2974 lost but not forgotten…
The sculpture in the mosaic is called The Sphere. It was situated at the base of the World Trade Center and survived the collapse of both towers. Its temporary home is in Battery Park but it will be moved back once the new towers are built.
It stands as a testament to the strength of the survivors.
Personal story – Kenny and I had the chance to see this sculpture in person by pure happenstance while we were in NYC this past May (we walked by the park on the way to the Staten Island Ferry). Seeing this in person and seeing the scratches and curled metal and jagged holes hit me and tears welled up in my eyes. They were tears of anger at the senseless loss and destruction. The sculpture is not that big but it is an extremely powerful image nonetheless. If you make it to NYC, try to stop by and pay your respects to the memories of all affected by 9/11.
Mom & 600 sq mi
It was hard to go back to work today after having only worked one day last week. Here is a re-cap…
> Mom’s cataract surgery – The surgery went perfect Thursday morning and the doctor said she could drive on Saturday. My mother was extremely please. We survived 3 days with each other but I think she was tired of me almost as much as I was tired of her… LOL Her second surgery has already been scheduled for October 4th.
> The 600 sq mi opening reception surpassed expectations and the gallery was packed for the entire three hours. It was hard to talk to everyone and despite being there the whole time, I managed to miss seeing several people but also met a bunch of new ones. Suffice to say, the show was very well-received and will become an annual event. Afterward I enjoyed some laughs with new friends at a local pub. Thank you Houstonist! You can see pictures here…
> Wish I could say I was extremely productive while at home but I wasn’t. Nope, not all. *sigh* I had such high hopes too but I just took a lot of naps. Oh well. At least laundry was done. Now if I would just put it away. *double sigh*
My first photo exhibit!
As Christine would say… squeeeee! Tomorrow night is the opening reception for the Houstonist‘s first photo exhibit. It is titled 600 sq mi: Photos from Houston! To summarize, the show is “a juried exhibition of photographs from Houston, from Main Street to the coastal prairie and everything in between. The photos show what makes Houston what it is: the buildings, the landscape, the people, the art, the taco stands, the shotgun houses, the freeways.” Along with the Houstonist, the exhibit is being co-presented with our local NPR station, KUHF.
What makes it even more thrilling is that I had two pieces of work accepted for the show! The UH Daily Cougar also interviewed me about the show and even used one of my images for the article…
The opening reception takes place tomorrow, Saturday, September 8th from 7-10 PM. I’ll be there and would love to see you there!
If you can’t make it Saturday night, no worries. The photo exhibit will be up for a month at MSquared Gallery in The Heights from September 5th – October 7th so if you can’t make it to the reception, please stop by the gallery in the coming month!
Mom’s Cataract Surgery
My Mom, who turns 69 next month, was recently declared legally blind when she finally got herself down to the ophthalmologist for new glasses. No worries though, the doctor says it can be taken care of with routine cataract surgery so she is having the worse eye done first thing Thursday morning. I will be her caretaker for a couple of days though and have had to get ready for the surgery.
I have taken three days off from work to drive her to the surgery itself (I have to have her at the outpatient center at 5:30 friggin’ AM) and for the follow-up appointment. I will also be housing her at my home for those three days/two nights. My husband is thrilled as you can imagine. LOL She owns a rottweiler named Opal so I have also reserved 2 nights at the kennel for her (my dogs would not play well with Opal). While Opal is being kenneled I have arranged to have her completely checked up, vaccinated and bathed to get rid of the fleas she invariably has.
Yeah, so not my idea of a relaxing vacation but oh well. That is what daughters are for.
And maybe I can get some time to myself at home while she rests Thursday after the surgery… one can only hope.
🙂
Happy Post-Labor Day…
Hi everyone – hope you all had a good holiday weekend with friends and/or family. We had a low-key weekend. Hung out at home, spent way too many hours on the couch, caught up on Tivoed shows…
Friday night I joined Kenny at Jillian’s for an evening of bowling – it was our friend’s birthday and that is what he wanted to do – drink & Bowl! LOL. I only bowled a game but it was fun…
Saturday Kenny and I ran errands and made a point to set up shop at Cafe Artiste for a couple of hours. I really needed to finish editing photos for a friend/client and I get too easily distracted at home. I managed to finish editing her shoot just as my laptop battery was about to die. What perfect timing! That evening we stayed in and watched Freaky Friday (the remake). Cute and kinda weird to see Lindsey Lohan relatively normal.
