It's Always Something

If I can teach her to be her only judge, then I will have succeeded. 

Tonight was Art Night at Brooklynn's school.  It is an annual fundraiser where students and their families get together for a night to create things out of different art styles.  Watercolor or acrylic paints, drawings, mosaics. etc.     So far, this Art Night and the Math-a-Thon are our favorite fundraisers.  We hope they both continue.        xoxo

I chose this drawing from about 8 different renditions. Then, took an old unused canvas and painted over it. Painted the headphones.   Repeated with another old and unused canvas. Ended up with this.

I have always found vintage items to have such more appeal when decorating than newer items. The idea of rummaging through odds and ends to find that perfect quirky item has so much more character than that Pottery Barn end table that your friend's sister has.  Oh, and her friend has. And her sister-in-law. You catch my drift.   In addition to the money you save, you are also helping offset your carbon footprint by reusing items rather than using more materials and energy to create more.  You can often find Brooklynn and myself scouring the downtown antique stores for decor or at thrift stores for necessities. Although we have some of the best antique stores right in Fremont, here are a few that I have found around the Bay Area: Berkeley- Amoeba Records, Moe's Books, and Mars Mercantile on Telegraph Ave. Hayward- ECO Thrift (comprised of a dozen different thrift stores that spans a 10-mile strip of roadway from Hayward to San Leandro) Burlingame- Pick of the Litter (sales benef...

Brooklynn and I went to our very first SF Giants Fan Fest today.  Although we were prepared for bad weather (it has been raining all week), to our surprise the weather was perfect.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day in San Francisco.  We started off with a good ol' all-american breakfast at... Denny's. Brooklynn's choice.  We split the chicken fried steak and eggs (our usual whenever at Denny's), scarfed it down, and set off to San Francisco.   Brooklynn loves going to the city. We usually BART, but today we decided to drive and after struggling to find free parking, I remembered why we BARTed so often.   Once parked and into the ballpark, we had a great time walking through the player's clubhouse (aka locker room), goofing around in the press boxes, playing tag on the field, and checking out the players BTW- Brian Wilson is looking good this year. Hubba hubba. *wink*   Brooklynn also got the chance to showoff her gangster hitting skills in the Kids Zone.  After sh...

Hanging out in her bed. Hanging out watching The Simpsons. Sleeping during the car ride home from Lola & Lola's. Lapping it up on the way to work. Lapping it up @ work. Lapping it up after a hard day. Tough Life.

About 10 years ago I used to write non-stop. Poetry, stories, lyrics, descriptions of people. Anything at anytime.  Sadly, I put down my pen in 1998. In 2008, I picked up a paint brush.  I have been too afraid to express with words, almost like going back to an ex-lover after leaving them behind.  So until I thought I was worthy,  I am relying on visual arts to help express myself.  Brooklynn asked me to paint her.  This is what I came up with. She's my mini-me.  (footnote- painting is not quite finished.  it still needs a poem/quote written along the top.)