ART IN VIRGINIA

I'm back from Falls Church, Virginia! I was visiting my Great Aunt and Uncle, Jane and Tom all the while improving my art skills! You see, Aunt Jane is an artist herself and I arrived Tuesday around noon on the 15th and arrived back in Austin today around 11:15 (the 23rd).

I painted with oil's for the first time and made a still life and more of a design piece. I can't wait to get them! I also worked in watercolor, pen/marker, and colored pencil. I've made some pretty neat stuff.

Music! I finally got the nerve to be like, hey...can I find a station on the radio...very awesome, though those talk radio things really get interesting after a while, only if you actually listen to them.

I went to the Botanical Gardens with Jill and we also went to a museum with all this modern art (shall I ever find out the name of the place? I don't have a clue) and I went to the Smithsonian with Tom and Joan to see the portraits and more modern stuff. I appreciate museums a lot more now that I have the guts to walk quickly around a room if I'm not interested in something...I must say, there were lots of interesting things there!

I stayed with Jill Wednesday evening till Thursday evening at her house in D.C. It was fun! A bit claustrophobic, but you have to go to the Mall to get away from the tight space because there's a long stretch of grass with the Washington Monument on one end and the Capital at the other...we ate wraps and watched some men play soccer. We: made cheese, watched Little Miss Sunshine, walked around town with a purpose, took the metro, and sadly missed on visiting the watermelon building.

I tried to take less showers but that was dumb and though I had no set shower schedule, the whole idea was a bust I guess.

Jane and Tom bought tickets to some concerts. An awesome lady sang and played piano with her band...Olivia? Maybe that was her first name...hmmm...then we went to see The Capital Steps who were people who worked in Congress but now sing about the worlds troubles spoofing on other songs.

The Food: much more tolerable then past visits, but I think I gained some weight :O ... Jane made this ravioli/spinach thing...not so good, sadly enough, though I did manage to eat a bite of spinach with every bite of ravioli. Go....ME!

Oh yeah, I walked around the houses in their neighborhood and was apparently trespassing when I was walking around the apartments a ways away, but when I found that out I made my way swiftly toward the school I had past...My sense of direction is very good...the squirrels there are so pimp! Yeah, not really, they are squirrels though, no hiding that.

And...I learned how to play Smelly Cat on the guitar. Go Jill! (Pictured is an extreme close up of a piece I started yesterday of an orange.)

*Note* I finished this a long while after I was already back from my trip Oops :)