some reception pictures

so here are a few of the best of our reception pictures. our photographer, Robin, was great. she took almost 800 pictures and really did a great job capturing all the fun and all the details. I am really excited to finally have a few really good family group photos.

As for other news, we are almost finished moving. Our camping trip was amazing (pictures to come soon). Hailey got a little bored; three days of camping is probably a little bit too much for such a young kid, especially with no other kids around. She did however make friends with the group of UCLA students taking a trip before their masters program starts. By the time we left Arizona hot springs, they all knew her name. The beach was filled with a chorus of "Bye Hailey! Have a good trip Hailey!" etc, etc. it was cute. She is definitely an extrovert.

Recently I took this Career Discovery Series training class at work where we talked about different personality types and what career paths go along with those well. We took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test. I came out as an INFP, which pretty much fit me to a T, I was impressed. It was a very interesting opportunity for personal exploration, and I am very excited to continue doing career research and start setting goals to help me move in the direction I want to go. Time to figure out what I want to be when I grow up...

checking in

so it seems im not so good at this whole blogging thing...i just never remember that i want to write stuff down. so to check in, it has been an extremely busy month for us and its only the 18th. our reception was great, we had a lot of people turn out and it seemed that everyone had a really fun time. thank you dennis and gloria. (still waiting on pictures) then we started moving last weekend. not so sure yet how i feel about living with mike's parents for the next few months, but i think that the end result will be well worth it. mike may move to the day shift soon, which would be an amazing turn of events for our family. friday night we will drive out to nevada for our second canoeing trip to black canyon (we went for our honeymoon and now we are taking hailey with us on the same trip) super excited for that. hailey is too, she started trying to pack this morning, it was cute. then next weekend is hailey's 8th birthday, still dont know what we are doing for her, but we'll figure out something fun. so thats its for us so far...until the next time i am procrastinating...

This weekend...

So Hailey is still in Hawaii but she will be back tomorrow sometime in the afternoon. Bethany plans to drop her on their way back from the airport. It has been very quiet this whole week. And it’s not like we have her every day, so I am used to having free nights, but it has definitely been weird not having her at all. This weekend we will help Dennis and Gloria in their backyard, laying brick for the new patio. I think it is going to look great when it is all done, though I really can’t wait until we are finished for much more selfish reasons. I think we are going to have a really relaxing movie night in on Saturday and maybe go to the drive in on Sunday to see the new kids movie, but we’ll see. Looking forward to the reception. Looking even more forward to after the reception when we will move into the backhouse…thank goodness we will finally be rid of Kermit.

slacker

so I have really been slacking when it comes to posting, and more importantly when it comes to working on my art in general lately. My last sketch was on June 15, so a full month ago. I did however read the most amazing book in that time. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. This is easily one of the top five best books I have ever read. The way that Davidson describes the world is beautiful and addictive.

http://www.amazon.com/Gargoyle-Andrew-Davidson/dp/0385524943

and the author seems quite funny.

So the plan, is to start taking advantage of my time alone (oh yes, my husband now works the 12-9pm shift so I have A LOT of free time on my hands at night) and do at least one 20-30 minute sketch a night and one painting a week. lets see how that works out...

changes

So I just combined Soixante-Sept and D'Ame...

you know you're bored at work when...

you start a family blog just so that the painful silence of having finished everything you needed to accomplish by 10am is cut by the sound of typing because the entirety of the internet ceases to sufficiently occupy your time...

something to remember

he turned several streets before ours just to let the girls listen to the Taylor Swift song just to make them happy, even though he hates it

N'oublie Pas...

A: Do not sell yourself short.

B: Seek balance - extremes provide the most excitement but no stability

C: Relinquish control - you cannot control every aspect of your life and you definitely cannot control others

D: Slow down - let things come as they may; its not always your time

E: Don't get bored so easily - look for something interesting even if you think there is no substance to be held

F: Let people in - its okay to let your guard down a little bit more, but with that remember balance, don't get consumed with letting people in and conveying yourself. people will understand you as they come.

G: Be content with where you are, and the 'you' will follow happily.

