Rachel Learns to Drive
by lily-elaine hawk wakawaka
http://lilyelainehawkwakawaka.com/
Hope to see you there!
by lily-elaine hawk wakawaka
http://lilyelainehawkwakawaka.com/
Hope to see you there!
Showing posts with label Recommendation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recommendation. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
New Comic Blog: Rachel Learns to Drive, by lily-elaine hawk wakawaka
Well, if you want to keep seeing these silly hand drawn comics of mine, I've just started a web site just for them. Here's the link:
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Spiritual Guest Blog Post Again
Earlier this summer I posted my Spiritual Confession along with a link to a guest blog post I wrote for a friend's site.
She just loaded up another guest blog post from me. Here's the link, if you're interested.
She just loaded up another guest blog post from me. Here's the link, if you're interested.
Michele Morgan's Blog
WARNING: IT TALKS ABOUT GOD, and LIVING IN THE NOW.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Feisty Fashion Reviews: @OKFashionReview
Here's the truth: my varied interests don't overlap with everyone I know.
So, as an outlet for one of them, I've created a new twitter account featuring one-line only fashion collection reviews. I'm having fun with it.
If this particular interests overlaps with yours, here's the info you need:
http://twitter.com/#!/OKFashionReview
Cheers!
So, as an outlet for one of them, I've created a new twitter account featuring one-line only fashion collection reviews. I'm having fun with it.
If this particular interests overlaps with yours, here's the info you need:
http://twitter.com/#!/OKFashionReview
Cheers!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Spiritual Confession
image from Michele Morgan's websiteMy spiritual life is something I am often rather quiet about. I was raised Christian attending four very different kinds of Christian churches with regularity--Presbyterian church, a rather formal, and conservative service we went to for Sunday school, day time Sunday church, night time Sunday church and sometimes Saturday or Wednesday church too, that offered me discipline and self-control with a strong sense of the power of repetition on belief; Russian Orthodox service multiple times a year (the priest in Alaska would be assigned a region of the state since most of the state is very small towns and villages, so everyone would hurry quick go to service, get married, get buried, get baptized whenever the priest happened to come through town), a highly ritualistic, very formal and conservative, utterly beautiful service that influenced my sense of sound, song, and prayer; Community Bible Church, we went to in the summers where the pastor had no formal training beyond his commitment to reading the bible and his passion for dwelling with God--here I learned about the joyfulness of fairly spontaneous, semi-ridiculous songs sung to over powering organ music or to no backup music at all and the power of just meditating on the meaning of bible verses; and on occasion we'd also attend Pentecostal services at a friend's church where I got to experience people spontaneously interrupting the formality of the service to give their testimonial of coming to Christ, to spontaneously speak in tongues, or to just as spontaneously interpret the message coming from the person doing the speaking in tongues. Later, I also studied Eastern religions in college, and became close friends with members of the Jewish community in the Central Coast of California. Because of this fairly mixed exposure to spiritual life there is a sense in which I have always been connected to these ways of thought, and the power of such belief and ritual, while also comfortable with the *very many* forms such commitments can take.
The truth is though, even having been pretty exposed to very varied forms of religious and spiritual life I'd come to a place in my early adulthood where spirituality was simply very much a part of who I was, and at the same time I operated with an intense denial of those aspects of myself; that is I tried to act as though it wasn't so formative. It seems to me that in our culture this sort of duality is common.
It is possible to discuss human experience as including multiple layers of perspective, all within one individual's life. Michele Morgan has described how we can take this idea of multiple perspectives and make sense of it by simply naming some of the layers. In her model, we can understand our spiritual connection as the top, and also most influential layer, with ones social identity, our individual beliefs, what we're capable of, and finally our actual behavior as the four layers following. In other words, our actual behavior appears at the bottom, having an influence on who we are and how we live our lives, surely, but arising, nonetheless, from these other multiple layers first. What that means is that if we have some sort of behavior we take to be habitual, definitive of who we are, or perhaps even problematic for what we want our lives to be, we can actually look higher for how our own beliefs, or our social identity, or our spiritual life, actually lead us to behaving in such a way. What we discover from this model is that if we can find ways, for example, to transform our belief systems, then we will naturally transform our behavior too. Louise Hay, for example, works to transform belief systems through the simple process of repeating affirmations regularly. This is a profound idea when we consider how many contemporary counseling frameworks operate--frameworks that attempt to focus in only on changing behavior without recognizing what might be behind the behavior driving us to act that way.
If we're to allow this kind of model as insightful for us to describe human experience, or the human psyche (I know for me it's made enormous sense and has deeply transformed both how I understand myself and how I live my daily life and personal connections with others as well), then what we see is that, as already said, spiritual life is at the top of the set-up of who and what we are, and from that position carries the greatest influence over transforming our behaviors, how we feel, who we understand ourselves to be, and what we care about. Let me say that I believe we can make sense of this idea whether we're used to taking ourselves to be people that believe in God, or a god-like force, or not. I believe this is a model that can be seen as insightful even if we want to maintain something like a secular humanism; that is, that that way of life has a kind of spiritual commitment to it too, and that whatever our spiritual beliefs happen to be we can see how they shape the rest of how we understand ourselves.
All that said, in the last several years I've come back around, so to speak, so that the spiritual aspects that have always been strongly integral to who I am have come off the shelves and out of denial for me. There is a sense in which at this stage of my life I don't know any more apt metaphor to describe my daily existence than to talk in terms of prayer, God, divine love, divine guidance, and grace. These very religious or spiritual sounding terms have become the only way I know how to reach for what would otherwise seem inexplicable experience and incommunicable understanding. Having arrived again in such a place I find myself deeply grateful much of the time, and discovering a kind of joy I've long hoped for but not consistently known before (even if I had it strongly in some moments).
Michele Morgan, who I mentioned just up there, writes a regular blog on spiritual life. She recently asked if I'd be willing to appear as a guest blogger writing an entry on my own spiritual path. Following are two links to her blog. The first is the entry that presents her introduction of me as a guest blogger. The second is the entry I wrote for her blog.
Blessings! So much love! Enjoy!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Blog Introduction: Why Sutton Loves Tumblr
If you're into the 30 days of Why I Love project I just got started with today, go check out a parallel project being done by my very dear, dear one, Paul Sutton. His introduction to the project and himself is well worth investigating.
