Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Being Normal is Not Good Enough


I don't know about you, but even with the best e-mail there is, I still get spam. I am constantly amazed at the titles when I scan them. I used to delete them all without checking, but of late, a few places I do business with have ended up in my spam folder. One time I had over 300 from the same viagra peddler, they were all sent one minute apart. The title to today's blog refers to one of the junk mail titles.

The creator of that title isn't acknowledging that there is almost no such thing as normal as we are all delightfully unique.

In the world of literature, one of my most revered novelists, Anne Tyler, uses her gifts writing about ordinary things in such a way as to make them seem extraordinary. I am in awe of her talents. She can write about a spice cabinet making it seem like the most interesting thing in the world. Same with her characters--on the outside you would probably pass them on the street without a second glance, oh, but their insides are full of surprises.

Enough already..here's what's been happening in our world:

I had the best day ever at the market which I'm hoping bodes well for the upcoming art show less than two weeks away. I had ZERO sales by 1:00 which is three hours after starting. Naturally, I was getting a tad discouraged. Things started happening culminating with one of the earlier browsers returning (while his wife was napping) to buy her the large canvas for Valentine's Day! Earlier, she had really wanted it, but he wouldn't budge. I was not only surprised when he returned, but as you've already guessed--delighted!

Prior to his return an older Chinese couple came in the booth conversing loudly as they examined what I was offering. Turns out they bought six different prints, including a framed piece. Bruce was wrapping them all together (thank goodness for Bruce in so many ways!) with this new cellophane stuff we got when the man snatched it from Bruce's hand and wrapped and wrapped. His wife explained it was because he was in construction. He is an architect and they live in NYC.

Which makes me realize that now my photos have gotten around a bit. Last week it was to Ireland, this week to NYC, in the near past they've gone to Canada, California, Texas, Kansas City, Chicago, Michigan, and England. That's all I can really remember, but who would have imagined? Certainly not me.

Proving that if you get out there with something you are passionate about exciting things will happen. That is what strikes people the most when they are talking to me, how much I love taking pictures. This blog is not called Camera Crazy for nothing!

Yesterday after photographing the swans I went to a huge gallery recommended by a friend. I went there to price framing material last week, but turns out I needed an appointment. Ashley, the girl from last week suggested I bring in some of my stuff to facilitate the process. I'm embarrassed to tell you I was late because I was fooling around with the pictures, but I was. Fortunately, this did not seem to hurt my stock with Chris, the sales manager. He wondered if I might like to hook up with them by making a reference book for his interior designer library. They do LARGE installations of work for HOTELS and other corporate places that use art work. You could have blown me over with a feather! He described how if chosen one photo could become very lucrative. I'm not holding my breath or anything, but that sounds like the bomb to me.

As I stated earlier in this post, I never, ever, dreamed I could be this far in the months since my darling Bruce suggested I make a go at selling my photography. It has come as quite a shock. I'm struggling with the business end of all this, but hopefully I'll improve with practice--it has done wonders for my photography.

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Now playing: Television - Marquee Moon
via FoxyTunes

Friday, February 8, 2008

Friday


I met Michelle on Park Avenue in Winter Park today for lunch. As you can see there was enough food for several people. I managed the soup (corn chowder) and 1/4 of the sandwich, both were delicious I might add. Park Avenue is the charming shopping street in WP, it reminds people of a European city with all the sidewalk cafes. I need not tell you that it was warm enough to eat outside. Actually we have had almost no winter which always makes a Floridian nervous about the summer. I'm sure I told you it was 85 degrees this week.

However, we cannot complain. Jonathan finally uploaded a picture to flickr showing the massive amount of snow on his street--wow! Speaking of Jonathan, Annie Lennox has now given way to one of his favorites, the Artic Monkeys on my iTunes. Alissa was kind enough to accompany him to see the band live in Chicago although it's not one of her favorites. And speaking of Alissa, she was officially hired by the PR firm where she's been working for months now. Congratulations. When they moved to Chicago with no employment it gave us pause but with the optimism of youth they did it and proved us wrong! I know they are counting the months until the weather improves. I've been very proud of how they've handled it thus far.

I've just returned from a walk with Baxter, I'm trying to be more diligent.

While in Winter Park I stopped by the museum to say hi to the curator of both the museum and the gardens. They have forgiven me for not staying on as a volunteer. Karen is such a nice person, not to mention a wealth of information regarding art work. We discussed this artist consignment form I'll be sending with my prints to Gainesville.

Which leads me to praise the world wide web. Whoever named that was a genius. Along with the new business cards I ordered, I got some t-shirts to wear at the show in two weeks from tomorrow. Unfortunately they were wrong. I thought this company was in the UK but when I called customer service I learned they are based in Bermuda, the call center is in Jamaica and the printing plant is in Ontario, Canada. Crazy huh. I must say it has been an extremely long time since I've had a pleasant customer service call ; I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. The woman could not do enough for me. A great way to start a Friday.

Out for a date now--see ya!


