Blogger's Guilt

So.... I've got a case of "Blogger's Guilt".... in a bad way.... and it's just a vicious cycle: I feel bad for not blogging, so I avoid blogging, so then I feel worse about not blogging... so then I avoid it even more.....

So, I need to start posting stuff.... daily, again....

Last week, I came back to Austin... My move into the apartment was put on hold.... so I came here to get a job, and start working.

Then, last weekend, I got sick... AGAIN. Not the same stomach flu.... but the achy, tired, feverish stuff... Finally, today I'm feeling better.

I have started working on some small, cut and paste collages that are 4"x4" :





.... and I bought a little sewing kit too.... so I can stitch a bit...

This week, I'm feeling better, so I'm definitely looking for work... A lot of the SXSW jobs I've come across don't pay money... but pay in wristbands.... I'd rather be paid in money...

okay.... now I feel a lot less guilty.... :)

Another "Notes to Self"

I'm back in Midland, but I've spent the last few weeks in Austin, "feeling it out"... but not ready to make a commitment to moving... I guess I was waiting for my pumpkin to be turned into a carriage or something.... but then, it was brought to my attention..... and I realized: I have to decide.... make a decision even if it's scary and there is no fairy godmother involved.....

So, I found a place, in Austin.... In the neighborhood I like.... its a SMALL studio apartment.... (400 sq ft).... but you know what? I don't need "stuff".... there's NO safety in objects... Or ideas, plans or people... so I think this will be a good thing for me..

i'm back in Midland now.... with my pups.. and family....

My B-day is on Lundi Gras this year.... so, my parents used their airline credits and (AWWWWW YEAH) I'm headed down to NOLA for Carnival time! It'll be good.... I haven't seen my friends there in years.... and Mardi Gras is my favorite holiday.... i just don't know what I should be (costume-wise)..... We'll see.... I'm excited to go there!

Soooo... Since it's late and I'm tired...

I thought I'd do another "notes to self" segment..... (the random notes I write myself on my phone.... but I usually forget I wrote):

50
Arachnidiot: A person who accidentally wanders into an "invisible" spider web and begins gyrating and flailing about wildly.

(yes I've done that.... and seen others do it too.... I copied this down from the Galaxy Cafe)

Hawaii
(seen in Kauai)

Mele Kalikimaka

"Drifted objects tumbled pieces of life, only the strongest reach the shore to be found and transformed, abstract representations of life lived." (quote from an artist at Little Tsunami Tattoo)

I Need

Someone to tell me to "go to bed" at a decent hour.... Being a night person has its darkside, especially when you're trying to live on the light side. Some hate the moon.... I tend to lean towards the side that hates the sun...f mornings!!!

Is it possible?
If i sleep in my scarf, could I accidentally strangle myself in my sleep?

Love:
I'm in love:
With what love gives
and what it takes.
Giving myself love,
Giving to love...
In the end:
It all goes back to love....
We all return to love.....

Nothing:
I don't have anything earth-shattering to say;
Nothing amazing to say...
I just have my thoughts,
my voice,
my one voice in the sea of billions,
my one voice in the history of trillions
of life stories.....
past, present, future...

One More
One more cigarette.
One more time.
One more minute.
One more chance to say what I wanted to.....
What I meant to.
Just one more.
.... and then another one.

What?!
Huh?
What?
Huh?
What?
Sorry, I don't hear well....
....{these are} conversations i have.....

"Stop rhyming I mean it!" "anybody want a peanut?"

So, I've been in Midland this week... I haven't really felt like blogging.

But, I've gotten a lot done... not art-wise, but more catching-up-on-correspondence-and-stuff-wise.

I leave for Austin tomorrow morning, and will pick up Cas in the afternoon... I'm so excited!

I'll try my best to blog from Austin.

Then, after she leaves Monday, I'm going to start networking, looking for job opportunities, housing possibilities... all of the above.... I just want to make sure I don't just move and lose focus on my main goals.

I wanna make art, and I wanna write... and do that as my living... those are my goals...

So, with that said... I'm going to bed... but before that (and on a COMPLETELY different subject):

Did you know that nothing rhymes with orange?! nothing in the English language.... weird...

When I Googled that, just to make sure it was true, I came across an amazing web site: Flocabulary "Hip Hop in the Classroom"....

