Some pictures from the Bad Art Party. It was fun to watch the kids do their own thing and just make whatever they wanted. I think they had fun. Weird how all the girls made jewelry and clothing. Oh, and frog houses...

Sam and I went to the Harry Potter party at the local Barnes & Noble. I'm still amazed to think that all those people were there (and stores like it all over the world) for a BOOK. Is that not stunning in this day and age?

Some interesting people there. Some people (as in adults without kids who dress up as wizards...) are just WAY too into Harry Potter. I did see at least one great t-shirt, though. It said: "Spoiler Alert: Hermione's a Dude!"

Sam's not letting me touch his copy, though, for some reason. I've read all of the other ones to him (mostly - he would read some parts on his own, too). So I'm going to have to wait a long time to be able to read it. So don't tell me anything!

Yeah, wish me luck with that...

Tonight I watched Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. It was weird, of course. But interesting. I think they were trying to imagine how she found her inspiration and why she was so attracted to what most of society thinks is freakish. She seemed to find beauty in it.

I'm helping out with the member's show for VAST (the local artist's group) this week.

I'm going to start on the last of the Shopaholic books. Total chick lit fluff but I'm completely hooked.

I also need to get some more boards to paint on. I've got an idea for a new series and want to get started on it.

bored in the car...

We had fun on our trip to Georgia. I decided to drive straight through on the way out. Mapquest said the drive was 12 hours but it took 14. We didn't really stop that much, either, so I'm not sure why it took so long. We left on the 4th, so there wasn't much traffic to deal with.

civil war cannon and the old miss - the mighty mississip in the background

We stopped in Vicksburg - Sam was oddly excited about seeing the Mississippi river. I had to suppress the urge to be Clark Griswald. I wonder how many dorky people like me do that (or want to) when they cross that river...

My mom and stepdad drove out, too and we saw them once on the road before they stopped briefly to gamble in Shreveport.

We stayed with my aunt and uncle while we were there. Somehow I didn't get any photos of them. Just my cousin's youngest daughter:

She was really funny. This picture cracked me up. She looks like a spoiled little princess here but she was hilarious.

My aunt and I were trying to figure out what we should call each other - how exactly are we related. So thanks to wikipedia, I learned that Madison is my first cousin, once removed. Your first cousin's kids are your first cousins, once removed. Their kid's kids are your first cousins, twice removed.

Oddly enough, my aunt is married to her cousin, so this creates all kinds of interesting problems when trying to figure out how we're all related. Don't worry they didn't have any kids together - it's the second marriage for both of them...

Second cousins are more distant. They have the same great-grandparents but different grandparents. It's very confusing and I'm not really sure I understand it. And who knows if wikipedia's right about it, anyway...

So anyway - I installed my show at the Douglasville Cultural Arts Council. Their art center is an old house, so the show has a different feel to it. I think it seems more intimate to see it in that kind of setting.

installation view, The Tornado Show - Seeking Shelter, Douglasville, Georgia

While I was installing they went to Stone Mountain. I might have been there when I was little, but I don't remember. Sam and Madison had lots of fun there and wore the grown-ups out.

On Saturday we went to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It was so crowded. We had gotten tickets online the night before so we were expecting an easy time of it but we had to wait in a line for security, then a line for tickets, then a line to give someone our tickets and then another line to get the tickets for the movie that we had also gotten advanced tickets for... And then there were long lines at every exhibit. They need to make their viewing windows bigger or something... But they had some cool stuff - whale sharks, jellyfish, beluga whales, otters, seals, stingrays...

beluga whales

whale shark

jellyfish

Those are all my favorites...

The opening reception was on Sunday. It happened to coincide with their ice cream social (the whole cone thing worked out nicely) and the entertainment was a barbershop quarter. I'm not sure how that happened...

The reception was very well-attended. Another cousin came by and my uncle's daughter (who I think is actually my second cousin...) was there, too.

We left on Monday morning and headed to Philadelphia, Mississippi. My mom and stepdad and my aunt and uncle were staying at a casino there that night, so we stayed with them to save on a hotel. Sam thought it was the coolest place he'd ever been in his life. He desperately wanted to play a slot machine. I have zero urge to gamble, so to me it was just tacky, smoky, and sad. But I shouldn't complain since it was free...

The drive home was still long - 10 hours. We didn't hit any rain until we got to Carrollton where it rained buckets.

We've had a family of cats take up residence in our back yard. Maybe because I've been feeding them. :-) There's a mama, 3 babies, and the dad - weird for the dad to be hanging around, I know. Sam has named them Mama (mama - tortoise-shell/black), Grayson (dad - gray and buff mixed), and Pouncy (just like mama), Cotton Candy (orange tabby), and Shadow (darker version of mama).

I saw them this morning but they weren't here the rest of the day. Mama and the babies are cute and I wish they would let us pet them. I'd also like to get them fixed... Grayson might have been pretty at one time but now he has that tom-cat look to him. He looks like a bruiser...

Anyway, part of me wants them to move on and part of me wants them to stay. The kittens are so cute.

So we're going to be around for a while, I think. The show in Douglasville closes on the 17th. Hopefully my aunt and uncle can meet us with the stuff halfway...

This weekend I'm going to teach a workshop - actually one each day. Saturday night my friend Trayc has some work in a show and I think Trish is going to go with me to that.