so much stuff going on....

I am getting ready for my art show this weekend at La Villita Starving Artists show. It's the 55th year and there are supposed to be around 200 artists participating. It's been stressful trying to get ready for it, and I was highly disappointed that my crosses weren't cut at the waterjet company by the deadline I needed to prepare them for the show. So instead of having 25+ crosses I have 5. Five crosses that I cut by hand on my saw..... I ended up picking my glass up from them and as I was leaving I felt tempted to look into buying my own water jet machine... Of course reality hits when the smallest water jet machine costs around $6,000. On a positive note, I went and ordered a specialty cake for my daughters graduation in May. I was excited that the baker could create an actual architecture cake with line drawings and a cityscape! Their cakes are amazing! I was introduced to them at Say Si, where they provided mini cupcakes to all the guests. I don't know how many I ate, but I kept going back for the Mexican Chocolate cupcakes. So of course I had to order the first tier in Mexican chocolate with chocolate ganache, and the second tier lemon cake with strawberry filling. The topper will have some tools of the trade made out of chocolate. I also left with a dozen cupcakes!!! The name of the bakery is Oh Yeah Cakes! and they actually have their bakery in a retired train cab. Here's my favorite!!!

Say Si final auction

Last night was the final night and silent auction for Say Si small scale for big change. Overall the artwork was amazing. I got out bid on evry single peice of art. The disappointing part for me was the majority of student art that I wanted to bid on was already sold on the "buy it now" online auction. That's ok thoughI was really happy that the auction was such a success! My art piece that I donated bid upto $70.00, and I was tickled pink watching the signatures adding up on the sheet. It's a great feeling knowing that they liked my piece. It motivated me so much that I was in the garage working on some pieces for next weeks show early this morning. My kiln is already on with three small pieces, and a larger piece waiting to be fired on the table. So last night I was supposed to go with a friend from work, and she backed out. Then my two artist friends that I meet up with there every year, decided that they werent going to go to the auction since they are preparing to leave town to teach a class next week. So I did a little pleading with my hubby to go with me so I wouldnt be alone and he obliged... and again...kept me with my budget. Here's a picture of us, the silent auction theme last night was 1967. Oh yeah I couldn't eat enough Mexican chocolate mini cupckaes by "Oh Yeah Cakes" check them out at www.ohyeahcakes.com

ready for Spring!

Yesterday after work my husband and I decided it was time to pot the herbs, re-pot some of the plants and go out and get some flowers for our mailbox.

By the time we got home form the store getting a bag of dirt and flowers it was already dusk, so we ended up planting and re-potting everything in the dark, but it all looked pretty this morning!

During the freeze this year I lost two rose bushes, but the rest of the rose garden is looking lively and we have a couple of blooms already. I can't wait to go pick out some more pretty rose bushes to replace the one I lost. I love roses!!!

Just some thoughts with a lot of unanswered questions

Let me be upfront: I am NOT a medical professional nor any kind of scientist, and I have no background in biology. I sometimes think about Cancer and Autism, and wonder why these occur. Let start with Cancer: I have read stories and articles in the past where couples will become sick with cancer and diagnosed within months or even weeks apart. It makes me wonder, did they pass through some radioactive area together that they weren't aware. Did they eat some chemically tainted food in the past that created the cancer cells? Did they breathe in polluted air while traveling somewhere, maybe even walking in their neighborhood? It make me wonder why and what is triggering the cancer? Those same thoughts occur to me when an individual get cancer as well, but it seems more strange when couples get sick within a small time frame of each other. What outside elements are triggering this. I also wonder if it could be airborne. I have read several articles about research doctors, who actually get diagnosed with the same cancer that they are researching... what is that about???? How about young surgeons that remove malignant tumors and get diagnosed with cancer. Cancer seems to be classified; breast, lung, brain and so on. what if it is just one thing that just happens to land in that space of our body through air or food and nothing more than that? How about Autism? Is it the tests that pregnant women take as part of the prenatal care? Is it because of GMO food, chemically preserved and processed food, is it the pesticides? Maybe the preservatives in vaccines, is it in the air that we breathe???????? WTF is it? That's what is running through my head today.

