Filed under: Life
I would just like to point out that I am at home, sick, and in bed for the second day. It is gloriously sunny outside my bedroom window and I have a great deal of things I have to do before Pat and I leave on Monday for San Fransisco. That is all.
This morning, during a cold and windy game of hide and seek with Titus, amidst my own lack of enthusiasm at my husband’s urging for me to look around the garden, I was gifted this. My very own monkeyshine ball, way finding itself right to me via it’s own route after I decided to stop forcing the hunt. A treasure of art, surprise, and thoughtfulness. How lovely. Thank you, Tacoma, for new friends, inspiration, and a beautiful beginning to this (Chinese) new year.
This is the rough and very unfinished version of the newest stencil poster I’ve made for my band. It still needs some text added (where? when? why?). But, I do love this one because, first off, I did a better job planning this time and the whole process has involved less mistakes. That is good. Also, there were some strong themes that showed up that only began to be clear to me as I finished through the sketches. Solidarity. Community. Collaboration. Unexpected patterns. These are what I see in this. Of course, it is open to interpretation.
This show is going to be beautiful.
Filed under: Family
Remember this? One of my very first posts on this blog. A lot happens in young-human world in what is considered a short period of time by us grown ups. Tonight Titus asked to have a slumber party again with Theo. It lasted about 3 minutes longer than the first slumber party attempt over a year ago. Think of next year. These boys are battling their way into brotherhood and are finally at the hugging stage. I tell myself it will be sweet in a couple years when Titus is done being a bully, but we might get there sooner.
Filed under: Life
My sister and I seem to have these random twin clothing moments. And she’s my twin, so that’s cool. In the top picture I am wearing my overcoat because it was cold on the boat, but under it us my black zip up hoody, just like hers, with a longer tee shirt under it. Just like hers. And, her scarf got lost, but she was wearing one too, I swear. I know there are more pictures out there like these…. have any, Glory?
Filed under: Life
Yesterday was family Ikea trip 2009, an adventure of epic proportions exploring and brainstorming some long term ideas for our new place while picking up some more mundane items (bathroom garbage can, coat rack, etc.) All in all it was a good trip and the boys stayed in pretty okay spirits thanks to the play center there and a mid day stop for meatballs and berry soda.
Pat and I found ourselves on a creative process together, being inspired for our future, problem solving some of our layout issues in the apartment, and agreeing on far more ideas than we expected. Maybe that’s what 8 years of being together has done for us. Neither of us wants to be materialistic, neither wants to go into debt getting the “perfect” couches or shelves, but we both want our home to be lovely and a warm expression of the things we care about: hospitality, creativity, sensible design, and frugality. I think we’ll get there in time.
It’s taken a while, but it is a strange thing to be at an age where I finally know what I like. I like natural colors and fibers. I’d prefer a woven grass mat to a fancy acrylic carpet any day. I like wool, uncolored and unmessed with. I like storage boxes and the idea that everything could one day have it’s own place. I like uncluttered spaces, unexpected colors, and simplicity. I like the idea that my home could inspire my family to live well.
Here’s a little montage of my current inspirations.
Filed under: Life
After a long hiatus from cloth diapering due to some inconveniences posed by our last living situation that I was simply not tough enough to overcome, we are back to cloth diapers. Our stash of organic cotton velour diapers and soft wool covers sat, unloved, in a corner of the last apartment awaiting the day when they’d be back in style around the house. I am a nerd about it, I worked really hard discovering and trying out diapering systems until I learned just what I liked best and then shopped, knit and sewed till we were all stocked up.
Yes, it is good for landfills, healthy for little babies, but ultimately, I only cloth diaper because I love it so much. And if I close my eyes and cuddle Theo in the dark, it’s as if we’re living years ago, on the frontier. A frontier with snaps.
For Christmas Pat and I put together these little bags of homemade stuff for our friends and families in an attempt to simplify: no mall shopping, no gift cards, no big budget. Alas, when all was said and done, I don’t know that we made things any easier or cheaper on ourselves because we got really carried away and ended up including way too much stuff. It was wonderful and I was really happy with how everything turned out. Next year, I would like to be less busy the night before Christmas, though.
Certainly the most time consuming and ultimately the most satisfying of all the projects for me were these. Hand stamped with screen printing ink, hand sewn organic cotton weave dish towels. I love their simplicity, their homespun feel, and their subtle winter theme. I like to think of cooking hot soup and baking bread in a steamy kitchen when I see them. This is the batch I kept for my house, sewn square as napkins instead of towels, on white instead of the red we gave away. Now that my kitchen is chock full of sunlight, I am finally taking some pictures of these lovelies.
I love how the wet ink created a different brindle pattern on each deer.
