Monday, January 15, 2007

you prayed

my camera's found. oh, hallelujah, my camera's found! seriously, did someone get my Grandma on the novenas? that was quick! my fabulous Aunt Mary Anne emailed today to let me know i left it at her house after the christmas party. in retrospect, it's understandable- i left that party drunk. so wahoo for you, and all the prayers, and my Aunt Mary Anne! and wahoo for my camera!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

capetown love



sitting here listening to this itunes mix i made of only tori amos and dashboard confessional songs... it's so satisfying.
it's been a good week.

massachusetts was wonderful, and riotous, and nostalgic. erin and ed have a beautiful new home and an incredible, gorgeous, sassy, smart little girl, and just looking at erin's pregnant belly and emma's big grin and seeing their life made me so happy and proud. it was a hopeful thing for me, if that makes sense. then we went to a party and started a mini-riot because we were liberals and from new york. or because we were not racist and we don't support the war or bush. i'm not one to speak up in a crowd, i'm more the oberver type. but dreadful frightening views were stated and so suddenly i was standing and if not shouting then speaking quite forcefully. it was awful to argue with people with whom political debate was impossible because they only shouted emotions and spat one-liners. they were much larger and louder and they were quite angry, if not particularly coherent. anyway, it made for interesting conversation on the way home.

oh, and i did not take a single photograph because my camera has gone missing. pray for me, guys. it's out there somewhere- i know it. i can still picture where it was the last time i saw it. i believe something strange happened and it will reappear soon. because the only other option is that it was stolen and i really don't want to think that it was stolen.

{the person in a diaper, basketball socks, and tiny chucks is me. i am holding, and possibly chewing, a koosh ball. i am one. the 7gypsies circle sticker says "eccentric in training" and the green one going across it reads "to thine own self be true" and the quote on the kraft paper reads "nobody can be exactly like me. even i have trouble doing it. ~tallulah bankhead" and thanks to miss k who let me play with her hambly journaling spots!}

the other day my friend laura was my moral support as we went to my local cvs and i partook of this wonderful new invention- the photo kiosk!- for the first time. be still my heart, this girl (whose printer is punking out and currently refuses to turn on) is bubbling over with joy at her many-different-sized photos! i'm working on a book called "an ode to my sistergirls" and i've also been making random layouts just for fun. i've been going nuts with big and littles of everything. i've got stacks of little 1.5"x2" photos- they are my absolutel favorite! oh- and i am currently obsessed with scenic route's capetown paper line. now, i don't normally plug stuff on my blog because i don't even know how many people are actually looking at this thing and it seems a bit of a waste of time but holy crap i love this paper and so i'm not plugging here so much as i am sharing with you the details of a rather intense relationship i've entered into. seriously, i can't stop using this paper line. everything i make lately has some on it. even when i try to stay away from it. even when i decide to not use it. it just looks best to me in this deeply satisfying way.

friday, kristi and i went into the city with this grand plan to go to all the paper and scrappy stores... instead, we drove to jared's, got dinosaur bbq (mmmm.... pulled pork salad & fried green tomatoes & oreo custard pie), had an adventure or two in st. nicholas park, and then headed home. we had a slumber party at kristi's and scrapped all night and watche the devil wears parada which i had never seen and so we had to watch it three times. i think i love this movie. glenn close is my hero. she is so effing amazing. her face enthralls me. and anne hathaway is rather enchanting, even when i'm hating her. so kristi scrapped all night (that girl busted out like 7 layouts and 5 cards!) and i took turns scrapping and resting with her hot water bottle, old and busted girl that i am. love that hot water bottle, though. gotta get me one of those! it does wonders for calming down my shoulder muscles at the end of the day, when they're freaking out from carrying this mostly useless arm around all day. i usually use one of those teddy bears you put in the microwave, that's organic and a little smelly but this stays hot longer. oh, god. i'm such an old lady. talking about hot water bottles. the scrappage was quite satisying, even though iwas no where near as prolific as miss k. and we had a lovely girls' night in with miss chloe who may be a lesbian with a mild foot fetish, considering the evidence at hand. her parents love her just the same.
{the tiny black stickers read: champagne in a}
actually i have been doing a bit of kristi-inspired work (will post photos as soon as my cranky scanner cooperates) - in this sistergirls book i'm making, i'm playing around with her technique of making transparency pages. it's kinda hard but really fun to play with layering stamps, papers, transparencies and photos into layers of meaning. this book is one of my most exciting projects recently, and i think i'm loving it most because it's just for me and just for fun. just to do it, cause i want to and cause i have the time to (even though i work so slowly i'll probably never actually finish) and cause i'm inspired to. so it's totally free play for me and i'm having fun experimenting in ways that doing scrapbooking work has not let me do. mmmmmmmmmmm i love to play.


ps, the movie 'pan's labyrinth' stunk like feet with its gratuitous violence and ugly faun, even though the little girl was rather enchanting and the story itself wasn't half bad.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

mini-vacation=good for the soul

this weekend, my dear friend karen and i shall embark on a much-needed mini-vacation. karen and i and our dear friend erin lived in the same suite on the 4th floor of johnson tower at skidmore my sophomore year. now erin is married to her high school sweetheart ed, and they have a beautiful two year old daughter named emma and they all live up in massachusetts and we are going to visit. it is so strange to think of us all grown (!) up, but here we are. erin with her baby (and one on the way)- and her career and her jazz musician husband. cate (another friend we're picking up along the way to mass.) is a frigging lawyer who lives on the upper east side. karen's one dissertation away from her PhD, for crying out loud! and then there's me, with ink in my cuticles and paint in my hair. we haven't all been together in ages and ages. and there will be plenty of wine and plenty of chocolate. yeah, we're gonna have fun.
karen and i went shopping for miss emma tonight- it is so freaking interesting to shop for kids. we hit target and borders and we prowled every aisle. there is a lotta weird stuff out there. dolls called BRatz who are slutty, for one. and even a junior version for little little kids. we re not getting our junior miss any of that crap. erin said emma's very into the little mermaid and dora the explorer right now so we got her a very cool soft talking ariel doll, and then karen found this amazing kid-size cushy chair in this soft camel-colored micro-suede with a dora decal on it- ever so perfect for miss girl's new bedroom! and then we got her an eric carle book and an olivia one too. and then we came home and used my ranger daubers to stamp polka-dots in girly colors on kraft paper, and then we wrapped up all her presents and piled them up and it was just so satisfying. i cannot wait to give them to her.
so now i'm packing (what exactly is appropriate attire for a Little Christmas party?) and prepping and lil and chaz definitely know something's up and so they're both super-clingy wildkittens today. and i wanted to take a photo of emma's presents stacked up and karen's hands stamping the paper and charlies, playing in the pile of pink ribbon we were pawing through to find the right one to use on emma's books, but i can't because i can't find my camera. but then it doesn't matter because blogger is sucking right now and not letting me upload pictures anyway, so there.

Monday, January 01, 2007

lovin' the empire



these layouts aren't truly new, but i'm just getting around to posting them tonight....


i'm trying to start off this new year with a bit of a clean-out. i'm working on finishing those half-done To Do Lists. clearing out space for extra breathing room. dusting.

and all while rocking out to my super-duper Remix! Special Fan Edition of the Empire Records DVD. oh, i do so love the person who knew enough to get this girl a blockbuster gift certificate. owning special movies is such a passion of mine. and this movie! oh, i am transported. this movie brings me right back to 1995- all the best parts. the popcorn giggling with your best friends at 3am parts. the singing of "say no more mon amour" while on walks in the woods. the memorization of dance moves.