Tuesday, December 26, 2006

I hope everybody had a good Christmas. Mine was fairly quiet. We did most of our present-giving before Christmas, so Sam and I just hung out on Christmas Eve (although he was very anxious to get to his dad's for presents). We watched Galaxy Quest - he had never seen it before. I think it's funny. I didn't realize that Rainn Wilson (from Six Feet Under and The Office) was in it.

After Sam left I watched So I Married an Axe Murderer. I had heard that it was hilarious but it was OK. A couple of funny parts.

On Christmas I went to Trayc's house. She lives in a cute little house near White Rock Lake. We hung out at her house for a while and then went a block over to her friend's house for a really great dinner.

Today I went to my studio for a while. I freaked out yesterday when I realized that I really only have 2 days to finish everything up! I finished all of my smaller paintings today and started on the 3 remaining larger paintings. Hopefully I can finish those up tomorrow. I also have to put wires on the backs and then pack them up next week sometime - when, though, I don't know...

Tonight I watched Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. So stupid. It had some funny parts, though.

My free movie channels end tomorrow! Bummer.

I forgot to mention that Sam and I went to see Night at the Museum the other day. It was funny. We really liked it. The effects were great. I also saw The Holiday. It was cute - total chick flick. Jude Law had never really done anything for me before and I know he's a schmuck in real life, but he was happenin' in that movie... A completely unrealistic, perfect character, of course. But I didn't mind looking at him.

I guess I need to start packing tomorrow!

Thursday, December 21, 2006


branch, originally uploaded by enchiladaplate.

I'm testing a flickr feature - blogging from flickr.

I upgraded my flick account so I could add more photos and organize them more efficiently. So check it out - lots of photos - and I'll be adding more periodically.

The university is closed tomorrow and all next week, so we're trying to look enthused about being here today. We're not really fooling anybody.

We're doing a Christmas for Sam tonight, so he'll be able to play with his toys before his dad picks him up on Christmas Eve. He already got a couple of new Gameboy games. He stopped to sleep and to jump on the trampoline a little, but otherwise has been playing and playing and playing.

I saw this stunning expose on Al Gore and couldn't believe it! Shocking.

In case you're looking for a real friend on MySpace.

Here's a cute origami Christmas card generator.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

More painting. I spent a few hours in the studio yesterday finishing up a batch of paintings. I think I'm about half way there.

On Friday night, I went with Karen and Amy to the Modern in Fort Worth. They show independent movies on Friday nights. We stopped at Mercado Juarez on the way for some yummy Mexican food. Then we saw Tideland - directed by Terry Gilliam. It was definitely typical Terry Gilliam - surreal, weird, and kind of icky. It was visually stunning with a few scenes that were really beautiful. It wasn't for everybody, but we were glad we saw it.

After the studio yesterday, I drove to Dallas for some major socializing. I dropped by Julie's for just a few minutes so I could give them their presents and see the kiddos for a while. Cole explained to me how they think a disease killed the dinosaurs. And the disease is pink. That's important. He seemed to enjoy the balloon making stuff that I gave him (when I was little it was called Super Elastic Bubble Plastic - hopefully the stuff they sell nowadays isn't as noxious...). Lily seemed to like the watercolor pencils. She's a great artist already.

Then I went to PF Chang's to meet Trayc, who I had gone to grad school with and hadn't seen in about two years. It was great to catch up and talk about art and various things.

After that I went to Jenna's to visit with her and Jack and the kitties. Casper isn't kittenish any more. Shadow was very friendly and affectionate for a change.

There's Casper, lounging around...

Jenna gave me some birthday presents (yay!) and served some yummy chocolate cheesecake.

So today I need to get off my butt and get to the studio again!

Links:
Have you had your Daily Monster today?

Here's an interesting Christmas song made up of all the Christmas songs. I love the description: "...it's of a convenient 75 minute lenght, burnable onto one cd-r, and would make for a good gift to someone who takes christmas too seriously, be they too jolly or too miserable about it."

Here are some classic Christmas shows, redubbed. The Charlie Brown Christmas is my favorite.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

In progress...

I started on these paintings on Saturday. They're not done yet.

Had fun on Saturday night. We went to the Macaroni Grill in Lewisville. It was me, Cathy, Cathy's friend Bobby, Trish, Karen, Kim, Julie, Susan, and her husband John. We hung out, ate, talked, drank wine, ate cupcakes, and got in trouble for trying to put tables together. But I think Trish ended up the big winner - she got the (20-year old) waiter's number. You go!

So that's just the first in the birthday celebrations. I'm going to try to drag it out all month, if possible.

Oh, and when I got home last night, Chocolate had left me a present! There was a big fat dead mouse on the front porch. She's so thoughtful.

I'm not sure what this is, exactly, but it's cool. Flow.

This parking game is really hard. But I bet Trish will be good at it.

Make photo puzzles here.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Another new one...

I just finished up with the collage portion of the ten smaller panels that I got in the mail today.

I have ten 12" x 12" panels that I'll also collage (basically glue down some maps or colored paper) tomorrow and Friday. Then I'll get started on them on Saturday. I'm feeling a little less stressed now that I have the panels and have started on them...

I don't think I mentioned that my friend Kim is throwing me a birthday party. I thought that was sweet of her. We're going to do it this Saturday night. It's my twenty-twentieth. Yikes. How did that happen?

I'm not sure why I find these "Scared of Santa" photos so amusing...

Here's a fun site - Line Rider - harder than it looks.

And here's a super scary version of Mary Poppins - Scary Mary.

Monday, December 04, 2006

I had the weirdest dream the other day.

