snow globe

it's back to winter, as the groundhog says (although... i'm not sure how the little bugger would not see his shadow with all those frickin' camera lights around. just sayin'... i'd crawl back in my hole too...). other happenings this week...we voted in the primary (no lines! god bless this state), the lunar new year is upon us, (and has brought one of the worst signs for my poor little doggie sign -- the rat. i'm supposed to hunker down and not spend any money. ha! it probably also means that i'll want to spend more money... like a craving... for a couch... or cute rainboots... of course.)

parentheses aside, we're going to see an awesome play this weekend... angels in america. and before you go saying, whoa, that's long, hold your horses -- they split it into two parts so we not only get to go see a play saturday, we get to go back sunday! downside is, meryl streep and mary louise parker probably won't be there. *sigh*

square

Uniform Studio Journal...
:: I started making these little swatch cards to keep track of the fabrics I have. Each one is marked on the back with tape listing the quantity and width of the bolt. I’ll use these at the show to keep track of how many items can be ordered from each fabric. I really like seeing all of the different colors and textures together.::

re: kristin's writers strike post-tv addiction

::not my house. duh::

somehow i feel inspired by kristin's blog, yesterday, "The Strike Rocks My World," wherein she finds she can now tear herself away from the small screen and enjoy the other fruits of living...

here are mine:
1. going out to dinner any time of night you want
2. laundry at the spanish laundromat, complete with awesome music to fold by
3. sewing/painting/getting my artsy side on
4. talking on the phone to friends far and wide
5. playing games
6. i second the movie outing
7. walking the pupster
8. planning out our new apartment

new apartment? well, really it's just the two floors above the one we're living in now. yes, you heard right. somehow our little hideway got sectioned off by the apartment gods into a studio (?!) and a two-floor taj mahal. so we're moving on up in a couple of months and the thought of a) actually having room to breath/work/relax and b) not having to rent a u-haul are making me ecstatic! oh and you can probably cross off number 2 up there because we'll actually have a frickin' washer and dryer. oh happy day.

time to figure out paint colors. i love it.

strrrretch

contrary to the pre-new york jitters, all went well. however, we're having a serious need for sleepytime back here in boston. i was pleasantly surprised to get the chance to see the broadway play, august:osage county, on sunday. talk about getting sucked into the dramatic family dysfunction! even with the need for two intermissions, i was enthralled from the first monologue to the last whimpers. the set. the set was amazing — built like a giant dollhouse, minus the mute refrain from any nora-like character.

stay warm! and stay healthy. it's been frightful lately.

dog walking dog

woke up early and had time to walk lucca in the rain. every five steps he'd shake from head to the tip of his tail. what a prancer.

heading back to new york tomorrow morning (early! early!) to meet up with marie and company. crossing my fingers this trip will end up being better/less weird/less pretentious than last time. but, as i told my friend andy, sometimes you have to put up with hipster vomit (figurative. not literal. i hope.).

busy bee

waking up, I feel like I'm hit with the unending lists of things to do/see/be hovering in the recesses of my brain. that's why I love the bubble-y chart that won craziest list on www.todolistblog.com. in order to properly function, i need to make lists... organize those jumbled bits of thought into a coherent pattern that can be crossed off, and added to. i think it's inherited from the doodle genes that came from my mom... but if it's not written down, it probably won't get taken care of, especially if my brain is focused elsewhere (is it ever NOT focused elsewhere?) and if the task is especially harsh (mailing bills or something).

anyway, here's a to-do list for today:
1. do interview
2. write story (asap!)
3. pick photos for slideshow
4. put away laundry
5. decide on dinner... yum
6. make sure web site works. really works. not kidding.
7. check others' stories
8. decide where to go when i can finally take a vacation.
9. edit audio
10. play with puppy (note: move to top)

that's not it (it never is) but it's a start! have a splendid day...

happy holidays

::embroidering has just begun on this side::
and here's another example of my gifting sensibilities this year. by now, I'm sure you're thinking, what's up with all this white? this is going against my color grain... but at the same time fits completely with my first rule of any artistic pursuit — follow that gut instinct. and in this case, that white fabric and I fell in love. and now I'm about to send it across the country on its merry way.

I've really jumped into the making stuff kick this year... hilarious because the amount of space we occupy now is a postage stamp compared to our digs in Nashvegas. And even if I did want to sew with a pattern, there would be no room to lay it out. I have just enough room to haul out my sewing machine between meals and marie's projects in the "kitchen" to sew my small-ish stuff. and yet, I have to say, I love it. (although. a crafting room would be great. just saying).

Angry Chicken has some hilarious gift tags to print out... if you know they're going to the kind of person who has a sense of humor. (and, of course, I do know those kinds of people!)

hand made holiday

from pillows to purses, hopefully I'm getting it all in.
these photos are ridiculous, since there's basically no light here on the east coast after about 3 p.m. but I figured they'd never been seen if i didn't post now, since they're heading under a christmas tree soon. I usually get the pre-gift jitters about now... wondering if the present will be well received, or if it'll end up hidden away and unloved. hopefully, I'll hit the next stage in the gifting process... it doesn't matter as long as I tried my best, made something I'd love to get, and made it to the best of my ability. whew. hope i get to that place soon.

p.s. the lining of this bag, which I didn't photograph, is vintage fabric with cute, wise sayings... the most apropos right now? a stitch in time saves nine (or seven hundred in my case).

*snow daze*

oh the holidays... nothing motivates me like the thought of a snowed-in Sunday, when it's not impossible to get out of the house but pretty undesirable! so, here's the sewn, and still unstuffed pillow I'm probably going to give to a lucky recipient this Christmas... probably one of those people on my list who I never know what to get for them (read: me mum). This same person deserves an all-expense paid trip to Italy for a month, but since I can't quite afford that, a handmaid pillow is the next best thing...

hope you're having a great weekend, and aren't covered in slushyness!

pregnancy pregnancy jiggety jig!

::Michael Cera and Ellen Page at the Toronto premier of JUNO::

It seems like the topic on everyone's lips these days, from celebrity baby bumps to the hottest indie flicks— pregnancy. Marie and I went to the latest offspring offshoot screening, Juno, last week. Awesome soundtrack, great story and the acting — cutthroat zingers delivered effortlessly by Ellen Page, and my favorite person in the whole movie, Allison Janney. Jason Bateman and Michael Cera never actually interact in the movie, but do seem to fit in a vehicle together, post their "Arrested Development" hijinks.

I do have to say, however, that I found the parental reaction to Juno's pregnancy to be a bit unrealistic... maybe it's just me, but I don't think most parents I knew in high school would take it as calmly if their daughter walked in preggers. but I'm sure that's just my midwestern upbringing talking. Another thing that bothered us was the insert of a Gibson guitar plug, not because we're guitar-hating neo revolutionaries, but because of Gibson's conservative stance on pregnancy, homosexuality, etc. and if we let it, the whole plot was being influenced by the Gibson agenda in our brains. I had no problem with Juno's eventual decision, but I had a sour taste in my mouth after the whole promo. Thoughts? Please.

BUT that doesn't mean you should have any sour/bitter tastes, because this flick is worth seeing (especially after the Love in the Time of Cholera drivel we sat through. shudder).