Check it out here: Why Sutton Loves
Monday, June 20, 2011
A Short List of Simple Things That Give Me Pleasure
1. Putting the ipod on shuffle while I'm in the house.
2. Laying down.
3. Eating fresh oranges.
4. Eating fresh grapefruit straight out of the peel with my fingers and mouth while it drips all over me.
5. Wearing a dress.
6. Watching the sky.
7. Flowers.
8. Feathers.
9. Holding my bird on my shoulder and whispering to her.
10. Wearing red lipstick.
11. Listening to La Boheme.
12. Cooking.
13. Sharing good tasties with friends that like good tasties too.
What's your list?
2. Laying down.
3. Eating fresh oranges.
4. Eating fresh grapefruit straight out of the peel with my fingers and mouth while it drips all over me.
5. Wearing a dress.
6. Watching the sky.
7. Flowers.
8. Feathers.
9. Holding my bird on my shoulder and whispering to her.
10. Wearing red lipstick.
11. Listening to La Boheme.
12. Cooking.
13. Sharing good tasties with friends that like good tasties too.
What's your list?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Flowers Everyday!
Another cool things post for the lots of stuff time of year...
I think this is *wonderful*. I love simplicity, and I love brightly colored flowers. It's expensive to buy new flowers every week though. But I have to say that having them around makes an enormous difference in how I feel.
itunube.com offers a solution in their Fresh Flowers newspaper.
You simply turn the page and select a new flower for the day, roll up your paper, and place it in its proper vase, and voila! New flowers everyday.
All pics via itunube.comSuper cool. Great, and really fun. Love the idea!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
A Holiday Wish List for the Little One
My daughter keeps pushing me to come up with a list of what I want for Christmas. Honestly, thought she's been asking me for at least A MONTH, I hadn't thought of anything AT ALL. For one, I don't tend to think on things I'd like other people to get and give me generally. And for two, I've had lots of planning to do lately (more on that in a future post) and so the idea of receiving presents that I pre-selected was LOW on any priority list.
But, searching around the internet today I happened upon a couple of things I really do love. So, following is my Christmas Wish List. It's one of those lists full of things that make me glow to know are in the world out there, whether I ever happen to own any of them or not. With that in mind, I think of this as my "make the world sunnier" list of holiday goods.
#1 Oh! I love camels!
Sharon Montrose has an AWESOME collection of animal prints, including a number of photographs of baby animals that are heart wigglingly cute. Oh lord! But the camel is one of my favorite animals so I'm most especially drawn to the idea of the above print framed and hanging in my (future) natural-light filled home.
#2 Oh! I love birds and have very much enjoyed the friendship of several macaws.
In case you need more convincing of how awesome her pictures are. Here's more evidence. Isn't this lovely? Wouldn't you just love to see it in my living room with sunlight pouring across it as the day begins?
#3 Um... yum. Really.
Busy Bee Cake
But, searching around the internet today I happened upon a couple of things I really do love. So, following is my Christmas Wish List. It's one of those lists full of things that make me glow to know are in the world out there, whether I ever happen to own any of them or not. With that in mind, I think of this as my "make the world sunnier" list of holiday goods.
#1 Oh! I love camels!
Sharon Montrose has an AWESOME collection of animal prints, including a number of photographs of baby animals that are heart wigglingly cute. Oh lord! But the camel is one of my favorite animals so I'm most especially drawn to the idea of the above print framed and hanging in my (future) natural-light filled home.
#2 Oh! I love birds and have very much enjoyed the friendship of several macaws.
In case you need more convincing of how awesome her pictures are. Here's more evidence. Isn't this lovely? Wouldn't you just love to see it in my living room with sunlight pouring across it as the day begins?
#3 Um... yum. Really.
Busy Bee CakeSeveral years ago I ordered this cake for my sisters and I for Christmas. The three of us each love marzipan, so we reveled in this yumminess for the holidays. It was a gorgeous combination of marzipan, white cake, and dark chocolate layers. Oh so lovely.
#4 Sigh.
Salmon Berries and Crow Berries Mixed--Agutuk
In Alaska I grew up eating Native foods. The one I miss the most is dried fish and seal oil, which, I realize, grosses a lot of people out. So good though. But my very favorite food will always be salmon berry agutuk. (The berries are named "salmon berry", there isn't salmon with the berries. Though, honestly, a lot of people mix that in too.) I rarely get to eat it anymore, though it was our number one treat growing up.
#5 Sigh Some More
Yupik Style Smoke Fish (Salmon)
#4 Sigh.
Salmon Berries and Crow Berries Mixed--AgutukIn Alaska I grew up eating Native foods. The one I miss the most is dried fish and seal oil, which, I realize, grosses a lot of people out. So good though. But my very favorite food will always be salmon berry agutuk. (The berries are named "salmon berry", there isn't salmon with the berries. Though, honestly, a lot of people mix that in too.) I rarely get to eat it anymore, though it was our number one treat growing up.
#5 Sigh Some More
Yupik Style Smoke Fish (Salmon)The other food that I will always be my favorite is smoke fish. Don't ask me more. I can't talk about it. It's too hard to live without. Ai-yi-yi.
#6 Yay!
The one thing I'll miss when we leave the area is the King Arthur Flour Baking Shop. They have baking classes for both home bakers, and professionals, and a world of baking related products. EVERTHING they make, and sell so you can make stuff at home is awesome.
#7 The Holiday Spirit Extended Through Out the Year
Honestly, more than anything else, what I'd actually like is all kinds of donation generosity sent to the River's Crest Dragon Slayers facility. Josef Rivers's is director of the program that provides animal therapy for physically challenged children and adults. The lessons are free to those students that qualify, and it is run almost entirely through volunteer work, and donations. He is always in need of more assistance.
Please visit the facilities website. It has information about the program, and also inspiring photographs of students, as well as ranch events. There is a link on the website for donating to them directly via paypal, there is also information on the site for mailing donations. All donations are also tax deductible.
Here is the ranch web link:
http://josefriversdragonslayers.org/
Here is the link directly to their donation page:
http://josefriversdragonslayers.org/support-us
#6 Yay!
The one thing I'll miss when we leave the area is the King Arthur Flour Baking Shop. They have baking classes for both home bakers, and professionals, and a world of baking related products. EVERTHING they make, and sell so you can make stuff at home is awesome.
#7 The Holiday Spirit Extended Through Out the Year
Honestly, more than anything else, what I'd actually like is all kinds of donation generosity sent to the River's Crest Dragon Slayers facility. Josef Rivers's is director of the program that provides animal therapy for physically challenged children and adults. The lessons are free to those students that qualify, and it is run almost entirely through volunteer work, and donations. He is always in need of more assistance.
Please visit the facilities website. It has information about the program, and also inspiring photographs of students, as well as ranch events. There is a link on the website for donating to them directly via paypal, there is also information on the site for mailing donations. All donations are also tax deductible.
