Art in the Darndest Places

We took a tour over the weekend, and found some incredible art in the process. My camera was clickity-clacking, and I was inspired. That means I have to share them with you!

This stool really caught my eye. The modern design, the apple green color - it just POPPED!

I loved these silver wire balls. I think a smaller version would look GREAT in our bedroom. Maybe hanging over the bay window area/seat.

These light fixtures are so cool - looks like a cotton ball, right??

I loved this mirror and the tile behind it!

And this classic chandelier (love the juxtaposition between the concrete and the crystal!)

And this super mod chandelier

And I love this piece - "Win!" by Mel Boucher

And these helmets

And this lighting installation that looks like laces on a football

What? what's that you say my super astute readers? You sense a theme here? Vaguely sports related?

Can't get nothing by you!!! smarty pants.

Yes, this is a tour of the (still new) Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. They are very proud of their art installations, and for good reasons. Check out the rest of it on their website: Cowboys Stadium Art

Now, I cannot and will not ever claim to be a Cowgirls fan. Or a Jerry Jones fan. But I'm a huge fan of the stadium. It's an incredible venue!!

Here are a few more pics:

Star in Miller Lite Club (where the Cowgirls take the field)

On the field

The ginormous end zone doors - these slide open for nice weather days

And the roof - the lighter part is what opens

and you *might* have heard about their video screen. the one that stretches from 20 yard line to 20 yard line? yeah. that one.

Yeah! DCC (Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders) in the house!!! They were hosting a big cheer competition. I was excited to see them. Yes, I like DCC.

Ready to try out??

Here's a great shot of the Ballpark in Arlington (where the Texas Rangers play)

I'll leave you with my favorite shot of the day - the Tom Landry statue

If you are in the DFW area, take the tour of the stadium. It's about an hour and a half walk, and you get to see a LOT of the stadium, including both the Cowgirls and the DCC locker room (we didn't get to see the DCC locker room this time, b/c they were there), field level suites, luxury suites, and so much more.

Enjoy your new day!!

Craft Space Before & After

My craft space is - was - in one corner of my living room. All was well. I could craft and watch TV. Craft and talk to the BF. Craft and keep the pugs company.

I had some great cubes from Ikea that provided awesome storage,  a cute little craft desk (little being the key word!), smaller cubes that housed my stamps, paper containers, and little containers to hold all the miscellaneous stuff.

But eventually, this happened:

My collection quickly outgrew the allotted space and organizational tools.

Even worse, the view from my couch looked like this:

(Please excuse the awful loveseat. It belongs to the pugs. There's no saving it. The best I can do is the red slipcover.)

The clutter was making me absolutely TWITCH. Something had to change. Had.To.Change.

After the floors were put in the bedrooms, (laminate instead of carpet - YAY), my office looked like this:

The closet was empty too.


A total clean slate.

One of my friends suggested I combine my craft space with my home office. WHOA! What a crazy idea!!!

It took a lot of work. Sorting, tossing, donating. But I did it. 

And so, today, my office/craft room looks like this:

I moved a second Ikea cube into the closet, and am using every inch of space! The double doors on the closet allow me to hide it away while I'm working, and open it up when I'm crafting.

My tools, loose stamps, and card-creating materials are on the left side of the credenza

And my stamp tower is on the right (next to the pug's daytime bed)

My buttons, flower jar and ribbon jar have new homes in the cube

And my kits and paper packs

But best of all, the view from my couch now looks like this:

And the view into the corner

No more twitching!!! Sweeeeeet serenity.

(side note - the little cedar box on the table? those are my Angel's ashes. I brush the box with my fingers when I walk by, to let her know I will never forget her).

So what do you think? What would you have done differently? Any questions?

Enjoy your new day!

7 Random Things

1. February 2011, as a month, sucked. I'm glad that's over.
2. When you tour Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, you get to visit the DCC locker room. I was way more excited about their locker room vs. the players. I know, I'm a dork. (sorry for the crappy cell phone pic!)

