Weekend Milliseconds

• Emily- sorry about the poopy-looking "J"
• Becky- saw the pics of your new hometown. I'm probably jealous
• Billy Gillispie- I supported you up until you're firing. What was I thinking?

a MiLLion stories to share 1.2

Happy Birthday Jamenita!

Last week, Jamenita, who you met in an earlier post, turned 7. 

To celebrate, I took her to dinner at Dave & Buster's.

Mmmm mm. Yummy chicken fingers and fries.

Next, we moved to the arcade area and hit the ticket winning games! Wednesdays are half price game nights. Excellent.

Finally, we traded in our tickets for a prize. 

I have a secret: this is the second time we've gone to Dave & Buster's and both times I've only let her spend a portion of her tickets. The remainder are safely stored on my D&B Card. One day she'll get to get something REALLY BIG. She'll be so excited. 

Is that deceitful?

This is what she chose:

First she named the pup "Brat," but then decided upon "Ashley." Should I be concerned?

When I took her home all the neighbor kids were out playing in front of her house. Her brother, who is 8, asked me to stay and play kickball with them. I wasn't quite dressed for the occasion, but told him that next time I'd bring my tennis shoes and stay and play. Should be interesting...

5:42 AM

*WHOA. This blog just took a whole new direction. Not on purpose. I'll get back to what it is intended for soon enough. This is me. As honest and open as I'm capable of being right now. This is me. It might be best if you start at the post titled 3:02 AM and work your way back up. Warning: it's really late, or early depending on how you look at it. I haven't slept at all. Expect my grammar to be worse than normal. I'm not even going to try to get it right.*

And now the tears begin to fall...

As I've worked on "the lady" for the past couple of hours I've been listening to a series by Matt Chandler. I had listened to the first sermon in the series over the weekend and knocked out two and three just now. The series is titled, The Great Cause and you can listen to it here.  It's pretty stinkin' fantastic. Wait, I take that back. It's pretty stinkin' convicting. And probably what I've been kept awake for. It takes a good, hard look at sin and the Gospel, two things that I've ignored in recent days (weeks, months, maybe even years). 

It's been a while since I've been broken. Not in the physical sense (knock on wood, I'm not due to the emergency room for a few more years), but in the spiritual. I haven't been very transparent recently and this is my first shot at it. Even now, I type, delete, and re-type words trying to get it just right for my friends who will read this, family, co-workers, old pals from Bullitt County, Bowling Green, "jeanjean"(who follows this blog although I have no clue who she/he is), and anyone else who might wander across it. 

So how will this translate to reality? I face the world in a few short hours. Time will tell I suppose...

...that is all. For real this time.

5:01 AM

All out of clippings. :(

The rest will have to wait until tomorrow unless I can find something to cut up around this bedroom of mine.

(side note- just want to point out that my roommate isn't here. I wouldn't be making all this racket if she were sleeping so close by. I'd be laying in bed, perhaps sleeping by now. Seems like good timing for insomnia I suppose.)

4:06 AM

One hour into the work and I've got "the lady" drawn onto the canvas and my clippings ready for some modge podge. Not sure I'll have enough, but luckily I have lots of old magazines at work that will have plenty of good things inside!

3:35 AM

I'm back! Whew, that was quick.

This is what I've done:

It isn't much, but it's step 1, so I wanted you to see it. Gray background with some splotches of white. 

Now I have to let it dry. Then I trace "the lady." For now, I'll sort through the clippings I have.

See you again soon.

3:02 AM

It's 3:02 am and I've officially decided that sleep will not come tonight. I've been trying since 11-ish to get my body to zonk out, take a break, and get some much needed rest. However, my mind refuses to shut down. I've replayed the ending to game 4 of the Magic vs. Cleveland series that I just watched (5 hours ago). It was a good ending. I actually like Lebron quite a bit, but not as much as I like the Magic as a whole. Come on, you got Dwight Howard blocking shots, J.J. Redick making the bench look beautiful, and Courtney Lee making WKU proud. I've thought about the summer ahead and the recent weeks passed. I've reminisced older times and laughed out loud a few times. Surprisingly, no tears tonight. If you know me at all, you know I'm good at crying. Really good. But they just won't fall. 

It's been a few years since I've pulled an all-nighter and even longer since that all-nighter didn't involve an upcoming exam. I'm not sure why I can't sleep. I don't feel stressed. I don't feel anxious. To be honest, I'm not feeling much of anything, which is strange for me. And a little bit scary. I ALWAYS have thoughts and opinions. It's safe to say the Lord is doing some kind of work in me, but I've not quite got it figured out...

