The Perks

This shirt is one of the perks of having a sister who lives in China. I challenge a lot of eye contact when I wear it. 

Bring on the Sun

Living in Austin, these recent cold snaps are freaking us out! I know people in other places laugh at us ... closing schools, shutting down highways --- but it's just not normal in Austin, TX. Hoping my gardens survive the current ice rain, as I didn't get to harvest this guy yet.

Anxious to plant some new succulents in my circles, just need the freezing temps to be done (my kids have claimed the circles as the perfect spot for their rock collections for now).

  Ready for some warmer days ....

Oh Deer!

My daughter and I were inspired by Cricket Burwell's creation to make this.

Glad my girls are starting young!

DO NOT DISTURB

We will be terribly busy all day, in deep preparations for the new season of Mad Men.
Booze accounted for, ice cubes chilled, kids tucked away ...

Let the games begin.

Reinventing the Planter

There's always some type of project going on at my house. Fixing up, redoing, painting, gluing ... I'm sure you can relate. All too often though things don't quite end up how I envisioned or I get distracted and never finish. This time, however, my project turned out exactly like I was hoping, & I freakin' love it! I got this urn looking planter from my mom.

Boring. Enter in a can of spray paint & bam, a badass is born.

I usually mess up when I spray paint because I glob it on and it inevitably drips. This time, I was patient and ended up with a great look. I love it. So big, and perfect. I want more in different colors and shapes.

I had this unruly succulent with no home - may my new planter tame it!

Better Late Than Never

We're finally on Pinterest. Let's follow each other .... and waste lots of time together looking at awesome things we may never be able to afford or do ... but love from a distance.

Wow

There's really not much more to say.

That's What Friends are For

There's some major moving goin' on in the Sonzala house hold, so I told everyone I know that I was looking for some new furniture, one of which was a shelf.  Wendy suggested Retro Rubbish because they were going out of business.  I went over the next day and found this.

I freaked out.  And the bonus - it was 65% off! Fits in my dining room like it was made for it.  I thought I'd have a hard time filling it up, but I didn't.  Dug through boxes that have been tucked away in the garage for years and found these. Sexy as hell.

And the antique family bar ware.

    It all now has a home. An amazingly hot home.

It's in Their Blood

One emptied giant lawnmower box plus two bored kids equals a massive collage project. They decided to make a "dog house" for the dogs - but it had to be tricked out, so my junior cutters got busy. It began with some old magazines, glue, markers, and of course glitter ... 

 

 After all the prep work came some classic kid-funny works of art. The thought bubbles are the best. Seriously, read them.

The eww fighter face kills. Please note the nose-to-butt-proximity.

 Tea Time.

I don't even want to know what's going on with this strategically placed glitter.

The dogs were fine hangin' while the kids were working. But come time for the kids to get the dogs into the dog house ...

 

was a whole 'nother story.



The Perfect House Number

Couldn't stop thinking of this band the whole time I was working on this plaque. I know I'd live at 808.

Used to jam 808 State back in the day .....

Cricket Season

Seriously, my yoga studio is full of crickets and they're invading my house too.

Luckily, this amazing cricket light I got from Traci Hutson is in no way, shape, or form kin to the funky crickets invading Austin. Actually, I saw this number at Blue Genie last year and finally had a little extra cash to spend, so there you go.

The detail is awesome. I have it in my shelf, but it looks pretty amazing mounted on the wall too.

Kickin' It

One day my hubby, straight outta the blue, got all man-crafty and decided to build a mini deck. See it there? Admisdt the flower bed? Perfect for a family hang or more importantly, grown-up booze central. Secretive ... and swanky huh?! Suspended right in the midst of our flower bed. The kids helped with the construction ...
and the signage. Then we added a couple of chairs, hanging plants & bam ... the joint is poppin.' Well, at least the kids think so! My main man did a killer job. "The Deck" is our new evening destination. Cue music: "Night Boat to Cairo."

