Seven lifetimes

I need to have at least seven lifetimes to accomplish everything I'd like. In one lifetime, I would be an artist. I would have a studio in a small town where I would paint and draw and create. In another, I'd be a photojournalist living in the remote west coast and travelling the word on assignment only to come back to rainforest to recharge. I'd be a photographer. I would be a midwife and a doula. I would be a gallery owner in Montreal. I would be a mother...and nothing else -unfragmented by career and creative pursuits. I would be a travel writer single and fancifree.

But I only have one lifetime and so I'm exhausting myself to pack it all in...

Hey you with my name!

So there is a girl in Ypsilanti who is a disgrace to our name...I google my name and...Alcohol infraction...what?! in where? Ypsilanit..and fails to produce her license... how does anyone end upw tiht exact same name as me..and she is obviously a loose canon...What will she do next?? Behave yourself little miss Melanie ...

Viva la Sangria!

Before I get into posting my favorite Sangria Recipe, I just wanted to share this highly awesome wine tasting guide (link above). I bought 2 while in the Baross and I find it really makes wine tasting much more interesting... without it...how would I know the Reisling tasted like pencil shavings from a grade two classroom?

Now for the Sangria: Best Party Sangria Recipe

This Sangria recipe is perfect for big summer parties - always a favorite, you may consider doubling the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
1 Bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
1 Lemon cut into wedges
1 Orange cut into wedges
1 Lime cut into wedges
2 Tbsp sugar
Splash of orange juice
2 Shots of gin
1 Cup of sliced strawberries or raspberries (may use thawed or frozen)
1 Small can of diced pineapples (with juice)
4 Cups ginger ale

PREPARATION:
Pour wine in the pitcher and squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon, orange and lime into the wine. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible) and pineapple then add sugar, orange juice and gin.

Chill overnight. Add ginger ale, berries and ice just before serving. If you'd like to serve right away, use chilled red wine and serve over lots of ice. However, remember that the best Sangrias are chilled around 24 hours in the frig. - allowing the flavors to really marinate into each other.

Party on!

On creating modern art

I am not interested in emotions, but in wishes - I know what I want. I believe that the 'I know what I want' approach clearly characterises the current generation as well. Moreover, I as a viewer understand what they want. I often cannot grasp what is being expressed - the author is vague and confusing on purpose. In the new wave of painting the artists have a firm wish to say something and they know how to say it; they have the skill to formulate idea and message. Idea is essential, as we can often see works at exhibitions without any founding idea, only a wish to 'do something'. The 'I know what I want' quality is, at least for me, the most important.

Andres Tolts
(1949) is a painter and collage artist who emerged on the Estonian art scene in the second half of the 1960s, as one of the most outstanding avant-garde and pop artists