COFFEEEEE!

I am a pretty well traveled individual for my age and I have experienced quite a few substances and I am happy to say I have never had any addiction problems. One taste I had never really acquired until recently was coffee. I am 28 years old and I am just now starting to really enjoy the taste of good coffee. I am somewhat an anomaly I have realized. The whole coffee craze is very new to me and somewhat bizarre. I have observed some interesting things while delving into this new substance. It feels kind of like high school again when I took my first hit of pot. Everybody has their own unique way of enjoying it. Some people are true connoisseurs and only drink certain types, some people only drink it for the high they get and others are full on caffeine fiends and get angry and irritable without it (I found this out talking to a barrista at starbucks, boy do those people deal with some interesting folks).

I was talking with my friend Tim about coffee and its role in society. He is one of those people that drinks coffee for the physical effect it has on him. He said when he first started drinking coffee 10 or so years ago he had to load it up with cream and sugar because the taste was so bad. Now he says he's "okay with it tasting like shit because (when he drinks it) it just turns on that happy button". He takes it black now. Tim is convinced that coffee plays a pivotal role in society. He goes so far as to say that if coffee "went away tomorrow", people would just stop working. Tim says that coffee makes him generally more productive and tolerant. Often times during the day his boss will come in and chit chat with him on his own coffee buzz and if Tim hasn't had his coffee he doesn't even want to hear it. "Go away motor mouth!". I agree with Tim's assessment of coffee being the number one legal drug that people are addicted to in this country (here's a link to a coffee addicts' recoveries anonymous). What would we all do without it?

Wish me luck with newfound caffeine thrills.

La Esencia de Klimt - New Renderings of Old Paintings

I found these done by Kattaca. They are fabulous so enjoy...



Go here to see all of them.

Portland Day 2 - Walking Around

Today I walked all around Portland with Jane and Steve and saw all kinds of pretty things. I went to DeSchutes Brewery and threw coins at the wall to try and make the tip jar ( I missed ), I walked by a really pretty church, tried on some hats and I went to Chinatown and saw a really pretty garden. See the pictures below. :)

Portland Road Trip- On the way up

We departed on our trip a little later than expected. Graham and I got to LA at around 3:45 and we didnt leave Jenna and Craig's house til about 5:45. We stopped for gas and food at an amazing little place called “Locali” where I got the most delicious Gluten-free sandwich and peanut butter cookies, a tastey Honey Root Beer and these really good raw Kale “Notchos” things. We finally got on the freeway at about 6:45. Driving for the first few hours was super fun. Graham had a mouthful of food and stories for us to hear before he fell asleep, Craig told us hilarious tales from his daily life on the job and we all checked our facebook/twitter/texts frequently. We departed LA in a car full of 4 people, a couple bags of clothes, some rockclimbing gear, 2 apple laptops, 2 blackberries and 2 iphones. We stopped in Bakersfield for some water and toilet usage and I overheard these women talking very exuberantly in the restrooms about being owed money from their bosses. At around 9 we settled down a little bit and started listening to Radiohead's “Hail to the Thief”. At one point Jenna leaned forward and said “4 of the most talkative people we all know are sitting in one car... silent”. Hahah and that's the truth.

When we all came to at around 5 am Graham was getting a ticket in Northern California for speeding. It was kind of jarring, we were all stumbling around looking for registration, insurance information etc. After we got the ticket Jenna asked the cop if he would mind taking a picture with us. He wasn't really having that at all. He said he wasn't allowed to be photographed with people unless it was the media. Jenna weakly attempted to convince him that she was paparazzi and when that didn't work we were on our way.

