Art.  What is art?  Everyone has an answer.  I love it best when someone sees an art piece and says “Hmph, I could have made THAT!”  But, you didn’t.  And that, is the biggest difference between you being you… and you being an (say it with a French accent) Artist!

With art as an expression of one’s inner thoughts and feelings, you find many variations of art and it’s why an artist’s work changes over time.

And, you don’t have to be crazy like Van Gogh, cutting off your ear to be deemed an artist.  Anyone can do it.

Heck, even I’ve made art, had some pieces in galleries and sold them too.  I was inspired while living at The Brewery, a live/work artists colony.  I’ve been told it’s one of the largest in the world and it’s right near downtown Los Angeles.  It’s called The Brewery because… wait for it… it used to be a Brewery.  This corkboard is one of the few remnants from that period.

Twice a year, The Brewery has their Art Walk.  I went last weekend to reminisce and see what’s new.  Everyone living there opens their doors for a weekend so you can come carouse around (yes, they sell beer and food) and view their art.

Plus, you get to see how they’ve decorated and designed their creative, open spaces.  I loved this kitchen with the free hanging windows as a room divider.

All the living spaces are big loft style with high ceilings, big rooms and most of them, lots of natural light.  This is my old building.  I went there to visit my old neighbor, but he’d moved out.

Downtown isn’t for everyone.  I remember when friends would come to visit, they were a little reluctant to get out of their cars.  They were used to their high security building in West LA. Here, I didn’t even so much as shut the door half the time, let alone lock it.  Fear and false security are tough habits to break.

Living here was fun with eclectic personalities and something interesting happening all the time and being so close to the trains.  Love hearing the train whistles blow.  And these trees.  Can you explain how these trees possibly survive here?  Amazingly they do.  They must be feeding off the creative energy.

Yesterday was not good.  It started out with Stella getting stung by a bee.  Again.  This happened to her last year too.  Only this time she handled it like a champ.  Last time, she vomited 5 times and collapsed.

When I had rushed her to the vet last time, I didn’t know yet what was causing all of this orangey throw up (eww!) and lethargy.  The only clue I could give the vet was “Stella rubbed at her ear a few times.”  The vet (and my friend) Kay, found a stinger in her ear.  Boy did I feel stupid. Like, really?  I couldn’t have guessed that?  Or looked more closely at her ear?  I guess that’s what vets are for.  They know their dawgs.

Kay hooked her up to an IV to get fluids back in her and monitored her for a few hours in case she had a severe allergic reaction.

This time, however, I saw the bee fall to the sidewalk.  Then Stella started licking her front leg and refused to walk on it.  OK, here we go again.  I picked her and Pixie up, ran back to the house and gave her a little Children’s Benadryl.  Found the stinger and plucked it out.  And Joe wrapped her up in a blanket like a baby and put ice on her swollen leg. No throw up this time and within an hour she was walking, just with a tiny limp.  Whew.

Minutes after this emergency ended, the cleaning lady who we’d scheduled to come out, cancelled.  Just 15 minutes before she was to arrive.  Nice.  I mean, Fired!  I don’t hire her regularly, just on occasion. So usually I wouldn’t care if she cancelled, but we had Joe’s parents coming in to town.  The next day.  Now, on top of all the other things we had on our to-do list, we now had to fit in time for all the stuff we’d delegated to her.  Crap.  Can I go back to bed and start over?

All this happened before 9:30 a.m.  The rest of the day was spent rushing around getting things done.  If any more bee stings or cancellations happened, I was too busy to notice.

Look, I know these aren’t really problems.  I don’t mean to sound petty or shallow.  I’m just telling you how my crappy day went.  So whaaa.  Do I want some cheese with my whine?  Yes, yes I do.