Art, Cars, and the Christmas Craft Fair

Song Lyric of the Day:

Say you’re a winner but man you’re just a sinner now

Billy Squier / “The Stroke”

11:34PM.
Where to begin recapping this weekend…

Rich‘s very first art show was Friday night, and it was great. He arrived at Three Flights Up Gallery around 4PM, since artists were asked to be there an hour early. I showed up around 5:15PM to take pictures of his work before the gallery got too crowded. His parents were already there, so I got to say hi to Pappa Doug and Momma Carol. I left around 6PM to pick up my sister, Samantha, and meet Tamara and Mom back at my house so we could all drive together. The four of us got back to the gallery around 7:15PM. Jonathan, Curry, and Benjamin had already been and left by the time we arrived. The gallery was very crowded at this point–turnout was really good. A while after we arrived, Chris, Kirsten, Justin, Shauen, Jim, and Steve showed up. We all mingled a bit and supported our favorite artiste. Rich enjoyed the compliments from strangers as it was validating for him–proof that his family and friends aren’t humoring him and that he does, in fact, have an abundance of artistic talent. Jason and his adorable daughter, Savannah, arrived about 10 minutes before the show’s scheduled end time of 9PM. Rich said it was okay for me to go ahead and leave, so I drove Samantha and Mom home, and then Tamara and I met Jonathan and Curry at IHOP for a late dinner. Meanwhile, Rich, Jason, and Savannah went to Java in the Old City for a cup of coffee. Tamara and I then went back to our house where we once again lavished praise on my talented hubby.

I really can’t emphasize how proud of Rich I am. His pastel drawings looked amazing on display in the gallery (he’ll post pics) and were the best pieces there. The exposure his work received was terrific, and the support our family and friends showed him was invaluable. Thanks again to Pappa Doug, Momma Carol, Mom, Samantha, Tamara, Chris, Kirsten, Jonathan, Curry, Benjamin, Justin, Shauen, Jim, Steve, Jason, and Savannah for coming out. Actions really do speak much louder than words, and it meant a lot to Rich (and myself) to have such a great turnout. I know Vanessa, Ken, Brent, Shawn, and Dad were there in spirit even though they were not able to be in town Friday night.

Saturday morning, Tamara ran some errands while Rich and I test drove sports cars for him. As most of you know, he’s been driving his 1994 Altima since about 1998. It’s paid off and has had a very good run, but it will soon need more work than it’s worth. So we were in search of a good deal. The Nissan Z kicked butt and so did the Mazda RX-8. However, they were both a bit pricey considering only Rich is working right now. We ended up at the Hyundai dealership where Rich fell in love with a 2003 Tiburon that had only been traded in that morning. He even got to talk to the previous owner (who was buying a Sonata) and got great feedback about the car. We test drove a 2006 Tiburon for comparison and didn’t notice any difference except for cosmetic stuff. We decided to think about it a little bit over lunch at Buddy’s Bar-B-Q. After lunch we headed to Kohl’s to meet up with Tamara and Curry. Rich and I found some good deals and then he left by himself to head to the car dealership where Samantha works and see if there were any good deals there. Tamara, Curry, and I headed to Big Ed’s Pizza in Oak Ridge for an early dinner. (Yes, I ate again that soon after Buddy’s Bar-B-Q. I’m a piggy, hence all the cardio and crunches).

I’ll let Rich finish telling you about the search for a good car deal. Long story short, he had a fantastic Saturday.

While Rich finished up at the dealership, Tamara, Curry, and I met up with Jonathan at the movie theater to see Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Stay tuned for a longer review, but this is one of the funniest, most clever, and downright charming movies I’ve seen all year. The movie kicked off with a short, The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper, which was also hilarious. (My favorite new swear? “Shiitake mushrooms!)”

This morning I took Mom to a Christmas craft fair at the Knoxville Expo that we’d been planning on checking out yesterday until Rich and I decided to focus on the search for a new car (which paid off). There were a bunch of really nice crafts there, but since Rich and I aren’t decorating any room in our house in the country style I didn’t pick up any Christmas decorations for us. Mom did buy us a lovely stuffed pumpkin, though, so we have a nice new fall/Thanksgiving decoration. Mom and I then went to check on Cyrus and on to Kohl’s. I dropped Mom off at her house, picked up lunch for me and Rich, and headed home. Rich and I vegged a bit and I played some more SSX Tricky since I’m once again in the full throes of addiction. Our evening was capped off by the new Halloween episode of The Simpsons and a raucous, FCC-skewering Family Guy. Rich and I agreed that tonight’s episode is definitely going to stay on our Tivo for a while.

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