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Now playing: Annie Lennox - Coloured Bedspread
via FoxyTunes

Thursday, February 7, 2008

U23D


Here's what I have to say today--run, don't walk, to your nearest IMAX theater when it shows U23D, it is nothing short of amazing! Bruce got an earlier flight which allowed us to attend the 5pm showing-- wow, what a treat. There were only seven of us in the whole theater. It's really hard for me to praise it enough. We were lucky enough to see U2 in Tampa a few years ago and it was incredible. The 3D thing made it feel felt like Bono was going to touch us--if I don't quit this post I'll just bore you with more gushing.

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Now playing: U2 - Beautiful Day
via FoxyTunes

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

I'd Really Nothing Better to Do


Graceful Exit
Regular readers will know that I've had my struggles with my iMac. Today was one of those days. Really it started yesterday, but I didn't call until this afternoon. Somehow my computer did not recognize me, thus making tasks extra difficult. It only took a 2 1/2 hour consultation with three different guys before I was back in business. When the second guy said he was handing me off to someone else and the wait would be an additional forty minutes I was incredulous. Thank goodness for speaker phones!

For a good part of that holding time I made this wonderful orange juice from a tree in Lisa's yard. I can hardly wait until tomorrow morning to have my first fresh squeezed orange juice of the season. I've had some from a grove store, but the best is when you do it yourself. I squeezed all she gave me which made a bit over a gallon of the good stuff. I wish you were here Matt to share it!

Hurray! Michelle got her first gig from the pictures. Orlando is second in the nation for conventions for those of you unfamiliar with our city. She will be at one of the booths for the annual Homebuilders Show. This is typically one of the largest of the year; a super way to start. The mood may not be like last years what with the dreadful real estate downturn but I'm sure it will still be good.


Now that I've got my computer sorted out, my new pictures are up in my gallery. I have been handing out business cards with that gallery on them and I was not all that happy with what I had on there. I spent a bunch of my day yesterday finding new stuff. Speaking of cards, one of the benefits of doing the market is finding out info from other vendors. My new friend, Brandee told me about a website that prints cards for cheap. Turns out they are in the UK, but it was still very reasonable. They had easy templates that you could customize; if I could do it, anyone can. They arrived today and they turned out very nice. That is one task Bruce no longer has to do. He is super busy with work--nothing unusual there--but my stuff is requiring more of his time than he can afford. So there you go.

Re: today's article. Something to think about regardless of how unpleasant it may be. Our children take note please.

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Now playing: The Bees - Stand
via FoxyTunes

Till the Cows Come Home

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Smart Spending
I came across this picture I took of Bill a few months ago while working on my order today--he's so cute if I do say so myself.

Yesterday I had two new experiences.

I attended the funeral of my CPA's dad. Her dad was a Cuban,three weeks shy of his 90th birthday, who emigrated when Castro took power. Although my mom had a Catholic mass before her burial it was nothing like this. For one thing the music our mom chose was decidedly different. Thinking back, I'm sure the church officials thought it was highly unusual that she wanted Mahalia Jackson and Elvis at her funeral mass. This funeral was conducted almost entirely in Spanish including all of the music. Olga and her sister gave beautiful testimonials about their dear father bringing tears to many faces. I want to describe what I saw. Two priests sat on the platform with VERY straight faces, one with his arms folded across his broad belly. I was extremely surprised when the one who looked the most dour went to the pulpit and began to speak loudly and rapidly, with wild gesticulations. His platform expression gave none of this passion away beforehand. The remaining seated priest slept through the entire homily. I could hardly imagine it, but his head nodded over to the side. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, thinking he was praying, but to be honest, that is probably not the case. It amazed me that he could sleep through the shouting. I understood only one word--Antonio.

When I arrived home there was an e-mail waiting for me from some company in Jacksonville, Fl wanting to use the picture I posted on flickr last January of the Mayo Clinic for their city guide. No money, only a photo credit. Imagine that? Does this lend credence to the thinking that everything happens for a reason? I think I began this blog after the trip to Mayo, so you may not know that I went there briefly, with no results. The main thing I gained from that trip was headaches as far as the medical bills were concerned. I do remember that they took seven vials of blood which seemed like overkill.

Speaking of health, there is an article in The Times about some workers in a meat packing plant in Minnesota who came down with a weird disease that manifested itself in tingling and numb feet. Turns out they think it came from a process that involves pig brains. I won't go into details but suffice it to say I haven't been around pig brains but our problems sounded somewhat similar. Hmmmm...



Finally Bruce got the new Annie Lennox album and it's classic Annie--awesome.

Hold your horses, re: the title of this post--where do you think expressions like this come from? Robert Segal used it tonight on NPR about their election coverage time slot.

I certainly have got a lot of learning to do about links--please forgive me--I'll keep practicing.
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Now playing: Annie Lennox - Womankind
via FoxyTunes

Monday, February 4, 2008

Family Time


Oh my goodness it was a busy weekend.

Friday night we stayed home and chilled with comfort food--mac and cheese. Bedtime was 8:40!!!

