Kicking Off The Week

Wrapping The Week

On Saturday we are going to my newphew's last basketball game of the season. He's nine and the games are really hilarious and fun. That night we are attending a supper club, held at a different couple's house each month. We are looking forward to hanging out with old friends and meeting some new people too. Earlier this month, I had a couple over for dinner and Scrabble. I'm trying to do something like this once a month--have people over. I think because this is commonly referred to as "entertaining", it stresses me out slightly. When I realize friends don't expect me to tap dance and tell jokes, well then I can relax and get down to planning a menu. And as long as there is pie, everyone is happy.

Some of this week's tidbits.

• Wonderful post on recipe cards at Wide Open Spaces.
• One of my favorite bloggers, Estelle at Under A Pink Moon, wrote a piece for Huffington Post on a topic that I share big concerns about--The Chemicals in Your Cosmetics.
• I found this TED talk about parenting by the founders of Babble to be very real and charming. 
• Some really great Airstream projects. 
• I love Nikki McClure's work.

Have a great weekend. Buh-bye February!

Neon Boneyard Holgas

My photos from the Neon Boneyard in Las Vegas, February 2005.
Old Holga. Not an app.
Little light leak, Oh how I love thee.
Was in town participating in a group art show at The Contemporary Arts Collective.

Jazz Portraits

[Portrait of Joan Brooks and Duke Niles, New York, 1947]
originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

I could spend hours looking at the collection of photos uploaded to The Commons on flickr. The Gottlieb Jazz Photo collection has over 1,500 images. Isn't this photo goofy? Those crazy jazz cats.

Last Saturday, we saw Quincy Troupe, Kelvyn Bell, and Hamiet Bluiett perform a jazz concert/poetry reading at the Nu-Art Metropolitan Gallery. It was pretty great and we are determined to get out and do more cultural things like this, although I don't think I'll be standing on anyone's head soon.

Roaring

Had a wonderful birthday weekend. Thrifting, used book stores, jazz concert, chocolate shop, and a truly divine dinner. More to come.

Beard Project

This past weekend marked the end of the great beard project of 2011. It was fun while it lasted. It was certainly getting woolly, and he took home the Ulysses S. Grant prize at the Presidential Beard Party over the weekend. We took the opportunity to get silly with the shave. The 70's porn star stache was very disturbing. Audrey was fascinated by the shaving process. After it was gone, she kept saying, "I like your face, daddy. Like mommy. Like Audrey." The ball of beard in the trash was perplexing to her, but a welcomed bundle of gnarly grotesqueness to me.

Today it is sunny and will be in the 70's. Can spring really be this close?

UPDATE: 03/07/11
When Audrey saw these pictures of her dad, she said, "Mr. Noodle." Spot on!

Oh Happy Day!

{Easter/April 2010}

Last year, this week was not a good one. My mom had a heart attack on her birthday, just a few hours after we left from visiting the farm for the weekend. She has made a wonderful recovery and I am thankful every day that we have her here. So much has changed over the last year. My parents now live just an hour away and we are able to see them much more often. Audrey loves visiting gam-maw and gam-paw and almost every night asks me to "tell me the stowdy, mommy, daddy, Audey go to gam-maws...tell me that stowdy mommy," and then I recount every last detail of our most recent visit.

Our birthdays are only four days apart. When I was in junior high and high school, for our birthdays my mom would let me take a day off school and we would shop and go out to lunch.We are doing the same this Friday and I can't wait. There is no way to really explain how important and special my mom is to me. I'm lucky, indeed.

Sweethearts

Any guy that would let his wife and daughter subject him to this, has got to be a sweetheart, right?

The biggest risk I've ever taken resulted in the biggest jackpot ever to be won. I met Lindsey in the summer of 2004 and my life has never been the same. He moved here in 2005. We got married in 2006. We had Audrey in 2007. My life changed so quickly, but it all has seemed so natural...sort of like a story realizing itself, if that makes sense. I have what I've always wanted. I am not an easy person. I get stuck in my own head a lot. I forget to ask for help. But I never forget that I am loved. I feel it every day. I am so lucky to have this man. And my little girl. My sweethearts.

