busy bee...

I have quite the busy, and fun, past couple of weeks.  It started two weekends ago with a wonderful trip to Orlando, Florida with my mom.  We met up for a mini-vacation with my grandma and two aunts.  Mom had a conference being held at Disney World, so we had a free room for part of our stay!  Before heading down to Florida I didn't really think we would spend any time at the parks.  I mean...we are all grown women, it would look pretty hilarious for all of us to be parading around Disney without toting kids around.  BUT, to my surprise, everyone wanted to go to the parks.  So parking we went.  Saturday was spent at Epcot, traveling the world while conveniently staying safely inside the Disney World resort.  We had churros in Mexico...a delicious fried treat my aunts and grandma had never tried.  Aunt Nancy kept exclaming "I would like one of those chimichangas, or chalupas" after having one.  To which I replied, "they are called CHURROS."  Saturday evening we went to Magic Kingdom for the light parade and fireworks.  My grandma has seen the light parade on tv several times, but has never seen it in person.  She was very excited to see it...and we had front row seats, right on the curb.  The parade was wonderful..a the characters were aglow with lights.  It was truly magical.  The fireworks following were also pretty spectacular.  Fireworks are always great..even if there is no special occasion.  Sunday was going to be spent at "Disney's Hollywood Studios" (Formerly MGM Studios)...but apparently when MGM went, so went many of the attractions.  Disney's Hollywood Studios=a bust. So instead, we journeyed through Animal Kingdom.  We passed by "The Tree of Life," went on a Safari, ate at an African "outpost," and saw "It's Tough to be a Bug" in 3D.  f you haven't ever seen the Tree of Life, it's a really huge, awesome fake tree with lots of animals carved in it's trunk, branches, and roots.  My grandma and aunts left Monday, at which point my mom's conference started.  I slept in a little, then went out and laid by the pool for a while.  Monday afternoon mom and I went to Magic Kingdom to go on some of my favorite rides.  These include, but are not limited to:  Pirates of the Magic Kingdom, the Swiss Family Tree House (even though it isn't a ride), Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Space Mountain.  Mom was such a trooper.  She doesn't like roller coaster's...or heights...but she went on the rides with me anyways and we had a great time.  Tuesday was departure day, and though it was sad to leave the fun and family behind, it was nice to get back to Dallas..and most of all my Joshua!

I didn't have much time at home with just Joshua because on Friday Megan and Kallie came to visit!!  Megan is a teacher and her spring break is this week, so she called me up to see if she could come visit...and of course I said YES!!  They were my first friends to visit Dallas and we had a great time, despite the disgusting weather.  I have to applaud them because they spent 12 hours getting to Dallas, a drive that should only take 8 or 9 hours.  The girls got in late on Friday so we just picked up some pizza and drinks for a relaxing evening in.  Saturday there was a huge St. Patty's Day parade on Greenville Ave, which I happen to live approximately 100 yards from.  So, after sleeping in a little, we decided to go check it out.  We loaded our cooler and walked down to the end of my street where we caught the end of the parade.  There were many odd characters and some wonderful costumes as well.  After the parade passed we just decided to follow along and see what there was to see.  I've decided that St. Patty's is like a belated, mini- Mardi Gras.  Beads are thrown...and alcohol is consumed.  The rest of the weekend was spent showing them around the city.  We went to the West Village, a trendy spot in town with some boutiques and shopping. I drove them through part of Highland Park, with huge houses and designer shopping center.  Then we headed back to the apartment for a little down time before dinner.  We went to Cuba Libre (because Chuy's was packed) for dinner and drinks and then back to the house.  Sunday was going to be our day at the museum...but we again, slept in.  So instead, I drove them around downtown (which I'm not very familiar with) and then we went grocery shopping for dinner.  I thought it would be fun to cook at home and have a nice meal in.  I made individual baked tortellini dishes and mom's delicious salad with home-made balsamic vinaigrette, spicy pecans, strawberries, and blue cheese.  Monday I had to work so they spent the day exploring Dallas and then Josh and I took them to Burger House!  The best/our favorite burger place in Dallas.  After dinner we went back and watched tv and just hung out.  It was so nice to have friend here and be able to spend so much time with them!

This week, in comparison has been pretty slow (after the girls left).  Work is completely dead because all of the kids are on spring break, which means all of the families have gone on trips.  I am, however, looking forward to a slow, relaxing weekend.  It will hopefully be nice out so I can go to the lake or lay out by the pool!

I'll upload pictures from all of the adventures later.

Teaching!

I had my first day of teaching on Monday and it was so incredibly wonderful and refreshing. Don't get me wrong I love my job at the YMCA, but it is a little monotonous...so a break from the norm was so great. I taught 2 classes at Hillcrest High School and absolutely loved it. I was a little nervous about teaching high schoolers, but it really turned out ok. They were very respectful and responded well to the "session." Ok..so I'm not really TEACHING them anthing huge...but I do think it's an important exercise. Every class we go through four pieces of modern art. I give them 5 minutes to sketch, or take visual notes. This allows them to take down the important things in the image. The we discuss the work for 5 minutes. They tell me what they think is going on in the image and why (what do they see in the image that leads them to their opinion).

