AGLIFF Oscar Party

Who won at the Oscars?

I have no idea who won

But I had a great time! 

Nice way to start a new week,

after having the best week ever

since the last best week ever.

Here's a few shots of the fun at the AGLIFF Oscar Party

Details

Lyndsey looks great for someone who doesn't care to be photographed. :-)

The paparazzi follows the press: Kate Messer and Michael Barnes pose.

Rebecca Havemeyer sandwich

Patrice Pike and a few gorgeous friends

Fuzzy, but fun.  Volunteers ham it up.

Now I guess I better go see who won...

Be right back.

Oh! No surprises...

And while I'm on it,

I still think Black Swan was nothing more 

than a nicely done psychological horror flick.

Now for some sleep.  

:-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colin Firth on being an actor: 

"We're spoiled because we're permitted to operate outside normal conventions. 

We hug and kiss to say hello. 

We use foul language without anyone telling us off, 

behave extremely badly if we want, 

(and) play when everyone else is at work..."

Whatever is Admirable

Put yourself

around like minded 

loving, supportive, people 

for an entire week

and it will change your life.

(Imagine what would happen

if you did it all the time!)

I learned this week

even more deeply

about the value of

vulnerability;

about what it is 

to connect 

on deeper and deeper levels

with others

and myself.

Mindy Audlin

whose lovely image is above,

was one of those people

whose gifts I received

and to whom I was so

blessed to contribute.

Mindy trains trainers,

is a professional public speaker,

Joe Vitale says Mindy is "contagiously exciting,"

and I'm privileged to be a part of her contribution

to the rest of the world by photographing her.

Plus, Mindy is just plain uplifting 

to be around.

Check out The What If Up Club

for your own personal

experience of what Mindy can do for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

whatever is true, 

whatever is noble, 

whatever is right, 

whatever is pure, 

whatever is lovely, 

whatever is admirable

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy

think about such things.

Phillipians 4:8

Best. Week. Ever.

This had to be the best week ever. 

Well... 

Since the last best week ever, 

and before the next best week ever.

Among the myriad of things I did,

I photographed many beautiful people.

Helena gets extra points,

because she is named Helena

and because

she rubbed noses with a stuffed elephant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No matter where you are on the ladder of life

no matter what you may be experiencing,

no matter how many heartaches you have had,

or how many conflicts you have right now 

-- there is more in you

there is a divinity in you

The Kingdom of God

is within you.

~Eric Butterworth

Memory

Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
~T.S. Eliot

Divine Intelligence

When our precious energy

isn’t tied up in hiding from or overcompensating 

for our self-destructive impulses,

we are gifted with the clarity and the motivation we need

to build an unshakable foundation for an inspiring future.

~Debbie Ford

I've been paying attention lately to astrology. 

Recently, I did a salon with Laura Waldman,

who shares this about the current climate in our world:

On February 8th  the maverick asteroid Chiron entered the subtle, trancendental, oceanic sign of Pisces for an 8 year stay. Chiron is a shamanic archetype that brings a radical multidimensional awareness of things. It is a bridge of change that operates in unprecedented ways. Chiron shatters denial and awakens us from our personal and cultural lies. It shows us a genius that emanates from our wiser future. In the expression of Pisces, it operates by touching our Great Heart and opening us to empathy and compassion.

 I am very excited about this for so many reasons!

You can already see it happening in Egypt for instance.

I have been working personally on embracing my own shadow,

and awakening to how I lie to myself.

It's a journey that brings me to the center of

my own compassion, heart, authenticity and truth.

It's been a journey of profound change

and I am not the person I was just 

three months ago.

And especially not three years ago.

And I love it.

Chiron is a denial buster.

Our personal and cultural lies

will receive great shining light for the next 

several years.

For those of us born from 1960- 1968

we're embarking on experiencing our 

Chiron Return.

Astrologer Tom Jawks 

talks about it here.

He tells us:

In all the ways that you might be afraid of your own energetic/emotional sensitivity, afraid of what will happen to you if you open up, try on for size the idea that this is a part of you critical to your humanity. In all the ways that you fear the energy of others, try on for size that you have the right and power to define the kinds of things you’re available to experience.

Once you set such an intention you will draw for a time people and circumstances outside your range not to test you to see if you respond correctly but to give you the chance to ground your intention in real-world experience. It’s one thing to announce we are willing to experience (for example) love, supportive relationships, and growth that challenges us to evolve, yet if we are still willing to DO something else, it doesn’t matter what intention we have set. We have to back up our intentions with actions.

I see this happening to those around me and in my own life a lot recently.

For what it's worth,

astrology doesn't usually inform my behavior.

However, I find it interesting 

to use it to my advantage if I can,

as part of the Divine Intelligence

that makes up Who we all are. 

The Arts and Texas Budget Cuts

This is a photo of me as the Bumble again.  I post it because it's been one of my favorite roles ever, and the arts are once again under fire. Imagine being paid to do what you have loved and wanted to do since you were twelve years old? It's like Making A Living Without A Job! You can imagine then, that right now, this issue is more personal for me than ever.

Children's Theatre gets a bit of short shrift at our annual local awards shows each year.  Never mind we create the audiences of the future and spark the interest in theatre for kids of elementary school age. I personally didn't know what a play was until I was eleven years old.  So there's the simple opportunity for exposure. More importantly though, children's theatre could be dubbed the original interactive learning device for kids.  Pollyanna Theatre realizes this and works diligently to educate it's audiences.

"The founders of Pollyanna Theatre Company believe that theatre is a powerful teaching tool that speaks to people of all ages in a unique and powerful way through a variety of visual, aural, and emotional languages. Therefore, theatre should be a part of all general education from Kindergarten through adulthood."

