Izzy

For the record, she's not really this pensive.

Daily photo: 2/15/08

Coveting

Thought I'd post about this sweet little jug from EmmaLitten's Etsy shop that I'm drooling over. Isn't is adorable? For a complete listing of all the things I'm pretty sure I can't live without on Etsy, click here. I'm sure you're all sooo interested! ;-)

Enviornmental art

Evidently one of the area residents took our recent ice storm as an opportunity to channel their inner Andy Goldsworthy. They made ice columns on either side of their driveway. I like 'em.

Daily photo: 2/14/08

I like it 'cause it makes me feel smart.

For Christmas this year, my sweet momma got me a subscription to my favorite magazine, Cabinet. It is "a quarterly (magazine) of art and culture" full of wide ranging articles, and no topic is off limits. Even their website is full of cool stuff, like this article on Sigmund Freud and porcupines (one of my favorites), and just look at the nice, heavy cardboard envelope it's delivered in! This is truly one of the luxuries of my life right now, and it's not even that expensive.

Thanks, mom.

Army of binding wire

Daily photo: 2/13/08

Valentine's Day

My valentine to N. Happy Valentine's Day!

New Blog

My good friend from undergrad, Gail Ralston, has just started a blog. Gail makes amazing jewelry inspired by flowers and natural forms from rubber, monofilament, pearls and whatever she can think of! She has a great etsy shop too, and a website coming soon. Give 'er a look-see, I don't think you'll regret it!

Snow days

or should I say ice days,
mean sleeping in!

Daily photo: 2/12/08

It's my job.

Today I unloaded this 6-foot tall pallet of produce.

Daily photo: 2/11/08

cute little bunnies.

Yeah, real cute as they're being used for medical experiments in the 1950's. PBS does not sugar-coat.

Daily Photo: 2/10/08

Another Rattle

Even the yellow parts on the brush heads move back and forth.

2/9/08

Oh, the many hours of my recent life spent tangling and untangling this cord--the camera to computer cord.

Confession

I think chocolate fountains are weird, and kind of disgusting.

Daily Photo: 2/8/08

mmm...coffee

Thanks for the french press, Megan!

Daily photo: 2/7/08

Souvenirs

While I'm on the subject of things that interest me, I'll take a moment to mention souvenirs. I am/have been very interested in souvenirs as a class of objects for a while now. I like them because they are objects of significance, and nothing else. They are not useful, nor were they ever intended to be. They are only meant to recall a past experience, a lost experience that cannot be repeated. Souvenirs are generally some of the least authentically made objects that are meant to authenticate life's experiences: they provide physical proof that something happened, or you did something, and amassing a collection of souvenirs means you've done a lot of things. I like the contradiction that something more or less materially worthless, like a cheap souvenir spoon, can be very emotionally valuable.

But I did not buy the spoons pictured here to mark an anniversary, or my trips to Texas. I bought these spoons as part of a collection of 28 other souvenir spoons on Ebay. I don't know if they were accumulated by one person, or thrown together by their seller, and other than for reference material (which is why I bought them), I can't think of why anyone would buy someone else's collection of crappy spoons. But presumably they do. And I have kept them long after I needed the reference.

Periodically I look at these spoons as they hang on a wall in my studio and wonder what, if anything, they mean now.

Frames

Some people really get into frames and framing. I'm not one of them. Too fussy for me and I always get hair or something on the inside of the glass.

I like frames, though, as an idea. Frames, of course, mark limits and focus attention and they are essential parts of virtually everything humans find to be aesthetically pleasing. Movies are framed by the screen, books by their covers, and, importantly, both are framed by clear beginnings and endings.

Like many people, I struggle with feelings of insecurity, anxiety and ambitions that tell me I should always be doing better than I am. These feelings can sometimes be increased when I read my beloved blogs listed on the right. Each shows someone's life as seemingly lovely and composed and free of junk mail or scary piles of cardboard boxes precariously stacked in "the office."

But I have been thinking that maybe my issue isn't one of inferiority; maybe it's an issue of framing.

And that is why I have begun my daily photo project. I am looking for the aesthetic value in my life the way I see it in other's. If I can find beauty in my dirty dishes, even if that means taking the picture through the obscuring lens of a second camera, then maybe my life isn't so very different from "theirs."
Daily photo: 2/6/08

Clockwork

I will never accept, or understand, why once every month, I have to have a headache for 3 days. Some things just aren't fair.

Daily photo: 2/5/08

Auf Wiedersehen

N. and I have been living a dream for the last six months with a cable package that included extended basic and Starz movies. Alas, it was a discounted deal and our time is up. Our previous cable company extended the deal or found us a new one when it ended, but not our current company. So it's back to basic cable for us.

Christian, am I never to know how fierce you can be... *sigh*

Daily Photo

THE Best Chocolate Chip Cookies...ever.

