Sweet Dreams

If you do anything today, take 10 minutes to watch this video. It is the cutest, and it was the best part of my day on Wednesday. Usually stop motion/claymation kind of freaks me out, but not this. Not this. Found via Abby.

Also, I always love the Big Picture series, but these images from the inauguration are stunning.

And this beautiful photo from Maria is totally inspiring me to make a quilt, maybe lap sized, maybe full sized. Improvisationally pieced white and off white for the top, and some kind of wool herringbone for the back. I’ve been thinking about a totally white quilt for awhile now, and now I’m even more inspired to start it.

Have a great weekend!

Nerves and Bread

My mood has been all over the freaking place this week. And as I write that sentence I realize that I don’t even really know how to express it. Winter funk. I’ve been trying to set up internship interviews with a few design studios, and feeling awfully inconsequential about it. Like I’m losing my confidence steam. I hope I’ll get it back, because I like the feeling of being confident much better than the lack of. And on the heels of that, a creative slump. They go hand in hand with me, one feeds off of the other, and I don’t quite know how to prevent them. I eventually want to work in a place where concept is an important piece of the design process, but as the time after school, and conceptual practice, gets longer, it sometimes feels like I won’t remember how to conceptualize a design problem when I need to again, if I find the job that I hope for. I know, deep down, that I will get it back, but the paranoia still remains. I have to make second calls today to two studios, because they haven’t called me back yet after leaving messages earlier this week, and that makes me nervous.

But, it’s a long weekend for me, so here’s to hoping that some more painting happens this weekend, and quilting, and that I’ll have some creative exploits to talk about next week. And bread baking, since this book was just delivered, and I’m excited to try my hand at a new bread recipe. And some running needs to happen too, it’s been too many days since the last run. That always makes me feel a little better too.

Six (er, Ten)

Leslie tagged me, so here are 6 random things about me. And you know, I’m sure I’ve been tagged other times and totally not done anything about it, and I’m sorry. I hope you’ll forgive me, taggers that I didn’t acknowledge. (Wow, that looks like it’s spelled wrong)

1. I don’t ever finish a cup of coffee either, like Rachel. I drink it slow, and there always ends up being some leftover, cold. When I drank soda, the scenario was the same.

2. For a long time I couldn’t stand the feel of my hair hanging in my face. It would drive me crazy, and I would wear it pinned off my face everyday. I still don’t like it, and have moments when I have to pin it back. But not everyday.

3. I spell every word out when I text message, instead of using shorthand. I don’t like most e-shorthand, like BRB, IMHO, U R going 2morrow, etc. Makes me cringe.

4. My least favorite words are “synergy” and “leverage.” The reason is too many years working in an office where they are used way too much and in ways that don’t even make sense, just for the sake of using an “it” word.

5. I once had a dream, when I was little, that my stuffed animals were alive. But they were mad, and snarling. It felt so real that I am still not entirely convinced that it was, indeed, a dream.

6. I rarely drink milk. Nate is always giving me crap about it. But when I got the stomach topsy turvies this week, it was all I wanted, and the only thing that would settle my tummy, for the most part. That and macaroni and cheese. From a box. At least it was Annies

7. Speaking of Annies, I discovered it my freshman year in college when one of my roomates, who was from the east coast, loved the stuff and wouldn’t shut up about it. I had never heard of it, we were always Kraft people. Shells with Alfredo is my favorite, as was hers, and I always think of her when I eat it, and if boxed macaroni and cheese is what we’re in the mood for, I still prefer this to the yellow Kraft stuff.

8. I hate scented kleenex.

9. I didn’t own a purse until I was 22 years old. My mom always carries a changepurse, and I never really understood it, but lately I have been wanting to save my change and use it, rather than throwing it into a pile at home, and so I think I need a changepurse.

10. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding to post something on Flickr or on the blog. Like this, for example. I feel like it is a copout to double post, but maybe I don’t have anything else planned for the blog for a day.

Ok, so that was supposed to be 6 random things and it turned into 10 things. Oh well! I live to shake it up!

(Ann, Jeope, and Leslie, consider yourselves tagged)

Bulbalicious

Evidently this January is not my lucky month, healthwise. I’ve come down with something, and let’s not mention that it involves one of the symptoms-that-noone-wants-to-talk-about. Ever.

I’ve not much to say, except that my paperwhites shot out of their bulbs super quick and I gave them their shot of tequila and they are in the beginning stages of flowering, all which makes it feel very springy inside, even though it is decidedly unspringy outside. Thanks to Emily for the advice on paperwhite cultivation! It’s a little late for paperwhites, I think, most people do them before Christmas. At least, that is my impression. The couple of people that I saw do them this year did them before Christmas, and my gardening store was almost out of them by New Years. But who cares? Now seems as good a time as any.

And also, I painted yesterday. A couple little paintings. Inspired by green. I’m not sure if they are done, so they are drying before I decide.

In Print

I tend to procrastinate. A little. Or alot. And so does Nate, so when there is something that we should accomplish together, sometimes the procrastination becomes a momentous thing.

Internet, I am confessing to you now, we have yet to have ordered prints of our wedding photos, which were taken a year and a half ago. Now, mind you, there are excuses. It took longer than we expected to get the proofs back from the photographer, and after we got back from our honeymoon we put our house on the market, which was pretty darn stressful. And then it was Christmas. And then school, and more school, and stuff. And really there is no good reason. Well, except the moving thing, that was a good reason.

But last fall we got a phone call from our photographer saying that they had been contacted by a magazine that was interested in using our wedding in a feature about tropical weddings. The magazine is a start up, it would be the first ever issue, but we said yes. They sent us a sort of bio sheet to fill out with things like how we met, how we got engaged, advice to new brides, etc.