Attack of the Asthma- My Healthcare Experience

I have been struggling with severe Asthma since I was 7 years old. It has caused me to have been hospitalized a few times and to have to have gone to the ER hundreds of times. My Asthma is allergy, exercise and stress induced. For example; I have to limit my time at people's houses who have cats because too many times I have had to rush to the hospital after being overcome with an attack. I'm the nerdy girl in the corner sucking on my inhaler while everyone is having a good time. It's definitely a buzzkill. I have had all sorts of treatments for it. I used to get allergy shots 3 times a week. I have been on all sorts of medications. I have received all types of alternative treatments for it as well. I have gotten chiropractic care, acupuncture, EMF etc. At one point I had seeds taped in my ears for a couple weeks. I got really into Yoga which has helped me manage it a little. Suffice it to say I have learned that this is something I have to live with and I have done a pretty good job of being able to manage it on my own. I have done a pretty good job of being able to manage it on my own, but I have always had health insurance, so I haven't had too much difficulty getting the medication I need to survive.

A couple months ago I lost my job, and with it, my health insurance. I

have been struggling to get medication ever since. I ran out of my relief inhaler (Albuterol) rencently. My doctor gave me some samples of a preventative (Symbacort) inhaler. She told me to take it twice a day. I have been taking them once a day for about 2 weeks now and they have turned me into a crack head! There are steroids in them and the side effects of that are terrible. I haven't been sleeping very well at all. My skin is breaking out, my heart is pounding out of my chest with palpitations and I feel all together disgusting. Obviously, I need to stop taking this medication. But I'm trapped. I don't have my rescue inhaler, so if I stop taking the preventative medication I will be without breath. So obviously I need to get an inhaler. Easy right? Not so much! First of all I live in HELL and there are no free clinics near here. So I have a few options. Go to urgent care and pay hundreds of dollars for an office visit and prescriptions, go

to mexico and get cheap meds there or wait until I'm having an asthma attack and go to the emergency. I have thought about leaving town to go to a clinic on a regular basis. This beats begging friends and family to get fake prescriptions or handing over their meds to me. NONE of these options sound ideal but what would you do in this situation?

This is a perfect example of how lack of affordable healthcare in this country has failed me. I have a condition (asthma) that I need medication to sustain my life. I am not taking advantage of anyone, nor am I abusing any types of drugs, I am simply a human being who can't live without medication. It has gotten to the point where in order to prevent emergency visits (which I wouldn't be able to afford anyway) I am going to need to cross the borders to get affordable medication. Can someone please tell me why this is okay? Yay to congress for shooting down the public option amendment(sarcasm)!

My Art and What it Means to Me

I consider myself and artist. Not because I think I am any good at what I do or because I think my work is marketable; but because I absolutely must "create" in order to be happy with my life. In this respect I believe everyone on the planet to be an artist in one way or another whether they are aware of it or not. I am aware of my need to create just like I am aware that I need to eat, breathe and sleep. My mediums vary as well as my subjects but whatever I find myself creating it gives me purpose.

My creative process is sometimes tedious and defeating but I know I have to do it. One of my goals in life is to be a better artist. It's a never ending goal and I can always work toward it. That is part of what makes it so special to me.

There are a lot of things I struggle with as an artist. When I am working on a piece of art I usually always hate what I am working on for the first few sittings. I find that the pieces I hate the most in the beginning tend to be the ones I end up actually liking in the end. This could very well be because I spend a lot more time on these pieces and they grow on me. I am not really sure. Sometimes I struggle with patience as well. If I am nearing the end of a piece (or what I think might be the end) sometimes I want to rush through it and stop. I think this leaves me with a lot of work that I feel is unfinished. Sometimes when I feel uninspired to start something new I come back around to these old pieces and do some finishing touches. One of the biggest challenges I face is knowing when I need to put a piece that I am working on down and come back to it later. There are times when you just have to walk away from your work and come back to it with a new perspective. If something isn't working right for me I find it difficult to walk away from it. I have ruined more than one painting by messing with one particular spot over and over until it's far worse off than when i started with it. Despite all of these difficulties that I have making art is the one thing I can enjoy doing in almost any setting. I can do it alone, with a group of people or in a crowded public place.

