Artsy Fartsy II

Well, here is some fun news!
Lauren won first place for juniors in her school's writing contest!
She got a nice little check for $25 from the PTA. Nice!
Then she won the overall best writer award out of 100 students who entered this writing contest!
WOW!
Another check for $50 from the PTA. Nicer!
What was most meaningful for Lauren is what her creative writing teacher said about her when he presented the award to her:

"No other student author I've known could layer so much sound and still maintain the maturity of the message."

Okay, I have no idea what that means but it sounds impressive!
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My Thursday painting class (with the hard-core instructor) will be exhibiting a group show at a cool hip coffee house Helios Cafe in downtown Raleigh in June. Our instructor was the one to organize this for our class and even though its really NOT a big deal, its sorta a big deal for me. It is requiring me to frame a painting to show, write an artist statement and get back into a little experience of showing my work.

Since the theme is "Landscapes" and I don't do landscapes, my instructor suggested I show my red square painting. (See painting here). Since its an abstract it can fall under the theme of landscape. I have titled it "Landscape of Red."

Artsy Fartsy

I guess you could say our family is artsy fartsy. Lauren and I are the artsy and Danny and Michael are the fartsy. Okay, I'm fartsy after dinner most of the time too.

This past Friday Danny and I went to the North Carolina Museum of Art for their Friday evening event which is basically food, wine, and live music and a nice stroll among art. Its pretty low key, fun, inexpensive way that fills the fine art bucket in my soul (you all have one too right??). Every time I go into an art museum I have pangs of missing working in one. It really is a culture all of its own with some interesting quirky people.

Right now most of the museum is closed due to renovations that will reopen in 2010 and it promises to be awesome. At least they have some of their modern art (my FAVORITE) on display. My hope is to some day be a docent at the museum. "A docent is a trained volunteer who serves as a tour guide armed with in-depth knowledge about the museum’s collections and exhibits and helps make museum visits special."

Well, as if we didn't have enough of the museum the next morning we returned at 8 am to participate in the museum's 5K Run for the Arts. This was organized by a group known as the Contemporaries. They are the 20 to 40 something members of the museum who organize events and raise money for funding the purchase of modern/contemporary art for the collection. SO COOL!

Well, this was my first race and Danny was bouncing off the walls he was sooo excited. He loves to do races and was so happy to do this with me. The course was through the museum's sculpture garden which was pretty neat. However, they failed to post a person or sign at the turning point and many of us ran an additional mile out of our way.

Danny and I were not expecting to win, but I did not want to come in last. I have some pride. I'd like to say we ran the whole course, because about 3 months ago I was running up to 4.5 miles on the treadmill. Yes, treadmill. A different animal. The park had significant hills and my out of shape self kept team Dulin back and in fast walking mode for a lot of the race. No matter, we still crossed the finish line in the first third of the runners. How fun! And painful.

The next day we could not walk. Oh well. Danny is getting ready to sign us up for Race for the Cure in June......

Painting #3

I am very happy with my third painting. Not because of the subject, although she obviously has significant meaning for me, but because its a really good painting. I love the scale, composition, palette, the use of words/lettering and the tiling background. I see so much of my "designer-y" self in this painting. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of this piece and my instructor Leslie was great in helping me think about different options as as I was getting started. Lauren seemed to love it also.

Various Good News Items

1. Received a gift certificate from the man I love for a massage, facial, and pedicure as a mother's day gift. WOO-HOO!

2. Used the Bed, Bath & Beyond 20% off coupon to get $100 OFF of our new Dyson ball vacuum cleaner! WOO-HOO!

3. Finally got my haircut for the summer -- a nice 2 inches off! YAY!

4. Found a home for my mom's dog Taco. HE is the one that gave me ringworm, but the family that is adopting him doesn't care and has spoken to our vet and still wants to take him! He leaves us on Thursday! (Okay, I admit I got attached to him, he's so incredibly sweet.)

