Que es lo que pasa aqui? ah!

New year, new blog...

2011-01-09T21:34:00.000-06:00

I have been meaning for a long time to change my blog to a different service and I finally did it! The blog Que es lo que pasa aqui? Ah! has a new address now. the new address is:

www.aynex.com/blog/

Please change your bookmarks because new fun stuff is coming up. Check it out!

One more to do off my list!

2010-12-30T10:10:00.000-06:00

The end of the year is near and it is making me want to get everything finished so I can start 2011 fresh. I needed to finish the gallery for the Frederick County Civil War Roundtable website and I just did. I think it is pretty cool and informative. Take a look.

Now when I'm going to have time to update my own website?

2010: A Blogging Year in Review

2010-12-29T22:33:00.000-06:00

New Year's card I designed for 123print.com

Like every TV channel has their end-of-the-year summary of the big events that happened that year, I do the same. Ok, let's see what I did this year...

I designed a poster that almost won AIGA's Poster Clash, the Annual Report for the Goodwill of Frederick County, the poster for Boo Bash, a Halloween party and one of my designs got published in a design book
I designed a website for my Mom, for the Frederick County Civil War Roundtable group, for Rehabilitation of Frederick, for the Unifom Store and another one that will be unveiled soon...
Visited friends and had a good time in Paducah and in upstate NY
Got a new hip
Got a new apartment and had the mandatory house warming party
Got my first traffic ticket for running a red light
Spent Christmas in Puerto Rico and watched my Dad get married

But my biggest accomplishment this year is one I never talked about in the blog. When I had my car accident in 1997, I started receiving Social Security Disability. Ever since I got it, I wanted to be able to live without it. I didn't wanted to be a burden on the government and feel like I depended on that. I always had some form of other income but it was never enough to be able to live without at least some Social Security income. For the first time this year I am earning enough money that I do not need Social Security and it is a good feeling.

All in all a year of new beginnings...

New Web Design: The Uniform Store

2010-12-29T21:54:00.000-06:00

A few months ago I was hired by the owner of The Uniform Store in Winchester, VA to redesign their website. They wanted the site to reflect the look and atmosphere of the store. After a couple designs after seeing photos of the store, the new Uniform Store website was born. The illustrations in the site are done by artist Tracey Buchanan, who I also designed a site for.

Click on the dog Millie to see his cute page.

Not Your Typical Wedding...

2010-12-22T19:16:00.000-06:00

On December 19th my Dad got married in Puerto Rico. It was a very special experience to share with my Dad and his new wife Yadira.

It was also fun and not your typical wedding. I guess that when you are over fifty, the wedding rules do not apply. It was clear that it wasn't going to be your typical wedding when the whole wedding party and guests met on the side of the road in Carolina.

After everyone arrived, we all left together to where the wedding was going to take place in Loiza. My Dad is in a motorcycle club and there were about 20 or 30 motorcycles and about 10-20 cars. We all drove in a row following them to the wedding. It was easy to spot them in the crowd because they were sitting on a black convertible.

In such a long line of cars and motorcycles we were bound to run into red lights that would break the group. But I guess the motorcyclists have done this before. Whenever there was a red light, they would stand on the way of incoming traffic to block them and let the wedding guests continue with the group.

It was crazy but it was fun. I was waiting for the cops to arrive and arrest us all. I wonder what the outsiders thought. The probably thought it was a big celebrity driving by. Finally we arrived at the the venue. The place was gorgeous right on the beach. I walked in with my Dad. She walked in with her two sons.

After a short and sweet ceremony, the party began.

It was good to spend time with my aunt and uncle who I haven't seen in a while.

During the toast, her mom said a few words, their friends said a lot of words and I tried to say a few words. I don't know if they heard any thru my sobs. I'm very happy to see my Dad in a group of people that care a lot for him and a new wife that I know will be there thru thick and thin.

Yadira, welcome to the family.

I'm published!

2010-12-07T14:08:00.000-06:00

Well, only one of my designs is in a book. But still pretty exciting. In the book Creative Workshop: 80 challenges to sharpen your designs skills by David Sherwin I made a design for a wine label.

Always cool to see your name in print.

The book is very cool. It has a lot of fun design challenges. I'm committing to do one a week starting in the new year and posting the results here. I'm not going to do all of them but it should be fun.

Happy Thanksgiving to me!

2010-11-26T08:37:00.000-06:00

This year because of circumstances beyond anyone's control, my family was 300 miles away and I spent Thanksgiving Day by myself. I was determined to not get sad about it. So when I got up in the morning I made a big nice breakfast. It wasn't a day for Pop Tarts or cereal.

I ate breakfast while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Yeah Beverly, that is your sunflower and Mark that is your artwork next to the TV. I used to see the parade every year like every kid. I probably haven't watched it for over ten years now. I noticed two things. I remember that in the past, there was a lot of emphasis on the big balloons and less on the performers. Now is the opposite. I probably saw like ten balloons and they were in the background of the show. Maybe I just remember the big balloons in my ten-year-old mind. Another thing I noticed (bug me) was that NBC uses the parade to constantly promote their shows. That was annoying.

So what is a graphic designer to do alone on Thanksgiving? This:

I was doing fine will all the alone-for-thanksgiving deal until I got this text (or tex-mex like my mom calls them) from my sister.

I still don't know why she sent me that and I don't think she understands why that was wrong. The I got a call from my mom suggesting that I should go to a restaurant. And sit by myself? How sad is that?

Then I remembered there were three others that were alone during Thanksgiving. I went to the supermarket bought three turkey dinners (thanks Terrin for the idea) and a cheesecake and went to visit them.

They probably thought I was a crazy cat lady at the supermarket buying cat food on Thanksgiving. At least I got some cheesecake. While watching the kitties have their Thanksgiving feast, I realized how similar to humans they are. Of all three cats the female cat, Artemis, stopped eating before the male cats. She must be watching her weight.

And the fattest cat, Dinsky, ate her leftovers. I guess there won't be turkey sandwiches tomorrow.

That night I had the mexican version of Thanksgiving dinner.

Yes, there is some vodka in that cranberry juice. And of course, cheesecake.

Let's hope next Thanksgiving I'll have more company of the human kind.

It's a housewarming!

2010-11-13T16:41:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I had a Housewarming Party in my new apartment. Now I know why they call them housewarming parties. My apartment and I were warm and happy. :)

Baltimore Museum of Art

2010-10-23T23:01:00.001-05:00

Last week I went with a friend to the Baltimore Museum of Art. It took me by surprise all the cool things they have. And it reminded me that I should get back to the wonderful world of art making. Here are some random shots I took here and there.

I just realized that most of the pictures I took were of sculptures. Hmmm...

Boo Bash 2010

2010-10-07T11:59:00.000-05:00

This has been a very holiday-filled week. I designed a Halloween poster and then switch gears to design Christmas cards. Yes, it is coming.

For the last two years I have designed the promotion materials for a Halloween party in Paducah, KY hosted by the 20/30 Group called Boo Bash. It is always fun to do. Here is what I designed for this year.

Kandinsky Sunday - I'm ok.

2010-09-12T09:17:00.001-05:00

Since people read about my mortal moving away and leaving me behind I have been getting a lot of emails asking about how I feel about it. I got to say I am ok. I like being here. I have two other cats to fight, I mean play with, a miniature imitation of a dog to harass, a big forest to explore, all the food I could ever want and every morning the mortal's mother gives me treats. Yeah, they call me Mafafo and make fun of my weight but I know that deep inside they love me. And the mortal comes to visit very very often. I'm doing ok.

I'm moved!

2010-09-06T21:15:00.001-05:00

When I moved to Maryland from Kentucky, the plan was to get my own place right away but the plan changed once I picked up the newspaper and saw that the lowest rent was in the $800's. I was paying $350 a month in Kentucky. I was going to school and didn't had a regular income so I stayed at my sister's house for two years.

