seven things just because

1. blossoming pink, 2. holding on
photo collaboration (two girls, two clicks) with miss geek inc, week 3

1. if you are in the puget sound area, want to join me to hear and see jonatha brooke sing this weekend? the show is saturday night. (here's the info.) it is going to be great. jonny and i will be there and would love to see you. if you haven't seen jonatha in concert yet (or you haven't done something just for you lately), give yourself this gift.

2. today i have finally admitted this to myself: i am simply exhausted. i went to portland last weekend to art and soul and was too tired and busy with my two jobs to take my two classes. crazy. however, it was such a gift to spend time with friends...but not getting enough sleep has me feeling behind and overwhelmed and a bit under the weather.

3. yep. i have two jobs. i have realized that a lot of peeps who read my blog don't know this. i am actually a full-time editor who works from home. i don't talk about it much on my blog because...well, i don't really believe in blogging about my editing work. (i also don't talk about it much because when i have mentioned it in the past, i usually get several emails from people asking me to help them get a job where they can work from home. my story is an unusual one and i probably can't help you. i am sorry about that. i don't mean to seem crappy about it, but it just is what it is.) my other job is making things in the little room.

produce section, whole foods (portland, OR), 10.4.08

4. trying to balance the day job with the blossoming business of the little room (and the business that is just living my life) has me teetering a bit. some exciting things have been happening, and i am so grateful...and i am in the midst of figuring out how to balance and how to say no and who to rely on for support and all that good stuff. and it is good stuff. but it is difficult at times. not complaining. nope. just wanting to explain why i might not seem as available to answer emails or pick up the phone. i am realizing i cannot be everything to everyone while also trying to be me...while also needing to be my own best support person.

5. lately i have learned that i yell at the television during political debates. i thought i just yelled during notre dame football and basketball games (just like my dad). nope. i have now hit a point in my life where i yell at politicians. good times. i kind of like the very funny idea of turning the next debate watching evening into a drinking game. which phrase? can't be "my friends" or i will be drunk as a skunk. i think jonny would want to play one where we drink when they don't lie...not mentioning who "they" might be, ahem, as this is not a political blog,* so i'll move on. (and no, we won't be drinking heavily during the next debate. but i do find the saturday night live skits so darn funny. love that tina fey.)

6. i bought the most wondrous fabric this weekend. can't wait to show you. i found the softest flannel that looks just like wool that i will be using on the back of scarves. i just want to drape myself in it. and i bought some huge purple pom pom trim. huge. pictures soon (if the sun ever comes out in this corner of the world).

produce section, zupan's market (portland, OR), 10.4.08

7. did you venture out into the produce section and take some photos? i took a few more in portland. would love to hear about it if you did. (and stay tuned for a new "i dare you" post next week...)

*an aside to my fellow Americans: please VOTE. i am going to say this more than a few times in fine print over the next few weeks. VOTE. please. just .VOTE. (thanks)

ten (things that have crossed my mind today)

1) my current style icon is luna lovegood (ala harry potter and the order of the phoenix, which is a movie i have seen a lot, and i mean many times).

2) i cannot believe i am headed into the heart of a humid summer (via indiana and michigan) later this week (i hate humidity).

3) it's been a year since i did this, so i am think i am gonna do it again while sitting outside in the sun on the shore of lake michigan.

4) things seem so quiet lately. is anyone out there?

5) although it sometimes feels like summer is passing by so quickly, i am really looking forward to fall and all that it brings (like cooler weather and incredible events).

6) sometimes my high school friends are frozen as their 18-year-old selves...that is until i see a current photo of them on facebook. hello 32 year old. love it.

7) and on the subject of facebook, i still am not sure how i feel about the superpoking. what is a superpoke? and why do you want to do it to me?

8) i am going to use some of the gorgeous vintage buttons given to me by gram (jon's grandmother) to embellish a thrifted cardigan ala this adorable girl. i think that might be my crafting activity on the plane later this week...

