Star Wars in Concert

Earlier this month John and I attend Star Wars in Concert at Nationwide Arena. It is a concert where a live orchestra and chorus perform music (composed by John Williams) from the six Star War films while a HUGE LED screen is displaying clips of the films. The show was hosted by Anthony Daniels, who was C-3PO in the films. He did quote on of his own lines in C-3PO's voice while showing his gold vest (his character was a gold-colored android). It was a fabulous concert! There were props from the films at different locations around the arena too. Those who attend our wedding reception know we entered to the theme of Star Wars (yes, we are geeks!).

Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) on the big screen as he is introducing the next segment.

A blurry view of how the films scenes were playing above the large orchestra and chorus.

A frozen Hans Solo prop from the films. I was so crushed as a teenager when the "2nd" film ended with Hans in this condition. He was my favorite character (ok, I had a crush on him). I still have the bubble gum trading card of Hans Solo.


Me in a perilous situation (with a smile on my face).

A Sneak Peek at the House

Since I have finally downloaded photos from the camera to the computer, I am going to post some views of our house. I realized I have not taken very many and not any "Before" photos. Oh well. We have started moving over boxes and small furniture. We are pricing moving companies to move the large furniture next month.

This is the view through the master bedroom window...obviously, taken before all the leaves fell off the trees.

The dining room after we finished painting it. The photo was taken from the kitchen doorway and there is a door to the left that goes into the entryway.

Here is our kitchen which became our main place for everything - tools, papers, etc. Through the doorway (where the black stepladder is) is my studio which is the smallest room in the house. But is it mine with a door to keep out two curious cats.

This is the view of our backyard and beyond from our deck.

Penfield House

This weekend John and I spent the weekend with my parents at the Louis Penfield House. It is an Unsonian house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Penfield House is one of three FLW houses that are available to rent overnight.

The photo below is the gate near the road. The driveway is quite long and the house is near Chagrin River (and a highway - you can hear the traffic but not see it). We saw a buck walking across the driveway one night.

This is the "front" of the house which faces the back property which is quite wooded and gives the feeling of "getting away from it all" despite being located in Willoughby Hills (a suburb of Cleveland).

I am a fan of Wright's style and it was a thrill to actually live in one of his designs instead of just touring a FLW home for a bit and leaving.

Frank Lloyd Wright's signature on a tile near the front door.

A view of the house walking back from the river.

John adjusting the fire in the "walk-in" fireplace.

The house from the "back" which faces the road. Wright believed the front of the house should not face the street but have a view of the less busy and more relaxing backyard.

I only took a few inside photos this year. The first time we rented the house was in 2007 and I took a lot more pictures at that visit. If I can find them (and if they are digital), I will post them.

ATC - November 2009

Here are the ATCs I made for November and the theme was fall. I used chalks, ink, and a rubberstamp. I learned the chalk lines technique in a class in October.

ATCs - Artist Trading Cards

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) are 2.5" x 3.5" handmade [and not mass produced] works of art that are traded among the artists who created them. They are very similar to baseball cards but any art medium (paints, inks, drawing, fabrics, sewing, photography, collage, clay, iris folding, quilling, etc.) instead of players and stats. The only "rule" is the dimensions (2.5" x 3.5") so anything goes! Some people like to keep them "thin" enough to fit in the trading card holders (sleeves & pages are the same used for baseball cards). On the back of the ATC is usually the artist's name, contact information, and title of card. If making more than one in a limited edition or series then they are labeled as such (ie., "1/6" or "4 of 7"). Since ATCs are handmade, they are naturally limited in numbers.

I first heard about ATCs in the October 2005 issue of the Rubber Stamper magazine and had to try making them immediately. It's a fun way to try new techniques or play with colors and embellishments. There are many sites online to get into ATC swaps and find trades. Currently I am doing a monthly ATC swap with my mom and four of my nieces.

October's theme was "language". Below are the six ATCs I made for the swap. I used ink pads and rubberstamps. I colored the base using the direct to paper technique with various ink pads. Then I stamped some sheet music, written document, and Chinese characters in different colors. Each ATC has the recipient's first initial in English alphabet, American Sign Language, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. You can click on the photo to see a larger image.