5. Bitty is FATTER and more affectionate than ever!

6. And the BEST news of all........ one of Lauren's poems was selected as one of "high merit and chosen for publication" by the Creative Communications Poets Contest!! CONGRATS Lauren!

Here is her poem she submitted:

Revelation

So here the weary battle rages on
And slowly I am losing all my hope
For I have yet to see a ray of dawn
As darkness coils 'round my neck like rope

The walls are crumbling now to blackest ash
Eternal standing fortresses in dust
The enemy has climbed far up the pass
Their numbers climbing all the while thus

Now soldiers that were once fighting with me
Have turned and raised their weapons to rebel
The blood a lake that laps against their feet
An army that was loosed from deepest Hell

But I know this: the battle has been won
I stand by my Creator's side when done

My Daughter and Me

On mother's day, Danny took Michael with him to go spend the day with Danny's mom at a family picnic in VA. That left Lauren and me to ourselves. What bliss! We could not remember the last time it was just us all day.

We began our day with a long walk with the dogs. Got ready for church and on our way, Lauren treated me to breakfast at Waffle House. We giggled at the sight of how over dressed we were for the meal in our church clothes. Since we were so early for church, we decided to hit the Target to do some shopping. She bought gifts for friends upcoming birthdays. I bought shampoo and thank you cards.

We praised and worshipped God together and held hands during prayer. We confessed we fell asleep during the same prayer. We ate leftovers for lunch. She gave me four small paintings she did that were her own rendition of Rothkos and they are lovely. I know this was deeply meaningful and thoughtful of her. We lounged about during the afternoon while I finished my book and she did some homework and drew.

We researched sandals online that she needed for her costume for an upcoming Anime convention. We headed to Belk and then Kmart and she found what she needed. We returned home and scrounged up the rest of the leftovers for dinner and ate while watching TV. We talked a lot. SHE talked a lot. It was good to be her mother and it was good for her to be my daughter.

My perfect mother's day ended with us getting into an argument. Of course. But no matter, it was the best mother's day for me.

History, Therapy & Storytelling

Hi. I'm still here and I'm "okay" -- at times. Anyway, during the last month I have wanted to blog so many things about my life, my mom, the rich insights and moments of the experience of caring and watching my mother die. But of course I could not. And as my life returns to "normal" I also realized all those incredibly meaningful moments for me would fill this blog for entries upon and entries and this is not what THIS blog is about.

So after reading Amy Tan's "The Kitchen God's Wife" -- which I highly recommend, I am inspired by own mother's life to write a memoir of who she is in my life history. I want to write her history --- as much of it as I know. I know the history of her life in the past 3 weeks. She did nothing but lie unconscious in a hospital bed in an apartment that did not become really "home" for her and then she died.

But for me, for me it has changed me forever. The God I knew before this event is still the same God, but He would not leave me the same.

I have started an online blog -- memoir of my mother's life based on my memories, stories she told me, and the memories of my aunt and cousin.

I hope to honor her life well with all its heartache and successes. I hope to tell it truthfully and with no other intention then to preserve her history, My history.

Please visit: The Vietnamese Swallow

I AM "Mom of the Year"

Thanks to Ginger for nominating me! What a joy to have you bring such humor in my life!
Click here and and enjoy everyone's praises about ME!

My Mom: 05.02.09

Dear Family and Friends:

My mother Mrs. Yen Le Snead passed away peacefully in her sleep last night, Saturday May 2, 2009 at 8:45 pm. She was 62 years old. She was surrounded by her older sister, my cousin, Danny and myself. As we witnessed her taking her last breath, our hope is that she heard us praying for her and telling her we loved her.

We had hoped her short battle with lung cancer would have allowed us more time with her, but we are grateful for the last couple of weeks where her usual tenacity and spunk seemed to still demand our attention. :)

Here are the details of the funeral service to honor her:
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
11:00 am
Brown-Wynne Funeral Home
200 SE Maynard Rd
Cary, NC 27511

Please considering making a donation to the American Cancer Society in lieu of flowers to honor my mom Mrs.Yen Snead.

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers