Girl's Night Out

It was another girl's night out last night. It had been a long time since I've gone out with friends. I actually got to out at night and not be on a training walk. Rob of course took care of our girls while I was out. My cousin Miranda and I went to the Kimbell Museum to see The Impressionists Exhibit. All I can say is RUN don't walk, get yourself there before it closes. I don't know if it's because it's been since 2005 or 2006 that I last viewed an exhibit (which was at the Amon Carter featuring the work of Richard Avedon) but it was incredible.

I had the opportunity to view works of art that I had longed to see in person. It really moved me and filled my eyes with tears. There were absolutely stunning works of art by Renoir, Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Seurat and the list goes on. I finally saw Renoir's Two Sisters in person.

I've seen various reproductions of this image on things like calendars, mousepads and other crazy crap. I always thought, "Eh, it's ok." I think I've had to change my tune on it because to view it in person was extraordinary. The vibrant colors, the softness of the faces, the gorgeous eyes, the paint strokes, and I could go on. The photo above doesn't tell you anything about what this work of art truly is. I found that true for a lot of the pieces I experienced yesterday. There is no way any type of reproduction can come anywhere close to matching the beauty of this image and many others out there.

I think I came out of the exhibit more of a Renoir fan than I ever considered myself. I enjoyed viewing many of his works they had there. Another work of art that took me by surprise was Paris Street, Rainy Day 1877 by Gustave Caillebotte. Like the Two Sisters painting I've seen various reproductions of this print. I had no freaking idea how large the painting was until I saw it yesterday. It was incredible. I felt like I was about to pass the couple walking towards me. The woman has a nice veil over face that you can't see anywhere in any reproduction made but it's amazing to see in the painting. I got lost in the painting looking at all the details. There is a painter? in the background of the painting crossing the street carrying a ladder.

Having two young children it's been difficult to make time and go view art. I wish I could say my youngest daughter was well behaved enough to go to the museum but no I can't. She is two years old and her own little independent self. I can visualize us there with her throwing a tantrum or tearing something up or trying to violate the works of art. My trip to the museum last night makes me realize how important it is for me to continue to make time to go to the various museums we have locally. I'm so lucky to live in an area where we have some fantastic museums available 5-6 days a week.

I almost wanted to start taking an oil painting class. I've never been very accomplished in the painting area of art. I had a difficult time in my watercolor painting classes in college. I felt my colors were more mud than bright, vibrant. watery, loose, flowing color that I love with so many watercolor paintings and art that I see. I guess it comes down to PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. :)

So if you want to know what I've been doing knitting wise, I would say very little. I haven't had time to myself to be able to dedicate to much of anything. When I get started knitting someone either needs something to eat, a diaper needs to be changed or they just hop in my lap and make it completely difficult to do anything knitting related. I have really missed having my own time to myself. I wake up a mom and go to bed a mom with no time for me except when I'm able to go out on my training walks. Our youngest has decided that she can't sleep on her own in her own bed so she is up with me from the time I get up until I go to bed. Sometimes she'll stay up later with Rob. We need to figure something out with her sleep schedule soon.

Sorry to drift off on that subject, I was going to discuss my knitting, wasn't I? I've been working on the Everlasting Bagstopper. I started it last year and for whatever reason stopped working on it. Then I finished the bag part at the end of June. I went to JoAnn's to buy parts for the handle and the drawstring. I decided that I really didn't like the look of a different type of handle that wasn't knit so I went through Ravelry and located a knitted handle that I liked. It is a Linen stitch handle and I found it on KittLttl's bag. I've been working on it for awhile now without a lot of progress. What I do have I like. When the project is finished, I'll be sure to take a finished picture shot.

Nice weekend with family!

Yesterday, we spent some time at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Rob finished packing up for the World Show and got home at a decent hour. It was so nice to be able to spend longer than 30minutes with him. The girls definitely missed him. He spent most of the time reaquainting himself to life in the real world. My mom cooked some baby back ribs and brisket for Rob in celebration for his birthday and the fact that he missed out on the 4th of July with our family. My mom tried to get something for me to eat which turned out to be chicken meat cut in the shape of "fajitas". It was nice of her just not what I was expecting when she told me. Oh well some day I'll learn.

