Day 38 - Kim & JJ

When 2012 started, I wrote a bucket list for the year of 30 things (in homage to 30 years of life) that I wanted to accomplish by the end of the year. And I quote...

"Go on at least 10 dates. (If I don't get asked...I have to ask.)"

Little did I know that in less than two months time, I'd be checking that seemingly impossible item off my list! Turns out this little dating project was quite providential for me. (Thanks, Mauren!) So dear blog readers, let it be known...I've officially gone out on 10, not average, but fantastic dates! Check, check, and double check! :) It's going to be a good year.

First, I must give a shout out to our self-proclaimed "blog stalker," Christi, who on short notice worked her magic and not only scored me a great date, but gave me the date activity as well! Christi...you dating miracle worker you! Thank you!

JJ, the cute, curly-haired guy I'd seen at various activities, agreed last minute to be date #10. Christi informed me that he would be up for anything, but suggested the Bayou City Art Festival that was going on in the big park downtown. I looked it up and was sold...art from 300 different artists, live music and performances, food, and not a cloud on the radar. JJ and I met up at a nearby mall that had a free shuttle to the park. I might have been a little late due to traffic and found JJ wandering around the biggest antiques mall I'd ever seen. (I'll have to go back there!) Anyways, we hugged hello and off we went.

In our short time on the bus, I found out that JJ is going to be my go to man for whenever I need adventurous ideas. He's extremely well traveled and has done a lot of random, but awesome things like training dolphins in Hawaii and spending a few months in Ghana. I've gone to...uh...well...looks like it's finally time to get a passport! The art festival only confirmed this fact.

We spent a couple hours strolling from booth to booth, checking out art of varying styles and mediums. JJ warned me that he was spoiled when it came to art...he's been to lots of art museums in Europe and has seen a lot of the subjects in person. (So unfair...) We saw beautiful photographs and paintings of places that I need to go to...it's gone way past just wanting. :) It was so fun chit chatting with the artists and listening to JJ enthusiastically ask the blue iceberg photographer if he still had the contact info for the research crew in Antartica, where he shot the picture. He'd so go...quite the adventurous spirit this one. Along with the photography and canvases, we saw a lot of really unique art as well. I will give you some samples below.

Large plate. Look closely....

Thousands of beads

Spunky junky art is what I will call this!

                    

                             Photo in the center...frame is a painting...husband/wife duo...Awesome!

Awww...pretty girls...and...skeletons? Ha!

Yep...that's Andre the Giant

Photo? Painting? Guess again!

Embroidery...what the heck???

Embroidered too! I want this one!

Hopefully the video works, but we saw these awesome instruments that are like guitars, but have two sections of strings that you just tap...a mix between a piano and a guitar. Sweet! JJ and I had a ton of fun seeing all the random things that art festivals can bring. Including the tree man. There we were strolling along when we look up and see a humongous tree man taking pics with people. Yes, please! Nothing like feeling a strong pair of limbs around you! Best costume ever! JJ is now looking to find it for Halloween. Can we say contest winner? He started practicing his Treebeard voice. :)

JJ and I started getting real hungry after our rather warm, art-filled stroll around the park. We found The Art of Food booths and settled on Greek for him and French for me in the form of Greek salad and a Chicken Basil crepe. I waited for mine for a bit, but enjoyed watching the entirely deaf staff work together making the crepes and communicating with the customers. We sat and ate next to the stage where there was a less than youthful choir singing songs through the decades...ending with songs like Hey, Soul Sister...we might have laughed a little more than we should have, but they were just so darn enthusiastic and...old. :) Then we stayed and watched a "modern" dance group...there is a reason why I dropped my modern dance class at BYU after the first class...I could never take myself seriously doing yoga moves to music. To each his own...

During our time at the festival we got a little winded...those videos will be somewhere on facebook evidently...should be real attractive!

 

We also saw random people "artistically" getting dressed and then dancing around the street...and yes in the 2nd picture, that's them again walking around with galoshes in the mud "artistically." What the...???

                            

All in all, it was an artistically wonderful day! I even got my first little sunburn of 2012! JJ is a super fun, well-rounded, easy to talk to guy. (He's from AZ...so of course he's cool.) He was perfect company for this little artsy adventure in the park! Thanks, JJ for being a great ending to this project! 

Well, all...that's date #10! Can you believe it?? Voting time begins on Monday...second dates on Wednesday...and then...who knows???  

Kim