1/31/2008

me, other places.

i outed myself as a fan of Rock of Love today on my work blog. and i also linked to some of my favorite things i've been seeing on craft blogs lately. you can read it here.

1/27/2008

it's pretty in the rain.


I love the rain. Maybe not weeks and weeks of it, but I'm kind of into the gray weather we've been having lately. And I love the way things look different when they're wet. It makes me notice things I don't usually see. Here are some pictures I took walking around today.




1/24/2008

thank goodness for pretty coats.


if you're in SF you know i'm not exaggerating when i say it's been cold here! it's been ten years since i've lived on the east coast and endured real winters, so i do admit i'm a little wimpy when it comes to the cold. but this is some chilly weather we're having. if you'll allow me to get a little shallow for a minute i'll admit i'm happy for the dipping temperatures because it justifies one of my latest purchases, this sweet coat from urban outfitters. i hate wearing layers and big heavy coats, but this one is just so adorable and i feel like i belong in some sort of magical forest when i wear it. Urban is having a pretty awesome sale on winter coats right now, all of them are $49. this one was originally $160, so i felt like quite the bargain shopper. of course my purchases weren't limited to just the coat.. that's how they always get you isn't it?

i got the coat in navy, love the red but i knew i just wouldn't wear it as much as the blue. and i have to say, the twiggy model pictured here really doesn't do it justice.

animal house.

My life feels full of old friends right now, I have a friend from college visiting for the week and she's been wanting to see lots of other old friends since she isn't here that often which is a nice little treat for me. Tonight was spent at Cara's house, which is always warm and cozy and full of animals I adore. You know how with some people it's just so clear what their purpose in life is? Some people have this one really distinct thing that just makes them so who they are? Cara's has to do with animals. Saving them and caring for them and loving them more than anyone I've ever met in my life. Tonight there were three dogs, four cats and one turtle in her house. One of the dogs was a friends she's watching, and one of the cats she found at the bart station a couple of weeks ago, he's taken over the little house in her backyard, he's old and battered, missing some teeth and has a little mean streak, but Cara just couldn't leave him wondering around the train station. I mean how many people do that? I think she must have saved at least a dozen animals by now. Here are some of my favorites..



1/17/2008

Absolutely Truly Heartbreakingly Beautiful.


I know I've talked about how much I love Sherman Alexie here before. I also went on and on about how much I adored him after seeing him speak for his book Flight. I'm not a bit embarrassed about any of my gushing. One of the books I read on my way to and from NY this past week was Alexie's new novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. It's a good story, with beautiful characters and lots of heartbreak. I almost cried a few times, which I guess isn't saying much since I had just been to a funeral, but what gets me every time is how flawless Alexie's prose are. He has these beautiful passages and I just want to underline everything until I realize I'll just have to read the book over again. The book is classified as a 'Young Adult' novel, but please don't let that stop you from reading it, some of the best books I've ever read were written with Young Adults in mind. I could summarize the book for you here, but I think it makes more sense to give you a little taste of it, so I'll put a passage below. It's a quick read and one of those books you finish that sort of makes you love and hate humanity all at the same time, again I was coming off of some pretty intense stuff, so maybe I'm projecting. But either way it's a book worth reading, trust me. To listen to an excerpt of Sherman Alexie reading from the book go here.

From The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

I draw all the time.

I draw cartoons of my mother and father; my sister and grandmother; my best friend Rowdy; and everybody else on the rez.

I draw because words are too unpredictable.

I draw because words are too limited.

If you speak and write in English, or Spanish, or Chinese, or any other language, then only a certain percentage of human beings will get your meaning.

But when you draw a picture, everybody can understand it.

If I draw a cartoon of a flower, then every man, woman, and child in the world can look at it and say, “That’s a flower.”

So I draw because I want to talk to the world. And I want the world to pay attention to me.

I feel important with a pen in my hand. I feel like I might grow up to be somebody important. An artist. Maybe a famous artist. Maybe a rich artist.

That’s the only way I can become rich and famous.

Just take a look at the world. Almost all of the rich and famous brown people are artists. They’re singers and actors and writers and dancers and directors and poets.

So I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation.

I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.

1/15/2008

gone and back again.


i know it probably hasn't seemed too long since i last posted, but to me it feels like eons. my grandfather passed away last week and i flew to New York on saturday for the wake and funeral which was just yesterday. i got back this afternoon and can't even begin to write how exhausted i am. which is why i won't even try. this is the first time i've had someone close to me pass away, and at 31 i guess i should be thankful for that. but it doesn't make it any easier. i felt like posting a video of him here, i took it the last time i really saw him, in it he's showing me an IOU for forty dollars that i gave to him on father's day in 1985. it's pretty funny when he talks about the interest on it and pretty sweet that he kept it for 23 years. it's probably not something anyone but me and my family would appreciate, so i'll spare you my home videos.

on a lighter note, my 12 hours of plane riding was the most productive i've ever had. i read two books and completed my first crochet project. i'm planning on posting it all, once i get caught up on sleep and readjusted to pacific time again.

