The One Where I Sold my 1st Piece of Art.

Hmm. I got a txt yesterday afternoon saying, "did you know your little red piece sold at the Museum?" To which I sadly put the phone to my side and some tears slid down my cheeks. Alix ran to me to see what was the matter and while she was very proud of me and telling me how it's a good thing, I stood there and cried a little. Why you ask? A few reasons.

Just one of those emotional days and I didn't have a pic of it to remember it by. I know that may sound weird but I want an artistic journal of my work and I just thought these 2 pieces would come home so I could photograph them. Also, this was a close up of the inside of a lily I took at the L.A. Arboretum on one of my trips before you lived here. I remember studying it and thinking how such a small thing could be so intricate and beautiful. I remember you telling me to do anything I wanted and just enjoy being me. Fast forward to a few months ago and I remember you telling me how much you liked this picture because the section I picked out reminded you of a heart. I thought it was my way of capturing how good you made my heart feel. This piece was apart of both of us... and in that instant of a txt, it's gone. Someone bought it and it wasn't coming home and the idea of that made me sad.

So even though it's a little sad, it's a pretty good feeling to know that someone liked something I did enough to spend their money on it.

Geocaching Baby Style

This morning we met Sara and Georgia at Hart Park to do some geocaches. How exciting to make some new caching buddies. So we parked the cars and decided to walk to 3 within a fairly small radius. The first one was a bust, as we walk up Alix spots the lid to a container on the ground. Okay, that can't be good. As we study the area we can see where it should have been. Very cool idea for a film canister hide. So we did a good deed and replaced it with a log. Georgia got to learn the joys of a squeaky little duck but she was pretty interested in holding moms GPS. Off to #2, it too was MIA but the strip of metal that had been hiding it was bent back to completely expose the nitch where it should have been hiding and if we replaced every one that was muggled we'd never get to cache. So on to #3 which had eluded many. We come up to an area and Sara was first to go down the embankment to check out the base of a tree. I took the other side but tracking instincts told me that where my foot slid and pushed up leaves and such, others would have done the same, so it wasn't on that side. We studied the tree, Sara decided to climb it and THERE it was. She reached to grab it, we signed it and headed back to the cars. Passed on some puzzle caches and parked for our next 2 finds. Pretty sneaky little places. Did a park and grab in a soccer park where we got to enjoy the sprinklers, it was starting to get pretty hot. Headed to CALM, grabbed another by a dead cat... eww. Then took a few wrong turns, ended up at a cache we hadn't planned on but Little Miss Georgia fell a sleep so mom sat out on this one. We grabbed it quick and called it a day. It was almost noon and we were wiped out. Staying up till 2:am wasn't our best idea.

Oh well, we had a super great time walking around the park and meeting 2 new caching friends. Hope to do it again soon but can't wait till the weather cools down.

Time or Lack There of...

It still amazes me after all these years of turtle meetings, softball schedules, family events, birthdays, holidays, work and being social in general that it still takes acts of the Universe to have to schedule time to do nothing. Weird.

As a kid all you want to do is go go go. As an adult I apparently haven't changed my 9 year old mentality much. Now I'm not complaining at all, it just makes me sit back in awe on occasion with all that I have in the upcoming weeks. I'm not necessarily referring to actual upcoming weeks but the neverending upcoming weeks. I guess I'm lucky though. Some people never get the chance to experience life with so many wonderful people surrounding them. Sadly, they only keep a few people around them because it's safe. Who wants to live in the safety of bubble wrap? I know it's fun to play in but come on, broaden yourself and what better way than to surround yourself with new minds. I really do love meeting new people. They bring something to my growth as a person and I love the idea of that.

Tomorrow I get to grow a little more... enter TimidVenus and Little Georgia Jane :)

The One Where My World Got A Little Bigger.

So last Friday night I was out to dinner with my lovely other half. We were having quite a nice evening out, celebrating our anniversary and one anothers company as we so often do. We had decided on P.F. Changs for dinner. She had never been and they have so many good offerings, we thought it would be fun to go there. After some yummy potstickers, sesame cucumbers and some other yummy things, the waitress brought us our check with our fortune cookies. Here is where my world changed...

Alix handed me my cookie and looked at me. She said here is your fortune. So I was waiting for her to grab hers. She looked at me and said very cutely, "I can't pick my own fortune, it has to be given to me." She explained that one can not choose their own fortune, that's being selfish, someone should offer it to you. I smiled, this made complete sense. No wonder so many of my fortunes never worked out quite right. So now I look forward to the next time I can give someone some fortune :)

The One Where I Have A Lot to Do!