Wrapping The Week

O'Keefe Cooking

The cabin is booked and we'll be traveling to Creede, Colorado in June. We are very excited and planning a different route from our 2009 trip--hoping to go through Albuquerque. Actually, I'm more interested in Santa Fe and seeing the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. I've never been to New Mexico. And I am soooo ready for some kind of warmth. Audrey and I will be spending a quiet weekend with my parents. Lindsey is going to stay in town to attend the Royale's Abraham Lincoln Presidential Beard Party.  I was encouraging the beard for a while, but at this point, will be as happy to see that gnarly thing gone as I will be for the ice to melt!

Things from this week:

• Looking forward to Lucinda Williams new album, Blessed, due out March 1st. The videos are moving.
• Hemingway's villa in Cuba is fascinating and beautiful.
• This Post-It Art Show is such a great idea.
• Since Valentine's is on a work night, not sure how fancy of a dinner I can concoct this year. May have to resort to this darling idea.  
• Audrey's valentine party was Thursday. The kids were so adorable. I made the treat bags (which Audrey thoroughly inventoried once home; other mom did the awesome crowns. 

Sweet days and birthdays on the near horizon. Excitement! Love to all.

New Resolution

I have loved this song.
I really wanna live.

Vivian Maier

 

Please please, visit John Maloof's blog on street photographer Vivian Maier, whose work wasn't discovered until after her death. Out of the more than 100,000 negatives Maloof has in the collection (acquired at a furniture and antique auction) about 20-30,000 negatives were still in rolls, undeveloped from the 1960's-1970's. This is a really amazing story...piecing together her life.

• Vivian Maier Photography Project
• Wikipedia Entry
• Support the film being made at Kickstarter Project

Dames

First found out about this collection of vintage photos from Sydney's Police archives at Coilhouse. Became particularly intrigued with the female criminals and victims, but really the entire collection is so incredible. Very easy to get lost in the photos and stories here, mostly from the early 1920's. Apparently, there is a book.

B. Smith, Gertrude Thompson and Vera McDonald

 

Barbara Turner

Ellen Kreigher

 Daphne Barker

Greta Massey
 

 

Agnes Smith

Wrapping The Week

Do you believe these are brooches? I found these on The Design Files blog. They are by Julie Blyfield, an Australian jeweler. I love the botanical and marine-like quality.

This has been a slow week. Lots of time off because of winter weather. It has been lovely. I finished a book, my third of the year, but I'm making no headway on my list. I'm okay with that for now. We have a friends coming over for dinner and Scrabble on Saturday. I'm keeping the menu simple (lasagna, salad, bread, carrot cake). It is going to get up to a whopping 38 degrees on Sunday. We are going OUTSIDE no matter what. Last weekend we went to the zoo. Even though it was chilly and not all the animals were out, it was so therapeutic to get some sunshine.

Here are some tidbits from the week. 

• Anthony Zinonos' collage work is so fantastic.  
• These quiet little skate films are mesmerizing. 
• Yes, I get excited about corduroy.
• This is one of our favorite book right now. Audrey loves it and the photos are amazing.  
• So simple. So cute. 
• Never one to pass up a quiz. What is your style? I'm an Unpretentious Bon Vivant. (Cozy… not oversized - a hand crafted gem. To cook a grand meal in an elegant kitchen is your joy...pre-war, upper east side attitude. A den of discussion for artists and intellectuals. Other suspected Unpretentious Bon Vivants include John Lennon, Cary Grant, and Coco Chanel.)

Happy weekend. Joy.

Valentines

We made versions of these Valentines for Audrey's first party. I made little stickers of her face for the back and let her "sign" them with her sticker and some coloring. The three-year-olds will at least know which valentine came from her that way (I know...like it matters).

Vintage Valentines

Just a reminder...last year, leading up to Valentine's Day, I posted a vintage valentine a day from my collection. Check them out, if you are inclined.

Snow What

Blizzard warnings turned out to be blown way out of proportion for our area. We got quite a bit of sleet, but no major snowfall and I'm disappointed. I hate getting out in the frigid temperatures and if it had snowed, I could have avoided it for a couple of days. Lindsey was home with us today, as his work was closed. We spread a huge plastic tablecloth on the floor and put a 3' x 4' piece of foamcore out with some paints and let Audrey go crazy. Before it was all said and done, I had painted her feet and she danced on it. So fun.

I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies and Lindsey delivered warm packets of cookies to three sets of neighbors. I made a simple beef stew and some braised cabbage and decided to see if Katy and Pattick wanted to come over for dinner. I'm usually not so spontaneous, but it was so nice. She'd had a wicked day at work so she was very appreciative.

A lovely day.