San Antonio Art Retreat

 
Im thankful for the 3-4 times a year I get to go out of town and work on new designs for the tees. I normally just jump on I-20 and go hole up in a B&B somewhere for a couple of days, but this time,

I got to hop on a plane and meet up with one of my favorite people in the whole world down in San Antonio, Texas.

  This is not the first time I've met up with Jennifer Gunter out of town while she worked... We had a Vegas experience back in 2005 where she was at a Pharmacy (Residency convention) thing and I tagged along.

The BillBoard music awards were in town (we went!) and we lied and told everyone that our names were "Kate" and "Sienna" and we were writers for InStyle Magazine doing a story on the show..... It. Was. A. Blast.

  It is amazing how 11 years (later) can change a couple of girls!! hahaha

 Over that time period, She & her family moved to Texas and she got a job with the VA Hospital in Dallas. I got divorced. She had her 3rd child. I got married again and then had the two P's. That is a quick summary :) 

   Needless to say, we were now in beds & lights out pretty early!! Our alcoholic beverages never exceeded more than two in one night

and our late night talks were now about living intentionally and our families. I Love Jennifer so much! She is very wise and fun and someone I am totally honest with no matter how bad it makes me look. True Friend :) 

  I learned something about myself this past week...Im more of an Introvert (or at least Jennifer figured this out for me). I truly get my energy from being ALONE. Why has it taken me 37 years to truly realize this? I have always been outgoing and I feel comfortable talking to people, but in the same tune, talking to people sucks the life out of me. It wears me out! I normally have to go hide out in the bathtub every night or sneak in a nap to get away from the world to recharge. Getting away to travel is AMAZING and ENERGIZING for me. 

  Absorbing the vibe a new place def helps bring on the creative juices.

I sketched on a plane.

I sketched over guacamole and chips.

I sketched in bed. I sketched by a rooftop pool.

I sketched at a garden.

I normally just work on t-shirt designs, but this time, I allowed myself the time and permission to just sketch for the hell of sketching. Not for someone, or for some event. But 

just. 

for. 

me. 

Ahhhh----- this is so satisfying. I will treasure these little drawings for years to come and think back at those little moments.

I enjoyed the view from our hotel window of the River over breakfast each morning and did a 25 minute colored pencil sketch.

  As for the t-shirts, I got 13 designs done. Some of these were customs and the rest were for us. I already shared the funny Longhorn ready to do some Branding

and the Wood Chuck Chucks.

I also worked on a new Bulldawg, a fun food related design, our Christmas tee and more. While I was there, our new Warhawk design was at the printer and I got to see some sneak peaks of it.

Amongst all the drawing, I snuck off to the Alamo (Sorry PeeWee- I never found the basement either! ahhahahah)

I took some cool pics of a tree at the Alamo for my Talented Art Students to draw this Fall

and at the recommendation of a server, caught a cab and went to these Japanese Tea Gardens

The bridges and foliage were amazing.

I had a nice walk down a wooded path and had many thankful prayers to God. My buddy Scott would of liked seeing his shirt there too.

Here was a little waterfall at the gardens

Its funny how people react when they see you drawing.

They get so curious and want to come look so bad and finally break down and just come over to chat. I had one kid take my photo and then asked if I would take a Selfie with him! Heck yeah!

So funny. :)

  We ate very well. One evening we ate at Iron Cactus (enjoyed it) and another at the famous Mi Terre (its open 24/7/365 days a year! Thank you Laurie for the recommendation )

Another thing about me, I am a food snob. I was trying to ask my local cab driver Ronald on where to go eat. I told him Jennifer was tired of Mexican and was craving a salad and veggies and we couldn't go to a chain. He totally ignored that last part and suggested Olive Garden. What??? No way. 

 Let me try again. "Ok Ronald, let me ask you this, if it was your birthday, and you could go anywhere to eat in this city and price didn't matter, where would you go??" Do you know what his answer was?.... freaking Olive Garden again!! HAHA Thankfully, Jennifer found this cool place called ZINC.

We sat in an intimate courtyard area and sweated our asses off!

haha
But the food was delicious.

We started with Hummus. And then I had the Shrimp and she had the crab cakes.

We ended with molten chocolate and a bread pudding. I hope Mario isn't reading this!

Also loved lunch at Acenar on the Riverwalk too.

The birds and squirrels just come right up to you. 

If you need a getaway that is not too far from North Louisiana, I'd def recommend San Antonio.
Now, back to reality :)  Happy 4th of July!!!!

Love
Lissy

The P's made their very first batch of homemade ice cream.

www.mrpstees.com