Lacey takes Erica to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art

Awesome BFF necklaces from Kelsey's Patch on Etsy, our delicious lunch at Blackbird Gastro Pub, then the art museum!

I had a four-day weekend over the Labor Day holiday. \(^_^)/ On my Friday off, I revisited my old stomping grounds... The University of Oklahoma. I graduated in December of 2007 and haven't really been back much to visit. The campus has received a complete face lift --OMG new buildings everywhere-- and Campus Corner is almost unrecognizable. (All of my favorite bars are gone!) Anyway, Lacey is finishing up her graduate studies in art history and also interning at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. I went to the art museum once as a student but this time I would be going with a museum employee who knew all the best exhibits and could give me detailed information on the collections. My own personal tour guide; I was pumped!

I honestly don't know who that is in the photograph. I took the picture for the puppies.

We started on the top floor, which housed the Ellen and Richard L. Sandor Photography Gallery. The exhibition was Visage: Photography from the Permanent Collection. This was the current showcase at the museum. The exhibit entailed numerous black and white photographs of interesting and/or famous individuals. There were a few photographs of Igor Stravinsky. There included one that he sat for professionally and then a few candid of him composing & conducting. I have a CD of his symphonies; I used to play it as background noise when I studied so I thought getting to see photographs of him at work was pretty neat. Also pretty neat was a photograph of David Phelps (below). He sculpted the Pastoral Dreamer, which is my absolute favorite piece of art on campus. Lacey & I used to walk around campus for exercise and we always made a point to visit Carl (the name I gave to the Pastoral Dreamer). Then when friends & family came to visit, I always took them to see Carl. Today, I got to see Carl's dad. LOL

(Sorry guys, I can't undo this goddamn highlighting. It always does this to me when I copy & paste, which is what I did to get the link to the exhibit.)

The next floor housed the Art of the Americas and the Eugene B. Adkins Collection. It was mostly Native American art. Many paintings, clay vases and tribal jewelry. My interests don't really get piqued by Native American art but it was still an interesting collection. And a very large collection. Lacey noticed it was already 4:30pm. The museum closes at 5pm and we still had 2 floors to go! I was determined to see the entire museum because I didn't know when I would have another day off to return. 

This painting came the year I visited the museum as a student. I remember because I received a poster replica which I hung on my wall for several years.

We had to breeze through the first floor and basement area. I would rather have taken my time but that's what I did on the second & third floors to get us in this mess. I'm sure Lacey was glad I didn't have time to ask her too many questions. Haha! The first floor was my favorite. It housed the Asian and European art collections. The Asian Art collection is getting rotated out because the museum has more pieces in storage and it is also receiving a donation. Part of Lacey's job is to determine which artists are already represented by the museum so the curator knows what to accept from the donation. She's also been researching contemporary Chinese artists. So much more fun than my job.

Also on the first floor was the James T. Bialac Collection. Mr. Bialac gifted his collection of over 4,000 pieces of indigenous art to the museum. I know I mentioned earlier that I didn't find Native American art very sexy but this collection was different. The pieces were colorful and vibrant. There was a piece that looked like an oil painting but was really constructed from yarn. There were also the pieces above, which were constructed from wood and beads. 

The last part of the first floor was the sculptures. Lacey filled me in on which sculptures get rotated in and out of the museum (The Mustang does quite frequently) and which ones were going back into storage. She has the coolest job as an intern. She works directly under the curator and is the first to see all the new pieces that come in. She said she watched as the curator unwrapped a vase that was donated by Mr. Bialac. She performs various tasks for the curator, such as drafting the descriptive note cards that accompany each piece of art, so her boss can focus primarily on curating.

@fjjma #allthefeels #happiness #joyful #hunger

Lastly, was the contemporary art in the basement. There was an interactive exhibit of various paintings. The goal was to engage the audience and gain exposure on social media. The exhibit encouraged visitors to take pictures of the artwork and then post them on social media using hashtags representing the emotions that the artwork evoked. There was a piece of installation art that was a tv screen laid on the floor with green bubbles on it. You blow through this long tube to move the bubbles on the screen, so pretty much, you're the artist determining the arrangement of bubbles on the floor. It was really neat. We ran through the entire basement in less than 15 minutes (one of the security guards reminded us that the museum was closing very soon) so I couldn't appreciate the art as much as I wanted to. 