Okay so the last blog was a total fluke. Had I paid attention to the upcoming week, I would have realized there is so much going on! I try not to live by a calendar anymore, well months at a time anyway. My PDA has been retired except for paperless caching, which I freakin' love! I can basically get by with just looking, Monday morning, at what's going on for the week. Funny thing is, we have bunco, an art drop, a geocaching contest and a very cool girls birthday.

Okay so we backed out on bunco, with the drop starting tomorrow (and I still don't have any finished pieces, just 3 in process) we are spending the better part of our time, sketching and painting. Yesterday I started about 6:00pm and we stopped right before 11:00pm (she started before I got home at 5!)

Then the phone call came... the geocaching hunt for Saturday is basically cancelled since there are only 2 teams! Well shit, that sucks. Although being in the sun for 6 hours definitely has it's downfall, it still would have been fun. So that now completely frees up Saturday and we don't have to leave Courtney's bash Friday night early, so that rocks. We'll most likely go caching anyway in the morning, it's been awhile since we've grabbed any and 150 isn't going to hit itself. There are a lot in the Hart Park area so we may try to tackle that.

Tonight we go hang in the cave for a bit to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY! Then back to painting. I have to say once I started painting it seemed to go by much quicker and is making me a little more excited to finish :) I'm definitely relearning patience. I'm so out of practice that I've gone back to Art 101 and I'm using the grid method, it's a wonderous thing really. And no matter what anyone tells you, rulers are your friends.

So that's that. I guess I should finish up my work since it's the end of the month and all. :)

The one with the things I like right now:

So there isn't a whole lot going on right now and I'm perfectly okay with that. Alix is starting to work more hours but not so much that we don't get some good alone time in :) The framily is the framily and I love them. My parents are doing well and love me a lot and really care about what's going on in my life and I like that. Art is adventurous and learning the term "starving artist" is quite humbling. So no ranting of sorts just a little list of things I'm really into right now, things that make me happy.

1) Alix - really nothing else needs to be said than that sweet little name... I love you and Happy Anni :)
2) Wiggly Fish Fridays - it's our little dance we do every Friday and although I woke up too late to do it this AM we will for sure do it today at lunch. It's silly and completely us.
3) Framily - these girls in my life are more than amazing. They are so wonderful and I'm so blessed and grateful for everyone. Each girl gives me a different perspective on the world and I love it.
4) Family - The support system here is so strong, it's no wonder I'm as strong as I am.
5) Art - It's a new kinda life, with some new people and new ideas. I like it.
6) Geocaching - Hello nerdy GPS hobby
7) Pizza - So I've always loved pizza but you can't beat double pepperoni and extra sauce mmm
8) Ash & Polly - Our 2 little kittenkids that give us the best free.99 entertainment.
9) Color Me Mine - I may not always paint but it sure is fun to go and hang out with the framily.
10) Travian - The crack village online game I found... thanks a lot myspace :p
11) Wii - Nothing beats watching Star Wars Lego's shatter across the screen with a Wii-mote
12) Music - I always love me some music.
13) Orchids - A beautiful flower, hard to maintain but worth the work.
14) DVR Recordings - Love having our own marathons of Pokemon, Fosters, Blue Dragon and Las Vegas.
15) Sonic - Crapple Rocks (cranberry apple limeades) mmm
16) Turkey Burgers - who knew the gobble gobbles would make such awesome burgers?!
17) Nag Champa Incense - what a wonderful way to inspire ones-self

I'm sure there are much more but these are what I can whip out of my head right now. Have a happy wiggly fish Friday, I know I am :)

The one with some American Inspiration.

Everyone seems to be able to bitch and bitch about this country. (I've had my moments) I guess we tend to forget why we LOVE this country so much. In going with an upcoming theme for an Art Show, I've been presented with the task of showing why I love America. Well hmm, there are so many reasons... now I just need to find a creative way to display it.

Let's see what I can do in the upcoming days and with the 4th so near, it's great timing.

The One Where Everyone Else is Doing It.

*rolls eyes from shear annoyance* I'm tired a little. This may also have something to do with how annoyed I am with this topic. Although it has been building and speaking with some of my truly close friends, they agree so I can't be off base by too much. The topic in question? Gays are allowed to get married today.

This blog should be completely different. It should be about what a wonderful time in life this is, not just for Gay people but for being apart of history in the making and a time when people are opening their eyes for fairness and true equality. The chance for everyone to be married. But it's not, this is my blog and I'm going to rant how annoyed I am with the BBQ style, Sunday afternoon type gathering(slash) circus act this has turned into. *smacks head*

I am a myspace whore, pure and simple. It is a great network to exchange ideas about interesting events that are up and coming, meet people that you share likes with and also stayed informed with things that matter to you in your community. So on the downside, it can be used to bombard you with a topic so so so so so so so so so many times that you get pushed to where I am now.

