.

*11"X14" canvas

*Custom, handcrafted frames

*Signature texturized style
*Hand sculpted bubbles
*Metallic acrylic paint
*Sea glass/satin ribbon embellishments
*High gloss glaze coating for protection

www.etsy.com/shop/arcticbarbiegirl

Sea glass/satin ribbon embellishment

Hand sculpted bubbles

Signature texturized style by artist, Whitney Madison

Please visit my online art gallery at
www.etsy.com/shop/arcticbarbiegirl

Custom orders welcome.

Cheers!

Hitting The Trail Again: A Little Blog About My Adventures In Running

I DID IT! 6 miles at Red Rocks!!!

Some of you are like, "Yay!" and some of your are like, "Whoopty freakin' do", but I'M PRETTY STOKED RIGHT NOW.

I just completed my first trail run of 2012. There was no trail running in 2011, or 2010, so really I'VE JUST COMPLETED MY FIRST TRAIL RUN IN THREE YEARS!!! This is the first time I have been out running at Red Rocks since my major surgeries in October of 2009, and Jan/Feb of 2010. It felt fabulous to be back out there. GORGEOUS day today, and a nice cool breeze was blowing by.

I won't lie to you though--my guts feel like I just stuck them in a martini shaker and let Tom Cruise have a go at them in the movie, Cocktail. Blech. Something tells me there is just way too much "wiggle room" inside of my abdominal cavity right now. Before I had a large portion of my GI tract removed, my sister was like, "Well what in the heck are they going to fill you up with then?...Pez?". I don't think it's actually standard practice to fill up abdominal cavities with high fructose corn syrup products, and truth be told, I'd take Nerds over Pez any day.

So, yes, although it felt awesome to be back out there, I did realize that "the old grey mare just ain't what she used to be". Fear not though--I am determined to work my way back up to the trail runner I used to be. It's going to take some assistance though. Why? Because I shouldn't be running six miles without some form of hydration. I am going to have to break down and buy a Camelback. I used to do this run all the time prior to my surgery, and I never carried water. However, now my body likes to practice mass wasting of electrolytes post-op, and I don't want to end up with my EMT BFFs meeting me on the trail so they can start an IV on me and fill me up with 0.9% normal saline.

HOLY FREAKIN' HOT MEN RUNNING ON THAT TRAIL, BATMAN! I will not lie, there were some serious hotties out there today. Hot, sweaty, buff men. Who needs match.com when you have that? (no--I'm not on match.com...just FYI).

I also think something happened to my knee when I so gracefully tumbled down my garage stairs the other day. I realized this when I was out on the trail and it started popping. I had my iPod on, but you know how you can still hear things that go on inside of the body, even if your ears are plugged? Yeah, it was kind of like that (*click*click*click*).

I had a total ACL replacement of my left knee when I was in highschool. I used to ski race for Loveland (slalom, giant slalom, super G, and downhill), and blew my knee out going like a bat outta h*ll off the top of a run in my tuck back in the day. I was reminded that I still have two 8mm bolts in my knee when I was surfing during my last trip to Hawaii. No bueno. Getting older *SUCKS*. Not a fan...

All things considered, the run went very well. It's going to take some getting used to, but if felt so good to be outside again. That is only my third time running outside since my surgeries. Assuming my intestine goes back to normal, I'll be ready to hit the trail again soon.

The only casualty on the trail was when I ran face first into a little green slimy worm that was hanging from one of the trees. Actually, there were about 50 little green slimy worms hanging from the trees. It scared the holy living crap out of me, and I'm sure I looked like a complete idiot trying to get the web/worm off my face. Probably a great way to snag a hot trail running man.

Final score: Worm 1     Whitney 0

A Great Song For Life...

THE CLIMB

Ok, so I totally get that this is a Miley Cyrus song and some of you are probably like, "Dude, that's totally frickin' lame". However, it's one of my faves (so shut it).

This song was in the Hannah Montana movie--and it was totally lame in that movie. The actual song is killer though. You also have to realize that we are/were huge Hannah/Miley fans in this house. Paige and I watched almost every episode of Hannah, we all had Hannah wigs, and I love singing along with Miley, because just like me--SHE HAS A LOWER FEMALE VOICE!!!!...which means I can actually sing along with her! :)

Regardless, this song is beautiful. It's a great song to get you through the struggles of life.

Peace.

JUNEAU & THE AURORA painting by artist Whitney Madison

 As my friends and I meandered up the highway to the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska, the sites were stunning. The snow capped mountains were steep, and sharp. Waterfalls could be seen streaming down the sides. Bald eagles were soaring through the air, and perched on the tops of the trees. As we pulled into the parking lot by the visitors center, the glacier could be seen in the distance. It was an amazing sight to behold. The sheer size was awesome, and unreal. At the base was a bright blue glacial lake. Trees lined the perimeter. The water from the lake was diffused up through the glacier's snow, spreading its blue throughout the white conglomerate of flakes and ice. The Mendenhall Glacier was the inspiration behind this painting.

www.etsy.com/shop/arcticbarbiegirl

The northern lights of the Aurora Borealis stream overhead.Fully texturized in my signature style, this painting has metallic acrylics on an 18"X24" heavy duty, raised, wrapped canvas.

www.etsy.com/shop/arcticbarbiegirl

www.etsy.com/shop/arcticbarbiegirl

 No framing is necessary. The painting is sealed in a high gloss glaze, and some areas are accented with high gloss sparkle glaze (glacial snow, trees, ground snow, and the Aurora). Perfect for any room in your home.               

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To view this painting, and my other artwork, please visit my online art gallery at

www.etsy.com/shop/arcticbarbiegirl

Price: $300.00

By The Grace...

