Museum Cheater

OK, so last week was a bit crazy, so I sort of cheated in my museum visit.  I visited the Intel Museum of Me.  It is a website that links to your Facebook profile and displays your friends, photos, and posts in a beautiful museum setting.  It made me pretty darn special having an exhibit dedicated to my cyber-life.  I highly recommend a visit to see how beautiful your life can be.

RDT Community Dance Theater Workshop

This weekend my friend Betsy and I headed to Rose Wagner Theater (I love that place) to participate in a RDT's Community Dance Class open house.  We danced for three hours with some amazing people, professional teachers, in a great space for only $10!  It had been a long time since I moved those muscles, the extent of my dancing these days is my daily Just Dance 3 Just Sweat workout, so my skills at leaping, plies, and turning was sort of rusty.  It was a lot of fun, and once I get more settled into a money-making scheme, I just might add regular class attendance to my list of activities.  I wished I would have taken some photos of the day, but I was too busy lookin' a fool.  My only physical souvenir was this disgusting foot.  Dirty and blistered, it's been awhile since I've seen this situation.

Week Two, Museum Two: Utah Museum of Natural History

I have been anticipating this visit for a long time now, and I'm so glad I finally got to go!  Today was free museum day at the museum and I had promised the nephews that I would take them during the Christmas break, so we finally went today.  Kath, Curtis, Noah, Lucy, and myself.  The museum is beautiful from the outside, designed to blend in to the natural landscape.

And the inside is a wonder to behold.  The exhibits were interactive and artistic.  There was a clear path to follow that used ramps to wind you up three stories of fossils and specimens.  Curtis was super excited to get in and see everything, running from place to place. Noah was grumpy on the way there, seemed like he was so over it, but once we got inside, he really loved it.  Lucy was so cute as she discovered all sorts of new things, she was a little afraid to get near all of the dinosaurs and animals - they were just a little too real-life for her.
I think I'll need to go again when I am not more interested in seeing their reactions so I can really learn something, but it was a great time and fun to watch them discover all the wonders of the world!

Documenting the Documentarian

My friend Wendy and I went to a Master Class tonight given by Frederick Wiseman, a documentary film maker that has been making films for over 40 years.  He showed clips from some of his first films and discussed his choices and his observations.  It was such an unique look into the mind of a master.  And it was FREE thanks to the Utah Film Center! 

2011 in Words

efkaristo poly 

sunset the dog

volcano 

eat-pray-love

pope 

palms 

semaina-santa 

toy-car 

jamon-iberico

paella 

gaudi 

churros-con-chocolate

thyroid

hospital-birthday

sabbatical

santorini

ephesus

cruise

patmos

mykonos

athens

milano

cinque-terre

roma

liqurian

sevilla

granada

cordoba

alicante

barcelona

hospital

jimmered

missionary-daughter

no-mo-philo

sedona

wanderer

dual-tire-blowout

road-warrior

books-on-CD

podcasts

lock-out

parthenon

beaches-of-all-color

giollito

espana

processions

tapas

alahambra

books-n-roses

return-to-deseret

bangs

lawn-mower

kitteens

MCRD

vegasx3

snokes

craft-to-art

pettstead

3am-brainstorm

daybreak-adoptee

bearlake

PCH-2964-miles

auntapalooza

hipster-springs

hearst

bay-area

winchester

ghosts

yachats

portland

pittock

cousins

funicular

getty

lifeclass

lasagna

2:15 AM

series-marathons

harvester

unfamiliar-territory

job-hunter

harlidays

just dance 3

Week One, Museum One: Utah Museum of Fine Arts

This has been on my list since it opened several years ago, and today I checked it off!  I was driving by there last week with my sister and her kids and the following exchange occured:

Curtis (age 11): Hey I've been to that place on a field trip!
Me: Oh ya, was it cool?
Curtis: It had art in it, so....

So I guess it's beauty is in the beholder?  The museum was smaller than I expected it to be, but it had a great collection and some fabulous exhibitions.

Here are some instagramed moments:

 There was an exhibit of LeConte Stewart who did mostly rural Utah scenes.  This was only part 1 of the exhibit, the other half is at the Church History Museum, which I'll have to go to in a couple weeks.  I loved the rural main street scenes.

I always feel more at home in the Modern and Contemporary sections of art museums.  I am drawn to bold shapes and images.

Titled: Breathless.  it made me think that sometimes we have to choose to stop holding our breath, and just let in the air.

This work was by Xaviera Simmons and was like a trip around the world in phrases, I loved it.  I need to come up with random phrases from my travels and figure a way to display them graphically. 

New Year's Resolutions 2012

I'm determined to make these happen this year.  I thought I'd hold myself accountable if I blogged about them, this is also a great excuse to blog!

1. Visit Museums - while I'm still unemployed, do this once a week, once I have a job it will be once a month.
2. Be a more proactive friend - reach out to local and distant friends.  I want to really be there for people, and also share fun different activities with them.
3. Eat clean - significantly reduce my processed and fast food intake.  I always seem to set lofty health and fitness goals, but this one is much more about lifestyle changes.  I have started a workout regimen also, but I am not going to set parameters to it just yet.

I'll be reporting on my museum visits, fun things with friends, and any great food discoveries made a long the way!

Happy 2012.  I'm 36.  I'm old.  ugh.

The Answer

Who knew that Pinterest could be an answer to prayer and the gloominess of the last post.