For Realz yo!

but there are other words that have nothing that rhyme with them too (as the link will show you):

silver, purple, month, ninth, pint, wolf, opus, dangerous, marathon and discombobulate.

Of course I spent hours trying to find rhymes for each of them... in my head... and, No, I don't consider that a waste of time...

Like, Purple.... I think "verbal" kinda rhymes...

My favorite alternative rhyming example that flocabulary gives is:

discombobulate - the disco they love to hate, Crisco ovulate, risky even on a date, Sisqo's rollerblades

"sisqo's rollerblades" ?!? what!??

but I DO love "the disco they love to hate" and (this one is GENIUS) "Crisco ovulate".....

...don't worry if it makes sense... just make it rhyme every time...

G'night.... pics and updates from this austin trip soon!

Change.

Death has been all too frequent, sudden and present lately... My parents have lost several friends, and children of friends... friends have lost friends and parents and loved ones...

It's the cycle of life... But the part that is so scary, and sad... the part we usually choose to pretend doesn't exist, or happen "to us."

I remember people coming up to me after C's death, and saying, "I don't know what to say to you."
And I'd answer, "I wouldn't know what to say to me either..."

I still don't.

People would tell me, "It just takes time."
Time! Time! Time! Time!!!! I wanted to SCREAM!!!

I didn't want time. I wanted everything to go back to the way things were... not time. It was the last thing that I wanted to hear...

But, looking back at myself and journal entries from a year ago.... I realize time has made a difference.

Not that "time heals all wounds" ... that's BS.... but time allows for the new and different life to begin... not forgetting the past, but by honoring it by REALLY living, and learning to live my new reality. Time gives space from events and with that space, I could process, and grow...

Change hurts. Growth hurts.... Change is scary.... I even overheard my little sister last week say, "I hate change!"....

but it always happens... regardless of how badly I'd like to hold on to things as they are.... they're changing too... The only constant is change...


A year ago, I wanted to die. I didn't want to let go of the past... because I was terrified to forget.

Exactly a year ago I wrote:

Call up Dr. Kevorkian
and say I've gotta joke for him,
Death has watched over my cradle
Life's always been %100 fatal

And then I wrote a lot of stuff... hard for me to read... I did not want to go forward... but I didn't want to stay in pain either... I was so lost... wanting answers, seeking, fighting, angry... all of the 5 stages.... but those 5 stages are like primary colors... you can mix them together to get different colors and shades....

So, with all of this death around me, and change happening.... you'd think I'd have something brilliant to say.... That now I'd KNOW what to say.... but I don't.

But I know saying "time" doesn't help.... but being present for someone, constantly, present (whether they ask for it or not).... Presence, while time does its job, creating space, says more than any words could possibly say.

Tonight, I looked in my phone.... once again, I have a crazy list of "Notes to Self:" (i honestly don't know when i write these - but they end up there)... this is one I wrote since the last time I blogged about "notes to self"

Change:

Knowing change is coming is sad.
I like how things are now,
at this perfect moment....

sitting under the stars...
I just saw a shooting star...

But, if I don't let go of this moment, or any moment,
there will never be another "perfect moment"...
and that would more sad...
the saddest of all.

It would be so much easier to live in the mystery of life. if i didn't care about, love. and develop relationships...
but without relationships, it wouldn't be worth living.

One year has made a huge difference... but it has to be felt ... not said.

a photo I took and digitally altered of a church in Midland

hello.... goodnight

My mind is going crazy.... I'm tired but cant sleep...

I hope I have everything together for Friday... I didn't paint today... I picked up my prints and bought some frames and worked to put some of the finishing touches on a few pieces... I still have more to do..

It's not that it's a big show... it's gonna be very laid back, just more of a preview and meet and greet... but, I'm trying to get so much done.... because after this weekend I start to look for a place to live and a job of some sort in Austin.

I also have my first solo show at the Magnolia Gallery in Dallas this summer! YAY!

so, I'd like to have some work finished for that show... because after I move (and I'm working and getting settled and adjusted and all of that fun stuff), I don't know where I'll be able to paint.... I'm thinking too far ahead.... Sometimes I've gotta just pull myself back into the present...

okay... back.

We have a new president!!! America just became a much cooler country!

Alright, goodnight!

Moth balls? no....

My mom and I went and saw Bride Wars today... as she said, "It was no Gran Torino" .... unfortunately, I haven't seen Gran Torino yet... so, I can't compare, but can only imagine...