Sunday was my most active day – for me at least. I left Kenny to do his own thing and I headed out to MSquared Gallery in The Heights. The framed entries for the Houstonist‘s 600 sq. mi. show were due and I was helping check in the artwork. It was fun to see everyone and the opening reception this coming Saturday promises to be a blast! I even met an old friend from high school (his wife has a photo in the show). Afterward some of us headed to dinner where we had an interesting conversation that wandered to all sorts of topics… LOL
Now it’s Tuesday and it is the only day I will be here at work this week. More on that in a later entry….
Random thoughts from a recent grocery shopping excursion…
> I always buy bananas in 3s. I will break a bunch up but won’t buy any more or any less. Don’t know why, I just do. {insert Monty Python’s Holy Hand Grenade joke here}
> I buy Gala or Braeburn apples only.
> I prefer red grapes to green, seedless of course!
> Yes, I still buy white bread. None of that whole grain stuff that’s healthy for you. Grilled cheese just isn’t the same on something other than white bread. At least they now offer whitewheat so I feel less guilty…
> I don’t like standard shaped pretzels – I like the sticks. I suck off the salt then eat them.
> I buy orange juice 95% of the time we grocery shop. It’s a staple in my fridge besides milk.
Do you have any grocery shopping quarks? Share them with me!
Like the new design?
I wanted a new look for this blog and started download widget-ready WordPress themes from this site. I noticed though that many themes were giving me errors which I soon realized were because I had not upgraded my WordPress in a while. A quick call to Mike and within 15 minutes the upgrade was all done. Thanks so much!!!!! I owe you a Luby’s meal for sure!
So the pretty green floral design is the default but I invite you to go through a few other the other themes… there is a theme picker in the right-hand column down below the links and categories. Pull down the menu, select a new theme and hit “refresh”. You will see a few minor errors in some of the themes which I am going to try to tweak so please bear with me.
🙂
Another month flies by…
Wow – I guess other sites are taking my time – that would be Twitter & Flickr… I guess it is easier to work in short spurts than concentrate on writing a whole blog entry. Oh well, another month has flown by! I’ll make a few general comments once again…
> My photography hobby has come to the forefront and the camera doesn’t stay in its bag for more than a couple of days. Between various personal photo projects, freelance assignments and Fresh Photography, it seems like I am always on the laptop editing photos. It is so fun but also has made my housework suffer and I haven’t been to a salsa class in months. I miss salsa but it doesn’t fit in right now. I know I’ll return eventually. I’ve got the dance skills now and they will never be forgotten.
> I am trying to think of other updates but they are all photo-related. LOL 
> I got my first “cover shot” published this month. Christine & I have shot several locations for BarStool Magazine, a newish local magazine that comes out monthly with bar reviews. I had the opportunity to take the cover shot for August & it looks wonderful! I am very proud of it. Thanks to Christine & Kenny and all my friends for their support.
> The 2nd Annual White Linen Night event was a blast despite the heat & humidity. Thanks to Laurie for helping me out. It was Fresh Photography’s most successful Yale Street Market event yet.
I think that that is it for now… Thanks for coming by the blog…
I’m a bad blog mommy!
Wow. I don’t think I have ever ignored my blog for this long. It’s been over a month!!! I need to try to get back in here more often.
No need for all the details but here is a little bit of what has been going on…
> I celebrated my 1 year anniversary at work. Yay! I feel like I have found a good place to work and look forward to celebrating a few more anniversaries here.
> We saw Spamalot – what a fun musical and a wonderful adaptation of the movie. The Monty Python humor was very well translated to the stage, believe it or not.
> Traveled to Austin for work – wow, I hadn’t been there in ages. Must be sure to go back soon with Kenny!
> Made a wonderful contact at a local nightlife magazine and did a photoshoot for them… looking forward to seeing the shots in print and to doing more shoots for them!
> Celebrated Kenny’s 36th birthday.
> Went to my first roller derby last night – how fun! Can’t wait to take Kenny to the next one…
My most exciting news is that two of my photos were selected to be in a local photo exhibit! Yay! One of them will even be used in the marketing materials. I am so proud of how my photography hobby is progressing. We (Fresh Photography) are getting wonderful exposure and making great contacts. Our work is well-respected among other photographers are on our level and I am having so much fun with it. Not to mention the amazing number of new friends I am making through my participation in the local Flickr scene. It’s fun to be inspired by people you know.
That is the most exciting stuff for now… I will try to keep you guys better posted and thanks for still reading!!
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