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May 30, 2008

Things You Don't Do Anymore Once You Have Kids

I don't remember the last time I went to a concert. I'm not sure I even remember the first time I went to a concert (though I'm thinking it was either Crosby, Stills & Nash at Saratoga Performing Arts Center with Patita, followed by Don Henley -yes, that Don Henley- in Albany somewhere). I've seen Rush. I've seen Tool (three times!). I've seen Fugazi twice. Actually, the last concert-like thing I did was when we saw the Poster Children at a small cafe while we lived in Illinois, and I was pregnant at the time so I spent most of my time outside, terrified of the second-hand smoke.

Before we moved to Illinois, I had tickets to see the White Stripes in Indianapolis, but something came up (our move maybe??) and we weren't going to be able to make it. I sold those tickets for twice what I paid for them on ebay. But it always struck me as slightly risky to buy tickets on ebay. Not to mention you have to know your way around the scalping laws in your state (it's legal to scalp tickets in Indiana).

I just found out there's now a website that handles ticket brokering for you—seatexchange.com. No more buying tickets from that seedy-looking guy in the parking lot! You can buy or sell concert tickets, sports tickets, and museum tickets. I'm not sure what their cut is when you sell, but the prices seem very reasonable. That was always a problem in Indiana–scalpers would buy up tickets, meaning events sold out very quickly and you then had to pay astronomical prices to get into highly desirable events.

I'm less interested in sports tickets, but Adam does like to see the Yankees if they play in Chicago, and those tickets seem to go fast. Seat Exchange guarantees the transaction, so you don't have some of the worries of buying from a place like ebay or that kid with the backwards baseball cap in the parking garage.

I'm guessing I'm probably done with big arena shows; I'm too old and grumpy to deal with pot smoke, headbanging, and the general silliness that accompanies such things. As the bug gets older, though, I'm sure I'll consider checking out shows at smaller venues in Chicago. Though I'm guessing my next big-ticket show will probably be Blue's Clues on Ice or somesuch nonsense. I do look forward to being the old couple in the corner table in the hipster club.

Posted by mwashburn at 10:07 AM | Comments (5)

Complete Randomness

I heard a great quote this week. "You may be entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts."

If only things were that simple.

Things have been slow at work. I spend my days waiting for my Southwest Ding to go off. I'm looking for cheap plane tickets for late summer. Not to Tulsa, unfortunately.

Posted by mwashburn at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2008

art time!

The Bug and I spent some time after school today painting, her with her watercolors and glitter glue, me with my slightly-more-grown-up tubes of gouache. I'm starting to really, really love gouache. It does a lot of the things I can do with oils, but thins and dries quickly like acrylic. So this is a little sketch (in gouache and ebony pencil) of the irisis I cut from our front yard this weekend.

I could see doing a whole series of these. I'm actually working on getting prints of my newest bird paintings ready to sell on etsy, and if I do more of these flowers I could see putting them to a similar use.

Posted by mwashburn at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)

On Food

We had a big ol' Memorial Day BBQ/backyard party this past weekend, which was a ton of fun. The menu was the usual, burgers and brats and a few healthy sides. I actually resisted the temptation of burgers, though I did have a brat. I've eliminated cow from my diet, though not yet pig, chicken, etc. One step at a time, right?

Because my recent slide back towards vegetarianism is two fold, both ethical, health, and environmental in nature, I've been much softer on the eating of things like venison, humanely raised meat, and a few other items. Ostrich is one of those things I can almost condone eating, partly because it's such a healthy meat. I don't know too much about the ins and outs of the environmental impact of raising ostrich, but it can't possibly be as damaging as the raising of cows. If I wanted to do the research, now there's ostrich.com for all your ostrich-as-livestock related questions or needs. Although there is something a little ghoulish about buying burgers, handbags, masks, and feathers on the same website. You could have a hell of a Mardi Gras cookout though, and there is something to be said for nothing going to waste.

I have actually eaten ostrich. I'm trying to remember if I've ever had burgers; I remember them being about $20 a pound at our local health food market in grad school, but I did eat ostrich filet while we were in Las Vegas on vacation a few years ago. It was really really good. I didn't check shipping rates, but it seems from the ostrich.com website that prices have come down considerably on ostrich meat. I already worry about what my child tells people at school about our home life, I can only imagine if I start feeding her exotic meats. Sigh.

Maybe I need to retire somewhere and become an ostrich rancher. One can dream, right?

