Happy Wedding Day

Sixteen years ago, when we were both about 15 years old (wink, wink), my husband and I got married.  We tied the knot, so to speak, at the Dallas Arboretum, in an outdoor garden, on a Sunday morning.  Coincidentally, this weekend, at the Dallas Arboretum, in an outdoor garden, on Sunday morning, I sang at someone else's  wedding.

During the reception, I snuck in a song or two that I've written about Fermin over the years. Here's one of them, called Shadow~

You don't mind when I'm acting strange, you've seen all my colors and you know how they range

You've heard the dark secrets and you've seen the bright side

All the cards have been laid out and there's nothing to hide from you...

(Chorus)

There isn't a shadow of lingering doubt.  There's nothing hidden that you haven't found.

No stone's left unturned, there's no one but me.

And to you I am no mystery, 'cause there's no part of me that you don't see.

I'm sometimes surprised that you're still here, that you've stood beside me all of these years..

That someone could love me the way that you do, well you make me believe that real love it true

with you...

(Chorus)

You know me be heart, all of the lines

And by now you've got me memorized.

(Chorus)

Sophisticated Lady!

Today I drove up to the mall because I had a few little errands I wanted to run.

Because one of those "errands" was actually seeing a movie, I wore my standard daytime-movie-theatre-attire:

My cropped Adidas track pants, a long sleeved ugly t-shirt...

my adidas flip-flips with socks!! (my husband berates me for this when he witnesses it!)....

no make-up, and dirty hair in a pony-tail!! 

Pretty foxy, as you can see!

Since I had to take my computer into the Apple store while I was at the mall, I lugged around my very corporate looking computer bag:

Hello Kitty!

 After the movie, and my visit to the Apple store,  I hopped over to Nordstrom to pick out a new fragrance.  I finally  decided on the Issey Miyake fragrance called L'eau D'Issey.  Ooh la la.  I love it.  But I had to sniff several fragrances before making my decision.

As the lady who had helped me was ringing up my purchase, I was asking her opinions about some of the other fragrances I had considered over the last few weeks.  One of them being Marc Jacobs "Daisy."  About this one, she just looked at me and said, "That's too young for you."

Too young for me?

I told her I thought that comment was a little offensive.  So in trying to get her foot out of her mouth, she said,  "We have teenagers that come in here wearing flip-flops asking for "Daisy".  You're obviously much too sophisticated for a smell like that."

Um, yes.  Obviously.  I'm way too sophisticated for that:

Sophisticated Lady

What Are You Running From??

What are you running from??

 Someone sprayed these words on a trail where I sometimes run.

When I first became a runner, it was shortly after my mom had died.  I felt a lot of sad feelings back then, and I guess I was running from them.  I never even thought about it at the time, but looking back, it makes sense.  I began running, because I was running from something.

Now, 5 years later, I'm still running.

I love that with running, I don't have to think about what I'm doing.  As a human, it's a pretty innate thing to do.  One foot in front of the other.  Over and over and over.  Not tricky at all.  And I guess because of that, my mind is allowed to go wherever it wants.

These days, I feel like I'm running towards something rather than from something.  These days, I'm running towards new ideas.  I'm running towards solving some puzzles.  I'm running towards great memories that easily pop into my head on a long run. 

What are you running towards?

Peacock Love

The other morning, rather than going for my usual run, I decided to instead go walking in a nearby connecting neighborhood.  I brought my camera with me, because I knew there was a good possibility I'd see something like this:

I got to talk with one of the lucky people that live on this street~

This is his yard~

And here is the King of the Peacocks~

The man told me that this particular look is the peacock's mating call to the females.  I'm pretty sure he liked me a lot because he just stood there, posing for me, for as long as I had my camera out.  Even though it was windy, and a little difficult to look so handsome, he endured...for me!

And now, we are in love...

Have a great weekend, Everybody!

In An Octopus' Garden, in the Shade!

This weekend I played at such a fun art opening at the Norwood Flynn Gallery.  It was called, "Exquisite Creatures 2: The Mermaid and Octopus."  My friend, Katrina Doran, was the curator for the show.  I met her years ago when she taught a mosaics class that I took at the Creative Arts Center.


There was actually a real live mermaid there!  Unfortunately, I never got a picture of her.  But this one is nice, huh?!

