Lapdog?

My brother and his lapdog, Finnie! Aren't they adorable? Taken Christmas evening after the chaos subsided.

Christmas Jugglers

I made this for Dan's Christmas present. Using sculpey clay, jewelry findings, gold beads, wire hanger, epoxy resin, super glue, plastic thread, acrylic paint, spray varnish, gold spray paint, leather cord. Hmmmmmmm. Is that all? Oh, yes; the oven and a bit of time! I enjoyed being creative again! The best is when a project is all finished, though. You get a real feeling of "TAH-DAH!!!" These could be called acrobats or jugglers. Either way, they definitely belong in the circus! Have a great Christmas! God bless us every one!

StreetArt, Paris, France

StreetArt, Paris, France, originally uploaded by balavenise.

I was just invited to post one of my cat photos from the Speed Museum to a "Cats in Art" flickr group. So I did. While I was browsing the other images, I saw this very cool street art piece. Subtle. Creative. Cool!!!

Churchill Downs

What a wonderful little trip! To the horsiest city in the world! I saw the jockey's quarters, the announcer's booth, the winner's circle. . .and even drove by Curlin's barn. Watching the exercise riders/horses on the backside was really cool, too! I recommend going and taking all of the tours available. But you have to go on a non-racing day to see the real "inside" view!

Pirates

We went to a costume party where everyone had to be a pirate!!! So here's what we came up with!

Big Races Coming Up!

Curlin (pictured in his stall) is now the richest North American Thoroughbred with over $10 million in earnings after winning the Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational on Sept. 27. I saw a clip of his Santa Anita workout. He looks very powerful and happy.

from thehorse.com:
Curlin worked over the Pro-Ride synthetic surface at Santa Anita early the morning of Oct. 6. Fresh off his victory in the Sept. 27 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in New York, Curlin went an easy half-mile in :52.80.
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Big Brown (pictured with greenery behind him) is training for the Classic, too. They are training him on the turf because he has hoof issues.

from IEAH website:
Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown continued preparations for the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic by working six furlongs in 1:14.64 over Aqueduct's turf course on Tuesday (10-7-08).
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October 24 and 25 are the dates for this year's Breeders' Cup racing. The new crop of 2 year olds will be racing on Sat. at 2:55. The big boys will race at 5:45!

O I have ANOTHER job!

Remember the post about my new job? A week into that position, I was offered ANOTHER job at a different printing company. It had better benefits and seemed to be more suitable for me, so----I am now at THAT job. I started Thursday. The company has about 30 employees. Has been around for over 20 years. Has a GREAT reputation in the metro area, and works with huge clients. The whole place had a very welcoming air about it. Very positive, forward thinking. Digital presses. Professional. They believe in keeping employees educated in the latest processes. I'm very happy to have made the change. Job hopping is SOOOO unlike me, so I'll be tickled to be in one spot for a long time.

Wandering Jew

Looks good in the kitchen, dontcha think?

GREAT NEWS!

I was offered a job as the lead (only) prepress person today for a printing company! Permanent job! Starting Monday! I have to give up the wonderful gym at the securities firm that I was temping for, but what are ya gonna do? Gotta go with the long term! Yes, boys and girls, HEALTH benefits are offered. The company is only 18 months old, I will be one of 7 employees. They currently print business cards, envelopes, stationery, etc. Big plans on expansion to other areas of printing. It's a pretty exciting position. Dan took me out to Macaroni Grill to celebrate, and here's a doodle from the table. (Dan drew it.) Thank God for this job! I appreciate all of your prayers and well wishes. I still need them. When you think of me, add a little mention to Him about me.

Book 'em Danno!

Part of Dan's new security system. Go to youtube and see how to field strip it---http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBpxMWv8uAg&NR=1
There are other Smith & Wesson MP9 videos there. We shot quite a few rounds at the range. It's a very NICE piece! I LIKE IT!

Vasmaxdu

I have an account with eBay and have 7 items posted right now. Tell all of your friends to look up my items! Maybe someone you know will NEED something I'm selling!?! That would be way cool. My account name is vasmaxdu. A play on the German phrase "What are you doing?". I think that's what it means, anyway. . . I'm showing a picture here of one of the items. I'm still sending out resumes and getting temp work now and then, but this eBay stuff is helping, too! Dan gave me most of the items that I sell. Yay Dan!

Wiggle Worm

I was looking at iPhoto and ran across these photos of a teeny weenie wiggle worm called Baby Ada. About 4 weeks old.

My first nation wide art show!

I created this on Thursday and Friday while I was working for a marketing firm that handles all of the WalMart photo studios. They ok'd it, so it will be available as a background choice for moms and dads taking their little ones to the Picture Me photo studio next month. :D

Our Pretty Winner before the race

This was our first big winner last Tuesday. This 3 yr old won!!! and we got 4.80 for a 2 dollar bet! Later in the day, we had ANOTHER, yes, sports fans, another winner and THAT one paid 6.00 for a 2 dollar bet. Well well. I think we might be on to something now! After years of trying.

