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Because I KNOW you all live vicariously through me...

"The Lego Movie" = total fun. And how the heck did they film that?! Amazing.

Enjoying the "Circles" album by Mike Doughty. Formerly of Soul Coughing. "El Oso" is one of those CDs I never get tired of. Like Neil Finn's "Try Whistling This".

Saw this necklace (Sticks Together) by Erika Strum last weekend in the Eno Gallery in Hillsborough; sat in the car for twenty minutes trying to talk myself out of it.

Don't need it... Don't need it... Don't need it...Okay, just go try it on.
Maybe it will look bad and you can walk away. Such a cunning plan I had!

Then she told me it was reversible. Ergh.

It makes a lovely tinkling noise, like a little wind chime at my neck. And it's ART dammit.

Speaking of art - I L.O.V.E. the marsh paintings by Jacob Cooley. I can practically smell the brine.

Really like the paintings by Larry Gray too. They are so much more evocative in person. Could look at them forever.







My Durham skyline necklace by Metamorphosis Metals is finally complete! Major the Bull added today at Vespertine.

Also bought this adorable Bitchy Resting Face bird print: 

Enough of art. (As if.)

Now on to the world of dating.

Had a very nice date Wednesday night. Funny, nice looking (like a white haired Mark Ruffalo), proper usage of both English and utensils. Two sweet kisses on the lips at the end. Text yesterday that he would be back in town in a couple of weeks and we'd do it again. Well okay then. Just remember those cowboy boots, Mister.

On the same topic: 

A "friend" had an interesting dating experience recently...

It's Date #2. While driving/showing him around town (he's from another city in NC), a hand was laid on the thigh while driving, sans permission (if it's not obvious, he was the hand layer). Later he went in for a kiss, not once, but twice, calling for the cheek deflect move. There were more dating crimes, but these were the most egregious. 

She politely explained the lack of spark in an email, but now he is begging for forgiveness, to the tune of four to five groveling emails. My "friend" is torn between salvaging a friendship (same profession), or cutting her losses. 

What say you readers? 

Line crossed, no going back? Will he take forgiveness as a sign of hope? Will she be fighting him off for the remainder if she does extend the olive branch? Or should she stick to the initial lack of spark email and call it a day (meaning, don't respond to any of his groveling)? 

Y'all have a good week, free from hand layers...unless of course, you want that.

Bunch of Other Stuff

Well maybe not a bunch. But definitely some.

• Made an appointment with Kathryn at Dogstar for the next tattoo on the inside of my right forearm on December 23rd. Won't be doing "Fear is a Liar" after all; she talked me out of it - she knows what I want more than I do. Heh. It will be free form, as you'll see the end in the knots. True knot work you can't see the beginning or end of the knot - but it needs to be big so it doesn't close up. Don't have that option on the forearm. I suppose I'll have to match the left forearm at some point 'cause that's how tattoos are - can't have just one. Some people do not get the Pictish inclination for the tattoos. Whatever. It's in my DNA.

• Speaking of DNA - did I tell you Ancestry.com found my two percent "Uncertain"? Caucasus. (Syria, Iran, Iraq) Seriously not the woodpile I was expecting. Things are more broken down - 24% Ireland. 7% British Isles. 61% Western Europe (My Scandinavian is Danish; my gut feeling.). That explains why I love the rowing machine - all that DNA memory of longboats. Heh.

• Had a very nice Thanksgiving at Susan and Tony's house. They entertain like I wish I did. No worry, no stress. You're family; hanging around the table nibbling on cheese and drinking cava, everyone at ease. My contributions were bacon jam and cranberry conserve. Talked to The Boy and OSD in the morning. It was a lovely day.

Thanksgiving 2013

• The dates had died out there for a bit, perhaps due to holidays. Now I have one tomorrow night with a poet from Hillsborough. Here's hoping he doesn't hold his spoon like a two year old. 

• Went to the Durham Rock and Shop Market at the Durham Armory today and spent $ on ME. (I'm my favorite person to spend money on.) Bought a fused glass skull necklace by Isabel's Rose and a Durham skyline necklace by Metamorphosis Metals. The bull can be added later if I want. And I want. It pretty much makes the skyline.

• On the weightlifting front, I did squats with 95 lbs Tuesday night and...my knee hurt. Just saying. Then overhead presses and Turkish Get ups. All my least favorite stuff in one night. UGH.

• I'm restless and moving the furniture doesn't help. If [when] I dream I'm pregnant, we're in trouble. (new beginnings and change.)

• A friend gave me this hat. I think of myself as more of a fedora person. What do you think?

Alright, that's it for now.

Baseball, Art, and The Magic of Saltines and Coke

Went to a Durham Bulls game Friday night. The company I work for bought a sky box for five games to entertain clients and friends. (Nice!) The Bulls won AND there were fireworks after the game!