I dreamed that I was taking a train from Denton to Dallas (as if!), and I had to share a seat with someone because it was crowded. Turns out my seat buddy was the blond guy from Simon and Simon. I can't remember the last time I saw that show or even thought about it...

Anyway, he was kind of a washed up actor, going to some kind of acting thing in Dallas. For some reason, I was going, too, so I hung out with him. He talked about himself the whole time and I hardly got to say a word. But we hung out.

Weird, huh?

Speaking of weird - check out these freaky octopus videos.

I think those Christian rock bands you've been listening to aren't Christian enough. Here's the world's Christianest rock band. Be sure to watch the Christmas video!*



*somebody's going to hell for that video. I just hope it's not us...

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Resonance, 24" x 24", 2006

I was in a painting frenzy this weekend. I'm stressing about all the shows I have coming up. I'm excited but also worried that I won't have enough work done for all of them. So I'm furiously trying to get a bunch of paintings done...

I just hung out at home on Friday night and prepared four 12" x 12" panels for painting - I glued some paper to two of them and some of the topographical maps (that Trish gave me) to the other two.

The one above is one that I finished up yesterday. I had been working on it for a while and it wasn't working, so I set it aside for a month or so. I finally got it all worked out and I really like it.

I also started on another 24" x 24" and completed the 12" x 12" panels. Now I have two more 24" x 24" panels to start and I ordered ten more 12" x 12" and ten 6" x 6" panels. I also need to order some more wax.

Ten of the smaller ones will go to Houston in January and everything else will go to Temple. Schwew!

Oh, and last weekend I did some drive-by painting - I realized that I was about to miss a deadline to submit work to an encaustic invitational that I had been in last year. So I ran up to my studio and did two paintings in about two hours. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. I think I lucked out this time...

I had been planning to go to my friend Erin's holiday party on Saturday night but ended up at my studio for way too long.

Today I went to IKEA with Amy. We ate brunch at Blue Mesa. Yum. I had never had their brunch before. It was awesome - omelets, eggs benedict, and other breakfast-y things, enchiladas, adobe pie, rice, fish, salad, fajitas, cookies, cobbler, and ice cream... Oh, and all-you-can-drink mimosas. Which for me, was about 3 sips. I can't drink during the day. Amy says I need to practice...

We got to IKEA at noon and they had already been open for 2 hours, but there was hardly anybody there. I had never seen it so un-crowded. I mostly bought gifts. A couple of house things but nothing too fun. I was scoping out a loft bed for Sam's Christmas present, too.

Links:
If you hate me, you'll get me this for Christmas.

Here's a funny video about dating fun.

Here's a really cool online advent calendar.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Pitiful Texas snow.

Jenna blogged about how she wants to be able to live somewhere that has seasons - so she can bundle up her future offspring and send them out to make snow angels. Well, if they're anything like Sam, it won't take much to make them happy.

At one point he came inside and asked me for a bucket to put snow in. I gave him a large bowl which he took to the back yard and filled with snow. Then he brought it through the house to the front yard, where he proceeded to make snowballs to throw at the house. He did that twice. And it never got old.

Even though his toes and fingers were numb, and it was dark outside, I still had to tell him repeatedly to come inside.

So, our Texas snow may not look like much, but apparently, if you have enough imagination, it's the bomb.

We were both disappointed this morning when they didn't cancel school. I hung out in bed watching the news for quite a while, hoping they'd make a last-minute announcement... I got Sam up and he went to the front door, looked out, groaned and banged his head against the wall.

We did get a little bit of a break, though. TWU closed at 3:00, so I got to come home early and he didn't have to go to day care.

So now I'm just trying to stay warm. We've been fighting over the cat. "No! She wants to sit on my lap!"

Flinks? (fun links):
I'm glad I've found a support group. Finally, someone who understands...

I don't really consider myself to be that much of a geek, but it worries me that I have the materials to make one of these.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006


I think I forgot to mention that I got my work shipped out. I was stressing about the cost. It was expensive, but not as expensive as I had feared it would be.

I got a lot done over the Thanksgiving break. I was able to clean Sam's room - getting rid of a bunch of old crap and making way for all the new crap he'll get at Christmas... I even cleaned and organized my studio.

I've got another solo show coming up that I need to make work for. I must be crazy to take on two solo shows at one time.

On Friday, Cathy and I went to Dan's to see James McMurtry. He was really good. I saw some friends from grad school there, too. I was a little wobbly the next day - getting too old for all that nonsense.

So Colleen tagged me to do an anagram thing. You have to go here and type in your name and it creates anagrams for you.

I don't really get any good ones with my name, but I got a couple of good ones with Seeking Shelter:
GENTEEL HER KISS
OK, maybe just one...

I switched cable tv and internet providers today. I'm excited that I'll have DVR now. Like I really NEED to watch more tv...

Oh! That reminds me - my new favorite bad tv show is on VH1 - Celebrity Paranormal Project. It's so awful that it's good. OK, maybe it's like watching a train wreck. I'm not sure which...

Oh, and speaking of awful - I also got sucked into watching the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders show on CMT. I fell into it when I was flipping by one day and happened to notice one of the girls being told that she was "heavy." What kind of universe are we living in where a clearly size 3, physically fit, athletic dancer was being told that she was fat? Anyway, I couldn't sleep the other night and ended up watching a few episodes in a row. Thank god that cow lost all that weight!

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Thankful.

I'm feeling reflective this Thanksgiving - I know I complain about a lot of things, but I know that I'm very lucky and I'm thankful for:

Sam - he makes me laugh every day and makes me realize what's important.

Family - I know they would do anything for me.

Friends - who have supported me and encouraged me and listened to me and laughed at my stupid jokes.

Health - something we all take for granted.

Art - it's allowed me to meet so many talented and creative and nice people.

