High Brow Art with a High-Yellow Broad*

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On Friday, the hubs and I spent the afternoon at the High Museum, exploring their Picasso to Warhol exhibit. It was our first time going there, so we didn't know what to expect.  What a pleasant surprise; the exhibit is wonderful! I was so impressed by the collection. They have some really breathtaking pieces on display, including several that would be recognizable even to the fine art novice. There are mobiles by Calder, oil paintings by Picasso and paper collages by Matisse. The styles range from Cubism to Fauvism to Pop Art; from the real to the surreal. For all of my Atlantans out there - if you have a free afternoon, and you haven't already been, I highly recommend that you pay a little visit to the High Museum. Parking was $10 in the campus garage; adult admission was $18 (Foursquare offers a $5 off coupon when you check in; Scout Mob should also have the same coupon). If art is kind of your thing, and you dig the museum scene, the High offers different packages that include unlimited admission, free parking and various other perks/discounts at the cafes and gift shops.

For those of you who don't live in Atlanta (i.e., a stone's throw away from the museum), I took pics of some of my favorites (because everyone should see a Picasso at some point in their lives) to share with you. I know, I know - SO thoughtful, right? I do it all for you, folks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please excuse the quality of the pictures. Taking cell phone pics when you have a perfectly good digital SLR collecting dust at home = epic FAIL. I promise to do better next time, guys. Mean it. In the meantime, go see Picasso to Warhol; it's only going to be around until April 29, 2012 ... so hurry up and go get yourself some culture, yo.

*The title of this post was taken from "Off That," from Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3. It shouldn't come as any surprise that Jigga loves fine art; he has spoken repeatedly for his love of the finer things in life. He has touted his Basquiat and Warhol pieces throughout the years; I've now seen exhibits for both of these artists. Thanks to my hip-hoppin' hubs for sharing this link, explaining Hov's love for fine art. Enjoy! Hip-hop is culture, too.

Design Star - Hotlanta Edition

Let me say – I love Atlanta. Always have. The people are so nice, and it’s such a pretty city and it seems like there’s always something to do . . . not to mention how progressive it is, and the fact that it’s so much closer to my home state of Florida. Now I’m just happy to be here. The move had its hiccups, but we seem to be settling in just fine now. We both kind of hit the ground running with the move-in and went full steam ahead ... but I know I definitely have lost a bit of steam. Interestingly, as aesthetically oriented as I am, I have never been an overly enthusiastic interior decorator. I have all of these amazing, creative ideas ... and then I go warp speed into sensory overload and everything burns out rather quickly. My problem is just that I like too much stuff! I can always think of a way that something could be used ... it’s the execution that I have difficulty with. That said, I think both the hubs and I (let me stop being so formal; his name is C) ... ahem, C and I deserve some kudos for all of the progress we’ve made so far.

Don't tell him, but I’m super impressed with all of the über manly stuff that C has been doing around the house. He’s been putting together all kinds of complicated things, and I’m amazed by his patience. I’m no dummy, I imagine that I could put anything together with a good set of instructions; but it would very likely take me forever. If I even make it through, that is. Knowing me, I would get so exasperated about halfway through that I would throw my hands up and quit, and whatever project would likely lay exactly where I chose to leave it in my fit of frustration, silently mocking me with its sad, unfinished frame until I finally got sick of looking at it and sat down and finished it. But anyway, I digress. The point is, between hanging the flat screen and putting together our pimped out new grill, he’s really taking his husbandly duties seriously. I sure am glad I got him that drill set for Christmas.

Anyhoo, here’s the rundown of what we’ve done so far.  Don’t worry, it’s in pictures. Even I’m tired of typing now. 

Our adorable house!

New living room furniture 

Art niche in the hallway

Fireplace (obviously) with the television that my
manly hubs hung

Beginnings of my picture/mirror wall...and a creepy kitty
on the television

View from our back deck

Our Wisteria Lane-esque neighborhood. Pretty sure
I'll be playing Bunko soon enough.

...so there you have it, folks. That's our new humble abode so far. It's coming right along! I'll post more pics as we add more stuff. I've already had a blast refinishing a bunch of our old knickknacks to update and coordinate them with our new decor. One fun tip for refinishing is don't forget about spray paint! It's a quick and easy way to give something a new look and they come in tons of fun colors and textures these days. My favorite is the one that makes things look like they're made of stone. Check 'em out, sometime!

Moving Stinks!

I’ll begin with a bit of the backstory (and I’ll try to keep it relatively brief) ... this whole moving thing kind of happened rather quickly. Like ... crossing the street, minding your business and a huge garbage truck comes barreling around the corner and slams into you before you have a chance to react ... quickly. To be fair, the hubs’ job hunt has been going on for a while, but in his business, you’re really at the mercy of timing. It’s all in what positions happen to be available at the time you happen to be out of contract. Not to mention, the whole decision-making/hiring process can be somewhat timely. So when all was said and done and the ink on his new contract was drying, we had less than a month to take care of all of the arrangements necessary in a move across several states.

Needless to say, we had to move very quickly. The hubs’ new company graciously sponsored a HOU à ATL trip for us to go house hunting and get a bit of a feel for the city. What’s crazy is that right around the time the interview process started, I happened upon a Facebook status update that a good friend of mine that I’ve known since middle school posted about his rental home becoming available in the early summer. I wrote to him explaining the situation, and we corresponded a bit about the details of the house. The hubs and I loved the look of the house from the pics that my buddy sent me, and the location was a perfect five miles from the hubs’ new gig, so it was the definite frontrunner on the list. Well, when we got to ATL, we checked the house out for ourselves and we absolutely loved it. It’s the perfect little rental house for a young couple that’s new to the city and wants to explore all of the options before buying a home locally (especially a young couple that has already owned and sold one house, and still owns a condo (aka Money Pit) in Florida)! It’s in an adorable new neighborhood in NW Midtown, and it was exactly what we were looking for. Done! Cross that off the to-do list.

Once we got back to Houston, the last half of July came and went in a whirlwind of “lasts”-- my last couple weeks at a job that I loved, the last time we could ever eat a cheese and basil pizza from Collina’s Pizza, or get real Mexican food from Lupe Tortilla; the last time I would go to happy hour with the girls from work; the last time I could have a secret sushi date with my wonderful little clique of friends ... unfortunately, I got so caught up in all of my lasts, I didn’t leave myself very much time to pack.

Did I mention that I’m in school?

Yeah ... apparently, my teachers didn’t feel the need to leave me time to pack, either. I know what you’re thinking. How rude, right?! That’s what I said. We’re working through it. Anyway, in typical B form, I waited until the very last week/day/moment to do what seemed like everything. Well, not everything. I packed the bathroom up with at least two weeks to spare. Whatever. Don’t judge.

...but miraculously, we got it all done. After a long, miserable, never-ending night of haphazardly shoving last-minute objects of randomosity (I’m secretly convinced that my husband and I are low-key hoarders. I think the fact that nobody has caught onto it yet just means that we’re really, really, really good at it.) into carelessly stuffed boxes, we taped up the last box ... and that, as they say, was that.

Adios, Houston. You’ll be missed. I know we were just getting to know each other and that we’d only just gotten over that awkward “getting to know you” stage and were really starting to enjoy each other’s company, but c’est la vie. It’s not you; it’s me. This is just something I have to do, you know? There will be other girls. I can’t promise there will be another me, but you’ll survive. I’m on to bigger and [hopefully] better things now...