I think this is an amazing exercise because there is no right or wrong answer and it allows everyone to have a voice about art. A lot of times art is open for interpretation and I think giving high schoolers a voice is really important and it helps reinforce their creativity and thought pattern.

The other great thing about these classes is that I don't need to know anything specific about the work. I'm not there to lecture on the history of the work or tell them what the artist was aiming for. I am there to simply create conversation about some great contemporary works of art.

So here are some of the works we looked at the first week:
















Cindy Sherman. "Untitled Film Still"
Unsure of correct title, I'll update it later!















Kelli Connell. Giggle. 2002




















Xinpeng Chen. Self Portrait. 2004




















Pablo Picasso. Weeping Woman. 1937
Femme en pleurs

The theme for Week 1 is "Be." The use of self portraits is great for this becaues it shows the students how the artist is wanting to portray themselves to the viewer.

If you have any questions or ideas just give me a shout!

Good Reads!

So some of my dear friends included me in their venture at GoodReads. It's a really great site that allows you to share what you've read, what you are currently reading, and what you have on your list TO read. You can also review the books you've read, giving others an insight to what you thought. I've loved seeing what others have read and I've added many of the books to my books "to-read."

I've just finished Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. The books is similar is subject to The DaVinci Code, but I still really enjoyed it. It's a book loaded with suspense, and although most of the "facts" are not entirely true, or just completely fabricated...I do see an underlying theme or message. The big story line of the book is "Science vs. Religion" and the other desire for them to work together. I really do believe you can have both...not one without the other. God created us with the ability to think and expand our knowledge and, to me, science is just a tool to further understand God's amazing creation.

The next book on my list is Love and Respect (The Love She Most Desires and The Respect He Desperately Needs)by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. I really want Joshua to read this one as well...but that might have to wait for summer...or maybe I can just give him photo copies of the passages he should read..haha. It seems like a great relationship strengthening book.

Ok, that is all on my book talk. If you haven't already, you should go check out "Good Reads" and get connected!
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In other news....I start teaching my own classes next week with the Dallas Contemporary! I had all of my training last week- a half day at the studio and a half day at a school- and I feel confident that I am going to do a good job. I may have to practice on Josh Sunday night just to make sure I've got it down. I'm so excited though! I'll definitely let you know how the first day goes!

Art Auction

This weekend the Dallas Contemporary held their annual Wish Auction. The pieces in the auction were donated by artists throughout Texas. The event was so much fun! I worked the check-in and check-out and I loved seeing all of the great outfits. They always pick a color for the theme and this year it was green! I was able to wear my beautiful dress from Hawley's wedding along with the great gold shoes! Who ever said you can never wear a bridesmaids' dress again? I have to give Hawley props for picking such a stylish dress. All of the money raised went towards the gallery's operations.

Just to give a little background: The Dallas Contemporary is a non-profit, non-collecting gallery that shows emerging Texas artists, as well as some national artists. They also do this great program called ArtThink. It is a program that teaches high school kids how to think and approach contemporary art. It helps them relate to the subject matter and take their personal experiences in to consideration when interpretting art. I've recently been asked to to participate in this program and I am SO excited! I am going to be TEACHING art!! I will only be doing this once, maybe twice, a week but it's still a great start. I'll post back abou this later!

New Year!

So I am a little late in the update. Work has been SO busy lately. Everyone is in full swing with their New Year's resolutions and we are included! Our main goal this year is to be healthier and eat more meals at home. So far, we've been doing really well and I've made some delicious meals! I have to give my thanks to all of the online recipe collections, as I've gotten most of our meals from sites The Food Network and Cooking Light. So far, our top three favorites are "Wake-up Smoothie," "Orange Glazed Chicken," and "Spiced Chicken and Greens with Pomegranate Dressing." Below is a picture of the delicious salad, along with the super easy, quick recipe:

mmmm...so good!
"Spiced Chicken and Greens with Pomegranate Dressing"

Chicken:
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I used chicken tenders instead)

Dressing:
1/3 c. pomegranate juice
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp canola oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

Salad:
1 package mixed salad greens
1/2 c thinly sliced red onion (optional...I didn't use because I don't like onions)
3/4 c orange sections (I cut these up into smaller pieces)
1/3 c dried cranberries
1/4 c crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Directions:
To prepare chicken, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle chili powder and salt over chicken. Add chicken to pan; cook 5 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from skillet; let stand 3 minutes. Cut chicken across grain into thin slices; set aside

To prepare dressing, combine all "Dressing" ingredients and whisk well.

Make salad. Enjoy. The end. I promise, you won't be disappointed!!

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I also made my mom's DELICIOUS blueberry muffins this week. They were definitely a great start to the day!

We have more resolutions and I have so much more to update on...but for now I am going to leave it at that.