missing Picasso art and sunshine

Two famous Picasso paintings were reported stolen from the home of the painter's granddaughter.

People are saying that the paintings, “Portrait of Jacqueline” (left, circa '61) and “Maya With Doll” (right, circa '38) are valued at $66 million. The value that society places on items, such as these paintings, always blows me away.

Too bad I am not considered prolific enough to warrant my creative outputs being worth millions...I mean, my mother has boxes and boxes of my school work from growing up and she can't even get $.01 for it....what a shame... :-)

On a personal note, I am ecstatic about spending the rest of the week wearing polo shirts and sunglasses while I work at the 2007 Honda Classic, PGA Golf tourney! The tourney is being held at the very beautiful grounds of the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, just up the road from where we live. I would get more specific about what I'm doing and some interesting folks I've gotten to meet in the last couple of days, but I like to keep my employer vague on here. It is just a blast to not be in a suit sitting at a desk. Yesterday I went and had a spa pedicure (thank you Ryan) to relax and have my feet butified to be in sandals for the rest of the week. Amen for pedicures and sunshine. :-)

our church...LifeChurch

Our new church family has become LifeChurch.tv. Here is the video they showed Sunday morning. Ryan and I are both excited to be involved and be a part of what God is doing through the church body.

my oscar predications

I know that I rarely talk about movies on my blog, but I thought I would make my husband proud by making some official Oscar predictions before the show tonight. Ryan is going to post his picks on strangeculture, so we'll see who faired better at the end of the night.

My winners are...

Picture – Little Miss Sunshine
Director – Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Actor – Forrest Whitaker, Last King of Scotland
Actress – Helen Mirren, The Queen
Supporting Actor – Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Supporting Actress – Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Original Screenplay – Little Miss Sunshine
Adapted Screenplay – The Departed
Animated Film – Monster House
Foreign Language Film – Pan’s Labyrinth
Documentary – Jesus Camp
Editing - Babel
Cinematography – The Prestige
Art Direction – The Prestige
Costume Design – The Devil Wears Prada
Make-up – Pan’s Labyrinth
Sound Mixing - Dreamgirls
Sound Editing – Flags of Our Fathers
Visual Effects – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Original Score - Babel
Original Song – “Our Town,” Cars
Animated Short Film - Maestro
Live Action Short Film – West Bank Story
Documentary Short – Recycled Life

GoingLean and other random happenings

What's new with the Florida E's? Well...Ryan discovered that the Kashi GoLean Crunch! Honey Almond Flax cereal might have been the catalyst for Kashi granola bars...he found his cereal stuck together like a brick last weekend. Poor Ryan.

In other news...I am still enjoying my job tremendously. Because I feel it necessary to keep things vauge on here regarding my employment, just know that it is good. Ryan gets the pure joy of hearing all of my interesting and un-interesting related stories. What a super husband.

The Hopper crew is coming to visit in a couple of weeks, so we're pretty excited to have some family in town. Ryan's parents will also be coming to visit this spring...can you tell that we will be spoiled by having some of our favorite people in town really soon...Brian and Suzanne B. visited us a couple of weeks ago and it was really wonderful to spend time with old friends and show them around.

Things at c28 are going really well and it seems like momentum is constnatly growing. Jeff and Amy (owners of c28 - West Palm Beach and good friends), announced that they're having a baby this fall! We're so excited for them! My good friend, Amanda, and her husband, Garrett, will also be expanding their family when by welcoming twin boys in to their family this July...I can't wait to meet them! I love sharing in all of the excitement of growing families.

where, oh where are my favorite restaurants?

I have recently experienced withdrawls from some of my favorite eateries that we had in Fort Worth. Among my most missed restaurant/dining experiences that I miss are at la Madeleine's and Rosa's Cafe'. In a sheer moment of distress and desperation, I wrote plea-ful e-mails to the consumer comment e-mail address that I found on their respective websites. I merely tried to demonstrate, through some basic market analysis, that their restaurants would be very successful anywhere in the greater West Palm Beach area. I will keep you posted on whether or not any developments occur...

Related Tags: rosa's cafe, mexican food, fort worth, west palm beach, la Madeleine, restaurants

the things we do for love

"Must one not wonder about people willing to wear a commerical trademark on the outside of their shirts or caps or shoes to let others know who they are? And just think of a world in which little children sing, 'I wish I were a [certain kind of] wiener. That is what I really want to be. For if I were [that certain kind of] wiener. Everyone would be in love with me.'

Think of what it would mean to be a weenie, or for someone to love you as they 'love' a hot dog. Think of a world in which adults would pay millions of dollars to have children perform this song in 'commericals' and in which hundreds of millions, even billions, of adults find no problem in it. You are thinking of our world. If you are willing to be a weenie to be loved, what else would you be willing to do?"

--Dallas Williard, The Divine Conspiracy