3. My sweet Angel went to the bridge last week. Just one reason that February sucked so royally. I miss her - every day. Photo courtesy of Lotus Blossom Photography (taken in 2009).

4. She didn't look that happy or full of life in her last days, which is one of the reasons I chose to let her go.

5. Yes, I still cry at random times, missing her.

6. No, I didn't intend for this blog post to be sad. Sorry friends!

7. I need to get my crafty butt in gear and get a guest post going for The Scrap Shoppe! motivate....create...come on Allie!

Embrace your new day!

Lotus Blossom Photography meets DFW

Pssssst - check out my favorite photographer (and fabulous friend!) Amber's latest blog post.

That's right. We did a REAL photoshoot. disclaimer: not an engagement shoot (the honey made me say that).

okok, really, it's a couple's shoot, because I wanted great pics of us together, and we're hardly ever in photos together.

Amber is one half of Lotus Blossom Photography, and I've been lucky enough to know her for several years. We met because we both have pugs, and bonded because we both like to craft. And eat really fabulous pie (and other unhealthy but yummy food). 

A couple of months ago I asked Amber about the feasibility of her coming to DFW to do a photoshoot, and visit us for the weekend. I was thrilled when we were able to find a weekend that worked, and make the arrangements. Amber came out this past weekend, and we did the photoshoot.

Amber has the sneak peek pics on her blog, and didn't she ROCK them??

And it was lots of fun. We went to Deep Ellum, an area just east of Downtown Dallas. It's a funky area as you can see from the various pics and backgrounds. I love the differences in the American flag, the graffiti, and then the Texas Butcher Materials shop (isn't that a hoot?).

I thought it might be awkward, or weird to pose for pics on the streets (and ok, there were a couple of moments where we gave Amber the "are you NUTS" look), but it was more fun (and lots easier) than I expected it to be. I laughed - a lot. As you can see, we discovered that I wrinkle my nose when I'm really laughing at something. (Amber thought that was endearing, me - not so much!).

I just love the pics. LOVE. THEM.

The moral of the story? If you love a photographer, it's well worth flying them to you for pictures you'll treasure forever. And the other one? if you want pics, you don't need to be engaged to have an excuse to do them.

Thanks Amber - these are going to be awesome memories for us!!

Shameful Update

I know. It's been forever. I have this tendency to go silent on the blog when things aren't so great in life. Rather than focus on the crap-factory, I thought I'd check in with an update on my 2011 plans. Remember when I said "I"ve got plans y'all"??

Here's what's done:
1. Back yard - I live on a hill, and my back yard is sliding down into the neighbors. There's soil erosion going on. Thus, we need a retaining wall. And fill dirt. Got the cost for that today, and freakin OUCH. I had no idea dirt was so freakin expensive. Ah well. Better dirt than foundation repairs, right?

DONE!! We planted some grass seed, and it's actually GROWING. Even after the ice-snow-apocolypse

Bello wasn't intimidated by the snow - he's standing on part of the new retaining wall (railroad ties). 

2. Flooring - I had the carpet replaced with laminate in my dining room & living room a while back. Now it's FINALLY time to get rid of the carpet in the three bedrooms.

DONE!!

My office:

The guest bedroom

And our bedroom

As you've probably noticed, the rooms are still incredibly bare. Everything is still slammed into the dining room. I have a master plan to meticulously sort through it and make "keep", "trash" and "donate" piles. I just don't want all that crap back in my rooms!

Yeah. I know what you're thinking. I'm thankful that mom is coming to visit next week, and we can work on this!!

I also have thoughts about painting our bedroom, new furniture (soon!), and bedding. I'd like to paint it a rich grey, with black & white bedding. I also need to get some runners (rugs) for the floor. It's brrrrr in the mornings on bare feet!

Enjoy your new day!

Neighbors

Work has been extra-stressful lately. Pure miserable.

Today we finished a marathon conference call with a client, and I needed to just get out for a while and relax. I decided to take a quick walk up and down my street.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous - low 60's, bright and sunny - perfect for January (hey - don't hate. I'm not a cold weather/winter sort of girl!)

