"Becoming van Gogh" Experience

Today, I got to go see the "Becoming van Gogh" exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.  I truly believe it was a once in a lifetime experience because once the exhibit ends, all the artwork goes back to the owners.  They will most likely never been seen by the public again.

To start the day, my mom and I went and had lunch at Palettes.  It was a fairly expensive and fancy restaurant located in the art museum.  A lot of my co-workers recommended it, and let me say they were completely right.  The food was amazing!

They even had a custom menu in honor of the van Gogh exhibit.  Although, we ended up not ordering off of it.

 While we sat and ate, I couldn't help but love the art around me.  It reminded me of Alice and Wonderland with so many beautiful colors.

 

"Attack, Attack" yelled one boy

Once we finished lunch, we had some time before we could go into the exhibit, so we walked around the rest of the museum.  There, we found an interactive art that you controlled by pushing certain buttons.  I honestly don't know how to explain it, you really do have to go see it for yourself.  But it was a lot of fun!

When it was finally time, we got in line to get in.  Because my mom is a member, we were able to skip the line and get in before everyone else.  It's so good to be VIP, just kidding!

Very crowded at times!

Going through the exhibit was very interesting.  To start, they had items in order from the start of his career to the end of his career.  Surprisingly, he started off his career hating color.  He liked to use dark bold colors in his art.  As he evolved and moved to Paris he began to experiment with more colors and even took on more of an impressionist type style. 
As I walked around, I was amazed at how utterly beautiful some of his later pieces were.  They were filled with such color that it actually looked as if a black light had been shining on it to help bring out the colors.  Seeing the art in person and seeing it online in pictures is completely different. 
One of my favorite pieces was his "Grass and Butterflies."  The colors were amazing, and although I couldn't actually take a picture of it myself, for fear of being kicked out, I was able to find one online, but again.  The picture doesn't do the colors justice.

"Grass and Butterflies" by van Gogh

The tale of his life was interesting, although they never mentioned his little incident with his ear.  He was an artist for only 10 years of his life.  Surprisingly he managed do more art in those 10 years, than most artists do in their whole life.  At the end, they told us that at age 37, he was accidentally shot and later died in the arms of his brother. 

I only had one complaint, I didn't get to see my favorite piece.

Despite not getting to see "The starry night" I still had a great time.  I remember being in 6th grade and trying to replicate his work.  Although I don't love art like I used to, this was a great experience and one I won't likely forget anytime soon.

Do you plan on going before its gone?

Tis the Season!

Tis the season of political debates, both official and non official.  Tis the season of political outbursts on Facebook and Twitter.
This is the time that everyone is allowed to have a say in their country's future.  Of course there are many decisions to be made, but the big decision on everyone's mind is who our next President should be, whether we stay with Obama another four years, or choose to change the path by making it Romney. 
I just received my Mail-In-Ballot yesterday and although I have already made my decision of who I will be voting for, I realize there are still American's out there that are still not sure.  For those who are still struggling with the decision I encourage you to check out this website!  It's a great website that asks you a series of questions to see which side you mostly belong to.  This is a great way to put aside the person and get to the main issues.  All too often I see people make their choices based on the candidate, the candidates past, and comments the candidate might have said. 

I encourage everyone to get out and vote!  Please, take part in our future!

Picture from: http://watchusplaygames.com/2012/08/24/romney-ryan-wins-election-2012-with-320-electoral-collage-votes-to-obama-bidens-218-in-prediction-says-new-university-of-colorado-denver-study-analyzing-state-by-state-data/

Which candidate would you like to see be President for the next 4 years?

Shellac it up!

For the last month I have been really trying to take good care of my nails to help them grow.  I have horribly brittle nails.  Combine that with my labor intense job and you get impossibly weak nails.  They look bad, they feel bad.  They are all around bad. 
I started to paint my own nails to help them look better.  Having paint on them really helped me not bite them and I was also more conscious of how rough I was with my nails.  They began to grow really nicely.  The only problem is how quickly my nail polish would chip.  I felt like I was painting my nails every single day.  I even tried to buy good nail polish in hope that I could go a couple more days before repainting.  Well, the good stuff was just as bad.
After talking to a couple co-workers, they recommended that I try Shellac.  It's a gel like nail polish that not only helps keep your natural nails stronger, but the polish is guaranteed to not chip for up to 2 weeks! 
After a long time thinking about it, I finally headed to the salon with a girlfriend of mine, and here are the results:

I think they did a great job!  I love the color, I love the last minute flower I added and I love that the whole process was painless.  My friend did acrylics and she walked away complaining of the pain.  She even admitted that she wish she had tried the Shellac too!
I love that this won't chip and I love that it doesn't ruin your natural nails!

