Visiting a museum and eating with a friend...

My outfit was inspire by the Catalonia landscapes artist Ramon Vilanova.
I first discovered his painting back in 2002 while doing research for an art project.
The Coral Spring Museum was having an exhibition of his work titled:
Instantes de Vida (Moments of Life).
 
Here is el Rincon Llena, one of my favorite paintings.
Photo from: Artists and Art

Thrifted, made in India, Old Navy skirt
Thrifted, Made in Nicaragua, Liz Lange top
Thrifted, Darlene Knitwear cardigan
8 years old Italian sandals
No mane purse, more than 10 years old 

Bracelets: thrifted, from Indian and from SteinMart
Rings: gifted and purchased locally

Thrifted necklace on the left, about 10 years old
Old Steinmart necklace on the right
Earrings from San Diego
Coral Springs is another one of those cities around here that is full of sports, arts and shopping opportunities and that has some of the most expensive and lavish homes in the county.
The museum tickets are $6.00, the parking is free, you can take photos outside and move around in their well manicure gardens.

We got to enjoyed all the outside art before we went inside for the exhibition, where of course we couldn't take photos.
This is: Peace Lily, made of wood, metal and stone, by Perez Celis, 2007.

My friend the artistic squirrel.

As we were moving on he/she kept coming out of the side of this tree to say: "bye".

The Gateway to Peace, made from ceramic, by Peter King & Xinia Marin, 2008.

The bird looks scared!

This is: Himalama. It's made out of Carrara marble, by Lothar Nickel, 2002.

My favorite piece: Open Space, made out of mosaic, by Pat Campau, 2004.

A closer look, you can see the words: music, art, dream, read, sanctuary, family, friends and Florida.

For some reason this piece made me think of Picasso's Guernica.
It's tittle, Fire Horse, made of bronze by Jesus Sanchez, no date.

This piece is right at the entrance of the museum's parking lot.
Tittle: Mindscape, made of red travertine marble, by Yoshin Ogata, 2007.

This mural is: The Everglades, made of ceramic tile, by Jan Kolenda, 2003.

Vilanova's paintings were in large canvases that displayed all the lush landscapes, colorful flowers, the movement of grass, the changes in light, plants in green, yellow and brown and showed his emotional connection to his native land.
After we finished viewing it we went upstairs to take a look at more paintings. 

One of my favorite local artist:
Romero Britto (he is Brazilian born but resides in Miami since the '80's).
Tittle: Mural For The Arts, is acrylic on canvas from 2009.

More art in the way downstairs and back to the parking lot.

My good friend V. is from Colombia, so we went to eat at a Colombian restaurant close to the Museum and that was affordable enough for our small budget.
Many of these Colombian pastries are very similar of the ones I used to eat in Puerto Rico.

A newly discovered combination, mixing the Colombiana soda and a Colombian beer.

And you get this deliciously sweet drink that goes smoothly with the heavy lunch.

A look at our food.

My friend's meal: fish soup with rice, plantains (yellow and sweet) and a salad.

My choice was a plate that includes a bit of everything: steak with egg, salchichon (pork), plantains (yellow and the black ones), aguacate (avocado), rice and a giant plate of beans with jamon (beans and jam) that I gave to my friend to take home because I couldn't finish it!

We got these two cards from the museum.
The Phyllis Sperber exhibition was very personal and powerful. She uses items like family photographs from War World II, sand and tissue papers in her paintings.

We also could take as many of these Wari fans as we wish.
They are from the Wari: Pre-Inca Lords of Peru exhibition from The Fort Lauderdale Museum that I didn't attend because their admission fee was $14.00 plus parking fees.

It was a productive day:  I got some free stuff, spend less than at a movie and feast my eyes and my stomach.
Carinos,

Going out for fish and chips...

This is what I wore to go out to eat fish and chips with a friend at one of my favorite pubs.

