Halloween Party

Halloween Party

On the way to the Halloween party, she started to have second thoughts about her costume.

“But, I don’t want to be a dinosaur ballerina.” I assured her that she didn’t have to wear her costume.
“I want to be a camel.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t have a camel costume.”
“Do you have a crocodile costume?”

By the time we got to the party, and she saw that all the other kids were wearing costumes, she was thrilled to be a dinosaur ballerina again.

dinosaur ballerina - coffeejitters.net

This was the annual Halloween party for the kids at Gilda’s Club. Gilda’s Club is an amazing supportive resource for people whose lives have been impacted by cancer: the patient, and their family and friends as well. Their kids program is wonderful. Events like this kids party allow kids to make friends with other kids who have cancer in their lives, and build a support network of peers who understand what they are going through. The get a chance to be in a situation where having a mom with cancer is normal, and they’re not the weird one.

Gem is flourishing in this environment.

She loved the craft station, and is so proud of the mask she made.

craft time - coffeejitters.net

After a thorough consultation with the make-up artist, she finally decided on whiskers to complement her ensemble.

face painting - CoffeeJitters.net

Sitting still for the face painting was the hardest part.  It tickles.

face painting - CoffeeJitters.Net

The best sight of the evening was watching her perform an interpretive dance to the Halloween music.  Then she upped the bar and performed her dance inside the haunted house.

halloween dance - CoffeeJitters.Net

This is the first time she’s really gotten into Halloween, and she LOVED it.

happy halloween - coffeejitters.net

Women Take Over – Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris

Women Take Over – Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris

Women are often well represented in art museums, or at least their bodies are. They are pinned right there to the wall.

Women Take Over - Seattle Art Museum - CoffeeJitters.Net
Ensemble of posters, Guerrilla Girls American artists, active since 1985 variable Centre Georges Pompidou, Museé national d’art moderne, Paris, T2011.206.101

Women artists are not so well represented

The current show at the Seattle Art Museum takes aim at that issue. Anchored on the groundbreaking Paris exhibition, Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris, Elles puts the focus on the vision and craft of female artists. Just as our understanding of history changes, expands, and takes on new depth and texture when the voices of women are added, so to does the addition of female artists change our understanding of art history, as well as informing history itself.

Seattle Art Museum

This show does not attempt to represent women from all cultures everywhere throughout history. The scope and breadth of such an ambitious project could no more adequately represent women around the world, than it could men. Just because female artists were largely ignored does not mean they were not prolific. This is a showcase of mostly European female artists in the 20th and 21st Centuries. There is a need to address art created by women of other cultures and times, but that necessitates not just one, but many more shows. I hope someone gets busy curating some of those shows soon.

The Seattle Art Museum is coordinating with a number of organizations and venues throughout the Seattle area to celebrate women artists, ongoing through January 2013, including musical events, films, lectures, and a symposium.

Women Artists - Espagnoles - Natalia Gontcharova - CoffeeJitters.Net
Espagnoles, (1920-1924) Oil on canvas Natalia Gontcharova Russian, 1881-1962 36 1/4 x 28 3/4in. (92 x 73cm) Overall h.: 37 3/8in. (95cm) Overall w.: 29 15/16in. (76cm) Centre Georges Pompidou, Museé national d’art moderne, Paris; AM 3111 P, T2011.206.135

Elles showcases the work of more than 75 women artists. I’m tempted to wax on philosophically about each of these pieces that I’ve selected, but each time I return to these images, I have something additional to say. I’ll never get this post up at this point, so I’ll just leave you with a few of my favorites. If I could take one home and just sit and stare at it all day long, it would Espagnoles (above).  It just pulls me in.

La Chambre Bleue - Suzanne Valadon - CoffeeJitters.Net
La Chambre Bleue (The Blue Room), 1923 Oil on canvas Suzanne Valadon (born Marie-Clémentine Valadon) (born Marie-Clémentine Valadon) French, b. 1865, Bessines-sur-Gartempe, France; d. 1938, Paris, France 35.4 x 45.7 inches (90 x 116 cm) Centre Georges Pompidou, Museé national d’art moderne, Paris State purchase and attribution 1924, T2011.206.1

On the other hand, there is, La Chambre Bleue (The Blue Room), above. I hated this piece at first. It was featured on much of SAM’s promotional material, and I couldn’t figure out why. It really bugged me. But, the more I look at it, the more I see.  The picture has grown on me, and now it’s one of my favorites.