Actually, the main reason we went to go see Bride Wars was our friend Michael Arden is in it! He's great (as always)... and plays Kate Hudson's assistant/Mr. of Honor....

After that, it was time for business... <:o)E

I did a little work on the chandelier piece... it seemed like it lacked definition and outline towards the top of the piece... and I also just worked on the moth... but the change is SO slight, that even if I were to point it out, I'm not sure anyone (except for me) would be able to see it.

I did take the Girl with the hood.... (orange hood... green background...) ... remember how attached to her I was?!

Yeah, Well.... i painted the whole thing read and orange and purple!

I felt so much better once I painted over her!

I really like the moth painting.. and I like what moths personally symbolize to me.... Part of that is: searching for a light in the darkness....

That means a lot to me... searching... seeking... wanting to find the light... the strength... all of that has been part of my "new life" in the last year...

I thought i may do a moth series... (there are SOOO many GORGEOUS moths!) ... i still love moths SO much more than butterflies...

butterflies? ... *yawn*...

I bought a book in Austin at a thrift store on Lamar (not Salvation Army... but similar)... and I took the book and cut out hexagons to stick on the wood board (with matte medium) and then I painted the moth... simple... but it takes a LONG time



This piece has a WAYS to go... I want to make the bottom wings larger.... and look more like owl eyes... (that's what I think they look like...)


Okay.... so tomorrow (today)... Barak Obama is our new President! it's a new day! and I'll be working on the same moth from yesterday... but that's okay.... hey, that rhymes!

PPS... I still have NOT found a way to frame and hang this piece....



there's more...

Ahhhhh.... much better...

YAY!

i've finally gotten into the "flow" and I'm making stuff that I LIKE and finishing it! wow.... it's been a long time... or at least it feels like it's been a long time since I've done that...

Today, I put the encaustics, wax and collage stuff away, and broke out the acrylic paints.... good ol' trusty acrylics....

And i finished the chandelier:


(I think it looks better in real life than this pic... but that's just my opinion)

and, on the piece that I collaged the hexagon dress patterns, I decided I wanted a moth... (I've had a love for moths since this summer in North Carolina... I like them so much better than butterflies...)... not just any moth, but one of the silk worm moths... so using these "mothels" (okay... bad joke...).... I used these moths to model my moth after:


And this is what it looked like in process:


I still have more work to do.... I'm trying to keep it somewhat transparent... using very watered down paints... but I also want it to be bright... it could take a while:


Both pieces are about 24"x24"..... so i'm also glad that I have work that's larger than I usually do...

I also am high on the feeling of accomplishment (meaning: actually finishing a piece that I like).....

And i like both pieces.... and I like them enough to where I don't really care if I'm the only person in the world who likes them... (of course I want other people to like them), but they say what I want them to say... and mean something to me... and I like them... and that feels fantastic!



I watched the first American Idol tonight... I love that show!


Another show I love is the Daily Show... This episode (before "super tuesday" in 2000) is appropriate, for several reasons:

a. this is before Bush became President... and right now he's about to become a former President

b. This is about Midland (where I am now)

c. This is about Cooties... and unless you're vaccinated (circle circle dot dot)... you may be infected ... although boys are at a higher risk for cooties than girls are....

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Cootie Scandal

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Saturday night

some ideas are worth listening to.

the story about changing the one thing on a painting that your most attached to.... yeah, that works... at least I feel like it did...

i felt so much more free, and wasn't thinking or judging everything once i tried that...

the chandelier painting now has a WAYS to go.... but looks like this:


I re-painted the background, and then painted a big chandelier.... I may make it more red... not sure... I used to have a red chandelier in my old house.... Now it's the focus and not an element that's in the way... At least I'm more happy with it...

and the one that I thought I was too attached to the background.... well, I think I was most attached to the tree that was on it.... so I took that tree off and replaced it with this one:


And then I tried something new.... (I got this idea from another artist at Penland), I painted the board blue, black and off-white and then took a sewing pattern and cut it in to hexagon shapes an pasted them on with Matte Medium:




I haven't touched the painting with the girl yet.... but I feel like I'm on a roll... Everything seems much more organic, and flow-like, rather than me trying to force everything to come together.... and that wasn't working. at all.

oh yeah....

