Sunday, August 29, 2010

Net Worth: How do you stack up?

I did an online survey on how much savings I should already have and the survey came up with 2 figures. One took my age into consideration, and other computed by my income. Here are the results:

For my age, the Median net worth should be:
$51,575
35-44
For my salary range, the Median net worth should be:
$34,375
$25,000-$49,999

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Beautiful San Francisco Saturday!




















We had some house guests this weekend! I was so glad that the sun cooperated and decided to come out so that they could enjoy the great San Francisco views! Of course, top on the list was the magnificent Golden Gate bridge! Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Liudmila Kondakova

There is something to be said about this tough economy. It makes us do more "creative" things without spending. Last night, hubby & I decided to walk around the Ghirardelli square area in San Francisco and happened to enter the Martin Lawrence Galleries.
Liudmila Kondakova - Rome
"Rome"

The reason we entered this art gallery was because they were featuring "Marc Chagall", one of the artists I like. Although I enjoyed looking at the artwork by Chagall, it was the painting of a new artist to me that really caught my attention. Her name is Liudmila Kondakova. According to the information about her there, she was born in Russia in 1956, and moved to the United States in 1991 and is a current resident artist in the Bay Area! Her paintings are mostly of European cities : Rome, Paris, Prague, etc, so she is considered an international artist!

What makes her paintings so mesmerizing is the technique she uses. The time of day of most of the paintings we liked are "dusk". The gallery director brought us to a small room and brought in the painting. A spotlight was placed on the painting and the lights were slowly dimmed. What beauty we experienced. The background of the painting dimmed, as if the sun was slowly setting, but the lamp posts, reflection on the water, "moon" got brighter! It was a really beautiful effect! The first painting was the one she used to demonstrate this effect, but the second painting was also there and was the one I really wanted. Fingers crossed that the economy improves so that I can get one of her paintings "without guilt"! (first 3 photos courtesy of this site)

Liudmila Kondakova - Rooftops of Paris at Night
"Paris Rooftops at Night"
Liudmila Kondakova - Prague
"Prague"
Succeeding photos courtesy of this site
http://www.paragonfineart.com/images/kondakova/SantaMariaDellaSalute.jpg
"Santa Maria della Salute"
http://www.paragonfineart.com/images/kondakova/le-pont-neuf.jpg
"Le Pont Neuf"
http://www.paragonfineart.com/images/kondakova/pont_alexandre.jpg
"Pont Alexandre"
http://www.paragonfineart.com/images/kondakova/paris_evening.jpg
"Paris Evening"
http://www.paragonfineart.com/images/kondakova/quai_de_conti-actual.jpg
"Quai de Conti"
http://www.divart.com/CityByTheBay.jpg
“City By The Bay”
http://www.divart.com/GoldenGate_Kondakova.jpg
“Golden Gate”

San Francisco scenes courtesy of this site.

The "Martin Lawrence Galleries" is located at 747 Beach Street, San Francisco CA 94109.