September 2, 2010 - Posted by admin - 0 Comments
Well, I fell in love with Galveston a little more this past week. Ever since I moved here I have heard Artwalk brought up constantly. I heard it was a great downtown event that brought everyone out and that I “needed” to go. It happens every six weeks, and this was the first one I was able to make it to. I had such a great time! All the galleries downtown had their doors open as well as stores that don’t usually sell artwork. There were people along the streets doing paintings and sculptures, and everyone was very friendly and willing to talk to us (even though I don’t have a press badge. I am working on it). Brick walls were adorned with paintings of all kinds and the artists were milling around in the crowd. I got my friend Travis to come along with me. He has lived in Galveston for two years and had never even heard of Artwalk! So we explored together. He is into photography so I led us from place to place and he shot anything that caught his eye. So thank you to him for the pictures!
It was an evening of double benefits because I was able to stop in and say hello to many of my downtown clients as well as enjoy myself and feel a little cultured. I also felt a little poor. Most of the art that I was drawn to had a price tag in the 4 digit range. Yikes. Each place has wine and cheese available for the public. It was the type of event where strangers feel comfortable talking to one another and more like a cohesive group rather than hundreds of small units.We could attribute some of this to the wine, but I think most of the credit should go to the nice atmosphere that downtown Galveston creates. I don’t exactly remember the names of the places or paintings we saw so I will just put up a little display of the different pieces that we liked and you can enjoy them too!
This was a Thomas Kinkade. This is not exactly my taste in art but there was a fantastic effect that lighting had on the painting. A worker in the gallery came by and dimmed the lights down and the painting seemed to get darker and warmer. It brought certain colors out. VERY cool.
I am pretty sure this was at Blossom Street Gallery. I really liked this gallery because they had a wide variety of art instead of just featuring one artist. Look for a little info piece on them in the September issue!
Me contemplating the art, then probably noticing the price and backing away.
We took a mini tour of The Grand Opera House/Theater. It was interesting to learn about how they tried to replicate everything exactly that was damaged in the hurricane.
Very cool piece of teak decoration at The Teak Store. Jerry, the owner is one of the nicest people I have met here!
I have many more pictures but this has already gotten quite long. Next blog post will most likely be about the September Happy Hour with the Islander Magazine! It is Thursday 9/16 at Beachsiders, if you want to come out! Live music and free appetizers! Also if you are interested in attending the next Artwalk, the date for the next one is scheduled for October 9th. Here is a link to information- Artwalk Information
August 10, 2010 - Posted by admin - 0 Comments
I feel like I am a well rounded lady. However, just the use of the word lady throws me into what I have been experiencing lately. What word to use? Lady? Woman? Girl? With only a few weeks left to enjoy the privileges that being 21 years old allow me, I have been trying to find a good balance to ease into 22 with. I have been known to be slightly dramatic at times, and I feel like if my actions resulting from the impending birthday are any indication of how I will handle the aging process for the rest of my life, it is not going to be pretty. One thing that has resulted from this crazy August month is that I been saying “yes” to things I might have opted out on previously. Not because I am experiencing some mid-life crisis (I don’t think), but because I am understanding that 22 should not really be viewed as the end of my fun, but the beginning. I now have no exams to worry about and a reliable income! Things are looking up! This past week has been a great time and all of the activities that I took part in were ones I might have missed out before.
First up were my friends Brett and Lindsey visiting. I have not seem Brett in a few years, but after the bonding experience in our “tortuoso” Italian class, it was not difficult to pick up right where we left off. I invited Brett to bring friends and he picked up Lindsey on his way down. They got here and after packing up some snacks we headed to the beach. We spent hours at the beach talking about what was going on in our life, Texas A&M and being amused by the professional photographer trying to order around children on the beach a ways down from us. Opening myself up to as many friendships as possible is now a necessity yes, since I am in a new place, but also something that I should have been doing for a long time.
View from our beach spot. Beautiful beach houses and sunset.
Next up was paintball. Just as I do not consider myself a lady because it sounds too old, I also do not consider myself a girly girl. As my mother puts it, I just like the finer things in life. I prefer to be well rested, clean and in air conditioned areas. Nothing extreme, I just have my comfort zone. My recent “sure, why not?” policy has expanded my zones I suppose. I interviewed Stacy Young with Galveston Island Paintball one day for the magazine and he asked if I wouldn’t mind coming back on a Friday when there were more people playing paintball. I agreed and when he called me on Friday he suggested that I “dress down” and play a game or two. Well my new found snap answer to any clients is “yes”, but after the phone call and a thorough search of my closet for appropriate paintball attire my mind was starting to back off the idea a bit. I knew I could show up and thank him for the invitation and not play, but I decided to go ahead and participate. I had never paintballed before and thought I should go for it. I drove up to GI Paintball and saw a few players on the far field. I know I am a pretty nimble person and could just crouch and leap around to avoid any shots. Things did not go quite as planned. I walked in and the first thing Stacy said was “You wore shorts”. I did not want to get paint on any of my full length work out clothes, and it was about 99 degrees outside, what was I supposed to do? I was glad I changed from the tank top I originally planned on wearing.