...so here I am. Wide awake. Well, now that I'm up and about I don't feel as much awake as I did while lying in bed. Lame. But anyways, I've decided to pass the time by starting a new piece. I wouldn't call it a painting exactly, but there will be paint involved. I'm going to document the rest of my night in a few posts so everyone who did get sleep in the morning will have something to help them pass the time at work. You're welcome. :)

Earlier tonight (before I had given up on sleeping, but wasn't quite ready to call it a night) I was browsing a few sites and saw this:

The other day I came across a folder with a bunch of cutout words and phrases that was just one of many projects I had started but never finished. I'm going to steal this idea and make my own. But it will be a lady. Because that's what I am.

Not sure I can finish it before I have to start getting ready for work or before I decide that any sleep is good and necessary for the day, but we'll see how far we get. I'll keep you posted (get it, posted?).

that is all... but not for long.

milling around: nashville

Recently I parked my car up on the roof at work and took a little hike around downtown Nashville, across the Shelby Street Bridge, through the L.P. Field parking lot (where the Titans play, for you non-Nashvillians, non-sports enthusiasts, or both), and over to the unique statues next to the river. It was like 80 degrees outside and I had on jeans. Needless to say, there was sweat involved. However, I did get a few fun shots of the city that I call HOME.

I'm not sure what that thing is hanging in the middle of the statue. 

Here's a closer look at it:

Interesting. 

There's also a much smaller red statue where this one hangs out.

Here's what they look like when you're standing more than 17 inches away:

I really do love where I live. For now, at least.

Weekend Milliseconds

• John Wall- Thank you
• Kitty- Enjoy Africa. Can't wait to hear about it.
• Heather- Wanna go the wrong way on 2nd and desecrate a graveyard?
• Ty- I still don't believe that "depilatory" is a word
• Carly- update your blog more often. Burn some more eggs if necessary

FINISHED!

I finished my "shadow on the wall" painting. Whaddaya think?

It definitely has a few blemishes, but hopefully you can't tell in the picture!

...almost there...

Outline done. 

a little teaser...

Today when I came home for lunch I left the door open to let the sun shine in. I noticed this on my wall:

Luckily, I have a few blank canvases around. I grabbed one and first tried to hold it against the wall to trace the tree's shadow. All was well until Mr. Wind showed up. I quickly determined how unfeasible this project would be since I could do nothing to keep the shadow from moving. I decided to just take a picture and try to freehand it. Yikes! 

Stay tuned for the finished project... 

the fASHion Mill 1.3

Back in March Emily, Carly, and I headed across Tennessee to the Great Smokies! While there we bear-hunted, hiked great waterfalls, and relaxed at our awesome cabin not named "Miss B. Haven." Carly worked on an atrocious school project (blah, once again, I'm so thankful school is over for me) while Emily and I made art. This is what I had by the end of the weekend:

The picture isn't very clear. I used ripped newspaper (or maybe a magazine) to fill in the tree. 

Like this:

It was quite a time consuming and tedious task, but I'm pleased with the finished piece. Too bad it's just sitting against my wall with no purpose. I don't really have empty wall space and if I take down the current painting, which is much larger, I'll have to re-hammer some nails. 

That is all...

MILLing about: Louisville

First, I need a new title. The "MILLing about" title will get old quickly if I use it for everything. HELP!

Second, here are a couple pictures of Louisville. I only had a quick minute to jump out of the car and get a few shots (Brittany, thanks for tagging along) after we had eaten dinner at Kobe in Indiana. YUM!

The shots alone weren't that great, but nothing a little fun in photoshop couldn't fix.

Let's be honest, the Louisville skyline is not all that spectacular.

I really like this. It's obviously more of a graphic than a photograph now, but I at least took the picture it was created from. And it's cool.

Here's the actual photo:

Next time I'm in town and have some free time (could be a while), I'd like to spend some more time around downtown and on the Indiana side of the river. For now, these few pictures will have to suffice.

The end.

Weekend MILLiseconds

• Joey: Congrats on the house. Get my art room ready. And the Ashley door
• Mits: How was the cruise? Wait, I don't wanna hear about it, I'm too jealous
• Connie & Joel: Congrats on graduating. Based on the letters now inserted before or after your names, you're probably the smartest people I know

A MILLion stories to share 1.1

Meet Jamenita

This is my little sister through the Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization. She's six and quite the character. We always have fun together. She keeps me young. 

Earlier this week we hung out at Centennial Park. She had just been given a Dora the Explorer pail and shovel so she insisted on playing in the sand. A few other kids joined us as we made a sand birthday cake complete with stick candles. Next thing you know, we're singing "Happy Birthday" and she's blowing out her candles.

After everyone had their turn celebrating we moved on to the playground. After several rejected requests to chase her, she settled on going down the slide by herself.

She did convince me once to go down the slide with her. I'm pretty sure I have a few bruises, but unfortunately, no pictures. The next order of business was swinging. She's old enough and smart enough to swing on her own, but she likes being pushed so she can go up real high.

We ended our day on the smaller playground where I worked hard to protect the 2 year olds hanging out at the bottom of the slide she was racing down. Smaller children just don't move out of the way fast enough for her!