Of course, no nail salon visit is complete without a little pedicure pampering!

Have you had success with Shellac?

Mud, Be Gone!

This summer, we tried really hard to get the grass regrown after the last tenants neglect, but we could only get half the yard green again.  And lately with the changing weather, we have had a horrible mud in the house situation with the dogs.  Unlike people, they don't care that they get muddy as they play in the back yard, and they care even less that they drag it into the house, on our couch and all over our bed.  If you have never laid on a dirt filled bed, be happy, it's horrible!    
After talking it over with my dad, he came up with a great suggestion.  Place some hay on the mud and then place chicken wire on top to keep the hay in place.  Genius!
So first, I had to start by finding out where I could buy some hay.  At first, it seemed really difficult, until I realized that it's October, and with October comes hay for hay rides and fall like decor for your front yard.  So lucky for me,  Home Depot ended up being my one stop shop.  I went in, and with a little help from the staff, I was able to find everything I needed.  I even threw in a thing of grass seed to place under the hay in hopes that I'll find grass come Spring.
Loading up the hay in my car was frustrating, not only because I bought 4 bales and was worried it wouldn't all fit in my car, but because it ended up being extremely messy and my car is brand new.

It Fit!

Once I got it home, John came out and helped me get it all into the backyard.  Since we bought grass seed, we started by racking the muddy spots in the backyard.  All the advice we had been given was to rack those areas to help the seed take.  

Before

As you can see, it was pretty bad!  Once we got the mud racked we began to place down the seed. 

We started getting all the hay placed down over the seed and then began to cover it with the chicken wire.  

I do believe that we solved our problem!  I'm so happy to not have to deal with dirty floors, dirty sheets and a dirty couch anymore!  I know that we need to put more stakes down to make sure it's completely secure, but other than that the project is done!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to vacuum out my brand new car!

It Take Determination and Patience... Mostly Patience

Recently, a friend of mine brought her dogs over to my house for a fun play date with my dogs.  It wasn't the first time, and hopefully it wont be the last; however, my oldest dog, Miles, got very possessive and protective over my youngest dog, Mila.  This caused Miles to show some very aggressive behavior towards my friend's dog, Chile, who I could swear Miles was in love with at one point.  This caused us to have to switch out our dogs from outside to inside every 30 minutes to keep them apart, while we tried to hang out.

The truth is, I have seen the behavior starting to develop in Miles.  He has always shown aggression towards strangers through barking (although test him and he would never bite), and recently he has even shown aggression towards Mila on walks when we come across other dogs.  Now normally, Miles is a fantastic dog.  He barks only when strangers come over, he has never had food aggression, he plays gently, he doesn't chew up furniture, he's smart as can be, and he listens to me most of the time.  But now that I have seen him go after a dog, who at one point he loved, I know it's time to address the behavior.

I know it doesn't help that he feeds off of Mila's energy, and that energy comes from Mila being a full Boxer, which are notorious for high amounts of energy.  Because of this reason, I have decided to start with Mila.  Miles becomes an unrecognizable dog when Mila gets over excited.

Anyway, while my friend was over with her dogs, I couldn't help but notice how well behaved they were, not to mention how well they listened to her.  Granted, she constantly had to stay on top of what they were doing, but they really were well behaved.  Her dogs are both older than mine, so she has definitely had time to work with them, whereas Mila is still only 10 months old and has a long way to go.  After talking to my friend about what I do, she agreed that I'm doing the right things, but we both agreed that I can't be afraid, or embarrassed, to discipline them in front of company, which is where my mistake falls.

John and I both enjoy watching "The Dog Whisperer."  We have picked up some really great tips that have helped us, especially with Mila. 