Here is the ranch web link:
http://josefriversdragonslayers.org/
Here is the link directly to their donation page:
http://josefriversdragonslayers.org/support-us
Monday, December 6, 2010
Fashionary Journal Coolness!
Since it is a THING BUYING time of year, I want to post stuff I think is cool as I come upon them as a way to give people new ideas.
A few years ago when shopping for presents for my family I got stuck without ideas at one point. I decided the best thing to do was to go into a shop I expected to not find a SINGLE THING for ANYONE in my family as a way to kind of clear the storyboard and get new ideas. I went straight into the motorcycle leathers store. It was wonderful, really. I found a pair of moto-leather pants that I bought after the woman offered to sell them to me at 50% off even though they'd only been on sale for 15% off. Then I found a moto-jacket I still wish I'd purchased for myself all these four years later. But, I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SHOPPING FOR MY FAMILY. The next shop I went into, sure enough, I saw with new eyes and successfully finished my holiday present shopping that evening.
Here's a cool thing that likely has no real use for any of us, but is simply excellent nonetheless and might inspire new thought for some of us too. I like idea too of using it as a regular journal to incorporate both images and text for those of us that aren't actually fashion designers.
Check it out!
Fashionary Journal and Design Dictionary
It hosts both drawing templates and blank pages, plus pages of pattern and design shapes. There is both a women's fashion, and a men's fashion version.
A few years ago when shopping for presents for my family I got stuck without ideas at one point. I decided the best thing to do was to go into a shop I expected to not find a SINGLE THING for ANYONE in my family as a way to kind of clear the storyboard and get new ideas. I went straight into the motorcycle leathers store. It was wonderful, really. I found a pair of moto-leather pants that I bought after the woman offered to sell them to me at 50% off even though they'd only been on sale for 15% off. Then I found a moto-jacket I still wish I'd purchased for myself all these four years later. But, I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SHOPPING FOR MY FAMILY. The next shop I went into, sure enough, I saw with new eyes and successfully finished my holiday present shopping that evening.
Here's a cool thing that likely has no real use for any of us, but is simply excellent nonetheless and might inspire new thought for some of us too. I like idea too of using it as a regular journal to incorporate both images and text for those of us that aren't actually fashion designers.
Check it out!
Fashionary Journal and Design Dictionary
It hosts both drawing templates and blank pages, plus pages of pattern and design shapes. There is both a women's fashion, and a men's fashion version.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
OMG I Love Etsy!
You HAVE TO love a site that offers hand knit Foks scarves in multiple colors.
Behold!
I'm torn between whether the gray or the white is my favorite.
But, honestly, etsy is full of SO MANY treasures. Here's more:
These are the simplest thing, but I love the idea of pinning them to a cork board and hanging them against an off white wall as decoration.
French Alphabet Cards
Behold!
I'm torn between whether the gray or the white is my favorite.
But, honestly, etsy is full of SO MANY treasures. Here's more:
These are the simplest thing, but I love the idea of pinning them to a cork board and hanging them against an off white wall as decoration.
French Alphabet CardsWhat a fabulous bag:
Leather Messenger Bag
Leather Messenger BagThis is my favorite. A miniature handmade book on a necklace. I love the idea of wearing this, or a few of them. The idea of it captures a lot about a person (me, I suppose) that would wear it, I think.
Miniature Leather Journal
Miniature Leather JournalEtsy's a fabulous spot to search for unique treasures and gifts, or simply for inspiration in people's great ideas and talents.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Help Fight Leukemia, Help Support Leukemia Patients
Aidan's Monsters's VampireAs you have likely noticed I've got a button in the sidebar of this blog encouraging registration for being a bone marrow donor. The unfortunate truth is that many many people diagnosed with leukemia never find a suitable match. However, there is a bone marrow registry where from a simple cheek swab your information can be entered into a database that is then searched when hard to match patients need help. If you are ever selected as a possible donor the procedures required are incredibly simple and can save someone's life. Clicking on the Got Marrow?! button will take you to the registry page, but you can also explore around that same site to get more information on how it works.
Here's another awesome way to help out a particular and current leukemia patient. A five year old boy named Aidan was diagnosed with leukemia. Unfortunately, his family's health insurance wasn't going to be able to cover the full cost of Aidan's treatments. The family was worried that their home might end up vulnerable to the financial needs of the situation. Then they came up with an idea. Aidan loves to draw and so the family began selling his pictures via the awesome site Etsy. Check out the Etsy shop Aidan's Monsters where Aidan's drawings are available for purchase at wonderfully affordable prices. Personally, I'm thinking the vampire is a must.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AidansMonsters?ref=seller_info
Friday, October 15, 2010
OPEN REQUEST GOING OUT TO PETYA!!!
Petya, what mascara did you recommend again?!! Please to respond.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Etsy's Awesome
So, I've been quite focused on dressing with androgny for the last couple of years.
News flash (insert flashing red letters here): I have boobs, and hips, and bootay too, so it barely works on me.
Still, I've liked, and still do, wearing clothes that are literally from a menswear collection, and that have that more vertical line that mens clothes tend to offer, in comparison to the tendency seen in a lot of women's clothes to include things like FRILL! LACE! oh my god FLORAL PRINT! oh oh cute cute PINK! etc.
It turns out though I also like the effect of vintage nipped-at-the-waist women's clothes, and I seem to be turning back towards incorporating such an aesthetic in how I dress.
Thinking on how I could appreciate both "looks" it occurs to me that dressing wholeheartedly with either offers a kind of not-among-the-rest-of-us effect that I might be reaching for. I happen to be a person that wants a bit of buffering between me and people that might too-readily want to "pick me up" or "become my best friend." It isn't that I want to avoid something like "dates" or having close friends. It's just that I don't want any of that sort of thing to happen too easily or too often either. I think relations (of whatever sort) with others are something to be slowed down with and appreciated, so there is a sense in which I don't want to come off as too available, even if I also want the openness to make contact with people.
What does any of that have to do with me starting by talking about clothing aesthetics? Well, quite simply, I think that the clothing we wear reflects these kinds of attitudes.
How we dress, I believe, reflects a combination and varied-mix of the following things: (a) how we're feeling, (b) how we want to feel, (c) what we take for granted in terms of social interactions (clothing is a way of playing on and reflecting social norms, after all), (d) where we come from (see the social norms bit again), (e) how we want to imagine ourselves, and (f) sometimes (though I think less often then people often assume) how we want others to take us. So, whether we're thinking about how we dress or not, we're communicating all kinds of things to others by how we dress.