9) i was going to make myself a new camera strap, but after spending way to much time searching for hardware (aka the end pieces) and finding nothing and oh how i mean nothing, i realized it would be so much easier to just support another etsy shop and buy one. but which one? i just can't choose...

10) raspberries make me so darn happy.

nine.

it snowed (and hailed and sleeted and rained) yesterday. it didn't stick but snow on the tulips is getting to be a bit much. (last weekend, it was in the seventies.)

i am gathering bits of things for the farm chicks show in a few weeks. i have so much to get ready for this show that i know i just can't worry about the fact that there are only three items in my little etsy shop. although i do worry a bit for some silly reason. but what i am creating is making me so happy. (and i will share pictures soon.)

in my gathering of things, i somehow found myself the proud owner of...ahem...a lot of vintage fabric yoyos (after leaving an antique mall yesterday). i mean a lot. not a small amount. it is fantastic fun.

i also won a huge button lot on ebay. huge. i mean not small at all. and i can't wait to sort through them and clean them and then pour them into a huge candy jar to take with me to the show. i am going for kind of a vintage candy store look for my booth.

i cried watching the season finale of torchwood (on bbc america) last night. cried. it was really sad. but good. i love that show.

i watched the papal mass today. not exactly sure why seeing that i am not catholic (yes, it is true, i went to notre dame and i am not catholic). it was interesting (i have been to a few masses in my time, but i never watched one with commentary before today). i actually said aloud to jon, "the pope's voice is so cute." was i the only out there who said that? well, no one in yankee stadium said anything. those people were so well behaved and quiet. it was a wonder to behold through the television screen...wonder what it was like to be there. probably very beautiful.

tonight, we are going to see the gambler in concert. if you don't know who i am talking about (or about my love of the gambler), read this post. i. am. really. excited. almost to the point where i am acting aloof about it because i keep thinking something will come up to prevent me from going like the last time (although at least it won't be a biopsy like the last time). i have warned jon that there are so many memories with these songs (many involving my grandparents), that i might just cry through some of them. i know, i know. but this is me.

today is a day where i am procrastinating some things. and i just have to breathe through that and know that it is okay and everything will get done. as it always does.

i feel very grateful for the connections i have made and keep making since i started this blog. as i seek balance in my life and try to stretch and grow in different directions while walking forward on my path, one thing continues to become clear: i am really blessed. thank you for you.

five (really) good things and six other things

ready to be sewn together maude bags, march 2008

1) jen made my day with the gift of the new blog banner above. and then, with her help, i did a little spring cleaning around my blog as i changed font colors and other things. (thank you dear friend) this make me so darn happy!

2) since coming home from visiting the midwest, i have put myself on a schedule. it is really working and helping me focus and feel less overwhelmed. i have been devoting the late afternoon and evenings to working in the little room...cutting out simple selma totes and maude bags and another new line of bags...designing and then creating a new apron that is the prototype for a new design i will be sharing soon. i feel more centered with a schedule and knowing that i can shift it as needed is helpful.

3) as i work in the little room, i have been listening to sarah vowell (and friends) read assassination vacation. oh my goodness, she is so funny. i love this book and the way she looks at the world and draws such incredible parallels between the past and today. i want to be her friend.

4) the sun is shining today and i can hear the birds chirping as i work. the robins and chickadees are today's soundtrack.

5) water with a slice of lemon. this is a really good, really refreshing thing for me lately.

a few weeks back, annie (whose class i will be taking at artfest in two weeks!) tagged me to share six little known odd things about myself...hmmm...this somehow morphed into a list of little known facts about me as a kid...here you go:

1) when i was little, my dad had a secretary named joyce. but, i thought joyce was the name of her profession. as in assistants to attorneys are called "joyces." i think that was because when i would see her at my dad's office, i was told to call her "mrs. [insert last name here]," but when my dad talked about her to my mom, he called her joyce. i remember the moment i suddenly figured out it was her name. i was dumbfounded. i never told anyone about my confusion until i was in my 20s.

