Lipstick on a Middle-Aged Mother Artist

Driving in my car, i heard Elizabeth Hurley on the radio talking about how i could get lipstick and a bag FREE with a purchase of $27.50 and for "just a little bit more" (another $27.50 to be exact) i could get even more FREE lipstick! I didn't exactly do a U-turn, but I did head over to the mall the next day. I examined the colors, but I wasn't thrilled with the bag and didn't see any use for it. I tried on some perfume and tried to decide what my purchase would be -- maybe some lipstick to get the free lipstick. Luckily, my daughter wanted to hurry on over to Build-a-Bear to think about a birthday bear for herself, so i tore myself away, promising to come back.

A few stores later and I stopped in my tracks. What? why did I want lipstick so much? I already have some I don't use very often and i can always pick up a few tubes in the drug store, what was going on? (I bet you know where this is going)!

I wanted lipstick so much cuz I have been hearing the word so often in the media! Talk about impressionable minds. Sheesh!

Embracing My Inner Flashlessness

I think I mentioned that the flash doesn't work on my camera. At the last meeting with the Studio Six art quilters, Randy Keenan mentioned that you should move your camera around and let things be blurry. So i am embracing being unfocused (this is also a metaphor for my life, not just my photography), and will now show the photos of my parents' house which did not
"come out right."

It's about time! and it's not perfect...

but i finally published a website. Any feedback appreciated. I want it to be whimsical and artistic, but professional and competent looking as well.
Kristen's Website

My Parent's House

I love my parent's house. They have great colors, cool collections and no clutter! The flash on my camera is broken, so I only have a few photos that came out. Here's the fish pond my dad built:

Wallpaper handpainted by Polly Cook

Kitchen window:

I aspire to grow up to be like my parents! i wish more photos had turned out. I wish i had a fancier camera since i fancy myself a photographer.

Like a Virgin

Wow, I haven't written in awhile. It's almost like starting a whole new blog.

I promise to do better.
We just flew back from Texarkana, Texas.

I read Lonesome Dove on the way down. I want to read some other books by Larry McMurtry.

Here are my two children, and my sister's son, Gabe

I don't believe in Psychics, but...

On Saturday, I was at this Mindful Living Community Holistic Health and Wellness Fair in Maplewood and there was a psychic giving readings for $1.
I chose to have my tarot cards read over a palm reading, cut the deck and heard the following:
I enjoy my role as a mother, and I especially enjoy my role as a wife. The man i am with is the one I will always be with, she sees no other man coming into my life. I will live to be 88 or 89 years old. Then, the best part! She saw lot's of money and success with my career!
She said it had been slow for a few years as i focussed on my family but this spring and summer the money and success would come rolling in. She pointed at Daisy and said, "She is highly creative and she will give you a lot of ideas. She will be a big part of your success."
That was just what i was hoping to hear when i plunked down my dollar!

When I told my sister she started whooping and hollaring like i had the cash in my hand, then my parents called back on a conference call wanting the details of the session and congratulating me. Can you tell my family puts a little more stock in psychics than i do?

I've been working on my signature (i guess almost a logo type thing). I have almost filled up a whole pad of paper with my name. Gary was trying to do a Shelly Duvall imitation where she discovers that Jack has just been typing "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over and over for thousands of pages. He really does love to make fun of me. But that's okay, he's stuck with me for the rest of our lives (and mine will be a long one, don't know about him) and i'm going to be rich!

State of the City Dress

Usually, I see some really outrageous outfits while sitting in my booth at the Direction Show. Think Ab Fab. Think people who may have had a real style going on 30 years ago but are still wearing that style 30 lbs heavier and with a lot more wrinkles. Think people trying too hard. This show was pretty boring in the fashion department. If i saw one pair of black jeans tucked into black boots with a low heel, I saw 952 pairs. At first I was thinking, "I have to walk out of here and buy myself some boots like that!"
Then I was feeling like I was watching an army of stormtroopers walk past, and I wasn't sure I wanted to join the parade.
Okay, I admit it, I still want some black boots.
The other part of the outfit was a very blousy, almost spring like, long top, or a tighter fitting skirt or sweater that looked like either a very short skirt or a very long top. There were no butts showing.
I only saw about 3 pairs of Ugg boots. Are they on their way out?