 


This one's not a mermaid, but she's some sort of sea creature and quite colorful!

There were a few mosaic pieces I really loved...

There were even a few items I'd love to wear...

And a few I'd love to eat...  (the first picture is of a work of art made entirely of macaroni, the second is a cake!!)

  And at the end of the night, Sarah and I were awarded Octopus' to take home as a memento!

My Most Prized Possession

I have few material possessions that I would run into a burning house for.  My guitars.  My boxes of photographs.  But above anything else that comes to mind is the necklace and teacup charm that Mom gave to me.

Originally it was given to her by a group of her friends that she met up with each Friday year after year for coffee at La Madeline.  Occasionally I went with Mom to those Coffee Talks, and I know how meaningful those friendships were to her.

I felt so honored that Mom gave me that special necklace of hers that she wore everyday since it had been given to her.

I don't wear it everyday because for one, I don't usually wear gold.  But I wear it a lot.  And I find myself grabbing onto it often when it's around my neck.  When it's not around my neck, I keep it in a very special container that is marked with the words, "Bless and keep all safe."

Since it is Mother's Day weekend, I decided to get out my pictures of Mom.  Of course, there are not of enough of them to satisfy me.  But oh how I love looking at the ones I do have!  I notice in most of the pictures, she's wearing that little charm necklace.   I love that what she so often wore on her neck, I now wear on mine.

I don't know how to scan pictures so these look at little funky, but please indulge me by looking at my beautiful mom...

My sister, Mom, and my brother...

And I'm in the middle, held by Mom.

The night I got engaged to Fermin- Mom was perhaps as happy as I was!  She loved Fermin!

Mom and me on one of our family cruises...

Mamasita Fina!  

Happy Mother's Day---
I miss you, Mom.

Instant Gratification

I took a jewelry making class at the Creative Arts Center  but it was way too labor intensive to hold my interest.  The other people in the class loved it, but it just wasn't for me.  I was afraid of the blow torch (ok, I don't think it was really a blow torch, but it's a mini version of that), I wasn't good at using the "saw" to cut into the silver, ...and just didn't like all that work!

Instead, I love going to bead stores and picking out colors and textures and shapes I like, and then making little necklaces and earrings with them.  I can string up a necklace while at the same time watching Celebrity Rehab or listening to a great CD, and then, voila... I've got myself a brand new piece of jewelry!  I'll leave the real jewelry making to the professionals.

At this point though,  I've bought so many beads, it's actually become difficult for me to decide what I want to make next.  I'm overwhelmed by all the choices and possibilities.  

The other night, someone was over at our house and saw all my boxes and bags of beads and said, "Oh, so you string jewelry?" and I said, "Well, I buy beads."  Because lately, that really is the truth.  I'm buying the beads, but I'm not making much of anything.

So I decided to start pulling stuff out of my closet that I like and making a piece of jewelry to go with the outfit. 

 

I also decided not to buy any more beads unless I have a specific use for them.  I can no longer just buy a bead because it's shiny and sparkly.  Well, unless it's really shiny and sparkly and I just can't walk away!

I love projects that bring me instant gratification.  Maybe that explains why I'm a songwriter and a blogger rather than a novelist.  Keep it short, and I feel happy.  Drag it out, and I tend to walk away in frustration.

My Beautiful Souffle

After visiting Rise several weeks ago and eating my first souffle...

...I then decided to attempt to make my own.

I found a few recipes, and chose the one with the least ingredients, which in my opinion, is usually the way to go.  (This applies not just to recipes, but to life in general, I think!)  I didn't have the proper souffle cooking dish, but who cares?  I instead used some little casserole dish I had.

I get that the restaurant is called Rise because souffles rise.  But I had no idea just how much they rise until I looked in my oven and mine was reaching such great heights that it nearly touched the heating coils in the oven.  So I had to move it to a lower rack in the oven.

After I moved it down, and it had risen about 6 inches, it started to lean very far over to one side. My little leaning Tower of Pisa souffle~ So European!

Once I took it out of the oven, out of the dish, and removed the foil (which had totally stuck to my souffle because although I greased up the dish for non-sticking purposes, I completely forgot to do that to the foil) my souffle didn't look much like the one at Rise.

But suprisingly, it tasted pretty similar.  Super yummy.

My first souffle.
It was beautiful to me.

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.  ~Ninon de L'Enclos