{Tuesday}

Nightclub Cardio @ Pravada

Literally one of THE best workouts I’ve ever had. A night club atmosphere, pumpin’ tunes, and workout clothes and tennies. Pretty much my dream workout. The lights are down, and people let loose. I’ve been dying to write about this for weeks. I tried this class out earlier this summer and was hooked! Now if I can just find time to make it back!  Due to popular demand, they’ve just added a second day at Pravada (Thursday) and a second location (Bar RIO, 6400 Richmond Ave) that begins September 15th. Tell Jennifer I sent you! 

{Wednesday}

Dress for Success 6th Annual Sizzling Summer Soiree

7-9pm | Tootsies (in Highland Village) | facebook invite

Nancy Levicki and the Women of Wardrobe event chairs Sharron Melton, Lauren Freeman and Shern-Min Chow with Tootsies invite you to the Sixth Annual Sizzling Summer Soiree.

Enjoy hip sips and cool canapes, and meet designer Trina Turk. 10 percent of the proceeds benefits Dress for Success Houston, so you have a great reason to shop!

Event is free for WOW members and $45 for nonmembers. Purchase your tickets to Sizzling Summer Soiree in advance to avoid waiting in a very long line! Join W.O.W. for $75 which includes complimentary admission to all W.O.W. events through next June. Buy your ticket today by calling 713-957-3779. Special thanks to The Capital Grille and TY-KU.

{Thursday}

Thursdays are always nuts.  Get in where you fit in.

5-10PM | Spacetaker Cultured Cocktails benefiting Dance Houston | FREE
Boheme Cafe and Wine Bar (Taft @ Fairview)
This has been THE place to be this summer if you are a non-profit. Or if you like wine. Either will do.

6-8pm | HYPA Summer Cocktail Tour at the Grove (Discovery Green) | FREE
feat. Houston artists Katy Anderson + Patrick Medrano + The Fodice Foundation
HOUSTON Magazine is sponsoring a summer long tour of hip places and pretty faces. This week at the Grove with HYPA. There is an afterparty at Katy + Patrick’s studio. The afterparty + film screening is free for HYPA members, and $35 for non-members.

6-9pm | 310 Rosemont Summer Mixer (1965 W. Gray) | FREE
Fashion and Denim for Women AND Men! Come for a drink. Stay for the new fall fashions. Toast to the end of summer.
I’m not sure about toasting to the end of summer…i’m hanging on with my fingernails. But LOVE this boutique. Check it.

{Friday}

Bright New Media

3:30-5:30pm | Bright Sky Press | 5416 Chaucer, right behind Ruggles | $35

Laura Mayes and yours truly will be leading a Social Media Workshop this Friday at the lovely Bright Sky Press. Stop by to ask all those burning questions about Twitter, Flickr, and Blogging, oh my! From 3:30-5:30 p.m. we’ll have the very informal workshop (Easy, practical social media training) and at 5:30 p.m. we’ll break out the Social Media Social Hour (A very happy Happy Hour where social media shows it social side).

Bright Sky Press is hosting its inaugural Bright New Media social media workshop at the Bright Sky Bookspace . Stop in to find out more about Twitter, Flickr, Blogging, Facebook, and a partridge in a pear tree. More importantly, we’ll talk about why we should care about all this (for business, for pleasure, for smart ways to connect)…and we’ll show you how easy it is to do (it’s really easy!). It all starts at 3:30 p.m. and ends with a Social Media Social Hour. $35 a person gets you all the know-how you need to go go go. We can’t wait to see you then!

