RED ROBIN

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
- A Famous Song

RED ROBIN It is one of our favorite hambuger place in our city. We eat hamburger there when we are sick and tired of McDonald, Burger King and Jack in the Box. Red Robin's hamburgers are more pricey, taste better and beautifully presented with all the trimmings. On the lighter side, my youngest son is named Robin. He was already born before Red Robin came around our neighborhood. He loves RED too. His first car was a RED Honda sports car. His passion for RED car always caught the attention of the police. He always gets a ticket or a warning for speeding although he was not driving beyond the limit. Policemen have hot eyes for RED car drivers. Today, Robin's car is no longer RED but BLACK.
BIRTHDAY COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR It's true! So here I am blogging about the birthday of Robin. His birthday is coming up on the 9th, but I will be out of town for a week. I am posting this blog earlier. There are many things I forget in life but not the birthdays of my children. Their birthdays are marked RED on our calendar.

HOW AN ARTIST CELEBRATED THEIR FAMILY BIRTHDAYS? Robin is a professional graphic artist but when it comes to celebrating his birthday, he leaves all the planning to me. I remember when my four children were little, I was their party coordinator. I loved doing it. I got many creative and fun ideas. I was never stressed with all the plannings and preparations. I made their parties like a movie production- with coordinating costumes, decorations, games, favors and food. I baked their birthday cakes and decorated them too. Because Robin was born in February he always had a RED theme birthday party. Those born in March had a GREEN theme birthday party. The one born in July had the RED, WHITE and BLUE theme birthday party. Now that they are all grown up, their birthday celebrations are anything goes. Meaning any color or theme would do. I passed that stage in life where I like things matchy-matchy.

ROBIN'S WISH The oil painting above "Reflections Of My Homeland" had appeared many times on my blog. It's a favorite family heirloom and painting that I will pass on to Robin someday. Why Robin? One day, he told me, "Mom, when you pass away, can I inherit that painting?" Since none of my children asked for it, I said "YES!" I love all my children and don't show favoritism. In the future....the rest of my paintings and personal art collections will be divided equally among them. GENERATION GAP This photo was taken one Christmas Day ago. The favorite painting hangs in our dining room. Robin was standing second from the right. He and I like the same things and we get along pretty well, despite of our huge generation gap. Our favorite topic is of course, art. We are both passionate about art. When I was in art school, I didn't have any idea that someday, a sophisticated computer will come around and be used as artists or designers tool. Robin is very good and creative digital-graphic artist. What he could designed on the computer is mind-boggling to me. I admired his many wonderful and modern ideas. I am so proud of his TV ads for Budweiser, Toyota, Reebok, etc., which were shown at the Super Bowl, during the past 2 years. On the brighter side, he is also one of my admirers. He is amazed at my paintings, which are done by hand and brushes. He couldn't understand why it took lots of time and effort to do oil painting on canvas. He's not as patient as me. On the other hand, I am also amazed at the way he could manipulate and design speedily and creatively via computer. We are both amazed at each other's talent and appreciate the differences on how we created out art works.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBIN!!!