Last night, I decided I wanted to take a well-deserved break, and watch Saturday Night Live... I was looking forward to vegging out in front of the TV for an hour... I NEVER watch TV... But, instead of some hit-or-miss funny SNL, there was a 3 hour telethon instead! NOOO! This is what I was staring at in disbelief instead of SNL:


so, not cool... To quote a friend: "That's UN-American, well, kinda."

I heard it wasn't all that funny last night anyways... maybe the telethon incident was more entertaining in the long run...

back to work....

Blocked

I heard a story from someone, but I don't remember from who or when (although I think it was this summer at Penland):

If you're over-attached to one element in your piece, and you're struggling with your piece, then you should get rid of, or change the thing you're overly attached to.... There was a story that went with this. And after the artist removed the element they were most attached to, the piece worked out...

I'm not sure if that's true or not... but there are a few pieces that I'm struggling with... nothing looks right, but I'm overly attached to one element of the painting....

the chandelier:


The girl:


the background:


But I'm not quite ready to get rid of those things... Maybe that means that they are the things that I most need to change...

probably... I think, by holding on to them as they are, I'm not allowing the pieces to change... and become what they're supposed to become...

It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

"We are like sculptors, constantly carving out of others the image we long for, need, love or desire, often against reality, against their benefit, and always, in the end, a disappointment, because it does not fit them."
-Anais Nin

I think I'm doing that with some of my art work...

Okay... I think I just needed to get that out of my system.... maybe now I can get some stuff done!

love/hate

I did some more collaging... I really LOVE wax... but I'm really and TRULY starting to HATE wax... so sticky..... too gratifying, too instantly.... too sticky... too messy... too much fun... too easy.... too hard... too time consuming... too cloudy.... uh! love/hate.

The printing place called me... they printed a test strip of a small collage I did in December... It looked good.

They also showed me the scans, they also looked good...

I'm looking forward to seeing what it all looks like... when it's done...

I don't feel like writing much.... so I'll post pics of what I've done, what I'm working on... I'm not %100 happy with my work right now... but, I'm very happy that I'm making work....

So, with that said:

Here are the red trees:



and a close up of each:



So, i added the moon cycle.... but now, I wanna just keep the background of this piece and start over... I doubt it though.... but, I do think this is the MAJOR issue when you become so attached to one part of a piece that you can't let go enough to let it become the best it can:


This is just an idea... i printed out some images (on tissue paper, so everything but the ink will disappear....


A very encaustic background (done the same way the owl from a while ago was done)...


now I'm trying to figure out what to do with it/put on it... here are some of my ideas:




I added a TON of medium to the clover collage background... now I can carve into it and collage on it...


And, last, I transferred this pattern to board.... but I'm still working on taking the paper off of the back... that always takes SOOO long!


My horseback riding lesson was cancelled today... the wind chill here in Midland didn't get above 30 degrees... I was kinda glad it was cancelled.... I wasn't looking forward to freezing my butt off!

okie dokie.... about to fall asleep typing... g'nite!

productivity and a new pink camera = happiness!

I was so productive today!

I think, by letting some pressure out of my head, and into my planner, and blog, and journal, I feel sooo much better!

One thing I did that makes me REALLY happy: I returned that Canon-Elph-whatever-crap camera and bought a Sony Cybershot! It was the second time I've been to BestBuy and tried to return it... they all remembered me. They asked me what was wrong with it... I told them "everything! I hate everything about it!"... of course they were shocked... (news to me but:) It seems that NO ONE (except me) hates Canons... They said it was my fault... It could be, I'm not good at following directions... or reading them... but I exchanged it anyway... and I love my new camera! The pics I've taken look awesome! plus it's pink! Who doesn't love a pink camera?!?

I found a reprographics place in Midland (Reynolds Brothers) ... I talked to them on the phone and I'm gonna go and check it out tomorrow...

I also bought a griddle and a small blow torch..... as well as some paraffin wax.... So, I'm back to encaustic painting... for real!
Paraffin wax cleans the colored wax off of brushes... but I've also noticed that it thins the medium even more, making the wax more like paint... and it's good for delicate things like leaves and butterfly wings, without making them too waxy.... and cloudy...

I've even started to make my usual encaustic studio mess!


I also start riding horses again tomorrow... maybe I'll bring my new fancy camera and get some pics!