RSVP to kara@brightskypress.com

Four Openings at Lawndale Art Center

6-8:30pm | Lawndale Art Center | 4912 Main Street | lawndaleartcenter.org

Yummm. I love me some Lawndale. Check out this Friday’s quadruple opening. Opening Reception August 21, 2009, 6:30 – 8:30 PM, Artist talks at 6 PM. Exhibitions on view August 21- September 26, 2009:

Lawndale Art Center 30th Anniversary Exhibition –
Curated by Clint Willour
Work by Seth Alverson, Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Chuy Benitez, Elaine Bradford, Emily Sloan and Mark Schatz

Me, Mine, and not Yours – Joe Ives and Jahjehan Bath Ives

Paper or Plastic?– Nathaniel Donnett

The Green™ cyber web – Adela Andea

{Saturday}

Planned Parenthood + Riazul Tequila present Party Like a Rockstar

8pm-midnight | Warehouse Live

Whether you wear high heels, Doc Martens or blue suede shoes, come to move those feet and pump those fists in the air – and let your voice be heard!

Live Performances by DJ Alex C – voted #1 DJ by the Houston Press and Houston Chronicle and SKYROCKET! – voted Austin’s #1 cover band.

TICKETS:
Single Ticket ($50) – includes catering by Joe’s Crab Shack!

Be a VIP!
Solo-Act ($150) – one person, Hook-Up ($250) – two people, Groupies ($1000) – eight people, Entourage ($3000) – 30 people
VIP level includes catering by Morton’s the Steakhouse & Max’s Wine Dive with a Champagne Station.
Grammy Gift Bags. Exclusive After- Party from midnight to 2 a.m.

Visit http://www.pphouston.org/rockstar2009 for more information. Purchase tickets here

My fav Houston art blogger, Sean Carroll, is curating a fascinating exhibit, that opens tonight at the joanna gallery. I’ve been looking forward to this for awhile, hope you can make some time to stop by and see it.

The American Wandering Club is pleased to present a new exhibition of technologically complex artwork by Mike Field and Frank Olson at The Joanna Gallery.

Coming from radically different philosophies, both artists have advanced fractal computer-based art by applying aestheticism and shamanism to an impersonal medium. Their surreal landscapes and textural abstractions hum with energy, echoing the building blocks of science and the structures of microscopic organisms.

Conversely, Field and Olson exude passion through color, form and composition in much the same way that early Modernists like Wassily Kandinsky explored emotion through abstraction.

Join us this winter for an exhibit of 21st century technology and timeless compassion bringing together academic and intuitive inspiration.

There will be lectures by both Field and Olson at 6 pm on December 13th in conjunction with the opening. Refreshments will be provided.

Saturday, December 13, 2008
Artist Lectures @ 6pm
the joanna gallery | 4014 Graustark (near the Menil)
direction to the gallery here.

Looking to get out of your no AC abode tonight?  Stop by Diverseworks from 6-8pm for a seaon opening reception.

Understanding Poverty
Photography by Ben Tecumseh DeSoto

Opening Reception: Fri., Sept. 19, 2008
6-8pm
DiverseWorks Main Gallery

Houston-based photojournalist Ben Tecumseh DeSoto opens the 2008-2009 season with Understanding Poverty, a multimedia exhibition that sheds light on poverty and homelessness in America by encompassing a 20-year investigation into life on the streets.  DiverseWorks partners with the Houston Endowment to bring DeSoto’s incredibly moving work to the Main Gallery.

Check out the latest issue of the Free Press featuring Ben’s image of Barry on the cover. Plus, it includes a great piece on Understanding Poverty from Editor, Omar Afra.

Stop by Caroline this weekend as ArtStorm opens it’s next exhibit, Creature Comforts.

ArtStorm’s newest board member Eli Sebastian Brumbaugh presents the Houston premiere of Toronto-based artist Deforgeo and fresh and imaginative work by a new generation of Houston artists in this summer’s Creature Comforts. The exhibition features the contemporary stylings of Deforgeo, Lisa Marie Godfrey, Rene Cruz, Shane Hillman, Jacob Calle and Brumbaugh himself in ArtStorm’s second show in its new location. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2008 from 7 – 10 PM, and the work will be on view through August 9, 2008. The reception will feature live music from Los Angeles’s art rockers Hard Place, and the local sounds of The Young Mammals, Wicked Poseur and News on the March.

Caroline Collective
4820 Caroline
www.carolinecollective.cc