Saturday Seething (part 25 of a 444 part series)

They say "to error is human" but there can be nothing more frustrating than human errors.
To make a long story short- I took my car to get the safety and emissions inspected to renew my registration and due to human error ended up paying someone else's taxes. The poor counter girl had a hard time telling the difference between gray and silver Mazdas and confused my paperwork with another persons. Luckily the other person paid my taxes in a trade type situation; if he hadn't then I would have had to go to the DMV to get the situation resolved (agh!!).
At least everything worked out and I didn't die of a heart attack.
Happy Saturday!!!

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ROYAL WEDDING - 2011

> I am so happy I woke up at 3 AM this morning!!!
> This was such a beautiful wedding and I loved every second of it. The dress was perfect and I thought her simple veil was classic. They will be able to look back on the photos of their wedding in 30-50 years and not cringe!
> Her sister's cowl neck dress was really fun and I loved the box pleats on the flower girl dresses. William and Harry looked regal in their military regalia.
> I really enjoyed the sermon the Bishop of London gave about love and marriage in the modern world- it almost sounded LDS!!
> I went back to bed at 5:30 once the bride and groom arrived at Buckingham Palace then woke up at 6:30 to see them come out to the balcony and the two sweet kisses... Awe... And the crowd goes wild!!!
> Then I went back to bed until 8:30 and saw them drive out in the blue convertible with the license plate "JU5TWED"- too cute!!!
> What did you think of the royal wedding 2011?
>

ROYAL WEDDING- 2011

ROYAL WEDDING - 1981

I am SO excited for the royal wedding tomorrow!!!!
I wasn't alive in '81 but I remember my sister Andrea always talking about it when I was really little. We stayed up (or got up early) to watch Diana's funeral with Andrea in '97. I kind of wish we could watch William and Kate's wedding together for the sake of continuity :)

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQTe47cR-Ws&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I still haven't decided if I'm actually going to wake up at 3 AM to watch or sleep and watch clips on You Tube. (if only this were next Friday then I could DVR it!)
Do you have any Royal Wedding plans? I might have to make cucumber sandwiches and wear a funky headband to work so I can feel a wee bit British :)
Is there any particular commemorative wedding memorabilia you wish you could get? I'd love a tea tin or one of the commemorative plates. I did get a commemorative phone cover (yes, I'm that cool) but it is still being shipped- I'll post a picture once it arrives.

Happy Wedding W&C!!

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This Totally Made my Day

Marines+Britney Spears+primitive editing= The Best You Tube video I've ever seen!!

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCrG6TzG-nw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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Saturday Seething (Part 24 of a 444 part series)

Sometimes I wish I had a remote control for the weather.

I would love to have it snow when I can stay home all day or be at the cabin for a weekend.
I would love it to be sunny and comfortable on my days off work.
I would love for it to be rainy when I want to wear my beautiful trench coat (and feel British!).
I would love hot days to spend at the pool.
I would love cool days for a long walk.

It would be so awesome to be able to select the weather!!

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Oh look, Spring Spheres!!

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2011/04/09/seattle-school-renames-easter-eggs-spring-spheres

 

Please follow the link and read the article then come back to this post.

If you choose not to follow or unable to follow the link, I will give a brief summary.

 

A teenage girl was volunteering for a week in a 3^rd grade class. At the end of the week, she wanted to give the kids plastic eggs filled with treats and jellybeans and she asked the teacher if that would be alright. The teacher then approached the school board and they said they could hand out the gifts as long as they called them “Spring Spheres” instead of Easter Eggs. So when the girl pulled out the treats, the teacher exclaimed “Oh look- Spring Spheres” and the kids looked at her and said “Oh, Easter Eggs!”

 

The part that gets me mad is not the removal of the word “Easter” because that is just beyond ridiculous and will not go in to it at this time.

 

The part that gets my blood boiling is that the plastic eggs are not a sphere shape- they are an ovoid!!!

That school board and teacher should be ashamed of themselves. The Earth is a sphere, a ball is a sphere. An egg has a slight point to one end making it an ovoid.

