Hanging Pictures of Maidens In Boats Full of Roses

Last night I went out with more old Zeta friends, this time to celebrate Megan being done with taking the bar.  I haven't seen her for a few months because she was studying!  Another old friend was there, Ashley, who I haven't seen since Hannah's wedding last summer.  Needless to say, we had a lot of catching up to do.  Megan picked this place downtown called Bailey's Chocolate Bar.  It was a dessert bar with a variety of chocolate martinis and alcoholic milkshakes.  The inside seemed like they were going for a modern, Marie Antoinette vibe; red walls, gold accents, wood chairs, and candles.  The only weird thing was the music.  You'd think that a place clearly going for a posh and fancy, date-night type atmosphere would be playing Frank Sinatra or some jazzy, classic music, but no, it went from classic rock to pop music you hear on the radio!  Oh well, the drinks were good and the life discussion was even better.

(photo by e.hunt)

Lost In a Tranquil Air

When I eventually move out of my parents house, I hope to be able to find a little apartment that has a little balcony to match.  I would find a nice, comfy chair where I could drink coffee or wine (depending on the time of day, of course) and look out over the edge.  It would need some white Christmas lights to make it more festive, and maybe a plant or two.  Wouldn't it be lovely?

(photos collected from boredpanda, residencestyle, s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg, blog.freepeople, and roomed)

In That Enchanted Place On Top of the Forest

The galleries were set up as a timeline, starting with early American art and going up through contemporary.  The museum was set up in a way that was really easy to navigate; start at the beginning and walk through.  No different sections, rooms that don't connect with anything else, or having to go back because you missed a room.  So many museums are like that.  Granted, most of them are housed in old buildings, or don't have the luxury of being built from the ground up on a large, open site, but still, it was quite nice.

The earlier rooms were filled with lots of peaceful landscapes.  My favorite town scene (the first one above), Winter Scene In Brooklyn, 1820, was painted by Francis Guy.  It was the view out of his second floor studio.  There is so much happening in the snowy streets, but rather than the sky being just a swath of blue, there is much drama there too.  The second, pastoral scene, Haystacks, Martin Johnson Heade, 1871, is very soothing.  The haystacks in the late evening wait patiently for the storm in the background to roll by.

After the landscapes was a hall filled with nature studies.  I enjoyed these birds, Gems of Brazil, also by Martin Johnson Heade, 1863.  I don't think they would be as impressive on their own, but grounded in a foursome, the different colors, species of bird, and landscape they are in really stand out.

I continued on to a larger room with a curved ceiling that housed the famous Lantern Bearers by Maxfield Parrish, 1908.  The blue background is deep and striking against the yellow lanterns that almost look as though they are actually lit up.  The bearers fall to the mid ground, as the dark and light fully captivate you.

I moved on towards the contemporary section, where there was this amazing hallway which was the inside of one of the armadillo roofs.  It was sunny and warm, and the wood of the ceiling beams contrasted so nicely with the glass walls and lighter wood floor.

Inside that little white box was this colorful, straight-lined piece, Motive of Space and Form - A New Jersey Village (Montville) by Oscar Bluemner, 1915.  A mix between the Fauve's use of color and expression, and the boxiness of Cubism, it is quite intriguing.

This rather strange painting, Supine Woman, 1963, is by one of Taylor's favorites, Wayne Thiebaud.  The color sections really stand out against the white background and dress.  His mix of blues and oranges, often put on in excessive quantity, give the painting texture.  I find it to be much more interesting up close.

And this near photo-realism painting, Reflections of the Woolworth Building, Richard Estes, 2006, was amazingly detailed.  The reflections give it away that it is a painting, but they are still so realistic.

But this one is the winner of the day, titled Landscape, by Mark Tansey, 1994.  It is massive, taking up a whole wall.  The varied deepness of the red pigment gives it so much depth.  There is so much going on.  The two close-ups below are just tiny little section of it, but they could each be whole paintings in themselves!