Someday I hope to be gainfully employed utilizing my ability to express creativity. Until then I do what I have to do and that to me is painting/drawing/sketching as much as humanly possible.

Some of my work.

Rock Climbing

I am so grateful that I got into this sport. It keeps me strong and in good shape. It's given me confidence and a sense of accomplishment (especially when I finish a route I haven't been able to in the past). It's very meditative. It helps me to clear my mind completely and it's an incredible stress reliever. When I climb outside I feel a total connection with the outdoors. I love it.

I get my gear at Nomad Ventures. Brian is the best. He is seriously knowledgeable and incredibly friendly.

Some of the places I like to climb:

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway - This place is a bouldering heaven. It's a summer only spot because it snows during the winter time.

Malibu Creek - This is a really established place to climb. There are tons of sport routes here and it's really really pretty. A lot of it stays pretty shaded for most of the day.

Tahquitz - Tons of multi pitch trad climbing here. It's beautiful. Climbing here is really fun because the views are amazing. The approach is hell.

Gym Climbing- I like Thresh Hold in Riverside and Vertical Hold in MiraMar.


Here are some pictures of me and my friends on some of our climbing advantures

FM 94.9 Independence Jam

It's about the music!

The only radio station I really like put on a concert June 7th with some really great bands. I was fortunate enough to have been there. (see slideshow below)
I was most pleased to see Metric. They were amazing. Emily Haines' voice is awesome! It was really fun to dance and sing to them.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were really good too. Karen O has some crazy outfits!

The Black Keys really rocked. I can't believe it's just two guys!

The night ended with a beautiful sunset and smiles.

California State Disappointment - Federal Judge Appointment (hopefully)

Today Obama announced his decision as supreme court nominee as Sonia Sotomayor. Already the Republicans are releasing the hounds on her. Read more here.

Also today, California's supreme court decides to uphold the Prop 8 ban on same sex marriage. It also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed. Read more here.

Netflix Movies

Yay! I recently decided to subscribe to Netflix. I love movies and I don't have cable so I thought, "What the heck?". If you are on Netflix, be my friend! Click here.

Here are some of the movies I have watched in the past couple weeks:

The Great Debaters

"When African-American poet Mel Tolson (Denzel Washington, who also directs) creates a debate team at historically black Wiley College, he pushes the team to a level of excellence that allows them to challenge powerhouse Harvard in 1935. But despite public success, personal clashes foment as the father (Forest Whitaker) of one of Tolson's students resents his son's loyalty to his coach. Denzel Whitaker co-stars in this drama based on a true story."

This movie was awesome. It was very moving in many ways. It was one of those movies where you could really feel the human plight. I gave it 5 stars on Netflix.


Grace Is Gone

"Director James C. Strouse's indie drama stars John Cusack as Stanley Phillips, an ex-military man trying to find the courage to break some devastating news to his two daughters: Their mother has died while serving in Iraq. As he works through his complex feelings about his wife's death and the war, Stanley delays telling his girls the truth, instead taking them on an excursion to a theme park. The film won the Dramatic Audience Award at Sundance 2007."

Grace is Gone is a great anti-war movie that really gave great examples of how 1 war casualty is never just one person. I gave it 4 stars.


Dan in Real Life

"Advice columnist and widowed father of three Dan Burns (Steve Carell) has met someone new. Marie (Juliette Binoche) is beautiful, she's smart -- and she just so happens to be the girlfriend of Dan's brother Mitch (Dane Cook). With a publicly recognized moral compass, Dan finds himself torn between reaching for happiness and keeping the peace in his family. Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney co-star in this romantic comedy from director Peter Hedges."

I actually wasn't that fond of this movie. It was too predictable and not very funny. I gave it 2 stars.