Now things have changed and I have been in my own place for a week now. Things are still in boxes and I am still getting used to being in an apartment by myself as opposed to being in a house with five other people, three cats and a dog. Here's a mini tour of how things look.

I am not allowed to paint the walls and I can't stand white walls but that is ok. I have tons of art that I haven't unpacked yet.

The problem is going to be if I have enough walls.

There is a lot of red around here so I had a pedicure to match my apartment.

My mom made a flower arrangement that was meant for someone else but it looked so good in my living room, I left it there. Shhh! don't tell her.

Having my own space again is great. The only bad thing is that pets are not allowed so I can't have Dinsky with me. He is stating at my sister's. Something tells me he doesn't mind at all.

An old friend

2010-08-16T10:38:00.001-05:00

I have a love hate relationship with my sewing machine. For 7 years I was a full time artist and my medium was art quilts, in case you didn't know. About 3 years ago I got burned out and didn't even wanted to touch a sewing machine.

I went back to school and became a graphic/web designer. All my creative juices went into my paid work and quilting just stopped. The only reason I would touch my sewing machine was to hem some pants (there is a lot of that) or make a quick gift.

I sometimes feel that I should start quilting again (I have had a few false starts already.) But the inspiration is just not there. Art is something you just can't force. I think that one of the reasons I lost interest in quilting was that it wasn't challenging me anymore. When I had an idea for a quilt, the excitement was in seeing if I could make what I was seeing in my head. After 7 years, I knew I could do what I saw in my head so it became boring.

During the past few days I have been using the sewing machine to make a cushion cover. It is not thing special or creative at all but every time I sit on the sewing machine I feel at home. Is that strange? I don't want to do it but when I do, it feels good. I don't get it.

Kandinsky Sunday - Beauty

2010-08-15T10:30:00.000-05:00

Aren't I beautiful?

Kandinsky Sunday - Look who's back?

2010-08-08T08:38:00.001-05:00

Yes, believe it or not that is Audrey on Luna's back. Turns out the dog of the house had kidnapped her and Luna saved her. Luna is used to having dogs on her back. Don't ask.

I'm a hip chick! (cont.)

2010-08-04T08:07:00.000-05:00

Here are a few photos of my adventure. In this photo I'm all prepped for surgery. The funny thing is that in the room there was a really badly designed poster and the only thing I could think of was how I could make that poster better. Kept my mind occupied!

I got a few gifts and flowers. Thanks everyone!

My niece was so worried about the surgery they had to admit her too. Not really. Notice the hardwood floor in my room.

To pass the time I played Spanish Scrabble with a gringo and he was surprised I beat him. (Of course two weeks later I beat him in English Scrabble too.)

After leaving John Hopkins, I spent a week in College View Rehab. The nurses and therapists were very good and treated me well. They could use newer equipment and better food

but overall it was a better experience than I thought it was going to be. It got a lot better when they moved me from the room with the crazy racist roommate that probably wasn't too happy of having a Hispanic roommate with "a made-up name."

After a week in the Rehab I went home. I have been home for two weeks taking an extraordinary amount of medicines

and getting stretched by a cute physical therapist. It could be worst. Oh yeah, it is a good thing to be abl to work from home.

I'm a hip chick!

2010-07-21T10:11:00.000-05:00

I'm finally home after hip replacement surgery. I'm not 100% yet but I'm slowly getting there.

My surgery was July 6th in John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Which turned out to be a good time to be in an air-conditioned hospital.

If you ever need joint replacement surgery this is where to do it. If I hadn't been cut open, woken up every 4 hours to give me medicine or poke me to take blood and felt crappy, I would have thought I was in a hotel. I was in the Wenz Orthopedic Unit. This unit was built in honor of Dr. Wenz that died in 2004 after a car accident and was the head of orthopedic surgery at 40 years old. He also invented the type of surgery I had which is considered a minor invasive surgery. The top of your leg bone is cut off and a metal part is installed all thru a 4" incision as opposed to a 12" incision as it is usually done. How they can cut the top of your leg bone and insert a big metal apparatus thru that little hole is beyond me.

Dr. Mears in the video was my doctor. The unit has 10 private rooms, hard wood floors, cherry cabinets, flat screen TVs, DVD player, a guest sleeping sofa and a mini-fridge. I was going to take pictures but didn't feel up to it and thought there would be some online but there aren't any. My room was in front of the nurses station so the nurses were always there. John Hopkins is a teaching hospital so there were plenty of cute young doctors watching over me.

Two days after the surgery everything was going fine but all of a sudden my heart rate stared to go up like crazy. Nobody could explain why. One time I had been lying in bed all day and my heart rate went up to 160 which is the heart rate of someone running. They poked every vein in my arms attached every cable to my chest and made every test imaginable and nothing was wrong. I was taken to the Intensive Care Unit where they could monitor me constantly. They were worried I was having a heart attack. Fortunately everything was ok. They figured that I was anemic (probably because of all the blood test they did) and in pain and that was the cause of my increased heart rate. After a few days my heart rate slowed down somewhat and after 5 days, I was transferred to a rehab facility. I didn't do much walking in the hospital because of the heart problem and there are stairs in my house so I needed to get a little better before going home.

Signing out... for now

2010-07-05T21:22:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I'm having hip replacement surgery. I've been waiting two years to have this surgery and I can't wait. I know everything will go well. I will not be blogging until I feel like it again. Maybe Thursday. :)

A new and improved Aynex coming right up.

P.S. - I bought the shirt. Click on the picture.

New York, New York

2010-07-05T10:26:00.000-05:00

At the end of June, I went to Horseheads, NY to visit with my friends Sandi and Nikki and made a new Canadian friend named Rick. I bought the plane tickets three months ago and didn't know that my hip was going to be this bad. It was ok because there isn't much to do in Horseheads, NY. So it gave me time to catch up with my friends (even though Sandi was always working :( ) and relax before my surgery this week. It also helped that Sandi is a physical therapist and was equipped. We did get some sightseeing done in between all the resting and catching up.

We were close to Ithica, NY and we went to do some shopping and some eating. I found out what is the cutest way to serve coconut ice cream and that a coconut holds a lot of ice cream.

When I was applying for colleges in my past life as a teenager, I was accepted to Cornell University. I decided to go to UMASS instead and it has always been a regret of mine. Cornell is in Ithaca so I wanted to see what I missed.

It is a beautiful campus but after driving there for five minutes, I felt better about my decision 14 years ago. There are some huge hills. Driving there is like driving in San Francisco. I can only imagine having a class up the hill at 8am in January!

We also went to the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center (don't ask me to say it) in Auburn, NY to see an art quilt exhibit of one the best art quilter, Nancy Crow.

After a beautiful drive near the Finger Lakes, we had a late lunch at the Pumpkin Hill Bistro in Aurora, NY. We sat on the porch. The food was great and the service was wonderful. They even gave us blankets and pillows.

If you ever find yourself near this area of the world, you have to go to the Corning Museum of Glass. It is the only big tourist attraction in the area but it is worth the trip.

After the museum we walked around the town of Corning. NY.

And no trip with friends is complete without a little booze. Here is a fine cocktail recipe courtesy of famous bartender Nikki D. May.

Sparkling Redneck Sangria

a bottle of cheap ass red wine opened three days ago
1 apple from the bottom of Sandi's fridge
chop up some strawberries
1 little snack pack of peaches on lite syrup
splash some crappy lemon juice from a container
splash some week old Sunny D
a sprinkling of sugar
2 cans of Sprite

Enjoy!

Schmap likes me.

2010-07-03T06:46:00.000-05:00

Schmap is an online interactive city guide. They have guides on some major cities and one of them is Washington, DC. They liked my picture of Chinatown and they are using it in their website.

Check it out. It is a cool site.

New Website: Rehabilitation of Frederick

2010-07-02T00:14:00.000-05:00

Two years ago I walked into their office. Now I am a fully licensed driver. It took a lot of driving lessons and a lot of hours driving around. We inevitably had to talk about our lives.

