happy nude year
01.05.09 14:10
As much as I love the holidays, I can honestly say, that the first few weeks into the new year, make me incredibly happy. I feel like everything ahead is a blank slate, so ripe with possibility, that I can barely contain my enthusiasm and optimism. Make a million dollars this year? Sure! NO problem. Get up at 6am and go to hot yoga every day? Certainly, and why not? Become a good cook, an acrobat, an animal rescuer, a novelist, an animator, and join an orchestra? Of course. Certainly. All possible! Go forth!
Judging by the commercials that ramp up in January, (Quit smoking in three hours! Hula hoop diet! Make more money selling pyramids! Get buns of steel to match your abs of gold!) I'm not the only one who has the fervor of a freed hamster when the new year begins. The trouble is of course, that I burn out rather quickly when the mountains I want to climb are steep (and by steep, I mean razor sharp cliffs lined with ice), and all I've packed is a handful of leftover Christmas chocolate to keep me going.
So this year, I'm doing my best to take my frantic excitement and goal setting and slice them into nice, simple day hikes. I'm planning on packing lots of nourishment ( a little trick that I learned from my friend Felicity) and lots of treats along the way (another trick that I learned from my friend Wendy), and hope that my plodding along, will take me somewhere I could not have even dreamed about during these first few days of post holiday bliss.
This time around, I hope to sit down and actually think about what it would take to get from point a to point b. And I hope to meet some fellow hikers along the way...maybe even around a campfire. Maybe there will even be smores. One can hope....
What say ye, want to come along?
now bring us a figgy
01.01.09 12:59
Happy New Year! Hope you all had a great holiday time. As you can see by this handy montage of pictures, we had a bunch of snow...
Gabe and I were in Portland for part of last week, (along with one of my sisters and her family), and Eugene (where my whole family gathered), for the rest. After a week of sporadic snow, Portland got blasted with a huge storm (the biggest here in my lifetime!) that dumped seventeen inches of the white stuff, and a lot of ice, just a few days before Christmas.
This storm made for such a mixed up holiday, where lots of sledding shenanigans and snowy drives of hilarity and terror ensued. Throw in the stomach flu, and you have Christmas Crazy Pants 2008. But despite all of the mix-ups, canceled plans, vomiting, and lack of present buying, I would have to say that it was one of the most special, meaningful, wonderful Christmas weeks that I can recall.
So, now..bare with me and my math brain. (Nerd alert!) I tried to quantify the joy, below.
Number of holiday movies watched?
7.45
It's A Wonderful Life, Scrooged, Muppet Christmas Carol, Love Actually, Prancer and several made for tv holiday movies on Lifetime which are too embarrassing to recount..
Amount of chocolate eaten by me, and me alone?
239982384723984723987193847 lbs.
Roughly three thousand tons. Maybe more, if chocolate covered cherries are considered chocolate, which I think they are.
Number of Clementines consumed by me, and me alone?
57645358767697897
Let's just say that some think that my skin has a bit of an orangish tint to it now.
Total number of hours we spent inching along I-5 last week? (the freeway that runs from Eugene to Portland, normally a two hour drive)
16!!!! I did the math, truly it was 16.
Number of family members who had the stomach flu?
5, including yours truly.
Number of times sledded down the hill by my sister's house in the dead of night?
**??@@@@
The sum above is a number you get when you evade death, repeatedly.
Number of tiny snow forts created to put candles in?
15.
Number of over sized snowmen Gabe and I muscled together in the backyard?
ONE, ENORMOUS SNOW PERSON!!! Most definitely a giant.
Number of hugs and kisses from sisters and brothers and parents and husband and wee ones once we all managed to be together at last?
Many, many, many...but never enough!
Peace and health and high fives in the New Year, to you and your kin.
12.16.08 02:45
It was a snowy and chilly day on Sunday here in Portland land...(it still is, actually.) and I want to thank everyone who came out to support us at Crafty Wonderland!
Portland generally doesn't get a lot of snow, so when it happens, the roads are really treacherous (they don't salt them, or plow them here.) Mix in a few hills, and you have some wacky times out there. Gabe and I had to chain up just to get to Crafty Wonderland in the morning, and we saw some very sad cars on our way there. Plenty of sliding and spinning. So again, thanks to everyone who made it!
This was the last event for me for the season, and I must say, I'm feeling really relaxed and happy. I've been in a pretty constant state of action for the last six weeks, and it feels strangely wonderful to have the arty business stuff slowing down.
I have plenty of paintings that I'm inching into my etsy store (prints too) but other than that, I think I'm ready to kick back with some eggnog.
Yup...maybe even THAT kind of eggnog.
Sunday, December 14th
12.08.08 10:53
Crafty Wonderland, bigger than ever! I'll be there on Sunday, booth 54. Come by and say hello!
Renegade!
12.08.08 10:27
As usual, I didn't really get any photos of this Renegade until the last minute, so what you see here is a blurry half photo of my booth, and some folks setting up on the main floor.
I didn't capture the huge crowds of humans that turned out for this, or the beautiful space that we were in... (Pulaski Park Fieldhouse is gorgeous!) Or the big fat flakes that were drifting down outside, or Mucca Pazza marching around the place (not to mention their awesome show with Icy Demons at the Renegade after party on Saturday.)
Thanks to everyone for making this such a great Renegade!