Non-Stop for Ninety

To be completely honest ----- I'm not even really sure what the hell I've been up to for the past few months. The time just seemed to blow past me after the election --- I was sitting here this morning and realized that it had been months since I took time to write.... silliness.

I feel like 95% of the past 90 days has been about little things --- but here's the scoop on the main bits which will bring us nicely up to date and ready to roll again:

November
Thanksgiving ended up being one of the best I've had --- despite the fact that the week started out with me completely freaking out. I was expecting my mom and sister to come to Omaha -- they arrived on Wednesday and stayed through Saturday. What I (or anyone else for that matter) wasn't expecting was for my dad to get into his car on Tuesday morning and drive to Omaha --- without telling anyone he was doing it. Yeeeeeaaaah.

So, I'm at work on Tuesday afternoon and I get a call from my dad telling me he's in my driveway. And I sort of lost my shit.

The house was a disaster zone... I hadn't done any of my Thanksgiving supper shopping... but the real reason I lost it was because my parents haven't been in the same house for more than three hours in over 20 years.... and now they'd be spending the weekend together. Not to mention that I would be spending 24 hours alone with my dad --- which, believe it or not, I'm not sure I had every done before. Ever.

My dad and I have some funky history. It's better now --- but for a LONG time, it wasn't good. Not good at all.

Long story short ---- everything went really well. My parents got along just fine, and despite a few super surreal moments for my sister and I -- I think it was good for them to be together for a bit. They both got to see Pulp for the first time.... and my father told me he was proud of me for the first time in my life.

December
The only way I can describe December is to say that it was completely bat shit from beginning to end. Without a doubt -- I bit off way more than I could possibly chew, but I manage to get it all down in the end.... altho I'm still not really sure how.

My birthday was wonderful.... for lots of reasons, but mainly because it was also Tim's birthday. Yeah -- I know, it's craziness, but we were both born on December 18th. There was a huge ice storm that day -- so the party we planned for that evening turned into a tiny affair -- but he cooked me an amazing dinner of lobster and steak and I made a great carrot cake for dessert and we had some people over (friends who could walk to the house) later for drinks... it was the best day.

The day after was a Third Friday --- and the show that opened in the gallery was the hugest one I've had yet. My friend, Mark Gilbert, an artist from Scotland who'd been living in Omaha for the past couple of years did an exhibit comprised of 110 (nope, that's not a typo -- 110) portraits of students from this really elite all-girl boarding school in England where he'd been working as the Artist in Residence for the summer.



The show was insane ---- hanging it took days, but oh my gawd --- it was a brilliant success! It was the best-selling show I had all year, and everyone loved it. I wished i could have left it up longer --- sitting across from all those faces made me so happy... I discovered new things in the work every day. It was amazing, all the way around.

Christmas was good.... I spent it with Katy's family -- my "Omaha family"... and had a great time, despite being miserably homesick for most of the day. I need to find a way to get back to MI for the holiday this year.... somehow. The sadness I felt about not being home was balanced with the happiness I felt at being able to spend the holiday with Tim --- we ended the day swapping gifts by the tree and drinking champagne at 2am. Perfect.

January
New Year's Eve was spent down at La Buvette -- having supper with Katy and Tim and Steve Azevedo.... and watching my Tim work. It was a good night --- but we really celebrated the New Year on the 1st.... Tim and I cooked a HUGE soul food supper with lots of black-eye peas for luck. Tim fried a ton of chicken and I made all the sides and a red velvet cake -- and we had gobs of people over to start the year with us. It was the best time -- and the perfect way to start the year.

So ---- while I was getting ready for Mark's opening in December -- I was also curating a show at The Bemis Underground based around the visual artists nominated for last year's Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards. It was basically a huge group show featuring work from about 40 nominees.



The opening was a huge success -- and the exhibit got a lot of traffic... but honestly, getting that show together was ALL consuming... just a crazy amount of time and work. It was wonderful to be able to put it together to give the artists their due recognition -- but, yeah --- without some serious help, I'm not sure I can do it again this year.

I watched the inauguration with Tim ---- made a huge breakfast with mimosas and wept on the sofa. I declared the day a holiday and sat parked in front of the TV all day watching the parade and then went dancing with friends that evening... I still feel like I'm floating from that day. Every time I hear Obama on the radio, I just smile ---- a huge change from the past 8 years where when I heard the former President start to speak -- I would turn the volume down.

So that's the jist of it... well, the big stuff at least. There's also been another road trip through Iowa, another opening in the gallery, birthday parties and new babies (Riley!), financial freak outs, a Lost marathon... followed by a Mad Men marathon... followed by a current Battlestar Galactica marathon (I know... I know...), a slew of poker games, a ridiculously embarassing fall on my face in the street, several trips to the doctor (more on that later), a slide on the ice that fucked up the 'ru a bit, one kick ass almond poppy seed birthday cake for Wanda, a wonderful supper at the new Boiler Room followed by the mother of all hang overs (NEVER mix rum, calvados and wine.... ever!) and lots and lots of happiness.