I'm counting my blessings. I hope you have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

Sunday, November 19, 2006


I've been in overwhelm mode the last few days - trying to get everything packed up for my show in Reno. I have 10 boxes to ship. Holy moly. It's going to be expensive. I'm not looking forward to that.

I did find out that one of my paintings in the show in Sacramento sold, so maybe that will help cushion the blow a bit.

I keep going back and forth about going to Reno for the reception. I think it's on the 5th. I'd like to go if I can find a cheap last minute fare. But then I realize that I have to get a car and a hotel room and then it gets too overwhelming for me.

One reason I'd like to go is so I can call 911 and see who shows up.


I think I might save my money and focus on skiing with Colleen after Christmas. We haven't made reservations or anything, because I think she's overwhelmed with stuff on her end, but hopefully we'll be going skiing in Missouri. Yes. I said Missouri. Apparently they have a big hill there. And some snow. Hill + snow = ski. Hills are fine with me. I spend most of my time on the bunny slope, anyway. I only ski once every 12 years or so...

Today after I finished packing, I dropped by the art center for an opening reception. I helped hang the show, so I wasn't really there to see the art. The work is all cowgirl themed, so for the reception they got cowboy singers and they had the firemen (from the fire station across the street) make chili. Hmmm... so guess what I stopped by to see?

I had just assumed that the firemen would be hanging out with their chili the whole time, but when I got there they were leaving. They just dropped it off. Oh well. Free chili.

I was assigned sweet potatoes and pies for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I'm wondering if I can cut my workload in half by making a sweet potato pie. I can't even think about it, though, until my boxes get shipped.

OK, let's see what fun things I found on the internets recently:

Here's a super cool commercial where they used tons and tons of real paint.

I made the "HELP" image above using Geo Greetings.

I think these photos of travel souvenirs are brilliant. Wish I'd thought of it...

OK, one more. These Japanese Apple commercials are fun.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Lyle!

We were too far away and my camera shakes too much for me to have gotten a good picture. But that's him down there somewhere in the center of all the blurriness...

Awesome show. He tells great stories and just seems so down to earth and genuinely nice - he introduced everybody in the band multiple times and had so many good things to say about them, complimenting everyone and letting them all have the spotlight. He even let his guitar player sing his own (award-winning) song. Colleen describes the experience of his show so much better than I can.

He talked about how he drove through Denton yesterday on his way to some little barbeque place outside of Pilot Point. (This must have been the place.) He drove through Denton!

After the show we walked over to an Italian place for dinner and some wine. We would have walked around Sundance Square more, but it was too cold and Trish had forgotten her coat.

Today I'm going to try to get some stuff done to get my work ready to send to Reno for my solo show there. I still have to get some supplies and make some boxes to ship the paintings in. Lots to do!

Tomorrow I'm having a sort of "part 2" workshop at my studio, which is basically an open studio type thing - I invite the people who have taken the workshop and they can use my stuff and ask me questions. I don't really teach, I'm just there to help if they need it. Should be fun.

I think I forgot to post the link to this video. Jenna, this has some good preventive measures for us...

Thursday, November 09, 2006

I'm sure you've assumed that since I haven't mentioned the job recently, that I didn't get it. Sad face.

I'm not sure what it is about me that is keeping me from getting jobs that I'm supremely qualified for.

On a happy note - good news on the national political front. Not so great in Texas, but at least we tried...

Fun stuff:
The new Sky Maul catalog is out. Be sure to watch the videos.

Funny poster.

Funny captions.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Voting ... A-Z

I voted today. They had some new-fangled electronic voting machines. I was suspicious, to say the least. I didn't see a Diebold logo, so maybe they're reliable...

It was weird. They were electronic and new, yet somehow they seemed old. There was a weird dial that you used to navigate through the ballot. Very strange. You'd think they'd use a familar interface. But a dial? Welcome to 1987.

Anyway. I don't have quite the same romantic feelings about voting that Colleen does. Don't get me wrong, I do think it's important. I agree that you have no right to complain about the way things are if you're not active in the democratic process. And I agree that we are supremely lucky to be able to freely cast our votes without harassment. And, as a woman, I definitely feel obligated to vote. Women in the past fought hard for me to be able to vote, so I don't take it lightly.

I think what I'm cynical about is that the process seems dirty. Low voter turnout, the media, the political parties, the corruption, money money money...

OK, what I'm really cynical about is that I live in Texas. Red state. I feel like my vote doesn't count. I can't change anything. Resistance is futile. Yet I try...

Speaking of Colleen, she tagged me in the alphabet game.

So here are 10 things that I like, starting with S:
1. Sam's silliness and sweetness and smartness
2. snowflakes (especially those big fat ones)
3. Sweet Basil's stir-fry veggies and tofu
4. spinach and artichoke dip from the Green House
5. sleeping late
6. Sense and Sensibility - book and movie
7. Sleepytime tea
8. Sarah Harmer songs
9. Spinal Tap (technically, it's This Is Spinal Tap - sue me)
10. Seattle

And 5 things I don't like:
1. surly people
2. sunburns
3. sardines
4. smelly socks
5. stubbed toes

So now I think I'll tag:
Trish with T
Jenna with J
John with Q
Vote!

Vote early. Vote often. Wait. That's only if you're in Chicago. Or if you can get your hands on one of those Diebold machines...

I stole this from the Comedy Central Insider blog:

"Today is the most sacred day in this wonderful theocracy we call democracy. It only comes once a year, and it only matters once every two years. And it only really matters once every four years. Unfortunately, this isn't one of those once-every-four-years years.

However, due to the random absurdity of the political arena, it does kind of sort of matter this year.