I guess the word “egg” is so offensive and must be purged from the public school system at the cost of educational mal-practice. These poor children- what other subjects are the teachers misleading them about all because they are PC?!

 

 

 

Saturday Seething (part 23 of a 444 part series)

The following is a conversation I over-heard between an 8-10 year old girl and her grandmother this evening.

 

Little Girl: Grandma, I have the best idea ever. How about I go over and pick out a fabric and you can make me a pillow- all we need is the stuffing and it would be a super fun craft. We could make it this size (pointing to pillow on my couch) except smaller and a different shape.

 

Grandmother: I don’t like sewing.  How about we spend time looking at the art?

 

LG: Come on Grandma! I have been SO bored all weekend… well except yesterday; yesterday was the best day of my life.

 

G: So you really have only been bored today.

 

LG: Yeah. So are you going to make me a pillow or not?

 

 

 

Um… Little Girl, I am guessing you are NOT getting a pillow made for you tonight.

 

 

I am not sure why but the way the little girl spoke to her grandmother really bugged me. She wasn’t being super bratty or disrespectful but her attitude just rubbed me the wrong way.  It is probably because I have been taught to revere (fear) authority figures but I would never dare demand my grandmother make me a pillow because I was bored and I wanted to pick out fabric. I felt bad enough asking her to hem my dress the night before prom.

 

I must admit I had to stifle my laughter when she said she was SOOOO BORED this weekend, and then promptly stated that yesterday was “the best day of [her] life”- totally cracked me up!!

 

Day 90

Toilet training cats (or at least the attempt to toilet train cats) has been and continues to be a strange journey.

 

As of today, both M&F use the bowl regularly and with less than a teaspoon of litter or no litter at all.  We clean up immediately after they are done so it doesn’t start to smell.

The next step is to fill the bowl bit by bit with water until the bowl of water is the same as the water level in the toilet- then take out the bowl.

I am worried to push to the next step because of what happened last time we moved forward on the training (see post Day 44) but that is a risk I guess I will just have to take.

Hopefully we can have them fully toilet trained by this Summer

 

 

Magnum Bars now sold at Walmart

Do you need to re-read the title of this post? Go ahead... I'll wait...

I KNOW!!!!! I can't believe my eyes either but if you go to www.walmart.com/magnum it is for real- yay!!!!!!! Plus you can get a $1 off coupon on a variety pack.
Guess where I'll be heading after work?

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DWTS Dance Troupe (Boo!!)

Last night's DWTS results show introduced the new concept Dance Troupe. I thought they were totally lame and I hope they don't replace the Pro's dances on the results shows (even though they probably will). I love watching the Pros dance because we get to see what they really can do. The Troupe will be like a permanent guest performance aka: another element to fast forward. The only good things about the results shows are the encore dance (which they skipped last night), seeing who gets eliminated, and the Pro dances. At season 12- I think the "stars" are now the Pros like Maks and Cheryl. I vote based on what Pro I like best and rarely on the celebrity partner. So all in all, I was un-impressed with the DWTS Dance Troupe last night. Give me the Pros dancing all night long!!!

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Saturday Seething (part 22 of a 444 part series)

I love reading art history blogs- I think I have about 5 or 6 on my google reader- but sometimes the posts are almost like a dissertation!!
My favorite art history blog is Alberti's Window which is written by my good friend Monica Bowen from graduate school. I love reading Alberti's Window because the posts are concise and only a few paragraphs in length which makes it a quick read. Monica's word choice is engaging and she has a great talent of getting right to the point (something that I struggle with as evident in this very post!). I'm not sure if it's the blog format or the fact that I'm reading them on my phone, but my attention span is rather short. I wonder if it's an Internet reflex or a side-effect of a Google mentality, but if I am not interested from the begining then I switch to something else. Maybe it's because I'm not as invested with a blog as I am with a book or scholarly magazine.
I also like The 3 Pipe Problem but I usually just skim through because it would most likely take me a good 10 minutes to read it all the way through. One day last week, I was skimming 3PP and it was kind of short compared to the usual posts so I scanned back up to the top and saw that my friend that writes Alberti's Window was a guest poster! What a pleasant surprise!! I loved Monica's take on a female Renaissance artist and the way her self-portraits were used as a vehicle to illustrate her status and wealth.
I love art history blogs; I like them to be short and sweet like a fun size candy bar. Sure, king size candy bars are desirable but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

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Maybe I'll start my own newspaper wherein all articles will be Letters to the Editor...

