commerce



"commerce"

I got involved with ArtSlam. ArtSlam, a silent auction to benefit North Texas literary organization WordSpace. I was thrilled to be a part of this event that would take place at Steve Paul Productions Sunday June 24, 2012. We almost didn't attend but was glad to have changed my mind. I wondered what if any I could do to help. I love taking pictures so I gave them one of my photographs to help with the cause. I have many, you can not imagine I have boxes and boxes filled with pictures (over 4000) but I chose one. One that I took on an outing with my babe and friends. Yes we always have to stop because I am always stopping to snap a picture. I contacted Steve about my picture and he was happy to have it.

When we arrived Sunday evening it was packed full of guests ready to bid. I could hear people saying how they loved my picture. We were there not even thirty minutes and my picture was sold got to see who bougt it and I was just silently jumping with joy. The idea that someone else liked what I see when I snap a pic, had me grinning all the way home. I don't know if I could ever have this same moment happen again but if it does I just thank God for moments like this. I'm always supporting my babe in all that she does and that night she was by my side supporting what I did. Steve contacted me today to tell me that I was featured in the dallas observer.  That is when it hit me. That night there was so much talent and my name along with my photo was featured as one of the artists. Could not have asked for more.

When I take pictures and share them with you it's only to show friends the things that we get to see to not brag but to share our experinces. Life is full of surprises and friends are always welcome to join us. If I get to experince what I did this past sunday night again I'm just going to keep thanking God and my babe for telling me I can.

I made a dent in history (my history) hope to tell this story to my kid one day.

When someone told me I couldn't I made it I can.

 

dallas summer solstice

What is summer solstice?

The solstice occurs twice in each circuit of the earth around the sun. A circuit of the sun is how we define a year, so there are two solstices a year, winter and summer. This is new to me as well so don't feel bad. Heather knew so she said to me let's celebrate the summer solstice this year. "um what?" i said. It's a celebration to celebrate summer. This year summer would be on a Wednesday. It would be the longest day ever. I remember that it was nine o'clock pm and the sun was barely leaving our sight. Crazy right, how the universe works.

heather making spin (literaly) art

We like to celebrate anything if there is a reason, if not we make one up. Our plans were to just go outside grab some cold ones and watch the sun go down. I don't know how I came upon this celebration but found out that in Dallas there was going to be a special engagement to gather with others to celebrate such an occasion. I told heather if we should give it a try and we went. It was an indoor celebration which was nice and cool ironic really for celebrating summer. We saw stilt walkers, samba dancers, heard African drums and made spin art. Everyone got involved and it was all to announce a huge parade for next summer. The first ever parade in Dallas down deep ellum to celebrate summer solstice 2013. Guys be ready it is going to be pretty cool. Every one was friendly. I just have to say that we will be preparing ourselves for next year. We will be working with this all year to make it one of the first best ever summer solstice 2013 parade.

As I was reading my Dallas Morning News I found how beautifully others celebrated the beginning of the summer solstice.
In Bolivia this Thursday Amara Natives celebrated by raising their hands at sunrise to celebrate the sun's first rays.
In Pennsylvania Ken"ironfist" Hayden performed a pipe ceremony to honor the presence of the creator.

Some have taken this very seriously as we end the year to possibly not see another summer solstice. December 21,2012 the Mayan Calendar ends. So be it what it may enjoy this summer, because if we do get to enjoy another summer it will only get hotter.

NETO:Cuddle on the Tightrope

Friday we went to the summer block party down flora downtown Dallas. Man it was pretty hot. They had food trucks of all kinds. You name it they had it. My treat was when we went to the Nasher Sculpture Center. I've been wanting to try the Ernesto Neto: Cuddle on the Tightrope it started May 12, 2012 - ends September 9, 2012. It is a hug installation that you can actually walk on. At least that is the safe thing to do. I was so excited I don't know why. I don't even approve of roller coasters but just had to pretend it was a bridge. When I went up to the guy (he kept a clicker to see how many people were walking the tightrope) he asked if I wanted to give it a try. I had to take my shoes off and put on some footie's. I had two questions for him. One) will it sustain me? Didn't want to get embarrassed if I caused an accident. Two) can i take pictures? I'm all about capturing experiences. He looked down when he said yes it can sustain me and he looked at me to tell me yes I can take pictures. I came back to heather and she asked me "what did you ask him?" She gave me that look, you are silly. Hey I needed to know.

It was fun and scary at the same time. It's not walking through it quickly but taking your time. You can feel your feet dig into the balls that are put together to walk on and lets just say that I'm glad I could hold onto the rope as I walked. I kept thinking will I fall? Made it out without slipping. I told heather that she should try it but she said nah. I asked a grandmother that brought he granddaughters if she was going to try it. She said "o no." I did ask a young lady if she was ready to try it again since she had made it back to the beginning. All sizes and ages were enjoying it so much all you could see were smiles and phone picture taking. It was what I expected, cool. If I'm able to try it again before it's gone I will.

