Wish I could play hookey and...

PHOTO BY: J-STER

This weekend was a lot of this...

PHOTO CREDITS TO: ELISE.Y,  JOSEPH GRAY, HRLNDSPNKS, EMURRAY, BOOLVE, J.LEE43 & DETRITUS.


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It's been some time...

"... and I don't know / what to do with myself these days / cause you're out there / and I'm lonely / and I swear / that I need you here"

Ohhh I love The Ergs!
They are on my list of ultimate summer bands...and bands to start the night with.

BUT, getting to the point -- it's been some time. I've been engrossed with other things. Mainly just distracted with the amazing amount of blogs online. There is just so much stuff...out there. It's mind boggling. And I've been eagerly adding tons of great blogs to my Google Reader with the ridiculously handy recommended items tab. And, instead of posting stuff here, I have just been pasting away in my Google notes. So much good stuff!! But, I will try to be diligent and add a few more posts and drop off less like I tend to do. But it's summer -- I'm distracted by pretty pictures and vicarious vacations.

More coming soon!!!

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mixtape: songs in the dark

It's hot. Sweltering. Unwavering. The other night, I went for a walk to the park and the air was just flat, squashed down and heavy. It must have still been over a hundred and almost nobody else was out. People retreat to their houses. Stay in shadow. Move slowly. But it's summer! And you want to go out and jump and laugh and play. I love the line from Infinite Jest because it is so true, "people outdoors down here just scuttle in vectors from air conditioning to air conditioning. The sun is a hammer." So, I'm coping by listening to some awesome music...old histories. It's funny how songs sometimes make you think of a specific time. These all fit into past summers and I've brought them back now, mostly because I don't have much new music on my car ipod, but also because I was kind of nostalgic for them. And they are fun.

Sea Ghost  The Unicorns
I love everything about this song -- from the fun whistling in the beginning to the drums to the lyrics. So fun. Happy fun.

Goin' Against Your Mind  Built to Spill

Epic song. Long and melodious, you just get lost in it. I love how is builds up. Built to Spill is one of my favorite bands and I am happy to say that I love all their old stuff AND their new stuff which is usually not the case...everything Doug Martsch does is amazing. So it's only fair to include an old beloved song as well..

Big Dipper  Built to Spill

Anything by Neutral Milk Hotel. I'm really into the Avery album right now.

Especially this....love love love.

Oh, and the lovely cassette was repurposed from cassettes. Thanks!!
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wrapped up in: digital publishing

I have been so engrossed in digital publishing the past few days. Weeks, really. I have been playing around with all the great interactivity tools and slowly building up a simple example folio file. It's very fun. So I have been working late every night on this stuff -- tweaking buttons here and interactive overlays there. This goes against my promise to brush up on my web skills but it's always so hard to focus on just one thing! I can't believe I fit in time for two paintings last week. Utter craziness. Working at warp speed over here people. More pretty pictures to come soon. Promise!

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pigmented reality

The sweet smell of turpentine. The slinky splash of linseed oil. Upright bristles, flexed and ready to go. I love it. The past few days I've had the angsty inclination to finish up a portrait I am working on, but getting started is really hard. I suppose it' a lot like sitting down to write a term paper, or maybe write a book. Once you get into it, it goes very easily -- for the most part -- but building yourself up to the point of actually starting is the hard part. Waffling. That's what I have been doing. Browsing the internet for random inspiration. Wasting time. And of course, 9 o'clock at night and I'm finally ready to paint! I think, however, I will write this post and save the actual painting for tomorrow. It just makes more sense with the cleanup and toxic fumes and all that.

Anyway, I thought I would share some of my work. I don't really have a definite style of my own. I pretty much just paint and what comes out is what comes out. I have tried several different styles by doing copies of paintings and whatnot (classic art class project as it is) but it is always such a struggle to keep from doing what is familiar. That, and, all the portraits end up looking a bit like me or my husband. Actually, it is guaranteed that if I am painting a man it will look like my husband. It's terrible. I blame the fact that I see him so very much. And myself, obviously. And also maybe the fact that I don't take the proper time to do a character study before starting. Anyway, this is a goal of mine, getting better at portraits. Capturing the essence of someone. That would be amazing. As a painter, I think I have yet to capture someone's essence. Wow, that sounds really cheesy but damn it it's true. The same can be said for poetry or photography. It's easy to get someone down on paper but to get their soul....ah, that is a real accomplishment.

