A (Full) Day in My Life

Yesterday was a full day! It started with my Northern Baroque Art History class at OU, which I LOVE!!! The rest of the day went something like this...

I went to Native Roots Market in Norman with Phillip.  It was my first time to visit and I am so impressed! It's all "local, natural and organic!"

If you bring your own shopping bag, they give you a token to place in tube, labeled with the name of local charities.  You can choose who to support with your token and they will donate a quarter per token to that charity. I think this is a great idea and it goes hand in hand with ideas James and I have had related to fund raisers and other events at SixTwelve.  

I narrowed down my choice to Dreamer Concepts Studios because I think Amber Clour and her team are doing great things for the arts in Norman or to the Junior League of Norman because I used to be a member (when I lived in Norman) and because they do wonderful things for kids related to literacy, teen motherhood and many other contributions to the community. So what did I choose?

I chose Junior League! But next time I'll choose Dreamer! :)

After we left Native Roots, we went to Phillip's brother's house to see the ducks in the backyard. They really were cute and I got to experience something else I'd never done before.

There was a nest!

And I got to collect eggs!

They are a little bigger than chicken eggs.  Phillip let me keep them and I scrambled a couple of them up this morning for breakfast.  I have to say, they're pretty good!

The Duck's House

After I got back up to the city, I took some lunch to James because he and Kyle were hard at work on painting new windows for the building!!!

Kyle was as excited as I was about it! Haha!

Then I came home and got ready for friends to come over and eat dinner, but first I had to take time to stop and appreciate the Wisteria that is in full bloom over my car port! It just looks and smells so good.

This morning I went to the Paseo Arts Festival planning meeting, which was also great! Life is full!

Warmth

Saturday was a warm day, inside and out.  Patrick, Phillip, Erin and I worked on the house and yard all day in preparation for a party I gave.  We were all running errands, checking off boxes of different projects and in the end, the house looked like I always imagined it could.  While we were working, I felt like I was taken back to a time when I first bought the house and Patrick, Phillip and I were consistently working on renovations. It was as if the warmth of that time was returned to me.  Then, as guests arrived, I realized even more just how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends, new and old.  My heart was and still is so full. :)

I'll try to post some before and after pics soon, but for now, here are some pics from the party. I'm so happy with how it all turned out!

Ready for the party!

Love these new plastic chairs from Lowe's and all of the color they add to the back yard!

Fire PIt!

Flip Books

The people who came made the party so fun.

There was a super moon that night! Nothing too crazy went down but everyone seemed to have a good time.
I know I did. :)

Lemon tree and the new grass that Phillip sowed! It's growing!

I might have needed a little time laying on the arbor swing the next morning. :)

The praying mantis egg case hatched in the green house! We have baby praying mantis eating bugs now! Yay!

Of course, we also have snails sometimes, but Phillip has gotten rid of most of them. 

A view from inside the green house

Hyacinths and Tulips! Welcome spring!

Flower boxes

Tulips!

Phillip is amazing.  He has no fear!

Taking down the paper lanterns.  It's supposed to rain today and we want to use them again!

I just love Phillip. :)

Catching Up!

The trip to Colorado brought about many great things.  It's always good when James and I can get away and talk about ideas for the building and school and we sure had some.  We not only found inspiration at 910Arts but we also gathered ideas for issues related to the Paseo Arts Festival music after watching the way things worked at the Snowball Music Festival.  (That was some fun work related experience. Heheh!) But seriously we did!

Currently we're thinking on the topic of board members for the non profit.  Anyone who has read this blog in the past knows that I have struggled with confidence and I have to say that this step is a challenge.  Who would want to support us and our ideas in such a grand way?  I don't know yet. I have some people in mind that I would like to ask, but I don't know if they'll say yes.  I do know that once we take this step, we can do anything.  I don't doubt my own ability to accomplish our goals anymore.  It's all learning process and we're learning as we go, but I feel that if I just keep working at it, it's all going to work out.  It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

Since we returned, life has been full of ups and downs.  Doesn't it always go that way?  Here are some images of the "ups."

I went to visit the family in Durant. Gaius sure loves his great grandpa. :)

I'm sorry but how cute is he??? :)

My sweet sister, Jenny, and myself.

Then Gaius, Jenny and Sam came to visit me! He's happy even at 6:30 a.m. I have to say that his sweet smile was a great start to the day!

Braden, Mike and Brad (lifetime friends) were in town and came over for dinner.  I love these men.

Me and Phillip before the Scissor Sister's show in Tulsa (Claire, Bobby and Patrick came too!)

Patrick and Phillip

Even Brad came over for the concert! 

Scissor Sisters Show at Cain's Ballroom

I came back early enough to pick my Oklahoma Food Coop order which included worms to make a worm bin! Yay! I'll make another post about that process soon!

910Arts

Thursday included a great trip to 910Arts in Denver.  Sometimes it's hard to just read a website and fully understand what a place has to offer or what it will look like in person. So we have decided to visit places that are doing similar things to what we want to accomplish.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how wonderful this space was and there were a lot of things that James and I would like to incorporate into our place in the Paseo, such as renting the gallery space out for events, leaving some things exposed in the building, wishing for as many skylights as possible, having display cases for artists in the hallways, and more! It was also really interesting to be able to walk around and peek into artists' studios and to observe them in their process.  There was so much creative energy flowing through this place and it made me excited about what we are doing because I can see many of these things happening at SixTwelve! (That's what we've decided to call our space.  The programs will continue to be named what we have decided, The Young School (preschool), YoungLab (adult programs), etc.) but the space itself and overall name for everything will be SixTwelve.

Here are some images from the visit!

After walking through the hallway entry off of the street, you're greeted with a courtyard.

The Courtyard  includes an entrance to a coffee shop, "Studio 6 Coffee Shop."

Looking back towards the entry hallway

Old Skylights from the original warehouse in the gallery space.

James checking out the skylights...we've had quite a few discussions about skylights.

They're putting a bar in the main exhibition space.  This gallery can be rented out for events.

Entrance to the gallery

Stairwell to Artists' Residences and Studio Spaces

Many of the Apartments and Studios had Display Cases Next to the Doors.

Display Case - We thought this was a great idea!

Atrium

There's Always More

Grabbing Smoothies in the Coffee Shop

Looking Out from the Inside

The Two Warehouses that Have Been Renovated, Joined and Turned Into 910Arts!