SHOWING OUR PRIDE

The last two weeks have presented our country with several truly sad event's, the most heinous of which was the shooting at Pulse Bar in Orlando. That shooting took the lives of 49 people, and presented us with the largest number of deaths since 9/11. The harder fact is that it was a shooting targeted against a particular group - the LGBTQ community.

Loring Park is the perfect setting for the Pride celebration.

Photo opps at the Delta Airline booth.

One of the local grocers even made rainbow cupcakes to celebrate.

The weekend of the Orlando murders was made even sadder with the news that a man was stopped on his way to the PRIDE celebration in Los Angeles with a car full of weapons. Just one week after those two horrific events, people gathered to celebrate the annual Pride Festival in Minneapolis.

The rooftop at the Union Restaurant . . .

. . . Was the perfect place to watch the parade.

Neighboring rooftops.

The crowd filled the rooftop.

The rooftop tickets included breakfast.

Once again roughly 400,000 people attended the event held in Loring Park. The two day festival provided music on several stages in the park, along with hundreds of vendors, and a Pride Parade down Hennepin Avenue.

The crowd started lining the street early.

Bottomless virgin bloody marys for me.

The Pride flag leads the parade.

There was a moment of silence as the "Remember Orlando" folks passed by.

The beauty of the celebration this year is that it focused on peace, while remembering the victims of the Orlando shooting. The crowd fell silent as marchers carrying signs with the victim's photos walked by. It was a truly moving moment.  Participant in this year's festival, refused to hide, and become complacent victims. Instead, LGBTQ individuals and Allies alike, came out in droves to stand in solidarity with the greater community throughout the country. 

Some of my friends were recipients of one of the Pride awards.

One of the local car dealerships . . . 

. . . Painted their cars to match the Pride flags.

I love the rainbow balloon people.

More of my "award winning" friends in the parade.

The festival hosts over 400,000 people each year.

During this difficult time in history, when so many are once again finding it difficult to except a particular group of people, it's truly moving to see and experience the volume of support found here in Minneapolis. That support is greatly appreciated!


***Did you take part in Pride celebrations in your area this year?

THE EMPIRE IS COMING

Another TIE Fighter landing strip in Minneapolis!

***Are there TIE Fighters in your neighborhood?

LITE-BRITE

This light fixture reminds me of one of my favorite toys as I was growing up; my Lite-Brite set, manufactured by Hasbro.  Lite-Brite was lit box with a mesh screen that you would insert diverse, rainbow colored, plastic pegs into. These pegs would combine to create amazing pictures, that when lit from behind, glowed in vibrant splender.  As we begin this weekend, let's always remember that it takes all of our diverse colors to create the shining world we desire.


***Did you ever play with a Lite-Brite set?

SUMMER FLAMINGOS

It's officially summer here in Minnesota, and after a few very hot and humid days, our weather has finally cooled off some. While our temperatures remain warm, the humidity has dropped significantly, and the added cool breezes make this the perfect weather to get out and enjoy summer activities.

Summer requires a number of amazing shorts in fun colors and prints, and earlier this spring I found these great shorts from Tommy Hilfiger. I love these short for a couple of reasons. First they are khaki and go with everything, and second, there are pink flamingos embroidered all over them. As you may have gathered, pink is one of my favorite colors and I have several articles of pink clothing. For me, pink just seems to be the perfect color for summer, and when you add flamingos you can't go wrong.

I fell in love with these shorts the minute I saw them, and was even more excited when I learned they were on sale. Needless to say these shorts have seen many outing this summer, as they are the perfect fit, and the perfect look for any summertime activity.


***Do you have any flamingos in your wardrobe?

AN ARTFUL THROW BACK

For Throw Back Thursday, I'm throwing it back to May, and the Northeast Minneapolis Art Association's annual Art-A-Whirl.

Artist and architect, Amro Sallam, also designs small, hexagon homes.

Bejeweled mirrors.

Over the years, Northeast Minneapolis has gained quite a reputation as an arts community, and is now home to hundreds of artist's lofts and studios. The three-day annual Art-A-Whirl weekend is one the most anticipated, and heavily attended, events of the summer.

I love this painting by artist, Andree Tracey.

My friend Gabby is excited with her purchase.

Don't feed them after midnight.

One fish, blue fish.

"Here's to the ladies . . .

. . . Who drink!"

This year friends and I visited the artists in the Northrup King Building. Although I was there two of the three days, I know that I only saw a fraction of the artists in the building. You can could easily spend the entire weekend in that building alone.

Eerie dolls.

More eerie dolls.

These animated pieces were fun.

The Northeast Minneapolis Art Association's annual Art-A-Whirl event, is one of the most amazing ways to introduce yourself to a variety of art styles and mediums. It is definitely the highlight of early summer.


***Do you have an event similar to Art-A-Whirl in your area?