3 posts tagged “dad”
The weekend activities started Friday evening and just didn't stop until Sunday night. Now, I'm the kind of person who feels she has a busy weekend if there is even one event planned, so this was crazy chaos for me, but it was 98% fabulous, and that's pretty amazing.
Friday night was the opening of the student art exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art, where Craig and I took our drawing class. Of course it started snowing just as we we're starting our drive into town, but it stayed light and just seemed to add charm to the evening. We met up with my Dad for dinner at Manos and shared a bottle of wine and all sorts of delicious Greek foods, finishing the meal with a lovely sludgy sweet Greek coffee, then we headed to the museum.
There were some absolutely lovely student works on display, especially from the metal-working, glass and advanced classes. Our "Beginner Drawing" section of the exhibit was very ...uh, we'll say "charming" by comparison. :) It was still a hoot to see our stuff hanging on the walls with the professional looking labels next to each piece, ...never mind the staples in lieu of matting and frames. :D Here we each are, posing with three of our lessons, and then my silly garlic drawing that everyone seemed to love, but which I think looks more silly every time I look at it, ...but then it is what it is. :) I'll admit it's really decent for a beginning drawing class, but I'm cheating because I'm not a beginner.
We spent a while walking around the museum with my Dad. There's so much to see there! I absolutely *ADORE* the Toledo Museum of Art. It's rated as one of the top ten museums in the nation, and I'm quite proud of the place, plus I grew up in that neighborhood and spent *MANY* hours there, so it's very much like home to me. There's no admission charge and it was within walking distance of my house, so I just went whenever I wanted. It's totally ruined me for other museums.
Friday we checked out the student exhibit, took my Dad to see the new Glass Pavillion (he hadn't been yet) and finally, checked out the local artists exhibit -which was hella impressive! That's barely a dent in the whole collection and they had all sorts of fun stuff going on for their late Friday evening hours, but we were tired and ready to head home at that point.
Saturday morning I woke up to the alarm clock at 7:30am in order to get ready for the holiday ornament workshop I'd signed up for, and immediately upon sitting up in bed thought, "This was obviously a huge mistake!" I am NOT(!!!) a morning person, but I'd been tempted by the mention of art glitter, and I'm a total sucker for glitter, obviously. So, I grumbled and slipped out of bed, shuffled into the shower, got dressed and drove myself to my Mom's to pick her up. I'd orginally signed up Craig to take the workshop with me, but he had suggested I take my mom, not because he was anti-glitter (don't dare question his commitment to Sparkle Motion!), but because he knows my mom and knew she would absolutely love this workshop. I wish I could take credit for thinking that thought first. :)
The ornament plans looked extremely basic, a couple pieces of balsa fitted and glued together, gessoed, painted with a basecoat, then covered in glue and glitter. It felt a bit like kindergarten at first, but I'd totally be lying if I tried to say it wasn't terrific fun! The two and a half hour workshop blew by and I didn't have time to add all the details I wanted. ...And now I want to glitter EVERYTHING! I'm extremely envious of Tracey's glitter collection and intend to start expanding my own.
It was a very good experience for my mom too. She's always been so very creative, but she's been blocked for ...well, for almost as many years as she's been a mom, so 35 or so years. My drawing instructor (who also held the ornament workshop) is such a wonderful and encouraging person, and she spent some time talking to my mom about creativity and how to get it flowing again. I was so glad Craig suggested I take Mom with me.
It also struck me as kind of funny that my silly drawing lessons were hanging up in the hallway, and without even trying to, I'd taken both of my parents to see them. "MOM! DAD! LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO!!!" :D
Ok. That's just under half of my super-fun, SUPER-busy weekend, but I have so much stuff to do today. I'll be back to write up the rest of it later. ...I know, you're all on the edges of your seats. *L*
Craig took me out for breakfast today. The plan after that was to do some shopping for project supplies, then pick up my mom and check out a local fine arts show.
The art show was fun but HOT! (I hate summer.) I chatted up every flameworker there, and there were quite a few. I talked to them all about their studio setup and equipment. They were *all* extremely friendly and happy to talk shop with me. There were also a bunch of glass-blowers, but I know nothing of glass blowing so I didn't pester them. Still, glass work in all it's various forms seems to be the in thing right now. Craig talked with all the woodworkers, the turners at least. My mom just had a great time wandering around looking at all the pretties. :)
After the art fair, we made a quick stop for a few groceries and then headed back to Mom's for an early dinner and a few hours in the pool. Ah, the pool! I love my mom's pool. Soooo nice. Ant stress or tension you're harboring just dissolves when you're floating in a pool. I didn't want to get out, but my mom had baked brownies for us.
