Today, I spent a good part of my day at the Huntington Museum. I have been wanting to see the "This Side of Paradise Body and Landscape in Los Angeles Photographs" show since it opened in June. It was amazing! The above photo is by Larry Sultan. The exhibit runs until September and I get the feeling I will be back at least 1 more time before it closes. And of course, I bought the book. It has an expensive price tag, but it is worth every penny. For more information, go to http://www.huntington.org/.

Because the weather was so comfortable, I spent quite a lot of time photographing the gardens. The gardens NEVER look the same. Each season has its own show. And because I am member, I try to take advantage of getting to the Huntingon a few times a year to photograph the change of season.

This is a shot of 1 of the sides of the Huntington residence. In the almost 2o years I have been going to the Huntington, today was the first time I noticed the statues on the side of the residence. Until today, I had never been on this side of the house. I LOVE the columns next to the statue. It appears that the columns and statue were all carved together.

Mexican sunflowers are my favorite of all sunflowers. I am not used to seeing the sunflowers this early since I associate the fall being the time of year when they bloom.

Today was a day of 1st's! I have never seen a purple magnolia. But here is 1 to challenge that notion that magnolias are only white!

Speaking of magnolias, look at these beauties! All along my street and in my neighborhood here in Pasadena, the magnolias are putting on a show for all of us.

The lilies-of-the-Nile were the first beauties I saw as I strolled through the gardens. What an amazingly gorgeous blue!

This part of the Huntington has been closed to the public for over a year. It recently re-opened. It is in the area directly behind the Huntington residence. And it offers a spectacular view of Los Angeles. I took a couple of panorama shots from this area.

Lastly, an apricot tree that needs just a little more time for its fruits to ripen. I liked how the branches are spread out and the apricots are like little jewels giving this tree its beauty.

Tonight, we celebrated a HUGE personal milestone. We celebrated our 10,000th day together as a married couple! We had dinner at the Parkway Grill, in Pasadena. The Parkway Grill is the same place we celebrated our 20th anniversary, back in 2001. Mike and I will be celebrating our 28th wedding anniversary this coming Valentine's Day. We have been together for almost 29 years - hard to believe almost my entire adult life! And like I told my dear husband this morning, I would do it all over again. Here's to another 10, 000 days! We were making jokes during dinner tonight that if we live to see another 10, 000 days, we will be way into our "golden years" - retired senior citizens! We got a little taste of that tonight - other than the hostess who seated us, we were the 2 youngest people in the restaurant!

Technically, I am on vacation for the next 3 weeks. However, I will be working all summer. The pace is a little slower for the next 3 weeks, so I am going to take advantage that I have a little breather. The plan is to make some new art. These 2 pages are from 1 of my journals. I really like how all the colors and textures seem to blend in perfectly with each other.

These are 2 of my latest postcards. The top postcard was created for 1 of my dearest and closest friends, George. I made this for his birthday, which was in May. George is a cop and he likes comics, so this piece was easy to create. I used 1 of the images from 'Mexican Pulp Fiction'. The bottom postcard was created for my boss. His birthday is in May too! My boss is what I would refer to as a "Renaissance" man and because he LOVES art and is Latin like me, this practically created itself! I like to use hearts and hands in my artwork as much as possible and this piece was easy to make.

A few days ago, I spent a good chunk of my day running around town in search of the latest issue of 'Cloth, Paper, and Scissors'. My dear friend, Juliana Coles is 1 of the featured artists and her artwork graces the cover of the magazine. So, this post will be about Juliana's artwork.
Juliana's work is something special. It is provocative, powerful, and unique. She is constantly challenging herself as an artist. As Juliana tells it, she is not interested in making art that is pretty.

I have been collecting Juliana's artwork for the last 5 years. More importantly, every opportunity I have to take 1 of Juliana's workshops, I jump at the chance! No one has challenged me to become a better artist like Juliana has. And I am SO grateful for that.

