Pepper Russell passed away on December 10th. She was very sick and we had to make the decision to let her be at peace. She was a river dog and loved going on kayaking trips. She traveled everywhere with my family. Many people treated her like their very own dog and for that reason, I feel the need to post this. We will all miss her smiling face at the put-in's and take-outs. We will miss her disgusting tennis ball in our laps, and we will most of all miss her unconditional love. Please remember all the good times we had with Pepper. She is at peace now.

-Christina Russell

Skiing!!!!

Today Josh and I met Kellie and Tyler for a full day of skiing at Mt Bachelor. It was the first time the four of us have skiid together. Pretty awesome! Special thanks to Kellie and Tyler for the tickets! Your rock out stinky socks. Happy to report no major crashes...but we all did practice the crash/roll on Skyliner :) To get those photos, we have to kidnap Tyler's camera...dun dun dun

Enjoy these!

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

From Skiing December 09

Here is the full album on Google

Skiing December 09

Thanksgiving 2009

This Thanksgiving was the first EVER in Russell history that "the boyfriends" were participating in. To re-iterate the significance of this, I always like to remind myself that it has been 22 years of NO BOYFRIENDS. Mister Josh was of course invited last year but was unable to attend so I guess this was the first year that they were invited and could make it. Pretty awesome. My sister, Kim, brought her new boyfriend Jesse along from Hood River. I think he had good fun with us :) We sure are a crazy family but nothing compared to the fam of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".

Josh, ever the creative one, brought along the wii. Turned out to be the best thing that happened to Thanksgiving in a while. Recap: Mom is a champion bowler, Josh turned Pro, Kim and I had a very close bowl off (I lost), and Jesse bowled the highest score at that point....222. No one got hurt which was a GOOD thing with the wii....did you know they have a term for wii specific injuries at the hospital? Ask Dan.

Anyways, enough talk. Here are some photo highlights of Thanksgiving with the Russell Family! Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Boat Repair and Curious Kitty Cat....

This weekend, we got out for some good paddling on Dillon/Lava. However, before we were able to get out, we had to patch Josh's boat. The patch was temporary but we sure were hoping it would last longer than it did. It came off just below Dillon Falls (atleast we think) but the plastic did melt in to the crack enough to prevent lots of water coming in. Josh's boat now has a partially repaired crack that needs more work before we can jump on the river again. Here are some photos of the process:



Above- Miss Nala was very curious during this whole process. What the heck were we doing? She sat under the Christmas tree watching our every move. She is too funny....

My New Art Page Has Been Updated:

I know I've already posted a bit about my new art website but here is a link to the freshly updated site. I think it is less overwhelming with color and a bit more professional. Hope you enjoy it...

http://www.nitrosisterart.com

Last weekend, Josh and I headed over to Newport to spend four days with my family. It was my mom's birthday and we were celebrating in style. The coast was (as usual) VERY stormy. The winds were averaging 50 mph and the rain came down in buckets. The waves were roughly 25 feet from trough to crest and the windows rattled all day long. Thankfully Josh and I were able to get out for a couple runs.

The house we rented was just North of Newport at Beverly Beach. Unfortunately for us, the storm was so strong that we seriously had no beach to look at the entire time. We were crossing our fingers for some beach time so we could teach mom and dad how to fly their new stunt kite but I guess that will have to wait. :( A+ for effort though :)

Here are a bunch of photos from the weekend. Thanks to Josh, we had a Wii to play which was great fun. We had several bowling and tennis tournaments. The puzzle my mom brought was a hit and we all spent plenty of time trying to put the "100 chickens" back together. Did I mention we had GREAT food? Pad Thai, Green Curry, and Sushi. YUM! What a birthday celebration! We all had so much fun and look forward to more trips like this in the near future :D

The End of Two Paintings

It took me forever but I am very pleased with both of these babies. More so with "Illumination" than "Party Wave". Sometimes I can overwork a painting and then be very disappointed. This happened with "Party Wave". Tragic. BUT messing around with paint IS always fun.....

I'm on to two new paintings. One is enormous by my standards. You will see once I post the initial photos. It's is going to wipe out my stash of gorgeous blue paints. Time to place another order with Daniel Smith!

"Party Wave"

"Illumination"

Hope you enjoy!

-Christina