Oh wait... that's my blog... Never mind :)

Kate Birch Print Giveaway!!!

Kate Birch is having a giveaway for one of her prints!!

 

All you need to do is leave a comment on her blog- here is the link:

http://katejarvikbirch.blogspot.com/2011/03/first-day-of-spring-contest.html#comments

 

You also get an entry for blogging about it, Facebook it, and even shouting it from the rooftops J

 

Yay!!! I love her art and even more so when she is willing giving away a free print!

Saturday Seething (part 21 of a 444 part series)

I'm tired of people that return purchases. Not that I blame them, they shouldn't have to keep something they do not want. Returns just ruin my day and screws up my numbers.
If you are going to return something, please try to do it the day you purchased it because then it zeros out as if the transaction never took place. It would make the life of your local salesperson much easier.

Thank You-
Alli

Saturday Seething (part 20 of a 444 part series)

Telethons are the most annoying part of Public Television.
1. I know the telethons are very important as they survive on donations in order to provide quality programing but why are the "host" always so obnoxious?! As a sales person, I find them irritating. They are so falsley perky and say the most idiotic things like "oh, I just love the sound of phones ringing!"- BLAH!!!

2. The breaks always come at the most inconvenient time where all you really want to do is change the channel but at the same time you really want to see the next part of the show they are broadcasting. Plus, they show really amazing shows for the telethons like Anne of Green Gables, or tonight they had 2 episodes of Lark Rise to Candleford and Doc Martin. Why don't they show boring shows like American Masters or that documentary they have been playing over and over on the Panama Canal?! Or even a Ken Burns WWII show- I would gladly welcome a telethon break during that program so I could at least have a bathroom break.

3. I always feel kind of guilty b/c I have never donated and probably will never donate to PBS (my tax $ already goes (or went, however it turns out in Washington!!) to Public Broadcasting) but I watch KBYU, Create, and KUED 99% of my TV watching time. I love it!! I love Masterpiece, Nova, Rick Steves Europe, America's Test Kitchen, Knit and Crochet Now, Everyday Foods, Travels and Traditions, Globe Treker, all the BBC shows they broadcast like Doctor Who, MI-5, Lark Rise to Candleford, Land Girls, Manor House, and even Doc Martin.
I know I should donate b/c I truly do enjoy their services and I would probably die without PBS which is why I feel guilty. It's like eating Lemonheads as I am planning my RS lesson on living a healthy life, or working out at the gym for an hour then getting an Iceberg milkshake on your way home.

So because of annoying hosts, annoying breaks during great shows, and annoying guilt, PBS telethons are annoying!!!

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I have a feeling...

That today is going to be a good day.

 

The month of March always plays with my heart- some days it seems like Spring is here, the next day it snows – but it at least gives us a glimpse of warmth and sunshine.

Weather aside, I have a feeling that good things are just around the corner and I feel positive about the future. This is going to be an amazing Spring/Summer with lots of events and milestones to celebrate. It is nice to have things to look forward to; it provides motivation on difficult days.

 

Things I am looking forward to:

 

1. My Grandparents coming home from Yuma
2. Cameron’s graduation (and our trip to Disneyworld)
3. Not having to wear tights and nylons to work

 

Yay March!!

 

Saturday Seething (part 19 of a 444 part series)

I love giving away free prints but I hate people.

 

When my sister Haley was in the gallery yesterday doing some framing for her birthday, a woman came in asking for a free print (sadly the prints had not arrived yet) and then let her son destroy my moulding corner display saying it was a “puzzle”- I really didn’t think any thing of it because it happens on a daily basis but Haley commented after the woman left and it got me thinking.  

