Well, I am back from KC, and it looks like I will be heading back again this coming week. Actually, looks like I will be on the road for work for the next 4 weeks straight - all different cities. Its feast or famine in my business...
Anyways, there are tons of great events happening here in the metromess. Plano is having their annual hot air balloon festival. Meanwhile, Dallas and Fort Worth are both sponsoring art festivals. I went with a friend and his wife to the Fort Worth Art dealers Association festival.
Its a pretty neat deal - down in the arts district of cowtown, all the art dealers (and museums) stay open late, server beers and snacks. The general public is encouraged to wander from one art gallery to the next.
the evening started off a bit wet as a rain storm rolled in. Luckily, it didn't last long, but made everything humid and sticky. We headed out to go see some art!
We hit a few galleries. I have to say, two of my favorites was a framing shop. Apparently, there are annual competitions for framing art. And I got to meet the 2004 first place winner! This guy had loads of passion about framing art. I quizzed him on how he decides on what frame, the matting (and what ever else I could think of related to framing). I ended up talking for about an hour.
Just up the road, we saw a bunch of people all gathered in the parking lot. Thinking it was another gallery, we pulled in to check it out. Turns out, the art dealers festival draws so much traffic, that other non-traditional art related business open their doors as well. There was a women's hair salon serving crackers and mixed drinks. All the beauticians were handing out free samples of some shampoo, with their business card attached. They were all "hair artists".
The really cool place was right next door to the salon. It was a record shop with a live DJ spinning vinyl. Thats all they sold - hip-hop and house mixes grooved into vinyl. I never would have thought that a store specializing in club music only on vinyl would be a viable business market. We ended up chatting with up and coming DJs, and some more established ones as well. Keep your ears peeled for "DJ Jpeg"! He was handing out home burned CDROMs of his mixes.
We decided a change of scenery was in store for this long weekend. I met my Dad and sister and her hubby down near Corpus Christi this weekend. It was good to get away, and get some sun. Despite the sun, surf and perfect weather, there was still an emotional dark cloud that hung over the weekend. I don't know if it will ever go away, or I'll just get used to seeing it omnipresent in my life.