ROF: So, what do you do?

Me: I am a web graphic designer.

ROF: Oh yeah. That is one thing I have to do one of these days.

Well, that day has arrived. The simplified version for now. We got to start somewhere.

Kandinski Sunday: Ahhhh!!!

2010-06-27T09:02:00.000-05:00

Oh the wonders of being an outside cat...

Gettysburg

2010-06-24T10:13:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I took a trip to Gettysburg, PA. Since I just finished a website on the Civil War, I decided that I should know a little bit more about it. Backwards, I know.

There is a driving tour thru the battlefield so that was perfect for me since walking is not my strong suit at the moment. I had my own personal photographer that would get out of the car and take pictures for me.

After driving around the battlefields, watching a wife harass her husband and having bad margaritas at an Italian restaurant (should have known better), we went to see the 2nd South Carolina String Band play popular 19th century music.

All in all, a very educational day.

Emergency Kandinsky Sunday on Thursday

2010-06-17T22:27:00.000-05:00

This is a disaster! My best friend is gone! Today I was looking for Audrey all over the house and I couldn't find her. I asked The Mortal's mother and she told me she had to throw her away!! And why? Because the sorry excuse for a dog that lives in this house decided to get sick on my poor Audrey. This is the last picture I have of her.

I remember when the Mortal brought Audrey home. When she took her out of the bag I got all scared but soon we got to be friends when I realized that she would let me bite her.

We would play games all the time like the time I choked her on the door knob

or when I tried to put my collar on her.

She always wanted to be around me even when I was tired of her.

She made the big trip to Maryland with me.

Audrey, you'll be missed.

What I am listening to...

2010-06-15T20:23:00.000-05:00

As all of you know I am a fan of The Decemberists but once in a while I listen to other artists. When I find an artist I like, I get obsessed with him or her and that is the only thing I listen to. Right now I'm obsessed about Adele and Kate Nash. It is a coincidence that they are both from London and they look alike.

I have two friends living in London. Maybe I need to take a trip there soon.

New Web Design: FCCWRT

2010-06-13T10:21:00.007-05:00

Take a look at the web site I just designed. It is for the Frederick County Civil War Round Table. The Civil War sesquicentennial (that is a 150 year anniversary, I had to look it up) is coming up next year so this is an exciting time for them.

Vote for him!

2010-06-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

My cousin is in a stand up competition from the Laugh Factory. At the moment of this writing he is winning! Pretty amazing! A few more votes are not going to hurt so go listen to some funny stuff and if you like him, vote for him. His name is Ricardo Martinez. If you like someone else better, still vote for Rick!

Mother's Day

2010-06-09T20:48:00.001-05:00

I have been a little busy with work. Good for the pocket, not so good for the blog. That is way I'm posting about Mother's Day exactly a month after it happened. Better late than never.

This Mother's Day we went to DC and had lunch at Fogo de Chao. Fogo de Chao is a Brazilian steakhouse with all-you-can-eat (huge) meats that very cute gauchos bring to your table.

Everybody was eating like that was their last meal for a week but the person who eat the most out of all of us was...

Of course that happiness didn't last long.

After dinner we went to Ford's Theater, the theater were Lincoln was shot.

I got to say, being a theater they would benefit from a more dramatic representation of what happened instead of just having a guy tell us the story. Here is where Lincoln was shot.

After we left Ford's Theater, we went for a walk in the city. Here's some interesting shots I took along the way.

It was a good day.

Sex

2010-06-06T08:06:00.000-05:00

Let's see how many new readers I get with that title. A month from now, I am having a hip replacement surgery. I had to go to the hospital to take a class on joint replacement. What to expect, ask questions, etc... I went with my Mom and my Sister. Of course after looking at us three they thought who was getting the hip replacement was my Mom. When the class started they handed out a pamphlet and they gave it to my Mom. This was the pamphlet.

All I hear are screams "I don't want to know. I don't want to know." And quickly she throws the pamphlet at me. The pamphlet had many graphic drawings that I'm not going to post here because I'm trying to keep this blog as family-friendly as possible. But there was one drawing that made me laugh. They recommend that you don't do anything for 4-8 weeks after the surgery.

Poor guy!

When in Paducah...

2010-05-28T18:27:00.002-05:00

About a month ago I went to Paducah. I haven't posted anything about the trip because when I go to Paducah is like going home so not much exciting things happen to blog about because I just spend a whole week visiting my Lowertown family. I also saw my good friend Ann that had a quilt in the book and exhibit New Quilts from an Old Favorite.

I stayed with Nikki and her three beasts or dogs, as she likes to call them. I didn't know what to think when the first thing I saw in her house was a big bottle of Poop-off. I wonder if it was a coincidence that it was next to the Spanish dictionary.

The rest of the week was spent in front of a dinner table.

Talking to friends, waiting for dinner to be ready,

eating yummy food,

and looking at Nikki sit in front of her computer

at Etcetera.

Looking like we were working

at Etcetera.

Catching up with old friends

and making new ones.

Getting a fabulous haircut at Karson Kelley Studio.

Of course I had my moments of stardom. I got my picture taken for the 3rd anniversary of iListPaducah.

And the first day I was there, I was on TV.

But don't blink cause you might miss me.

Kandinsky Sunday - Poster Cat

2010-05-23T00:36:00.004-05:00

The other day The Mortal came home with these stamps.
They are promoting the adoption of pets in animal shelters. I was a cat in an animal shelter when I allowed The Mortal to take me to her house and live with me. What better Poster Cat than myself for this campaign. I mean, with my beauty and all...

The Seeds of Paducah

2010-05-15T14:38:00.003-05:00

The Paducah Renaissance Alliance wanted to promote their downtown properties for sale to business owners out of town. I created a postcard for them that was printed on handmade paper
encrusted with wildflower seeds. The postcards can be planted and they grow into wildflowers.

"Plant the seeds of success in Paducah... and watch them grow with us."

Adobe CS5 Magic

2010-05-13T20:04:00.006-05:00

I just got the new Adobe CS5. For those of you who do not know, that is the software I use for all my designs. I don't usually do this in the blog but it is so amazing, I had to share. In Photoshop CS5 there is a new feature called Content Aware Fill. And it is magic.

To try it out I opened this photo (which I am making a quilt from which will probably be finished in December 2020).

And let's say that for some reason, I wanted to remove the cathedral in the back. I made a loose selection of the cathedral.

Then selected Fill > Content Aware Fill and like magic the cathedral is gone and the sky behind it is almost perfect.

Some quick fixes with the Clone Stamp Tool and we are done!

Ok, I could spend a little more time making the sky look perfect but it is pretty good considering that it took me about a minute. Before something like this would probably take around 20 minutes. Photoshop is magic. No wonder they don't accept photos in court as evidence.

Honor thy Mother

2010-05-05T16:03:00.002-05:00

In honor of Mother's Day here is a one-page portfolio web site I quickly designed for my Mom awhile ago.

It'a a Coquito-Tasting Party!

2010-05-03T18:58:00.005-05:00

The other weekend we had a Coquito-Tasting party. What is Coquito, you ask? Coquito is a Puertorrican drink with milk, coconut and rum. It is usually drank during the holidays. It is the Puertorrican equivalent of eggnog but tastes sooo much better. So it is not the holidays and we had no reason for a party but, do we need one?

Of course we have to start with some Puertorrican food. It is only wise.

Thanks to Cisco who spent the whole day making an insane amount of coquito that could drawn the state of Maryland.
The tasting started with the original drink how it is meant to be in all its glory. Then we had chocolate coquito, coquito with pistachio and coquito with pistachio and tequila. Maybe there where more but sincerely, I can't remember. Of course, the dancing started.

And unfortunately a little later, the singing started too.

Kandinsky Sunday - Party?

2010-04-25T08:55:00.001-05:00

There was a party at the house. It was no fun. People stomping on the floor, kids pulling my tail and a stripped jacket girl holding me hostage. I'm sure the Mortal will give you all the details soon.

