March 27, 2009

Same, But Different

Yes, I have been wearing skirts around town. Today it was Skirt 32, but two weeks ago I wore Skirt 42. Today's post goes back two weeks, because it was almost the same events exactly,  except for two things... 

1) The business meeting:

Skirt 42 two weeks ago.

I'm having what I call a "Come to Jesus moment" here.

And Skirt 32 today...

I have a partner, she's wearing the red heels...

Watch out Dallas!

2) Le Art:
Skirt 42, two weeks ago at CADD for the opening of FLASH: PHOTOGRAPHY FROM DALLAS GALLERIES.

On view until April 23, it's a great show with a variety of photos and artists represented by dealers here in Dallas. Here I stand in front of my favorite pieces, which are by French photographer Cédric Delsaux. If you love Star Wars, urban scenes and great photography check out his work.

Tonight, I wore Skirt 32 to the Frontiers of Flight Museum for Think! An exhibition that features Dallas ISD student artwork through March 31;


And, at the Latino Cultural Center.

Kickin' it with my free goodie bag from Maseca.
Photo by Gen.

The LCC had an opening for the exhibition Dichos: Words to Live, Love and Laugh By in Latin America. This show made me miss Mexico, and inspires me to return sooner, rather than later. I'd love to capture some of the tacky bus art that made my daily routines so exciting and unique. It wasn't just the decorations or Santos/milagro paintings on the buses that remains so inspiring, it was the human interaction and people that rode the bus; I saw some amazing things. We're studying Mexico at the pre-school, and I think that makes me miss it so much more. I can close my eyes and feel the sun, hear the sounds, and see the steps I took around Banderas Bay... I'm free in two months, and have been invited back to visit/stay for a while by friends, all I have to do is buy my ticket. 
Going back to PV would be good for me, and well deserved, but it all depends on my schedule. I have lots of different balls up in the air, lots of different hats that I am trying on, and many skirts to wear. We'll see...

March 24, 2009

Uplifting

It's back to work this week. It's always tough to go back after a nice break, especially after a short va-cay. (Austin was great, BTW ~ I hope to post more pictures later today.)

As soon as I got back into town, I went to Target to pick up somethings and saw this very cute skirt. 

I tried not to get it, really I did. 
"How many black skirts do I need?" I asked myself.

The answer: one more.

It's Mossimo®, and called the Black Tiered Ruffle Skirt. It's super cute on, and should be a fun skirt for Spring and Summer. It makes me feel good, and therefore uplifting. And with all of the tiered ruffles, uplifting x 20!

Also uplifting:

The music and sounds of Andrew Bird.

I saw him in concert Sunday night, and it was A M A Z I N G !!!!! 
(I wish I had a better word to describe the show. That, and a better camera.) Bird's voice is so soothing, with a melancholy mix of whimsey and wonder. He whistled, sang, played guitar, xylophone, and violin for over an hour and a half. I watched him in amazement and was inspired, because this man has got IT. He is an extremely talented musician. He's not mainstream yet, but I can imagine reading about him decades later. He is a talented artist, and I felt extremely lucky to be in his presence.

Andrew Bird is the perfect listen for mopey Mondays, like yesterday.
Check out Andrew Bird here...
You'll be glad you did.

March 20, 2009

Craft Night

I have two sets of encyclopedias and have been meaning to do a project with the vintage illustrations and maps. So, when Marianne proposed a Craft Night with some cigar boxes that she has been collecting, I thought this was the "purrrrrrrrfect" opportunity to use them. 

Angus agrees with me and keeps watch over the books.



Vintage gift wrap also makes for lovely inspiration.

Marianne covered her box with the gold leaf. It takes quite a bit of patience, and my attempt was a disaster.


Lately I've been dreaming of distant places, so my box had a travel theme to it of all the places I would like to go:


Speaking of far away places, check out this short film by Sigur Rós. It has nothing to do with Craft Night, but it's beautiful to look at. Besides, Sigur Rós kind of sounds like cigar box...