1/10/2008

if i could i would


You know how just two posts ago I wrote about my bad habit of buying things online? well I've lost my debit card (ok well I thought I lost it so I canceled it and than found it about 10 minutes later) either way since I've sworn off credit cards I have nothing to shop online with at the moment until my new card arrives sometime next week. Why am I telling you all this? Because if I had a card I would have purchased this the second I opened Jennifer's email which included a link to the perfect bracelet you see above. How awesome is that? Jennifer's the one that first introduced me to the amazing work of t8 designs, I love her use of chain and vintage charms, she's got a great eye and I have a feeling when I do get a card again I'll be paying her Etsy shop a visit.

1/08/2008

good movies, good friends, good theaters.


I don't have enough time this morning to write a proper post on how amazing the movie Juno is. But just believe me when I tell you it was one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. As soon as the credits started I wanted the movie to rewind and start all over again. Just go see it, it's so wroth seeing in the theater. Of the many things I loved about the film it was so awesome to hear the Moldy Peaches soundtrack used so perfectly. As my friend said it was almost as if they wrote the movie for the song 'Anyone Else But You', which has always been one of my favorite's and sweetly reminds me of a certain someone from a certain summer so many years ago. Whatever your plans this weekend I suggest you make some time for Juno, I may be seeing it again too. And if you're in SF can I also suggest that you see the movie at the Sundance Kabuki? It's the old Kabuki theater but it's been totally renovated and equipped with some good restaurants, all green facilities and my very favorite part a nice big bar that allows you to bring drinks into the theater. There are even tables in between the very cushy seats so you don't have to clutch your wine glass during the movie. As my friend learned when buying our tickets there's a 'hippie tax' (not my words the ticket guy's) because there is absolutely no advertising of the theater or in the theater. This means no commercials before the movie- just good old fashion previews of other movies before the feature, you know like in the old days.


I can't go on enough about both this theater and this wonderful movie, well I could but I have to get out of bed at some point and get ready for work, see this movie!!! and see it at the Sundance Kabuki if you're in SF.

1/06/2008

damn everything but the circus.

After reading that great list of rules I had to know more about the woman who wrote them. That woman was Sister Corita Kent, who had a huge influence on pop art in the 60's. Kent was a nun at the Immaculate Heart Convent in Los Angeles, as well as a teacher in the art department at the Immaculate Heart College. I listened to the show about her on Weekend America and looked at some of her very familiar art and I'm so eager to learn more about this fascinating woman. As soon as I'm finished with the book I'm reading I plan on starting in on Come Alive, a book about her art and her life.





It's impossible to post just one of her amazing prints, I'm in love with so so many of them. This one reads:
damn everything but the circus --e.e. cummings ...damn everything that is grim, dull, motionless, unrisking, inward turning, damn every thing that won't get in the circle, that won't enjoy, that won't throw its heart into the tension, surprise, fear and delight of the circus, the round world, full of existence...S.


1/05/2008

best crafts of '07

i loved looking through Craftster's picks for best projects of the year, some great ideas in there and it's fun to see them all in one place. i posted some of my favorites over on SFist today. click here to read it.

a new kind of problem.

It’s true, I have a new problem. Well, maybe it can't really be classified as a problem yet. But I could see it becoming one. I’ve started ordering things online. This is new to me. With no hesitation I’ll be reading about an artist I like on a blog, click on over to their website or Etsy shop and hit that purchase button. Right now it feels under control, but I could see it getting worse. Like my mother who is constantly ordering things from TV, it's just so easy. And who doesn't like a package arriving two days later with something they just couldn't wait to get? I’m trying to keep it in check, but I could see it becoming an addiction.


As soon as I read that Ork Designs had a San Francisco poster available I clicked on over and bought one. I have a love for typography I'm just starting to recognize and I can't get over how delightful it is to see the layout of all the SF neighborhoods squished in and pieced together so perfectly. It's still on my desk in a frame, I can't decide which room in the house to put it in. When I ordered mine they were only offering a green map printed on an off white paper, but now it looks like they have more colors, they are also sold out and really overwhelmed by all the attention lately, but promise to be back with more posters and more cities soon.


I blame my next purchase on the Craft round up of calendars that reminded me I've always wanted a Nikki McClure calendar. It just came on Friday and I immediately put it up on my wall at work, right next to my computer, so it's the second thing I look at all day long. I've long loved her art, and am still amazed at the fine paper cuts she makes. Her images portray the kind of calm I want in my life everyday.

Next on my list will likely be some of these.

1/01/2008

happy happy..


I'm not usually a fan of new year's resolutions, but I'm excited about deciding what's going to change for me in 2008. I have a little list in my head that I've already started working on. I've got a good feeling about this year-- is that bad luck to write? Hope not. In the past few weeks two of my closest friends have gotten engaged, my grandfather has become ill, I've gotten a new job at work, and I've spent some much needed time with good friends and family on both coasts. Up and down, a lot like 2007 was, and I'm sure a lot like the upcoming year will be. I'm feeling a little tired but well rested and ready to start in on the new year. Hope this one is your best yet. xox