Goodwill Annual Report

2010-04-19T17:52:00.002-05:00

I have been quiet in the past few weeks mainly because I was working on a big project. I designed the 2009 Annual Report for Goodwill Industries of Monocacy Valley. It is not bad considering that it is the first time I designed an annual report and I had two weeks to do it. Take a look.

Kandinsky Sunday - The OTHERS

2010-04-04T07:13:00.004-05:00

Unfortunately, I'm not the only furry cute feline in this world. I'm not even the only one in this house. There is only one of them I get along with. His name is Luna. We play around and sit on the window sill together. But I think Luna is just friendly to anyone. He even lets the dog sniff his butt. That dog is very confused. But that is for another blog post. Luna is a pretty cool cat but he does have a strange habit. Every other morning The Mortal wakes up and can't find one of her slippers.
We all know where the slipper is.

I wouldn't mind if all the felines in this world were like Luna. But unfortunately, that is not the case. There are other felines of the bitchy kind. Case in point, Artemis.

She has the habit of getting into impossibly small boxes and eat tape and ribbons. That habit has gotten her into trouble in the past. Maybe all the tape and ribbons in her stomach is what makes her so unfriendly.

This weekend The Mortal is not here. She sent me a text (yes, I'm a techy cat, I have a cell phone) and she told me that she was spending the weekend with these two specimens.

This makes me very nervous.
What is this world coming to?

Kandinsky Sunday - Strreeechh...

2010-03-28T08:53:00.000-05:00

Let's see how much more I can stretch on the bed so that The Mortal can't fit on the bed tonight.

Sweet Birthday

2010-03-27T11:47:00.006-05:00

On my birthday I probably gained ten pounds in one day. I spent it enjoying a beautiful first day of Spring in Maryland's coast with a special someone. I started the day opening presents. Good.

We had yummy brunch at The Globe Theater in Berlin, MD. The Globe is an old theater turned into a restaurant. Very good.

Berlin is an extremely cute town.

We drove thru Ocean City, MD where we saw the start of the Mason-Dixon line, went up the coast to Rehoboth Beach, DE and had dinner at Station 7. Station 7 is a fire station turned into a restaurant. There was a fire in town while we were eating and the fire alarm went off. I was waiting for the firemen to come down the pole. Instead it was food that came down my throat! I have lived in Maryland for almost two years and have not had what they are famous for, crab cakes. Since I was near the coast and they were on the menu, I thought it was a good time to try them. Very deliciously good.

You can't have a birthday without cake, right? The Smith Island Cakes are well-known in the area and they were on the menu so I had to order one. Chocolate, of course. Very sinfully good.

Also in the menu was deep fried corn bread. I thought I left the town that deep fried everything that stood still for half a second. In Paducah, Ky they have deep fried Oreos and Twinkies among their oily delicacies. But I had never seen deep fried corn bread. I love corn bread and deep frying can only make it better so I had to order some too. Very greasy good.

As we went home, we made a detour and entered a yellow and blue doll house where the special host had a birthday cake waiting for me. I heard the song Happy Birthday and collected more gifts. Perfect ending to a nice birthday. Very heart-warmingly good.

I hate those blogs that are all about pictures of food and only talk about what they had for lunch today (Yeah, Nikki, I'm talking to you!). Be thankful that I didn't get a picture of the cheesecake my family had waiting for me when I got home the next day. I swear this blog is not going to turn into one of those. Just had to share a very sweet happy birthday. The day my stomach turned into a bottom-less pit.

Strength

2010-03-23T07:20:00.005-05:00

I'm a strong person. Not physically strong but emotionally and psychologically strong. I know that. I couldn't have gone through what I have gone thru and not be strong. But I have my moments of weakness. Many of them unfortunately. But it is at those moments that people you think are weak surprise you with how well they know you and how strong they truly are. Those people will always have a special place in my heart.

Photo by ABEE_T

Kandinsky Sunday - What's in a name?

2010-03-21T08:05:00.000-05:00

People always ask me where did I get such a strange name. For all of you that are uncultured enough not to know who Kandinsky is, let me educate you. Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter in the late 1800's early 1900s. He was one of the first abstract painters. He painted this

At the time I decided to live with The Mortal, she was living in an artist community and thought I should have an artist name. Also the tip of my tail looks like I just dipped it in a bucket of paint.

There, I hope that is the end of the questions. I have more important things to do with my life.

About Dads and Birthdays

2010-03-17T18:06:00.005-05:00

My Dad and his girlfriend Yadira came to visit last week. They came for Tarina's 15th birthday. This picture was taken after a wine tasting so that explains why I'm sleeping. I chose it because is the only picture I have that is not in front of a restaurant table. See...

We did the touristy thing of course but mostly we hang out and ate, ate, ate... The picture above was taken at Matsutake Japanese Restaurant where we celebrated Tarina's birthday. I was at a restaurant surrounded by 11 teenagers.

But the night went by quick thanks to my dinner companion who was drawing alcoholic drinks.

That explains the mischievous smile. Tarina and her Dad made the cake the night before. Doesn't this cake screams Quinceañera in March?

That was how the birthday girl wanted to decorate it so what can we say? This is Tarina that night.

No, she is not 15 and pregnant. That's just the dress. What I like about this picture is the cook in the back.

The next day, that was actually her real birthday, we went to eat (see a pattern developing?) brunch at Cashion's Eat Place in DC. Where we celebrated her birthday again with just the family.

Mom and daughter 3-14-10

Poster Clash

2010-03-05T17:42:00.003-06:00

I'm excited. Today I found out I'm among the finalists at Poster Clash. Take a moment and vote for your favorite (mine of course). I changed the design a little from the last time I showed it here after getting some feedback. To vote go to the Poster Clash page and click on VOTE NOW. You need to register.

2/23/10 update: I did not win Poster Clash. I got to the 32 finalists. I'm pretty happy that I got this far. The poster that was the final winner was the poster that was placed against me in the round I lost so I know my competition was strong. You can see the winner here.

Where it all started...

2010-03-05T11:01:00.003-06:00

Yesterday someone reminded me of this video. It is the first video I made. I actually bought my camera just to make this video. It was part of my 29th birthday extravaganza. Enjoy!

Kandinsky Sunday - Flat

2010-02-28T08:13:00.000-06:00

Maybe if I lay flat enough she will stop thinking that I am fat.

Kandinsky Sunday - Gimme!

2010-02-21T07:59:00.000-06:00

Valentine's Day came and the mortal got a box of chocolates in the mail from some guy I have never met. I am starting to not like this guy already. First, the mortal spends all her time on the phone instead of petting me when I demand it. Second, she doesn't let me lay on the laptop like I always like to do (hmmm... it is so warm!) and she tells me that it is because he can't see her. Is he inside the laptop? Can you send mail from there? And third, she is not letting me have any of the chocolates. She says I'm too fat and I need to loose weight. Well, if we were not living in the North Pole at the moment, I could got out and run around chasing birds.

Just gimme some chocolates greedy woman!

Flip the Switch

2010-02-12T09:00:00.003-06:00

I designed a poster for the AIGA poster competition Poster Clash. The theme this year is Change One Thing. The contest has an online voting part and the winners of the online voting will go to a live competition here in Frederick. When the online voting starts I will post it here so you can see all the entries and have no other choice but to vote for mine because it is the best.

I'm not one of those overly concerned about the environment. I know I should. But of all those statistics and tips they always give you about saving the environment, there is one that has always surprised me about how simple it is and how much of an impact it can make. That is to power off electronics when you are not using them. How many times I leave the computer on when I'm not using it? One of the benefits of having a Mac is that it almost never crashes. Sometimes I leave it on for months without turning it off and only turn it off when it is getting slow. I have my computer plugged in to a surge protector along with a few other things. If I turn off the surge protector every time I am not using the computer it would save tons of energy. If you are selfish like me and don't care too much about the environment, just think that by turning off the surge protector you can save about 6% of your total electric bill. So I will change one thing and I will Flip the Switch.

