I love living in a big city!

Last week I only had to work until Tuesday, then I had off the whole weekend off! So, I went to Sherman for a few days since it will be my last break for a while, before the dreaded holiday shopping shenanigans! My visit was great and the kid is even taller than he was before, I swear my mom puts miracle grow in his cereal.

Dad and I left early Saturday morning and came back to the city. We had plans to go to the Kimball Art Museum and see the Impressionist Exhibit. http://impressionists.kimbellart.org/ It was incredible. I have always had a thing with art from this time period and Claude Monet is my favorite artist of all time. There were rooms of priceless art and most of them were paintings I've studied in art classes over the years. Right there, in front of me, they hung. There was the giant painting "Paris Streets, Rainy Day" by Gustave Caillebotte. This painting took up an entire display wall and towered above everything. It's scale and precision were remarkable, and my dad was amazed at one detail in particular...the dainty vale on the woman's face. It was incredible to see this in person.

There were displays from Gauguin, Seurat, Pissaro, Manet, and so many others. They all show such passion, such talent, such vision! I know I sound like an art groupie, but I'm ok with that! In the painting by Renoir "Two Sisters" (At the top), the colors nearly jumped off the canvas and in others there was light and shadow like a photo.

Then there were a few paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, who always makes my heart skip a beat. This one, entitled "The Bedroom" is so childlike and yet intricate and detailed. To get up close, like we could, we could see the brushstrokes themselves and the attention to the detail that must have taken an agonizingly long time to achieve. There were others of his, but not too many. The museum had recently hosted the Van Gogh collection as it's own exhibit. All the art this time was from Chicago.

Finally I found a little piece of heaven...there was an entire room of Monet. They had a few of the series of haystacks. They had the views of Venice that make you want to go get yourself a passport just so you can see them for yourself. There was this one, "Bordighera" that literally took my breath away. It brought tears to my eyes that could not be stopped. I wasn't even embarrassed. I can't help that I have a strong reaction to his art. At last, I got to see the famous "Waterlilies" and others from that time. Again, I couldn't breathe and couldn't look away. My father just stood beside me and looked at the art. At the end of one of the galleries was "Poppy Field at Giverny". It's so beautiful there are no words.

I could have walked thru the galleries for days and not tired of the unadulterated beauty that was all around me. I know many don't like or understand art, but I think I came to realize something. You don't have to understand it, you just have to let it touch your heart. It's almost spiritual sometimes. I was so happy to get to spend that time with my dad and share that experience with him. He loved all of it as well, though he didn't shed any tears, he was quiet and reverent and edified. It was an awesome day.

Quick Catch Up

I have friends all over the map and in a million different area codes. Although my life isn’t full of big moments and babies, they still want to know what’s going on with me as much as I want to know what’s going on with them. So, here we go. I’ll keep this as up to date as I can with pictures and everything. I hope you all enjoy. If you want to know anything, just ask!

Let me start with a quick update…Mark and I have been living together for nearly four months and are so happy. I have a great job that I love, and guess what it is…retail! I know that’s not a surprise to anyone who knows me, apparently being able to sell stuff is hereditary and I got the gene. I take the bus to work and it gives me quite a chance to people watch…more on that later. We have no pets, but we also don’t have much time when neither of us is working. We have been thinking about a puppy, but we’ll see how that goes. We like being able to spend our time doing fun stuff, like:

My birthday on 10.09 fell on a Thursday so we just had dinner on the night. On the Saturday after we went to Dave & Busters. We had a total blast! It’s like Chuck E. Cheese for adults and we had so much fun. We played for hours and won enough tickets to cash them in for a stuffed hippo. She’s adorable and I sleep with her at night. Then on Sunday we went up to Sherman to have a party with my family. We had sandwich stuff and cake and presents. Matthew was there. I swear that kid gets bigger every time I see him. He’s nearly as tall as I am now! We stopped by my mom’s and then stopped by Mark’s family’s house. It was good to see all of our family in one day, but I wish we could have had more time.

Then the next weekend we went to the Dallas World Aquarium. It was this amazing little oasis in the middle of the city. There were so many totally cool animals. There were monkeys, sharks, manatees, bugs, lizards, alligators, turtles, fish, sloths, and penguins! It was a neat experience to walk amongst all the animals in natural settings. I took a million photos. Then we went to dinner and a movie (Quarantine) and shopping then home! It was a wonderful day and a great weekend.

I find myself thinking about the future a lot lately…it seems that everyone I know is having babies, and of course I want that in my life, but I’ve also realized something. I have a good life. I’m young and having fun. I have a lifetime to have a family and the corresponding stress, but right now, I need to enjoy life and live every day on purpose. I don’t want to waste these opportunities and then have regrets later. I believe that having this time will make me a better mother in the long run anyway. I love my life right now and can't wait to see what happens next.