So, i pulled out all of the work that I think is done... and some of the stuff I'm still working on... and some that I shouldn't keep working on but can't help myself....

This little owl is on cardboard... he's about a 5x7... I'm gonna use him.. I like him more and more...


The background of this piece, I started before I left for North Carolina last May... I tried (and failed) to do some stuff with resin... but today, I added the other stuff on top.... It's not done... I'm not sure if I like it at all... Cas suggested that I add a moon... which I'll try tomorrow...


This was another "Bird and Key".... but it was bugging me... So I've been trying to get crafty with it... I found this moth... I LOVE this moth... and on this color background... the moth and doily are just placed on top.... not attached yet... just an option that I'm considering...


I've been working on this piece with the chandelier for a YEAR now... I added the black wash over the whole piece and have been staring at it for months... today, I painted the chandelier in a light wash of a bright red...


People who know me well, know that I can't stand being told what I can and can't do... It's not that I try to be rebellious... I just have to find out for myself... and a lot of the time, that means "the hard way".... well... In our encaustic class, I was told, "you can't paint acrylic over oil paint"... well... I had done that... It TOTALLY sucked and was REALLY difficult.... but I had done it (once)... We were also told, you can't paint acrylic over wax... well, today, I broke that rule and had to try it out... and so far so good... I'm really pleased with the result...

This is a painting I'd been working on for a while... I decided the heart needed a heart shape around it in string... then I added the flames/triangles/points around the right side... and then I used black acrylic paint *gasp!*, on the inside of the heart.... to make it pop a bit.... that worked so well, that I used the same paint on the bird in areas...

The only thing that is bugging me about this piece is the wax looks so cloudy... and dulls the black and the pattern... but overall I'm happy with it... and I'm glad I don't always believe what people tell me!


I'm not sure what people are going to think of my new work... it's different than what I was doing before.... much more collage, and experimentation... i may go back to acrylics at some point... they're predictable and easy to add on top of... but maybe I wont... But I think I will... at least more than I'm using them now...

Freak out

So... Jumping in sounded so easy... way easier than it was...

Actually, yesterday I spent all day just staring... blocked... creatively constipated... not knowing where or what to start on... just literally staring.... I wrote a lot... but art-wise: nada.

Carley at The Gypsy Wagon, in Dallas, is throwing a laid back show with my work on the 23rd of this month... I called her yesterday having a real "artist" crisis... Not knowing if I should do it... what if all my work sucks.... or if there's not enough work there... or not enough time... HELP ME!

She talked me down from my own pity party... and we're still going to do it... I'd like to get note cards made... I need to get more prints made as well... the only thing is, I had to pick up some of the last prints from her because the colors were off... and the printer is in Dallas... and I don't know how to tell them what the colors should and shouldn't look like... So I need to find a place to scan in my work, here in Midland... this week... and then I need to figure out the printing situation.... AAAAAAAAAH!!!!

I also thought it would be cool (and I could do this myself -- i think) to take some of my photographs that I've digitally altered and show them as well... I also have to figure out framing of my pieces... I'm freaking out... this is a lot to do... no wonder I'm blocked...

I jumped in... "no floaties" ... but then felt like I was drowning... and I think I was... if you can't swim, use floaties...

I've been a hermit, upstairs, away from my studio all day today... I'm sure my parents are worried about me... but I really need today to sort out my brain... plan... I need some space to be able to figure out what I: a. HAVE to do, b. WOULD like to do, c. CAN do...

Okay... that's my freak out... blah.....

Jumping In...

"Sometimes you just have to jump in without your floaties!" I overheard a little girl say on the Disney Channel this morning... It was supposed to be the heart-warming scene from one of the million sequels to one of the many movies where a big fluffy dog saves the day, and then his family saves him.... or something....

Well.... I need to jump back into my art without "my floaties"... I'm back in Midland, and I want to get back to work... I want to make stuff and finish stuff... but I feel blocked... I don't know where to start, and I get anxious that I'm gonna make a mistake..

I think, by using Photoshop and Illustrator and other computer programs over the years to make collages and art, I've gotten really used to the "UNDO" feature.... or going back in history and changing the image back to how it was...

But, *sigh*, in art (without computers) and life, there is no "undo" button... I just have to put something down, and see how the medium reacts and then respond... Basically, not expecting anything, but responding to each layer, and watching the piece come together, instead of trying to make it a certain way.

