After spending the afternoon shopping for fall clothes (I love Zara!), Brad and I made ourselves up for a night out at the Cedar Springs / Oak Lawn Block Party in Dallas. We live only two blocks away from the event, but that didn’t make our evening any less stressful. We got home just as everyone had descended upon our neighborhood, and our un-policed apartment parking lot was full. Luckily, after alerting our landlord, I was able to squeeze my car into a legal spot behind the complex.

Since Brad had been feeling ill and we had things to do, we had to throw together some sort of costumes at the very last minute. We didn’t arrive at the block party until 11:30, but there was still lots to see. We had a good time overall — even if our costumes weren’t as top notch as last year’s.

This street performer had an eclectic look, and one hell of a voice. I considered that maybe she was lip syncing, but I really didn’t want to think about that and destroy the fantasy. It’s pretty amazing.

This was filmed in Florence, Italy in the courtyard between the two wings of the Uffizi Gallery, in June 2008. I spent a month studying art history and drawing in Florence.

The experience was invaluable to my development as an artist and designer. It helped me to fall in love with classical beauty and broadened my horizons with respect to the rest of the world. It was my first time leaving the continent, and it definitely won’t be my last.

I want to see as much of the world as I can. I’d take authentic Italian gelato over Ben & Jerry’s any day!

View my photos from Italy here: http://flickr.com/photos/mikeeperez/sets/72157606074505610/