@fjjma #allthefeels #sad #anger #dammitjustletthatpuppyin

I had a very enjoyable afternoon at the art museum. I wish we had another 2 hours so we could properly experience the first floor's and basement's collections. The museum is free and definitely worth an afternoon's visit. There is so much there; I think it rivals the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in its permanent collections. Lacey couldn't answer all of my questions, probably because they were dumb (Does anyone know why that woman in the sculpture has two horses' heads for legs? And how come interns can't touch the art?...Doesn't seem fair that she can't touch anything.) but she did make my visit a lot more fulfilling. Our last stop was the gift shop. It was small but jam packed with fun, nerdy, art souvenirs. I got these badass socks for myself and Wes. Totally wearing them to conquer Open Enrollment season at my job (the smaller girl's pair reads "badass" on the top).

All in all, a very good day! I would definitely recommend going to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art on the University of Oklahoma campus and I would love to return myself.  Let me know if you want to go!

Erica & Wes' adventures in ramen noodles.

Home creation: beef flavored instant noodles with dried seaweed, topped with a fried egg and crispy onions.

When Wes & I went to Sydney, my cousin, Kent, suggested that we go to a local ramen house. "Ramen," I asked, "those cheap noodles you get at the Asian grocery store for 0.79 dollars a bag?" (I obviously knew nothing about ramen noodles.) One night during our stay, Wes & I walked to Ippudo. (http://www.ippudo.com.au/) It was a small restaurant inside of the mall and extremely packed with hungry customers. The entire staff (dressed in traditional attire) shouted greetings and thank you's in Japanese as each guest entered and left. The menu was both foreign and adventurous, two of my favorite things when trying new foods. Our dinner was good but I wasn't instantly hooked.

Our meal from Ippudo.

Fast forward two years and there are now two ramen houses -that I know of- in Oklahoma City. I've eaten at them both and enjoyed thoroughly the food (Sydney planted the seeds and it just took me a while to come around). I decided to make some of our own ramen concoctions at home. Wes has made "fancy ramen" before and was on board with the idea. Here are some of the bowls we've come up with. (To all you foodies out there...pretty pretty please don't get offended... this isn't claiming to be as good as the traditional ramen served in the noodle houses. It's definitely an easy DIY imitation using instant noodles and creative pairing of ingredients.)

Instant imitation ramen noodle recipe-

       Ingredients needed: instant ramen and whatever you want to mix into it. Simple enough, yeah?

1. If you're using meat, make sure it is pre-cooked. We used leftover protein from the previous night's dinner.

2. Prepare ramen noodles according to instructions on package.

3. When the water is boiling, add in meat & vegetables along with the noodles & spice packet.

4. Add toppings and serve.

Here are some delicious ideas:

Chicken with edamame and eggplant, topped with cilantro.

Duck and zucchini, topped with cilantro and crispy fried onions (not pictured). I put the zucchini in last so it didn't get too soggy.

Shrimp with mushrooms and edamame, topped with sesame seeds. This was my least favorite combination. I don't think the shrimp worked very well.

The possibilities are endless (as long as you're willing to break tradition)! It's a quick and cheap meal. It's also relatively healthy, the only bad part is the sodium content in the spice packet. And it's fun getting to be creative with what you want to add in. We bought a twelve pack of instant ramen for $7 and had cheap, healthy and fun dinners for a month! 

Erica & Wes' time in Fredrick, Oklahoma.

So some warnings before you start reading:

1. This is an emotional & personal blog. I've been posting three types of blogs: DIY crafts, recipes and travel adventures (which tend to perform the best among readers). I've only posted a handful of personal ones. My logic is that no one wants to be sad on a Monday night. Life is much more fun when you're making wedding centerpieces, right?

