Enough said....

We decided to pick up Max a few dog toys last night when we went to the store to buy him dog food. I need to take a video of him chasing the laserbeam. He's worse then a cat.

One dog toy we came across, had a saying on the left hand side that produced a huge giggle. Yes, I'm in 3rd grade.

Enough said.....

The Dallas Symphony

It has been a while since I was able to sit down and enjoy the symphony.  Steven purchased us tickets a couple months ago for the 2009 season.  We were treated to a Lizst Concerto by an amazing 21 year old woman, as well as Hungarian Dances by Brahms and an odd Suite by Bartok.  

The Myerson is a beautiful place.  I still have to laugh every time I'm there.  Kathy Griffen played here a few years ago and she said that the building was probably in shock after hearing the word Fuck for the first time.  

My hubby the painter

I'll let Steven explain his new painting and show the picture.

Click here to see his first painting in ages. It turned out beautiful, with a wonderful story behind it. It looks amazing on our wall in the livingroom. He's already working on sketches for others.

I'm so proud.

Mark and Steven

(click to embiggen)

Steven and I got extra creative today. The weather has gone from 80 degrees for the past week, to about 40 today and it's getting colder by the hour. It kind of forced us to stay at home and find something to do other then lounge around stuffing our faces with food that's bad for us.

Steven's been wanting to do this triptych painting (who knew?) and I've been wanting to draw our portrait for the longest time. I'm anxious to see how the painting turns out.

Our portrait is done in a slightly different drawing style then the portraits on my artist site. It might be difficult to tell from a picture. I tried to loosen up with the drawing style, but I still have trouble letting go fully. Guess I'm a little out of practice.

I was surprised at how fast I completed it. I was done in about 3 hours and that included framing. The only thing that sucks is how many wrinkles I have now! The past portrait I did, it wasn't that bad.

I need to buy some Oil of Olay Rengenerating cream.

Budgeting blows....

During times like these, when the economy is bad and we have to start watching our money, it forces us to stop and do the things we've been putting off for so long.

Money has been tight and we're in the process of budgeting. Severe budgeting, requiring us to eat at home, not go out for a night out on the town, watching movies at home rather then seeing 2 or 3 a week at the theaters and the hardest one of all, putting a hold on buying clothing or glass, which seems to be our two biggest weaknesses.

It sucks. We're two people who enjoy all of those things. We enjoy a nice dinner out, a few drinks with friends and of course, shopping until we collapse. We're not happy about having to penny pinch, but by the end of May, we both should have almost all of our credit cards paid off and money saved for our June trip to San Francisco for Pride. If we play our cards right and be good little boys after that, we might even be able to afford our yearly trip to Disneyland in October for Steven's Birthday. You get in the park free on your birthday this year.

To pass the time at night and on weekends, we're going to start back to the gym. I'm digging out old canvases and paper for some painting and drawing that I've been meaning to do. Hopefully during this time, my portrait site will get some traffic and business. We have well over 500 DVD's, so it's about time to start watching some of them rather then having them gather dust. Add all the TV shows we record weekly and we have enough to keep us busy and not want to go postal because we aren't getting out of the house as much.

It's not easy finding cost effective things to do.

But the rewards a few months down the road will be so worth it.

Regarding today.....

Did you EVER think that today would ever come? It's been a long road getting to this point.

I love stuff like this...

Funniest shit EVER! Make sure you watch the outtakes as well.

Oh Mom....

Some things never change. One of those things is my Mother. She'll always be the biggest worry wort on the planet. She'll always be an outpoken Democrat. She'll always never understand todays music or movies, preferring to listen to big bands and watch old black and white movies. She'll always treat me like I'm 16 years old.

Recently, she's been asking me to search for old movies on DVD. She's recently figured out how to run one without having a nervous breakdown so she's in the process of building a library of movies. She gives me a list, I find them on half.com and have them sent to her. There's a few food items that is only carried down south that I also pack up and send her once a month or so.

She'll never allow me to pay for anything. She still acts like I have no money or that I might enjoy buying my Mother something once in a while.

Lately, I've been having to buy stuff for her quite frequently. Like clockwork, I get a check or cash in the mail with a little something "extra" for me. There's always a small note that says something along the lines of, "Hi Honey! There's a little extra to go out and have dinner or buy yourself something nice."

Another thing that will never change. I swear she still thinks it's 1945 and prices are the same. I find the fact that she does this so endearing and very sweet and I love her for it.

Now if you don't mind, I need to take Steven out to a nice dinner on the extra money my mother just sent me today for something I had mailed to her last week.

How far do you think we'll get on ten dollars?

No place like home

One of the hardest things I had to do last April and I'm sure I wrote about it over and over, was to give up my home. It was my first home that I was co-owner. I finally felt like a responsible grown up. I invested a lot of my money into that home. I put so much of myself into that place. Picking out the furniture, the colors, the tile, the cabinets, the appliances. I spent so much time arranging everything just perfect.

I'm not sure which was more difficult. Ending my relationship or leaving the home we built together. I know that we shouldn't hold much stock in material things. I learned a long time ago, that material posessions come and go. They can be taken away from you as fast as you aquire them.

I still get sad when I drive by the old condo. During the first few months after the breakup, I found myself going there when no one was home and just sitting there by myself.

I vowed that I would own a home again within the next couple of years. Steven and I have been working on our credit and are sitting in a good place. We're now working on saving money.

Recently, Steven asked our landlord if he had ever given consideration to selling off the Loft spaces we live in. I wasn't expecting much when I heard he had asked. But when the landlord came back and said that he has been considering it and wanted to talk to us more seriously about the prospects of buying our place and possibly an adjoining unit.

Our place isn't perfect. It needs a lot of work including new floors, new kitchen and new bathroom just for starters. But the cost that we could probably get these places for should be a bargin. Even if he decides to do some upgrades, the price should still be way under our limit. Our very own 1400 square foot Loft near downtown with a perfect view right outside of our front door.

Needless to say, we're both more than a little excited.

I'm not sure if or when this might happen, but at least there's some hope on the horizon to actually be able to say that we no longer rent and that we live in a place we can truly call home.

It gets tougher the older we get

One day, we're sitting with friends on the patio of a restaurant called Jakes, eating burgers and sipping drinks while it's 84 degrees outside. Hell, we both got a sunburn! The next day, the high was 35 and it rained and sleeted. I mean, what the fuck? No wonder we're all sniffling and sneezing constantly. One day we've got the airconditioning on and the next we're cranking the heat.

It's true what they say about Texas weather. Just wait a few minutes and it will change.

I hope that everyone had a good New Years. We spent the evening at a Pink Party at some couples house. Four hundred beautiful bears. We got the chance to have dinner with a small group beforehand, then headed to the party. We were able to see tons of people we hadn't seen in ages and hang out with a few that we've never gotten the chance.

We were so lame. We kept checking our watch starting about 2 hours before midnight, debating if we were going to go home early or try and make it to midnight to toast in the new year with friends. How sad is that? We did make it til midnight, but just barely. Once we toasted and kissed one another, we said goodbye to our friends and headed home while the party was still hopping.

I think we were in bed by 12:30am.

Maybe we'll make dinner, rent movies, play games and invite some friends over next year.

I'll make sure to pass out the geritol and depends and make sure we have lots of warm milk on hand.