Christmas at Sea World

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I love Christmas time and I love Sea World, so I love visiting Sea World during Christmas Time.

Thankfully, when this year’s Winter has been pretty mild, allowing me to enjoy temperatures among the 60s and 70s, so visitting Sea World this year was not as cold as last year. With my mom’s relatives in town, we enjoyed a day at the theme park on Christmas Eve, wanting to go on Christmas Day, but finding out it was closed. With light layers, it was a very enjoyable day with light crowds and beautiful scenery. I the festive arrangements Sea World places around the park including giant candy canes, garland, ornaments, Christmas trees, presents, gingerbread houses, and of course, lights. This year, there were a variety of different decorations including a Christmas Market, a Candy Cane forest, and a Snowmen Village. I go to Sea World so often that it’s nice to see new attractions.

And thanks to the wonderful weather, the animals were out allowing me to capture the beauty of the flamingos and ducks around the waterfall area near Shamu’s Stadium. I have a fascination and admiration with birds and greatly enjoy taking their pictures.

After catching a few shows, riding the roller coasters, parousing through stores, and even walking through the transformed wintery park, complete with fake snow falling from a few rooftops, I was quite happy.

Sights & Sounds of Christmas

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I’d never heard of Sights & Sounds of Christmas before, but apparently it’s a big deal here in San Marcos while it’s up for 4 days. It’s set up in the City Park in the center of San Marcos, really close to Texas State University.

Basically, it’s like a winter faire with carnival rides, carnival food, a nativity set with real animals, all covered in thousands and thousands of lights.

I went with the rest of the Terry Girls and we had a wonderful time gazing at the lights, listening to live caroling and gospel music, shopping around, petting the animals, and playing in the fake snow. It was so much fun!

Newton Park Christmas Lights

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With about 5 square miles of area, Newton, Texas is quite small, but it delivers a charming feel, especially around Christmas time! I love gazing upon collections of colorful, gleaming lights during the winter season and it makes Christmas even more magical, enjoyable, and warming. It’s pretty much the only thing I like about Winter.

Each year starting around Thanksgiving, the whole town of Newton begins to cover the town in lights. The town square, the bell tower, the gazebo, the local stores, and especially the city park receive coats of lights. Come nightfall, the lights spring to life pleasing residents and tourists, like myself.

Visiting my grandparents for Thanksgiving, we took an evening walk through the park in order to take in the beautiful collection of Christmas lights. With animatronics, 2D picture displays, lit fountains, trails of lights, and even overhangings covered in twinkling bulbs, the park was magically transformed into a place of wonderment. And of course, amongst the center of the park, near the large lake with the giant gyser rising from the middle of the water, a nativity scene is set up, allowing everyone to take in the sights and worship the birth of Jesus Christ.

Homecoming – Texas State University vs Northwestern State University

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With a rare free Saturday, I decided to attend the Homecoming game for Texas State University against Northwestern State University with my friends, Laura, Taylor, Ellen, Monica, and Jena.

There were a lot of people there all dressed out for Homecoming, and there was a lot of pride and spirit, but it quickly faded as people began leaving early and losing hope. Unfortunately, the Northwestern Demons were destroying the Bobcats, and by Half Time, it looked pretty grim. We stayed until just before the game ended, and our team had lost.

Another reason I had wanted to attend was to enter the Day in a Life at Texas State – Homecoming Edition photography contest. I entered 3 of my photos and was very optomistic about winning. I even got a forutne cookie that said I would win something soon. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed with the results, once again.

I thought some of my pictures came out pretty well, though…

Sustainability Must be Beautiful

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On Thursday, September 30, 2010, I attended the opening gallery reception for the Sustainability Must be Beautiful show located in The Gallery of the Common Experience.

The gallery provided a quaint, yet roomy feel for the show to reside within. With low lights, all 60 pieces appeared shrouded in a beautiful, rich, golden glow.

There from about 2:00PM to the end of the gallery reception at 4:00PM, I happily took pictures as I viewed each unique piece. Capturing interesting shots of each treasure, I was overcome with the sense of sustainability and conservation. The theme of sustainability was apparent within each piece, yet each had it’s own unique take creating interest and intrigue.

All tied together with the theme of sustainability, each piece either reflected ideas of the environment, itself, raised awareness for protection of the environment, educated the public about the Earth, or was simply made from recycled materials in order to conserve resources and encourage recycling. “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world,” reads the wall, quoting naturalist, John Muir, and aptly describing the common idea that the show was based on.

Treating its guests to 60 different pieces of stunning artwork, The Gallery of the Common Experience presented a successful and powerful show, Sustainability Must be Beautiful. All speaking out for sustainability and support of the environment, the artists used a wide array of materials and mediums to create a diverse arrangement of artwork. With so many unique and creative pieces, there was something for everyone to enjoy.

Of course, there was food, too, but I was so enthralled with the art that I forgot to grab some!