For that matter, I think this kind of social-norm-aesthetic-complexity plays out not just in how we dress, but also in how we put together the space we live within. So that how we decorate, arrange, or take care of our home ends up being a way of affecting how we feel, what we imagine for ourselves, what we take for granted, and what we want others to see in us too.
The point of any of this though is actually to bring up something else entirely. Except, not something else entirely because the reason I bring it up is that this something else ends up being an awesome way to explore this expressive-feeling-norm-driven-imaginative-comfort-driven self too.
Okay, here it is: I love exploring etsy.com.
There I said it. Phew! It's an enormous wealth of a website for everything ranging from bath treats, to jewelry, to clothing, to art prints, mostly handmade, and some vintage, and some found objects too. With that in mind, it's a great resource for re-imagining yourself either in how you dress, or how you dress your home (or your bicycle or automobile even, for that matter).
You'll notice too I've got an etsy widget in my blog sidebar. To be clear: this isn't any kind of profit driven thing. I don't have a connection to any of the shops or shop items I happen to post in that widget. I just think etsy is a really great way for people that like crafting things to be able to sell those crafts to the rest of us. So, I added the etsy widget as a way to remind the rest of us to check it out.
For those of you that don't know: etsy is a huge site that primarily includes the opportunity for most anyone to open up an online retail shop selling handmade goods and vintage items. The site, however, also includes discussion forums where people can talk through anything from diy projects, to sales tips, to supply needs. There is also a blog feature, and a featured shops feature both of which showcase etsy happenings. It's quite an online community really, and a lot of fun to look through.
Here's just a few things on etsy that I've come upon and enjoyed recently. Let me know what kinds of things you enjoy finding on etsy, and especially let me know if you end up investigating these three shops, or buying something from them.
1. Mountain Bike Tire Belt
from julienjaborska $30
Um, ohmygod, hi! I love the texture and very clear 3-dimensionality of a belt like this. Not to mention it's a found object, homemade, bad-ass combination. I'm curious about how wearing rubber of this sort might mark ones clothing, but otherwise I'm all for this, and am considering getting it. Julienjaborska's shop includes belts made out of other, less-nubby tires too, and some household goods, like coasters, all made out of bicycle parts. Awesome.
A belt like this says, "Look, man. I've got ingenuity, ruggedness, am surprising, and down to earth, all at the same time. You can see by how I dress that if while out biking my pants explode, I'm ready to sacrifice my transportation to cover my ass, so to speak. But, if we're out walking around and your bike tire falls off, I'm also wearing backup. Dig on."
2. Reclaimed Oak Bath Caddy
from PegandAwl $100
Growing up I was completely into taking baths. It always frustrated me though that I wanted to take my whole world of stuffed animal, book, journal, juice drink, etc to the bath with me and there was no good way to keep all those things from just ending up floating (or sinking) into the water destroyed. At some point I figured out that the plastic and metal t.v. dinner tray we owned could be suspended over the tub to offer a kind of half-bath caddy. The legs side of the dinner tray left a huge gapping hole, but the tray side did succeed at holding some of my things above the water.
This oak bath caddy seems to me a better, and quite appealing option. Not to mention that it immediately sets you up to remember how frickin' romantic and rejuvenating a little time in the water with your own sweet self can be. Nothing like oak suspended over the water to make you feel all loving with yourself and a good book. The bath caddy is a nice way to transform your bathroom into a world of potential. Heck. You can scribe a full novel by keeping paper and a pen out of the water on this thing. You'll have to sacrifice yourself to prune shaped skin to do it. But, thanks to the oak, it could be done. PegandAwl's shop also offers other handmade household goods. Check them out.
3. Half-and-half Leather Look Leggings
from BabooshkaBoutique $65
News flash (insert flashing red letters here): I have boobs, and hips, and bootay too, so it barely works on me.
Still, I've liked, and still do, wearing clothes that are literally from a menswear collection, and that have that more vertical line that mens clothes tend to offer, in comparison to the tendency seen in a lot of women's clothes to include things like FRILL! LACE! oh my god FLORAL PRINT! oh oh cute cute PINK! etc.
It turns out though I also like the effect of vintage nipped-at-the-waist women's clothes, and I seem to be turning back towards incorporating such an aesthetic in how I dress.
Thinking on how I could appreciate both "looks" it occurs to me that dressing wholeheartedly with either offers a kind of not-among-the-rest-of-us effect that I might be reaching for. I happen to be a person that wants a bit of buffering between me and people that might too-readily want to "pick me up" or "become my best friend." It isn't that I want to avoid something like "dates" or having close friends. It's just that I don't want any of that sort of thing to happen too easily or too often either. I think relations (of whatever sort) with others are something to be slowed down with and appreciated, so there is a sense in which I don't want to come off as too available, even if I also want the openness to make contact with people.
What does any of that have to do with me starting by talking about clothing aesthetics? Well, quite simply, I think that the clothing we wear reflects these kinds of attitudes.
How we dress, I believe, reflects a combination and varied-mix of the following things: (a) how we're feeling, (b) how we want to feel, (c) what we take for granted in terms of social interactions (clothing is a way of playing on and reflecting social norms, after all), (d) where we come from (see the social norms bit again), (e) how we want to imagine ourselves, and (f) sometimes (though I think less often then people often assume) how we want others to take us. So, whether we're thinking about how we dress or not, we're communicating all kinds of things to others by how we dress.
For that matter, I think this kind of social-norm-aesthetic-complexity plays out not just in how we dress, but also in how we put together the space we live within. So that how we decorate, arrange, or take care of our home ends up being a way of affecting how we feel, what we imagine for ourselves, what we take for granted, and what we want others to see in us too.
The point of any of this though is actually to bring up something else entirely. Except, not something else entirely because the reason I bring it up is that this something else ends up being an awesome way to explore this expressive-feeling-norm-driven-imaginative-comfort-driven self too.
Okay, here it is: I love exploring etsy.com.
There I said it. Phew! It's an enormous wealth of a website for everything ranging from bath treats, to jewelry, to clothing, to art prints, mostly handmade, and some vintage, and some found objects too. With that in mind, it's a great resource for re-imagining yourself either in how you dress, or how you dress your home (or your bicycle or automobile even, for that matter).
You'll notice too I've got an etsy widget in my blog sidebar. To be clear: this isn't any kind of profit driven thing. I don't have a connection to any of the shops or shop items I happen to post in that widget. I just think etsy is a really great way for people that like crafting things to be able to sell those crafts to the rest of us. So, I added the etsy widget as a way to remind the rest of us to check it out.