Let's take a look. The play Just Bee is an entertaining (highly!) play with music about how two queen bees work to save their hives. Nice disguise.  This play brings facts and data to kids about bees.  Did you know that a honey bee is responsible for getting one out of every three mouthfuls of food to your mouth? And did you know that there are great concerns that bees may be facing extinction? Did you know that scientists still can't figure out why bees are dying at such an increased rate? Did you know that your kids might know more about this than you because they attended a performance of Just Bee?  ;-)

You get the point.  (And while this is a post about Budget Cuts and the Arts, you can also sign a petition to save the bees right here.)

Creativity and innovation are what drive our future.  It occurs first and is fostered most deeply through the arts.  Creativity bridges the gap between what is and what is possible, who you are and who you can become, how it is and how you want it to be, the human and the Divine.  Creativity is the Divine expressing through you.  How will you be an Artist today?

Pay a visit to Americans for the Arts and use their handy dandy form to send a letter to your Senator encouraging him or her to refrain from cutting funding for the arts from the Federal budget. Now.

Just sayin'...

I'm All In

I'm celebrating a full beautiful day

 and the full beautiful moon 

with a photo of the Austin skyline.

(from last November's full moon.)

To practice courage, compassion and connection 

is to look at life and the people around us and say,

"I'm all in."

Brené Brown

More Great News!

Seems I'm a finalist (again!) 

 

Check out the work over at Infinity Art Gallery

I could get used to this.

The deciding juror, Azarie Furlong, has been Exhibitions Manager at The Center for Fine Art Photography since 2006, managing over 50 international exhibitions. She works with an average of 150 artists on a monthly basis as well as manages the Center’s growing collection of photographs. While at the Center Azarie has worked with a number of organizations to exhibit work including the Denver International Airport, ASMP, SPE, Camera Arts, Peace Corps, Camera Obscura and United Way. She has also worked with numerous critics, curators, publishers, editors, educators and master photographers to exhibit photographic art selected for the Center’s exhibitions.

I don't know which one she chose.  What do you think?

Heart and Soul

In the daytime, from my neighborhood, you can see the "Death Star" water tower in East Austin, and the Lakeway "Golf Tee/Ball" to the west.  There's a terrific view of downtown too - and the 360 bridge in the other direction.

At night though, the moon will occasionally hang in glorious fashion in the west.  It struck me  powerfully when I saw it live and in person as I crested the hill very late/super early this morning. My jaw literally dropped.  Pictures of the moon too often seem to be muddy but I'm posting this, nonetheless. It doesn't even come close to doing it justice. I grabbed the Canon and fired one or two, sans tripod so it's messy.  I don't care.  

What's important here is the peace and solitude and gratitude I felt, and the very pure joy of simply being present and witness to this moment.  Grateful for the friends I stayed up all night sharing the evening with.  Grateful for the dog I had to walk at this ridiculous hour. Grateful for the humor I found in getting caught in the sprinklers that fired off in my yard while I walked him, and what a good story that will be.

Grateful for everything and everyone that got me to this very moment, grateful that I'm not done yet, grateful that I feel whole and full, and grateful I am content to share such moments in peace and solitude with only myself and my God.

I recommend it for everyone.

"I will welcome happiness 

because it enlarges my heart;  

yet I will endure sadness 

because it opens my soul." 

Og Mandino

You Are Worthy

...you're imperfect
and you're hard wired for struggle
but you are worthy
of love and belonging.

~Brene Brown

On Track

She traveled

through winter's blue confusion

on a track of faith.

But

if she listened with care

she could hear her own peace.

Zoom, zoom.

Light Space Time

 

Click over to Light Space Time Art Gallery.

I received a Special Recognition award from the gallery last week in their seascapes exhibition! 

The original post to my blog with the photo is here.

You Are A Living House

Two things:

I've gravitated to appeal of this house 

ever since I was old enough to drive 

when I cruised past it 

one day in my teens.

It's by no means 

a palace.

We don't have those here

in Austin.

We do have snow days

every few years though.

And yesterday,

while everyone else 

was snapping photos of snowmen on their front lawns

I ventured into town

and happened upon my dream house,

...again.

It's currently being renovated.

Just like me.

And that reminds me 

of this C S Lewis quote.

 --------------------------------------------

"Imagine yourself as a living house. 

God comes in to rebuild that house. 

At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. 

He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; 

you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. 

But presently 

He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably 

and does not seem to make any sense. 

What on earth is He up to? 

The explanation is that He is building quite a different house 

from the one you thought of 

- throwing out a new wing here, 

putting on an extra floor there, 

running up towers, 

making courtyards. 

You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: 

but He is building a palace. 

He intends to come and live in it Himself."

~C S Lewis

Snow Day!

Yes it was a snow day.

I got out with all the "essential personnel" this morning

and checked on the Texas Pioneer Woman.

She was fine, as was her offspring,

both hardy and strong in the northerly wind.

But those little kids that perpetually play

on the north lawn...

I think they need coats.

This is a shot from

the freezy peezy 

overflow at Barton Springs yesterday.

Just me and a few City of Austin personnel.

I like that.

Waking Up

“ it's a powerful thing to watch a woman wake up. ”

~Terri st. cloud

To Love... To Be Vulnerable

To love at all is to be vulnerable.

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. 

If you want to make sure of keeping it intact 

you must give it to no one, 

not even an animal. 

Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; 

avoid all entanglements. 

Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. 

But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, 

it will change. 

It will not be broken; 

it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. 

To love is to be vulnerable.

~C S Lewis

(This is Brene Brown's quote of the week...)