If I tell you that on July 7, 2012 you can experience it for free will you go? It depends on if you keep it in your calendar.

ice rocks

Yesterday Heather was getting ready to grill. I know on a week night but hey anything is possible. She was preparing the sides and well I was doing laundry when all of a sudden you hear the sound of balls hitting the house. I looked at her and said "omg what the what." She gave me the same look and I panicked. She looked outside and saw hail hitting hard and raining. All of a sudden I said "babe what do we do?" She told me to help get cardboard to cover the cars windshields. You guys probably don't understand so I'll explain. My worry was the damaged it would do to the house. We worked hard to get a home so every time it rains or snows I panic. I see how the weather damages hundreds of homes and we have actually seen trees fall over in our back yard so rain use to be my friend but that's all i can think of when it rains is the damage. I told heather to put her car in the garage because for some reason if anything happens to her ride it costs twice as much than it would mine. I told her to be careful and as we rushed to get her car in the garage I watched for her safety. Me watching didn't help. She got hit. I know it's not funny but when you think about it now it's like watching a video game. You are trying to beat the evil villain (hail). Funny on timing the sirens didn't come on til after the hail stopped. We waited it out didn't know if we should take cover. I know I sound like a chicken but as I get older everything I mean everything worries me. I hate that about myself I use to think that I could handle anything.



as you can see heather loves to be in the rain(barefooted)

The sirens went off but it still rained. That didn't stop Heather she wanted to still grill. I said no way. She pleaded with me but I said "really babe you after what we just saw and heard you want to go grill? nope not happening." She managed to go outside when it was just drizzling and was staring at the ground and saw a lot of hail. She grabbed a few and started asking questions that she new I wouldn't know the answer to. What makes them so cold? How is it sunny and hot and the hail is so cold? How do they get the size that they are? I just said "babe I don't know." My question would be "what size are they originally before they make it to the ground or hit their target? Was god playing baseball(golf)?

I got dents on my car but hey I can live with that. Oh and if you are wondering about our sun necklace it survived as well. It might turn the tree neck green though because it's not a sterling silver chain.

The next morning before work we saw the damages it had done here in grand prairie and just have to say we were very lucky. Heather has a bruise and for dinner she made us hamburgers on the grill. I used to love when it rained. The comfort of being home, everything quiet outside, you curl up and watch a movie or pull out something to read(newspaper). We are lucky if we just get that, rain and nothing else extra.

whatever you decide to do take cover my friends

sun necklace

Went on our trip to Missouri last year and for the first time was able to explore aunt pats house. Aunt Pat is Heathers aunt from her mami's side. Loved the setup of her house inside and out. She also loves and has an artistic view. Toured her outdoors and fell in love with a moon that hung from a tree.

The tree was so big that it looked like if it had a necklace. I told heather that one day I hope to have a moon hanging from our tree. We looked and searched here and there could not find something fitting. It took us fifteen months and we finally found what we were looking for. We found a sun. I'm going to go ahead and say it, it's the sun to her moon. She is no longer with us but every time I see our sun it will remind me that because of her, her moon was what motivated us to find our sun. Our tree now has a sun necklace, literally a chain is wrapped around our tree and in the middle hangs the sun.

Who knows maybe as the months, years go by our tree might gather more dangling treasures.

smoke jumper

one day you are there watching tv on your couch when all of a sudden your partner sitting next to you screams or yells can't recall which one"omg we have to find this beer". I'm like OKAY. "seriously i want to find this beer" so our plan is to find this I'm assuming awesome beer.

I don't care really for beer. I'm more of a give me a girly drink or hard liquor. I'm not an alcoholic but I do drink every once in awhile so when I do I try to make it a good choice. Heather starts searching (google) on the internet for a beer made by the Left Hand Brewing Company out in Colorado established in 1993. There wasn't a plan on going there which if we had it would be like a Harold and Kumar movie without the rated R. Our mission was to find it here in the DFW area. The first place we thought to look was World Market but no luck. We just came out with other beers. Heather contacted the brewery website and found out that they do deliver here in Texas but only selected places and what made it bad timing. The seasonal beer was going out of season and soon. Heather did the research and I just helped her with directions. She finally got a hold of information that a store in grapevine would or might still have it so we waited for a reply. grapevine beer and wine messaged back and told her that they still had maybe six left. We couldn't go that day but the next day we were on a mission to drive out there to find it. Our way there was like a joke we made so many u-turns. there was construction everywhere streets blocked but we finally made it. I was about to ask the clerk when heather stopped me and said she spotted it. "are you sure that's the one" i told her. "it is it is this one" then I looked at the price and my head pulled back and i gave these big eyes. "babe are you sure this is what you want" "well i do but the price" she told me. I figured it was once in a lifetime quest for this great beer that we bought it. Oh you want to know the price? It was nine yes nine dollars. We drove home mission accomplished. Now was the time to try it.  We waited a couple of days. We figured we had to wait for the right moment to drink it, mostly heather of course.

She opened the bottle and poured it. She took the first taste and automatically loved it. It was my turn and omg it was gross. Heather loved it said it had a good complex, a lot of flavor. She couldn't stop enjoying it. I on the other hand well let me just say that it smelled like charcoal burning over some sausages on the grill, good smell. Smelled like you were to smoke herbs, smokey taste. The taste stays with you like having smokey black coffee. I love coffee hot and cold but this was not my kind of coffee. Heather enjoyed it so much was like a kid with a lollipop. Let me tell you that this one whole beer will have you seeing circles. She said "man i wish they made smaller bottles of this stuff".

smoke jumper
1pint 6 fl oz.
a little history from the left hand brewing co.

Smokejumpers are those fearless wildland firefighters who specialize in parachuting into the wilderness so that we can continue to enjoy it. Smokejumper Imperial Porter is a tribute to them - a twenty-one degree plato porter made with barley malt hand- smoked by our brewers. Roasty brown in color, the long lingering smokiness wraps around flavors of molasses, toasted malt and an earthy hoppiness. Here’s to smoke in your glass, not in the woods. Smokejumper is the official beer of The National Smokejumper Association.

abv 8.80%
ibu's 50
plato 21
now whatever this means well you beer drinkers might know.

have to say it was different never in my wildest dreams would i ever know to be on a search for a beer but hey anything to support my babe in her crazy adventures.........and on to the next one.