So I am glad for today for one main reason, I will stop getting bulletin after bulletin about people getting married in a side show kind of way versus making it the truly special *one of a kind* occasion it should be. So when someone asks, "Oh, what's your anniversary?" It won't be such a shocker when 100's, hell 1000's of people can ALL FUCKING ANSWER June 17th. And the reasoning behind it? Because Everyone Can... *sarcastically claps* wow, how special.

I can understand getting excited and going down there to get the marriage license to plan your marriage for a date to be annonced with some meaning for both of you, some time that makes both of your eyes go all misty, that makes sense. Instead of the reasoning being a historic occasion. Not much of a base, in MY opinion. I could really give a flying fuck if you agree with me or not, seeing as how *looks around* this is my blog.

If I didn't see, "Are you planning on getting married June 17th?" "Info about getting married on June 17th" "After we all get married on June 17th" "Do you want to get married tomorrow" over and over, with other variations this wouldn't be so bad. The one that probably started most of this was the "information" one. *holds hand up* Hold up people, you are having a meeting about getting married in a group setting. This really put a kink in my neck. Then plans of having a bbq at someone's house afterwards to celebrate? Like you won a baseball game? Are you for real? I can see having a community wide celebration at a park for the equality we all deserve and have been waiting for but not to celebrate weddings, group style.. oh no, not one more time now. (my framily will chuckle at that part)

The idea, more than anything, just makes me sad. So many people are doing it, "just because" and in a few months the aftermath will occur because this wasn't led in a better manner.

*steps down* I'm done now.

Everyone Falls

I'm not sure why, I'm not sure where it started or how many times I've heard it but I love the idea of it. Depending on your preconceived notions of when you read the title you are about to learn something about yourself very quickly. Did you think: oh no, she has fallen in some way in life or did you think of how I could have fallen in love with someone or something? And HONESTLY thinking of the first thought you had when you read the title you now know if you are an optimist or pessimist in life right now. So maybe you've fallen by the wayside and need to find your way out... on to my blog.

On one hand, one consistently hears of how she "fell in love at first sight." Or how she's "falling in love with her soul mate." This can mean so many different things from one person to the next. Everyone falls in love with someone or something. The hard part sometimes is that people can't distinguish between falling in love to falling in lust. Love is ever-lasting and even when it gets tough you can find your way back up, together. One of the many advantages to having a loving partner. Now falling in lust... well, that's tricky and its course also runs differently from person to person. After the mad-crazy sex, secret encounters and 1st time I've done thats have run their course, the true part of the relationship rears itself. Does that mean lust will ultimately lead to disaster? If you ask me, I say no but that's the optimist in me. There is just that part when you feel yourself falling for someone. And why do they call it falling? Why can't it be swooshing or cracking for someone? Who thought that you had to "fall?" Is it the idea of dropping to your knees, lowering your head and thanking the universe for this gift bestowed before you... the idea that you have to lower yourself to completely give yourself over to this person? Not really sure and I'm not looking for answers. Just seems like the more I talk to people or hear of things going on around me, I wonder what's next.

*wiggles other hand* and then there's this hand. *shakes head*

On the other hand, some people fall. Emotionally is what I'm speaking of here. Sometimes this can be a reflection or type of collateral damage from the above type of falling if the lust does where off sadly. It can also be that time of life when things are changing. Growing pains one might say. Growing up, growing apart, growing toward different goals. The hard part is taking that step to say, this is enough and I need something different. It's almost like saying you lost or you quit and for me, I hate losing... ANYTHING EVER! I have to win, I have to be right, I won't fail... losers fail and I'm not a loser. (I'm not saying that's true for everyone, that's my sick mentality from being such a competitive person but I'm working on it.) I tend to fall really hard when it does finally come to that point. I let it get so far and ignore it for so long that when I finally realize what is happening it literally slaps me in the face and I'm standing there blinking, a lot. I also am very open to these sad/displaced moments now. If I need to feel sad, I embrace it. I'll cry for days on end, alone at work, alone in my car, alone at a park... I'll listen to the saddest music I can find, I'll wear the same clothes day after day. I eat cereal for meals when I choose to eat. I let it consume me. And do you know what happens within a few days... I feel better. I let everything out and I deal with it and I move upward, steadily. Then, when I step back outside with a bright yellow shirt on, some gel in my hair and some body spray that reminds me of the beach, it's like I'm seeing that tree outside my apartment for the first time with all its blooms and watching the leaves sway in the breeze. So when I take that first step, I can't help but smile.

