"A Fine Mess"

So it is our last day of our trip to Ottawa/Montreal Canada and this is the piece of artwork that inspired our day. After squeezing as much fun as possible out of the day before in Montreal, we decided to sleep late and stay in Ottawa. DME (Digital Marketing Expert), FGT (First Grade Teacher), and PRC (Public Relations Consultant) all decide to go for a run. Me.....I am on vacation people! So I stay behind for a long shower and lots of coffee and magazines. I hear they ran all the way to Starbucks and I secretly hope that the Barrister at Starbucks forgot that they said "skinny" and made their lattes with lots of sugar and whipped creme. :) And when they got back they announced their idea on how to spend the day.


FGT is the artist who made the "RELAX" piece of artwork and it hangs in one of her bathrooms. She made it! We all want one too. So the plan is to go to the art studio called "A Fine Mess" and make one for ourselves to take home. I am all over this idea and can't wait to get started. PRC is a little hesitant but too bad! She's going! (And as it turned out.....PRC's piece ended up being the best and most "artsy" one in my opinion.) So all the sweaty runners showered and off we went to "Michael's" for us each to pick out a canvas. Next stop was the art studio. We walk into a cute art shop with lots of tables covered in colorful paint tarps in the back where we will create our masterpieces. Of course I walk in dressed in white from head to toe but no worries they had lots of big shirts to wear as painting smocks to protect our clothes.


Armed with our Naked Pita Chips, guacamole, and red licorice we are ready for the first layer and start painting the entire surface of our canvases. Next comes decorative paper that we can cut or tear anyway we want. We decoupage these onto the surface. We add more color with a dry brush. Swirls and stripes get added. Gold paint to write with. We are pressed for time and the studio is closing but we all finished somehow (everyone except FGT but she lives there and come back to finish) and voila.....we all have our own art souvenir to take home. They are beautiful!









The plan now calls for us to go to the market and get what we need to make dinner. We are staying at the house and going to make a fabulous meal with great wine and appetizers. I am in charge of making Bruchetta and find a nice hunk of Parmesan Reggiano. The tomatoes at the market are a bit anemic looking so we decide to doctor up the Costco Bruchetta at the house. DME gets all of the "fixin's" (I've been living in the South way too long and words like "fixin's" keep creeping into my vocabulary) to make a Greek Salad. We find some crusty bread and FGT picks up a box of "Goodies" (which are like Good and Plenty's) candy for our dessert.









Back at the house we poured a glass of wine and began the preparation of our feast. DME's Greek salad tasted as wonderful as it looked, the bruchetta was delicious and the "Goodies" made me kind of sick because I ate too many. Something about wine and licorice don't really work well together. I need to remember this for the future. FGT's wonderful husband (who set the bar unbelievably high for husband behavior because he basically checked into a hotel along with their boys for the weekend so that we could have the house to ourselves!) gave us each a huge bottle of Maple Syrup to take home. THANK YOU! Oh and don't let me forget the bottle of Sterling Cabernet he provided us! So after high levels of laughing, eating and drinking it was soon after midnight and we all had to get to bed because we had to be up at 4:00 AM to get to the airport for our early morning flight back home and back to reality. Au revoir Ottawa. A bientot.....we only scratched the surface and want to go back!