Company of Thieves

On Wednesday April 29th I saw this band live at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. This was probably one of the best live shows I have EVER seen. Company of Thieves is a band from Chicago and this was their first visit to San Diego. FM 94.9 has been playing their song on the radio for the past month or so and needless to say this 6 dollar show was sold out. They were incredibly humble and delightful with awesome stage presence. I can't believe how good the sound was at this venue. They did a cover of Janis Joplin's "a little piece of my heart" that floored me. Genevieve Schatz is a tiny sprite-like individual with an incredibly powerful voice. I see this band (hopefully) getting really big. Their songs are all very different from each other and equally catchy. I highly recommend seeing this band if you ever have a chance.

Another band that played that night was really fun to watch was 'Stripes and Lines'. All four band members were right at the front of the stage and the drummer was the lead singer. They were incredibly funky and technical. Go see them too if you have the chance.

Good times!

My Birthday Weekend

So my birthday was this past weekend and I did some fun things.

On Saturday night I went to Oishi Sushi in Temecula for some tasty foods. I drank some yummy Sake and had amazing sushi.

On Sunday I headed to Santee for my first ever outdoor bouldering experience. I rented some climbing shoes from Sport Chalet (8 bucks only!) and they worked out pretty well. The day was beautiful. I'm still sore from it. :)

After climbing and cleaning up I went out to dinner with some loved ones at Kemo Sabe restaurant in Hillcrest. It's a Japanese/Native American fusion restaurant and it was VERY tasty. I highly recommend the "Dim Sum and then Sum". The presentation was amazing. The food was delicious. This place has definitely made it to my top 5 restaurant list.


I ended my birthday festivities with a Gluten-Free Cooking Class at Sir La Table in Carlsbad. We made an amazing pasta with Swiss Chard, Dates, Artichokes, Kidney Beans and Rice Pasta. YUM! All in all it was a good weekend.

4 Trees

Here are pictures of 4 tree paintings I have done. To see more art go here.

April 15th

So today is tax day and it's also the 105th day of the year. For some it's not the most pleasant day of the year. It often means paying large sums of money to the federal and state government and we often can't remember why we do this. April 15th was not always the day to pay taxes though. In 1913 the filing deadline was March 1st! While taxes are a necessary evil (depending on who you ask), there are many other interesting things that have happened on April 15th. The following is a list of things that have happened on this day throughout US and world history.

Birthdays:

1469 Guru Nanak Dev, Founder of Sikhism
1492 Leonardo da Vinci, Rennaisance man
1843 Henry James, American novelist
1889 A. Philip Randolph, American Civil Rights Activist
1892 Bessie Smith, American Blues Singer
1959 Emma Thompson, British actress
1965 Linda Perry, American Singer, Songwriter and Producer
1968 Ed O'Brien, British Musician (Radiohead)
1982 Seth Rogen, Canadian Actor and Writer

Many more birthdays listed here

Deaths:

1865 Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
1912 Edward Smith, Captain of the Titanic
1912 William T. Stead, American Author and Journalist (Died on the Titanic)
1980 Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel laureate
1990 Greta Garbo, Swedish actress
2001 Joey Ramone, American musician and singer


Historical Events:

1892 The General Electric Company is formed.
1912 The British passenger liner, the RMS Titanic, sinks in the North Atlantic, after hitting an iceberg two and a half hours earlier, the previous day, killing over 1,500 people.
1923 Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.
1924 Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
1947 Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.
1989 – Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China.
1992 – The National Assembly of Vietnam adopts the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
1994 – Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and initiating the World Trade Organization (effective January 1, 1995).

First Dog

Media is swimming with the news of the Obamas finally getting a puppy. They decided on a Portuguese water dog. They named the dog "Bo" apparently after Michelle's father who's nickname was "Diddley" (after the famous Bo Diddley who was one of the founding fathers of Rock n Roll). The Obamas decided on a Portuguese water dog because Malia has allergies to dogs and it is one of the breeds that is somewhat hypo-allergenic. Portuguese water dogs, or "Porties", are known to be excellent companion dogs and have a great temperament. They also have webbed feet which helped with catching fish in Portugal (thus the name). They are expected to live 12 years but 14-16 years is not uncommon for a Portie.

