The Work of Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier - Self Portrait

A few weeks ago Charley and I attend a taping of This American  Life beamed live into our local movie theater. It was fantastic! It included all the wonderful elements you usually get on the radio show, plus dynamite visual elements like dance and film. The show was great from start to finish, but if I had to pick a favorite part it would have to be the segment about Vivian Maier, who, until that evening I'd never heard of. I find her photography and her story fascinating. 

Vivian Maier may be one of the greatest street photographers of the twentieth century, but until recently her work and talent were undiscovered.  She spent most of her life working as a nanny for several families in the Chicago area. She was a loner and a hoarder who was known to speak her mind. In her free time she strolled the streets, snapping  thousands of photos with her Rolleiflex—photos that she never shared with anyone. No one saw the beautiful, haunting images she captured until 2007, when over 100,000 of her negatives were discovered in a storage locker auction. 

Here are some of her amazing photos: 

AntiGravity Yoga at Westminster College

This is one of the reasons I love my job at Westminster College. Yesterday I got to try AntiGravity Yoga as part of a demonstration for the local media. Westminster is currently the only college/university offering Antigravity Yoga classes  in the U.S. Our instructor, Tamer Begum, is a Westminster student and is the nephew of AntiGravity creator, Chris Harrison. 

The class was so much fun...and a great full body workout. I'm pretty sore today. 

That me in the front (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

(Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

Tamer Begum helping me into a pose (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

(Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

AntiGravity Yoga is a hybrid that combines traditional yoga poses with aerial arts, Pilates and dance. For more information about Antigravity Yoga click here.

Paris for a Day

While we were in London last month we decided, what the heck, let's fly to Paris for the day. So we flew out early one morning and flew back that evening. Some of us were exhausted, some of us were hung-over, and the weather was gloomy, but we had a great time. We had two wonderful French meals, visited the Musee d'Orsay (amazing!), and strolled through beautiful parks...and Charley eat five pastries (three short of his goal).

Here are some photos I took that day:

Lovely lady

Old and new

Bikes

Old bike

SACREBLEU! (lovely shop window and my reflection)

Statues outside Musee d'Orsay

No caption needed...

London for a Week

Last month we had the opportunity to visit my cousin, Natascha, and her husband, Duncan, in London. It was amazing! We had a fabulous time. Here are the highlights:

• We visited lots of museums: the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Modern, and the Natural History Museum...and the Tower of London.
• We eat tons of incredible food. The highlight was dinner at Roast where I eat a rabbit, cider, and Herefordshire snail pot pie...amazing!
• I was introduced to the delights of the Full English Breakfast, which consists of (for those of you who don't know) piles of breakfast meats, eggs, tomatoes, baked beans, and black pudding...total heaven! And can I just say, black pudding is magical? I'm totally obsessed with it. Happily, I've already located a store on Salt Lake that sells it.
• We saw oodles of amazing art. We saw the Lucian Freud Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and a Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern. Both exhibitions were fantastic and once in a life time experiences. 
• Natascha and I attended the Royal Ballet's production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was spectacular, but sadly our seat were not very good. We had a great time anyway. 
• And most importantly...I got to hold an owl!! A real live owl!! Talk about once in a life time.

Me and an owl!!

Baby owl at the Natural History Museum

Mews houses in my cousin's neighborhood (South Kensington)

Tower of London

View from the inside of the Tower of London out

Charley with wings

Natascha and I in Hyde Park

Charley and I in Hyde Park

Pretty London street

Our wonderful hosts

London scenery