You have to see it to believe it

Last weekend I went to Houston to visit with my old friends Crystal and Elaine. I have talked about both of them here before.

Crystal - Elaine - Me

Crystal recently moved back to Texas after having lived in Colorado for the past several years. Elaine has lived in Houston for a couple of years now. Elaine is an artist - check out her website here - and had a show opening in Houston last Friday night. It is located at the Art League of Houston in case you are interested. This show was like no other I've ever seen before.

Elaine's sculptures are of taxidermied animals (she rescues them off of eBay - she doesn't hunt) that have custom made crocheted sweaters. She totally outdid herself with this show - if I do say so myself.

Not only did Elaine create several new sculptures, she also created habitats for each animal/group of animals, had a gift shop, had brochures, etc. She created everything she would need for:

It was totally awesome. My pictures DO NOT do her exhibits justice. Part of that is my fault - new camera and all - and the other part is ALL OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE THERE! The place was SO packed Crystal and I couldn't even see Elaine while she was giving her artist talk, let alone hear her.

Elaine, I am so proud of you. I can remember how you wanted to be an artist even when we were kids. It isn't everyday when you have a friend who has followed her dreams. I love to tell people that I have this really cool friend who is an artist.

Congratulations - all of your hard work paid off!

(Do I sound like a teacher or what???)

More funnies by Garrett

Today Garrett was upset about not getting to go to Grandma's house with Meagan. (More about what she was doing there later.) So, to get him to calm down, I told him I had a surprise for him at home. And, the cool thing is, I actually did have a surprise for him!

I pick up random things and store them away for moments like these.

Anyway, the surprise was a new pack of water paints. Garrett wanted to know what they were. I told him they were paints and that I would be right back. I walked into the kitchen to get a small bowl of water and a paper towel for him. As I was coming back to the dining room he calls, "Hey Mom! How do you get these paints to wake up?" I thought it was hilarious! I explained to him that you had to dab them with water to get them to "wake up."

He then went on to tell me that he didn't need the white woken up because he only had white paper to paint on and you wouldn't be able to see it anyway. I thought that this was pretty smart thinking for a five year old!

That is his masterpiece at the top of the entry!