The contemporary wing was the end of the galleries, which led to another beautiful wood ceilinged structure.  It was nearing dinner time, so I headed on my way.  I wanted to stop and check in to my hotel before meeting up with my friend, Emily, for drinks and dinner.  We met up in the old downtown square area, starting at a small brewery and going to a tavern-type place for dinner.  After that we walked the square before heading out.  It was great catching up; we covered everything from our current lives, the usual Drury gossip, and of course we reminisced about our old Zeta days.  It was a great day filled with interesting art and reconnecting with an old friend.

(photos by e.hunt)

An Island, a Continent, a Whole World Within Itself

I think I'm finally back in the groove after my little weekend trip away.  And last night I finished editing all the pics, so now it's post time!

I ended up getting on the road a little before nine last Thursday morning.  The drive was lovely.  I love going on road trips, especially solo drives.  I can put on whatever music I want and just go, stopping when I need to and being in complete control.  The automobile is one of the greatest influencers on our culture, past and current, and going on a road trip puts that into sharp relief, and it is wonderful.

I drove straight to the museum upon arriving in Bentonville.  It is set in the middle of a lush park ground, which was green and full of blooms.  I decided to walk the surrounding paths first, thinking that I would get all hot but then be able to cool down by walking in the galleries.

And man was it hot!  Worth it though, because there were all these cool statues along the pathways.  I made friends with a Trojan horse reject, a bear, and a pig!

It was nice getting a little workout after being in the car for five hours.  The path went all the way around to the backside of the museum.  I walked up to a viewing platform area, which was a little disappointing, then back down and along the edge of the water, which was much more pleasant.

The architectural elements were pretty cool.  I wish Taylor had been there to point out some cool things.  It looked clean and simple, while also being complicated and impressive.  The angles and lines were a great contrast to the surrounding nature.

And that concluded the outside tour.  I walked in the side entrance, which had a walkway along the water to get upstairs to the galleries.  More architecture!

The roofs remind me of an armadillo or some kind of Asian boat.  With all the windows and nature, this would be a neat place to hold an event or party.

(photos by e.hunt)

"[Clothes] Change Our View of the World and the World's View of Us"

-Virginia Woolf

Big news in the Starbucks barista world today!  The big whigs overhauled our dress code and are now officially allowing us to "personalize" our work wardrobes.  I always cheated by wearing colorful socks and headbands, but now I can wear my little neck scarves, dark jeans everyday, grey, navy, or denim shirts, shirts without collars or turtlenecks, and anything in neutral colors but with a little subtle print!  They also now allow bright hair colors, so if I decide to go all out fuchsia purple, I can!  This probably doesn't seem like a big deal but I'm very excited.  It's so boring to just pull out one of my multiple black "work" items and not have any of my personality in it.  I spend so much time at work that it will be nice to have a little more pride in how I look while I'm there.

(photo collected from starbucks)

Art and Travel: Our Most Inexhaustible Source of Magic

Tomorrow morning bright and early I will leave for my road trip getaway!  Not as bright and early as the days I have to work, but I'm hoping to leave by eight or eight-thirty.  That should put my ETA to Bentonville between noon and one, which will leave plenty of time for me to explore the Crystal Bridges Art Museum before meeting up with an old friend for dinner.

The old friend is actually my first Zeta little sis, which means that I was basically her mentor and instant good friend throughout college.  I haven't seen her since graduating four years ago so I'm quite excited to catch up.  Here we are at the Big Sis Reveal Party my sophomore year.

And on Friday my checkout time isn't until noon so I plan on having a leisurely morning before heading up to Springfield where I will hang out at The Mudhouse and maybe do a little shopping before meeting up with friends for the evening.  Off to start packing!

(photo by e.gerhardt)

Heavy Glow

It is official now: Mom, Debby, and I are going to Florida for a last minute vacation in a few weeks!  I can't wait to head to the beach with two of my favorite travel buddies.  It's been five years since our big trip to Europe, so it'll be a nice little anniversary of that.

We will be staying in Fort Walton Beach, which is just ten minutes west of Destin.  New territory, but familiar.  I've stayed in Fort Walton a few times with friends but this will be different because we will probably explore the actual town a little more.  Mom and I are leaving on the Friday night and will stop in Nashville to see Andrew and his girlfriend, Juliana's, house.  I haven't been since last summer and they've made quite a few updates since then.  We may even go to one of my old favorite Nashville restaurants!  The next day, we will drive the remaining six or seven hours and Debby will join us Monday night.  Ahhhh, it wouldn't have really been summer without a beach trip.

