Summer Highlights 2012

[From The Color Run, Sacramento]

This weekend I ran The Color Run with my dear friend (see our adorableness above) which is a 5k in which you get drenched in colored powder: yellow, orange, pink, blue, green, and purple. Volunteers squirt this colored powder on you during the 5k, so by the end, you look like Jackson Pollock attacked you with happiness. It was fun and super quick in comparison to the half marathon I ran in May, which was really a test of my endurance and tolerance for hills. This was more a matter of, how much of the pink colored powder can I get on my shirt? Or thoughts like, omigosh I just licked my lips and this stuff tastes disgusting. Or, how am I going to get in the car without totally ruining it? It was a cooler weekend in Sacramento, which was such a blessing, and a nice getaway from my day-to-day in San Diego. 

Last weekend, the boy and I made a day trip to Los Angeles to see Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass at LACMA. It was worth the visit, but left me feeling a little depressed. [It's also been all over the press for costing $$$$ and making quite the trek across LA to its home at LACMA--you can read more here.] It's a single boulder fixed to steel beams over a cement walkway, and the surrounding landscape is dirt and gravel. You can walk under the boulder and view it from different angles. It felt very isolating and stagnant in comparison to the rest of the museum. But this is coming from someone that willingly had strangers shoot paint at her for the sake of looking colorful and messy. I also still own stuffed animals with names, so I like the color and whimsical in my art. Which really wasn't always the case--I find that the older I get, the more I just want art to make me feel contemplative but happy. I think more about how my time is so limited; I want to surround myself with objects that conjure up good, happy feelings.

[Window display featuring photographs by Jay Clendenin/LA Times]

The real star of my life lately has been work, which has consumed most of my thoughts and time. I don't mind it at all, as I am really loving it. This window display was something fun I got to do for the Olympics. I'm glad my graphics background is coming in handy as a librarian. It gives me a chance to exercise that part of my brain and put my art training to good use. 

Some fun things on the horizon: 

+ The boy and I want to take a trip to China! As I settle into work more, this seems like it actually might be a possibility instead of just a fleeting fantasy that I research to death with no outcome. 

+ We're planning a trip to Vegas to go check out the Neon Museum and Max Brenner. 

+ This Fall marks the first Fall in three years that I will NOT have school at night/weekends!! I look forward to enjoying the seasons more sans grad school.