Christmas Girls' Night Out

One of my favorite things to do a Christmas time is to go see The Nutcracker.  When I was little, my mom would take my sister and I.  Even into college and adulthood, I have always tried to make it at least every few years or so.  I love it all, the magic, the music, the amazing colorful array of so many different types of dancers, it ALL.

Growing up in Tulsa, we always went to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, which puts on, in my limited opinion, one of the best versions of this ballet ever.  However, I don't live in Tulsa anymore and going would provide a lot more planning.  This year, I wanted to share my childhood experiences with my daughter, who is 4 and obsessed with all things ballet and princess.  This year, we tried out the OU Festival Ballet for our Nutcracker fix and it did not disappoint!  The set was not nearly as elaborate as the more "professional" productions that I have seen but the dancers were wonderful, very animated and graceful.  Plus, in the smaller venue, we could actually see details like facial expressions, costumes, and the musicians more clearly.  The children were especially a treat to watch, some were clearly a little dazed by the lights and audience and some were such little hams dancing around with huge grins on their faces.

My daughter was thrilled to be out WAY past her bedtime, doing something "fancy" with the grown-ups.  We could barely get her to sit still, until the performance started.  Once the lights went down, I don't think she made one noise or moved a muscle until intermission, she was so mesmerized.  Of course, about halfway through the second act she completely passed out, but she saw enough to know she loved it!  This was such a fun holiday season activity and I already know that it will become a tradition for years to come.  Maybe next year we will even invite the boys!

A Day at the Museum

Today was the grand opening celebration of the Stuart Wing of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.  I've been pretty excited about going and the heavens actually aligned for all of us to be free on this beautiful Fall day!  Off we went to the OU campus to search for a parking space with all of the other alumni families wanting to relive their college days (or something like that).  On the way across campus we came across a favorite statue and had to stop and tickle some enormous toes.  Luckily they didn't wake him up!

Once inside the museum, we had to take a quick tour through some old favorites before checking out the new stuff.  Truly, the new wing is a work of art itself.  It is simple, modern and soothing with large wooden stairways with hand-carved details and a three-story wall of slim cables reminiscent of a waterfall.  A short video we watched explained the architect's vision of tying in elements from the earth such as wood, sky, water and air.  And it absolutely works!  One of my favorite parts is the glass wall of pottery through which you can see classrooms in the art school.  It is an important reminder of the true purpose of this wonderful university.

The museum houses an extensive and diverse collection, including modern, Native, and ancient art along with an astounding impressionist collection and many sculptures.  In the Stuart wing, there is space to showcase some of the museum's extensive Native art and artifacts collection.  My daughter loved the stained glass on the wall and I hear that it is truly something to see driving by at night.  Between that and the crazy-eyed mustang, it's a wonder there aren't more wrecks on Boyd!  

You must see these colors in person!

For extra fun, there was a professor playing native flute music and a visiting artist in one of the galleries demonstrating pottery staining.  I'll have to admit that my little ones had the occasional crying, "falling on the floor" moment at being asked to just wonder around and look with eyeballs instead of hands but overall they did really well.  This is a museum I highly recommend.  If you are slightly attention-span-deprived like me this museum works because each gallery houses something completely different than the last.  Whatever your particular art tastes may be, you will find something representative of it here.  Plus, admission is only $5 most days and is free every Tuesday and on many other days throughout the year (like today).  Get out and check out your local museum!

Sculpture Walk

The weather this week has been so lovely that I really wanted to do something fun outside.  We are lucky enough to live very close to an awesome and beautiful university campus, the University of Oklahoma.  For those of you not in Oklahoma, you may be used to hearing the word "football" after that particular title but I assure you that there is a lot of other great stuff about OU, which is saying a lot considering I am an alum of Oklahoma State University!

Annnnnyyyyway, one of my favorite things about OU is the amazing public art, including a huge variety of sculptures, intricate gardens, fountains, ect.  Some of it is beautiful in that classical sense.  Some of it is very modern and abstract.  Some of it is even controversial, but the mix is what makes it all the more interesting.  So I gathered up cameras, snacks, friends, and off we headed for our very own self-guided "sculpture tour."  We started with the ballerina sculpture, 'cuz we had two four year old princesses in tow!  Pirouette, girls, pirouette!

Next up, we headed down the road to check out a sculpture of a Native American woman, then did a tour of the rose garden outside of the library.  Of course, we couldn't just go past the library!  Ahhhh, the lovely smell of books, books, books!  Nerd, you say?  Yeah, I came to grips with that long ago.  The "old section" of Bizzell Library is, in my opinion, the most beautiful building on campus.  There's all sorts of crazy stuff going on with that building; it's a work of art itself!  We visited with my former professor/boss from when I was in library school (yes, there is such thing) and then headed back out to explore.

Peek a Boo!

All in all, we probably ran across about 20 sculptures and hidden little gardens, not to mention just checking out the cool architecture.  The kids ran around outside and see some cool stuff, the mommies strolled and chatted (with a bit of kiddo chasing thrown in) and we all had a fun time.  This is one activity that is definitely going into the regular rotation!