So everyone falls. You're not alone and sometimes... well sometimes you just have to swim in the bad stuff to help you deal and move on to the good stuff. The trick is to not let the bad stuff consume you and stay there or keep going to the exact same place time and time again.

Yep *nods* Everyone Falls...

"You're good for me."



A relative sentence, such as:

Someone looking at a celery stalk as they are about to have a 2' o clock snack.

or

Shopping in the organic section of the grocery and trying to justify some wheat pasta.

or

A friend telling you this after a heart-felt conversation.

I was told this today and it just made me smile a lot, thanks friend. :)

Hives



I'm still not really sure why my skin is so dang sensitive to stuff. Friday night we were set to unload some tables and chairs for a friend at a park for an event Saturday morning. We had some loading fun with a golf cart. Watched a Greek man put his 2 drachma in on how to move the tables on the cart and just had some overall good laughs. I felt myself getting alittle sweaty and my head started itching something fierce. Didn't think much of it till I got back in the truck and I looked at my hands. Hive #1 and #2. When we got back to my parents house (they were in L.A.) I took my shirt off to see them all over my body. :( So I was a little scared because you're never really quite sure where this could go. So I rid myself of clothes and got in the cold cold pool for about 20 minutes. When I got out I was one big hive, they had branched out. Now it was just a matter of waiting it out and within about 2 hours I was basically back to normal and very sleepy face. Our clothes finshed washing and we headed home.



The best I can figure is there was some kind of pesticide on the tables and chairs where they are kept...

So did I mention we were caching on Saturday... oh and Sunday... oh and...



Geocaching is the forefront of anything we do now-a-days. I love it. If gas wasn't so expensive it would be even cheaper. Luckily, when you geocache, you drive slow and you'd be amazed at how little gas you use. Alix and I decided we wanted to grab a cache in the Kern River Canyon that had been posted a month and no one had found. We've been wanting a FTF to find and if we have to drive 23.4 miles to get it, so be it. We decided to do some hiking as well. I haven't been in the canyon in a long time and that's pretty sad because it really is pretty and there are a lot of nice spots to pull off and park.



So we spent a good part of Friday night, drawing up a map and laying out some caches for the day. We wouldn't post any high numbers, this was more of an exploring day. So we set off for the first one... took a bit but we found it! Alix got a true FTF! It was pretty exciting. We took a micro coin and dropped a Snow Coin (it wants to find snow). Then headed to the next one. Wow. This had a terrain rating of 2. LIARS!!! At best 3.5 out of 5. There was a lot of stickers, direct uphills and a lot of misdirections. I've bitched about a climb in Yosemite and that seems like cake compared to this one. I will be the first to admit that I had to give about 1/2 way up, my feet couldn't take it. Alix kept going... and going... and it got to a point we were yelling to keep in contact she was so far away. I rested on a rock and was visited by a snake. BLEAH! I decided to head back down and track her from a dirt "road." I use that term loosely, I have no idea how even a 4x4 could get up there. So about 20 minutes had gone by and she FOUND IT! She said it was sitting on top of some rocks and she felt a little cheated but whatever it was a find. The TB that was suppose to be there wasn't and that sucked. So she came tromping back down and we headed to the car so I could peel off her shoes and pick all the stickers out of her socks... poor kid. She was quite pink but still ready to go. It was pretty warm by this time and we headed back out of the canyon. We grabbed 2 more and I had a bit of a migraine coming on :( it was now after 3 and we had to be at a friends house by 5:30pm so we called it a day.



On a side note, we had some little rubber duckies and I thought it would be fun to throw one down the river. We called him Senor Patito (Mister Little Duck) and down the Kern River he went. We even saw him a little ways down the river, it was kinda fun :)



Saturday night we were gaming with some friends, helped them load up some caches and planned to go caching in the AM. It was great, we were at their house by 9 and had 8 of 9 finds by 12:30pm. That was a little more promising after the 4 we got in 5 hours the day before :) Lots and lots of caching and we love it.



Those were the toughest 4 caches to date...

Always Remember, if I can find it, so can anyone else... and I FOUND IT.





This blog is dedicated to people who think they are being so secretive and getting away with it. Just so you know, you aren't and you are one click away from getting caught. Once it's on the web, it can never be completed erased. It can be copied, saved, tracked, extracted in so many ways, it's simply amazing.... just an email away, remember that.





Just a thought I was having when I was doing a random blog roll and doing some reading...