For those of you that don't know: etsy is a huge site that primarily includes the opportunity for most anyone to open up an online retail shop selling handmade goods and vintage items. The site, however, also includes discussion forums where people can talk through anything from diy projects, to sales tips, to supply needs. There is also a blog feature, and a featured shops feature both of which showcase etsy happenings. It's quite an online community really, and a lot of fun to look through.
Here's just a few things on etsy that I've come upon and enjoyed recently. Let me know what kinds of things you enjoy finding on etsy, and especially let me know if you end up investigating these three shops, or buying something from them.
1. Mountain Bike Tire Belt
from julienjaborska $30
Um, ohmygod, hi! I love the texture and very clear 3-dimensionality of a belt like this. Not to mention it's a found object, homemade, bad-ass combination. I'm curious about how wearing rubber of this sort might mark ones clothing, but otherwise I'm all for this, and am considering getting it. Julienjaborska's shop includes belts made out of other, less-nubby tires too, and some household goods, like coasters, all made out of bicycle parts. Awesome.
A belt like this says, "Look, man. I've got ingenuity, ruggedness, am surprising, and down to earth, all at the same time. You can see by how I dress that if while out biking my pants explode, I'm ready to sacrifice my transportation to cover my ass, so to speak. But, if we're out walking around and your bike tire falls off, I'm also wearing backup. Dig on."
2. Reclaimed Oak Bath Caddy
from PegandAwl $100Growing up I was completely into taking baths. It always frustrated me though that I wanted to take my whole world of stuffed animal, book, journal, juice drink, etc to the bath with me and there was no good way to keep all those things from just ending up floating (or sinking) into the water destroyed. At some point I figured out that the plastic and metal t.v. dinner tray we owned could be suspended over the tub to offer a kind of half-bath caddy. The legs side of the dinner tray left a huge gapping hole, but the tray side did succeed at holding some of my things above the water.
This oak bath caddy seems to me a better, and quite appealing option. Not to mention that it immediately sets you up to remember how frickin' romantic and rejuvenating a little time in the water with your own sweet self can be. Nothing like oak suspended over the water to make you feel all loving with yourself and a good book. The bath caddy is a nice way to transform your bathroom into a world of potential. Heck. You can scribe a full novel by keeping paper and a pen out of the water on this thing. You'll have to sacrifice yourself to prune shaped skin to do it. But, thanks to the oak, it could be done. PegandAwl's shop also offers other handmade household goods. Check them out.
3. Half-and-half Leather Look Leggings
from BabooshkaBoutique $65
Months and months ago I started this blog with the statement, "I've developed a problem with rubber." Then more recently I confessed to saying I have a problem with leather too. It turns out I like dark, tight, matte-with-a-touch-of-sheen accoutrement. The problem I'd developed with rubber included buying a pair of thigh-high rubber stockings that, truth be told, I still have yet to wear, though I think they're fabulous. I just refuse to fall into the obviousness that something like a "rubber stocking" would hold, and finding a way to work against types readily offered up by clothing (that whole clothing reflects social norms thing) can be a challenge, even when it's the kind of thing we think about much of the time.
To explain, I also like wearing leather pants, and in fact own three pairs (go ahead and insert, "dear lord, why do you need THREE?" here. Some other time I'll explain exactly why a person would 'need' three pairs. Because, dang it, a person would!). But the thing about wearing leather pants is you've gotta find a way to wear them that that isn't just screaming all the things we could associate with leather pants. That is, put them on and put together an outfit such that you don't immediately just call up any of the following: (1) biker, (2) slut.
So, the problem with rubber leggings is that it's pretty hard to figure out how to wear them without your outfit quickly going to the obvious implications of: (1) weird, (2) fetish, (3) slut. I'm all for some slight implications of the obvious being present. The challenge is in insuring your outfit isn't taken simply and only to reflect the obvious.
So, to get back to the point: I really like these leggings. They're odd, and cool at the same time. You'll have to put some thought into how to wear them, but not too much thought. And if we're going to talk about the implications they call up, that you'd have to find ways to work with and work against, both, the following: these leggings make it look like you're a living doll with a very slight fetish attraction, whose legs have been dipped into the same stuff plier handles are dipped in. How often do any of get to make a clothing claim like that?
To explain, I also like wearing leather pants, and in fact own three pairs (go ahead and insert, "dear lord, why do you need THREE?" here. Some other time I'll explain exactly why a person would 'need' three pairs. Because, dang it, a person would!). But the thing about wearing leather pants is you've gotta find a way to wear them that that isn't just screaming all the things we could associate with leather pants. That is, put them on and put together an outfit such that you don't immediately just call up any of the following: (1) biker, (2) slut.
So, the problem with rubber leggings is that it's pretty hard to figure out how to wear them without your outfit quickly going to the obvious implications of: (1) weird, (2) fetish, (3) slut. I'm all for some slight implications of the obvious being present. The challenge is in insuring your outfit isn't taken simply and only to reflect the obvious.
So, to get back to the point: I really like these leggings. They're odd, and cool at the same time. You'll have to put some thought into how to wear them, but not too much thought. And if we're going to talk about the implications they call up, that you'd have to find ways to work with and work against, both, the following: these leggings make it look like you're a living doll with a very slight fetish attraction, whose legs have been dipped into the same stuff plier handles are dipped in. How often do any of get to make a clothing claim like that?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Bleery, Snowy Hell Reveals Friendship and Blogging Friends
It is snowing again. I could die. Honest. It makes me feel like this:
Haute Couture Valentino
That is... fabulously cranky. It makes me feel fabulously cranky.
I mean, couldn't you kick the living sh*t out of anything that moved wearing that outfit? Except, without your even moving. Just sit there. Just like that. Just sit there like that and look at creatures that dare go near you. Or, don't look at them. NOTHING will mess with you when you sit there like THAT.
I think the honest truth though is that right now I actually look just like this:
Yup. That really is honestly me. Tired. Worn out. Over it. Whatever "it" was at the moment this picture was taken. "It" now being this snow.
The ridiculous thing is, it isn't even snowing very hard. It's just that the storms we got a month ago were so hard and heavy hitting nobody in town wants to see it anymore. It's a good vivid indication of what post traumatic stress disorder must be like, for those of us that wouldn't otherwise know. Something happens so intensely, that even long later things that only very slightly resemble that intensity are still troubling.
Yes, hello, doctor? I have ptsd. ... In regards to what? Oh. The snow. I have ptsd from the snow.
Not that ptsd is any kind of joking matter.
Last week I was really tired, and I didn't have any plans that night, so I went into my room and got dressed up. I'd been wearing just jeans and a t-shirt all day and really needed to change my mood. So, I did what any completely wise person would do in such a situation. I completely changed my clothes, and then laid back down on the couch.