My grandfather

2010-02-09T21:24:00.004-06:00

A few days ago I got a text from my cousin Gene to tell me that there was a radio show that was doing a show in honor of my grandfather Avelino Munoz and it was being broadcasted online from Panama. I followed the link she sent me and listened.

For those of you who don't know (probably all of you), my grandfather was a famous organist during the 50's and 60's. He was born in 1912 in Panama and later moved to Puerto Rico. He wrote many songs and was very involved in the beginnings of TV in the island. He was known for making the organ speak. I had always known about him but I had never heard his music until I heard the show. Here is a song that shows how good he was in the organ. Sorry for the annoying bits where the radio show announces its name.

Unfortunately I never got to meet my grandfather. He died in 1962 when he was only 48 years old. My grandmother Xenia, who gave me my name, was only 29 when she became a widow. When my grandfather died they had 3 small children, my mom, my aunt Geneva and my uncle Avelino. My grandmother later got remarried to Joaquin Martinez Rousett who I consider my real grandfather.

Doesn't my uncle look just like his dad? While my grandmother was pregnant with my mom, my grandfather wrote her this song.

Ever since he died they have tried to find that musical gene in the family. Yes, I had to take the mandatory piano lessons but no luck. There are artists in the family, myself included, but that musical gene was no where to be found. A few years ago my cousin Joel started playing Reggeaton and he has been doing pretty well. Excuse me, he prefers to be referred to as Jowell now. His music is a little different from my grandfather's but the musical gene has been found. Whether they like it or not.

I have met someone...

2010-02-03T19:16:00.003-06:00

About a month and a half ago, a guy bullied me into talking. At first I thought to myself "Fine, I'll talk to you just so you would just shut up!" But slowly, no, I should say quickly, our conversations started to be more frequent and longer and I found myself looking forward to talking to him. Fast forward to today. There has been probably two or three days total that we haven't spoken to each other. Not counting random texts and emails.

So I guess that after two years of nothing I find myself in a relationship again. Somehow this one feels different. Maybe more grown-up. We both realize that neither of us is perfect. I am looking past his shortcomings. He is looking past mine. We both know this is not going to be easy (especially since he lives three hours away). But we both know (at least I think he does) that somewhere in between all the weaknesses there is something more important, something of value that is not easy to find just anywhere. So we embark on this journey together with worry and excitement and hesitation and obsession. We'll see where it takes us...

Someone once told me that I always see the bad and for that reason, I can't enjoy what is good in my life. I think the person may have been right. This time, I'm not making that mistake. I am enjoying my time with Jake and I'm happy that he harassed me into talking to him.

Kandinsky Sunday - I'm just big-boned!

2010-01-31T11:25:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I went to a horrible place. I was awaken from my beauty sleep at 7am to go to the vet. But it wasn't just any morning. It was 16° outside! This has to be animal cruelty! Tarina, after stuffing me into the carrier bag from hell, started spinning me around like it was funny. Then they took me outside in this bitter cold, threw me in the back of the car and took me away. When I got to the vet's office, there were all these strange creatures. They all look like gigantic versions of Chubacachakalacadingdong. The funny thing was that one of them was named Cisco, just like Mr. Meany.

After the vet looked me all over (and I mean all over) and did things I don't even want to mention, she took some notes and called the mortal to come and pick me up. After I got home, the mortal read the notes. The vet had the nerve of writing that I was overweight! She wasn't brave enough to say it to my face? I'm not overweight! I'm just big-boned, dammit! How many times I am going to have to say it? What part of big-boned don't you understand?

Now the mortal wants to put me on a diet. Oh, this is going to be war...

What am I doing now...

2010-01-27T08:07:00.002-06:00

Here is a little preview.

A blogging year in review

2009-12-31T09:34:00.002-06:00

It is that time of year again. That time when you can't watch TV without seeing one of those year best-of specials. This year we also get the best of the decade specials! Every new year I look back at the entries in my blog and see what I accomplished/happened this year. And every year is the same thing. I feel like I didn't get anything done this year but looking back is pretty cool. This is probably one of the main reasons I keep this blog. So let's see...

In January I went back to Paducah for a visit. I planned to be there for a week but my friends had other plans and paid my flight change to stay another week. I learned my lesson and when I went back next July and I stayed for two weeks.

I made:

A few web sites 1 2 3 4 and redesigned mine.
Some graphic designs 1 2 3 4 5
Some paintings 1 2 3
Some videos 1 2 3
A quilt

Turned 31 years old. Started wearing glasses which I think look pretty cool.

Oh my god! Look at the gray hairs in that picture!

Went to my high school friend Enith's wedding in Puerto Rico.

Who is now pregnant, by the way. Don't we look fabulous?!?

Dinsky made a new friend and a new enemy.

Got to know the area a little better by going here, here and here.

My family came up with the best Halloween costume ever!

My cousin Gene and her family came for a visit.

The two biggest accomplishments this year were getting a Design Degree and started driving. I used to think that this year I didn't move forward and not much happened but after writing this post I feel pretty good about 2009 and ready for what is to come in 2010.

To all of you how read my blog, thanks for reading about my sometimes-not-so-exciting life and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

The End or The Begining

2009-12-30T11:14:00.010-06:00

I finished my design degree this month after a lot of sweating and praying. I was in the verge of failing a class and having to stay another semester to get my degree. The worst part was that it wasn't a class related to my degree. I was aceing those. It was fricking Chemistry! But I won't go over that again. You can read about it here.

Here are my grades.

As promised, here is what I did in my Computer Graphics class. Our first assignment was to make a poster of a famous person using only typography. I used a photo of Colin Meloy the singer of one of my favorite bands, The Decemberists. Ok, he may not be that famous. The letters used in the poster are lyrics from some of his songs. Here's the photo I used and the final poster.

After the poster, we were assigned to redesign the coke brand. We had to design labels for four coke products.

We were assigned to design a book cover for a famous book. I was assigned Huckleberry Finn. We had to design and hand-in the completed design in a 2-hour period. I think I did pretty well for such a short time.

Another project we had was to design a poster to promote a student design competition. The organization that is holding the competition selected one poster to promote it. My design wasn't selected which was a total disappointment and I was ready to kill someone... but we won't into that. Here is my design.

Our final project was to design a newsletter that had to use only two colors and two fonts. I made a newsletter for the Paducah Renaissance Alliance since I already do some work for them and had a lot of the information.

So now what? Since finishing school I have been in a limbo. I know what I have to do. I have it all planned out in my head step by step. I just can't seem to get the momentum. I keep saying to myself "I'll start in the New Year" so here I go...

Christmas 09

2009-12-24T16:09:00.001-06:00

My sister is in Puerto Rico during Christmas for work so we made a video for her. It is long and the kind of video only a mom would love so click at your own risk.

Happy Hour!

2009-12-16T17:39:00.008-06:00

My cousin Gene and her family came to visit from Puerto Rico for Thanksgiving.

They did the obligatory trip to the DC monuments.

Went to the National Zoo.

Roasted marshmallows.

And went to cut the Christmas tree, among other things.

By other things I mean shopping, shopping, shopping.

Xadier has a new favorite uncle. Sorry Canito.

Cisco showed him how to sing.

And how to cook.

And how to do the dishes.

But the only thing he learned was to say "Happy Hour!" I wonder why...

When they left, even the cats were exhausted.

But we all had a good time and missed them a lot.
Reason #142 why I want my cousin to move here:

Highlights!

Failure to Air

2009-12-14T14:42:00.007-06:00

I finished school and got a degree in Digital Media Design. It was a rough couple of months at the end because I needed a science to graduate and don't know why I thought that taking Chemistry was a good idea. And because I like to torture myself, I decided to take it online. It was a lot of nights of this

Ok, the wine didn't help. This didn't help either

But by some miracle I ended up getting B's in my midterm and final and managed to get a C in the class after getting two F's and a D in the exams. I didn't learn any chemistry this semester but I did learned something. Never take such a hard class in your last semester in college that doesn't even have anything to do with your mayor and for the love of everything that is holy, don't take it online!

