it's been a while but i started to do some stitching..

i was going to attempt to make some holiday cards. 
it's been a while since i've done that. 


sadly i only have like four actually done.   ... and they don't even take that long to make.  oy vey! 


i missed a few birthdays the past few months as well.

          ho hum.                
someone told me they wanted a card so naturally i started stitching.... 
what else can ya do?

  

all you do to me is talk talk

reading is fun and mental? reading is for the mental?

oooh reading is fundamental!

i actually put books in my library queue. 
i actually rode my bike to the library and picked up two books. 
   i checked them out.
the due date slip says september sixth.
 i panicked                                     
             a little 
because i am a             s - l - o  - w                reader.
i still haven't finished water for elephants or the help. 
and they've both already been turned into movies. talk about not getting it into gear!


last night after riding to said library and getting said books, i started to read one. 
two hundred eighty five pages and i made it to one hundred twenty six. 


i'm not so worried about the september sixth due date anymore.

ground score

eight of clubs: seventh and e burnside parking lot (7.23.11)

corn!! jack of diamonds gifted from mount shasta

Vroom, vrroooom

highly recommend allure of the automobile currently showing at the portland art museum.

 this car literally was steve mcqueen's car!

 nice grill (not steve mcqeens car.. a different car now) 

i loved this car. the grey on grey is beautiful... to bad i was too short to really see the interior.

this grill is like a building.

ostrich skin leather interior... 

oooo... ooo...mister kotter

i got sucked in..

i got sucked into looking at other people's blogs... granted it's only been like a half hour since i got home but you can still cover a lot of "ground" in a short amount of time.

i've been thinking about quilting. 
again!

toying with the idea of taking a quick little class with the pdx seamsters. they certainly don't seem as uptight as some people, er the modern domestic ladies.. 
by that i specifically mean, it looks like i could in fact sign up for a quilting class without having a lot of sewing machine knowledge. 
i mean it says "fun and simple intro: quilt as you go" see they aren't telling me that quilting is out of my league. or that i have to accomplish all these other little projects before moving forward. 

i'm i nuts in thinking and believing that i can make a quilt rather "easily"? 


i know it's not super easy but ...


then i was thinking about the up coming ladies "tea" party i'm having. 
i should set up my sewing macine outside and give everyone a few pieces of fabric where we can all design individual blocks that eventually could be sewn together. 
                                    hmm. am i onto something


or is this a ridiculous idea 

high in the sky

sweeeet-tart!

i don't really crave a lot of sweets. mc61 can snack on chocolate. snack on frozen yogurt or ice cream but i can bypass it.


lately i've been wanting to do something with the puff pastry in our freezer. 
i mean, what do you do with it besides my spinach / feta triangles?! 

look at all those vibrant colors! 

after getting one puff pastry sheet to room temperature, you mush it into a pie dish, bake it at 400 degrees for about fiftteen minutes 
then take it out throw some strawberries and peaches on top... think it might be too sweet 
                    then add a nice artisan cheese on top. bake for a few more minutes. 


then of course you just want to cram the whole friggin' think in your mouth because it IS that good! god damn i love puff pastry.


side note: in making this "dish" i remarked that i can't make pretty dough. and think that more bakeries should put the "looking perfect" aside. show me uneven crusts, uneven everything and i will be so excited. didn't someone say there is perfection in the imperfection?!
well, there is a proverb a beautiful thing is never perfect. 

champagne kissses...

this past fourth of july we drove north to attend a wedding.
it provided an opportunity to see old friends and acquaintances. even though many destinations aren't too far, we still fall into routines and never pass "go".    

it felt great to get away. i actually like part of the drive north on i-five. you can still catch glimpses of old barns from the highway.  i'm reminded of places where i grew up. not to mention i really like being on the open rode. i like driving and seeing the land.




                                           


       YES i'm sure it's better when you're on a bike with no vehicle obstructing you... sheesh!




this wedding felt different. i felt more apart of it. we went stopped into the pre-gathering the night before which sort of gives you a leg up... you've met people. you also get to see the bride and groom at a time when not everyone will be vying for their time. we are glad we went.

there were nine of us, five of which were representing the groom's special messenger community. and honestly, i hope that the nine of us plus said bride and groom can get together again sometime. our evening was filled with laughter and ease. as was our impromptu lunch with mc61`s cousin and family. they just happened to be catching a cruise from seattle the same weekend.  


laughter and ease are wonderful things. picking up where one has left things as if no actual time has passed... ahh refreshing.

i don't want to give the impression that we dislike the folks we know in seattle, or that there's bad blood. i think for me i'm searching for "family", for meaningful relationships. i care deeply about the people in my life, i want the best for them, even if i may not "get" some decisions..i can always learn to understand and support them. i would hope that the same could be said about the people i know towards me. 
sometimes it's hard to see or feel the return. i think i'm a giver and there are times when i'm not very good at asking.. at clearing my throat and speaking up. yeah, i'm sure that sounds funny if you know me... i can be quite opinionated however, that's not what i'm getting at..
i don't like feeling like i'm always complaining about the same thing and not doing anything about it. some times things, changes, decisions are complex and take time to be resolved. the past month has been difficult in terms of my magical work life. however, my life life has started to have some calmness? certainly not clarity because then i'd be posting about moving forward or something... i think i'm digressing....

