Shit I'm Digging

This is the work of one awesome Adam- Monster Size Monster Chandliers. I must have one! Check out all of his Cthulhu looking chandliers http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=30560249
I'm wondering what came first in this room. The chandlier was designed to go in the room, or the room was designed to go with the chandlier?

Midnight Sun

It was the biggest celebration in town this past weekend. I would even dare to say bigger than Christmas. The leading factor being that its warm! We finally reach 80F this Saturday during the Midnight Sun Festival.

I got asked back to do another street painting at the festival. Instead of doing my own piece and then having the other girls share a piece 'we' decided to all work on my piece. That decision was made the day before when the girls hadn't picked their own piece to do:) So this time around I decided to tackle the ever present, nagging question, "Why don't you do Alaskan art?" Never when I was in Colorado did anyone ever as me to do Coloradan art. I discussed this with other people & came to believe that this is only so with transplants. People that move to Alaska are obsessed with anything & everything Alaskan. Fine be that way, but its rediculious to want Alaskan art as a street painting. That would be either a landscape or a painting of a native....stuff that you can see everywhere!

Needless to say, I decided to give them what they want & did a piece I titled:

Napoleon Crossing the Alaskan Range on Moose

I decided to adapt David's Napoleon Crossing the Alps to make it into 'Alaskan art'....just add a moose. A lot of people laughed, some still asked why I didn't do Alaskan art.

The next day I went to an outdoor wedding. I had to wear dark stockings & tennies because I was so sore & bruised. I was embrassed to go like this but when I showed up- I was the most dressed up besides the wedding party.

The reception was on the sternwheeler Tanana Chief. We board @ 7pm & returned @ 10pm. Since this was a Chinese wedding, for the first time I can actually say that I was Shanghaied:) This wedding was helpful for my research. I'm under the belief that there is no such thing as a free meal in Alaska. I have only been to one dinner that all I had to do was show up. Every other occasion it was potluck. So what was the wedding? You got it, potluck! Though they called it a heritage meal. You were supposed to bring a meal representing your own heritage. I brought English trifle; easy to make, a bitch to find a dish for. I ended up having to use an oversized brandy glass that I got from the flora decoration section of Michael's.

The conversation was good. I learned a new bit of trivia. The term 'Poop Deck' comes from the sternwheelers. The bathrooms are located at the back, infront of the wheels. When the toilet is used & the wheels are turning, guess where the poop gets flung? Good times.

Miss you more than people that got their art exprience other than from the internet, V

A moment of Zen

Itchy goes everywhere with me, even to work. My dance partner Rachel had to take of picture of Itchy while we were practicing at UAF's Great Hall (one of the only free practice space in town). She looks so at peace in such a vast space.

Bento box love

Just a short note about the awesomness that is bento boxes. Two weeks ago I was roaming around the storage/closet organization section of Fred Meyer's & there sitting on the clearance shelf were two Japanese bento boxes. With my added coupon, I paid for 12 cents each. Score!

So I went & got this suggested bento boxes cookbook:

Then I decided that once a week, I would make bento for myself & my new roommate Jenny. So I did the grocery shopping which in Fairbanks is more like a scavenger hunt. Atleast now I'm more knowledgable about shopping up here. Example-- at the Korean store, when there was only one container of Umeboshi left, I wasn't planning on cooking with it this week but I want to make some onigiri with it, I decided to buy it anyway. I wanted chesnuts for New Year's....they restocked them last week. Understand?

This is today's lunch. My first attempt @ a bento box lunch:

To use English terms: Daikon rice sprinkled with GREAT pepperoni pizza (tastes better than you would think) furigaki; sauted lotus root, marinated steamed mackerel (tastes great! smells awful); Japanese omelet (meaning there's sake in there); fruit on a fruit stick (I'm excited about the fruit stick, I found it at the new party store while waiting for my I/M test:); & Sesame balls....don't ask me where you can buy them because I made those bad boys all on my own. Yup, my number one favorite in all Chinese buffets is the Sesame Ball & I figured out how to make them. My roommate had them for the first time last night & she quoted from Kung Fu Panda "There is not cost for awesomeness!"

Miss you more than chopsticks, V

Costume Malfunction

More dancing & art.
Every Friday night @ 7pm in June, I will be dancing @ the gazebo in Pioneer Park with Tundra Carvan. This summer is going to be a completely different experience from last summer because now I know more than two of their dance routines & am in the professional troupe. With the professional troupe comes the bedlah costume. My measurements were taken & sent to Turkey, then late last month my beaded & sequins bra & belt set came in....6 inches too big. I asked the other ladies where to take them to get professionally altered & they told me that they would get back with me. I waited & waited until Thursday night I decided to pin it myself. Brilliant!...that is until I was dancing 'The Huntress' & the back of my bra came detached. I finished the dance but it was almost a breathtaking performance. Atleast I wasn't the only one that had a malfunction. On the next song, Liz's bra snapped open in the front. Ouch!

I've been doing a lot of street painting. One during the Memorial Day weekend on the river walk then this past Friday out front of The Stash store for their grand opening on the First Friday Art Walk.

Ellen did Andy Warhol's bull

I did his Siberian Tiger

And Jennie did his monkey

Besides streets I've done some signs for a friend's tea shoppe. (I haven't taken any pictures of that) I've been doing so much that I started to get worried if I'll have enough chalks for the Midnight Sun Festival next weekend. So I called up my friend Kitty Kim to go to Meininger's in Denver & pick me up some of the HUGEMONOUS Prang chalks. She politely called me with Meininger's store manager to tell me that Prang has discontinued those chalks. My earth has shattered!! They were huge & only costed $1.90/chalk, if I want to get the same size chalk in another brand then it will cost me $14/chalk! There is no justice for artists?

Luckily there was repreve this week when Fairbanks had its first goth club night. Yippee! I had just moved into my new apartment with wonderfule roommate, Jenny, & had only unpacked a couple of boxes when I found out about the evening. So I had to dig through the back of my truck to find something to wear. Trust me, I may be living in an Upper Fairbankian ghetto, but I still didn't want all of my belongings displayed on the parking lot for neighbors to scope out. But I did do it all for one skirt & a dress. No only does fashion make you insane, its also painful.

The whole party was being thrown because Kynt & Vixen from the Amazing Race were coming through town. Nice people, but I didn't have the guts to tell them that I hadn't owned a tv since 1994. There was an amazing turn-out of 20 people! Whoo hoo! Of that 20 people I think 6 of us had actually listened to the music before.