Heima, a film by Sigur Rós.

March 19, 2009

Magical Week of Music

It all started last Saturday with the final performance of the Dallas Opera's 52 year run at the Music Hall at Fair Park. Below, the cast of Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers). 

The final curtain after 52 years...
I love red velvet curtains, they are so dramatic. Maybe this could be turned into a skirt for moi?



My date, and partner in crime lately:

He'z verrrry nice...

Monday night the Rapping Cowboy performed at Murray Street:


Tuesday night I attended a private performance of The Physics of Meaning.


Wednesday night = D E V O !


Booji Boy sings "It's Beautiful World."


No musical performances tonight, it's Craft Night with the ladies. We are decoupaging cigar boxes. Finally, I have something to do with all of those encyclopedia sets.

Spring Break has been such fun so far. I can't believe how quickly it has flown by, but I'm headed down south to Austin tomorrow for SXSW, for more music and this...

Special thanks to my partner in crime and Gen for their terrific photos.

March 17, 2009

I'm not Irish...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 
I am happy to report that I have a green skirt on and the weather is gorgeous! I've already worn my green pants, but they are covered in flour... Why, you may ask?

I am trying my hand at making cinnamon rolls for the 2nd time this week, because my first batch was a disaster. Actually, they weren't that bad. I made some mistakes, but that won't happen again. That's one good thing about me: I learn my lessons pretty quickly.
I got a few recipes from my friends, because I don't own a cookbook. I got rid of them all before my move to Mexico... Anyway, this first recipe came from the a blog called Jamie's Recipes, and this was the picture that enticed me to try it.

Can you see why I wanted to try it?

I don't have a bread machine, (yup, got rid of that too before the move,) and the recipe gave directions for a bread machine. 
And,  I added 2 TEAspoons of yeast instead of 2 TABLEspoons. 
Doh!
The result looked like this:
They weren't bad, but they weren't great either. Another factor could have been that organic tofu pudding mix I added, but the recipe didn't say what brand of instant pudding to try!

Another good thing about me is that I am tenacious. I don't give up too easily, so I am trying another recipe again this morning, and I'm happy to report:  so far so good.
My dough is rising and I am about to make the filling.
This recipe is from a blog called The Way The Cookie Crumbles, though they don't look as delicious.
Ah, the power of photography.

Of course, I did see these this morning at the grocery store. Yeah, I thought about getting them...
But what fun would that be?

March 12, 2009

Thoughts Before ZZZZzzzzz...

It's late. I'm contemplating what skirt to wear tomorrow, I mean in a couple of hours today.

I've concluded that today's skirt must have lines on it because I was as flat as a horizontal line only hours ago. I don't mean physically, just down: flatlined, emotionally drained. And, my skirt must be powerful, because I have many meetings tomorrow and I need a power skirt. Part of me feels like wearing a suit, just because it will make me TCB. Maybe I will... who knows.

It will be cold and rainy tomorrow, so I will take that into consideration too...
If only my skirt had a secret silver lining. 

Wouldn't that be so wonderful?

What on earth will I wear? 

Stay tuned...

March 10, 2009

Words of Wisdom

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

"If I look at all the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”

~Mother Teresa

March 9, 2009

Today's the day to write

Something I've written...
http://themagdfw.com/cgi-bin/artmagdfw/review.cgi?ReviewID=118

Something nice someone had to say about what I've written...
http://skipnoah.blogspot.com/2009/02/review-for-per-chance-to-dream-show.html

Today I write from bed...