Low and behold a neighbor popped out of her house to say hello. No, not a new neighbor. She bought her house a year before I bought mine. We've just never met. Our neighborhood pretty much stays inside you see - and we keep to ourselves.

That got me to thinking about what "neighborhood" used to mean. When everyone knew everyone else, trick or treating on Halloween was perfectly safe (no concerns about bad food, or razor blades in the chocolate - y'all remember that scare, right??). When the elderly lady down the street would invite you in for a cookie, or lemonaide. When we had free reign to ride our bikes 2.5 miles through the subdivision, and noone worried. If someone passed, or had a baby, or was sick, everyone brought food. And there were always holiday goodies at Christmas.

You remember those days, don't you??

Yeah, our neighborhood isn't really like that. I sort of wish it was. So it was really nice that my neighbor popped out to say hello.

Turns out she's close to my age, works from home, likes dogs, and she and her husband are doing a bunch of home improvement projects. Yeah, that's what I said - sounds familiar!!!!

Huh. Lookee there. I have a new neighbor.

What are your neighborhoods like? Close and friendly? Distant, but polite? Somewhere in between?

Enjoy your new day!

This Thing is Legendary!!

It's that time of the year here in North Texas - the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo runs from January 14th - February 5th.

My favorite event of the Rodeo's run is the Ranch Rodeo, which is always held opening weekend.

What is a "Ranch Rodeo" you ask? And how does it differ from any other "rodeo"?
Here's how the Rodeo's website describes it:
"Authentic ranch cowboys will compete in events that have aspects of traditional ranch work. Ranch Vet, Double Mugging, Stock Sorting, Bronc Riding and Wild Cow Milking are all in a days work for these cowboys."

Several ranches from the Southwest (Texas, NM and OK) are invited to "put up or shut up". Their cowboys (and cowgirls) compete in the events above, which are slightly different from regular rodeo where professional cowboys compete for money. The ranch rodeo cowboys are competing for the fun of it.

And boy howdy, is it FUN!

The events are held at Will Rogers Coliseum here in town.

The rodeo kicks off with a grand entry parade and then the presentation of the 6 flags that have flown over the state of Texas (Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederacy and the USA) by cowgirls on Palomino horses:

Cowboys waiting for their instructions to sort cattle (called "cutting" - cutting a certain heifer out of the herd below).

and the cowboy rides in (the white on the cows are numbers - the cowboy has to cut the numbered cow that they are assigned, without the others getting away too).

Mr Tom Saunders is the stock contractor (isn't his mustache handsome?!).

I love this paint pony!



Rope 'er cowboy!!



Mutton bustin' is another favorite event: kids ages 4-6 try to hang on to a sheep as she goes galloping towards her herd mates.


















And then there's this:
saddle bronc riding



yeah. ouch. I love all the guys on the chutes in the background.

this one ended up being my favorite picture of the night. 

look at the strength of that bronc! 






















last, but certainly not least is the Wild Cow Milking.

hi-lar-i-ous!

the formula goes something like this:
4 cowboys on horseback
+ 1 big unhappy momma cow
+ 1 beer bottle (to hold the milk)
= hilarity

1 cowboy ropes her, and he stays on his horse to try to hold her steady.
2 cowboys try to hold her steady - one at the head and one at the tail (doncha feel sorry for the guy who pulled the short straw and has to grab her tail?!?)
the 4th cowboy (whom you can barely see in this photo) tries to squeeze a couple of drops of milk out of her udders into the beer bottle.

I'll tell you that I have no intentions of milking ANY cows anytime soon, much less a wild one. Kudos to these cowboys for their can-do attitude!

a couple of cowboys from the winning ranch:

I just like these guys. Well, these two, plus all the other cowboys and cowgirls who participated. When it was all over, they all congratulated each other on horseback, and probably headed out to have a cold one on the town. It was Saturday night after all!

If you have the chance to attend a rodeo - ranch, professional, exhibition, amateur or otherwise - take it. Unless you're allergic to animals, you won't regret it!

Enjoy your new day!!