A (Year) in The Life 2009.

My annual, So What the Hell Did I Do?

Travels:
Dryfork, WV
Columbus, GA
Minneapolis, MN
Charlottesville, VA
Phoenix, AZ
Rehoboth, DE
Cleveland, OH
Salisbury, MD

ROADTRIP!
Arizona
New Mexico
Texas
Oklahoma
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Ohio
Pennsylvania
West Virginia
Maryland
Virginia


Other:
I moved back to Arlington!

Concerts:
Rebirth Brass Band
The Horrors
Andalusian Dog

Photography:
Attended LOOK3 in June
Took more photos than really ever before

Shows:
First on 1st Art + Music Walk (August 1-30, 2009)
Artomatic (June 6-July 20, 2009)
Critical Mass (May 15, 2009)

Writing:
I left my Moleskine with about 40 pages of prompts and notes somewhere along our route home from Arizona. Sometimes, I still reach for it.
Started <100 this summer. Haven't updated in a while, but I have stories. So many stories.

Friends:
New faces this year. Many I'd like to see stick around for a while.

Family:
Mom and Dad are semi-officially empty-nesters.

Work:
Yes, another new job started in August. But this time, I like it.

Grand.

Just some Kodachrome taken at the Grand Canyon this summer:

Today.

Today.
Originally uploaded by katyray.

Alive.

083109-04
Originally uploaded by akkleis.

Yes, still. I will update soon. Someday.

At the fair, people can fly.

At the fair, people can fly.
Originally uploaded by katyray.

Home.

Time to catch up with life.

Something new.

I take up my own pen again—the pen of all my old unforgettable efforts and sacred struggles. To myself—today—I need say no more. Large and full and high the future still opens. It is now indeed that I will do the work of my life. And I will.

Henry James
January, 1895

I started a new writing project. I will still update Kate Space occasionally with events and goings on, but I'm currently trying to focus more on my creative outlets. Please visit <100, for all your short story needs.

'Tis the Season.

Tonight is Critical Mass, a one-night exhibit and dance party hosted by DCist Heather Goss's Ten Miles Square and Civilian Art Projects . See work from over 20 area artists and then dance the night away with DJs KC and Nite Krawler. 9 p.m. $5.

Featured artists: Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Cory Oberndorfer, Billy Colbert, Erwin Timmers, Kristina Bilonick, Sean Hennessey, Rania Hassan, John Ulaszek, Kyle Gustafson, Brian Knight, Cesar Lujan, Pat Padua, Angela Kleis, Kerrin Kastorf, Drew McDermott, Jack Whitsitt, Paivi Solonen, Lynne Venart, Kelly Rand, Davin Tarr, and Katy Ray.

Civilian Art Projects
406 7th Street NW
9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Two Weeks Away...Artomatic 2009!

Prepare to celebrate Artomatic's 10th anniversary: The trademark,one-of-a-kind multimedia arts event will be at Half Street's 55 M Street, S.E., in Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Riverfront neighborhood. I'll be showing work with a group of very talented Ten Mile Square photographers.

May 29 through July 5
Half Street's 55 M Street, S.E.
Washington, D.C.
Artomatic is always free.

The Way Ahead.

MSY, 2008. (c) Katy Ray

Looking out and into the upcoming months, I found something strangely missing: I am still here. Granted, missing may not be the proper word to use, but in the usual "does-not-make-sense Katy-Ray way," it's perfectly logical.

I travel because I get claustrophobic; I become attached to a place for too long and I need to get out, away, detached. Yes, so far in 2009 I've been to both Georgia and Minnesota, but, I need more.

Where to go? What to do?

Flower Parts.

it's the little things

fresh lavender
waking up early
laughing loudly
playing scrabble
walking to the metro
the sunday paper
singing along
plain cheerios
walking though a creek bed
eye contact
the last page of a good book
standing on top of a mountain
the golden hour
sleeping with the windows open
seattle
that first morning together
coffee in a real mug
taking a good photograph
compliments
milk
the last three miles of a ride
the wind
the taconic state parkway
stone bridges
getting lost

I posted this to my old LJ blog on September 13, 2007. Nothing has changed.

Goings On.

Danny graduated Basic Training down at Ft. Benning in Columbus, Georgia on January 30th.


And this past weekend I was in Minneapolis visiting friends and having fun in the snow!

A (Year) in the Life 2008.

2008 abbreviated recap. And my 300th blogpost.

Travels:
New Orleans, LA (February and September)
St. Petersburg, FL (April, September, and December)
Cape Charles, VA
St. Georges Island, MD
Lexington, VA
Stuttgart, Germany

Concerts:
The Hives
Loretta Lynn
Oasis

Photography
Two things:
Ten Miles Square
FotoweekDC

Work
New job started in October. Again. Whoa.

Annual Holiday Photo.

It's that time of year again: Third annual holiday photo! This year I was invited to my old job's gala at the National harbor. And we had mucho fun.

The Chief.

I finally saw Oasis.

Until December 28th.

Fotoweek Central will be open Saturdays and Sundays 12pm-6pm until December 28th. They have some great exhibits showing. My favorite is the “Contact/s: The Art of Photojournalism from Contact Press Images"-- amazing. You can also catch the finalists and winners of Fotoweek's juried competition.

I was honored to win the Gold Prize in the Amateur Portrait category with my piece called Fleeting. All winners can now be found in slide-show format on the FotoweekDC homepage and is well worth seeing.

Thank you to all the Fotoweek sponsors, judges, and volunteers for a fantastic experience.

FotoWeek is Here!

Last night was the official opening at FotoWeekDC's hub in Georgetown. To mark the occasion, FotoWeek is having a "Night Gallery" show all around the city.

FotoWeek DC and area museums will team up to create an unprecedented, world premiere digital video slide show. During FotoWeek DC's inaugural week-long photography festival, visitors will be treated to a dazzling display of large scale projections of photographs selected from the collections of some of Washington DC's most honored institutions, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Newseum.

It was definitely a cool thing to see, and having our work included was pretty sweet. Photos courtesy of Marie Kwak and used with permission.

("Fleeting" by Katy Ray)

("What do you see" by Max Cook)

(I don't know the title or who this piece is by, but I loved it.)

Eleventh.

Today marks the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day-- a celebration of the end of the Great War and a day of remembrance for the 20 million lost in World War One.

In the US, we celebrate Veteran's Day and honor all veterans who have fought to protect our country and others.

Please keep our troops, past and present, in your thoughts today.

Official.

The finalists in the juried competition for FotoweekDC have been announced. I'm in the running with friends Max, John, and Shawn in the Portrait category. I think it's funny that we all know each other!

Winners won't be announced until the Fotoweek Gala at the NGS on the 22nd. I'll have to miss it, since I'll be in Germany (GERMANY!) visiting friends.

Our pieces will be on display November 15-22 at FotoWeek's central hub at 3338 M Street, NW in Georgetown. I encourage everyone to visit any of the Fotoweek exhibits and shows-- there's so much to see.

Writing.

I wish I had:

Dorothy Parker's wit
Michael Chabon's vocabulary
Mark Twain's mastery of satire
Stephen King's imagination
Seymour Hersh's tenacity
Scott Fitzgerald's America

Just for Now.

In the news: I started school yesterday. I'm taking Chemistry and Calculus. Mason has changed so much and may take some getting used to...so will commuting, but I can battle-ax my way through like the best of them!

This weekend, I'm going to Florida to visit my grandmother over Labor Day, and next weekend I'll be in New Orleans for a quick visit with friends.

Oh yes, and two weeks ago I went camping with some friends from college out on St. George's Island: