The Big 30...

I'm officially old now, my son informed me. Thursday started out pretty crappy... I had to work all day, by myself without any other office help or company. My boss apparently forgot about my birthday, and was super cranky by the time I got home that evening. Steve also dropped a bombshell that we were having a real estate showing on the house, so he really needed my help sweeping and mopping the hard-wood floors. Mopping is no easy task considering it has to be done by hand in our house. In addition, I managed to conquer 3 loads of laundry before he finally told me to go upstairs and "make yourself pretty" 'cause he was taking me out for dinner on my birthday.

I asked him where we were going, and he replied with "remember how you were talking last week about how you've never been to the Melting Pot? Well, I made reservations." So we drove the back way trough town to get there. Traffic was horrendous. It was raining, dark, and there was a sold-out Jeff Dunham show at the Tacoma Dome nearby the restaurant. As we began looking for a parking spot, Steve yells "Oh shit!" and begins patting his pants. "I forgot my wallet!" I quietly ask what he wants to do. There was only 3 minutes left until the reservation and it took 20 just to get there. He said, "No worries. I'll just call and see if they can bump us back a few." So he calls, and says "The next available time they can squeeze us in is at 8pm. Is that too late? We probably won't have time to go dancing afterwards... I'm sorry, baby." I said this was ok, and that I was kinda tired anyway. And we begin to drive back up the hill towards home.

As we approach the house, he exclaimed "Oh yeah, I got you a card!" and fumbles through his coat, handing the red envelope to me. "You should read it." as he parked.
"Right now?! It's pitch black! I can't see a damned thing..."
He chuckled, and said "Ok, I guess you can wait until we get inside. I'm just excited for you to read it is all."

Hmmmm...

He unlocked the front door, flipped on the entry switch, and immediately I notice that there is something on my clavinova in the dark living room. At that point, I couldn't tell what, exactly, it was - just that it was large. He then flipped on the living room light and I saw sparkly dangling things hanging from the cornice, and suddenly about a dozen or so heads peeping out from around the corner, one of which was holding a purple and orange "birthday diva" hat out for me to wear.

"SUPRISE!!!"

Boy was I! I've never had a surprise party before, and it was totally unexpected. If I hadn't have been so darn excited, I probably would have cried right then and there. It really made my day. Even my mom and dad showed up, which in itself was an event. Everyone laughed, ate, and partied until it got too late for some of us to handle. The few who remained joined me and Steve in a humorous hand of Apples to Apples.

It was a great party and I was so appreciative of everyone who came. Steve was a super sweet guy for pulling that off so well, and knowing who to contact to get everything together. I have the best friends in the world. It made turning 30 pretty fun. :-)

Box-o-Wine

This weekend was AWESOME! We went on a Halloween cruise with the yacht club to Wollochet Bay. There was a boat decoration contest - we got 7th, which is not bad considering we spent all of about $15 on supplies and weren't really trying. The winners had a fog machine, and a sunken dingy on the deck with a skeleton holding a glowing, beating heart, with scary noises and such. Yeah.

Today I began creating Steve's Halloween costume, a "Box-o-Wine". Once finished, it will be complete with not one, but TWO real boxed wines inside with spouts for pouring. Mmmm... Happy Halloween!!

Spooky Sounds

Today unfolded much like I suppose a book reads:

Beginning: fashion show fitting, orange wedge & v8 for breakfast, hair & makeup, and show.

Middle: Returning home from said fashion show to indulge in an explosive migraine attack for 3 hours, rendering me absolutely useless, in and out of consciousness from pain until Steve came home to the rescue.

End: Power nap while new supply of migraine drugs kicked in, and then off to Urban Orchestra to record part of the RADDEST Halloween album ever!

We had a sound engineer set up shop at our amazing rehearsal space before our arrival. We spent about five or ten minutes talking about themage, and just.. did it! I find it somewhat funny that it takes us so incredibly long to record our other songs - indeed, our normal album is still far from finished, yet there's something about the fun of creating spooky noises that gets everyone in the spirit to get things right the first time 'round. We compiled 4 [super long] "songs" in just an hour and a half!!! And the best part is that it sounds sooo creepy.

Our final session will be next week. I need to work on some album art for it. Should be fun, so stay tuned. Speaking of album art, I finished my friend Nate's self-titled album art "the Bottom Line". Done in Photoshop. Here it is in color and black&white:

I forgot what blog site I belonged to!!! Can you believe it? Wow... took me forever to find it again!

This Thursday is the last Farmer's Market of the season in Tacoma. I'm modeling in the fashion show that day, which I'm totally stoked about. I hope it all goes as planned. That's all I had for tonight. I'm tired! Going sleepy now. :-)

Sun-day, Holy-day

Well this has been an... interesting weekend! I have been living out of a suitcase since Friday morning, and have not been able to get online via computer until today. Let's just leave it at that.

Some good news to update on:
I talked with some local giclee makers who have given me some pretty valuable information.

I went to an art show last night and networked with some reputable people in the industry who gave me cell numbers of even more contacts to meet.

I've decided that I want this to be a serious endeavor, and I feel super motivated about this.

A good friend told me about a site called kickstarter.com, so I'm going to think clearly about what my goals are, and submit a video sometime in the coming week after I get numbers figured out.

Oh and on a random positive note: I won some rad gifts (a certificate to Macy's and some yummy chocolate) for guessing my preggo friend's belly size, EXACTLY. Like, it was weird how exact I was.

Oh yeah, and I've discovered that I just LOVE cracked pepper water crackers, with garlic & herb cheese spread, with a thin slice of fresh peach on top! YUMMY!!!

That is all for now. :-)

Blank Canvas

Despite my reservations and worry about posting something completely absurd in a bout of willy-nilly excitement, I have decided to start a blog. Yes, a blog.

I will be posting about various projects as they come up, thoughts about them... and most likely questions, as I have NO idea how to do this (marketing my art, getting my name "out there", tricks of the trade, entering shows, etc) successfully.

A little about me:

I'm a mostly self-taught artist. OK, I took one semester of art & design my senior year of high school. It was required to take beginning art, despite skills. Apparently, I had enough that the teacher decided to pull me out of that and place me in the advanced class one week after starting. Besides that, I took a semester at TAFA (Tacoma Academy of Fine Art) about 2 years ago to learn how to oil paint correctly, as I'd previously never used that medium and didn't want to acquire any bad habits. I've considered myself an artist, though, since early childhood.

In addition to fine art, I have a certification in Graphic Design, and a degree in Interior Design. They're both fun, however I have yet to experience the financial wealth associated with these two careers, so I've decided to go back to my roots.. for the most part anyway.

Oh yeah, and I'm a musician with a pretty stellar voice too, or so I've been told. Piano is my core instrument. I've been playing it for 17 years now (wow, has it really been that long?! I'm getting old!) I also currently play the French horn and flute in the Tacoma Urban Orchestra. And I've been known to dabble on guitar when the mood strikes me. There are others I've played in the past, but have not touched since high school.

And now you know! Probably more information than you ever cared to know. :-)

But enough about me. What about you?!