Get DIZZY

I found this image while surfing with Stumble Upon.
Caution: IF YOU ARE PRONE TO MOTION SICKNESS, do not go here!
The URL is http://www.clublaugh.com/es-items/712.swf

Temp job pics

I worked downtown in the Old Post Office last week.BEAUTIFUL building! And I liked the work!

Preakness Winner Video

Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Kent Desmoreaux and Big Brown cross the finish line at the Preakness Stakes.

You can see Big Brown's white "Turbo" button on his left side. I guess the jockey pushed it! The video from the blimp shows his amazing acceleration in the stretch. 2nd place was 5 and 1/4 lengths behind him.

The Belmont is in 3 weeks. We'll see if Big Brown can take the Triple Crown! Last one was Affirmed in 1978, I think!

NBC coverage link below - copy and paste it. (I am unable to embed it for a live link.)
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/22825103/vp/24684700#24684973

Big Breakthrough

This is a first at cat central! All three are touching! The two girls have never touched without it ending in hissing, slapping, etc. After ONLY 6 years, they can actually be touching without a fight! Moxy on left, Ada center, Enzo behind Ada.

I have a temp job next week, laying out a newspaper for a girl on vacation. I interviewed for a permanent job at a local print shop over a week ago. They will be making a decision this week. Pray pray . . .

My Portfolio

I wanted my friends and family to see what I've been doing. I found a site that will allow you to post your portfolio so that prospective employers can view it. Since I am actively looking for work(!!!!), I posted some of my projects at this URL "http://www.filetable.com". Once you get there, use the access code "sample" to get in to my uploads. I interviewed for a prepress job on Friday. I'm one of three currently up for the job and they want to fill it quickly. I do NEED a job!!! So that would be nice if they chose me...

Kentucky Derby Picks

Here are my picks for the Derby tomorrow. There will be TWENTY horses in the race. My favorite is Pyro. I like his breeding and I watched him in the Risen Star Stakes. He doesn't have good speed numbers, but the favorite got the outside post and may loose time getting to the rail. Eight Belles will give the boys some competition, but I doubt if she gets in the money. So, my picks are Pyro, Z Fortune, Big Brown. In that order. But if I were ACTUALLY betting, I would be conservative and just bet Pyro to place. I'm a wimp.... Double click the picture to see more detail. I hope you have fun watching the ponies tomorrow!

Derby Musings

I have been looking at the top 20 Kentucky Derby contenders lately. I also checked on the weather forecast for next Saturday in Louisville. Rain. I'm having a little trouble finding a place online that tells if a horse likes the mud or not. But I DID find a picture of Pyro from the 2007 Breeder's Cup Juvenile. He did pretty well in that one. He finished second in the Juvenile after running 8th for half of the race. And his Risen Star Race win in February has been the most EXCITING Derby prep race that I've watched. Here it is from youtube.

Because You Asked

Some of you have been asking about the new tower. It looks complete. It's over 100 feet tall. That is a Roman Catholic retirement/convalescent home in the foreground. . .

New Hair

Here's a look at my new 'do! I just got up and ran a brush through it, so it's not really styled properly. I went to a high end fru fru salon in St. Louis to get it cut. Unfortunately, I just didn't "get it" as to how to work with it afterward. So I went to another salon and my NEW and FAVORITE stylist, BREAHNA, did some modifying to the cut and now I LOVE IT!!! Thanks, Bree!

2 week project

Here is my office in downtown St. Louis for 2 weeks! My agent got me a temporary assignment here. What a view! It was raining on Friday, so not too wonderful of a picture. I was sitting at my computer when the aftershock hit STL at 10:30. The building really shook, wiggled like Jell-O! YIKES.

Locks of Love

I just sent off my HAIR to Locks of Love! Charity Navigator gave them a 4 star rating, with minimal administration costs, so I feel good about where it's going. But I did have to bring the hair home from the salon first to document it with a pic! I hope that you all are doing well! If you need to look up a charity's rating, go to www.charitynavigator.org
PS I haven't figured out what to do with bed-head yet. It's a HUGE problem. . .

Spring

Siblings Enzo and Moxy take a little catnap. Life is so hectic for them, they have to take a break every hour or so. . . The other photo is of my recently planted (last summer/fall) pink pussy willow and yellow forsythia. I only paid 5 bucks for the forsythia and it's about 5 feet tall and wide. Baby Ada didn't make it to the blog this time. I just finished a temporary project with a company that worked me on third shift for a month. Yeeee ikes! Talk about turning your world upside down. But now I am waiting to be called in for another job, so nighttime is for sleeping again. I plan on sending out a ton of resumes to printing and prepress companies. Pray for my bank account to be filled! God has provided through different means throughout the past year. I trust His promise to take care of me. Psalms 34. Have a great Spring! I hope to be more bloggy this year!