And it never seems to fail. Whenever I'm feeling most ready to just be rid of everything I own, someone will give me some stuff. My brother gave me two of my dad's paintings today. *SQUEE!!!* They aren't very good examples of his work, but they hung in the house I grew up in for as long as I can remember. I was never sure what happened to them, but Marc had them apparently, and he passed them on to me. I am so completely sentimentally attached to these paintings, I can't even tell you. I'm *thrilled* to have them and I can't wait to hang them. I just hope my dad won't see them and try to steal them back. MINE!
I'm pooped out, and tomorrow there's work to be done again. Bed time now. Only a four day week though! Craig has Friday off, as well as next Monday and Tuesday! That's right. My Big Birthday Weekend is going to be a 5-day celebration!!! I have to cram a lot of work into the next four days and work hard in preparation for playing hard, because I am going to enjoy every single minute of next weekend. Good times.
OH! Real quick, Mom told me an Oona (my 3 yr old niece) story tonight. I guess her dad took her to the mall to buy her first bike helmet. She got to pick it out herself. She was so excited and proud of her helmet. Adrian put it on her to check the fit, and Oona did NOT want to take it off! The cashier had to scan her head to ring up the sale. *snort* :) She wore it through the mall, back to the car and all the way home. :) That's *my* chinstrap girl! She's so much like her Aunt Meanie! :D
Craig and I just put some hooks up in the house and garage that I can string a clothesline on as needed. It's a small savings, not running the dryer for everything, but it's getting more and more to the point where every little bit counts, so it'll help. Better for the planet too, drying with wind and solar energies. Next weekend I want to build a solar oven. ...Though I admit that one has more to do with having homemade cookies in the summer without having to heat up the house. Yeah, free solar energy is better to use than the piped in gas and electricity, ...but COOKIES when it's too hot to turn on the oven! :D Cupcakes too. :D
Craig took the day off Friday, and we started our day by having a nice breakfast (egg and biscuit sammiches) and spending some time walking around the neighborhood checking out the community garage sale. We picked up some goodies; I tried to stick to only buying the immediately useful things, but *shrug*. :) I got a nice stockpot, some really nice pilsner glasses, a couple of heavy vases for my glass rods, a few candles, a CD, a PS2 game, some nice planters and a basket. I wish we would've got the golf clubs too, but... *shrug* Some day. Someone is ALWAYS selling their clubs.
We then set off for the Antique Mall in Maumee to dig through even older crap. :D Craig was looking for some old hardware for a new closet door he just bought (trying to match the look of the rest of the house), and I was just looking for treasure. And boy-howdy! Did I find treasure!!! I got a vintage ViewMaster viewer and some lovely green-stemmed wine glasses, but the best find was the baggie filled with watch parts! See, I have this thing for watches. I collect them, not necessarily nice watches, nothing worth displaying (for the most part), but I have this box full o'watches that's my secret little treasure chest. They make me happy. Fair warning too: I'm not above stealing your watch. I've done it before. If you take it off and leave it lying around, I will put it on, and if neither of us notices at the end of the day and it goes home with me, it usually ends up staying with me. I'm just saying. So I found this little baggie with almost 50 (47, I counted) broken watches in it for only $10!!! I squeed with joy and carried it with me the rest of the day. Check out my loot:
I don't know for sure what I'm going to do with them. I'm torn between wanting to bust them open and harvest all their pretty little gears for jewelry and crafting, or just wanting to add their fabulous carcasses to my box o'watches so I can open it up and lord over my treasure every once in a while. I'll probably do a little of both. There's certainly enough there. *squee!*
After antiquing, we stopped for tea and scones which, while enjoyable enough, we both agreed is a far more enjoyable snack in Ireland along the Atlantic. *le sigh* Then we stopped for clothesline supplies and some fresh tanks for my torch, and came home to straighten up for a nice visit with my Dad.
Dad came over for pizza and chat. We gave him his belated Father's Day gift, chowed my favorite pizza, and sat out on the deck talking and watching the sun get lower in the shy. It was a very enjoyable visit.
I spent all of Saturday at my torch making fugly beads and frustrating myself with new-to-me skills. It was still a really good time, despite the fact that none of the beads turned out anything like I was trying for! heh. It's all good. I need the practice for sure. Some day I'll be able to create the most amazing beads, but I have to get my lessons and practice in first.
As soon as I finish my entry and my coffee here, it's back to the torch for a while. Then I'm probably going to do some gardening, take a nice long bath, and who knows what then? Dinner and some tv/movies/Wii most likely.
I do so love the weekends!!!
