Wait. I need to prepare my speech...

You can now call this an Award Winning photograph:



The votes were tallied this morning from the Art @ Work exhibit held here at work yesterday afternoon and I won the best in show People's Choice award for First Place! I had even been griping the other day because they changed the way the voting would be done. Since we didn't have enough entries for each of the 6 categories to vote for best in each, they just had everyone vote for their top 3 favorites in the whole show. So, photographs were pitted against fiber art, sculpture and paintings. We had 34 entries total for the firm. And I feel even more surprised and proud that I beat out all the other entries...and there were some really great things! I had convinced myself last night that I didn't stand a chance and that a painting would win for sure because that's all anyone seemed to be making great comments about. I heard maybe a few (I was a co-chair of the event so heard everyone as they came & went for the duration of the exhibit) comments about my 3 entries, so I was just preparing myself to not win so I wouldn't be disappointed. But after all that, I ended up winning, which I feel even better about winning because it wasn't voted by category, but rather overall favorites.

My photograph above, titled "Live Oak Sprawl" received 43 votes. 2nd place was also a photo and got 34 votes. And there was a tie for 3rd place, each with 24 votes; one was another photograph and the other was a glass mosaic plate. No paintings won at all which really surprised me. Someone also took a picture of me by my tree photo yesterday at the end of the show so I'll get a copy of that from HR & post it here also.

So, in August my work will go to the Art @ Work exhibit at Union Station for judging by a panel of well-known artists and members of the art community here in Kansas City. A lot of other corporations and firms here in KC participated also so I'll be anxious to see all their People's Choice winners too when that time comes. The first place winners at the Union Station exhibit will go on to be in a booth at the Plaza Arts fair in September. Wahoo! :o)

Some place warm

Speaking of warm places (see last post)... I'm pining for Florida. I won't get to go back until October (after Stacey's wedding in NC-combining trips for an extended vacation) but we'll be able to spend more time there than if we'd gone this month like we were thinking of doing before. We'll be less rushed and the water will still be warm at the 1st of Oct, unlike it is right now around the beaches of Central Florida. My aunt just took Grandma Rob (I call her Grandma Rob because her last name is Robinson. She used to be my Grandma Koz, short for Kozlowski before re-marrying so I kept up the short-name "tradition" after--not that it's absolutely necessary for you to know this, but just so we're on the same page)...anyway, back to the story.... my aunt just took her to Daytona for a little vacation. She did the same thing with me when Chris & I first moved down there in 2004. Chris was working so he didn't get to go but I didn't have a job that June still so she took me along & we had a great time sipping pina coladas, lounging by the pool (my aunt hates salt water) & I swam & surfed (sort of) with my cousin & his friend and took hot bubble baths (alone, mind you) in our ocean view room. My aunt thought of everything & even brought along a couple candles for the bath and a blender for the drinks. I took a handful of pictures on a disposable waterproof camera, which, shame on me, I still have yet to finish the roll or develop them. Gee, I hope they aren't ruined by now.

So, this year it was my Grandma's turn and I'm really jealous. ;o) But, come October we'll be heading down there from NC and will get to take Afton to the beach again. I don't know if he'll remember this trip or not but I'm sure he doesn't remember his very first time at the beach when he was only 4 months old. We made sure to take him at least once before we moved back to KC. But it was a pretty miserable trip. The wind at Clearwater that day was so strong we could hardly see for the stinging sand hitting us in our faces so hard. My hair tie broke in my desperate attempt to tie my hair out of my face so it also became an uncontrollable mess. We had sand everywhere and poor little Afton was not a happy camper. Below are some pictures from the day, but are not explanatory at all of how miserable it really was in the sand storm. You can see bits of sand on Afton's hat & my stylishly disheveled hair after we got back into the safety of the car.

I was reading through my pregnancy journal a couple weeks ago where I'd written that we couldn't wait to take him to the beach all the time and how we knew how much he'd just love it because we love the beach so much. We had a lot of great beach days, that's for sure (well, except for that one red tide beach day-that was smelly). But, my, how things change in only a little over a year. We'll just have to go back to visit as much as possible and make lots more good memories! :o)