Hot time, summer in the city

Summer seems to be cruising by pretty quickly. Not that I'm complaining, but I have a strange suspicion that it's going to be over in the blink of an eye. Just a matter of days & our 9 months of winter will return. I hate to say it but I actually was thinking I should think about snow boots earlier so I don't end up with nothing when it's really time to need them.
On the plus side, I've still got all kinds of visitors & travel coming up. A 4th of July visitor is heading into town this week, then I go to Cali at the end of July for a much needed beach week (woo hoo!), THEN the parents are FINALLY coming to IL in Mid-August. Should make for a nice remainder of the summer.
...and the body is bikini ready... thank you yoga!

New Tunes

I downloaded the new CD from "The Ting Tings" 2 days ago. They are a British indie duo that have a remeniscent sound of 80's punk w/a bit of pop thrown in. I've probably listened to it 10 times in the last 48 hours. Check it out here.

They be beige...

So today as I rode the train to work I noticed something.... everyone is very beige. Not in terms of skin, but in terms of clothes. I was wearing an orange shirt w/a pink tank underneath it that stuck out of the bottom, a pink & orange big-ass plastic bracelet, khaki cargo pants, and pink converse. I must have looked like a freak to everyone because EVERYONE ON THE TRAIN WAS BEIGE!!!!
Let me explain.... not one person appeared to be wearing any color outside of the business rainbow. This means, black, white, brown, khaki, powder blue, grey, green (forest) navy blue, plaids (subdued of course), tan, ecru, vanilla, YUK!!! Not that I judge people by their clothes, (well, maybe a little) but wow!!! Everyone looked the same. I don't think one person was memorable enough for me to actually know if I saw them on the street. Well, one exception is the bozo haired man who is there every morning and stands too close to the stairs and gets irritated because everyone excuses themselves past him. He frowns and shakes his head a lot... he's memorable.
Anyway, I was quite proud of my individual style just like I'm proud to drive an orange car. I guess you could say I stand out in a crowd and I like it.
Kind of like what you see when you click here....

Nudity rocks

I just found this on another artists blog... Click here for pure genius.

Booze, Art & Hoagies

Last night I went to the DVA Gallery for their 4th anniversary party. It was a Tiki Art Show and last night was the opening reception.

I didn't have anyone to go with but decided to go it alone. When I arrived the Cocktail Preachers were already playing in full swing (well, in full surf I should say) and the Voodoo Rum was flowing!

I took a look around at the fabulous art and enjoyed my first beverage. After two I got the courage to walk up to a couple who had commented on my vintage eye wear & said, "Hi, don't know anyone & you spoke to me first, so I'm coming to interrupt your conversation!". I'm becoming quite the ballsy girl. I ended up talking to a few very tiki couples for quite a while and then shifted to the girl with the pink hair (her name is Melly by the way). Pink haired Melly had the coolest cuffs on and it turns out she too is from Texas... San Antonio to be exact.

Okay so rums 3,4, & 5 went down nicely. Nice enough that it was obvious to the gallery owner and his staff that I kept eyeballing a specific piece of art.
There was one key element in the painting that kept catching my eye... and it doesn't included tiki's. He approached me & said, "I hear you keep looking this piece?". I said, "yup, I really like it". He says, "I can give you a deal if you're really interested", I said, "How much of a deal?".... enough that I now own art. I wasn't dumb enough to drag it out last night after booze, but I did walk a few doors down to the Hoagie Hut where I got a super kick-ass chicken hoagie which I ate after my cab ride home...

Thank the man above for the stimulus check....

See more of Mark "Atomos" Pilon's work here.

Anti-aging at its finest

I just spent one week in the hot, sunny south.

A few things hit home with me while I was there.

1) I do miss the summer, even when it's hot & humid. You can always take off your clothes and go swimming

2) A small southern country town is a beautiful thing

3) There is no better campaign for moisturizer than the above photo. Thanks to mom for making me cleanse, tone, & moisturize from 6th grade on...

4) Even missing 2 teeth, I have more teeth than many folks I saw in above-mentioned small towns

5) You just can't beat a biker bar that looks, smells, and feels like it never left 1983... and I mean hair, band, and clothes baby.

SOUTHERN ROCK RULES!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME!!!

Happy anniversary to me, happy anniversary to me, happy anniversary for this crazy ass year of miiiiinnnnneeeee....happy anniversary to me!!!!

WOW! Well it's been one year since I moved here. Yesterday was my official one year anniversary.

Once again I say... wow... I can't believe it. So much has happened over the course of the year and at the same time, it feels like it's gone by so quickly.

I think this will be the last time that I thank everyone that had anything to do with the events of the year. You know who you are, and you know what you did to help. From the bottom of my heart, thanks one last time.

I do miss much of my life from Dallas, but there is honestly a huge part of me that likes myself much better now. Not that I didn't like myself then, but I've gone through many transformations that have made me realize exactly who I am and who I want to be.

I'm not one to conform, yet I feel as though I did that quite a bit in the distant, and near past. Now that I'm allowing myself to be me, it's much more freeing and liberating.

The girl who loves bubblegum and sunshine is a happy girl again and is beaming from ear to ear :)