The last time we hung out at Centennial (it's my favorite place in Nashville, by the way) we fed the ducks and had a picnic. She's convinced the ducks understand English.

She had doritos with her sandwich. Isn't she precious?

No matter how tired I feel or how many other things I have going on in my life, the time spent with her is always worth it. I try and hang out every other week for a couple of hours. If you have 4-8 hours to give up a month I'd recommend getting your own little. She is truly a blessing in my life. You can start here: www.bbbs.com

milling around: Bowling Green

Carly and Emily are two of my favorite ladies. They live in Bowling Green, KY, where I went to college. We spent a few hours together recently feeding ducks, playing on the playground, and eating Puerto's)

Carly chased them away

While Emily fed them nicely

She even offered the corn to Carly

Then Carly and I played on the "zip-line"

She was a little more graceful than me

Next, Carly showed off her mad gymnastics skillz with a cart-wheel on the (un)balanced beam

Finally, Carly and Emily headed down the slide

But then my battery died.

the fASHion Mill 1.2

Mother's Day quickly came and passed again this year. I got to spend the weekend with my incredible mother. She may pronounce a word or two incorrectly, but no one's heart compares to hers. 

So I painted for her. 

One day I'll have an art room. For now, I clear space on the floor and get to work.

Here's the finished piece. I painted some picture frames to go along with.

Dad and I hung it up on Friday before she arrived home from work. It was a good 30 minutes and multiple pass-bys before she noticed. She was quite surprised. Dad had been talking her out of buying a picture to hang for weeks.

I gave her this painting two Mother's Day's ago:

 Happy Mother's Day, Mom. 

(Note to Mom, I'll give you $5 if you can figure out how to comment on this blog post)

milling around: Bullitt County

I got to spend a little bit of time this past weekend in the county I grew up in: Bullitt County. In Kentucky we're from counties, unless you live in Lexington or Louisville. Bullitt County is quite the gem just south of Louisville. Where else can you buy veggies or roses on the side of the road (most likely under an overpass, for shade), visit the nation's longest go-kart track (seriously), tour a nationally known bourbon distillery (Jim Beam), shop at the "World's Most Awesome Flea Market" (self-proclaimed title, not mine), and, if you're real lucky, be given half a cow for Christmas? I'm not making this stuff up. Bullitt County is unique indeed. 

I'm sure my short paragraph didn't answer all of your burning questions about the place I called home for so many years. Visit www.travelbullitt.org/faqs for more. I'm truly amazed that that this website actually exists, although the many errors quickly confirm its authenticity.

While there, I spent time celebrating the graduation of my good pal Misty. You can call her Mits. I do. 

Mits has cows.

They kept a close eye on me, but willingly posed for a few photos.

I gave Mits a painting for graduating

That is all...

Meet Ty

This is Ty.

He looks mesmerized.

You can't tell, but that's him too. On the train. He's much smaller than the train.

The "batman building" makes a great background. Agreed?

the fASHion Mill 1.1

I painted these for Ty (his photo shoot coming soon) as a house-warming gift. 

I think he likes them.

They were fun. They're simple. I like simple.

Weekend Milliseconds

• Mary Chris: Sorry I leave my paint supplies all over the place. If I made money on my paintings, I would owe you royalties
• Becky: Congrats on moving. How exciting. Get my shovel ready, I wanna build a sand castle
• Mom: Happy almost Mother's Day. Hope you like your present

Suggestion Box

I’m looking at creatively (or cheesily, if that's a word. Spellcheck doesn't think so) titling the different types of posts that I might have. Maybe I’m taking the word play too far, but I’d like your comments and suggestions anyways.

If you have any other good ideas that fit, let me know!

• The Rumor Mill: links to blogs/websites (It'll make more sense when you see it happen, I promise)


• Millwork for food: photo shoots


• The fASHion MILL: paintings


• Monday Morning (Mill)dew: thoughts on the week ahead, or past


• Milliwatt???: crazy findings or questions


• Weekend Milliseconds: shout-outs, b/c those will be coming regularly (or does milligram sound better? Like telegram, perhaps?)


• Milling about (insert place here): trips, vacations, outings, etc.

I’ve also written down the words “treadmill”, “windmill”, “milligram”, and “million”. I can’t think of any uses for them… thoughts?

Meet John

John was contestant number 2.

Yes, this door is in the wall.

John willingly sat on the ledge 6 stories above rush hour traffic. Luckily, no one below was scared.

In front of the Frist. If you haven't been there, go. And, please, tell me how it is. I've never been either, except for lunch.

Jeff Hanson: one. cool. kid.

Jeff Hanson painted this for me.

Check out his site. Read his story. Look at his other work.

Truly inspiring.

And I'm glad to have one of my own Jeff Hanson paintings.

Meet Joey

Joey was the first of my co-workers to participate in a photo shoot.

Here are a few of my favorites...

We took some pictures up on the "secret" 6th floor and roof at work.

I couldn't talk him into sitting on the ledge.

Maybe next time.