This is what I wore:
See how you can tell I'm still tired, like in the last picture. But at least I look like I have the CAPACITY to move, if I have to, and also like at least I might be interesting enough to interact with?
But this brings me to the real point. That last picture I only even have because my good friend Kate has been living in Geneva for the last six months. And the thing about living anywhere for only six months is, it's kind of hard, even while from a distance it's so utterly romantic, and idyllic, and life changing and blah. blah. blah. Really, if you're living somewhere for only six months you don't have your good friends there, chances are. And you don't know the place super well, chances be. And you know you're not rooting down cause you're already planning on leaving. You know, in just six months.
So, such situations are good reminders of how important friends are. But also, of how friendship can be expressed and can help through the expression of no end of good things. Really, it turns out friendship can be all about really creative, and sometimes pretty sideways-attack, problem solving.
For example, one of the ways she and I have dealt with this leads me to explaining why I have that last picture. That is, we've dealt with her absence, partially, by putting together outfits and then sending each other pics of them. Or, just a list about them. Or, links to things we'd put together in an outfit if we had them to do that with. Cause when we last lived in the same town and it was snowing to high holy hell outside and we didn't want to be out in it anymore, we'd meet up at my apartment, and raid my closet, and put on outfits, and then just go sit down on the couch and drink a cocktail. And then whenever it was that the mood hit us again, we'd bounce up and change again. And that would be the extent of our activity for the evening. And honestly it's some of the most fun I've ever had. Not because I don't do other awesome great fun things. But because, holy heck! It was us hanging out, being creative, and silly, being FRIENDS. And so now, though we can't share the closet literally, we can share it virtually. So, for six months, that's what we've been doing.
It's funny how such a little creative act can give you a project that helps make the time go by a little easier, and make it seem like at least you accomplished something.
Today, again, I'm gonna focus hard on laying on the couch just like this:
That is, blurry, as I cross my eyes to avoid seeing the snow.
You, like me, can also keep up with Kate as she prepares now, after six long months, to move out of Geneva, and then travel around Europe, before returning to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She's just started a blog, Agathos. I'm hoping she'll post pictures and reviews of her adventures from the next couple weeks of adventure around Europe, and then of the next months and months as she roots back down at home in Canada.
Haute Couture ValentinoThat is... fabulously cranky. It makes me feel fabulously cranky.
I mean, couldn't you kick the living sh*t out of anything that moved wearing that outfit? Except, without your even moving. Just sit there. Just like that. Just sit there like that and look at creatures that dare go near you. Or, don't look at them. NOTHING will mess with you when you sit there like THAT.
I think the honest truth though is that right now I actually look just like this:
Yup. That really is honestly me. Tired. Worn out. Over it. Whatever "it" was at the moment this picture was taken. "It" now being this snow.The ridiculous thing is, it isn't even snowing very hard. It's just that the storms we got a month ago were so hard and heavy hitting nobody in town wants to see it anymore. It's a good vivid indication of what post traumatic stress disorder must be like, for those of us that wouldn't otherwise know. Something happens so intensely, that even long later things that only very slightly resemble that intensity are still troubling.
Yes, hello, doctor? I have ptsd. ... In regards to what? Oh. The snow. I have ptsd from the snow.
Not that ptsd is any kind of joking matter.
Last week I was really tired, and I didn't have any plans that night, so I went into my room and got dressed up. I'd been wearing just jeans and a t-shirt all day and really needed to change my mood. So, I did what any completely wise person would do in such a situation. I completely changed my clothes, and then laid back down on the couch.
This is what I wore:
See how you can tell I'm still tired, like in the last picture. But at least I look like I have the CAPACITY to move, if I have to, and also like at least I might be interesting enough to interact with?But this brings me to the real point. That last picture I only even have because my good friend Kate has been living in Geneva for the last six months. And the thing about living anywhere for only six months is, it's kind of hard, even while from a distance it's so utterly romantic, and idyllic, and life changing and blah. blah. blah. Really, if you're living somewhere for only six months you don't have your good friends there, chances are. And you don't know the place super well, chances be. And you know you're not rooting down cause you're already planning on leaving. You know, in just six months.
So, such situations are good reminders of how important friends are. But also, of how friendship can be expressed and can help through the expression of no end of good things. Really, it turns out friendship can be all about really creative, and sometimes pretty sideways-attack, problem solving.
For example, one of the ways she and I have dealt with this leads me to explaining why I have that last picture. That is, we've dealt with her absence, partially, by putting together outfits and then sending each other pics of them. Or, just a list about them. Or, links to things we'd put together in an outfit if we had them to do that with. Cause when we last lived in the same town and it was snowing to high holy hell outside and we didn't want to be out in it anymore, we'd meet up at my apartment, and raid my closet, and put on outfits, and then just go sit down on the couch and drink a cocktail. And then whenever it was that the mood hit us again, we'd bounce up and change again. And that would be the extent of our activity for the evening. And honestly it's some of the most fun I've ever had. Not because I don't do other awesome great fun things. But because, holy heck! It was us hanging out, being creative, and silly, being FRIENDS. And so now, though we can't share the closet literally, we can share it virtually. So, for six months, that's what we've been doing.
It's funny how such a little creative act can give you a project that helps make the time go by a little easier, and make it seem like at least you accomplished something.
Today, again, I'm gonna focus hard on laying on the couch just like this:
That is, blurry, as I cross my eyes to avoid seeing the snow.You, like me, can also keep up with Kate as she prepares now, after six long months, to move out of Geneva, and then travel around Europe, before returning to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She's just started a blog, Agathos. I'm hoping she'll post pictures and reviews of her adventures from the next couple weeks of adventure around Europe, and then of the next months and months as she roots back down at home in Canada.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Okay, LOOK! I Like Cookie Dough. Okay? I like eating cookie dough so that there aren't actual cookies left in the end. But, duh! It's tasty. Ok? okay.
My Niece Getting to Know Her New Baby Brother, 2 summers agoSo, I have two older sisters, and they each have two kids. But one of my sister's two kids are BOTH gluten intolerant. Can you believe it? For the longest time I thought that meant they were facing a life with no pasta, no bread, no pie with pie crust, no cake, no crackers, no anything with wheat in it, which, in North America, is like EVERYTHING. So, they were facing a life with no everything. And I honestly mean that "facing a life with no everything" bit, cause not only are her kids allergic to gluten, they're also allergic to eggs, nuts, soy, corn, shellfish, and beans. In other words, they're allergic to everything.
Well. Except meat. They're both allergic to everything but meat. Oh! And rice. They can eat rice. How's that for all those political vegans or vegetarians out there, eh? What do you do when someone you love is allergic to basically everything but meat and rice. People cannot survive on rice alone, and all that.