What follows is the recipe for my family's favorite dessert, and my most signature recipe:
Great Grandmother Barber's Chocolate Chip Cookies. There is no equal.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In bowl mix*: 1 c. softened butter (2 sticks)
1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

add: 2 eggs, mix*

add: 2 c. flour (I use 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour and 1/2 c. all purpose flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
dash of cinnamon and/or nutmeg

mix well*.

add chocolate chips--approx. 1 12 oz bag, or how ever much you like.

*do not use an electric mixer. mix by hand, with patience and love, and preferably the same wooden spoon used only for sweet dishes so it becomes 'seasoned.' (yes, I am particular about this)
bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 7 to 10 minutes-- (I like to bake for 8 min., then open the oven, close it, and bake for 2 more min. I've tried not doing this, and they end up burned. This may just be me, though...)
--until they look like this.
Enjoy. And you will.

Cleaning out

I want to have only my copper work in my etsy shop, so I've marked down my remaining silver necklaces. If you're interested...

Sunday=Laundry

Of all the conveniences our apartment lacks, I miss having our own washer and dryer the most.

Daily photo: 2/3/08

Apples

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much the organic/local foods movement has in common with the new movements in crafts and I was excited to see that very subject touched upon by this interesting post on Craft Research.

Of course, I like to think that since the New York Times Magazine's article about crafts and web 2.0 came out in December, Megan and I scooped them by publishing our piece in Metalsmith in October! Ha! That'll be the day...

Daily Photo: 2/2/08

Feb. 1

Okay, so maybe yesterday's post was a little premature. This is sort of quaint and picturesque. You'll have to excuse the screen it's shot through--I wasn't goin' out there (too cold!).

Winter in the Midwest

There's precious little charm to be had in slushy, goopey ice/snow, but that is often what you get for winter in the lower Midwest. And it feels like home to me.

Daily photo: 1/31/08

Life is stressful.

And I won't say that evenings like these make it all melt away--because that would be a lie, but they help.

Daily photo: 1/30/08

More vibrating grooming tools

Toothbrush, or some kind of fancy sports car? You tell me.

Who among us is really so lazy that they can't move the floss between their teeth? It's called "the hummingbird."

Rainy Day-Photo Journal

It's 54 degrees (F) right now (9 a.m.)--but the temperature will be dropping all day. I guess it really is January, even in Southern Illinois.

Blank Canvas(es)

6 new oval bowls--waiting to be patterned!

Morning Routine

My daily breakfast: a bowl of oatmeal and glass of milk. I made the mug several years ago, and the spoon. The bowl I got at Uncommon Objects in Austin, TX--maybe the coolest antique store I've ever been to, though when it comes to volume, nothing beats The Heart of Ohio Antique Center near Springfield, OH.

Home again, home again...

Back to good 'ol Illinois. 1/27/08

Out with the girls in St. Louis

Celebrating my birthday in STL at the Royale.
1/26/08

A lazy birthday on the couch

From 1/25/08.

My New Year

It is the eve of my 27th birthday and for me, this always seems like the time to make resolutions about the coming year. So, I am resolving to keep a photo journal for one year starting today. I will take one photo per day of something I did and post it here--that's the theory, anyway.

This morning I worked at the Co-op and set out samples, a job I particularly enjoy. These are the yogurt samples. They were Brown Cow apricot mango.

I get it now.

I guess, up to this point in my life, I had only eaten low-fat or fat-free yogurt. Consequently, I always wondered why yogurt was supposed to be such a treat, one that some people felt was 'indulgent.'
Well, now I work at a fancy grocery store--one that has lots of samples--and I've discovered that the secret is the fat! With fat, yogurt is delicious! I can't get enough of it. Gimmee that rich, creamy, smooth and indulgent yogurt, please. Now, I understand.

Art Guilt

If I learned one thing in my 7 1/2 years of academic art training, it was to feel guilty about any moment of any day that I did not devote to the creation or conception of a "real" work of art.

While I have been making things since I left grad school and moved to Southern Illinois this past summer, I have not actually worked on much of what I would call my "art," until now.

So here it is. Proof that I have at least marginally continued the train of art-making I began in grad school. The white part is a vibrating tool intended for exfoliating one's face and I have loosely attached onto it the butt-ends of bright green toothbrushes. I have plans for more of these "rattles" since the new wave in grooming tools seems to be vibration--even in shaving razors...An idea which actually kind of horrifies me.

A looong winter's break.

I've been a terrible blogger for the past several weeks--but I have at least been busy. I knit both the smaller striped stockings for our cats this year and added the 'C' and 'N' to our stockings, which I knit a couple years ago. Other than that, there's been lots of driving--to Texas and back (over 2000 miles in 9 days) and lots of extra Holiday hours at the Neighborhood Grocery Co-op where I now work part-time.

While I had a good time, I'm glad the holidays have passed and I'm ready to get back to my normal routine.

Here's hoping the New Year brings lots of good new things for everyone!!