Today, we, as a nation, get to decide if we would like to send a strong message to the White House that we are no longer willing to thrust our resources and our soldiers' lives into a war that has been deemed unwinnable, and that we will not sit idly by while our civil liberties are slowly corroded out from underneath us, and that we favor a return to a more moderate form of conservativism.

Or, conversely, we'll get to say that we don't want gay people to get gay married.

So, get out there and vote! We can't wait to see how we really feel."

Monday, November 06, 2006

Had another busy weekend. Friday night, Trish invited me to dinner at Bari's and then a poetry reading at Art Six. Her poetry teacher was reading. We got there kind of late but were able to hear her teacher read her story. We both really enjoyed it. It was funny and sad at the same time. She was a good speaker/reader.

One of Trish's fellow students and one of her friends came along, too. Trish and I both felt really old around the young 'uns.

Saturday I taught a workshop. I had two students and then Cathy came by during the class to do some work, too. I was still a little tired from the virus I had, so I was probably more subdued than I normally am, but we had fun.

Then Saturday night I drove to Dallas to meet my friend Jean. We were in grad school together and I hadn't seen her in quite a while. She ended up quitting the MFA program and getting a teaching degree. So she's teaching elementary school art now. She works at 2 schools - one 3 days a week and the other 2 days. They work her to death. Poor thing.

Anyway, we met at Mockingbird Station and ate at some fancy schmancy sushi place. The sushi was good but expensive. We ordered hot tea and they brought us each a mug of tea. When we got the bill, I noticed that they had charged us 3 dollars each for the tea! Yikes.

Then we went to the 500X because my friend Nancy had work in the show there. We didn't stay too long. I should have stayed and schmoozed, but I didn't feel like it.

So we went to the Cheesecake Factory near North Park for dessert. Actually, I had soup and Jean had a sandwich - we were still hungry after our expensive sushi! Then we got some chocolate cake that was too rich and big to finish. It was yummy, though.

Yesterday I slept late and went to my studio for a while. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get everything packed up and then sent off to Reno for my show. I need to ship it out around Thanksgiving.

Last night I watched an interesting movie called Brick. It was sort of Dashiell Hammett Goes to High School. It was hard to follow, much like The Maltese Falcon (I've seen that movie so many times and I still have no idea what happens). It was fun to see the noir formula applied to the high school setting, though. I liked it.

I got a call from the doctor's office today - turns out I didn't have the flu after all. So much for all that flu medication I took. I wish they had been able to get the results just a little faster...

Did I already post this link? Brian Atene's audition tape for Full Metal Jacket...

And the "real" Brian Atene...

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

My little angel...

I talked him into going to the mall to trick-or-treat last night. I know. The mall sucks. But I didn't feel good and it was cold outside.

When we got back I did let him go to a few houses down the street, though.

The bat symbol on his costume lights up, by the way. Cool.

Since I wasn't feeling well yesterday, I went to the doctor. I don't think I've ever been to a doctor's office on Halloween before. It's a little weird when your doctor walks in dressed like a civil war soldier.

Here's a link for zombie clown haikus. I am easily amused.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Monster cupcakes. I saw Martha Stewart make them last Halloween and thought they were cute and fun. And they looked super-easy. Of course I couldn't find the same stuff that Martha used. Oh, and there's also the fact that I'm not Martha. Clearly.

We made them last night. They look bad but we had fun making them.

A herd of delicious monsters...

This is one Sam made and he called it, "The bloody eye." Appetizing, no?

We made them for his after school program. They're having a Halloween party tomorrow afternoon.


We did another Martha-inspired craft on Saturday night. The idea was to soak strips of cheesecloth in liquid starch and then drape it over a form to make a ghost. So I bought 2 packages of cheesecloth (3 bucks each for one little sheet!) and cut it into roughly 3-inch strips (that's what it looked like in the picture). Oy vay! What a mess. The strips shrunk up into rope-like shapes. It was almost impossible to flatten them back out. So we ended up putting some dry ones on top and then kind of coating them with the starch.

As of this morning, there were still wet spots. And the dry parts are permanently cemented to the newspaper.

Oh, and there's also the fact that they don't really look like ghosts...

So now I remember why I don't do holiday crafts.

On another note - still haven't heard anything on the job. I was hoping to hear on Friday. Hopefully there will be some news today.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Greatness.

Check out artist Josh Greene's website. I love his explanation of the "Unlicensed Therapy" project.

He also does something he calls "Service Works," where, one night a month, he gives the tips he makes in his restaurant job to someone else to create a project.

This particular project by Helena Keefe is great. You definitely have to listen to the recordings...

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Sam's punkin'. My stepdad actually did all the work - Sam just art-directed.

Haven't heard anything on the job. Hopefully I'll hear something tomorrow.

While Sam was at karate class I snuck out to the new SuperTarget again . Do you think they'd let me live there?

Here's a great public service announcement video.

And this Desperate Mousewives video is kind of funny.

And here's something to give you a chuckle. Oops.

Oh my God! I forgot to post this. It's funny but oh so wrong...

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Stressin'...

I had a job interview today. I'm trying to be nonchalant about it and trying not to care. But it would be really great to get this job - it's a graphic design position on campus. The best part is that it pays like a real job. I could actually pay my rent. What a concept.

Keep your toes crossed for me.

Some fun:
In case you don't want to get pumpkin guts all over you this year, just carve one online...

Sunday, October 22, 2006

My new cards. If you're interested in where I got them and how to get your own, check out the post on my other blog.

Well, I weighed in yesterday - week 10 - 13.3 pounds! Woo hoo! I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with the WW program (as in, paying them to weigh me), but I'm going to keep eating more healthy and try to get more exercise. I know I would have lost much more if I had exercised more... Workin' on it.