We finally got our copy of Florida Gulf Coast Weddings in the mail last week and we are one of five couples featured, with a three page spread all to ourselves! It was so cool to see our event in glossy magazine print. And I’m reminded of how proud I am for designing a cohesive visual event, from the invitations to the programs to the cake. Not to mention how fun it was! And that I miss that sand between our toes.

Now let’s see if we can get those prints taken care of before our cotton anniversary…

This and That

What to say, what to do? What to do, what to say? I haven’t felt this on-the-ball in months, and yet, it leaves me with little to chat about it seems. I’m just doing my thing, I guess, falling into a rhythm.

I planted my saved heirloom tomato seeds on Sunday. I’m proud to have gotten a much earlier start on them than last year, so I hope they are a little bit farther along when it comes time to plant them in the ground. Last year they were kinda tiny when they went into the garden. Getting the seeds started always makes me feel like spring is so close. Even though it’s still January, and spring really isn’t that close. But I can at least put a time frame on it. In 10-14 days those seeds should germinate, and then I can watch them grow. And then they might hit a plateau again like they did last year, but who knows? Hopefully I’m able to keep them alive until it is warm enough to put them in the ground. In June.

I painted that wall in the guest room, and I started and finished that project in One. Weekend. Which is kind of unprecedented for me. I still need to hang art, which will probably take months, but you know.

I had an interview at an ad agency yesterday. They don’t have a position available, but it was nice to go and have a chat. The Creative Director seemed to like my work, so you never know what could happen, and it gave me a little boost of confidence to get some more resumes out there.

And we’re prepping for a little island themed party/potluck this weekend, to shoo away the freezing temperatures and winter blues. Margaritas here I come!

44

Today I am:

Remembering my own experiences in Washington DC last summer.

Thinking about all of the hopeful people there today, imagining that sea of people, as far as the eye can see.

Marveling that something is happening today that can inspire that many people to gather together, like the million man march so many years ago.

Excited to see this man take the oath of office, and hear what he has to say in his inaugural address. More excited than I’ve ever been for a presidential address.

Hopeful for what’s to come.

Proud. So proud.

Lost and Gone

At an undetermined point in time between 4:30 pm Saturday when I finished painting the newly green wall in the guest room and 11:00 am Sunday when I wanted to take my self portrait before I trampled my experimental bouncy curls under a hat when I went out for a run, I lost my wireless remote for the camera.

I use this thing all the time, and I know that the world goes on, but it sort of feels like having to go back to pushing buttons on the television rather than using the remote control to flip to The Discovery Channel. Or what I imagine life would be like if our tivo disappeared mysteriously. Much less convenient.

I used it to take my selfie as I was painting, and after that, I don’t recall where I set it down in a room that was all moved about and disheveled. I thought I put it back on the top of a tall drawer unit, but when I looked there first it was not. Maybe I tossed it onto the plastic dropcloth that was over the bed. I have three theories: A. I placed it somewhere in that room and the cats played with it and lost it somewhere that I haven’t yet looked, which must be an invisible black hole because I’ve looked everywhere. 2. I put it down somewhere else that I don’t recall and haven’t looked. C. I put it on my jeans pocket, went for a walk with Nate and the dog, and it fell out and in the short time that it was missing between then and when I jogged the same route the next morning with hope in my heart, someone picked it up. Or hey, maybe it just disappeared. Is that unheard of?

I blame the cats.

I searched for an hour straight, under every conceivable piece of furniture that I thought it could fit beneath. Multiple times. Nothing. I surveyed every surface that I could think of. I organized all of my piles of fabric on the guest bed, and tore the bedding off, just in case it managed to squeeze itself under the covers. I replayed the day over and over in my head, trying to think of one more moment that would solve the mystery.

And I know a replacement is less than $20, but for some reason I take losing things much more personally than breaking things. If it broke, I would shrug my shoulders and go get a new one. But when I lose something, there’s this unresolved lack of closure, and I just can’t wrap my mind around it. It’s got to be SOMEWHERE.

But in the meantime, I’m going to need to get myself a new one. And then I’ll probably find the lost one.

Sparkly

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I looked out the front window on Sunday afternoon. Not a cloud in the sky, yet tiny snowflakes were falling, the sun glinting through them in such a way that made it look like those snowglobes that are filled with glitter rather than snow. I couldn’t take my eyes away.

I went out to take pictures, and I took oh so many, trying to capture that image. You know how some things are just impossible to photograph the same way they look in real life? This was sort of one of those things. I still don’t feel like these images are quite exactly like that sparkly hour of snowflakes, but the glinty sparkles did make some pretty neat bokeh.

And when I went to look at them on my computer screen I found out this shot that somehow caught one of those snowflakes in almost focus, in such a way that you can SEE THE SIDES of it. Amazing.

There are some days that I feel lucky.

Kristena’s Block

I finally got to piecing my December block for the Twelve Square virtual quilting bee. Kristena sent an eclectic mix of fabrics, and I’ll be honest, when I saw corderoy and that sheer purple print I was a little stumped. And I put it off. For awhile. And you know, with Christmas and stuff. But here it is!

She wanted scrappy log cabins, so I added a parchment colored solid, that wavey print, the apples and pears, and a bit of katie jump rope. I backed up the sheer print with a piece of white solid to give it some durability, hopefully, and hide the seam. I quite like how it turned out, and am not sure anymore why I waited so long. I hope she likes it!

If you’d like to see more of the Twelve Square blocks and stories, visit the flickr group and the blog!