the frame - Frida Kahlo - CoffeeJitters.Net
The Frame, (1938) Oil on aluminum, reverse painting on glass and painting frame Frida Kahlo Mexican, 1907-1954 11.2 x 8.1 inches (28.5 x 20.7 cm) Centre Georges Pompidou, Museé national d’art moderne, Paris State purchase and attribution, 1939, T2011.206.48

Frida Kahlo lived in my imagination as a larger than life figure. Her self portrait on the wall, at eye level, stopped me short. It was so much smaller than I expected. And tangible. Suddenly, behind the tiny painted glass, she was less mythical, and more a woman, with hopes and dreams and fears and insecurities. She became real. And maybe that’s part of the point of the exhibit, as well. Beyond drawing our attention to these amazing works by female artists, this show reminds us that women in art, whether subject, artist, consumer, or all three, are individual people. Not objects, myths, or concepts; just people, connecting with other people.

FTC disclaimer: I received free admission to the Seattle Art Museum, and permission to take photographs of the exhibits. 

Checkup

It’s checkup time for me again. This time, it was with my radiation oncologist.

Gem has spent most of her life going to the doctor with Mommy. She’s an old pro.

She brings one of her “friends” – today, we brought Tolee, the Koala Bear.

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Get him all comfortable, and make sure he feels safe.

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And since doctor visits mean a lot of waiting, we pass the time with a little dance.

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And a little more dancing.

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Maybe we’ll just rest a bit.

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And then while the doctor talks to Mommy, Gem borrows her tools to give Tolee a thorough examination.

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And me? I’m still improving. The doctor said I look fabulous! I’ll take that. I need to wear my lymphedema sleeve more. I already knew that. I need to get back into physical therapy. check. The fatigue is normal, and should continue to decrease over the next few years. Sigh. And, unless something comes up, we’re going to go a full year till my next radiation checkup!

 

 

Party like a rock star

Party like a rock star

I don’t enforce a silent nap time. In fact, around here, nap time is ‘learn how to make your own fun, and maybe rest a little bit, while Mommy tries to get her work done‘ time.

So when the happy-fun “Woohoo!” sounds wafted from her bedroom, I just smirked and went back to work. She’s doing a great job learning how to make her own fun, I thought.

party like a rock star

From the looks of her trashed room, I imagine she had quite a lot of fun.

Work Hard ~ Play Hard ~ Sleep Hard

One of these days, we’re going to have to install a video camera in her room. I’d love to know what her play looks like when she thinks no one is looking.

That girl can party like a rock star.

Tour de Pink

Tour de Pink

Cancer didn’t make me stronger; it sapped my strength like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

You know what made me stronger? Having to make tough decisions and stand by them. Calling bullshit on bullshit. Moving forward despite the fear. Getting up every single day to be a mommy to my little girl, no matter how crappy I felt. Showing up for every treatment, even when I wanted to hide under the covers. Being a part of a support network for other young women with breast cancer.

Tour de Pink

We don’t get through this alone; we are all so interconnected. There is strength in numbers, in solidarity, in community. We take turns having bad days, and on our better days we lend our strength to others. There is strength in knowing I am not alone. Others have traveled the road before me, and my experience will provide strength to those who come behind me.

Suzanne Wastier - YSC - CoffeeJitters.Net

There is strength in helping others, in standing up and fighting for a cause. There is strength in giving back, and paying it forward. There is strength in understanding, and being understood. And there is a great deal of strength in our collective knowledge of how to survive and thrive despite this nasty and devastating disease.

This is why I am so passionately supportive of my support network for young women with breast cancer, the Young Survival Coalition.

we can do it - CoffeeJitters.Net

A week ago, YSC Seattle held it’s annual fundraising event. Instead of the usual party and auction, this year we held an athletic event. Tour de Pink indoor was our first cycling fundraiser, and it had a completely different kind of energy than the party. We packed the room with spin cycles, great music, and awesome people. Perhaps it wasn’t the same fun as partying, but there was collective energy of focus and determination that was quite different from what happens on the dance floor.

spinning - tour de pink - CoffeeJitters.Net

Energy builds on energy, focus encourages focus, and it’s hard to give up in a room packed with that much determination.

tour de pink ysc

We raised $11,000. 

why I ride
why I ride

Up next is a bigger, outdoor ride. Tour de Pink West Coast is a 200 mile ride from Thousand Oaks to Foothill Ranch, CA, to benefit YSC across the nation, and it’s less than two weeks away. I won’t be riding along, but I will be with them in spirit, you can, too.