as corny as it sounds i just felt like there was a lot of love, respect, and support happening at that wedding. it made me feel good. it was certainly good to feel re-connected with people we haven't seen in a while. 


maybe in the day to day grind there isn't much room in terms of letting people know they're special. they are meaningful. 
i try but know i fall short. i have expressed to a few people how much i've appreciated their support in certain aspects of my life. shit i wouldn't be going to pilates if it weren't for a friend not pushing me too hard, but not giving up on my motivation either. now, two months later i'm completely addicted. 


also, i think part of that weekend reminded me that i don't have to be so hard. it's okay to lighten up and let people in a little bit more. build the family i want. be more of the person i want or that i envision myself to be. 

chocolate flavored kisses...

waking up to the sun makes me wish i didn't have a job. 
i probably shouldn't say that but i only mean that summer makes me want to take a vacation. to get out and enjoy the sun instead of being in an office looking at the sunny day. 

although with the sun comes the blooms. with the blooms comes the allergy bullshit. the side of my head that runs above the ear all the way to the back of my neck has been feeling super sensitive lately. we have an old vent in the front room of our house that connects to the inner workings that leads to the basement. i can smell it, the dusty, muskiness. we have a flowering tree in the backyard that's fragrance is so strong, you can smell it in the front of the driveway. all i want to do is grab the sheers and hack the crap out of it. 
oh pretty, pretty tree with blooming white flowers. hack. hack. hack.
 i can even smell the weird particle cedar flooring in my office. my nose is on high alert.

i feel a little like julianne moore in safe, maybe not to that extreme though.
oh don't know that movie... suburb housewife starts feeling sick due to all the chemicals in her life. what's a gal to do? move to a safe, serene desert get-away.... it's actually a great movie. 

delays ahead

seems like every time i sit down at the computer to update my blog the computer decides it hates me.

that's fine.

i mean who really has anything to say? 

who really needs an "outlet"?   
the previous two posts were done over the past few weeks...so when i refer to dates you can pretty much bet that it occurred a while ago. not yesterday. or the other day.

i have a plastic cup on my desk at work where i fill it up with staples. otherwise they just go all over the floor... in the end it turns out like this....

the only difference is currently the cup is red and longer. i've been wondering if i should try resin-ing them. that would be pretty neat-o just a cone shaped stack of staples. i bet it would make a nice paper weight.
nicer weather kind of equals prime time to resin. hmm i should see what the mc61 thinks.

time management (post that never posted!)

blanket stitch book made not in the last class but the last class before that.
ha!

so far this is the best one i've made so far. a personal best.
if i dare say...

although, i like things that are generic... brown davey board and white pages just aren't doing it for me. so now i'm sewing in some "content". 

years ago i purchased one sheet of hand made paper with an orange flower pattern pressed all over. i've decided to cut the flowers and sew them every other page. the fun part about this book and the pattern i've chosen is that the back can be the front, meaning the back stitch patterns can be the front. 
and we all know the backside of my pieces are the better part. 


so far it looks pretty darn cool.




i keep starting  little blog entries. saving them as a draft and not posting them. a few sundays ago, mc61 and i purchased two dungeness crabs fe'dinner. 

i don't have any issues putting a live crab into a pot of boiling water.

i know where my food comes from!

what's creepy is when the live crab is in the fridge wrestling around. 

the bag is all flopping this way and that way. 

you shut the refrigerator door only to imagine

what that dang crab is going to be up to 

the next time you open it.

that kinda freaked me out..

a little.

but you know, 

like most things, 

you get passed that!

Dang, 

that was some good crab!

.. or sometimes it does feel good to accomplish things?

it does. we finished the blanket. that felt good. not to mention it came out looking really great. i guess it doesn't matter that the recipients haven't been glowing over it. i guess that's not the point. giving isn't about the praise.
i finished my winter scarf, a/k/a the cable scarf. yup finally got motivated and just got'er done!
i haven't quite finished doctoring up my blanket stitched book. or worked on any stitched cards, birthday or other.
it's not so much about doing a million projects at once, it's really about doing projects. right? i've been more active lately but yet i feel lazy. i have more energy but yet i feel drained at the end of the day.
i have been getting great night sleeps though!


in the news today,a four year old was having a show at a new york gallery. it wasn't her first show mind you. that was when she was twenty or so months old (so almost two) in australia and hong kong. it definitely raises all the usual questions. is it really her work? could she be that talented?
i'm not so shocked that her work seems real. to me that actually makes sense. she's a child, she hasn't learned to be purposeful. she has no boundaries.
many, many years ago i was fortunate to see a william de kooning show at the walker art center. in this show were never seen before works that he did at the end of his life when he had alzheimer's.  the reviews for these pieces in particular were over-whelming. he later works had become very streamlined. less chaotic and smooth on some levels. they consisted of  minimal colors, red, blue and yellow. there were beautiful.
 http://collections.walkerart.org/item/object/107

     

to me, i always wonder, if he had alzheimer's did part of him forget all the things he had learned about painting i.e. techniques, structure, etc. leaving him to be painting more "like a child"...  more free. that's why i don't necessarily have any issues with a young "artist" especially when the child is surrounded by artist parents and creativity.

what i do take issue with is when i looked up the mother, who is listed as a photographer, i didn't really find any of her work. i saw pictures of her. but not of her work. i see from her website she is her daughter's manager.. so i guess she doesn't