Another time I'll post what I did in my design class but I'll leave you today with the final project for my TV Production class. My acting part is small. I did a lot of the editing and the animation. I am more of a behind the scenes kind of person. I'm pretty happy with the result.

2009-10-28T14:11:00.002-05:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Last Weekend we had a Halloween party at the house. We dressed as the Addams family. I was Cousin Itt. Very sexy...

Kandinsky Sunday - I'm just more evolved

2009-09-06T09:18:00.003-05:00

In the photo above you can see my eating routine. I lay down in front of the food bowl, pull some food on the floor with my paw and eat it. Now some people may think that that makes me lazy. Why don't I stand up to eat like all the other cats? Well, I am not like all the other cats. I'm more evolved than all the other felines. Think about it. Do you humans like to eat standing up? I don't think so. You sit down, right? Well, I am one step ahead of all you mortals. I lay down. How else do you think I have achieved this beautiful physique?

I changed my wallpaper

2009-08-31T15:53:00.003-05:00

I changed my conputer's wallpaper today. I know. That is not very blogworthy. I promise I will post every time I change my computer's wallpaper. It is just that every time i look at it it makes me smile so I have decided to spread the love. I got it here. The website is the portfolio of a watercolor artist and all of the paintings in her gallery are available as wallpaper. Check it out.

And so it starts....

2009-08-27T08:00:00.005-05:00

This is the begining of the end. My last semester in school. These are my classes:

Chemistry. Yes, Chemistry. What was I thinking? I needed a science to graduate and there wasn't any other science that would fit in my schedule unless I wanted to go to school on Saturday. Plus it is online so that means I don't need to go to school. I don't know if taking it online is a good thing or a bad thing. We'll see...

All I know is that yesterday I stayed up late doing Chemistry problems and I'm waking up today to finish them. And it is only the first week of school! I'm not going to let Chemistry bet me. I'm going to be the master of Chemistry! I'm going to kick some Chemistry butt this semester! Or so I hope...

Everything happens for a reason...

2009-08-14T18:26:00.004-05:00

When I was 15 years old, I was diagnosed with scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. That is one of the reasons I am so short. My spine is shaped like an "S". Short parents had something to do with it too. I had surgery to prevent my spine from bending any further. I have rods in my spine.

When you are 15 and have to put your life on hold and have mayor surgery, you ask yourself "Why did this have to happen?"

Well, that question was answered four years later when I had a major car accident an suffered a spinal cord injury. The injury was incomplete. My spinal cord was not completely severed and I gain a lot of movement back after years physical therapy. The doctors said that if I hadn't had those rods in my spine, the injury would have been a lot worst.

So after a week in coma, five months in the hospital, two surgeries and years of physical therapy, I asked myself again "Why did this have to happen?". It turns out that the injury affected mostly the left side of my brain. The right side of my brain stepped up. I became more artistically inclined. After graduating college with a management degree, I did the obvious thing. I became a happy full-time artist. Question answered again.

Fast-forward to now. About a year ago, I moved to Maryland to be with my family because I'm having problems with my hip and probably need surgery. I'm not having the best time. It's been hard to meet people living in the suburbs working from home and not begin able to drive (or lately walk much). I know I would be having a much better (and funner) time back in Paducah where all my friends are. So I asked myself that same stupid question.

Last night I was chatting with my friend Donna Maria. She lives in Paducah but was raised in Maryland. I was telling her about my health issues and asked her if she knew any neurologists in the area.

DM: Not of the top of my head. I'll let you know if I think of someone.
ME: Ok
DM: Wait, wasn't Christopher Reeve's doctor in Baltimore?
ME: Didn't he live in NY?
DM: I'm pretty sure he was in Baltimore.
ME: I don't know but let me see what I can find out.
(5 seconds later)
DM: Look at this website...

Donna Maria was right. Christopher Reeve's doctor is here. Not only him but the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury is here! Can't believe that with all the doctors I have seen here, no one told me about that. I sent them an email at midnight last night and called them first thing in the morning today. They had seen my email and had already sent me an information packet. They even take my health insurance.

I got a good feeling about this. So the question has been answered one more time. Why did I move to Maryland where I'm not having such a great time when I could be in Paducah with my friends? This is why.

Kandinsky Sunday - I'm sick

2009-08-09T08:27:00.001-05:00

Even though they do not let me be an outdoor cat here, I manage to get out quite a bit. Sometimes I get caught in the rain but it is a small price to pay because it is so much more fun out there. The other day I woke up with a very sexy voice. Everyone said it was a scary voice but I know better. Artemis was giving me that special look. After a while my thought started to hurt and the mortal took me to the vet. The vet said I had Laryngitis. I'm special. How many cats you know that had had Laryngitis? She poked me and touched me all over. I wasn't really scared especially with the dogs barking outside the door. I am a brave grown up cat and I didn't even meowed once. Not even when I was in the car with Aynex driving! Ok, maybe a little.

I'm getting my regular voice back. Time to escape again as soon as they open that door.

New Web Design

2009-08-02T23:04:00.005-05:00

I just finished the website James Hearts Kari. They are a couple that is getting married in Frederick soon. They wanted a site similar to their wedding invitation. Visit the site here.

Kandinsky Sunday - Planet of the Cats

2009-08-02T09:04:00.001-05:00

The other day we were watching the original Planet of the Apes.

Which got me thinking...

What if...

Oh, that is a planet I want to live in!

My Mom's Art

2009-07-31T22:44:00.004-05:00

Today I was going thru some photograph's of my mom's floral arrangements. When my sister and I were little she had her own floral shop. Then life happened and she had to take other jobs. She would still work s a florist on contract for other florist in Puerto Rico until she moved to the US.

Here are some of the photos of her work.

There is no question were I got the artistic genes.

My Website Redesigned... Finally!

2009-07-30T10:24:00.006-05:00

In Puerto Rico there is a saying that translated literally says:

In the house of the knifemaker they have wood knifes.

I'm sure there is something similar in English. But basically it refers to when you do something for a living you do it for other people and never have time to do it for yourself. I was a quilter for many years and I always slept under a store-bought comforter. I had a quilt designed on my head for my bed but never had time to make it.

I designed my website a year ago and almost didn't update it for a whole year. It looked pretty sad. Finally this summer I said "I'm going to redesign my web site no matter what!" and I did. Here is the result.

I'm pretty happy with it and have received good comments on it. I have a few more ideas for it but if I keep waiting until it is perfect, I'll never get it published! One of the negative comments I received was that it was too personal and not very business-like. I wanted to show a little personality and sense of humor and not have a website like every other designer out there. What do you think?

The Plain People

2009-07-20T08:43:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday we took a day trip to Lancaster, PA to see plain people. I'm not being disrespectful. That's what the call themselves. Which I think is kind of funny.

We had a nice time. We tried some shoo-fly pie, which taste better than it looks, had a few close encounters with horse buggies and got lost a few times. I didn't want to be in their faces taking pictures so I took pictures of the landscape.

It was so nice and peaceful and on the way home I had this conversation with my Mom:

Mom: So now you want to move in with the Amish people.

Me: Yes, but I have to take my computer. I am so messed up physically that I wont have to work hard in the fields.

Mom: No, but they are going to make you sew quilts day and night... and by hand!

Me: Ok, idea scratched.

Kandinsky Sunday - Me and Audrey

2009-07-19T10:40:00.002-05:00

Yep, I'm a big cat now but I still play with my Audrey.

Happy Birthday America!

2009-07-08T11:28:00.004-05:00

A few days ago I had this conversation with Cisco, my brother-in-law.

Me: So, what are we doing for Fourth of July?

Cisco: I don't know. Your sister asked me the same thing.

