Mrs. Millner

 ...the artist formerly known as Tiffany Strother-Millner.

Well - I tried the "hyphenated thing" for a year...

...and I thought that he was "okay" with it...

UNTIL.

..we went to the Capital Grille and the waitress came to the table and pleasantly said " Good Evening Mr. + Mrs. Strother..."

That was it - and I just couldn't take it anymore... I didn't want to hear his mouth. (I assure you - it made for interesting dinner conversation)

I knew that Deme was more on the "Traditional" side of things... but I guess I was just trying to hold on to my independence... 

I mean COME ON!!!!!! You are one person for 32 years and then you just become someone else...

Ugh - it's going to be alright :)

You should have saw the smile on his face when he opened a little box and saw my NEW driver's license in it... 

Priceless.

Love You Deme!

Tiffany C Millner

The Friday Five.

Aww.. nothing like a little shameless self promotion :)

http://www.blackweblogawards.com/2010/10/22/friday-five-tiffany-strother-millner/

Sunrise + Sunset

It's been a while...
I have been on vacation.
I wrote "something" a few months ago - and I have finally blown the dust off of it.
I met some new people.
I video taped a little tv show (more to come on that soon)...
I celebrated an anniversary and fell in love all over again.
I ate wedding cake that was frozen for an entire year - and STILL was exceptionally moist and scrumptious.
(Angie - You are the best!)
I shot some really cool photos and watched the sunset every night (for a week) that God sent to me...
It's amazing how fast it sets...It really puts time into perspective when you think about how little time there really is between sunrises and sunsets.....

BUT.
I have been seriously M.I.A.

I have been purposely avoiding writing...documenting...expressing my feelings for the fear that something uncharacteristic will flow from my fingertips.
I am not afraid anymore...
Blogging should be about life and all of the experiences that the blogger wishes to share and I wish to share this with you.
The second that you start to lose faith - you will know.
Your heart will grow heavy.
Your energy will cease to exist.
Your mind will spin uncontrollably and you will feel as though you are trapped inside a glass box looking out - with no hopes of escaping.
I was in that same box not only an hour ago and I am finally ready to accept the fact that I am nothing without my faith, my love, my dreams, and my hopes...
They were still there - but the wool was so thick over my eyes that I didn't even see them. I felt as though they abandoned me...
I am writing with my heart on my sleeve to express to you that you will never be alone and without hope - even when you feel at your worst.
Always remember that and those dark clouds will surely fade sooner - rather than later :)

Ok - Enough of that!!

(back to smiling)

examiner...

...did I tell you that I am writing articles for the examiner?

http://www.examiner.com/ethnic-community-in-philadelphia/tiffany-strother-millner

Faith + Freedom

Humm... I think I may have "burned" myself again...

For the past month and a half, I have been working on a little something that I called "Faith + Freedom". I knew that the annual PhilaNOMA Art show was coming up and that was enough to put the fire under my butt to build something - and get my head away from thinking and stressing about thing I can not control. 

Everything seemed to fall into place... I received power tools for my birthday. I carved out a little corner in the basement to become my "wood shop", I had full access to the Soup Factory AND Cacao was on vacation in New Jersey.

I found some wood slats in the garage from an old IKEA bed in my garage - and I already had the vision. So I was ready to go....

The idea was to make a "picture frame" for flowers to be mounted on a wall - but like everything else, It became much more. It became my creative outlet... (Hey - what better way to relive the stress from work - than to go home and use some power tools??)

 It was awesome... and then this popped into my head as I was building it... So I had to incorporate it:

 

i wanted to let go, 

but it wouldn't let me go.

i tried to break free, 

but i was always...

...am always +

always will be free.

ENJOY!!

Faith + Freedom is an exercise in re-discovering the creative side within me. As working professionals we sometimes lose sight of the simple things that bring us enjoyment and in turn serve as natural stress relievers.

Over the years, I found myself running from the things that would set me free. The lack of time committed to creativity wold be the very thing that would save me from the mundane day to day - also known as life.

Bending those wooden dowels was a stupid idea manifested. It was tedious and i broke a lot of them - even though I had them soaking in a tub of water in my basement. BUT I assure you that during that entire process I was NOT thinking about getting shop drawings back in time, dis-respectful clients that have no idea what i do for a living, construction time schedules that were shot and people blame you because you are the architect, stressing about toilet room clearances and that extra grab bar, and my favorite - the pissing contests that develop at the end of a job when all of the change orders get tallied up and the boxing gloves go on...

AND - it's new home in my dining room...

Confession...

I have a confession to make.

...And this is not going to be easy.

But it's something that I really need to get off of my chest... I can only ask that you will forgive me.

A month or so ago, a friend of mine asked me what I watched on TV... And I really didn't have an answer. Seriously, I have been anti-TV for a while. I mean, don't get me wrong - if its on, I will watch it - or I will find  myself flipping through random paternity tests or finding out where Anthony Bourdain is this week... But I really can't say that I have A SHOW that I need to break my neck to get home to see - or would even seduce me into getting Tivo or DVR.

Also - please keep in mind that I am married to someone that LOVES tv and WILL break his neck to see any new show  that is science, news, or ufo related.

(I swear - sometimes, I just do not feel like learning at 10:00 at night)

(love you Deme...)

OK -  but yes - I have a confession to make...

Typically our "happy medium" shows are: The Golden Girls, Anything Food related, Family Guy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The news (If I can stomach it) - and most recently - Wrestling. 

Yeah...I said it.

I have fallen back in love with it and it has made my Monday nights wonderful and with something to look forward to. I can remember back to when i was younger and my Great Grandmother (Bamby) would sit and watch that stuff for hours!!!! No joke.... She LOVED it. I dunno - I guess its just something about seeing people fake beating each other up and having fake drama to make a story line. 

Monday Night Raw celebrated its 900th episode last night... (I know that my Bamby was watching in heaven...)

Here are a few photos of the wrestlers that I have liked in the past...And you KNOW you know who they are..... (....nope... really didn't care for Hulk-a-Mania)

 Currently - We know all about Randy Orton's RKO move and can probably sing all of the words to his theme song....(yeah - sorry about that babe...)

My Sunflower.

Faith is interesting.
Faith is mysterious.
Faith is unknown - doubtful - and just when you are at the cusp of giving up on it - it comes through and shows you why you MUST always keep it with you...

For the past five years I have been growing sunflowers somewhere in my yard. I LOVE them. They are these huge gentle giants that need nothing more than some sun, soil and a little love.

I started them as seeds this year...

Planted them...
And one by one they got blown over by wind, taken over by weeds, eaten - or just for some reason didn't make it.

UNTIL.

I cleared these ridiculously large weeds in front of my yard and found this - My one and only sunflower for the season.... humm - remember that little post about spiritual gardening?

"He who plants a seed beneath the sod - and waits to see believes in God."