A couple websites with more information about Artist Trading Cards:
http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/
http://www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html

If you make ATCs or are interested in starting and want to trade, leave a comment or email me!

Faux Real and Dingo & The Babies

Photo (you can click on it for larger image)
Faux Real (ladies in black): Donna, Amy T., Shelley, Mary, Amy R.(me!)
Dingo and the Babies (ladies in white and man in black): Sharon, Carol, Erin, Diana, Gigi, Tom
Our wonderful Advanced Improv instructors Amy Talbot and scOtt Summit

We dedicated our show to Lou Ann, our missing Faux Real member, who was dealing with a family emergency (We missed you!!).

The show was so much fun and the audience laughed! (what more can you ask for in improv?!).

Official Flyer for Faux Real's appearance

Come out and support local improv and live performances!!

See me do improv and have lots of laughs!

Please note that the address of Hey Hey Bar & Grille is actually on EAST Whittier and not W. Whittier (typo on the flyer).

Next Improv Show - Friday, October 23

See the improv troupes Faux Real and Dingo & the Babies perform for the first time in public!
Date: Friday, October 23, 2009
Time: Show starts at 7:00pm - Seating is limited so come early!
Location: Hey Hey Bar and Grill, corner of Whittier and Bruck, German Village (Columbus, Ohio)
Amenities: no food available, but a full bar is ready and willing to serve you
Yours truly will be performing with Faux Real - for real!!
Come out for fun and laughs!

Crazy Busy

The beginning of October is "crazy busy" time for me. We closed on the house September 30 (Wed). My friend Bren got engaged and asked me to be a bridesmaid in her January wedding. Friday was bridesmaids' dress shopping and then packing and heading out with John to meet friends at Indian Lake for the weekend. Monday we got possession of the house and made our list of things to do before we move in. Tuesday I drove to my parents via Lafayette, IN to meet a good friend from my Ball State U days (we have recently reconnected). This coming weekend I am taking a 3-day adult immersion improv class at Second City in Chicago. I am very excited about the class - nervous about the drive from Valpo every morning (I hate being late or stuck in traffic) and finding parking. I'll head back to Columbus Monday and hopefully arrive in time to attend my improv class there. The rest of the month will be filled with house stuff (painting, packing, etc), doctor appts, and improv - our Columbus show is probably Friday October 23 but the venue is still being determined. So stay tuned for more details about the improv show starring the troupes Faux Real and Dingo & The Babies.

Advanced Improv

My Advanced Improvisional Comedy class started last night. A great group of 12 students and 2 awesome teachers (Amy Talbot & scOtt summitt from the Pale Imitations troupe). I have taken at least one class with each of the other students so it was reunion time. We are divided into two troupes of 6 people and will be doing a Public Show together - not just at the Senior Center like classes before but really out in the public in a venue!!! Both troupes will perform and then we will challenge the other troupe to different improv games. We will be our own hosts and doing it all ourselves. Fun Stuff! We hit the ground running with games and working on skills - our teachers mean business and will whip us into shape. So be on the lookout for a future posting with the time and place to see Faux Real (my group troupe) perform!! I am so excited to be working and playing with my troupe: (in alphabetical order) Amy T, Donna, LuAnn, Mary, and Shelley [yes, the Amys are together again - teacher & 2 students]. Plus it is fun to be in class with Erin, Carol, Diana, Gigi, Sharon, and Tom (the "other" troupe). Let's bring on the funny!!

UGH - Termites

The house we are in contract to buy has termites. Our house inspector had pointed out the signs of major termite treatment (not just prevention) in the basement but saw no evidence of recent activity inside the house. The current owners had no knowledge about it and had an inspection report from 1999 (when they bought the house) by a pest control company giving the house the all-clear for termites. The garage has a termite tunnel and the mulch on that side of the house has the critters alive and probably well-fed according to the termite inspector. So we gave an additional Request to Remedy to the sellers to treat the house for termites and get a transferrable warranty. We are awaiting their response. Initially I was quite stressed about the termites since they cause a lot of unseen damage and I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with that and however long it takes to get rid of them. Plus we learned about this the day of the Request to Remedy deadline and it was taking many, many phone calls to get the inspection report (the inspector was going to do the paperwork the next day) and the forms filled out and submitted to the sellers on time. After some termite research on the internet and talking with a couple people, I realized that it didn't have to be a deal-breaker and we may not be so bad off. I am learning so much about houses, the house-buying & mortgage application processes, and that I need to find some better stress relievers! And I looked at way too many termite photos - ick!! But they are natural wood recyclers and help the forests...I just don't want them eating my house!