Me: Why is she asking you? She is the planner.

Cisco: That's what I said... I don't know. Maybe we'll just go for a ride.

The Fourth comes and we packed the family in the minivan, dog included, and we go for a ride. After a coffee stop and a couple of hours driving someone asked "So where are we going?" Cisco answers "We are going to see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge". Awhile ago we had seen a TV show on bridges and they had shown the Chesapeake Bay Bridge as one of the longest bridges in the world. It is 17 miles long. So we keep driving and keep driving, and keep driving.

Seven hours later we arrive at the bridge.

We asked Cisco if he knew how long it was going to take and he said "It looked close on the map."

The dog needed to go for a walk.

After our long adventure we drove back home which interestingly only took four hours and we stopped for and all-American dinner at Sonic while listening to fireworks in the distance..

Moral of the story: Don't let Cisco plan our trips.

Our Father's Day

2009-06-30T10:54:00.005-05:00

This Father's Day the family spent the day at Harper's Ferry.

We had a good time and gave Kiara (8-year-old) the job of reading the signs to tell us what we were looking at. We learned that Harper's Ferry was a place where some war happened a long time ago but she forgot the name of the war.

I felt at home.

These people were showing visitors how muskets work while I was peacefully walking by without paying attention. All of a sudden the guy fired the gun and I yelled very loudly "Oh Sh#t!" I want to publicly apologize to everybody that was present.

My sister never has her Blackberry too far away.

But one of the best things about the day was Kiara's card to her dad.

It says

I love you! The times I hate was when you yell at me. But I'm over it. Oh, well happy father's day.

Isn't she lovely...

2009-06-27T14:08:00.002-05:00

My niece.

What I do when I'm supposed to be doing something else.

Logo Design

2009-06-15T07:12:00.006-05:00

I just finished designing a logo for the blog Frederick Maryland Online. And I am running a contest there for couples getting married in Frederick. If you are, go there...

Kandinsky Sunday Returns

2009-06-14T08:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, Yes. I had to appease the readers that keep bombarding my inbox asking me about my weekly column. I took a break from it for awhile because I have too many other obligations in my cat life. I have to lay in every corner of the house to find out where is it more comfortable to take a nap. I have to tease the dog when he is in his crate and show him who is the boss. I have to hide close to the door for hours and wait until someone comes in or out so I can escape to the outside world.

But now that I have taken one of my duties of my to-do list, I can return to my very much anticipated weekly column, Kandinsky Sunday. What is that duty I crossed off, you ask? I ended the war against one of the felines in the household. Yes, I ended the war after finding out Luna is not that bad. We are friends now.

Now there is those other two pests... I mean pets that are so annoying.

Spring Grades

2009-06-13T12:28:00.003-05:00

Here are the grades I got this semester

You see... I am not a nerd. I'm am just an art nerd. I'll show you how much of a non-nerd I really am next semester when I have to take a science. Ugh!

What I learned...

2009-06-02T08:49:00.005-05:00

I just got home after 2 weeks in Paducah and this is what I learned from my trip. I apologize in advance from all the inside jokes that only a few people are going to get.

1. I have the best most fun BFF.

2. I have a new BFF and they are related.

3. I can't stay up late like before.

4. Going to a dark movie theater after 3 glasses of wine is not a good idea, no matter how good the movie is.

5. A keg full of Cosmos makes a festival more fun.

6. Not all dogs are stinky annoying fuzzy things (but most are).

7. Speed dating is fun (most of the time).

8. I hate hot humid weather.

9. Everything is better with wine.

10. Everything is better with chocolate.

11. Everything is better with friends.

12. Sushi tastes better when a cute guy feeds it to you.

13. There is way too much drinking in Paducah.

14. I don't like to have long hair.

15. Paducah is where I belong and I should get back there at some point.

Lowertown Art & Music Festival

2009-05-25T14:07:00.001-05:00

New Web Design

2009-05-18T07:57:00.000-05:00

I finished this site a while ago but forgot to post it. Tracey is a great artist and with a great sense of humor. This is the first site I fully integrated a shopping cart. It has over 100 products! I wasn't happy when I found out I missed spelled a word in all products after the site was finished.

Paintings

2009-05-17T07:31:00.005-05:00

The semester is over and I got all my paints back. I don't think painting is my thing but for record-sake, here they are in chronological order from earliest to latest.

At first we did still lifes

I got an A+ on this one and don't know why. It is my least favorite one.

Then we had to copy a Cezanne. I was pretty impressed with how it came out.

Then we had to paint plein air which was a pain in the #$%@.

Then we did two abstracts.

Then we did a surrealist painting. That is when I realized that I can't make something look realistic nor do I want to and I just started to have fun. Oddly enough, the foot looks pretty realistic.

Finally we painted a portrait from a real model. Yes, she was dressed. Thank God.

I finish the class with a lot of left over paint and canvas so I guess I'll keep at it. See what comes out.

Enith's Wedding

2009-04-23T17:03:00.005-05:00

On April 18th was Enith and Christian's wedding in Puerto Rico. Enith has been my friend since High School and I had to be there.

A little angel helped me get there.

The wedding was beautiful and perfect. Everything happened just like it was supposed to happen. Maybe that was because they had a Nazy wedding planner. She was beautiful and the wedding had a lot of nice details like the lights shinning on the dance floor with their initials

and the bread shaped like a heart.

I made my dress and this is the only picture I have of the whole dress. My grandparents will kill me if the know I posted this photo online.

My fabulous cousin Gene did my hair and makeup.

Way to be a poster

2009-04-15T07:29:00.003-05:00

Here is a poster I designed for my graphic design class. The girl in the poster is my niece and the drawings are hers too. She saw me doodling and said "Let me do it."
From all the posters in the class, they will pick one to be used to promote the contest. We'll see what happens...

UPDATE: I posted this all over the Internet, discussed it in class and no one told me that I misspelled Tobacco. At least is not as embarrassing as this.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T00:46:00.001-05:00

It was a happy birthday...

2009-04-03T06:57:00.002-05:00

For my birthday I went with the family to the Hirshhorn Museum in DC.

Here are some of the cool things I saw.

The elevator broke down and they let me use the service elevator.

Imagine how many millions in art have been in that elevator? After the Museum we went to Cake Love. When we got home they sang Happy Birthday and I had eaten so much cake already that I just had a birthday cupcake.

Yeah, you saw right. Now I'm officially old. I'm wearing glasses! One of these days I'll take a good picture with my glasses on. I keep trying...

Another Painting

2009-03-30T07:21:00.003-05:00

I almost don't want to post this panting because I think it is horrible but here it goes. Our assignment for this week was to go out and paint plein air. I went with a friend to the Monocacy Battlefield and painted the side of this house. It is amazing how hard it was dealing with the wind and the cold and no place to set up your stuff.

Kandinsky Sunday - Part of the Family

2009-03-22T10:45:00.000-05:00

I have been living in Maryland for almost 10 months now. By now I can consider myself part of the family. Yeah, I'm not proud of saying that I'm related to a dog. Especially one named Chubakachalakadingdong. But the rest of the family is ok. I have wrestling matches with Luna, Artemis leaves me alone as long as I leave her alone. Mr. Meany has his hands full with the dog and he has been leaving me alone too. Aynex opens the door for me and lets me out once in awhile when no one is looking.

They must all feel like I'm part of the family too because now I have a nickname which I don't appreciate. They call me Mafafo. In English that means Fatso. That is not very nice. But isn't that what family does? I tell them all the time, I'm not FAT, I'm PHAT!

Happy Bithday to me!

2009-03-21T08:20:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I'm a year older today. This is a picture of the first piece of birthday cake I had after midnight last night. I had a good time last night and even though it ended in an almost DUI it wasn't as tragic and hilarious as the last birthday I was involved with that ended in a DUI.