2. The picture above will be the only picture for this blog (sorry... I know the pictures are the most interesting part of my blogs). I didn't plan on writing about this until after the fact and I couldn't go back and take pictures afterward. 

Over the past year and a half, Wes & I have ventured to Fredrick, OK three or possibly four times with my step father, Mike. It wasn't for travel and leisure. Mike's mother passed away unexpectedly about two years ago and she willed her house and all the possessions in it equally to her children. We went with Mike to move her furniture and help in cleaning up the house.

Where is Fredrick, you ask? It is a two and a half hour drive from Oklahoma City. The only major town on the way is Lawton. It is in south western Oklahoma and it is a small town. Like a really really small town. The only place they had to eat that was open on Saturdays was a Sonic. LOL Driving two and a half hours there and back really gives you a chance to think. I've never cleaned up a deceased stranger's house before. My mom and I had to clear out my dad's stuff after he passed. That was a difficult process but at least I knew my dad. My mom and I knew what was precious to him so we knew what to throw away, donate or keep. I have never met Ms. Christina Laurent. I didn't know what she wanted to give to her sons. I didn't know what she wouldn't mind being thrown out. I was just some stranger in her house sifting through her belongings and possibly discarding things that shouldn't be discarded. 

The first trip was strictly business. Mike wanted to get a couch, some of his childhood belongings, a dining room table and the chairs that matched. We were in and out in an afternoon. "This won't be so bad," I thought, "Mike has grieved, now he's detached himself from the sentimentality of this trip and is just getting furniture. We're like a moving crew!" The last couple of trips we made didn't go as smoothly. Mike's brothers had come and taken what they wanted. There wasn't much left but there was still enough to make it hard. We couldn't just throw the stuff away... this was a woman's life. All the memories she made in that house. Her other children picked through everything and left the rejects. Since no one wanted the dresser or extra bed in the guest room, Mike took it. He gave a chest of drawers and vanity to me and Wes for when we get our house. I took a wicker trunk that I've been using as my "signature piece" in my craft show booth display. 

The last trip to Fredrick was the most emotional. The three of us knew that we'd never see that house again. Mike had to finally let go of the house he spent every other weekend in taking care of his mother until she passed. At the beginning of this journey, my thought process was take what Mike wants & needs and nothing else. This wasn't my stuff to claim. After going a few times and seeing that none of Mike's brothers really wanted much, I started to realize that if we don't take this stuff home with us, it's going into the dumpster. Like I said before, this is a woman's life displayed throughout her possessions. Clearing out her house would be like clearing out all those memories and I couldn't just throw away a woman who would have been my grandmother if she had not passed.

Plus, Ms. Laurent wasn't a stranger anymore. After visiting her house and looking through her belongings,  I learned that she loved figurines and giving to charity, especially the Human Society. She liked antique furniture and loved professional basketball. She kept almost all of her children's pictures of them growing up and she was a devout Catholic. 

I think Mike felt the same way. He had always offered us anything we wanted, from knick-knacks to furniture. But on this last trip, he really wanted us to take any and everything. We got kitchen utensils, decorative candles and figurines, sewing supplies (YES!!!), towels, even garbage bags, paper towels and toilet paper. I think we did a swell job cleaning out the house. We rescued enough belongings to keep the memory of Mike's mother alive. We took things that we could use to build our home in the future. And most importantly to me, I got a lot of sewing hand-me-downs. (okay, just kidding, I'm not that shallow) Although I never met my grandmother-to-be, by using her thread & fabric, I feel like I did get a chance to meet her and craft with her. Christina Laurent seems like a lovely lady and I'm sure we would have been friends. I'm glad Wes & I have been able to help Mike succeed in this daunting task.

rags|reborn introduces the Fall Craft Show line up!

Boy am I ready for Fall Craft Show Season!! (I'm also ready for fall weather.) I hear this is when shows pick up for vendors. Thank gawd!! I didn't participate in September or October shows last year but I'm sure anything will be better than June, July & August shows. Summer shows were absolutely terrible, like really really bad. (;_;) Worse than Spring Craft Show Season, and that was pretty rough. The only good show I had over the summer was Quarter Mania the last Friday night in August. That event always rocks! 