Saturday Maureen stopped by after Bruce went to his office wanting to know if I would go to Bloomingdales with her. After a moments hesitation I agreed. Turns out we shopped like crazy. You would never guess there was a recession going on with the shopping we did. Reality check--we hit the 50% off sale price racks for the most part. We both decided we had gone plum crazy. It was super fun actually--have you ever heard of me doing such a thing? No, you haven't.

Mr. Roger came to the house after the shopping spree to help me take inventory of my prints. As you well know he has been imploring me to use this spreadsheet he's made but I'm helpless with that kind of thing. Later that night I received an e-mail with my statistics. By that I mean what I've sold the most in what size and so on. Actually we stopped by his house later because I RUINED my new canvas of the orange and white daisies!!! I was hunting for some pen that would show on the dark background only to drop silver ink in a blob on the canvas when I went to sign it. I yelled--"Brucer!!" By now you know that my darling Bruce can fix just about anything but this time it was impossible. I called Mr. Roger who said he would print another one and bring it to the market--which he did. Bruce took the old one off the stretcher bars and we dropped it by Roger's house which is in a neighborhood we frequent for dining. Actually we went to jr. high in that very same neighborhood. Back then it wasn't all that much but these days it is ultra trendy. Of course we like it being the 50 something trendsters that we are.

Sunday was an absolute zoo. We took our new display panels and I'm here to tell you it was WAY time consuming putting it together. Despite the fact that we left the house 40 minutes earlier we still were pressed to be set up by 10. It was down right nerve racking. Nonetheless, it looked pretty impressive if I do say so myself. I have Bruce to thank for it as he surprised me, buying it without my knowledge. David has warned me that my frugal nature needs to be tempered when starting a business.

Aside from the drama of the set up, the whole family convened at the market. You'll recognize most of us. Michelle is on the far left, yours truly next, Bruce, Carol, Lisa, and then Pat. Mr. Roger took this and met the whole clan. They were appreciative of what he's done for me. Ruth, Pat's sweet wife was there as well but preferred to take our picture rather than the other way around.

A childhood friend came by, an old co-worker I hadn't seen in twelve years, and our next door neighbor. None of these folks knew what I'd been up to aside from our neighbor. He's a single guy that is not home much. Early last year I'd told him I had gone camera crazy but he was shocked by what he saw. He owns a lighting company for movies and commercials. And then of course there were the regulars. Since I've now been there awhile I have folks that stop by nearly every week. These, of course, are not purchasers, just getting to be friends. Hold your horses--one of my flickr contacts came by to meet me. He lives in the panhandle and was visiting family. I'd made a bathroom run, returning I heard Bruce say here's Gail. It was very interesting. His wife was not interested in photography so she was quickly bored with the whole conversation. He retired from The Orlando Sentinel and moved to North Florida.

Carol's friends brought her back to Melbourne and Maureen dropped her off at the market. She was the impetus for the family gathering. It was a win-win situation. She helped us pack up and Maureen came over to the house for a dinner of leftovers--the aforementioned mac and cheese, b-b-que pork sandwiches, and coleslaw. We drank a little red wine and visited. I will tell you this much, Bruce and I were absolutely beat.

So that was the weekend. Tomorrow we'll catch up on today's happenings--they are noteworthy.

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Now playing: The Lightning Seeds - What You Say
via FoxyTunes

Friday, February 1, 2008

Congratulations!!



Yeah, yeah, and one more if you don't mind. Our Jonathan passed his LEED certification today in snowy, and I do mean snowy, Chicago. It stands for Leadership in Energy and Environment Design.a

I can tell you with certainty that I am so proud of him. Jonathan is not only super smart but he's super at procrastinating. He has done fine for himself all these years but I knew he could do better if he put a little effort into things. Turns out, he studied this week after work. This is astonishing news as I can't remember any studying on Jonathan's part all these years. It will be nice if there is some monetary compensation but mostly it's a big boost for his ego. As a mother I'm allowed to brag just a tad--his score was nearly perfect.

I've spent all day working on my inventory, framing, breaking glass--that's right. I put my hand down and crack! Wouldn't you know it would be a 20 X 24. I went to my local hardware store to get a new piece--a waste of time and money. Oh well...all part of the process.

The application went out in the mail for the show I most hope to get in. I won't know for a month so neither will you. It is a bit prestigious around these parts, if I get in the spring show it might bode well for fall. I've no idea if I will be accepted but it won't be for a lack of trying. I deferred to Matt's recommendations on the two slides. He's never let me down before, and I don't expect that to happen this time either. I can just see his face as he reads this...Oh Mom!

Doesn't our Baxter look adorable with his haircut? I let him go so long we rarely see those big brown eyes. I finally figured out how to get him to hold still for a picture. I put him in a chair that is tricky for him to move around on. This chair belonged to my parents forever then Bruce inherited it. It was in his garage for the longest time, then the shed. Several years ago I saw it featured in a layout of this gorgeous room in Metropolitan Home--I figured it was time to get it out of the shed. The years have taken their toll but I like it.


Have I mentioned that I'm feeling good of late? I am.

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Now playing: Boxer Rebellion - Lay Me Down
via FoxyTunes

Still on the Catch-Up Train