New Quilt

2009-03-18T09:33:00.000-05:00

It has been almost a year since I made a quilt. That is pretty surprising to me. I have gone thru a lot of changes lately. I have been busy with school and do not have a lot of space to make my quilts. I was also a little down on quilting. I thought I wanted to change mediums and have tried many different things but I always go back to quilting.

My sister asked me to make this quilt to give it to a friend of hers that lives in San Francisco. It actually made me interested in quilting again. Now I have to find the time. Isn't that always the problem?

Cezanne

2009-03-17T10:09:00.001-05:00

I have been taking a painting class since January. The professor has kept all the painting for a while so I haven't been able to post them here. Yesterday I did a painting at home and took a picture. It is the first painting I do that I'm impressed with. The assignment was to take this painting from Cezanne and copy it.

When I saw the painting I thought to myself "There is no way I can do this." But I think I did pretty well for someone that has never touched a paintbrush before. Here's what I did.

Every time I finish a painting I think is good. Then I see the work of the other students and I think my work is horrible. So will see what I think after seeing everyone's work.

American Craft Council Show

2009-03-16T21:07:00.004-05:00

I forgot to post about this but at the end of February I went to see the 3J's (Julie, Janet and Jay). in Baltimore at the American Craft Council Show. It was really nice to see them and my first experience at this show which is nothing like what your idea of a craft show is.

I was looking for a business card holder and got this gorgeous one from Jay and Janet that goes perfect with my new business cards.

Billboards

2009-03-13T18:28:00.002-05:00

For my Graphic Design class I told you I had to design labels for a drink. My next assignment was to design three ads for that drink. The ads could be anywhere. Most people chose magazines. I chose billboards just to be different. Here are my three billboards.

Kandinsky Sunday - Getting Fuzzy

2009-03-08T15:07:00.006-05:00

I'm not a comics reader but everyday I have to stop and read Get Fuzzy. Here's a cat I like. Click on the image to read.

My sentiments exactly.

Kandinsky Sunday - Let me sleep, woman!

2009-03-01T08:53:00.004-06:00

This morning I am doing the usual. Sleeping.

When all of a sudden a big flash of light wakes me from my sleep.

Oh no! She is taking pictures again.

Could someone take that camera away from her?

I just want to sleep, woman!

Water+

2009-02-28T23:39:00.004-06:00

My first project for my Computer Graphics class was to design a label for a drink. I decided to do water but we had to do three different flavors. I decided to do spice-infused water. I know it sounds gross but I was just thinking of the colors. It doesn't matter if it is a marketable product, it just has to look good. Isn't that what graphic design is all about?

So I present to the world the debut of Water+.

Now I have to do an advertising campaign for Water+.

What?

2009-02-22T23:25:00.004-06:00

Did I miss it or did they forgot to put Heath Ledger between the actors that died this year at the Oscars?

Kandinsky Sunday - Rabies!

2009-02-22T18:37:00.003-06:00

A few days I was reading the paper and came across this

And then I read the description

Even though me having rabies might explain some of my lastest blog entries, I swear it is not me!! I SWEAR!

Beans in the Belfry

2009-02-20T23:44:00.003-06:00

The day after Valentines I had brunch with some friends to Beans in the Belfry in Brunswick, MD.

It is a coffee shop in a converted church built in the 1900's.

The have great stained glass windows.

And they had a great Jazz group playing. They played My Funny Valentine which is one of my favs.

New Web Design

2009-02-17T04:28:00.000-06:00

I finished this website a couple months ago but I think I never posted it here. I present to you Tabor Fit & Fabulous. It has music, just warning you...

Perfect

2009-02-16T04:07:00.001-06:00

I'm taking a Public Speaking Class. I had to deliver a Narrative Speech last Saturday. I made up this story. I got a video of my performance. I haven't decided if I'll put it up here.

Perfect

A year ago I moved to a new neighborhood. A week after my move I met Cathy Miller. She was my next-door neighbor and she was perfect. Now she didn’t show it off. She was very humble and modest in a perfect sort of way. But I knew she was perfect and that bothered me. She was married to Paul and they had the perfect marriage. They were so happy together. He had a good job and they didn’t have to worry about money. They had the nicest house on the street. They just had a baby boy and named him Ashton.

In morning I would make my coffee and sit by the window. Every morning, without fail, I would see Cathy on her daily jog pushing little Ashton’s stroller. She was healthy and full of life with a perfect body after giving birth only six months ago. Of course, she was pretty too. No, she wasn’t pretty. She was beautiful. All her features were in the right proportions and her teeth were straight and they were white.

I wanted to hate her so much but she was one of those people that are impossible to hate. She was always smiling with her white teeth and always had something nice to say. She was very friendly and everyone knew her in town. Everyone probably felt the same way I did. Everyone wanted to hate her and they probably did at first, but once she talked, they couldn’t help but like her.

Cathy and I became close friends. We would go everywhere together. I would, once in a while have dinner with her and Paul. Dinner that she made and it was delicious, of course. As I got to know her better I couldn’t find anything wrong in her life. Secretly, I envied her. Here I was in a little rented house with a job I hated, living paycheck to paycheck, no boyfriend and no kids. And my friend Cathy had the perfect life.

One day she let me know her secret. When she turned 15 her parents took her on a vacation to Florida and told her she was adopted. Ever since then she has always wanted to know who her real family was. She would always consider the parents who raised her as her family but she had always that feeling inside that she wanted to meet her biological family. She talked to Paul about it and he told her that she should hire an investigator to see if she could find anything out. The next day she did. She hired Michael Hamilton. He was highly recommended.

Weeks passed and I would get little updates on the case. Nothing significant. But almost every day Michael would call Cathy to tell her what he had found out. One day she got an email from Michael. He is from England. He had a family emergency and had to leave the country but he had made a major breakthrough on her case. He had found out Cathy had a brother. He would mail her a letter with all the information. It was strange that he didn’t call like he did every other day. It was also strange that if he had time to write the email why didn’t he write the information in the email?

Every day Cathy expectantly would go to the mailbox and every day she got junk mail. One afternoon my doorbell rang. I open the door and it was Cathy. She was crying like I had never seen her cry before. She couldn’t speak. She could hardly breath. Even when she cried she was beautiful. I asked her to come in but she couldn't even move. In her hand she had a crumpled piece of paper. She extended her hand and gave it to me. It only had a name. Paul Miller.

Kandinsky Sunday - The effects of starvation

2009-02-15T15:55:00.004-06:00

My sentiments exactly... Aynex doesn't understand why I have to meow and walk on her when she is sleeping and I run out of food but this is why. Us cats have to have food in our bowl 24/7. We just need to have that security. What would happen if for some reason Aynex sleeps late or doesn't come home and I starve to death without any food? I commend this cat for trying to communicate to the mortals our need to have food in our bowls all the time. It is a message that needs to be spread around but does he have to be such a COPYCAT? I had this photo on this block a year ago.

Update

2009-02-10T08:40:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday was the opening of my exhibit in downtown Frederick. It went well. I met a few people and many of the people I invited came to see it. The quilt in the picture was the one that got most of the attention. It is probably my favorite quilt at the moment. It is a few years old now.

One of the reasons I moved here was because I need surgery on my hips and my family is here to take care of me while I recover. The doctors haven't wanted to do surgery because I am too young. So they recommended physical therapy. I have been doing physical therapy for three months and the problem hasn't improved and may be getting worst. The hips do not hurt but the hip joint gives out and I just fall. I fall a lot. It's a miracle that I haven't broke something by now. Something like my head.

On Christmas day I fell. My head hit the wall and I broke the wall with my head. Last week I fell down the stairs. The incredible thing is that I didn't get a bruise. Not even when I broke the wall with my head I got a bump. I have crappy joints but I have strong bones, I guess. Also the walls here are no good and that is a good thing.

By the way, two inches to the left is the wall stud.

So yesterday I went to see the doctor (again). I told him that I was going to keep doing the exercises from physical therapy but if by summer the problem hasn't been fixed, I want the surgery. He finally agreed with me.