Life would certainly not be complete without family and friends.  I am very fortunate to have a wonderful family and a close circle of special friends.  My BFF Beth and I are practically joined at the hip even though we live 200 miles apart!  We share everything and have a special bond that will last a lifetime.

As I cruise through life I meet lots of people and develop many friendships.  Some are casual, some are short lived but I have a special circle of friends that are friends for life. 

I can never tell anyone the story of how I met my husband without prefacing that tale with how I met Tammy.  We met in 1983 when we were both hired to work at a nightclub in Georgetown.  The manager that hired us turned out to be my future husband.  Tammy and I began a friendship that will last a lifetime. 

When I moved back to Virginia 2.5 years ago I did not have a house to move into for almost 5 months.  Tammy and her husband Ray took in our entire family (4 + one fox terrier)!

Ray’s hobby is drawing and he is a self taught artist with a lot of talent.  I have several of his pieces in my collection.  We have all been encouraging him to offer some of his work for sale, so this morning I sat down with Tammy and we set up an Etsy shop for his custom portraits. 

Ray does fabulous custom portraits from photos of homes as well as buildings, boats or cars and that is what he is offering on Etsy. 

This beautiful home in the old Wythe section of Hampton belongs to one of his neighbors.  One of their friends commissioned Ray to paint a portrait of the house as a gift. 

Here is Ray’s finished painting.   I am a big fan of Ray’s work and I wish him great success with his portraits.  What a great idea for a special gift.