This is what I wrote in my journal yesterday:

I just need to put it down and respond. The ideas of things do me no good just rolling around in my head, unless I try them and put them down. They don't all have to be perfect... There's no magic pill.... Just got another idea --pill, angels, light--... I just need to take the stuff I've got and use it... stop worrying about the end result

So, I'm jumping in... No floaties! I've got one collage I'm working on... it's from a picture I took in Terlingua and played with in Photoshop, and then I printed it on tissue paper.... and hot wax collaged it on to a page from an old Encyclopedia of Animals page on Condors... I burned the background paper a bit with my heat gun while I was trying to get the wax even.... looks cool... smelled BAD!

Goin' all blogsta...

I was humbled over the holidays, once again....

I tried to tell "my" snoop dogg joke (not mine but the only one I can ever remember...) and twice (or thrice... or more) everyone already knew the punch line... and knew more snoop jokes than mine.... my ol' joke was all played out!

just incase you haven't heard me tell it (which if you've ever been around me you've heard it a million times):

Q: Why does snoop dogg carry an umbrella?

A: Fo drizzle!

So I learned that there are way more snoop jokes than I could ever imagine... I decided to google search them... I have a lot more now... but I also got much more of a laugh from reading the message boards... stuff like: Yo yo, listen up, don't mess wit snoop the Godfatha, [insert gang name here] fo life yo... shout out to my homiez... So that's paraphrasing.... big time... but I laughed a lot reading it... especially reading some of the responses out loud...

So now I got tons of Snoop jokes (some good some bad)... and I'll be telling them over and over.... until they're all played out... fo shizzle!

I went to see the Curious Case of Benjamin Button last night... It was LONG.... but it kept my attention.... I'm not sure how good I thought it was... still a bit confizzled about that.... I think I get annoyed when actors play old, sick or someone with a mental disability.... like Brad Pitt playing the young Benjamin in the old body, or Cate Blanchet playing the dying old woman, who talks the whole movie... and you can never understand what she says... but I guess if you play a role like that it's a for sure academy award nomination.... maybe I'm being too cynical about it... who knows..

I did buy an AMAZING book called "Signs & Symbols"... it has every kind of sign and symbol.... even hobo signs and emoticons!

i bought it because I am always telling a story with my art... and I can use different symbols as my language and method of communication...

I'm about to head back to Midland.... and I really need to get back to holing up and just cranking out work...

Resolutions

So, it's January... and 2009... I don't think either of those two things have registered to me yet. It feels like December, and I know if I had to write the date on anything I'd write 2008.

That was my "new year's resolution": to stop writing '08 and start writing '09. I guess that's not exactly aiming high...

...but I really do have some new year's resolutions:

I bought a 2009 weekly planner... I've been carrying it around in my purse, but have yet to open it or write in it. But, I think (just by osmosis maybe) I'm becoming a better planner already!

My new planner (If I choose to use it) will help with my other resolutions... like figuring out where to go next, where I'll move, planning art shows and finishing the book on Big Bend I'm working on with Justin Voight.

We had a wonderful New Year's at the lakehouse with family and friends... lot's of sing-a-longs.... everyone had a blast (I know I'm speaking for everyone... but I think it's true).



Later this week I'll be back in Midland and getting to work on making some more work and finishing the pieces I already have almost done...

I went to an art gallery the other day, and there were a few pieces there that reminded me of my work... I noticed that the artist used these boards that are like boxes... I forget what they're called... but some women in my encaustic class at Penland used them as well... if I start to paint on those, I wouldn't have to worry about presentation and framing... I need to go ahead and buy some; splurge a bit, instead of scavenging for wood scraps and stuff in friends' and family's garages...

Indian feast

Last night, kel cooked a delicious Indian feast!


My favorite was the coconut chutney she made... and she said she had to "wing it"... It was sooo delicious...

Indian food is probably my favorite food on the planet... I don't share my Chicken Tikka Masala well... at all... I LOVE all kinds of Indian food... yum! (now I'm hungry again).

We wore our saris kel brought back...


The sari (or saree ... i'm not sure how to spell it) is 6 meters of fabric! Which is 19.5 ft of fabric!!! that is a lot of fabric! Under the Sari, you wear a long skirt and a belly shirt... and then you take all 6 meters of fabric and start wrapping... and then folding and tucking and wrapping and folding and tucking again... Indian women do this with no problem... even using one hand for the folds...



kelly learned how in India, but then needed a refresher course, and B's friend's mother is Indian, and showed Kel again...