He had a spare pair of “pants” so I slipped those on and that is when the players started to come in for a break. As it turned out I would be playing with 15 or so teenage boys. I tried to be as kind as possible to win over their affection. Well long story short, I was shot within about 10 seconds of the two games I played. I was a good sport! I ran to my predetermined destination and shot blindly around (At one point Stacy felt the need to tell me to make sure I did not shoot him in the back of the head) but as soon as that paintball burst against my arms I was done. I rushed to the other side of the mesh fence and tried to rub the paint off of my skin. I later learned that the paint is made from fish oil and is really good for your skin. Eased the pain a little bit. Luckily the bruising was not too significant and there were no hard feelings. Stacy was kind and gave me two huge jugs of paintballs on my little utility belt, but I am pretty sure I got off only about 10 shots total. Even though multiple boys boasted about being the one to shoot me each time, they were really nice and friendly.
Stacy, the owner, and I before the games. 
The group I was going to play with/against
My view from afar
They were pretty sneaky
Last up on my wild week was tubing. While this might not sound like the most extreme activity to anyone, it was for me. Three years ago I fractured my skull after flying off a tube being pulled by a jet ski and have not been back on since. Might seem a little silly, but after going through all of that I told myself that there were plenty of safer water activities I could participate in. When my friends came to Galveston to visit one of their families with a gorgeous beach house and boat I tagged along. Out on the boat everyone tubed and then it seemed to my turn. I went for it but reminded the driver a time or two about the skull fracture. He went at a very gentle pace at first, but after getting comfortable I gave the thumbs up sign for him to speed up. It was great! This all might seem melodramatic, but I am proud of myself!
Scanning the water for lurking stumps, the responsible party from 3 years ago.
This week has been full of adventures and new experiences and I have a feeling that the longer I am in Galveston, more opportunities will present themselves. I have two weeks left to enjoy 21, but I’m now ok with 22.
August 6, 2010 - Posted by admin - 0 Comments
I have made it past the month mark in Galveston! It already feels like home. The Island itself feels mores like home than my sparse apartment, but everything is filling out. I am not sure why I have such a sense of familiarity or pride in Galveston after just a few weeks. I think it is because I drive by the hundreds of tourists each day along the seawall. I know they are here for just a few days or a week. It is the feeling of having guests over to your home. You want everything to be spotless. You want your family to be on your best behavior and hopefully your guests will enjoy themselves. That is the approach I am taking with Galveston. I love seeing the families run across the crosswalks, pulling each other by the arm. I enjoy seeing elderly couples strolling down the beach, holding hands. My favorite thing tourist-wise so far has been the Segway spotting yesterday. It was quite a large Segway herd. At least one, maybe two families. They were stopped in front of a historic home, taking everything in. I just think of this family, taking time off of work, shoving in one last vacation before school and choosing Galveston as their destination. Who knows how long they drove, or if it was a bit of stretch to pay for a vacation, they just seemed very relaxed and happy.
Since I now call Galveston home and have an apartment lease, not a hotel stay, I want to do anything I can to help the Island succeed. I want to make a good impression on tourists. I want to showcase the beautiful architecture that can be found on almost any street on the Island. I want the “BOI”-ers (Born on the Island-ers) to stay, and enrich the community, not throw up their hands and leave because of problems rebuilding or finding jobs. Shannon and I attended a luncheon last week where the mayor spoke and I realized that I have a great venue in the magazine to promote what the mayor is emphasizing as well as what I have been feeling.
I thought that the magazine might have a spare page to run a feature that spotlights improving the community. I don’t want this page to have any negative connotations. I know that Galveston is a great place already and people work hard, but I know some people either struggle to begin a project or need a little extra motivation to get things started. After talking with Shannon about my idea I have began to collect some of the expertise and assistance that I need to get this section going in The Islander. This week has been such a learning experience. I sat down with Mayor Jaworski on Monday to accomplish two things. One, I wanted the community to know a bit about the Mayor. In my hometown I might have known our mayor’s last name, but probably would not have recognized him if he walked by me. My intention was just to ask him a few light hearted question, nothing political to let the community connect a face to the name and learn a few fun facts about him. My second objective was to have Mayor Jaworski suggest a a simple tip that home or business owners could keep in mind. Mayor Jaworski was gracious and thoughtful and he gave some great answers that you can read about in the September issue!
Then today I sat down with Matthew Pelz, the project coordinator for the Galveston Historical Foundation. I explained my intentions to him over the phone and he suggested we meet at the Green Revival House, a house built in 1891 and currently being remodeled by the Galveston Historic Foundation. While the house had not reached the “air conditioned” stage of development, I was still grateful I got to go inside when I did. Since the house is not complete I was able to observe the original structure and features. Matthew explained how they were preserving the historical aspects of the home while updating it in a green friendly way. He gave me some great tips for homeowners of historic and contemporary houses about how to do simple updates without having to tear down and rebuild.
Before
Took this picture when I was there today! How appropriate is the weather in each photo?
Everyone I have encountered in Galveston has been so positive and willing to spare some of their time to answer my questions. I know I am not the first, or only, person in Galveston to be thinking these thoughts, so I am excited to discover more dedicated Galvestonians. I had never pictured myself as a person who would get plugged into their community.Things have changed! Here I am today, sitting on dusty floors at job sites, learning about the benefits of transoms.