Friday night I had my book discussion group. We read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. We all loved it. It was hard to read at times, but beautifully written. It's about a boy who grows up in Afghanistan and flees with his father during the 80's. He goes back during the reign of the Taliban. It's sad but also hopeful.

Yesterday I taught a workshop. I was supposed to have 4 students but one was sick. We had a lot of fun. I've had such great people do the workshops. Such a range of artistic experience. Yesterday I had a painter, a metalsmith, and a textile artist.

Last night I went to the new Mr. Chopsticks location and then went home and crashed. I went to bed at 8:30. An exciting Saturday night!

Today I'm going to have lunch with Marlys and then hang out at the studio again for a while.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Jumping in the rain. He loves to play in the rain...

On Sunday we went to the new SuperTarget. They have black spaghetti. Sam thought it was cool so we bought some. I think the coolest part (for him) was that it's colored with squid ink. It tastes just like regular spaghetti. Except when you cook it, it turns kind of a disgusting grayish color. Perfect boy food.

Last night while Sam was at cub scouts I walked around the neighborhood. I tried to walk for a whole hour again, but it started to get dark and I had to head home. You know you live in a college town when you walk around your neighborhood and hear 3 bands practicing in their living rooms or garages.

Here's a link to the Snapalope Hunting Association of America. Kind of silly. Personally, I like the hunter's hand signals.

I linked this on my other blog, but in case you missed it, the awesome McSweeny's featured this Submission Guidelines for Our Refrigerator Door. They're pretty tough. Especially if you like robot monkeys. Or poop.

On a similar note, here's a critique of kid's drawings. This guy's brutal. Everybody's a critic...

It kind of reminds me of David Sedaris' "Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol," where he (Thaddeus) reviews Christmas plays put on by elementary school kids. My favorite line:

In the role of Mary, six-year-old Shannon Burke just barely manages to pass herself off as a virgin.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Watching the stingrays and turtles...

We're getting some nice rain here today. The kind where you just want to lay in bed and listen to it.

Sam and I watched The Karate Kid on Friday night. He'd never seen it. Everytime he went to his karate class I'd say something about wax-on/wax-off and he never knew what I was talking about. He liked it. I don't know if I'd ever seen the whole thing.

So while Sam was at karate class on Saturday, I went to my studio. He hung out at his dad's for a while after class, too, so I could get some stuff done. I have four paintings in progress right now. I might have finished one. I'm not sure yet.

We hung out at my mom's for a while last night. Ketty came over with some chili verde that she'd made. It was really yummy. Kind of like a pork soup. She gave me the recipe so I might try it. I'll probably use chicken, though. Or just veggies, even. I love to make soup in the winter...

Last night I watched I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, a documentary about Wilco. It was interesting to see the creative process of making an album and then dealing with all the corporate/record company crap to get it out. Jeff Tweedy has a great voice.

So today we're going to watch the rain, clean the house, and maybe I'll attempt to get to the studio for a while.

Here's an interesting video that shows how they make up and then further enhance a model for a billboard photo. It's all fake! Imagine that...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Link-o-rama!

Check out this fun online game that John told me about, The Sentence Game. It starts off with someone submitting a sentence. The next person draws a picture illustrating that sentence. The next person writes a sentence describing the drawing, the next person draws a picture, etc. It's based on a surrealist game called The Exquisite Corpse. The drawing game is really fun. Kids love it.

If you go to the site, my user name is enchiladaplate. You can view the games that I've participated in. John's is birq. Not sure if he wants you to know that or not...

Guess what? Chad's back for Episode 4! Poor Chad...

Here's a fun video of some adorable teenage boys with too much time on their hands, creatively ordering food at McDonald's. I love how they incorporated the McDonald's theme into their song.

And here's a nice little Miranda July short film.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Cole and Sam...

The aquarium was fun, although it felt like we went through it at breakneck speed. We met Julie and her kids there. I can't even imagine how many times we said, "Don't run!" I guess they were a little bit excited.

Lily liked the manatee...

Lily and Cole and the manatee...

We stood and watched this penguin for quite a while. We kept expecting him to do something. He just kept looking at us. I think he was expecting us to do something...

The flamingos were very loud - colorfully and vocally. Who knew the undersides of their wings were black? Quite dashing...

Saturday, October 07, 2006

I've been neglecting my blog.

No good excuse, really.

Went to Sweetwater last night for Amy's birthday celebration. I'm getting old. I only had a shot of vodka, a glass of wine, and a shot of tequila and I still had a slight hangover. I had intended to only have one glass of wine, but someone bought the shots. I had no choice. It would have been rude to decline. And I had all of that over a 3-hour period. When I got home I already had a headache.

I taught another workshop today. I had 2 students and my studio-mate, Krispen in the workshop. We had fun.

Tonight I met Erin for dinner at PF Chang's. I hadn't seen her in a long time, so it was nice to get caught up. Their wonton soup is really good, by the way.

Tomorrow I'm going to help out with my mom's bookkeeping stuff and then hang out at my studio for a while. I started on a 24" x 24" painting - huge after working 12" x 12" and 6" x 6" for so long. I ordered 5 of that size board, so I'm going to try to get all of them done soon.

Sam's out of school on Monday for Columbus day, so I'm going to take the day off. I think we're going to go to the Dallas World Aquarium. He's excited about it. Me, too, actually. :-)

Biff made a funny video...

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Ketty makes Mango cry.

We got to see my cousin's baby the other day. His real name is Anthony? Something like that. We all call him Mango. It started as a joke. Ketty was asking Cindy what she was going to name the baby when it was born. They were kidding around, suggesting movie star kids' names, like Apple. Mango seemed to stick.

When Ketty's not making him cry, he's really sweet...