First, we recognize that Mila needs exercise first, discipline second and love third.  This is hard sometimes because we literally both have busy schedules.  John has two jobs and I have one job that requires a lot of my time some weeks.  There are some days that I literally do not get to see the sun because I have been at work that early, and that long.  That's where having two dogs come in handy, they really do wear each other out.  On the days I do have available I try to get them on 1-2 mile walks in the morning and then another .5-1 mile walk at night.  Those are the days Mila seems to do the best.

Second, I try Cesar's technique that requires us to hold her on her side for however long it takes for her to completely relax.  This takes major patience!  I have been on the ground holding her down for as long as 10 minutes before.  That may not seem long, but please, you try it and tell me that it doesn't feel like forever.  Sometimes, it becomes very difficult to stay "calm and assertive," which prolongs the process and tests my patience even more so.  However, once I get her completely calm, she is a whole new dog.  Cesar must know something.

Here is a great example of a dog showing submissive behavior

Next, I realize that I need to look into some training classes.  This is hard, because again, my schedule is inconsistent so it would be hard to watch me waste my money on training classes that I ultimately would not be able to attend.  The next best thing would be to look into a dog trainer that would come to your house.  I know there are some in my area, as I see it advertised all the time.  But to be honest, I have seen enough dog trainers on Cesar Millan's show that need help to know that there are a lot of dog trainers out there that only know enough to get them by.  Again, I would hate to waste my money on someone who only knows the bare minimum.

For now, I'm trying this solo.  So far it has been working, although slowly.  We have friends and family who swear Mila gets better and better with each visit.  For this reason I am going to continue to do what I have been doing, just more consistent and strict.  Once I get Mila and her energy under control, I can then move to Miles and work on his aggression.

If anyone has any advice on a well behaved dog, I would love to hear it!  Or, if you also have a dog that has difficulty behaving, share your story as well!

The Lived-In-Look

Recently, my dad's neighbor sold their house to a new couple.  They have had it on the market for 2+ years.  During that time, they had the house staged with furniture and decoration to help give the house that lived in look.  They hired a professional decorator to do it, and may I say that she did a great job (overall).  So when I got a call asking if I wanted any of the framed art from the house I jumped at the opportunity!  Even better, it was all free!

My favorite pictures were placed over this beautiful entry dresser, that I was going to offer to buy from them (if they hadn't decided to keep it).  It was a beautiful dresser with 9 drawers in a square that were each painted a different color, red, gold, dark, light green.  Each of these colors matched the colors in these pictures.

Really pretty colors, imagine them on a dresser with a black outline.

With the leaves in this picture, I thought it would match the cherry blossom pictures I already have in my living room.  After hanging them up, I think I was right!

 

 Next, I got a couple abstract pictures that look great in the kitchen.  Just sitting at the table eating dinner last night made me feel great.  They added so much beauty and for once it was nice not to stare at an empty wall.

Can you imagine how boring these walls before?

The last was a set that has some pretty blues and a little hint of browns.  I was really exited about putting these in the bedroom.  Our sheets are brown and I'm planning on getting a new comforter set with blues and browns.  It is an easy color combination to find and I happen to think it looks great together.  

Wanting and needing are two very different things, and a lot of my decoration ideas have had to be put to the side, so it was definitely a nice treat to get these for free!  It made a huge difference in the rooms they were placed in! 

New Beginnings Can Start in the Middle... Right?

John and I have really been trying to work things out the last few weeks.  The good news is, our problems overall have been fairly easy to fix.  To start, we never were that couple to fight much, there are just so many better things to do with our time.  Don't get me wrong, we bickered from time to time but I can honestly say we never went to bed mad at each other. 
Of course, time apart made certain issues arise and some were unexpected on both ends.  This caused us to fight A LOT!  It just didn't feel like us.  But since we have made the decision to come back together, we have communicated more (still not perfect, but better is an improvement in my book), we laugh more and were appreciating each other more.
For the first time ever, we have been able to talk money.  This is huge!  For the first time, were coming together as a team to make our money go further and go to smarter investments (like paying off our bed).

In the last few weeks, we have been focusing on enjoying each other.  Some of the things we have done is going to a concert, having people over for football (FOOTBALL) and a little celebration I like to call our 5 year anniversary.

Linkin Park & Incubus concert with great friends

So happy to be back together!

A beautiful 5 year anniversary surprise