Labor Day weekend

We are in contract for the house! This week we had the inspection and the house is in great shape. We did realize, a bit late, that it has an electric water heater which will means a higher electric bill. A normal gas water heater & vent won't fit because of the duct work in the ceiling above the area so we will have to consider if the extra cost for replacing the water heater and a special vent set-up is worth it. The water heater is something the inspector thinks will need to be replaced within the next couple of years. We are in the midsts of the "Request for Repairs" with the sellers - what are they willing to fix/handle and what will reduce the cost of the house. We also are shopping around for mortgage loans and have two contenders...now we'll see who can do the best rate and closing costs. It kills me that over the life of the loan we pay just as much in financial expenses/interest as the house is worth!! Going through my first house-buying experience just reiterates to me that the whole housing/mortgage crisis was created by greedy people lending money for amounts people couldn't really afford and by people wanting more than they could truly afford. Thank goodness we both have always lived within our means.

We made an offer!

John and I made an offer on a house today! Exciting and scary. We've been house hunting about a month and have physically looked through about 15 houses. This house was on the market just a few days - hence a lot of showings in the last 3 days. We looked at the house the first time on Thursday and another showing arrived as we were leaving. The house has had about 7 showings in 3 days. We went for a second showing today. We submitted the offer and have to wait...the hard part. We gave them until 5pm Monday since it is a weekend. I'd rather not get into a bidding war but it seems to be a popular house. The house is a 2 story with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a 2-car attached garage, a gas fireplace, and a finished basement. It has most of our "like to haves" and a wonderful kitchen. I am trying not to get too attached to the house since anything can happen at this point. It's exciting to think about - and a bit scary (going into debt again for a large amount).

Mid-August

Wow! It is the middle of August already. Obviously, I have not been blogging. I thought about it several times and have some photos - still in the camera. The August heat is oppressive some days all I do is melt and get cranky. I look forward to fall - cooler weather, my favorite time of year, and it has always been a "beginning" season for me: school, projects, activities, etc. I tend to do more in the fall and plan out things for the year. So one of my many plans is to blog more - not ready to commit to "regularly" yet. Plus I don't know if anyone reads this or if I am basically talking to myself.

John and I are house hunting. It is slow going but on purpose. We started with some tight criteria to see what is out there. We have looked at several houses. For one house we did additional research since we both liked it but it didn't pan out. We are relaxing our search parameters and now have a list of 30 to check out online. We'll peruse the list to weed out most and get a list to see in person. It has been interesting to go through people's houses. I've been getting ideas of what to do and what not to do. It is amazing what people DON'T do when they know people will be looking around - we do check out closet sizes and such. It appears some do not care if their house sells or not as the toys scattered about and the mess makes it less appealing. This is my first time house hunting and (hopefully) buying.

My First Turned Pen

Most of my arts & crafts are with paper. I have always been fascinated by what people create with wood and the different colors of wood. Lately I had been thinking about taking that step into wood working. My friend Laura hand carves Celtic knot (love) spoons which are beautiful and quite labor intensive. She has also turned bowls and pens. This week she was generous enough to teach me how to turn a pen and make one using her tools and supplies. It was not as difficult as I expected. It took quite a bit of time but I also had to learn the tools besides the techniques. A table saw, a drill press, and a lathe are the big tools and then some hand tools for the shaping of the wood.

It is still amazing to me that it starts with a pen blank - a block of wood like the photo below...

and turns into a beautiful pen like the one I made in this photo. Of course, there are the pen parts that are needed to assemble the pieces into a working, practical piece of art.

The photo below is a close up of the wooded turned part of the pen.

