lovely pdx day

hiked through the outdoor art installation
looked at sailboats (want the dutch one)
made yummy enchiladas
learned a bit more about the distillery process
enjoyed time with friends around the fire pit

happy holidays, k mart is closed

ash this is for you.

traveling... days 1,2,3

man (oh) man

the rain has let up and after a warm shower (that rid my hands of the days clay), squash soup and now a glass of scotch my aspirations of painting until the wee hours have been replaced with an archaeological dig through the internet searching for new tunes. Eureka i uncovered some gems. I freakin love artists covered by LaBlogotheque. http://www.youtube.com/user/LaBlogotheque

deliriously delicious

and the rain came in with the most beautiful clouds. i left for work and was met with a blue sky dotted with billowy clouds. exquisite! i felt like i woke from a dream and walked into a maxfield parrish painting. what a lovely way to wake up. the phone pics don't really do it justice but i am inspired to paint a cloud series pronto. they are so dynamic and delicious. we watched the hail storm that rolled through just as last period was starting and then dug into the clay. after two+ hours with my paws covered in clay it was hard to just wash off. it's kind of the artistic french manicure with white clay instead of polish. oh white like the snow in the n.w. oh i am so excited the white clay had me day dreaming of the snow that i kept getting pic messages of today. just a few more days!
side note. i had this parrish piece "ecstasy" in my room in high school.

the russian tom waits

'decided to go for a walk and take some pictures of the clouds before settling in. stopped by my favorite russian market and they have a few new additions including a well stocked wall of well mostly vodka and a few in the fridge, a huge selection of sweet cakes for the holiday and flat screen t.v.'s playing a russian music show. during my stint i heard a russian tom waits which made me want to pick up some vodka and read a little Pushkin or maybe Bukowski. i skipped the vodka, that may be left behind with alex for a while, and the cakes but i snapped a pic of one that i could have sworn said f*ckbum. hmmph. and home again with my little russian chocolate. i am guilty of buying a few just for the packaging. come on, clumsy bear!

love... it

picture time

get ready to boogie

can i get a yee haw

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

or disco baby yeah!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

sweet as honey

alright the old videos are no longer available with the old tracks, i think ms. thomas wants to sell her current versions. i am still in love record recordings with crackles and character so my friends to really enjoy this you should close your eyes so you don't need a visual.
p.s. rumor has it that otis redding tried to keep irma form singing "ruler of my heart" as he sings "pain in my heart". while i love otis i am a bigger fan of her version. what do you think?

fill my little heart

I was just re-reading an email from a pdx friend and i have it below. I love the poem and i love knowing that friends are thinking about me as i often think of them/you. alright here it is in all it's glory. and portland i miss you so but the weather here is sunny and dry and jazz feels the same on a late sunday morning.

"I was walking down by the overlook past the most amazing garden, the chaos
of wildflowers tempered by cultivation. The gardener always has a poem
mounted in a special wooden box, and this one reminded me of you:

The Rider

A boy told me
If he roller-skated fast enough
His loneliness couldn't catch up to him,
The best reason I ever heard
For trying to be a champion.
What I wonder tonight
Pedaling hard down King William Street
Is if it translates to bicycles.
A victory! To leave behind your loneliness
Panting behind you on some street corner
While you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,
No matter how slowly they fell.

While looking for it, I came across this one by the same poet.

Hidden

If you place a fern
under a stone
the next day it will be
nearly invisible
as if the stone has
swallowed it.

If you tuck the name of a loved one
under your tongue too long
without speaking it
it becomes blood
sigh
the little sucked-in breath of air
hiding everywhere
beneath your words.

No one sees
the fuel that feeds you.



Naomi Shihab Nye"

dinosaur on national television

spent the evening in oakland drinking wine and sharing stories with friends. came home, checked my email and found the headline above. Yes that's right ladies and gentleman the mural of women in science on a dinosaur, complete with the DNA necklace was the result of hours of work with students from the harriet tubman leadership academy for young women. After days in a cold warehouse by the river with fingers almost too cold to hold a paint brush, after we had eaten too much pizza and ran out of the original dinosaur base green paint a few too many times, put on one more coat of red lipstick just before the deadline was up, phew. after all those hours of creativity, joy, pride the dinosaur was ready for display(a few months before i moved) at OMSI (the sponsor). well the dino has been on display at various locations around portland and it was a pit stop on the amazing race, between the 6-8 minute mark. hooray for public art, portland, and young artists, i am so proud of them, us!

field trip

made plans with mikayla to visit the elusive four story deluxe britex fabric store, yes even though i am still battling a cold. this is the kind of place that you really need to be prepared to spend a few hundred dollars and we were not. cashmere at $275 a yard! eek. i had to skip to the loo at neiman marcus through the mens suit department(pin stripes anyone) with cuff links(i love them and have a few antique pairs) and exquisite ties and i think i touched a third of the merchandise on my way out. i would prefer to spend more time there instead of britex but not i know. mmm but we skipped off to china town for lunch. after walking for well a lot longer than we had anticipated with tummies rumbling we settled on this little place frying up congee in all of it's various states of filled and not. we are still not sure what this is and i am seeking out an answer from friends before consulting text sources. after shrimp wonton soup with noodles and a shared plate of pot stickers we did a little shopping. i found a fab pair of chenille leg warmers for $2.49 and i love them. mikayla found a rolling compact shopping cart, mission accomplished. we parted was and she began to hone her skills as a cart pusher, up the hills and over to the marina . i began my trek across the city back to the mission district (where i left my car). by the time i got back it was dark and i was glad to be home, feeling good from the long, long walk and convinced that i was sweating out any residual sickness. really i was exhausted, thoroughly depleted. i decided to be a grown up, not go out and instead stay in rest, drink tea and watch movies.