I have Saturday Seethed about this before, but I am always shocked by people’s sense of entitlement and the tendency to be rude and demanding.

We have a new print for March but to be green we are reusing the fliers from last month until they run out before we use the new ones. Well a woman has already come up with the flier and demanded she get the free print from last month b/c she doesn’t like the one for March. I really don’t think it is “false advertizing” because the flier does not say “you will get the print pictured on this flier” it just says “come upstairs to get a free print”. Even if you don’t like the print for this month, you could say “it’s nice but no thank you” instead of throwing a fit like a toddler.

 

I love my job, but I hate (some/most) people. I love it when I get to frame with a client. I love when a Bishop comes to get art for his office. I love it when clients call me after they get the art home and tell me how much it has changed the feeling in that room.  I love it when people walk in the gallery and actually look at the art instead of walking through as if in a speed race. I love it when parents bring their kids in and teach them about Jesus through the art. I love it when people come in looking for a particular piece and we have it. I love being able to answer questions about art; when people come asking “you know that picture of Jesus?” and I can happily answer “Yes, I do”

 

Art Find of the Day... Alex K. Mason

So as I was browsing artthatfits.com this morning, I discovered this interesting artist. Alex K. Mason has her MFA in painting and is very much inspired the landscape of New Zealand (where she studied for 2 years.  Her works are in several collections mainly in the South, Southwest, and Pacific Northwest while her paintings have been included in 2 issues of Domino (one of my favorite style magazines).  She currently resides in Australia.

 

Here is the link to her prints (both in canvas and paper) from artthatfits.com:

http://www.artthatfits.com/art/Search.aspx?key=mason

 

Here is the link to her personal website about her history and background:

http://www.alexkmason.com/artist.html

 

I am truly excited and intrigued by her work. She has a primitivistic approach to the classic subject matters of landscape and still life with a Post-Modern twist.  She has objects, like branches, that enter and leave the picture plane similar to Japanese landscape painting, but then encourages the drips and staining much like Jackson Pollock and Helen Frakenthaler.*  I would love to see one of her originals, I bet the texture is fantastic!

 

I’d love to hear what you think.

 

 

 

* Alex K. Mason most likely paints on an easel whereas Pollock and Frankenthaler painted with the canvas on the floor.

 

 

 

Symptoms...

of Bieber Fever may or may not include:

 

- frequent high-pitched shrieks

- sweeping your hair out of your face, even if it's not in your face

- an affinity for the color purple

- singing and dancing randomly to songs that aren't being played out loud

- reading every article on EW.com that includes the words “Justin”, “Bieber”, “hair”, and “dating”

Disney Channel star Debbie Ryan said "I think that the only medication for Bieber [Fever] is to Bieber more," the "Suite Life on Deck" actress continued. "There's a [Henry David] Thoreau quote: 'The only remedy for love is to love more,' and I think that it's the exact same thing. The only remedy for Bieber [Fever] is to Bieb more."*

Common side effects to “Bieb-ing More” may include the following:

-          humming JB’s catchy tunes without even noticing it (this is the beginning of the unconscious, uncontrollable urge to love the Biebster)

-          his Wikipedia page is bookmarked in your phone

-          you start spouting/inserting random Bieber trivia into casual conversation

-          you shape your hands into a heart while you are stopped at a stop light when one of his song’s plays on your playlist

-          you find yourself hoping you could “borrow” one of your niece’s “I Heart Justin” tee-shirts

 

The world has seen this epidemic before in its pre-mutated state when it was know as Beatle Mania. It has been dormant since 1970 but 2010 saw resurgence when a new mopped topped musical sensation hit the airwaves and transformed into Bieber Fever.

 

Luckily, most sufferers of Bieber Fever are blissfully unaware of the seriousness of their condition and will go on to live relatively normal lives. Well, except for the delusional patients who will wallow in self-pity because they never got to marry Justin Bieber; they will die alone.

 

 

*Kara Warner at MTV.com; “Justin Bieber Defines 'Bieber Fever' At 'Never Say Never' L.A. Premiere”; February 8, 2011