Remember laundry day in college? Where every shred of clothing you owned was dirty. Dirty, not just worn once or twice. I loved that the building I lived in had 10+ washers and dryers in the basement, because I generally had 6 or 7 loads of laundry to do at once. The only problem was getting a washer that worked was a bit like Russian roulette. Half the time they would stop, mid-wash, with all the filthy water standing around my clothes.

Last week, when discussing the end of a decade with Raju, I had the realization how long a decade really is. “I graduated college!” I said, wide-eyed. Hell, I was still in college at the turn of the decade. This was the end of a long list of other major milestones that happened:

1. I got married… more than once
2. We bought a house
3. I traveled around the world
4. I traveled to French Polynesia – twice
5. I acquired Milo
6. I acquired Raju 🙂
7. I started this blog and this website
8. I got my first real job (cut’n’paste ninja!!)
9. I quit my first real job for an “art” job (and promptly went back to first real job)
10. I moved to California
11. I went to the Albuquerque Balloon Fest (one goal on Mom’s travel list)
12. I visited San Antonio Riverwalk (another goal on Mom’s travel list)
13. I learned to drive a stick shift
14. I learned to like, then LOVE beer
15. I attended my first NFL and NHL games
16. I lived through my first surgery… and suffered only minor embarrassment from the drugs
17. I became addicted to coffee in the AM
18. I had my first gallery shows
19. I had my first ever Indian food (and Ethiopian, and probably a few others)
20. I went from carrying a 300+ CD case to an iPod
21. I got my first computer (Dell desktop) and became addicted to the internets
22. I graduated college

I know there were many, many more things that happened in the past decade, some I will remember later, some are completely forgotten. However, I still have piles of laundry to do on laundry day, just like in college. I have a feeling housework is a chore I will never learn to embrace.

So that’s my laundry list; that’s my reflection. Enough dwelling in the past, it’s now time to focus on the present and the future.

Filed under:
Life Changing Moments, Reminiscences, Year in Review by Courtney

Ponte Vecchio, Florence

I had one of the most wonderful, most eye-opening experiences about a week ago. As many of you know I sell my work on Etsy – a great place to find handmade work by artists & crafters (if you didn’t know that, you should pop on over to my shop and check it out). CBDImagination – another Etsy shop owner – messaged me to tell me how much she loved the picture posted above, that it brought back many memories for her.

I do love this photo, the way the light pours out of the windows and reflects on the rainy streets. The life that is portrayed down the street, the person in the red jacket who pulls your eye down there.

But as much life as I see in my pictures, I sometimes can’t shake the art school feeling. “It’s just a pretty picture,” they would say, “… it has no meaning, no depth, no insight into something greater.” Like everything you have to make as an artist has to make that big, political statement. It has to generate some controversy. And, somehow, any work that doesn’t do that, isn’t as good.

So, CBD, she made me realize that a pretty picture can be more than a pretty picture. Photographs, just like music, just like a scent, can bring back waves of memories for a person. That’s how I feel every time I look at one of my photos – and often how I feel when I look at the work I own from other artists. Photography is documentation of a moment, a particular point in time. And just because something is beautiful, mainstream, doesn’t make it any less worthy of the term “art” for some people.

To each their own – their own feelings, their own memories, their own opinions.

Filed under:
Life Changing Moments, My Art, not just a picture, Observances by Courtney

Poof! Just like that the party is over, and everyone has gone home. The wedding was wonderful, the festivities were wonderful, the guests were wonderful. Thank you to everyone who traveled such a long way to be with us Saturday.

The image above, I believe, is from the talented cousin Indu. It was one of my favorites when we were combing through the pictures. I’ll have more up in a day or three, but until then you can enjoy this one.

Filed under:
Happy, Life Changing Moments, Wedding by Courtney

Five years ago, I’m sure I knew why Laurie Simmons house was so friggin’ mind-blowing to me. Today, I really have no clue. I’ve searched her, I’ve googled her, I’ve yahoo’d her, I have not even a glimpse into what she once meant to me. I can find lots of pictures — of her, her work, etc. None of it rings a bell. All I remember was this playhouse she had built was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen my junior year of college, and I thought she was brilliant.

Cheers! Have another drink in honor of my dead brain cells.

Filed under:
Influences, just a picture, Life Changing Moments by Courtney

It’s taken a little time for me to get over the whirlwind trip from last week (which now seems so long ago). I had a lot of firsts last week — first trip to DC/Maryland, first time wearing a sari, first time meeting my future mother- and father-in-law, first time getting a taste of what being an aunt might be like 🙂

I had a wonderful time, and I haven’t quite figured out yet how to put it all into words — I’m not sure I ever will. As I said, it was a whirlwind trip. A few days in Maryland, a few days Tennessee, and finally back home.

Filed under:
Life Changing Moments by Courtney