When I first found out YEARS ago that my niece couldn't eat anything, it was hard for me to wrap my head around what she COULD eat, cause when you move to Alaska to care for your 3-year old niece, and your 5-year old daughter, while the rest of the extended family travels out to the Western Coast to hunt and kill salmon (oh! these two can also eat salmon) for the summer, and you're left all alone in a town now emptied of every single person you know beyond the two kids, because everyone you know is out chasing the fish, well, suddenly it seems important to figure out what the kids CAN eat. It turns out having a list of what a person CAN'T eat doesn't help much. It just excludes what seems like the entire world of food from your range of possibilities, and that ginormous hole of missing food doesn't really help fill itself in, does it? In other words, you need a list of what people CAN eat too.
List of What My Niece and Nephew Can Actually Eat
1. Meat
2. Rice
3. Salmon
1. Meat
2. Rice
3. Salmon
There. Better. Now we're clear. Three ingredients for the entire summer.
It was hell. Honest. I'd make us picnic lunches by which I'd try reshaping the food to make it SEEM like we were eating new and exciting foods everyday, but honestly, it was just meat, rice, and salmon. Did I mention no spices either?
Anyway, here's the point. My sister has turned into a wunder-Mädchen with a much much longer list that now looks like this:
Updated List of What My Niece and Nephew Can Actually Eat
1. Meat
2. Rice
3. Salmon
4. Baked Goods
1. Meat
2. Rice
3. Salmon
4. Baked Goods
Do you see how much better that actually is?
Wait, what?! Baked goods? Yes, she's mastered the art of gluten free baked goods. To try and re-imagine my own possible world of eating, I decided to try following in her food-steps to test out some gluten free baked good recipes myself.
Here's the thing, it turns out you need like 15 different kinds of gluten free flours, plus 5 kinds of binding agents before you can bake anything resembling anything. And, experimentation no longer works. Balancing our 342 different kinds of gluten free dry goods to create a consistency similar to that offered by 1 gluten-packed flour is tricky. So, just do what the recipe says. I should have photographed my first attempt--fruit pie with gluten free pie crust--so you'd get the picture. JUST DO WHAT THE RECIPE SAYS.
Now, having told you that. I just made these:
Gluten Free Lemon and Almond Meltawaysimage from cannelle et vanille
To be clear, that picture is NOT of the cookies I just made. No. No. That picture is one taken by a professional baking blogger photographer. Duh. It's gorgeous. The original recipe, is found at the baking blog Cannelle et Vanille, and though it requires converting from grams, the result is loverly. Honest.
But here's my warning: (can we get that in bold red letter flashing?)
Strangely, her recipe actually turns out to make only something like 3 lone cookies to roll in that pile of powdered sugar at the end. Weird, isn't it? You might have to lick your fingers to more effectively scoop up some of the left over powdered sugar you hauled out to roll the baked cookies in at the end. Be careful doing this though. It might hurt your tummy after you've already eaten 12 cookies worth of dough during the mixing process. Gluten baking turns out to be tricky. Very tricky.
But here's my warning: (can we get that in bold red letter flashing?)
Strangely, her recipe actually turns out to make only something like 3 lone cookies to roll in that pile of powdered sugar at the end. Weird, isn't it? You might have to lick your fingers to more effectively scoop up some of the left over powdered sugar you hauled out to roll the baked cookies in at the end. Be careful doing this though. It might hurt your tummy after you've already eaten 12 cookies worth of dough during the mixing process. Gluten baking turns out to be tricky. Very tricky.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday Morning Playlist
The last two days I've laid in bed for a while after waking up, as I mentioned yesterday. Today especially I feel the call of nothing to do. So I'm trying to respond only to what I want to do, as much as that's possible. That is, instead of getting straight up and going through the morning routine just because I'm awake, what would motivate me to get up?
With this "what do I want" mode in mind, yesterday, the 10-year old and I went out for burgers at the location of honest-to-god, the best burgers I've ever had in my life. I'm not big on burgers, actually. Except I am now because of this place. We really go eat burgers an average of three times in two weeks now.
So we went for burgers at Diablo, a local-focused restaurant--every ingredient (including the beef), except the condiments, originates from local, sustainable agriculture producers. The food tastes amazing. All burgers are served on gluton-free toasted English Muffins branded with their logo DB.
Rachel ordered "The Marilyn"--an adult size burger with aged sharp cheddar--or, what she says "should be renamed, 'Heaven.'" (Which, in case you didn't notice, is a brilliantly ironic comment from anyone since the name of the restaurant is "Diablo" (an allusion to the devil) but she wants this burger to be called "Heaven" (an allusion to, well, uh, the place the devil ain't allowed to go). But, the comment is even cleverer than that because it was generated by *a ten year old.* I love this sense of humor she's somehow grown into.) I got "The Yum" (okay, I can't remember what they call it but whoa. it's good.)--a full size yum burger with a fried over-medium egg and a spread of pesto on top. (Um... whoa. Are they open right now?) Anyway, the perfect burger to eat for brunch. After eating I realized I was tired. So, we honestly sat their for two hours at the burger bar stool, half-watching the Pittsburgh--Cincinnati College Football game (what an ending!), and working on making thin metal bracelets spin on their sides as long as possible. It was good.
Today on the agenda is the following playlist. Somehow this represents my mood this morning. Feel free to offer personality test style interpretations of me via the following list in comments.
1. "Poker Face" Lady Gaga
2. "Who By Fire" Leonard Cohen Live
3. "Love Lockdown" Kanye West
4. "Helpless" K.D. Lang covers Neil Young
5. "Those Three Days" Lucinda Williams
6. "Stormy Weather Pt. 1" Lena Horne Live
7. "Going to California" Led Zepplin
8. "Family Affair" Mary J Blige
9. "Give Yourself to Love" Kate Wolf
10. "Lake Charles" Lucinda Williams
11. "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time" Lefty Frizzell
12. "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" Kitty Wells
13. "Hounds of Love" Kate Bush
14. "Loving Her Was Easier" Kris Kristofferson
15. "La Vie en Rose" Michael Saga
16. "Can't Help Falling in Love" Lick the Tins
17. "La Belle et le Bad Boy" MC Solaar
18. "Are You Gonna Go My Way" Lenny Kravitz
19. "Speechless" Lady Gaga
20. "Sharp Cutting Wings" Lucinda Williams
21. "Lucille" Kenny Rogers
22. "I Try" Macy Gray
23. "Everybody Knows" Leonard Cohen
24. "Bad Romance" Lady Gaga
25. "I'm Your Man" Leonard Cohen Live
26. "Mercy Mercy Me" Marvin Gaye
27. "What a Wonderful World" Louis Armstrong
Lena Horne "Stormy Weather" 1966
(Her way of singing the song, her voice, changes significantly over the course of the career. Her later performances show her having 'grown into' it in a way she didn't show as thoroughly earlier (the 40's). Beautiful throughout her career though.)
