I can't believe how this past week flew! This was an extremely busy weekend too. On Saturday, one of my friends, Carolyn, had a few of us over for lunch at her place. I had a great time. I got to catch up with 3 dear friends from Garfield. It's kind of funny that every time I see people from my old school, Garfield, the first or one of the first questions to me is, "When are you coming back to Garfield?" I have no idea what next year will look like for me. I am hoping just to stay in one place for awhile, whether that be our next home or this crazy job of mine. Yesterday, I had breakfast with Maria. Maria and I try to have breakfast every Sunday. We hang out at a little restaurant in San Marino, called "Colonial Kitchen". We spent part of the afternoon cruising my neighborhood. Maria is thinking of buying a house this year and really loves my neighborhood - so do I. So much so, that I am hoping our next place is in this same neighborhood. This morning, my husband, Mike, and I had breakfast at my favorite place to have breakfast, "Julienne's", in San Marino. I LOVE their french toast! We got back around 11:30 and I headed out the door to run errands. I spent a couple of hours shopping for art supplies, particularly Valentine's Day themed artwork. I have a couple of serious deadlines coming up for Valentine's Day swaps. One of the swaps I'm a part of is a paper doll swap. We will make 3 dolls and then, mail them off to the hostess. I haven't made a paper doll since I was a little girl, but these type of dolls are not the kind I would have made or played with as a child. The second swap is on a grander scale: I will be making 36 Valentine Day cards. My dear friend, Carol, is having her annual Valentine's Day tea party. This will be the first time I will be attending the tea party and I am really excited about all the art we will be creating and swapping. Each of the guests will receive a Valentine's Day card that I have created for them. Both deadlines are for early February, which is right around the corner. While I was checking out what art supplies I was going to buy, I received a text from my dear friend, George. George was at an appointment in Pasadena. We hadn't seen each other since before the holidays. Anyway, since George was right down the street, we decided to make some time to meet for coffee, tea, and dessert, since I am not a coffee drinker. I invited George to our house since he had never been here before. George got a chance to meet my husband and check out our place. Then, we were off to the "Coffee Table", in Eagle Rock. I drove. The restaurant is just down the hill from us, about 5 minutes. George had a burger and coffee and I had a slice of cheesecake and iced tea. We got a chance to catch up. Then, I drove through the arroyo so George could see how beautiful the view is at night and he got a glimpse of San Rafael. We got to our place and I made George a cup of coffee before he left. After George left, I went to the market, got back and made dinner, then cleaned up. I think I need another 3-day weekend just to recuperate from this extremely busy weekend! These two journal pages are my latest art. I started working on them at the end of December and into early January. I am not one to make New Year's resolutions. The December page is about all the great things I experienced in the past year. Although there is some sadness to some of those things, all were learning experiences. I am hoping to speed up the artwork, beginning tomorrow night. If I can swing it tomorrow, I hope to do a little artwork after dinner. I am hoping to go to the gym too.

Speaking of the Art Center, these 2 pages are from one of my books. I made the book a month prior to taking "Artists' Sketchbooks and Journals", my first class at the Art Center. Two of the most prominent, symbols I use in my work are hearts and hands. Because I have a short attention span, I get bored using the same book. I bounce back and forth with my journal books instead of using only one, from start to finish. By bouncing back and forth, I can pick up an old book, work in it again, and actually see just how far I have come as an artist. This book is a year old and still has a few blank pages. It is time to re-visit my old friend. I prefer to make my own journals, what I call "visual journals", then to buy them. Every once in awhile, I will buy a blank book or I will receive one as a gift. Somehow, the book calls to me to do a little of my "alterations" so that it has its own personality. I have recently altered a sketchbook and am working in the pages inside.

This past week was extremely busy. I went back to work on Tuesday and although I still don't feel 100% yet, the job couldn't wait for me to feel better. Friday was the craziest day I have ever had as an administrator. I made 8 visits to the dean's office, had 5 parent conferences, and I suspended 2 students who we are going to move to new schools. And that was only half of my day! The weekend flew! On Saturday, I spent a couple of hours finishing my drawing for one of my classes. There is no class next Sunday, so that will give me a chance to finish my homework and reading for the following week. I start school tomorrow @ the Art Center. I have been attending the Art Center for the last year. I will be taking a storytelling class and have absolutely no idea what the class will entail! I really don't care; whatever class I take is always a good challenge. I SO enjoy the change of pace that my art classes provide me. It is a quite a welcome departure from the fast pace of my job. This was our first homework assignment for my drawing class. The instructor gave us 2 copies of a famous female nude and had us draw her upside down, using one of the copies as our guide. A different approach from how I have been taught to draw, but it really gives you a completely different perspective and so, I was very happy with the results.