Father Knows Best

Our garage is our "retirement fund". My husband is convinced every t-shirt, magazine, record, tape, cd, magazine, etc. that he's had over the last 25 years in his music career will be worth tons some day. This takes up half the space. I have the bad combination of being cheap with good intentions. My half consists of "good deals" - furniture to be "fixed" at some point when I have the money and time. It got to be bad in there, so hubby cleaned out the garage for heavy trash day. I went to go check it out a few days later and found this. Which is just a perfect combo of us both, including those kids. He found this record player in Erie, PA and brought it home. The red vinyl toy box it's on too. We still have the naked lady ice cubes. I have a whole collection of naked lady stuff, but I couldn't display it once I had kids. I'm not brave enough for that conversation. Bottoms up! I have more of this stuff too. What's a lounge without a disco ball. Or a Knifedance poster? I was totally impressed and desperately want an exposed rock wall in my house now.

WEST Austin Studio Tour

Being a die hard EAST fan, and knowing how tight Big Medium runs their EAST tour -- I was psyched when they announced their first year of WEST. Psyched 'cuase I knew it meant a chance to see some new (to me) killer art in Austin. The WEST catalog was just as spectacular as the EAST. Beautifully done and loaded with images. Didn't have my usual EAST posse with me, but had the perfect friend fill in (although his navigation skills were the worst distracted skills I've ever seen -- possibly caused by all the free booze the artists plied us with). Now, on with the show ...

This was our first stop -- a group show packed with tons of great pieces. Graphic/ color/ detail/ mountains of visual stimulation. Richard Ashby

A powerful collection of Buddha statues and Thangka paintings. Amazing. We didn't stay for the guided tour explaining the pieces because my art partner couldn't handle the vibe and ran out. Needless to say, no free booze here.

Then there was Adreon Henry. One of the most creative of creatives in Austin. His shows are always done so right. No exception here. His house/studio was set up with creative explosions going in every corner. I hope you made it by because it really looked amazing and wall to wall crazy unique art. Perfect vibe. I wanted to buy every piece, literally. Groupie. Stalker.

Oh man. Seriously oh man. Hands down best discovery was Manik Nakra. I couldn't get over/past his pieces. Incredible and powerful. A methodical presentation of deep rich color and history. Currently in behind-closed-door talks about owning one of his brilliant pieces.

Yes. How about that collection? Obsessive, maybe ...

Want! Jason Archer. Best pieces. Graphically -- crazy! So on point and the perfect balance between meaning and humor.

This one's my favorite. So good. His studio was another one set up so perfectly. Loved the vibe and every single one of his pieces.

Kafka Lenton. Layers upon layers of meaning and visual discovering. You can see/feel the process in his pieces. Mixed media and painting just rich with texture and power. Was in awe of his show at EAST and equally blown away by this show. It was the last stop of the day for me. And it was perfect.

Go here *Big Medium for more info.

How Much is that Doggie in the Window...

Seriously. Months with the puppy being perfect, then this.
Can this be fixed? Will my children be this disruptive when they're teenagers too?

Art Installation

Well, not exactly an art installation ... at all. More like, I finally hung new art in my house. Which is no easy task. My house is loaded, dare I say, overwhelmed with art. Every wall has something hung, grouped, paired, or stacked together. So in order to make room for the new art, something had to come down. I have had this super awesome vinyl sticker by Jeremyville on my wall for several years. Totally love it. It took hours for me to put it up. Stressful tedious hours. I swore I'd never take it down. Ever.

But then this starting happening. Not so cute huh? So down it went. After years of me badgering my kids to keep their hands off the sticker, man, they really went to town ripping it down. And up went the art. But of course it's never that easy. I had to clean the walls of sticker residue. Rearrange the art many times. And then patch up those holes. I ended up saving a few pieces of the vinyl sticker. Just couldn't part with it. I think the art looks fab, and I love how the they work together, becoming one piece of art. These pieces are a bit out of my comfort zone. Much less literal than I usually gravitate towards. Spicin' it up a bit.

Now, if I can just keep them all hung straight ... and hang the rest of the art I have stashed away with equalled success.

*Artists include:

Randy Muniz via Industry
Jack King
Misha Blaise
Andrea Heimer