Surprise

My Birthday started out working at a Youth Garage Sale for 5 and a half hours. Sorry, but that was yucky. Adam came to the rescue though. He picked me up and had a whole surprise day planned.

First we met our friends Dafni and Brandon (who had kept the secret REALLY well because they were AT the yard sale) and headed to the Dallas Museum of Art.

Below: Dafni keeps going back to stare at a Rothko.  He says of his color fields: "The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them. And if you, as you say, are moved only by their color relationship, then you miss the point." She didn't weep, but think Dafni got the point.

The collection we went to see was Youth and Beauty, Art of the American 20's. It's quite a turning point in history, what with industrialization and such,  and it turned out a lot of really great art and artists working at the time.

Below: Peter Blume, Titled: Vegetable Dinner. Why is the woman on the right slicing so close to her thumb? And why is her head cropped off?  Click here to find out.

Below: Gerald Murphy, Titled: Razor

Artists began depicting objects brought on by industrialization. No more bowls of eggs, but rather soup cans and life's accoutrements. This depicts Murphy's own masculine self styling.

Below: Photographer Nickolas Muray, left Gloria Swanson. Right, Frida Kahlo.

Through Haper's Bazaar, Muray became a well known portrait photographer and photographed many stars in New York. He had a ten year love affair with Frida Kahlo which ended when he realized she did not want to marry him when the opportunity came about. (Consequently you should see Frida the movie, 2002.)

Below: Romain Brooks, Titled: Una, Lady Troubridge

The artist had a very troubled childhood which she admits cast a shadow over her entire adult life. Most of her work features grays and subdued colors. Why is her name and this piece androgynous feeling? Click here to find out.

Below: Aaron Douglas, titled: Charleston. Right, Building More Stately Mansions.

An important part of the Harlem Renaissance Douglas fused modernism with ancestral African art. (I am drawn to these because they are so wonderfully graphic.)

As we were driving about we discovered the Dallas Farmer's market!!! There were so many plant vendors. It was like walking through a park...of potted plants!

And then we discovered the food section!

Vendors line both sides of this open ended pavilion. You can just pull up and pick what you want. There were several pavilions. We WILL be going back.

I hadn't been home since 7:00 that morning. So when we pulled up, and I walked in, guess what Adam had done? He decorated! He had dinner planned! And games! And cake! With candles! And I love that we had friends over to help us enjoy it!

Below: There are two ways to enter through streamers....zombie and excited zombie. (Ok, so we've been watching The Walking Dead recently—which is excellent, and has a human compassion element to it that is surprisingly touching.)

Dafni had found out about my birthday a few days earlier and surprised me with flowers. So sweet. And Adam the pink/purple ones. Later, when the water needed changing, I combined them to see what they would look like. Love it!

Thank you Adam, Dafni, Brandon and Brielle! (And again Brandon for driving!) This was one of the best birthdays I've EVER had because it was a surprise and all planned and stuff I like. You really can't beat that.

6 Years

Naturally, any outing to the city on an Anniversary must include some new food groups. (Amanda this is for you.) A Mozart Bakery was nearby, and they carry French Macarons. I have never tasted one. So we ended up in a Korean neighborhood, trying french dessert! (They are expensive....I will have to try baking my own sometime now that the recipes are popular enough to find in English.)

Next, per Amanda's suggestion we headed over to Avila's Mexican Restaurant (which is in a BAD part of town) to try out their acclaimed brisket. After driving past the place twice, and then finally seeing it....we almost didn't go in. 

In the end, I'm glad we did. The salsa was excellent. Although, quite spicy. And the brisket very flavorful. I ordered the brisket tortillas, Adam got the brisket gordita (below left) which was our favorite out of the two.

After that we drove around a bit and ended up perusing a German market. Of course we HAD to try  something German since we were on a roll. 

We decided on Stroopwafels. Extra grote. 2 stuks.

They tasted like...soft graham crackers with a caramel center.

Then later that night we went for Sushi of course. (That's what we ate the day Adam proposed.)

That  last picture is me telling you that if you want to be friends...you had better start liking Sushi.
In all, not bad for a day for not having planned a thing. We came out part Gardeners, Artists, French, Mexican, German, and Japanese.

Chihuly at the Arboretum

For our sixth anniversary we decided to visit the Dallas Arboretum. To our surprise the whole park was bustling with the preparations of Chihuly exhibits everywhere. There was yellow caution tape around everything as they were planting new greenery and installing special lighting for the glasswork. We are DEFINITELY going back to see this after it opens. Click here for details. Can you imagine what the glass sculptures must look like lit up in the evening?

Can you imagine an evening garden party in this space? So lovely and calm. These gardens are less "natural" and more structurally planned than the Fort Worth Botanical gardens. I like both for different reasons. 

I'll take his job. (But Sally, I think you'd be more qualified.)

In case you were wondering....a Chihuly sculpture about the size of two medium size bowls was priced at $5,500 in the gift shop. Whoa. (I hope we don't get a Texas size hail storm any time soon.)

If you are in town, don't miss this. It opens May 5th and goes until November. (Call us and we'll go with you.) The gardens usually close at 5pm but if you buy tickets to concerts at the Arboretum, they begin around 7:30 so you'll get to see the sculptures all lit up. Bonus!

Announcement Pics

We spent a lot of Christmas helping these two twitterpates get ready for their upcoming wedding. And since the announcement has been sent out...I'm going to let the results of a photoshoot leak out.

We hadn't scouted out a location before hand (a big no-no in the photography world), we just jumped in the car and headed for old Folsom and jumped out whenever we found a good spot. Whew! I'm really glad a few turned out because we had a very specific format in mind...I'll post a link to the announcement shortly so you can see what I mean.