Sitting up in my room back at mom and dad's while their Danish Christmas party goes on down below. I'm choosing to spend this time listening to Beyonce and Lorde, drinking beer, and reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I'll sneak down soon to gather a tray of curried herring, pork roast, red cabbage shrimp sandwiches, risalamande, and whatever the hell else there is down there! Very thankful to be back on this good Iowa soil for Christmas. Fang is curled at my feet in her new favorite blanket. She shutters every now and then from what I imagine to be her bird-chasing and ballroom dancing dreams.
Good'ay, blog! It's been awhile. Since I've last documented my whereabouts months ago, I've been living in Chicago since June. After finding/being found by a lovely family, I am the nanny of two amazing girls in addition to being a fitness instructor to students, kindergarten through fifth grade.
I share an apartment with two roommates and as of this week, a third roommate. Pictured above, Fang is one of three 6-month-old kittens of my cat, Milou. You may remember me mentioning Milou last January when she first came into my life on a cold winter day. Well, soon enough, she got pregnant and before I knew it, I was moving to Chicago, leaving my parents in Iowa with not only Milou, Fang, Boots, and Pico, but our family cat, Willie. Luckily, my parents have also fallen in love with these cats, so taking them to a farm was out of the question. So, here I am with one of them... it's the least I can do, taking one of my responsibilities off of their hands. {Shout out to the best parents ever!}
But no, Fang is no burden being here. In fact, she and I were having tons of fun last night listening to Lorde's album Pure Heroine, drinking beer (me), and sliding around on our wooden floors. She's a great partner. But this 2-creature celebration of life party wasn't just a TGIF party but a result of my car being hit by another just 2 hours earlier, sending my Honda and me spinning in traffic. Oh the feeling of kissing your cat when you get in the door after such an event...
Anyway, maybe it was all the hyperventilating that I did yesterday or maybe it's a resurgence of focus since bringing my desk to Chicago or maybe it's a desire for more reflection in my life that's brought me back to my blog... whatever it may be, I'm back!
Kirsten Dirksen, co-founder of the Faircompanies site, documents simple-living by way of one's home, transportation, and overall practices through her Youtube series. I've mentioned the book "Tiny Homes, Simple Shelter" by Lloyd Khan (I'll return it to you ASAP, Mike!) here before, and some of the home builders from that book have been featured in Dirksen's videos. Whether you're into the Tiny Home/Small(er) Spaces movement or not, I believe that simple(r) living is something we can all apply to our own lives and this is what Dirksen's work spotlights. A 16 year-old takes you through the process of building his own place:
"Monday", acrylic, spray paint, and oil pastel on paper, 2011
"Walking and Talking", mixed media on canvas
"The Guardian", mixed media on canvas, 2012
Paintings above by the Bristol artist Mike Carr, a.k.a China Mike. Visit his website here and his blog here. Looking at his paintings sparks an energy in me that I haven't felt in a long time when viewing someone's work. It feels personal, because to me, in these five paintings above, very recent and very significant brain action of mine has been represented. I have a soothing yet confusing reaction to this, but still it feels good for a stranger to draw it out.
"Oh, this movie. This beautiful, beautiful movie. It’s a shame that the word 'breathtaking' has been so fucked out by hack movie critics, because it actually applies to Cloud Atlas. Sure, it was three hours long, and I probably shouldn’t have seen it for the first time stoned out of my gourd, but damn — this movie rocked my fucking world.
Structurally, Cloud Atlas is a challenge. There is no way to absorb everything in one viewing. The film’s layers aren’t just stacked on top of one another — they extend outward and through time in an exploding fractal of visual, textual, and cultural motifs. It’s fun when you catch one of the echoing references, but don’t get greedy and try to catch them all. You will only frustrate yourself. Just sit back, let it flow over you, and trust that more will be revealed when you see it again.
It’s not all work, though. Emotionally, Cloud Atlas is as easy as it gets. The narrative may be complicated, but it is still very traditional. People who compare this film to Malick’s Tree of Life are off the mark. Both films are deeply philosophical, but the Wachowskis aren’t writing a poem. They’re telling a story, and they’re damn good at telling stories. You may not know what to think at any given moment, but you’ll know exactly how to feel in every scene.
Intellectually, Cloud Atlas is a fucking masterpiece. Anyone who says otherwise is either incapable or unwilling to deconstruct a film with so many moving parts, the sum of which aren’t meant to be as great as the whole. If you didn’t enjoy it, that’s fine. If you didn’t connect with it, that’s fine too. You don’t have to love it, but you sure as hell have to respect it. It reaches further and achieves more than the very best films from any of the genres it encompasses.
If you haven’t already, go see it. If you have, by all means, go see it again."