Bo was a gift from senator Ted Kennedy and his wife. He was one of their dogs' littermates. Ted Kennedy (and his dog Splash) wrote a children's book called, "My Senator and Me: A Dog's Eye View of Washington, D.C. ". In this book, "we follow Senator Kennedy and Splash through a busy day in D.C., from press conferences to meetings with school groups to committee discussions to a floor vote. The result is an exciting, behind-the-scenes look at the life of one of the most energetic figures in American politics -- and, of course, his equally famous owner."

It's encouraging to see such admirable political people who are so in love with their dogs. I wish good luck to the Obamas in their newest adventures as dog owners.

Books I have been reading

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain- Betty Edwards
'Not only a book about drawing, it is a book about living. This brilliant approach to the teaching of drawing should not be dismissed as a mere text. It emancipates.' Los Angeles Times

My friend and I are reading this book and doing the lessons chapter by chapter. We are going to meet after every chapter and draw. I hope it helps me improve my drawing skills.


Autobiography of a Yogi- Paramhansa Yogananda
Paramhansa Yogananda was the first yoga master of India whose mission it was to live and teach in the West. In the 1920s, enthusiastic audiences filled the largest halls in America to hear him speak. His initial impact was truly impressive. But his lasting influence is greater still. This book, first published in 1946, helped launch, and continues to inspire, a spiritual revolution in the West. (From the back cover of the book)

I picked this book up for about a dollar in a little thrift store in Ventura. I have flipped through it several times and was inspired to pick it up again the other night after a discussion with a friend about spiritual phenomena and brain power. There is a part of this book that talks about a woman who refrains from food or drink for a very long period of time (years) without dying. Interesting book.

Vegan Fire & Spice: 200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes- Robin Robertson
Whether you like your food mildly seasoned or boldly spiced, Vegan Fire & Spice is the go-to book for great-tasting and healthful global vegan recipes. --Neal Barnard, M.D., president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

This book was a gift and I have been thumbing through it lately trying to find some good picks for a dinner party i want to have. There are so many options!

Winning Chess Strategies- Yasser Seirawan
This is the third of Seirawan's four-volume series, which takes the reader from chess greenhorn to a player advanced enough to understand grandmaster play. Here, Seirawan shows how to set long-range goals for a game and systematically gain a superior position...

I was browsing the bookstore for a Chess book. At the time I was completely green with little to no experience playing the game. I was just barely learning the rules. A guy approached me (surprised) asking if I was really looking for a Chess book. He had coincidentally been in the same aisle looking for something different but he had been playing competitive Chess since grade school. He told me I absolutely had to have this book. They didn't have it at the book store so I had to order it. Two weeks or so later and voila! I have a Chess book. I plan to get good enough to at least beat a couple of my friends ;).

White and Blue Peacock

The Peacock symbolizes many different things in various cultures. In Hinduism the Peacock is the vehicle (or Vahana) of the deity Skanda representing splendor, majesty and vanity. Ancient Christian belief was that the flesh of the peafowl did not decay and so the bird became a symbol of immortality and is represented in many early Christian mosaics and paintings. The list is long for things that the Peacock or it's feathers represent, but one thing can definitely be said to be true; it is certainly a beautiful and awe inspiring creature. The picture below is from a Flickr album and it's an albino peacock mixed with a blue peacock (both from India). It's amazing.

Art Work in Progress

So I am working on a painting for my cousin of the view off of her balcony. I am doing it with watercolor. Here is what it looks like so far. I want to make the colors a bit more bold and make the painting as a whole less traditional looking. I will post a picture of what it looks like when it's finished.

Also, I started an art blog that has a few contributors. Check our stuff out here.



















See more at http://mypeacockfeather.blogspot.com/

And it's made from PAPER!

I recently stumbled upon a website by the artist Peter Callesen. He makes these amazing works of art out of paper. I have posted a couple of his works here but go to his site to check out more!