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The first two are sort of unfinished. I want to add something more to the top one and the middle painting is part of a diptych that I never finished and now I don't even remember what the text was supposed to be on the scroll. The last painting, the typewriter painting, hangs over the toilet which always cracks me up. The bathroom in my house has this white wood paneling (yes, strange choice someone made decades ago) and so it feels a bit cabiny so I think the painting works perfectly there. And it's a bit creepy probably haha.

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And this is the best one I think I have done in the past few years. It's huge and it was my first wood panel painting which is now my new favorite surface to paint on. I would sell all the others but probably not this one. Usually I just do paintings for friends and then just give them away but I think that if I get more prolific I could probably sell some at a gallery or at the very least in a coffee shop. I just need to be more prolific. So, that said, it's painting time.


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so, about the ads

You might have noticed that I put up ads on this site. And then took them down. And then put them back on again. Well, there is a good reason for that and believe me it's not all the buckets o' money I am raking in, because there definitely aren't plural buckets or even singular buckets. Not even a bowl. Not anything really. I did add the ads though because it was bothering me so much how little space there is between blog posts! So the ad makes a good filler space to properly air out the posts. I need white space. So    much   white         space. Truly. It's terribly important.

Anyway, I am planning a redesign of the blog eventually but until I have some time, I think I am going to keep the ads. Sorry! I know you probably won't click on them and that's ok. It just makes me feel less crazy about my posts and keeps me from messing with the layout so much again. :) But, of course, if you see something you like, I won't stop you from clicking on it or anything.

Cheers and happy Monday!!

Oh, and for the record, I don't eat lard. I'm a vegetarian. But I thought this ad was so funny and "wholesome."






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One inspiring giveaway by Oh Happy Day

So I subscribe to the lovely blog, Oh Happy Day. It's written by a party planner slash letterpress printer (so cool) based out of San Francisco. She has moved her family to Paris for a year (what a dream!) and now she is giving away a trip for two to the city of lights for one lucky blog reader. Here is the link to the giveaway. I just think it's so inspirational and downright awesome that she is doing such a significant giveaway. And what a great way to reward one lucky reader. It's nice to see the good people are doing on the internet and the communities that form out of all this random, musing, curated, interesting, eclectic and inspiring writing!















And of course, her pictures of family outings and shopping in Paris are amazing. I just scroll through and daydream when I read her blog. Maybe someday I too will make my transatlantic move to live and work abroad. Anyway, good luck to all!

What can I say?

Whirlwind week. I am just getting back into the swing of things and it's already the weekend again! I had a great Memorial Day vacation. The best was an impromptu, and failed, kickball game I tried to organize. We ended up with too few to play kickball so we just played kick-the-ball and frisbee and flew kites in my now new favorite city park. When the sun was setting I remembered that I had brought sparklers so we all pulled them out and waved them in the wind. There is something absolutely joyful and fun about sparklers. After sunset we drank beers (shhh) by the banks of the "lake" (ok, after visiting New Hampshire and witnessing the endless monstrosities they call "ponds" there, I laugh whenever I see "lakes" here...we really do not have enough water in this state to qualify a real lake, or even a fifth of a NH pond) and talked and then ended the night at a bar with reverse happy hour specials. What a wonderful start to summer!

Hello! Goodnight!

Longest day ever, please meet giant wine glass. You are best friends!
Ok, well, I prefer white in the summer, but still, I'm doing this one-minute post style. Done!

It's starting to feel like...

Lovely photos from (clockwise): TheCulinaryGeek, Mait Jüriado,  Chase Cash, and Sean McGrath.

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On Wednesday the husband and I bought ice cream. We never buy ice cream but given the fact that it was a hard week, we thought we deserved it. And it's a good thing we did, too. My nephews came yesterday and stayed most of the day. They are both under age six so our activities included picking oranges, looking for bugs and talking about Star Wars and Legos. Later in the afternoon we walked over to the park that is practically across the street from our house. We played on the swings, built sand mountains and played soccer with the only ball we could find in the house -- a semi-flat basketball. It was really fun and the weather wasn't too bad. It's definitely starting to get really hot but it's still nice enough to play outside. We topped off the day with a few scoops of deliciously cold ice cream.
 

Photos from: presta, Nicki Varkevisser, Josh Liba and Courtney Carmody.