I went back to work today! It was an extremely busy day. I still don't feel 100%, so I don't want to over-do it. But it was good to be back at work. This is one of my favorite pieces. I altered an atlas awhile ago and this is a piece I created inside the book's pages. I am taking a drawing class at one of our local community colleges. The class meets from January to March, on Sunday mornings. Class is from 9:00 a.m. (what was I thinking?!) to noon. It is really, really hard for me to get up early on the weekends! Unless I am working on a Saturday or have some type of social engagement, I am just awful about getting up before 7:30 a.m. My rationale is there is no reason to get up any earlier. The getting up isn't the problem - it is the getting out of bed that is the hardest part for me. Besides the drawing class, I start back at the Art Center, here in Pasadena, this upcoming week. I will be taking one class, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., on Mondays only. It is a story-telling class that I will be taking for the next 4 months. I am really excited about this course since the class will give me an opportunity to combine my writing skills with art. Sort of what I have tried to do with my photographs and books all these years.

Gipsy Kings - Pida Me La 2001

Speaking of Spain, more Spanish culture. This is a video of my favorite Latin group, the Gipsy Kings, singing my all-time favorite song of theirs, "Pida Mi La", "Ask Me For Her". The Gipsy Kings have put flamenco music on the world map for the last 30 years. I NEVER get tired of these guys!

Solea por Bulerias - Manuela Vargas, Joaquin Cortes

This video is from Almodovar's "The Flower of My Secret" ("la flor de mi secreto"). Almodovar is one of my two favorite directors; Woody Allen is the other. Joaquin Cortes smolders in this dance number with the great, Manuela Vargas. There isn't an Almodovar's movie I haven't enjoyed. And after I have seen whatever is his latest, it leaves me wanting more. I have been a HUGE Almodovar fan since the mid-80's, when I first discovered his movies.

One good thing that has come out of me being sick, I have been able to stay on top of my blog. I am hoping to be back at work tomorrow; that is the game plan. And although I don't feel 100%, it is time to get back to my routine. Today, I thought about all the things that didn't get done while I was on vacation these past 3 weeks and that got me thinking about places I have been to in the last 10+ years. One of those places was Spain; Madrid to be exact. I visited Madrid in March 1997. I went on my own and stayed in Madrid for a week. I fell in love with the city and vowed to return in a year. Well, that didn't happen! But I am itching to go back as early as this summer. There are 2 regions in Spain I would love to see: the Basque area, particularly, the village where my grandmother's family is from, in Bilbao, and of course, one of my BIG loves: Andalusia, the part of the country that includes Sevilla and Granada. Since none of my Madrid photos survived the fire we had at our old house in Eagle Rock, I decided to search for photos online of some of my favorite places in Madrid. Here are a few of those sites:

This is a very famous site, the fountain of Cibeles, or in Spanish, la fuente de cibeles. The fountain is located on one of the busiest streets in Madrid, "Calle Alcala". It was extremely difficult for me to get across the street. In fact, I got half-way across the street and realized there was still another half of the street to go. I almost died getting across that street, but it was worth the risk. Breath-taking!

Speaking of Calle Alcala, here it is in all its glory!

This is the "hub" of the city: Puerto del Sol. I spent a lot of my time in this area. Puerto del Sol is a quad, a gathering place for tourists from all parts of the world, as well as for Madrilenos. One day, a week day, I was strolling through Puerto del Sol. I was taking pictures and saw a teenaged bride and groom, dressed in traditional bridal clothing, dancing through the quad. There was a small group of family members following behind the couple and a few musicians. I followed them, in the hopes of taking some pictures of them. I kept thinking this opportunity would make a great photo! A photo of a life-time! I didn't get too far because I got stopped by an older, American woman from the Mid-west, who spoke absolutely terrible Spanish! She had her dictionary in her hand and asked me something so off-the-wall in Spanish, that even I couldn't understand what the hell she was saying. I remember telling her I spoke English and that I was also American. Omigod, she went absolutely ape shit hearing those words. When I was first stopped by this woman, I thought she had a real emergency. I later found out she and her husband were looking for Puerto del Sol and did not realize that they were already at their destination. I told her she was standing in Puerto del Sol, then I took off to look for the bride and groom. Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be found. I ran into that American couple one more time during my week in Madrid; they were at the Prado the day I visited the museum. They sure remembered me. They came up to me in the restaurant at the museum, to say "hi". They had another couple, also Americans, with them. The other woman in the party asked me if I knew where the "no smoking" section of the restaurant was. I told her, "This isn't the U.S. There is no such thing as 'no smoking' areas in Europe." WOW.