In some of these photos, I have included pieces from my own collection of Juliana's work. The woman with the black hair is a piece that Juliana did for me. This piece is part of a group of pages Juliana completed in 1 of my journals. This piece really stands out because Juliana originally started drawing me, but as she continued to work on it, the woman became more her than me! That is a good way of saying it... Juliana even wrote that into the page as a little note to me. If you ever get an opportunity to take 1 of Juliana's classes, like Kelly says, "Run, don't walk!" Her workshops will make you look at the world in a different way. And you will learn about yourself in ways you NEVER imagined!

I love how these flowers change from a fuchsia to a pale peach. These beauties put on quite a show, but unfortunately, it is very short-lived. Their blooming season is about 2 months long; peonies bloom in May and June. A little background regarding where the word "peony" comes from. The peony was named after Paean, who was a student of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing. As a result of Asclepius becoming jealous of his student, Zeus saved Paean by turning him into a flower. I LOVE mythology and take any opportunity to re-tell a story. It is the English teacher in me! That NEVER seems to go away.

Oh, the peony, my favorite flower of all.

After the mass, ceremony, and the taking of lots and lots of photos, my family headed to Beckham's, in Pasadena, for a celebratory dinner. Even my mom and younger brother, Mike, made it to dinner! It was really wonderful to turn off the phone, not think about work, and just enjoy the family for a few hours. That was the treat that magical night. And I hope my dear niece remembers all of the moments of her BIG day the rest of her life.

One proud uncle! Francesca got straight A's on her report card and made the Honor Roll once again! Uncle Mike Cazares was on the Dean's List every quarter at Cal State. The two were competing all the time regarding their grades. I told both of them I couldn't afford either one of them anymore!

Here she is the class salutatorian! I was SO proud of my little girl. It took every bit of me to stay focused! Emotions are hard to control at moments like this.

This past weekend was very busy, but enjoyable. The BIG news story of the weekend was my niece, Francesca's graduation. She was the salutatorian and gave a wonderful speech. My niece is now on her way to high school! Hard to believe! It seems like just only yesterday I was holding, feeding, and babysitting my little girl. In this picture, we were celebrating her 5th birthday. We had a little party for Francesca at her school.

On the road to San Francisco. We took a road trip to the city during the Memorial Day weekend. These 2 shots are of the San Luis Reservoir, in Los Banos.

As we got closer to the water, I rolled down my window and just starting snapping away. I took several shots of the reservoir and the day turned out to be perfect for taking pictures. It was sunny and the sky and water were beautiful shades of blues.

This shot is of the hills in Hollister. Hollister is about 90 minutes south of San Francisco. One of my oldest friends, Cam Sanchez, used to be Hollister's Chief of Police.

My constant companion, Mike Cazares. My husband was oblivious to me taking pictures of him! This was taken at a little French bakery in Cole Valley, one of the neighborhoods in San Francisco. When we lived in San Francisco in 1991, the bakery was called the "Tassajara". We lived in the "Haight-Ashbury" area of San Francisco, which is only a few blocks away from this bakery. Every afternoon, I would walk to the Tassajara and have a hot cup of tea and a small pastry. I would sit in the bakery and read for about an hour or so, then I would meet my husband's bus @ 5:30ish and the 2 of us would make our way back to our place, for dinner. My husband worked at a law firm downtown and rather than deal with parking, he would take the public transportation to and from work each day. I on the other hand, being an L.A. girl, would get in the car and explore the city, from 1 end to the other. This helped me to learn how to manuever the city very quickly.

A view of 1 of the neighborhoods. This is a shot from behind the Haight, coming into Noe Valley.

A panorama of the city in all its glory. What a beauty! I have been in love with San Francisco for the last 14 years. Every opportunity I get, I am back up there. And every time I leave the city, I go through major withdrawal.

In almost all of the neighborhoods, you will see small 'Mom and Pop' style markets. The markets will have their fruits and vegetables displayed in baskets outside, on the sidewalk. These next 2 shots are of a neighborhood market in Cole Valley. This is 1 of the markets I used to shop @ when we lived in San Francisco.

As I walked by all these fruits, you could smell all the aromas coming from the pears, pineapples, bananas, and peaches. They were begging to be chosen and eaten, and of course, they called to me to photograph them.