A homework assignment for psychology class:

I was twenty-four, a divorcee for nine months from a marriage that lasted five years, when my life forever changed. I had just come home from a date with a man who would play a prominent role in my life for the next five years: he would stick with me as I grieved, battle ovarian cancer, and take me on the roller coaster ride of his addiction to crack and alcohol, but that’s another story. That moment: it was morning, I walked in and got a message to call my former mother-in-law. I knew what she had to say when I called her back, but she didn’t tell me over the phone, she asked me to come over.
“He’s dead isn’t he,” I said. She didn’t answer me, she repeated herself “Just come over.” David had passed away that weekend of a heroin overdose.
“He never knew how much was too much,” one of his friends told me later, but it was all too much. I never thought he would touch the stuff, let alone did I think that I would be dragged into that circle by association. But there I was, at his funeral with his family, all of his friends who he had experimented with, played music with, and the girl he had stood up on a date because he was dead. It was surreal.
As I drove to his mother’s house, I stopped at the first traffic light and I felt myself surrender. I had a ways to drive, but knew that I had to keep it together for what was coming, and at that same time I gave in to the fact that I had no idea what was coming. I had lost loved ones before, but David was my first everything: twenty-six, bright, creative, loving and tormented by past demons, so his passing was especially shocking and bittersweet.
I had entered new territory: I had no idea how this grieving thing worked, knew I couldn’t do this on my own, and knew I needed help. That week as I dealt with funeral arrangements, I called the Dean of my school who was also my professor and asked him for help. He put me in touch with the counseling services there at UNT, and that next week I began one of the best experiences of my life. My psychologist was fantastic, a Godsend named Dr. Hipple. I had seen a counselor before, but it never had gone this well. From the beginning, we just clicked. Perhaps I was a more willing patient than I had ever been. He let me be me, didn’t ask why I had made the decisions I had made, didn’t take me back to past events in my life, and helped me through the grieving process. He didn’t take notes, didn’t hold back or censor himself, and I related to that completely. He got it: understood what I was going through, understood me.
At that first stop light, I knew grieving was going to take time, I knew I had no control over it, but I also resigned myself to the fact that everything happens for a reason. I didn’t know why I had to experience this, but knew that I was probably going to help someone in a similar situation in the future. As I went through the following months, I let the emotions happen as they came. At first this was ok, I could defend my actions and emotions by saying that I had just experienced the loss of someone special. But after about three months, it felt trivial to say that, everyone experiences extreme loss at some point.
In the beginning, I took it minute, by minute, then hour, by hour, then day by day. The days turned into months and then a year came and went, and before I knew it life had moved on. Believe it or not, this is the same strategy I use when I go through life changes: break-ups, cancer, career changes. It helps to stay in the moment and “be” with that experience. I am also very glad for such a positive counseling experience, because of this, I know that it helps and know the difference it can make in ones life. As a result of David’s death, I stop and embrace what’s beautiful: clouds in the sky, great music, friends and family, to name a few. In those early moments of grieving, I would stop and think, “He would have loved this.” Life is short, life is precious, death is certain, but it’s all a beautiful process that we all get one shot at, embrace it.

March 6, 2009

Mask of Ms Lydia


We made a version of ebony masks today, and I wore my yellow pants that I got for $4 at J.Crew.

Conversation with a three-year-old about the mask pictured above. 

Me:  Who is that?
3-year-old:  Mommy.
Me:  Awww.
3-year-old:  NO! Scary mommy. Mean mommy.
Me:  Mean mommy?
(Pause, taking a second look...)
3-year-old:  No. It's you!
Me:  Me?
3-year-old:  Yeah, that's you!

At least his mom will be relieved.

March 5, 2009

Remember Tickled Pink?

That seems ages ago... Here's the reason why... 

My new pink Schwinn, sans pink helmet. :)

Pink dance tights with a seam:

New skirt:

I just counted and organized my skirts the other day. I am up to 87. That means that this particular skirt is #84 or 85... I bought it on my recent trip to Chicago. It's from H & M, and is a bubble mini skirt. I think bubble minis look better on the hanger than they do on me, but I don't care, I wear it anyway.
Pretty pastel paisley print.

View of my tights, shoes and skirt at a book signing.

Elizabeth Gilbert drew a heart on my dedication page. Have you read this book?

You must, at some point in your life.