This is when I was holding him.

Sam enjoyed taking photos and took a gazillion.

Interesting links that suggest that the media (24 hour news in particular) is ruining life as we know it:

Not fun. The Copycat Effect. Here's a link to the author's website.

Not funny but good - video essay.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

I am so easily amused...

Make your own mix tape image here.
Good news!

Austin's still weird.

Apparently there was a zombie rights march last weekend that was disrupted by some pirates.

Boing Boing posted about it today.

Here's the Flickr set... Their signs are great.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

I was run over by a golf cart yesterday.

Seriously.

OK, somebody bumped into me. I was just minding my own business, walking down the sidewalk on campus, when all of a sudden something slams into my heels and the backs of my legs. I screamed or yelped or made some sort of dorky sound (and almost fell down) and realized that it was a golf cart.

I sat down on the ledge nearby and tried to figure out what just happened and if I was OK. The lady driving the cart said, "I'm sorry." Someone walking by stopped to see if I was OK. I was really mostly freaked out. After a minute I stood up and figured out that I was OK. The lady never got out of her golf cart. That's what gets me about the whole thing. She just sat there.

She said, "I was trying to avoid hitting some students walking on that side of the sidewalk."

I wanted to say, "Well, I'm glad you didn't hit any students!"

So I hobbled off. She didn't even offer me a ride. Not that I would have ridden in her golf cart of death.

It was very strange.

One of my feet is a little sore, but I don't think I need to call one of those personal injury lawyers who have those great commercials...

I've been super busy lately. Not at work so much (well, in little bursts of activity here and there). I taught my workshop on Saturday. Then on Sunday I helped out with my mom's bookkeeping and then worked a little bit at my studio.

I had to pack up some paintings to send to a gallery in Georgia. I shipped those out on Monday.

I had a parent/teacher conference on Monday afternoon. It went well - Sam's doing really well this year.

Sam had scouts that night and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and I walked around the neighborhood for about an hour. I was going to ride my bike but I had a flat tire. :-(

Some time after my walk, I realized that I needed to ship more paintings to a show in a gallery in Sacramento. For some reason, I thought they needed to be there next Wednesday but in fact they need to be there on Monday. Yikes.

So I hauled ass to my studio yesterday during lunch and grabbed the paintings, hanging hardware, and packing stuff.

I told Sam that I'd take him out on a "good report card dinner," like my dad always did for me. He said, "McDonald's!" I said, "Seriously? I'm offering you a dinner anywhere and you want to go to McDonald's?" So he changed his mind to Chuck E. Cheese. I know. But it's not as yucky as McDonald's.

So we went to Chuck E's last night. It wasn't so bad - not too crowded.

And when I got home I had to pack up my paintings. I was worn out.

------

Check out this site: Karaoke Ice. It's a karaoke stage in an ice cream truck.

I'm a dork, so I think this is cool. The millionaire space tourist (from Plano!) is blogging from space.

It's a little early for Halloween, but here's a scary video for you.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Here's a news flash.

btw - 2 pounds - 9.5 total so far.

Seeing Jenna was fun. We went to I Heart Sushi (still hate that stupid name...) and then she made me go to Beth Marie's for Emily's Campfire Marshmallow. The sacrifices I make for my friends!

We walked around the square, enjoying the cooler weather (and hopefully walking off some of that ice cream), and then went to Recycled Books for a while.

The play was really funny. It's been pretty much the same every time I've seen it, but they update some things to reflect current pop culture references. We both enjoyed it.

Then we went to Wine Squared for a glass. Jenna didn't get tipsy this time, which is a good thing, since I didn't have my camera with me this time...
Gotta go weigh-in today (didn't lose any last week! what's up with that?) and then I'm teaching a workshop. Only 2 students this time, but they're people I don't know - not sure how they heard about me - maybe my postcards are working!

Tonight Jenna's making her triumphant return to Denton and we're going to see The Compleat Works of Williams Shakespeare (abridged) at the local community theatre. It's hilarious. I saw it for the first time in Dallas a few years ago. Then I saw it in London, performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, who created it. A couple of months later I saw it in Fort Worth. Each time was a little different but completely hilarious. I can't wait.

I was excited to see that great OK Go treadmill video on VH-1 this morning. One of the guys was on The Colbert Report recently and he said that one of their sisters* does their choreography. Here's another video with some great dancing.

*So John, if you want me to do some choreography for your band, let me know...

Friday, September 22, 2006

Here's another website that does scammer-baiting.
The fax machine story.

OK, it wasn't really Flava Flav...

Jenna and I bought the fax machine for the office back in December. We bought the cheapest one that Office Depot had (probably the first mistake). It worked fine up until Wednesday. In fact, it was probably the only electronic device in the office that I hadn't threatened to take out into a field and beat with a baseball bat.

But on Wednesday it was receiving a fax (a rare occurence in our office and cause for much celebration) and when it fed the second piece of paper halfway in, it flashed an error message - paper jam or PC load letter or something like that. I kept pulling the paper out and it would just keep doing the same thing. Finally it just completely stopped. Blank screen. Nothing. I unplugged it and replugged it and tried a different outlet, etc.

So I had to call Brother's customer service. I know. Drag. I even tried the website but there was no troubleshooting information on our model.

The rep told me to unplug it, replug it, and try another outlet.

Then she said that it was out of warranty. But... they could send us a refurbished model for free. All I had to do was fax them the original receipt. Apparently the irony of the request was lost on her.

So here I am, waiting for the new(ish) fax machine.

btw - what did we do before YouTube?

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

I have to admit that I didn't really talk like a pirate yesterday. I just never could find the right occasion...

Let's see, what kind of fun things have I found lately?