I wore:
Thrifted Gap long cardigan, made is Lesotho
Old Mossimo shirt, made in Nicaragua
Thrifted Forever 21 stretchy skirt, made in Indonesia

Old Roman style sandals
Andy Warhol purse from Marshalls, about 6 years ago

The earrings were present from a very close friend of mine back in 1998 when I lived in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
The rings are from  from 1990-1996, when I lived in New York

Thrifted (in 2011) tassel necklace
The other two necklaces are from Steinmart, purchased a long time ago

The first bracelet is from India
The coin bracelet is from Steinmart from '06 or '07
The other two are old bracelets from DOTS 

As the bag handles says: I do remember the smell of spring in New York.

Is a copy of one of his most famous 1964 flowers series.

My choice of drink, of course a Guinness, and lemon water. One drink for the evening was more than enough, we were eating and listening to music for about three hours. Plenty enough time to digest everything before going home.

My friend's fish and chips.

My choice, with a salad instead of chips. My good friend decided that he would pay for dinner even though I insisted that we shared the bill.

A look at the area next to us; 30 minutes after this shot it got pack with couples, families and lots of ladies in a celebratory mood.
I took some photos of us, unfortunately I was not using the flash; and let me tell you we look like owls!

The carvings on the mirror by our booth.

Nice hanging lamps that gives very little light and a semi-obscure, misty atmosphere.

This is Celtic Bridge and they played Irish music, they are harmoniously good.
I've seeing a fantastic Beatles cover band and a very animated guy that sounds and looks just like Rod Stewart at this pub as well.

The band played two sets before we left.

This week, I'm on vacation.
I wanted to go back to The Bahamas; but the money was nowhere to be found.
Instead I'll be going to a lot of free events at many of our local libraries and museums.
This week some areas of my county are in need to boil water because of the presence E.coli!!
We are also experiencing crazy amounts of rain and thunderstorms!
It's has being an interesting week so far...
Carinos,

Thrifted Wall Decor and An Inspired Yarn Work Chandelier...

Part I
Since the early months of 2012, this wall decor photo was at my favorite Salvation Army store as a wall display with a sign that said -Not for Sale-.
I asked the store manager at least 20 times if he could sell it to me?
And finally, last Saturday he said "yes"!!!!
He brought it from the wall to me, I paid for it and carried it around with the help of my youngest daughter and her friend for the two and a half hours that we were at the store.

It was a bit dustier and the not for sale sticker had faded and was really stuck to the photo.

Once I got home: I cleaned it with cleaning wipes, soft tissues and slowly removed the sticker with my fingers without the use of any alcohol.

The price tag is still on: it's from Bed Bath & Beyond, a Vintage Vouge Wall Decor, for $49.99.
I paid way, way less than that.
Most of the items in our home are either second hand (thrifted), gifted (like my soft green couch), from the 50-70% sale racks at the local department stores or are part of my family history. The last time I purchased new furniture was back in 2005.

Part II
And now I want to show you what I did to our quite boring chandelier...
For this particular home project I was inspire by two of my favorite artists that work with yarn.

 Juliana Santacruz
(Photo From: http://www.streetartutopia.com/?p=3322)

And Carol Hummel
(Photo From: http://blogroqueestrella.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/arvores-vestidas-de-croche/)

I have lots of extra yarn that was given to me by a close friend to complete a project that was never finalized.

I finished these two parts faster than expected; no photos of the in-between since I was "in the zone".

I used a hot glue gun to glue the beginning and the end of the yarn.
In the future if I get tired of it, I can just cut it and remove it.

The yarn was cut the same length, cut 6 to 10 pieces of each and laid them on my sofa.

Then: began to mix the colors that I wanted for each chandelier arm.

At last, I stopped being in the zone and took a picture.

When my arms became tired, I took breaks and because I'm short, I used a stepper/ladder.
The rocking bear in the library area was my oldest daughter's Christmas present back in
of '93 or '94. She just took it out of her room to make space for a makeup unit.

For the final touch: I took some of the left overs yarn, braided and tied them together.

The small pieces were tied to the bottom part of the chandelier which can also be easily removed.

The entire process took about 3 hours due to my many breaks, taking photos, some fruits snacks and a glass of good Californian Sauvignon Blanc.

Sometimes it takes me years to decorate my place. I leave areas empty until I find a piece that somehow connects to my aesthetics or until I come up with project like this one.
Con Mucho Carinos,