 
I think this feeling of summer is even more apparent as the husband doesn't have a new job yet (it's only been a few days of unemployment) and so he has been home and things feel a little off. I suppose he's on summer holiday now, sort of. He has still been writing though. He has a few freelance projects going now but it's not the same as going into an office 9-5. I wish we had saved more. One of our problems when we were planning trips this spring was that husband didn't have as much vacation time. If I had managed to save an extra few thousand husband and I would undoubtedly be in Paris right now. Or Georgia. Or Seattle. Or, really, probably not. Hahaha, I am a worrier when it comes to situations like this and I probably would have barred all extra expenses no matter how much money we had saved!
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Summer has such a free, undefined sense of adventure and possibilities. Or else restlessness. And in my case, usually a mix of both. I think I am very much still on school time and so summer always feels like a time of change for me. A time to rethink my life, hobbies, the way I spend my time, everything. Who knows, maybe this summer has a lot of exciting things in store for us! I really hope so. I can't wait to feel like I'm driving this boat again. I hope I get to go somewhere beautiful. And I hope you do too!

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wrapped up in: Scandinavia?

I've been living without cable for about six months now and I love it. I was always one of those people that said, and thought, they didn't watch very much tv when, in reality, they actually did. I'm not anti-tv or anything, I just don't like getting invested in something like a tv show when I have so much going on. And believe me, I am still invested in a good number of shows...shows that are maybe too embarrassing to mention haha, so I won't say which ones. But anyway, back to the point, I do have one of those digital receiver thingies and so I do get the free (!)  stations and those few channels satisfy my need to sit lazily in front of a screen after a particularly punishing day at the office. And get this, there are THREE PBS channels! Well, there is a fourth classical music station but I don't really watch that one. But yes, PBS! I love it. One of my favorite shows, besides This Old House, is this Scandinavian cooking + travel show. The host pretty much sets up her kitchen anywhere that is amazingly beautiful, which I am convinced is all of Scandinavia, and just gets to cooking. Right there. It's very cool. So the show is all about the cooking and amazing landscapes of the region. It's worth checking out. So now I am dreaming of visiting the region. I obviously can't travel anytime soon so I'm content to just look at these lovely images from the region:

This is what I imagine summer is like there. Gorgeous.

Nature is so amazing.



I love blueberry picking. And mushroom hunts in the woods.
These summer pictures make me really happy. Enjoy! Happy warm days ahead!

These last few amazing images were by Hedda Selder on Flickr.

Happy travels -- imaginary or otherwise!!

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Infographics!

I really love well-designed infographics. In my day-to-day work I often design boring bar charts that simply convey the most dull of information...at least in my opinion. Sure, I make them pretty, but there is only so much you can do when the subject matter is so boring. I try to just keep it clean and simple. The giant tables that come my way...yeah, still trying to figure out how to make those lovely. All in all, the data that I come across is pretty boring (believe me!). So, when I see examples of really fun charts I get excited. Here are a few that I especially love:

This show is full of so much hilarious stuff! I would have to say it's one of my favorites.
But wait, there's more after the jump:

Now what?

Friday started out perfectly. I was home because I have every other Friday off (perfect schedule, I must say, and worth working the early and long hours I do each week). I was researching vacations for this summer, skimming through some tutorials for my new Adobe CS5.5 Suite (very excited about this!), planning a fun wedding anniversary date (six years, I really can't believe it!) -- having a wonderful, relaxing day.

That is, until my husband called to say he was laid off. Yes, laid off! He was working for an internet company. You know the ones...hip, amazing perks, new technology and the like. Yeah. Isn't that the biggest cliche ever? Being laid off from an internet company? Come on!

So the first few minutes were cool. I pretty much kept calm. Sure, we can deal with this, I thought. But then the shock wore off, or came on, I don't know which, and I just started thinking...now what? He has never been unemployed, ever. Neither of us have ever switched jobs without having a new one lined up already. Sure, we have some savings, but we have never been in a situation like this, feeling like the rug has been pulled out from under us. I know this is the reality that many Americans have been dealing with, many in far more serious context than us. We are lucky: we don't have kids, don't own our house, don't have a lease even really. We can move if we need to. We have family offering up living space if it comes to that.