As unsettling as imperfection is, I know that through Your grace I will one day be made perfect.

Thank You for believing in me.

Perfect Song.

This song sums it all up.

The Breakup Diaries: Volume I; Week 1

I did it! I made it through my first week of being a single woman (again)! My on-again-off-again relationship with the Cute Alaskan Man crashed and burned exactly one week ago today.

The week actually went pretty well, all things considered. I didn't spend an exorbitant amount of time crying in my bed, or eating metric boatloads of chocolate. I ate my normal amount of chocolate, and only spent a few extra hours feeling sorry for myself. I spent the same amount of time at work, and working out on my treadmill. Seems like the daily grind is still pretty much the same. The only thing that was super different was not having to field phone calls from the 907 area code, and I had a serious decrease in the number of text messages I received this week.

Going through breakups is strange. I've been through a few (X10) with the Cute Alaskan Man over the past 3.5 years. He's the only man I've dated since my divorce in December of 2008. The idea of getting back out into the dating scene is enough to make me want to puke. There's been a slew of weird emotions going on with me this week. It's been kind of weird to experience.

Strange things happen when you are single at my age. Some women get back out there and hit the dating scene right away. I can't really picture doing this. I have children that would require a babysitter, so if I ever went out on a date the guy would have to be amazing enough for me to want to actually fork money over for a sitter. I don't see this happening--EVER. I just don't find men to be that amazing.

It's hard for me to remember what dating truly looks like. It has been a long time since I've actually dated in the "Danger Zone". "What's the Danger Zone, Whitney?" I'm so glad you asked. It's the zone where you actually have to date someone you've not known before. See, when I was up at college at UAF I didn't date. Wait--that's not exactly true. I did see one guy while I was up there. This was how I actually met Tristan. I dated his friend for a very short period of time. It was right when I got up to UAF. After we broke up I decided that I was up at school for academic reasons, and men were not on my agenda anymore. I didn't date until my senior year, and that was a whirlwind romance that led me to the alter at warp speed, and ended with my failed 8 year-long marriage. I should've stuck with that "no dating in college" policy all the way through. After my divorce, Tristan was the only guy I dated, so technically, I haven't been in the dating Danger Zone since about 1996. Eeeeeek!!!! Scary. Don't know that I'll be back there anytime soon.

Weird things happen when you are single at my age. Guys start coming out of the woodwork--whether you want them to or not. Perhaps I shouldn't have changed my Facebook relationship status to "single" and just put up a front on there that I was still "in a relationship".

For the most part, I've got a great group of guy friends. I've always gotten along better with men than women. I have my best girlfriends (my arctic barbie girls, and a few others), but I can't handle a whole lot of female drama. This goes back to the beginning of time with me. I was the girl on the playground in elementary school who used to be out playing soccer with the boys at recess while all the girls were on the playground equipment playing house, or Care Bears. Not much has changed. I would still rather hang with "the boys" most of the time. Chicks don't get this though. They have to taint everything by suspecting that there is some ulterior motive behind it. Rest assured, ladies, there is not. I'm just a "guys gal".

It's also strange to have a 20 year old daughter at my age. With this comes a whole bunch of friends that are around the same age. They like to give her crap about me sometimes. She has one friend who keeps telling her that he is going to start dating me. He's 20. It's HILARIOUS to see the reaction he gets from her. He's gone so far as to say, "It's going to be really weird when I'm your step dad" to her. LOL! As adorable as he is, I don't ever see me wanting to reenact the Ashton Kutcher/Demi Moore scenario. It's also weird to look at 20 year olds and think to myself, "I'm old enough to be your mother!!!" Strange, but totally true. There will be no unleashing of my inner cougar (unless it involves Zac Efron--then all bets are off).

Another weird thing that happens when you are single at my age is that your married friends get all weird about you being single again--like all of the sudden just because you're available you're going to go all "Desperate Housewives" on them and try to shag their husband in a broom closet. I can honestly say that I find married men unattractive. This doesn't mean that I don't know some cute married men. However, if there is a ring on your finger, then in my eyes you are 100%, ABSOLUTELY off the market--which makes you ugly to me (LOL!--true). Breathe easy, ladies. Just because I'm single it doesn't mean I want anything to do with your husband. Not only that, but I've never really understood affairs. I don't get the "have your cake, and eat it, too" mentality. I believe 100% in the "if they'll do it for you, they'll do it to you" that comes with extramarital affairs.

Pa-LEEZ. *EYEROLL* I don't even have time to entertain the thought.

Some of you might be like, "Well what about church, Whitney? You go to church! You could meet a nice guy there!" Um...have you been to my church? I love my church dearly, but there are two types of men at my church--married men, and Marlboro men. My church is doing a remodel, and I hope it includes a giant ashtray in the parking lot where most of our young male church members can congregate to sing Kumbaya while simultaneously sucking down their cancer sticks.

I actually went church shopping after one of my breakups from the Cute Alaskan Man because there was no way I was going to enter the dating pool at my church. It is full of beautiful, God-loving men, but not a single one is my type. I did see cute, eligible bachelors at the church I went to when I went church shopping during my breakup. However, I didn't like the church service, or the band, so back to my old church I went. If I ever feel the need to find a good Christian man I'll have to start Whitney Bombing random churches again.

So, yes. Week 1 post-breakup is complete. Still alive, and kickin'. I've adopted the motto, WWJAD (What Would Jennifer Aniston Do). Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a bag of chocolate, and a Diet Pepsi and crawl back into bed for my daily hour of time I've allotted myself for mourning the death of my relationship.