For my first pen, I picked a wood with a reddish tint - bloodwood, I believe. I am still overwhelmed with the hundreds of kinds of wood, most of which I do not know. One thing I had not thought about and surprised me was the toxicity of wood and how some can cause major health problems. Most of the issues are from the dust and prolonged exposure. But some woods or saps are definitely risky and can kill.

Watching video of lathe work is mesmorizing - seeing a block of wood spinning and becoming something else (a bowl, a decorated spindle, etc). All those fancy carves take no time when an expert is at work. I would love to learn to do that. I don't have any area in the house that could easily turn into a wood shop - need good ventilation, a good amount of space, and an easy way to clean up the dust and shavings. But I have signed up for one class at Woodcraft and will probably take more.

China - miscellaneous

Okay, I have been meaning to write this entry for a while. It's been almost a month since we returned from our travels in China. Here are some photos and videos that I still wanted to share.

I got the impression the Chinese LOVE to shop. Shopping areas in every city we saw ranging from the storefronts to the old market stall type to large modern malls. This photo is from a 6 (or 7) story mall in Beijing. There were a few within blocks of each other!
There was a Lego store in the mall and outside of the store was a Lego lady and her baby who shared a bench with me.

I saw some very interesting architecture in China. This photo shows one example.

Meals were always an interesting endeavor. Several places offer a "set meal" that contains several items/dishes. This photo shows a fairly fancy one. I really like the spoon/chopstick rests they had in the restaurant (to the right of the tray).

The cities are large with much roadway. It was surprising to see that most of those roads have landscaping - from long ground works to planters on bridges or overpasses. This photo shows a bit of that along with a street light in the shape of the Chinese Lucky Knot. It was taken outside of Xi'an on the way to the terracotta soliders.

In every hotel we stayed in, the plastic keycard was required to "run" the electricity in the room. This picture shows our keycard in the slot next to the switches for "do not disturb", "make up the room", and the lights. When we remove the keycard, all lights and outlets have no power.

Outside our room in the hallway (in Beijing) is a doorbell!! Also if the "do not disturb" switch is on, this is where it lights up.

This video was taken in Shanghai from the front seat of the van in traffic. Listen for the horns and notice that at the traffic light (that is red), we turn right without even slowing down as we merge into the middle traffic lane. And this wasn't close to some of the white-knuckle riding we did around the country in much heavier traffic.

The next 3 photos are of road signs that amused me. They remind people not to litter, not to drive drunk, and of the weight limit. Hopefully you can click on the picture to get a larger image and see the signs better (written in Chinese and English).

In an earlier blog entry I wrote that Ron & Ellen weren't allowed to drive. I was mistaken - Ron has gotten his Chinese license (right?) and does drive in the crazy traffic on occasion. We didn't get to experience that but Brett and Leslie did.

The photo above shows the work bikes used to transport almost anything. These bikes are loaded with water bottles. We saw some bikes overloaded with items way above the person's head!

This video shows one street in Shanghai that appears to be bike (pedal & motorized) only. We were entertained by the large herds of bikes surging forward when the light changed and had to record it...and share it. Notice that the bikes too also use horns/bells.

Beijing - Summer Palace

The Summer Palace, originally named Garden of Clear Ripples or Qingyi Yuan, was the royal refuge from the insufferable summer heat in the Forbidden City. The site has palace temples, gardens, pavillions, lakes, and corridors on 290 hectares. Lakes make up at least 3/4 of the park.

Many boats fill the lakes.

Paddle boats and the tree lined shore.

The 17-arch bridge

The boat we took across the lake.

One of the crowded corridors with various shaped windows.

Tower of Buddhist Incense

The gang near 17-arch bridge.

One of 14,000 different pictures painted on the beams and cross beams of the Long Corridor.

Ceiling along the Long Corridor which stretches 728 meters from the Gate of the Inviting Moon in the east to the Shizhang Pavillion in the west.

Gate of Dispelling Clouds in the middle of the Long Corridor.

Clear and Peaceful Boat (aka Marble Boat) built in 1755 by Empress Dowager Cixi as a symbol of the stability of the Qing Dynasty.