(photos by a kind Swiss citizen, and e.hunt)

The Ballad of the Hit and Run

The excitement just never stops in our neighborhood.  Two nights ago, I was awoken around 2:30am by a bump noise outside in the street followed by muffled voices.  As I had to get up for work in a little over two hours I decided to just ignore it and go back to sleep.  At 4am, I was disrupted yet again, this time by the door bell ringing and aggressive banging on the door.  I leaned over to my window, thinking 'oh no, should've looked outside the first time!'

Ever since Taylor got his new car we've been parking the old van out on the street since there's no room in the back lineup.  I looked outside and saw that the van had been hit by another car and pushed ten feet forward up onto the sidewalk.  There was debris scattered around and a pretty obvious trail of antifreeze where the other car had backed up and continued on down the street.  I watched Mom walk outside with the cop, who was amazed no one heard it and went outside to check it out.

I tried to go back to sleep for that half hour before I had to get up but I don't think I really did.  Luckily I only had a five hour shift that morning.  When I got home, I was filled in on the whole story.  Apparently, after talking to Mom, the cop followed the antifreeze to find that the other car only made it down the block!  She found it, abandoned, and was going to check on a call about a severely drunk person stumbling around the area, thinking it might be the driver.  It wasn't.  Apparently, it was a nineteen year old kid who was going to report his car stolen, rather than confess to what really happened.

When the cops came to collect his report, he broke down and told them the truth.  Well, the semi-truth.  He said there weren't any drugs or alcohol involved, and his friends were the ones who told him to claim his car had been stolen after abandoning it.  Pretty crazy.  But look at the damage!  How does a non-drunk person driving a car do this?!  So long, van!

(photos by t.hunt, and e.hunt)

What Must Have Gone Into the Making of Her Eyes

My makeup subscription bag came in a few days ago.  It's covered in little beach umbrellas!

It came with some good things (mascara, a cooling face moisturizer, and a fall-color eyeshadow), and some meh things (a brush and some kind of extreme hair serum).  It's always fun to open it up and see what I get to try out.  And the little bags have been great for travel.

(photo by e.hunt)

"In My Experience, There's No Such Thing as Luck"

-Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, A New Hope

After opening at work yesterday, followed by a much-needed nap, I was out and about running errands when the storm of the summer rolled in.  It had been kindof cloudy and windy and afternoon, but didn't look like it was about to unleash the fury of Zeus.  That changed within a five minute period.

Wind, rain, lightning, leaves blowing, trees falling; this storm had it all!  I stayed where I was until it died down a little bit, then made a run for my car to head home.  I wish I had driven around a little more: trees were down, some blocking streets, people were walking around pointing at the aftermath, and the air had that eerie, after-storm quiet feel.  

When I pulled in the driveway I noticed we had a few branches down, but nothing major.  Our neighbors had it much worse.  Several had big limbs down in their yards.  Across the street, a limb had crushed part of their new, white picket fence.  Across the other street, a tree had snapped about ten feet up and fortunately missed both a garage and a house!

But it was a tree a couple houses down that took the cake.  This tree had been uprooted, pulling some of the ground up with it, and was leaning on the house.  You can see where it dented the roof there.  They were lucky it didn't just fall right through!

(photos by e.hunt)

Travelers Of Time and Space

Can you believe it's already almost mid-July?!  That means there's only about six weeks left of summer!  I'm making the most of it though, keeping busy with work and errands and such.  I was off today after opening four days in a row, so it was really nice to get a full night's sleep.  Still needed my coffee to wake up though!

Everyone's back home from their worldly adventures.  Mom returned from her England-Italy-Amsterdam mega-trip, Dad from his whirlwind gig in Spain, and Taylor from his long-weekend in Nashville.  And next week, I go on my little summer getaway down to check out an art museum in Arkansas, then stopping in Springfield on the way home.  Should be a fun few days out of town.

Other than that things have been fairly low-key.  There's been some excitement in a possible last-minute trip to Florida but we're not sure if that's going to work out this year with everyone's busy schedules.  We'll see.  Hope you all have a lovely Tuesday!

(photos by e.hunt)