My advice for other vendors: Spring/Summer craft show season is a big risk. Do your research before applying for shows and be super careful of dates. I learned that most people aren't wanting to spend money because they just blew it all on summer vacation or back-to-school shopping. Don't expect to make a lot of sales but it is a good time to get some experience and hand out business cards. 

Besides Quarter Mania, the only spring/summer shows I did well at (and plan to return to next year) are The Spring Handmade Show at The Crown Center, Western Oaks Christian Church's annual Spring Craft Show and (if they make it reoccurring) the craft show at Trinity Free Will Baptist Church. That was a first year show and it was tiny but really well put on & well received. 

There are two shows that are on my "maybe" list. 

       The first one is A Bazaar for all Seasons at Del City Christian Church. It was so well organized. Just look at that sexy vendor packet I got! LOL The volunteers were also very appreciative of the vendors. There was a group of church ladies walking around all day with the sole purpose of handing out free snacks. I didn't make any money but I didn't have to spend any on food, either, so that was really nice. One volunteer from the youth group, Matthew, helped me unload and load my car with a smile on his face. He also walked around with water to keep the vendors hydrated all day. 

       The main problem I had with this show (besides the fact that my sales completely sucked) was that there was very little advertising. The craft bazaar was held in three buildings. The main building got all of the advertising and traffic. The other two buildings only got about one third of the traffic as the main building. The building that I was in also held the silent auction (its main attraction). The silent auction was all the way in the back room (fellowship hall). The vendors were placed in the various class rooms that lead to the fellowship hall. All the signs pointed straight to the silent auction... nothing directed shoppers to come into the class rooms. I saw people walk right by the room I was in...tunnel vision straight to the auction to place their bids and then straight back out without stopping. At one point, I stood outside the classroom and harassed shoppers to come into our room. 

The other show that I might or might not return to is the Norman DeMolay show at the Masonic Lodge. This show had great advertising (the show coordinators were taking pictures and posting on social media all day long), volunteers (the teens in the DeMolay Masons Club-or whatever its called-are top notch. A crowd of them ran to my car to help me unload as soon as I pulled up. And they all eagerly offered to help me pack up after the show. I barely lifted a finger!) and reception (busy flow of traffic all day). Everyone stopped by and looked at my booth. They all had nice things to say. What they didn't have was money. No one had a single penny to spend. It wasn't just me, a couple of the other vendors near me also had dismal sales. But this show is held three times a year... August, October and December. So, I might participate in the October or December one next year. 

Anyway, I'm trying to put January thru May behind me and focus all of my positive energy on the rest of the year. Like I mentioned earlier, I haven't participated in fall shows before and I haven't heard of any of the shows that I've signed up for in the vendor community, but I'm feeling good because these are established shows. (And I'm sure I'll see my vendor friends there!) The only show that is relatively new is the one at the Cole Community Center. I believe that the shows at the other three churches have been around a while. Which is great for me... they'll already have an established customer base and marketing strategy. I've already started an autumn line up of pillows. I'll have fall colors & themes and a lot of OU & OSU college football pillows. I'm excited! 

One last thing... and it's not on my Fall Show Schedule flyer... I'm going to be in a car show (https://www.facebook.com/events/677548479078250/) this weekend! I think I'm the only vendor there because the main focus is on the classic cars. It'll be held at my friend, Laura's, salon (https://www.facebook.com/doowopglamshop/). Laura has been doing my hair since she was in beauty school and her salon is great. I am so proud of her for following her dream and am grateful that she let me bring some of my pillows to show. I've never been to a car show so this should be a fun experience. It's a retro themed car show so all of the ladies at the salon will be dressed up pin-up style and there's going to be a barbershop quarter there to provide entertainment. It's an outdoor event (another first for me) but the weather should be cooling down. Yay! It promises to be a fun filled day so I hope to see everyone there!