2) i never took a nap during naptime when i was three and in preschool. everyday we would lay down on our cots and mrs. lewis would dim the lights and put on a record of some sort. everyone would sleep. i would try to braid my hair or count the lights on the ceiling or try to talk myself into being brave enough to ride the swing the next time we went outside to play. (i have mentioned mrs. lewis once before on this blog. she was the first person outside my family to teach me about love. she's retiring this year after 34 years. i adore her.)

3) i recall that when i was first learning how to read and spell, i would ask my mom what signs said as we were driving (so i learned how to spell "detour" early on). i also always wanted to know what street we were on. a main street near our home was miami street. it would drive me crazy that my mom insisted that the street was hers, and i would repeatedly explain that "it isn't yourami it is myami."

4) when i was about four, i had a dream that the lead singer of sha na na was breaking into our house, specifically to steal the new video camera from our basement. in the dream, i heard a noise and went to investigate and started to go down the stairs (sitting as i went from one stair to the next). i got to about the fourth step down and saw him going into the basement. i was holding my pink blanket and was suddenly frozen with fear. i woke up terrified and still remember it as though i had the dream yesterday.

5) the house i lived in from the age of about two until ten is my favorite house ever. if i had enough money to build a new home for me and jonny, i would build a home almost exactly like that one. i guess the people who live in it now have completely remodeled (not to mention they painted the bricks of the colonial-styled home white). i never want to go inside to see the remodel as i want to remember that house exactly as it was in my mind. i loved that house on garland circle so much and sobbed when my parents said we were moving.

6) when i was in grade school and my parents were out for dinner and we had a babysitter, i used to pretend that the back of the couch was the parallel bars. i would lean back against the couch and lift my legs in the air like nadia did in the print on my wall. my parents would have not liked me treating the furniture that way so i never, ever did it when they were home. last my brother knew that couch was still out there having survived time in my mom's basement then matt's house then a friend's house when matt moved to portland and now a friend of that friend has it. i bet that couch has seen more than i would ever want to know...but once, it was part of a little girl's "gymnastic routine."

*******

i would love it if you would share your five really good things...or an odd unknown fact about your childhood.

go ahead...

please...

fifteen.

pausing when i walk into the family room throughout the day and see this quilt. looking for my favorite patchwork square…then i discover a new favorite, then a new one…how the game goes on. this one-person sized quilt was quite the find at a seattle thrift shop last month. i love it.

thinking about starting my own quilt soon (from these thrifted quilt pieces).

reading amy's blog today. i've enjoyed her blog and shop for a while now...and right now, her experience fostering a baby is beautiful to read about. (go check it out)

eating up every second of miss austen regrets. it is time for me to admit it: i. am. a. jane. austen. fanatic.

watching U2 3D. (yes, you should too)

tearing up with hope when watching this video. no matter who you plan to vote for (just please vote) or what "side" you might find yourself on, i think we can all get behind this message. (via kelly – thanks girl)

dancing around the house while listening to mr. buffett sing "one particular harbor."

spending hours snuggled up on the couch with the crochet hook and soft beautiful yarn. (one scarf created for someone who needs to stay warm…i'll be sending it miles away soon, one scarflette created just for me, and one afghan started and unraveled and started again)

brainstorming with a friend via email turning into a personal brainstorm celebration friday afternoon which turned into a poem. i love poetry.

feeling so blessed as i read your comments and emails about last week's self-portrait. (thank you for getting it. thank you for reaching out. thank you.)

cutting fabric to make a few new bags (like this one) and finally realizing that i need to invest in a cutting table…which leads me to...

experiencing insomnia because i keep rearranging the little room (my studio) in my mind while i try to figure out how in the heck i can fit anything else in there...

digging daisies new digs.

smelling honey in the form of fresh (pink) tulips throughout the house.

sketching new designs and writing down the stories as they come to me. i love it when this happens (and it doesn't always, so this is a good thing).