Was sure to swing by the local record store to celebrate on 4/20. Above, two of my finds to add to the Dolly collection. Can never have enough of her. My dad bought two CDs- Pavarotti and Enrico Caruso. Have you listened to either of these Italian voices? If not, treat your ears and do so. Here's a taste of Caruso:
And then treat your eyes by gazing into his:
Do you have a record collection, whether big or small? If so, what recent finds have you added to yours?
On another note, here I am with the most wonderfully delicious Easter surprise that my mom gave me. It's the size of a large computer mouse, and I've been gnawing on it every night before bedtime (doctor recommended).
Hypebeast--a fashion, art, design and music online magazine--has a series of videos they put out that features artists of all kinds. Entitled Modern Day Artisans, the latest of the series is shown above and features Andrew Groves, the man behind Miscellaneous Adventures. To view the entire Modern Day Artisans series, click here.
Damn, it felt good yesterday for the warmth to spread over the land, for the sun to shine bright, and for my legs to carry me around town! It is one of my favorite things ever- springtime jogging. The sidewalk puddles, freshness of air, increase of people out n aboot, music blaring through open windows... it is aaall. so. good. So in connection with Spring awakening and good energy, I share a simple and healthy snack/dessert recipe to have on hand: No Bake Energy Bites 1/2 C. peanut butter (creamy or chunky, you can have whatever you like) 1/3 C. honey 1 C. dry oatmeal 1/4 C. ground flax seed 1/4 C. sunflower seeds 1/4 C. dark chocolate chips or morsels 1/4 C. dried cranberries 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1.) Using a medium sized bowl, mix peanut butter and honey. 2.) Add oatmeal, flax seed, and sunflower seeds. Keep mixing- 3.) I prefer breaking down the chocolate and cranberries a bit before adding them to the mix. To do so, throw both in a food processor with a bit of olive oil for 10 seconds and that'll do. 4.) Lastly, add the vanilla extract and then chill the mix in the refrigerator for a 1/2 hour. Once chilled, shape them however you want and that's that! Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and they'll last for up to 2 weeks.
I was given the suggestion to exchange vodka for akvavit (potato schnapps) in a Bloody Mary, and I've done just that this morning. "Tastes like a reuben in liquid form," they said. Tastes like that indeed. Add that celery, celery salt, and speared pickle or olive, and let your head be soothed. FIVE STARS!
• Going into the day with this in mind and the sun rising on my back. There is a giant hooded shadow on the wall ahead of me as I sit here in a giant hooded sweatshirt.
• Check out my friend Melissa's blog Craft Rambler. She is a fantastic DIY-er and has a style of intricate quality and a color palette that sinGs!
Subbed in a 2nd grade classroom the other day, and since I didn't have recess duty, two students stayed in with me and practiced their addition. They added up to 1,316,209 and were psyched about it. "Will you leave this up please? Everyone's jaws will be on the floor after they see THIS." The photos above show their victory drawings.
After they re-filled their desks with rosy cheeks, we talked about zebra butts, how farting is natural for all of us, and that it is not OK to spread Who Has a Crush on Who rumors.
International Women's Day was one week ago. Continue celebrating, always. Read about and view public art lead by women from Brazil, the United States, Afghanistan, and Tunisia • • • The Role of Women in Public Art
Got another gem from my grandma a few weeks ago - this large doily table cover! There were many rips and holes that I repaired, yet some still remain, along with a few aged-brown spots. Can't repair it all!
Only on special sunny days I'll hang it at my window for the intricate shadows. Since our cat likes my window as a perch, Ill also hire a guard for my bedroom door on these days because of his dangerous claws and all. And eventually, I'd like to put this cover in my future apartment over cat-perch-less windows, on my couch, or I'd like to find a GiGAnTiC frame and mount it on a sun lit wall.
The magnificent paper cuts of Emma van Leest! Visit her website here.
"My mother taught me to sew when I was quite young, and since then I’ve enjoyed the repetitive and meditative nature of hand-scale sewing. Over time I became aware of the feminine traditions which I was connecting to, in particular the transformative nature of handicrafts – the potential to transform an everyday and normal object or material, such as plain cotton, paper or wool, into something beautiful, valuable and useful that would be treasured for generations.
Paper cutting is the perfect embodiment of this idea. The skill is developed over time, through the repetition of many thousands of cuts. In India, paper cutting is practised by a small group of artisans whose families have been the custodians of the skills and knowledge for generations. Their practice is bedded in devotion to the Hindu god Krishna, so everything they do in their daily working becomes an act of devotion by default. In the same way, I began to find my own practice, involving many solitary hours of careful and painstaking cutting to be an embodiment of my devotion to the act of creating, and in particular, of creating something beautiful from the everyday.
Paper was invented to tell stories, so it is the perfect medium to convey my fantastical imaginings. What began as a collage project became miniature theatre sets and evolved to what I do today. I collect imagery from a variety of sources – gardening magazines, medieval illustrations, Baroque landscape paintings, Chinese and Indian comic books, Mughal and Persian miniatures – and create fantastical montages of imagined fairy worlds."