Posted by mwashburn at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2008

Phoning it In Today

Thought I'd share this great article from Salon.com on the effect of media and early sexualization of girls. It's an interview with M. Gigi Durham, author of "The Lolita Effect" and talks about the disturbing trend towards younger and younger sexualization of girls. I have to read this book; the author is a self-declared "pro-sex" feminist and she talks about this tension, as a parent, between totally not being a prude but being profoundly uncomfortable with the sort of voyeuristic, one-dimensional sexuality being pushed on younger and younger girls, as well as the terrible mixed message of that ubiquitous image coupled with the emphasis on abstinence-only sex ed.

It's so hard to be the mommy of a little girl. And one of the really ironic, disturbing things is that in the third-party generated advertising links at the bottom of the article is a link for (can't wait to see the blog hits I get off this) "find drunk teens." Not cool people, not cool.

Posted by mwashburn at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2008

My Weekend

How many entries do I have with this title? Anyway, we had a pretty good weekend. I have been feeling a little under the weather, but I think I managed to avoid getting truly sick. I slept a lot. Other activities included picking at a couple of art projects I have going on, catching up on some sewing (hem fixing, button re-attaching, stuff like that), planning for our Memorial Day party, working on Lily's socks, dyeing ruining yarn, and forcing Adam to start powerwashing the siding.

Art-wise my progress has slowed down a little bit. On a related note, I seem to be keeping depression at bay, but I really have to check myself often. Sometimes my worst days are the ones following my best days; I find it hard to deal with the everyday when I've had an epiphany. I'm working on some doable, measured goals regarding my artwork, but sometimes feel a little frustrated at trying to figure out where to spend my limited amounts of time and energy. There are three juried show opportunities in the late summer/fall months, and one salon-type show with a due date after Memorial Day, so I'm not sure how best to pick my spots. I also want to start applying for solo shows at a couple of places, and possibly apply to the Artists Association at the Lubeznik Center, but am worried (I should be so lucky) about selling things and not having enough on hand for either of these possibilities.

I'll post more artwork pictures as I get the next little batch of stuff completed. I have this real schizophrenic thing going on between the bird paintings and my more realistic/expressionistic paintings. I have a feeling that the latter will be more successful here, but the others I can do better online and in more of a Chicago market. Again it's a struggle with where to put my time and energy. This is also where I miss having some sort of mentor, to help me make these decisions. I'm hoping that the critique group I may be helping organize with someone I met recently can help fill this gap, so long as there are some people involved who have some success under their belts.

Posted by mwashburn at 06:52 PM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2008

Finally a Little Good News

California Supreme Court overturns ban on gay marriage

Posted by mwashburn at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day!

I just want to wish all the mommies out there a very Happy Mother's Day. I had a very nice one, despite the unseasonably cold weather, rain, and high winds today. I was served muffins and coffee in bed, and my present was a new office chair (no more falling on my ass while blogging...) which was apparently the Bug's idea. We headed out for brunch at 11am, and I had a mimosa and awesome stuffed french toast.

The rest of my day has been spent doing my usual Sunday stuff; gym, painting, etc., albeit with a bit of a warm fuzzy.

I am still really in awe at the whole motherhood thing. I think having children makes us stronger people. Kids are at the same time your greatest weakness and your greatest strength; they provide the impetus to be a better person, to care what happens after you're gone, and to continue to learn and grow as a person. Every day I'm reminded (and humbled) that I don't know everything. And no matter how bad it gets, I know that I have the unconditional love of this incredible little person. It's not always easy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Posted by mwashburn at 06:07 PM | Comments (3)

May 05, 2008

Listen to Me!

I just downloaded the album Humanimals by San Diego band Grand Ole Party, and Oh My God is it good. It's really awesome sort of Southern blues-rock punk-funk fusion, and vocalist/drummer Kristin Gundred's voice sends chills down your spine. They remind me a little bit of Concrete Blonde, and I think Gundred could give Ann Wilson a run for her money in the vocalist category. Enjoy. I think my next purchase is going to have to be Portishead's new album, which I'm pretty excited about as well.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:50 AM | Comments (1)

May 03, 2008

Beginnings and Endings

Endings.

(mixed media- conte, acrylic, collage -on canvas)

And Beginnings.

(mixed media on canvas)

(acrylic, gouache, and conte on paper)

Posted by mwashburn at 01:50 PM | Comments (1)

May 01, 2008

You Know, That's What I Was Thinking

So I was walking around yesterday, trying to figure out a) Why people want to pin Rev. Jeremiah Wright's verbal diarrhea on Barack Obama, and b) Why a candidate for president going to church with a pastor who occasionally says offensive things is worse than being a candidate for president who stays married to an adulterous schmuck who dallied with interns in the White House. And great minds must think alike, because The Rude Pundit has quite recently asked exactly the same question.

I'm just glad I don't have to answer for every idiotic thing anyone I've ever associated with has ever said or done.

Posted by mwashburn at 10:55 AM | Comments (7)