This post on Boing Boing cracked me up.

Trish linked to this and this recently. They crack Sam up.

You have to check out the blog for self-described "celebrinerd" Ken Jennings. He's hilarious. Who knew Mormons could be so funny?

Monday, September 18, 2006

ARRRR!

Tomorrow is Talk Like a Pirate Day.

The idea of "Wench Swap" cracks me up.

I feel bad. I told Sam it was today. I hope he's not at school talking like a pirate all day... Probably not. He didn't believe me, anyway. As usual, he said, "Har har. Very funny."
A really nice tribute to Ann Richards.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Went to Dallas on Friday night to see Nancy's show - an installation at Studio 832. It looked great. Sam liked it, too.

Here's Nancy:


The installation on the wall contained all kinds of cool, weird, and scary things:

We didn't stay too long - Sam can only take so much art and being good all at once. We headed to Jenna's to see her new place and to visit the kitties. Sam had fun playing with Casper and trying to play with Shadow. I completely forgot to take pictures while we were there.

On Saturday I went to the gallery walk in Dallas. I tried to hit mostly galleries that I might be interested in "schmoozing." I did go to a couple that I liked anyway, though. I saw a bunch of good stuff. I even stopped at Eatzi's and got some sushi. Yum.

I did schmooze a little. I even left my CD at one gallery. And I left some postcards promoting my workshops at the Latino Cultural Center. They had a really nice show of encaustic paintings by Carlos Pellicer Lopez. I thought that maybe someone would see his work and want to learn how to do encaustic. Who knows?

We had dinner with John and Elizabeth and the girls at their new house. They have a new weenie dog puppy named Wesley:

For a dog, he was pretty cool. Very cute. Tiny. He hopped around and licked everybody's ankles.



He likes to walk outside on his leash. The cats, Boris and Natasha, understandably don't want much to do with little Wesley. But Tasha was jealous that he got to go outside. So they got Tasha her own leash:

After all the excitement, Elizabeth snuggled Wesley up in a towel and he took a nap:

He might be a little bit spoiled...

Oops - forgot to post a couple of links:
In case you always wondered about Kirk and Spock. This video is not safe for viewing at work.

And here's an interesting article about Stephen Colbert.

I thought this wedding video was kind of sweet.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

I'm sad today at the news of Ann Richards' death. I saw her speak in Dallas about 10 years ago and then again earlier this year at UNT. She was by far one of the best speakers I've ever seen. She was an incredible, dynamic woman who will be missed.

And now with all of her quotes flying around, I realize that I had unknowingly ripped her off the other day when I said, "When I die, I don't really want people to say, 'Her house was really clean.'" I had thought that I was ripping off Erma Bombeck...

Sunday, September 10, 2006

The Edible Earth

Sam had to make this edible model of the earth for school last week. I loved the way it looked and just had to get a shot of it. The inner core is a grape - I should have gotten orange jello instead so you could see the contrast better. Oh well. The earth has never been tastier...

Sam told me that a kid in his class made a cake that had chicken in it. Neat!

I've had a fairly busy weekend. After Sam got picked up on Friday night, I contemplated going to see Little Miss Sunshine, but I decided to go to sleep instead. I was wiped out.

Yesterday I got up early to weigh-in (3 more pounds! although I can't tell where it's coming from...) and go to the gym. Then I walked over to the square for the Art, Antiques, and Autos event. I was the judge for the art part of it. There weren't a lot of entries, but some of them were really good - mostly crafts. I awarded the best of show to a couple who made really nice jewelry.

Cathy and I went to Fort Worth for gallery night. We went to Gallery 414 to see my friend Susan's work. Then we went to a funky little store called Uncommon Angles that's in a cool, refurbished Montgomery Ward building. We hit the nearby Super Target to get a baby present for our friends Neva and Kim, who recently had twin girls. We were hoping to hook up with them while we were in FW but we weren't able to catch them.

We searched and searched and eventually found Artspace 111. We liked the work there, but they also had great food. They had a chocolate fountain. Need I say more?

Next was Art in the Metroplex at TCU. I've entered that show for about 4 years in a row and not gotten in... But I'm not bitter. We enjoyed the show but nothing really stood out. My friend Nancy had a piece in the show.

They had a small gallery upstairs with work by grad painters. We liked a couple of the pieces but we were mostly impressed by their studios. They had huge, light-filled studios. With doors. That locked. A huge contrast to the makeshift cubicles that we had at our state institutions. I guess it pays to be able to afford a private education.

We ate at a Mexican place called Caro's. It says on their website that they don't use a steam table, microwave, or can opener. It must be hard to get those cans open... The food was super greasy and I had a lake of cheese on my plate. Not exactly Weight Watcher-friendly. They also pride themselves on their puffy chips. I wasn't a fan, though. Maybe it was just a bad day for puffy chips.

There was another funky shop nearby, so we stopped in to check it out.

Then we went to what I think is the best gallery in Fort Worth - William Campbell. I was all set to schmooze and try to talk to the owner and everything but when we got there the place was packed. You couldn't see the artwork, really, there were so many people milling around. I'm going to go back when it's quieter to do some schmoozing.

We headed to Edmund Craig - 0h, but before we got there we stopped at a gallery that must be a community art center or a studio with classes or something. It was crowded with people but mostly it was chock full o' art. It was really overwhelming. We did find a few good pieces in the crowd, though.

Edmund Craig has some good stuff but is mostly realism and landscape. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm just not so into it. It just seems like the paintings they have there are really... shiny. I don't know how to describe it. There were a couple of encaustic pieces that I really liked, though.