There were a few hours of utter panic and complete, overarching stress. I am a planner. I like to have things lined up. Plans B and C and D. Having to start completely from scratch is scary for me. But, I think we will pull through. I really do feel like the economy is on the upswing and there are more and more job listings popping up every day. I feel, so far, like it won't take too long for him to find a new job. He got his last one within a week of searching and that was only a few months ago. That's a good sign. And anyway, we have been just itching to make some sort of meaningful change in our lives. To move, to explore, to try new things. I want to go to graduate school someday soon. He wants to try his luck in journalism elsewhere. We want an adventure. So maybe this is the universe saying, "Do it already!" The past few years since we finished college, we have just been working to figure out what life is like after school. Maybe now is the time to make something of it.

Hopefully our savings and/or luck will last us until we get somewhere new and wonderful.
We are making new plans and keeping our fingers crossed.

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Hang our diplomas on the bathroom wall...

I love The Weakerthans. Best band ever. I think their songs epitomize the feel of my twenties. This song is my driving-home-after-a-bad-day-at-work-belting-out-the-lyrics ballad.

Ten to six and 9-to-5, trying, dying to survive. Never knowing what survival means.
Leave the apartment to buy alcohol. Hang our diplomas on the bathroom wall.

...

Let's lay our bad day down here, dear and make-believe we're strong,
or hum some protest song.

It kills me. They are so good. I love the quirky and clever lyrics, the presence of cats as major characters and the overall honesty of the songs.

Listen to the song here.

And my other all-time favorite by them, Our Retired Explorer

...Comment allez-vous ce soir? Je suis comme ci comme ça / Yes, a penguin taught me French back in Antarctica / Oh, I could show you the way shadows colonize snow / Ice breaking up on the bay off the Lassiter coast / Light failing over the pole as every longitude leads / up to your frost bitten feet oh, you're very sweet

 Give 'em a listen.

working out the kinks

I am still figuring out exactly how I want this to look. Sizes, fonts and all that jazz. Please excuse the incongruity between posts. Thanks!

wrapped up in: everything else

So this week feels soupy. I'm stewing. I am starting a lot of new projects an I have a bunch of others floating around in my head. This weekend I took apart and started sanding down a big cabinet. The idea is to hopefully paint it white and stick it in my bedroom which is seriously lacking closet space. I think I will take out the glass and put in something with a nice pattern or texture and then add some great knobs from Anthropologie...as that is, probably, all I can afford there anyway.

Atelier Chesterfield, Anthropologie $5998  |  Anthropologie hardware $8-10  |  Book

I made the mistake of venturing over to the Anthropologie page and have started planning my dream library. So one more thing to the list: buy more books to fill up all the shelves I will have at some point in the too distant future.


I've also commissioned a farm-house style table though with a modern twist. I wanted something a little more streamlined or interesting for the legs. I am also starting a new painting soon. Much thought to be put into that. I am still figuring it all out so I'm feeling a little wishy washy. Also must finish some books, other smaller craft projects, some web design stuff...and the list goes on.

wrapped up in: boots

I can't get enough of boots. I really hope the weather doesn't turn anytime soon, I am having too much fun romping around and pretending it's really winter. Sweater weather is the best. I can usually manage to drag out sweater weather mentality into the summer but it really gets too hot for it, here anyway. I really must move somewhere cold with heaps of snow.

The last two photos are from the blog Time Enough For Drums which I am really digging. It makes me just want to spend the afternoon digging through my closet with a camera in hand.

Anthropologie dress and lovely photo here

 

 

 

you waited for my birthday

You waited for Saturday / You waited for my birthday / And most of us would probably / Expect even less than that / And I'm glad / You're not like us / And by us / I mean everyone in the world who isn't you

So much going on right now. Parties. Birthdays. Cocktails. Endings and new beginnings. Reorganization. All the hopes for the year balled up into one month. I want to spend my time in the glow of cocktail lounges and starry nights. Cities lit up. Cozy cabins enveloped by darkness.

two from torpore, aithom2, Raoul Pop, margolove

wrapped up in: Joe Versus the Volcano

I spent a cozy night watching this movie. I thought it was really great when I was a kid and I'm glad it still holds up. My husband claims his work environment is nearly as bad as Joe's and I'm almost certain he is suffering from "brain cloud" syndrome. I'm sure a lot of people in their late twenties feel this kind of existential angst. It's a journey and the best medicine is watching a movie like this on a cold evening.

[clockwise] 1.  SteamLine Luggage, 2. Men's shaving kit, 3. Hula lamp, 4. L.L. Bean rain coat, 5. Ukelele,  6. Vintage Royal typewriter, 7. Armani suit