I ate too much popcorn or crack cheese, (what we call the jalapeno pimento cheese concoction made by Susan's husband), or M&Ms or quite possibly all of the above, because I did not feel well when I got home. (only drank water, so couldn't blame on alcohol)

That feeling lingered all night and into morning, so much so that I drove to the store at 7:30 AM to get saltines and a co-cola to settle my stomach; I did not want to miss the Saturday plans.

Steffi and I were driving up to Richmond, VA, Steffi being on her way to Maryland for the month of May for Baby Watch 2013, which will hopefully turn into Helping with Baby in very early May.
With the coke and saltines working their magic (what is that?!), we dropped off Solo (sniff, sniff) and headed up to Virginia.

We met Diane and Susan who drove up separately (they were my ride home) at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and proceeded to have a fine day. We were there to see the Ted Wesselmann "Pop Art" exhibit, but first things first - lunch. Of the two cafes in the museum, we chose Amuse.

Needless to say, I was feeling much better.

There's a burger and blue cheese under the egg.

You say creme caramel, I say flan. Either way, delicious.

From the balcony of the restaurant we could see the Chihuly water garden.
More of that later.

Clandestine photo (name withheld to protect the guilty)

The exhibit was great; enjoyed seeing the evolution of his work.

Another guilty photo (my favorite)

Then we had to send Steffi on her way (more sniff, sniff) - for a whole month!

We wandered through the rest of the museum. They had one of Kehinde Wiley's paintings (discovered him at the 30 Americans exhibit at the NC Museum of Art). This is not the one they had, but this is why I love him.

Another photo by she who shall remain nameless

My favorite gallery in the museum: Art Deco. The jewelry! The pottery! The furniture! 

Brooches of opals the size of baby fists dangling giant gleaming pearls. Chokers with diamonds (meh), garnets, enamel. Buckles in the shape of peacock feathers or dragonflys; horned beetle mirrors. The most glorious swirly drawer pulls; pottery teapots in the shape of sea urchins. Chests and chairs and dressers and desks made from deliciously grained walnut and cherry wood. The Tiffany window (this is not a good representation), lamps, vases, necklaces. Bronze ink wells in the shape of a crab or a woman wrestling with an octopus (okay, that one was a little weird). Diane and Susan left me in there enraptured while they looked at the Impressionists, then we headed outside for a closer look at the Chihuly garden.

Reflection in museum window

Last photo of the day

You know the kind of tired you get after being at the beach all day and you're a little wind/sunburned? That's the kind of tired I was. The grateful-for-good-friends kinda tired. The laughed-so-hard-I-cried kinda tired.

The happy-but-can't-wait-to-get-home kind of tired. 

How In the World

Has it been almost a month since I last posted?! Guess I don't have much to say, unless, of course, you want to hear about DNA results.

Without my mother's antics, I fear I am very dull indeed.

Speaking of Mom, the year anniversary is really an amazing thing; I'm much less prone to spontaneous waterworks. Yesterday I did get a bit teary driving past all the redbuds in bloom along 15/501. She would have said they were pretty about nine hundred times. 

We are having our two days of spring here in NC as evidenced by this:

And this:

The weather this weekend has been perfect - cool in the morning (mid 40's - 50's), 70's in the afternoon. 

The air smells crisp and fresh - sun dried sheets and grass. Yes, lawn mowing season is upon us already. 

Yesterday afternoon, several of us went to funky Ninth Street for a look at Zola Craft Gallery, popped into Vaguely Reminiscent (pink sunglasses!), then walked a few blocks down Iredell Street, (people waving from their cute Craftsmen porches), to a photography exhibit opening at Craven Allen. 

It was crowded and hot in there, but what I saw of the exhibit was great. We sauntered down a few storefronts to The Palace International for some African food. Sat outside, people watching, enjoying great food. 

On the building next door was this bit of graffiti:

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Notes on Today

Walking along Hunt Street in Durham this morning:
semi cool breeze carrying the sounds of people laughing, the jingle of dog's tags, the smell of coffee and earth and strawberries and sunscreen (SPF 45).

Later in Southern Village walking the upper loop alone (the price one pays for being late):
the PERFUME of honeysuckle lit up by the heat, a spray of blood on the sidewalk from a skinned knee or nose, the imprints of shoes in the concrete. The sounds of soccer and hockey and children on swings mingled with this song:

Even later, this charming postcard sized painting was discovered:

Art Everywhere

Hi, it's me. The slacker blogger.

Last week we went on the Durham Art Walk. First we had a snack at Daisy Cakes to fortify us. A chocolate truffle brownie for me.

Cricket Forge was giving these away:

Made of tin. 

Lots of great downtown stuff. A good downtown is the soul of a place.

Both my purchases were leaves - this beautiful photograph of sculptural dead leaves:

And this small metal leaf from Cricket Forge:

Afterward several of us went to Parker and Otis.

No pickle relish in the deviled eggs. Fail.

Lovely day. Lovely company. Lovely art.