Kataifi

We are just wrapping up Spring Break. My kids are planning on leaving today to go back to their perspective schools, and I need to get back to my regular routine now. I'm already missing them as they get ready. We had fun this week just being together. On Friday, I took the day off from work and we spent my birthday watching Beauty and the Beast, followed by a Mediterranean dinner. it was nice change from the usual restaurants we go to and we got to try something different. Even though my boys were like "this tastes just like the stew you make", it was great I wasnt the one having to cook on my birthday! Saturday I had a house full of family. My mother in law, two brother in laws and my sister and law came to visit for the first time since we moved to this house. My husband bbq'd lunch and I cooked my corned beef and cabbage for dinner. We all had nice day together. Last noght I decided to make Kataifi, which is a desert exactly like baklava except the filo dough is shredded. I just ran across the shredded dough for the first time since I left New York 25 years ago. My aunt would always make this treat, and I love ied it! It turned out pretty good last night!!!

copyright laws and all that.......

Last week I created the little fused glass piece with Elizabeth Stone's quote “Making the decision to have a baby is momentous, etc... Well I gave that as a gift to a woman I know who just had a baby at 27 weeks. The piece came out so cute that I really wanted to make more of these fused glass quotes to sell, but then I did some research about copyright laws. If the quote is prior to 1923, you can pretty much use it. If the author is alive and well and is a professor at Fordham University, you need to get her permission. I decided not to bother her, and NOT to create any art to sell with her quotes. There are a bunch of other copyright laws in between 1923 and today, and I think they are all important. I wouldn't want someone stealing and making a profit off of art I originally created, so this is no different. So over the weekend I switched gears and drew out some flowers on a piece of 4"x5" glass, and a park with lamp posts on a 6"x9" piece of glass. I took them out of the kiln this morning and when I looked at the flowers I thought I had blurred vision, but it was the flowers that were blurred.... almost like they were the reflection of flowers from the water... I think it may make people dizzy looking at them. As far as the lamp posts in the park, I think I need to add some more details to it. I will post pictures of these pieces when they are "fixed". Here is an informative link by Emily McDowell about using quotes in artwork/products. I love the easy to read chart! Wishing for a beach day right about now!!!

Fresh out of the kiln

I came home last night and put a very small project in the kiln around 7pm, wishing I had more time to create just one or two small items since there would be room in the kiln. i Iidn't have that luxury of time. I don't like to sleep with the kiln on so I want make sure it finishes by 11:30 so I can go to bed without fear. I opend the kiln this morning and am pleased with the results. . I really love Elizabeth Stone's quote and wanted to put it in glass. This about 4" x 5". I will be making more with different colors and designs.

Empty bowls

Today was the 17th annual SAMMinistries "empty bowls" fundraiser at The Southwest School of Arts. The fundraiser is all about helping the homeless in our community. Every year the San Antonio Pottery guild members donate pottery bowls for the fundraiser, and the last few years the San Antonio Glass art guild started to participate by donating glass bowls.  People come out pick a bowl or bowls, pay $20 for each bowl then get a ticket for each bowl they purchased and get a bowl of soup and bread from one of the many restaurants around town that donate the soup. (The soup is served in to go containers, if you were wondering, not in the bowls purchased) . There were over 2500 bowls donataed and the event was held from 11-2 today. I got there with my hubby about noon and most of the bowls were gone! I found out through some of my friends that were volunteering today that there was a rush of people when the gates opened at 11am and 80% of the glass bowls were gone within the first 5 minutes! At least there was still somewhat of a variety of pottery bowls to pick from.   My husband and I always have fun each picking a bowl for ourselves and eating great soup for lunch!  It's a wonderful way to participate for a good cause. This year was the first time that they completely sold out of bowls!!!!!

My bowl

My hubby's bowl

Say Si Silent Auction starts now!!

It felt good to wake up to the SaySi Small Scale Big Change email this morning. I went through all the artwork of 190 participating artists (including me!). The artwork is beautiful and the online bidding starts today!  You can check out all the art work here!   

I went for a brief walk and it is spring in Texas. The flowers are blooming and I just had to take some pictures!

Pebbles came along on my walk and we ended up at our neighborhood park. The swings were empty so I decided to get on and go for a swing. She was eagerly waiting for me to get off so we can continue our walk through the park.