I saw my friend Devon there, so it was nice to get caught up with her and I guess I schmoozed her because I sent her a proposal for an artist's book show... She's the gallery director at a junior college in Fort Worth that would be a perfect venue for these books. So at least there was a little schmoozing that got done.

There were two more places that we wanted to go but it was after 9:00 (the scheduled ending time of all of the openings), and we were tired. So we headed home.

Today I watched Dick Cheney on Meet the Press. There was much eye rolling on my part. Sheesh. And whenever I see him, I immediately think of Jon Stewart's impression of him.

The rest of the day was cleaning and organizing. I had intended to clean Sam's room. I try to go through his room every now and then when he's not there and I get rid of stuff that he doesn't play with, that's broken, or, honestly, that annoys me... He's got so much junk that he rarely misses anything. And if he does say, "Hey, where's that toy accordion with the siren on it (or whatever)?" I can just say, "I'm not sure. Where did you put it?"

I didn't get to that, though, because I spent most of the day cleaning my office. Really just my desk area. So I didn't get everything clean. I've come to accept the fact that the whole house can't really be clean all at the same time. That's way too much to ask of myself. And I know that nobody really cares. When I die, I don't really want people to say, "Her house was really clean."

Monday, September 04, 2006

Favorite songs meme - from Colleen


1. Beatles: Blackbird

2. Rolling Stones: Miss You
3. Doors: not so much

4. Bob Dylan: not a fan (I like it when OTHER people sing his songs... I know. He's a legend. Whatever.)
5. Led Zeppelin: Kashmir
6. TV Theme: I Dream of Jeannie

7. Prince: 1999

8. Madonna: tie - Lucky Star and Borderline

9. Michael Jackson: Billie Jean

10. Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody

11. 'N Sync: seriously?

12. Al Green: Take Me to the River

13. Notorious BIG: not familiar

14. Song from a Cartoon: eep op ork ah ah by Judy Jetson

15. Bruce Springsteen: Thunder Road

16. Magnetic Fields: Take Ecstasy With Me (I've heard them but don't have any of their stuff so I looked online and that was the first song title that made me laugh)
17. Cure: Pictures of You

18. Song that most of your friends haven't heard: Where Does the Good Go by Tegan and Sara

19. Smiths: How Soon is Now
20. Beastie Boys: ick!

21. Clash: Train in Vain
22. Police: Tea in the Sahara

23. Elvis: Heartbreak Hotel

24. Beach Boys: Wouldn't It Be Nice

25. Cyndi Lauper: not a fan

26. Song from a movie: The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice from Closer

27. Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlantacism

28. Jeff Buckley: other than Hallelujah, I'm not familiar...

29. Johnny Cash: Ring of Fire

30. Song from an 80's one hit wonder: Melt With You

31. Tori Amos: Crucify

32. Kinks: You Really Got Me

33. Genesis: don't like
34. Barenaked Ladies: If I Had a $1000000

35. INXS: Don’t Change

36. Weird Al: Like a Surgeon - no - I Lost on Jeopardy - no - My Bologna...

37. Peter Gabriel: Shaking the Tree

38. John Lennon: Instant Karma

39. Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (we're just two lost souls swimmin' in a fishbowl...)
40. Cover song: Sweet Jane by the Cowboy Junkies (originally by Lou Reed)
41. White Stripes: Seven Nation Army
42. Dance song: Rock Lobster by the B-52s

43. U2: One

44. Song from an actor turned musician: anything by William Shatner!

45. Disco: You Should be Dancing by the Bee Gees
46. Power Ballad: Bringin' on the Heartbreak by Def Leppard

47. Guns N' Roses: Welcome to the Jungle
48. The Who: Baba O’Reilly

49. Elton John: Tiny Dancer
50. Favorite song, period: Everyday I Write the Book by Elvis Costello

51. Sting: We'll Be Together

52. Billy Joel: Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

53. Burt Bacharach: What's New Pussycat (my cat likes it... I'm a dork)

54. First popular song you have a memory of hearing on the radio: American Pie by Don MacLean
55. Eagles: Desperado
56. Road Trip: Life in the Fast Lane by the Eagles

57. Grateful Dead: not a fan

58. Song that takes you back to grade school: Heart of Glass by Blondie (the skating rink)

59. Song that takes you back to middle school/junior high: Lights by Journey

60. Song that takes you back to high school: Missing You by John Waite

61. Song that takes you back to college: What I Am by New Bohemians

62. Favorite love song: At Last by Etta James

63. Favorite stress reliever song: Stardust by Nat King Cole

I lost 1.4 pounds this week. Total of 4.5 pounds in 2 weeks. That's pretty good.

We spent the weekend at the lake. It rained the whole time, but it was nice. We really needed the rain, so we didn't mind too much. It cooled off a lot, too, which was really nice. We played games and napped and read. Sam fished a little bit.

Good news! Chad's back for Episode 3!


I've been thinking about sharks for the last couple of days... I stayed up way too late last night, reading The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey. It's an account of her several visits to the Farallon Islands, about 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco. The mostly uninhabitable islands were nicknamed The Devil's Teeth by sailors. The islands are home to thousands of seals and sea lions, which happen to be the main items on the diet of the great white shark. A large population of great whites return to the islands every fall. Casey contacted the biologists who live on the island (studying sharks and birds) and managed to make several visits. The islands have a strange and colorful history, which the author researched in detail. The book is part nature, part history, and part adventure.

She writes beautifully, too:
A three-quarter moon rose, with Mars like a bodyguard beside it, glowing red. Gull feathers tumbled by in the gale. The sea and the sky had melted into each other, and now they were just nuanced tones of infinity, dual voids. Overhead, the lighthouse beacon rotated. It was hard not to imagine that I was standing at the very end of the world; that there was nothing but water, and after that, more water, and that all the land was gone.