The saris kel brought back are beautiful... I wish I could wear a sari and bindi everyday! I told kel that some one should invent a sari that's already got all of the folds that you could slip on...

At the end of the night, I tried to fold it to hang it... and I got my dad to help me.. and it took us two tries to fold it!

Kelly did henna....


and then we ate and they narrated their pictures from the trip....

Kelly and Matt were in Mumbai, but left before the attacks... and stayed in a different part of India until the attacks stopped and things were more under control, before going back to Mumbai and then flying back to the states... that was a scary time..

We had a great night last night... I drank wine... and didn't even have a panic attack... so hopefully I'm done with those!

I'm not sure if we're leaving for the lakehouse today or tomorrow... we'll spend NYE there, together...

Part 2: Monday

Monday, we woke up really early and drove to go on our helicopter tour.



The tour company we went with is called Inter Island (that's also the link to their site).... the locals said they are the best. They take you inside the crater and into the jungle and land near a waterfall for lunch... The tour is from 9:30 to noon... it's expensive, but %100 worth it!

I have been a lot of places, and done a lot of things... but this helicopter tour of Kauai was probably the most amazing experience I've ever had. I was completely speechless.... I still kind of am....

Have you ever had a flying dream? I do... and have.... the whole ride gave me deja vu....

We started out flying over the sugar cane fields... and then up toward the canyon.... all of a sudden we were in the canyon... It's so massive and so incredibly beautiful... the whole time, i sat there with my jaw in my lap, in awe of how absolutely incredible Kauai is... and everything is....


here are some of our pictures from the helicopter... (since I have no words... I'll just post some pics)







there are no doors on the helicopter.... and I was sitting on the far right... so my right side was so cold!

There was a couple from Minnesota who were with us... The helicopter only seats 5. I asked the Captain what his name was, he replied, "CAPT.!" ....okay... he was a trip. He kept telling us about the "dope-growing hippies" and how he busts them.... or flies really low over the "dope fields" to freak them out.... and that's why the helicopter has a shark face painted on it....


Was that true? I don't know... He was funny, or at least I thought he was trying to be funny... but now, I'm not sure...

He also told us about movies that were filmed on the Island... like the movie Tropic Thunder (with Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr...)... When we landed in the jungle and followed him to the waterfall, I felt like I was in that movie... pretty funny.

The waterfall was so beautiful, that it seemed fake... like a movie set... We brought our swimsuits so we could swim, but the thought of getting back in the helicopter, wet and cold didn't sound fun.... so we just sat there and took it all in...



Capt. told us more stories of people skinny dipping and honeymooning couples doing more than that, in the waterfall... and how he would just go back and wait for them by the helicopter...

He took us around the whole island, into craters and by waterfalls... like the one used in Jurassic Park...

I can't even put into words how beautiful it was.... Kauai may be the most beautiful place on earth... and to see it flying around in a helicopter.... wow. that's all I can say is wow....







It makes me want to learn how to fly a helicopter... and become a pilot. There is so much freedom in a helicopter.... you can fly low, or high, take sharp turns, change direction in a second and land on a spot.... just like when I fly in my dreams.

I wasn't scared until we took off.. and I got a little scared, but then I wasn't scared as much as I was speechless and in awe... it seemed so surreal...


After our helicopter tour, we went to Glass Beach... There used to be a dump there, so the sand is really old pieces of glass that has been tumbled... I collected a bottle of the glass "sand" to bring back (maybe art project???)...

And bek found her rainbow!


That night we went to the airport... and flew out of Lihu'e at 9:45pm...

What an amazing trip! i had an incredible experience.... beaches, mountains... roosters EVERYWHERE (that cockadoodledoo at all of the wrong times), the helicopter ride, the canyon, camping, meeting new people, kayaking, hiking... WOW! Bek was a fantastic travel buddy! thank you thank you thank you for inviting me on this trip.... It was an experience that I'll never forget!

Here are some random images from our trip that I thought I'd include:

um... i felt like a whale when I ate... watch for me!


"Why did the chicken cross the road?"


Strange and scary combo....and there were more than one of this restaurant... so it's a chain! I have to say, we never tried it:







The time is always: NOW!