Return of the Cake

Remember when I went gaga for chocolate cake?

Well, JoJo decided for her birthday she wanted to get some of that cake. She didn't say it that way at first. First she said, "Let's go to Spoonriver".  To which i replied in song "Spppoooonnn riiiiiiveeerrrr, where the chocolate cake is sooo divviiiiineeee. I'll make you all minnne"

Then she said, "I'm getting my own this time."

That's a great idea we all thought. So we all got the chocolate cake. This time it came with a mango sorbet, which was also delicious... though I think the blueberry may have been better.

There were nine of us there and we all extolled the virtues of the cake... and the the two who decided to be rebels and order something different soon wished for a small taste of what we had in front of us.

But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. We first had dinner. I choose to go for something different this time. And went for the crab salad in a avocado. Very light and refreshing. It went well with my Moroccan Mojito and saved plenty of room for chocolate cake!

We then hoofed on over to the Guthrie and made sure to catch a view of the city from their observation deck.

Considering it was 1000° and humid we didn't stay up there too long and we headed back to Jo's patio.

Somehow Jo and I ended up being up until 5 am without even realizing it. Too bad I had to get up early to head home for a Howk Family Reunion... Not So Much.

I made it, but it wasn't pretty.

Happy Bday to my BFF Jo and thanks again for letting us have our cake and eat it, too!

Oh, and I just want to mention that I have worn a dress at least 3 times this summer (each one different), something girly is happening to me.

Don't expect much.

Happy Birthday, Erin. I hope your freaking happy. I blogged, okay. Can I go on with my life now? Huh? Huh? You know, interacting with people on a personal level. With voices, and handshakes, and such?

Thanks. Love you too!

Ta Ta!

Sara.

Confetti!

Birthday Was Good.

Remember, this national holiday isn't over yet, my friends. There is still tomorrow.. which is Friday.

G'night y'all.

And the winner to the contest is... me. There were no enteries, so i guess that means, I WIN!

Awesome. I guess I have a few more things to learn about blogging, and maybe bribing comes later. Until then, have a good night.

I am an ARTIST!

The rumors are true, before The Howk became a Professional Massage Therapist, NCTMB, she was an Artist, BS.  That's right, I have credentials that I can pile up after my name and make myself seem important (Hey! I paid for those letters!)

Actually, my mother can tell you that I've been saying that I wanted to be an Artist since I was four years old. It's one of those few childhood memory snippets that I still remember. I also remember thinking I didn't know how the hell I was going to make that happen outside of school.

self-portrait 1997 copyright Erin Howk 

Oh, I put my degree to use. I worked JOBS in the arts, but somehow it isn't quite the same. So, I changed careers and put the actual making of physical pieces of art on hiatus. I needed to do it for a couple of reasons. One I was struggling with a culturally implanted conception of what it meant to be an artist. You stayed at home working your butt off wearing dirty clothes and smelling of garlic and cigarettes for little return until you hit your big break. That doesn't sound very fun, and I didn't have much passion for that type of lifestyle. Oh, I like garlic, but I don't smoke and I wash my clothes regularly.

What was I to do?  Give up the artist moniker and embrace my new MT one?  I tried that for a while, but I just felt a little empty and incomplete.

Then I decided, well if I'm not making art, I certainly need to be a Patron of the Arts!  I'll collect!  I'll support! I'll find room somewhere in this closet to store all of the stuff I buy! I will, I swear!  I have to say this helped for a while. I have some beautiful pottery at home. Including some from this artist.

After a while I felt  I was letting my 4 year old self down. I TOLD people I was going to be an artist! I have to live up to my word!

I kind of forgot about it for awhile, running my business took priority. I started reading more blogs by what I considered creative people and artists.  I came to the conclusion that it isn't the collections, the portfolios, or the gallery showings that make a person an artist, not completely. It has a lot to do with your approach to life. Your mind is a creative mind, in that it creates things out of seemingly nothing and changes the perspective of their world.  This is done through writing, drawing, photography, cooking, speaking, singing, laughing, hugging, massaging, and healing.

Here I was limiting my soul to a path that is decidedly the antithesis of what it means to be an artist. A pre-defined, static path is for Math! Sheesh.

I hope to look down from heaven and view my life path as a beautiful intricate drawing. One with turns and surprises. One with layers and meaning beyond even my understanding.  That is what it is to be an artist.

Which is awesome for my closet.

Art Inspiring Blogs That I Read:

Accidental Mysteries  I love this blog. It does all the work for me. The author searches the internet and other collections for interesting artistic interactions with the world. Sometimes it is just your artist mind that sees the creative process in the objects, sometimes its a feature on an honest to goodness working artist (aka, not a lazy one like me).

Lobster and Swan This website is so beautiful. Not every post is art. Sometimes it is what the author is eating that day, or inspirations she sees in a magazine. She is also an etsy seller, and I have purchased and item or two from her. Handcrafted and easy to own. What could be better!

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REMEMBER that give away I told you about? I wasn't lying. I would love to surprise a reader with something off their Amazon wish list (up to $20 value).

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment answering this question: What blog(s) do you find inspiring?

I'll pick a winner randomly on my birthday.

Don't forget, you can also follow this blog! Click follow me at the right!

Shot through the heart!

Deb enjoying 2 for 1s and the self described "Black Madonna" behind her.

In Howktown, birthdays are a national holiday. Friends birthdays are not be excluded from the celebratory shennanigans. So when good old NOH said 80's night, I said. Howktown will support this diplomatic action.

So, I loaded up the Shark and drove to St. Paul to partake in some good old fashion 80's night goofiness.  There was a costume contest, but I remember gleefully destroying anything I had from the 80's as way to rid the world of those middle school demons, so I opted for regular clothes that were clean and didn't reveal too much of my age.

It was a girls night for sure. We were all giddy at not having to pay a cover, but then they gave us a free drink ticket! Who Hoo it's going to get all crazy up in here!  We went to the back bar to order when they told us it was 2 for 1 rails until 11.  It couldn't get any better for a birthday party!

The music started out great, he annouced that it was going to be 80's night AND a Micheal Jackson tribute! We were on our way to the best birthday celebration a 30 something could ask for!

Unfortunately, their idea of a request list was a piece of paper on a clip board that was completely ignored. The eighties music featured New Edition, Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, and Metallica.  Oh, they threw in the odd NKTOB and Cindy Lauper, but they were so far and few between, I couldn't really get a good dance groove on.

Wait? Wasn't this supposed to be a Michael Jackson Tribute Night? Oh, yes! At 11:45 pm, they played 3 MJ songs in a ROW! Wow, what a tribute. Then after playing Motley Cru, they played 2 more MJ songs, after that they started repeating the MJ songs they already played and ignoring the ones that I requested.

Oh did I mention the service was horrible, and the creep factor on the dudes in the bar was high? Indeed.

Well. Now that I have just spent the last several minutes bitching. We had an awesome time. I hadn't seen Deb in 2 years, and I hadn't been out drinking with her in at least 4. It was great to see my college pals and sing out loud to Bon Jovi at our table while drinking rail 2 for 1's.  When I think back to when we were all in school, this is how it was when we went out all the time. The DJ plays the songs we like early when no one is there, the service shitty because it is so damn busy and they are understaffed, and we have an awesome time anyway.

This time, though, we didn't have a final exam the next morning.