Lady Gaga "Poker Face"
(Apologies it's hard to find this vid online without embedding disabled. Here it is but with ads. Beh.
Also, remarkably, this video is relatively boring compared to how Lady G handles her imagery now, a mere year later in her career.)
KD Lang "Helpless" (filling in for Neil Young at the Juno Awards 2005
God, she's got such a beautiful voice. Notice too: her bare feet.)
With this "what do I want" mode in mind, yesterday, the 10-year old and I went out for burgers at the location of honest-to-god, the best burgers I've ever had in my life. I'm not big on burgers, actually. Except I am now because of this place. We really go eat burgers an average of three times in two weeks now.
So we went for burgers at Diablo, a local-focused restaurant--every ingredient (including the beef), except the condiments, originates from local, sustainable agriculture producers. The food tastes amazing. All burgers are served on gluton-free toasted English Muffins branded with their logo DB.
Rachel ordered "The Marilyn"--an adult size burger with aged sharp cheddar--or, what she says "should be renamed, 'Heaven.'" (Which, in case you didn't notice, is a brilliantly ironic comment from anyone since the name of the restaurant is "Diablo" (an allusion to the devil) but she wants this burger to be called "Heaven" (an allusion to, well, uh, the place the devil ain't allowed to go). But, the comment is even cleverer than that because it was generated by *a ten year old.* I love this sense of humor she's somehow grown into.) I got "The Yum" (okay, I can't remember what they call it but whoa. it's good.)--a full size yum burger with a fried over-medium egg and a spread of pesto on top. (Um... whoa. Are they open right now?) Anyway, the perfect burger to eat for brunch. After eating I realized I was tired. So, we honestly sat their for two hours at the burger bar stool, half-watching the Pittsburgh--Cincinnati College Football game (what an ending!), and working on making thin metal bracelets spin on their sides as long as possible. It was good.
Today on the agenda is the following playlist. Somehow this represents my mood this morning. Feel free to offer personality test style interpretations of me via the following list in comments.
1. "Poker Face" Lady Gaga
2. "Who By Fire" Leonard Cohen Live
3. "Love Lockdown" Kanye West
4. "Helpless" K.D. Lang covers Neil Young
5. "Those Three Days" Lucinda Williams
6. "Stormy Weather Pt. 1" Lena Horne Live
7. "Going to California" Led Zepplin
8. "Family Affair" Mary J Blige
9. "Give Yourself to Love" Kate Wolf
10. "Lake Charles" Lucinda Williams
11. "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time" Lefty Frizzell
12. "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" Kitty Wells
13. "Hounds of Love" Kate Bush
14. "Loving Her Was Easier" Kris Kristofferson
15. "La Vie en Rose" Michael Saga
16. "Can't Help Falling in Love" Lick the Tins
17. "La Belle et le Bad Boy" MC Solaar
18. "Are You Gonna Go My Way" Lenny Kravitz
19. "Speechless" Lady Gaga
20. "Sharp Cutting Wings" Lucinda Williams
21. "Lucille" Kenny Rogers
22. "I Try" Macy Gray
23. "Everybody Knows" Leonard Cohen
24. "Bad Romance" Lady Gaga
25. "I'm Your Man" Leonard Cohen Live
26. "Mercy Mercy Me" Marvin Gaye
27. "What a Wonderful World" Louis Armstrong
Lena Horne "Stormy Weather" 1966
(Her way of singing the song, her voice, changes significantly over the course of the career. Her later performances show her having 'grown into' it in a way she didn't show as thoroughly earlier (the 40's). Beautiful throughout her career though.)
Lady Gaga "Poker Face"
(Apologies it's hard to find this vid online without embedding disabled. Here it is but with ads. Beh.
Also, remarkably, this video is relatively boring compared to how Lady G handles her imagery now, a mere year later in her career.)
KD Lang "Helpless" (filling in for Neil Young at the Juno Awards 2005
God, she's got such a beautiful voice. Notice too: her bare feet.)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Blog Loving Duality
I'd like to mention two radically different blogs that I have a strong affection for.
image from blogboard1. Couture Millinery Atelier is the blog of, what I can tell, a sweet heart of a woman, Anya Caliendo. She's a Modiste, a hat designer, located in NYC, that just returned from several months of hat making in London! How exciting is that?
Her blog features wonderful pictures of design inspiration, images of hats in fashion history, and tales of her travels through the world of millinery. Her blog was on hiatus for the several months she just spent in London (why I didn't mention it sooner), but she's back now with more lovely pictures--right now of art photography of hat-clad woman in sumptuous Parisian flats.
Anya's "Plaza Hat"http://www.couturemillinery.com/
2. A Parent's Life to Behold: Through Insanity and Bliss
It can be remarkable to reconnect with high school chums. Kim and I worked on our high school newspaper together, were both avid art nuts, and did a lot in our English department too. We also had a mess of mutual friends.
One of my favorite memories of her though comes from the day after a dance she went to at a rival Anchorage high school. She came back and reported to a few of us in Newspaper Class about meeting this boy that she danced with that was cute, and nice, and shy, and seemed to like her too. I remember even the image of her flipping her hair as she blushed so much she had to hide it behind her endlessly long brown locks. (My hair was always short till more recently, so someone having long, long hair stands out to me.) The most impressive thing about the story though is that now something like 18 years later they're still together. Her blog tells, in hilarious fashion, stories of her life as a parent, of home schooling their two kids, of life in the lower-48 (it's a big deal for us Alaska folks to survive 'down south'), and of the horror of flight to get back to Alaska. She also occasionally does friendly give-aways of various sorts.
One of Kim's kids SO excited about T-Day dinnerhttp://www.kimnfam.com/
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Diversion
I'm home sick and on my own with my sweet-bird friend Rosie flying about offering me kisses, then flying back to chew on things on my desk--a roll-up sewing kit, Canadian coins, a bowl that had pasta in it twenty minutes ago. My creative energies are focused on not being sick within a day or two. So, all I can say very convincingly right now is the following. Doesn't this look good?
Dobos Torte, a Hungarian desert invented in 1884 by confectioner József C. Dobosin. Dobos Torte is made of alternating layers of chocolate buttercream and bakers cream, topped with a thin layer of caramel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
