oops, it's monday

i've skipped my BSM ritual since this move has taken over my life...i actually took this the week prior, but i''d like to add it to the archives anyway. hope your monday was artful...

the creative life

a few weeks ago i took a big step toward living the creative life i have been craving. and then on saturday, david and i took a pole-vaulter's leap right smack into it. i'd been talking about the idea for months, and finally went to my bosses and made it happen. right now i work a regular m-f 8-5 job in the rehab unit of my hospital.  in about a month i will work only THREE DAYS A WEEK!  and get paid the same salary.  that's four days left to write, take photos, paint, volunteer, shave my legs...all the things i usually try to cram into two days and a few exhausted evenings. (okay, the catch is that i'm transferring to the ER position where i'll work sun-mon-tues 9am-9pm and carry the pager overnight each of those nights.)

now, for the second part...we had been tossing around the idea for about as long, but it wasn't until last weekend that it really gelled.  if you look at the above photo, and the one below, and get any type of "feeling"...you'll know exactly why we did what we did.  on saturday david and i signed a lease on an old classroom that hopefully with a little love and some serious demo, will look similar to the photos. this was the opening of iyollo gallery...our friend george's space, which is right next door.  the hope is that we can get a few more artists into the remaining wing of the old school building, which houses the multicultural center, MECA.

if you know any artists in houston looking for a vintage classroom turned art studio...send them our way! i'm beyond excited for this new chapter in our lives, i could never have dreamed this for my life when i started the blog nine months ago.  it truly is a birth...of my creative spirit, following my dreams, and sharing it with my incredible husband...who is finally realizing a life-long dream of showing his work in his own gallery.

i am just happy to have a place to go on those FOUR DAYS OFF to make really big art and write my stories and take photo walks around the historic neighborhood. (and get out of this teeny apartment we just moved into!) it's like the creative wings i've had locked up all these years have finally broken free. they refuse to be clipped...now i just have to jump out of the nest and pray they work.

i'm sure i'll be sharing much more about our studio renovation and business plans over the coming months...especially after may 3, when i start my new schedule. by the one-year anniversary of this blog (sometime at the end of june), i hope to be truly living the creative life.

i am here

hello my sweet blog...how i've missed you. i am buried under boxes and with barely a moment to sit down, you have been neglected. oh, how i long to pick up my camera again! to share my incoherent ramblings with the blogverse. soon the torture of the cross-town move will end and we will be together again. i will caress the keys and share joyful tales of packing tape and dollies and 300-pound dressers. i will once again become a girl with only one address and clothes in one closet. i will have internet access and a sun-filled room in which to share all of my discoveries.

even though you can't see me....i am here.

yee haw!

my favorite shot from the houston livestock show and rodeo

artful weekend

despite the fact that i spent most of my saturday at defensive driving, i did have a lot of fun the rest of the weekend. one of my friends from grad school got married friday night, and it was a beautiful wedding--but mostly a kick-ass reception--complete with mariachi band! david and i swung by fotofest on our way home to check out the scene.

then, after my class on saturday we stopped by winter street studios, which are open on the second saturday of each month.  a few of my favorites were:

• ryan fugate
• whim designs
• carol mckee

there was another artist, matt messinger, who i LOVED, but he doesn't have a website apparently.  you'll need to go over there to see for yourself!  he does a lot of mixed media and found object art....so i was loving his space. it is so nice to see artists showing the kind of art that i'm making. and all of the abstract art at winter street really has me drooling to play with david's oils.  (in the garage, of course)

here are a couple things i was working on tonight:

oh, and we went to the rodeo today...sometimes there are no words.

okay, yes i did try one.

little red boots always make me smile.

discovery #29

i am an unsafe driver.

this is actually not a new discovery. i have known this for quite some time. every day, i do things in my car that would appall you. i eat breakfast almost every weekday morning during my commute to the medical center. i talk on my cell phone--and have been known to text message as well. i steer with my knees while putting my hair in a ponytail. i change cd's, reach into the backseat on occasion, and put on chapstick at least once daily.

i am what my defensive driving instructor calls "a distracted driver." yesterday i sat through six hours of friendly reminders that i could seriously injure myself or someone else because of the things i listed above. so, what i'm trying to figure out is: why do we do it? why do we take risks when we KNOW it is stupid?

i have a master's degree. i have worked in hospitals where people come in every day for motor vehicle collisions. i have family members and friends whose lives have been radically altered by drunk driving. i KNOW that what i'm doing is not safe. but i cannot explain why, as humans, we throw caution to the wind and ignore the signs. or really, ignore the law. is it because we say "oh, everyone does it!" is it because we get some kind of thrill by breaking the rules? i don't have the answer.

but what i do know is that i'm too old--and i know too much--to be driving like a 16 year old. i need to slow down and pay more attention when i'm behind the wheel. almost every traffic ticket or auto accident is due to something preventable; almost every one is due to "human error." the most important thing i learned from my (rather fun) defensive driving session is that being ten minutes late for work is waaaaaay better than being 45 minutes late, with a court date i had to take PTO for, and missing one of the most gorgeous days of the year sitting in a stinky classroom.

payback is a bitch.

silent saturday

best shot monday

my little sister and her hubby. 

we had one of those lovely early-spring lunches outdoors...

a perfect saturday with a perfect couple.

epitaph

the following is one of my favorite parts of shabbat services...known as the kaddish. it is a time to reflect on the loved ones we've lost and meditate on the meaning of love and loss, of life and death.

by Merrit Malloy

When I die
Give what's left of me away
To children
And old men that wait to die.
And if you need to cry,
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.

I want to leave you something,
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.

Look for me
In the people I've known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live in your eyes
And not on your mind.

You can love me most
By letting
Hands touch hands.
By letting
Bodies touch bodies.
And by letting go of children
That need to be free.

Love doesn't die.
People do.
So, when all that's left of me
Is love,
Give me away.

silent saturday

happy monday

okay, so i can't pick just one for my best shot monday...but i figure since they're so different, it's allowed.  when i was in college, my family came to visit me at my university in england.  we traveled europe for a few weeks and stopped in venice.  my dad picked out this vase and was soooo proud of it.  it sits on his computer desk now and i'm loving the afternoon light show above.

these are from my mom's china cabinet...no one ever looks in there, including me...so it was so fun to get them out for their first photo shoot.  i'm not a real "still life" kinda gal, but for some reason i love how this shot turned out.  you can't tell from the image, but they are so petite...the cup is about the size of a shot glass.

happy monday!