Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Museum Weekend

Robb and I both had Labor Day Weekend off and decided to take the time to get in a lot of local activities that we have been meaning to get to. It was a rainy and cool weekend, so we did the museum thing.

On Saturday we hit up the Tacoma Glass Museum. Robb and I had been told by multiple people that this museum was incredible and we would be impressed. Even so, while we knew we needed to see this local attraction, we couldn't actually imagine loving a museum of glass. I mean, how exciting could a building full of glass actually be? Well, the Tacoma Glass Museum is beyond impressive. It was an amazing museum with awesome exhibits. I never knew glass could be so versatile and beautiful. The glass museum starts outside. You have to walk over a bridge that is lined with pieces of glass work (by the famous Dale Chihuly) to get to the museum, which is surrounded by glass sculptures. Once you go into the museum, there is a glass-blowing room where you can watch the artists create their craft. And in the permanent gallery, the exhibit shows the contrast between different styles of glass. (For example, glass can be perfectly smooth or textured. Glass can serve a scientific purpose or be a piece of abstract art. Glass can be big and bulky or tiny and delicate.) Another gallery featured an exhibit by Preston Singletary. This artist features his Tlingit Indian roots in his work. This glass work didn't even look like glass; it looked like wood carvings or stone. The entire museum was fantastic. On Sunday we went to the Seattle Art Museum (otherwise known as SAM). Robb and I really aren't "art" people, but we thought we should see our local museum. Some of the exhibits were impressive. I really, really liked the Andrew Wyeth collection and the photographs by Imogene Cunningham. And the museum had a little bit of everything, including Monet, Warhol, and some freaky weird modern art. Overall, it was a nice museum, and much larger than what we expected. But we really ended up preferring the Tacoma Glass Museum during our museum weekend.
The last big event of the weekend (not museum-related) was Robb's purchase of a Utilikilt. He has been saving money and planning for quite some time to buy a kilt from this Seattle-based company. These kilts aren't your traditional, plaid Scottish kilts. These are kilts made out of modern, hardy material (think khaki and Dickies) meant for wearing everyday. I've seen quite a few men in Seattle wear these kilts. It's kind of a punk fashion statement. Don't ask me why my husband decided that a kilt was a fashion statement he wanted to make. But, overall, I support the purchase. I'm a little uncomfortable with him wearing the kilt any place but Seattle, (like our Federal Way suburb), but I suppose I'll get used to it - just don't mind the permanent furrowed brow I have. Stay tuned for kilt pictures...

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Life Update and Roller Derby

I know, I know. I've been a bad blogger. I've been a tiny bit busier on the nights and weekends, but not too busy that I couldn't have blogged at some point in the last month. What have I been up to in the last few weeks? Well, mostly I've been running. I'm training for my first half-marathon, which is quickly approaching in early October. Look for the update on that in October! I've also recently started working for Panera again. I'll work there every Saturday in the opening shift; yup, that's 5:00am! I ran into my old boss and he asked if I would come back. I figured, why not? It's nice to get that extra money for work that isn't very hard. And finally, Robb's 30th birthday is in mid-October, so we've been trying to cram in a lot of activities on his "30 Before 30" list. We've completed a couple of movie marathons and been to a few different tourist attractions in the last month.

One of those activities that Robb, for some unknown reason, decided to put on his list, was to go see the Rat City Rollergirls. We were not really familiar with the roller derby, but as you may know, it's made quite the comeback in the last few years. We went to the last "bout" of the season. I wasn't exactly thrilled about seeing a roller derby; I thought it would be somewhat offensive to women and expected to see some cheap fights between the girls on skates. However, as we watched, I surprised myself with how much fun I had. I really enjoyed this sport and really appreciated the athleticism, passion, and skill these women had for this alternative sport. These girls were fast, they weren't really violent, and they could even jump over other skaters that had fallen. Robb and I didn't really know the rules as we watched, although by the end we could definitely tell how points were scored. I think I cheered much louder than Robb did. It was truly a blast and I'm sure we'll go again next season.