Grandpa took the girls out for a swim in the backyard while I went to take some pictures to Walgreens to be developed. Rob decided to go with me. We dropped off the waterproof disposable camera and then headed to WalMart to get Rob some lunch stuff for work for this week. (I know exciting, right?)

Here are a few of the photos that I picked up from Walgreens. I took the girls down to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glenrose on Saturday. Our goal was just to have a good time and play in the river. We ended up staying for four hours. We left at 8pm. It was a gorgeous day to play. The water was a little too warm to be refreshing but it was still a fun time. Miss F enjoyed playing in the river, swimming, exploring, etc. We saw a snake swimming across the river. It was pretty cool. There were of course a couple of turtles, frogs and many minnows.

Miss V's favorite thing to do was throw rocks. 1,2,5 go! or Ready! Set! GO! and then she'd throw a rock or two. The most difficult thing about going to this particular part of the river is getting down and up from it especially when you are the pack mule and also responsible for the safety of your children. :) We managed and all came back in one piece.


See? I told you we made it back up! Now we are walking back to the car. See that little white dot in the background. That's our car. It was definitely a fun little trip and would be even more fun to camp out there sometime.
Next post I'll try and post something knitting related as I haven't posted pictures of any of my socks or recent projects.

Happy Fourth of July!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY AMERICA!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day planned for today! It's one of my favorite holidays. I wish our family could celebrate together but hubby's job requires him to work EVERY fourth of July. I'm glad that he enjoys what he does but it would be nice to get this holiday together again. anyway.

We had a nice 3rd of July around here. I took the girls to the Lake Arlington Fireworks. It was a nice free event that provided bounce houses for the kids and music entertainment. They had various vendors. OH man was it crowded but not uncomfortable! We found a great place in the grass to sit and watch fireworks. I guess we can thank Chesapeake for sponsoring the fireworks. They are making sure that everyone knows who they are and that they are a part of our "community". They really want that Barnett Shale gas.

I would love to report how very organized leaving the event was as far as shuttles were concerned but no. That was probably the worst part was catching a shuttle back to the parking lots with two exhausted kiddos in a sea of other exhausted people that didn't know which way to go. We made it home at 11:15pm about an hour after the fireworks had ended. Not too bad. We had a nice time. I don't think the girls will be up for any more fireworks tomorrow or Saturday. Bummer for me. I hope when they are older it will be easier and more enjoyable for them.

My hubby has been working at the APHA World Show for the past 2.5 weeks and it was another late night for him. He wasn't home when we arrived back from fireworks. In all the craziness of the day, I forgot that he had asked me to make banana pudding for his department's 4th of July cookout. When he got home, he checked the fridge to locate the banana pudding and it wasn't there. He came into the bedroom and said "what about the banana pudding?" Oops! It totally slipped my mind. So off with the pajamas and on with the clothes appropriate for the grocery store.

My favorite banana pudding recipe is one that I've been using a long time now from allrecipes.com. It's called Banana Pudding IV and it's da bomb. It's very similar to the one hubby's Oma used to make. Although I think she actually did the full on cooking version of the pudding. Me, I'm not so much interested in baking/cooking pudding especially when instant is available. Mine is just as homemade as the next person in my opinion. I don't believe everything has to be made from scratch to be "homemade". If I make it in my kitchen, it's homemade.

Anyway, the only alterations I make on this recipe is I fold in the entire tub of Cool Whip instead of half. You are supposed to use the whole tub anyway so go ahead and fold it in. I also LOVE the mini Nilla Wafers.

The top photo is the one I made for hubby to take. It has a single layer of mini nilla wafers, and then I added a single layer of bananas and a single layer of pudding. The second photo has double layers. The double layer pudding will go to my parent's house for lunch tomorrow. I thought I'd go ahead and make a double batch so I wouldn't come empty-handed for lunch.

Ok, I'm off to write a note to hubby to make sure he doesn't take both the puddings tomorrow. He has another long day ahead of him. He'll leave between 5:30-6am and won't be home until late 11pm-12am-1am. I'm hoping it's closer to 11pm. Thankfully the show will come to an end on Sunday. It will be nice to have him back home again. I know that we miss him a lot when he is gone.