Simple food is always so beautiful! Happy Lunching!

So this is pretty family specific, but I have a thing for taking photos of people far away, seen through an opening in an object up close. I have tortured my family with these photos, there is one of Dad "inside" a Morris car model, Mom "inside" the jaw of a kangaroo scull (more family specific things - not many have access to a wide variety of skulls), Aubrey "inside" a sea urchin, Laurel "inside" a giant cracker wheel. And now its my turn, inside a huge roll of bubble wrap, just waiting to be rolled around my paintings.

Despite the extreme need to pack I decided to drive into Santa Cruz today, and have what will probably be my last "Personal Day" there. Coffee at Lulu's, a quick trip into Logos, driving up to the cliffs and then walking out along the wharf to get a carmel apple. Its been a good day. Among many, a few of the visual highlights are as follows:
1) Seeing the moon VERY clearly at one o'clock in the afternoon, between puffy white clouds and a bright blue sky.
2) Watching five seals feeding on some fish (I think tossed out by the fresh fish stand). It was a huge game of rip-the-fish-in-half, fight-off-the-others, and bark-at-the-swarms-of-seagulls, and they made me laugh.
3) Observing a pigeon stick its entire head into a small water valve to drink fresh water - it looked like a pigeon body with a huge metal pipe for a head.

One of the most gratifying moments for me, as an artist, is the moment a piece of work is framed and you realize you really like it after all (Framing a piece makes it final, and you have to stop critiquing it - a constant problem for me).

So I promise this will not turn into one of those annoying "here's more pictures of my cats!" blogs, but Thai (otherwise known as big pimpin') is just so cool, I had to share.

So a major color theme happening in the worlds of design and fashion is yellow. Its been going on for several months now, and seems totally appropriate for spring.
Design*Sponge had a whole post on yellow design products, and any design magazine you pick up will surely feature lots of sun-shiny color. I was reading through my new Domino mag (its my favorite - I'm pretty much guanteed to do absolutly nothing the first afternoon it arrives in the mail) while making breakfast, and realized I had a whole theme going on in my kitchen. So I had to share it. Who ever knew raw eggs could be so hip?

So in the serious editing of my life that is happening before the move, I decided to part with a large amount of my textile collection. After going through all the fabrics that I have collected in the past several years (amounting to more boxes than I will admit here) I narrowed it down to 1 1/2 bins, and listed the rest as "free to a textile artist" on craigslist. I emailed back and forth with a woman interested, who ended up coming by the house last night while I was at work, and picked up the boxes of fabric. She, Donna, emailed me later that night to send me a link to her ETSY shop, where she sells odd and occasionally dark little quilts. It was the best end I could have hoped for for my textiles, and made me so glad that I could freely give her so much material rather than bummed about my dwindling pile of fabric. So,. . Hooray for artists!!! Support the community!!

One of my favorite sounds is "kittty windchimes." This is the phenomena that occurs when fresh tuna is placed in little ceramic bowls for the boys, and as they eat, their name tags gently chime against the bowls.

The famous cake for two!

So a few weeks ago I spent a little time in the SJ Japanese Friendship Garden, sitting by one of the ponds. I came away with some random lines that managed to turn themselves into a poem. So here it is, for your reading pleasure:
"Mallards"

Ten Heads
Two Legs
One wing – outstretched
Waiting for the sun to warm their cold stones.

Moss speaks in color: chartreuse, turquoise, lemon yellow, a touch of ultramarine
Juniper berries answer, plump in blue-grey

The drone of the planes drowns out their voices
The Shinto spirits left long ago
But the Koi remain
Growing older
Growing fatter
(I hope they do not feed them corn, like the salmon bred for our waistlines)

The water flows, like a cool breeze of light
That flickers on the leaves of the magnolia.

Sunlight advances and the damp steams off.
Nine Feet
Eight Heads
Two Feathers Fluffed

Love is.... Dale Eanhardt chocolates

Happy Valentine's Day!!
The day of love and mushiness and martyred saints! I thought I would write out a very short list of people who I love (very short because there are many people I love, and only a little time before I need to go and sling drinks for all the happy couples). Here goes:
1) People who leave not just one or two q-tips, but the whole box for you.
2) People who do not judge you for eating an entire slice of chocolate cake (and eat right along side you!).
3) People who send V-day cards in the mail with gifts such as itunes cards.
4) People who give of their own knowledge and goods (such as teaching soldering).
5) People who put you on speed dial (especially number 8, I just love that number)
6) People who give house warming gifts before you even move.
7) People who understand the fun of being a crafty-crafter-kins.
8) People who treasure things that you make for them.
There are many more, but this will have to do for a start.

So I can be rather fickle with my clothes, but I think my new dress from Basho is pretty much my new favorite piece. So if you see me wearing it (which should be just about every day right now) feel free to tell me how fabulous it is. And check out his other work - I love it all!!

Good morning! The kitties are streching their legs in the sunshine and I am sipping coffee warming my toes on the back porch. And then I am reminded again of how cool nature's art is.

So all the Californians keep warning me about the weather up north, but honestly, I can't wait for it. There is something about grey that is so beautiful, something about freshly washed air and something about misty days that speaks to my soul. I think even my plants are excited about it. This guy (note - guy - he's a male, like so many of my planty friends) is looking forward to it too. I think he was kinda disappointed to come home from Point Reyes to San Jose, but the orchids he has made friends with told him better places are coming soon.

Peace

I figure every one needs a little peace, and this (FELT - yep, I keep on playing with it)) guy is going to hang from a doorway in our new place up in Seattle.

A list of things that I love right now:

*The Rain - its so cleansing, it gives me hope and makes me look forward to the green
*Flafal - I think thats what is calling my name for lunch
*Beautiful, simple cards - I can't get enough of them, especially the handmade, letterpress type
*Les Nubians - I took a break, but am back to loving "One Step Forward"
*3191 visual blog - its super beautiful and inspiring
*Warm, furry kittie boys - they sleep with me when Brad is out of town
*Fair Trade Guatemala Coffee - from Barefoot of course!
*Ipomea Vines - mine just keeps kicking, from the day I snipped it in drive-by-cuttings
*Felt - its the world's oldest textile and felting is like magic
*Wing in Green Glass Necklace - made by SquidGlass on Etsy (minor obsession there!)