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.