H: Try to see the good in all situations - it always exists and if you can see it, the stress of any situation will diminish.

I: Think before you speak.

J: You don't know everything - there is always another way, another interpretation and another something to learn.

K: You aren't perfectible - you will always have flaw, some you can change, others you cannot. Again, this is about control, don't be so hard when you fail and don't quit before the finish line, because 'whatever, its chill, I don't care' is just a front for being afraid to fail.

L: Be who you are, don't worry about who you need to be - I'm not who I think I am, I'm not who you think I am, I am who I think I can make you think I am.

M: Don't get caught in the details - look past the leaves to the trees.

N: Get to the bottom of your feelings.

O: Pick your battles wisely - you can't be great at everything, or always be right; you can be happy, or you can be right.

Les idées de ma exposition

1: Life in a Box - 50+ antique empty frames hanging on one wall [frames]

2: Un Soirée/Not without me - 10-20 plaster hands suspended in dramatic scene with wine glasses. spill wine dripping off chaise lounge (white, antique, victorian) onto the floor like a murder scene, with one silver antiques mirror on the wall [glasses, hands, chair, mirror]

3: Winds of Change - watercolor and acrylic on canvas, mountain with shadowed woman standing on top, red scarf flapping in the wind, cloudy, rainy, torrential and harsh. trash at the bottom spilling to the floor and scarf coming out of the painting with sheer cloth suspended straight out of the canvas [multimedia collage, trash, scarf]

4: Self-portrait - redo self portrait but with bigger dimension, better mechanics and actual mirrors [tank, color, mechanism, mirror]

5: Inner workings of a restless soul/Futility - Labyrinth with no end; installation maybe or 3D wall piece. [labyrinth]

6: Light at the end of the tunnel - [light, train, body]

7: Soixante-Sept/In the age of cryogenics... - [tube, old, computer, hand, cords, mirror, projection]

8: You - [cloth, coffee, cigarettes]

9: Life's Lessons - mixed media collage

10: Discover your amplitude - [giant woman, small world, average]

11: my sine curve - [sine curve slowly moving, movie of death]

12: The Archer - [arrow, broken heart, shattering]

13: Fading - girl as chicken wire person being blow away into pieces

14: One Definitive Moment - triptych, girl kneeling, rying, arm bleeding from razor on the floor - Broken/self-realization moment - still kneeling but interested in something in the distance - Moving out and moving on - standing determined

15: Desperation - [bars, beautiful scenery, reaching for the word escape]

In the beginning...or is this the middle

So the idea of "Un Auto-Portrait D'Ame En Désordre" began as the theme to a documentary style book I wanted to begin writing, which was really just a collection of thoughts, experiences and interviews. An overall concept of life and the goals and philosophies that shape it. Much of this began in my moleskine and on my mac. Now that I have decided to go digital, I am uncertain if I should include the past - and in effect drudge up that which is best forgotten - in order to give the whole story, or do I let those chapters of my life lay between the pages of good old No.1 and begin again, with the same intentions, only a new shade of rose colored glasses than were previously in style? So much of before shapes the after, how can I lay that time to rest and still feel like I am being true to the effort of 'Sanity, Innovation, Communication, Documentation, Visualization, Evolution, Auto-portraiture, Chaos and that never-ending list 'Des Choses N'oublie Pas'?"





I think I will put it back in its box.

My intentions...

So every great venture begins with an intent. Here I am professing mine. The dreams and ideals about my future self and the real self are slowly drifting apart, like two old friends. We recognize each other, but don't really have anything to talk about the way we used to. Soixante-Sept is a way for me to reclaim my fantasy land and possibly even help me to reorganize it into my reality. I was previously annotating my fantasy life via my moleskine, however during a canoeing trip it sustained quite a bit of water damage. I also figured, in this digital age, Soixante-Sept will survive better than the antiquated paper and pen. I do however plan to upload the scanned version of the moleskine #1 and begin moleskine #2. In reality, moleskine #2 is a way to almost erase the past and start fresh, and Soixante-Sept is a way to remember the good things from the past and leave the bad neatly tucked between the pages of my old friend and accomplice.

Soixante-Sept

It begins...