abbey swears by them as a husband-catcher. it might be time to get me some peonies. i'm mostly joking. well, sort of. besides, aren't they just pretty? yeah. we still don't even have buds here in the perpetual tundra.

feels like monday again.

it is so gray and gross outside. i am trying to remember last year at this time, but i must have blocked it out because i cannot at all recall anything about the end of march 2008 or what the weather was like. suffice it to say, i am sick of this winter stuff. and i want to get out of town.
but this little guy has cheered me up!
and led me to more laughs here. i am particularly enthralled with the twins, their matching backpacks, and their little adventures (scroll down to see the story).
i would have actually posted images, but i couldn't get them to work.
the genius behind the birdies is lauren alane.
you can find her here: shop, blog, website

monday, monday.

i am totally dragging today, with the continual gray weather outside, and a winter storm advisory or warning or something. . . dreaming a lot about my dream life, and dream space, and this image (via sfgirlbybay--bless her and her deco files) just speaks to me. and i do not use the phrase "speaks to me" in normal conversation. or ever. i wish i was in this room today. sigh.


i am totally dragging today, with the continual gray weather outside, and a winter storm advisory or warning or something. . . dreaming a lot about my dream life, and dream space, and this image (via sfgirlbybay--bless her and her deco files) just speaks to me. and i do not use the phrase "speaks to me" in normal conversation. or ever. i wish i was in this room today. sigh.

here we are again.

uh. . . it's another day of not being excited about work, or the weather, or life in general. i don't really like whiney blog posts, but the longer this funk continues, the more bewildered i am about what to do. but how could this not put a smile on your face? greg brown singing about taking a bath?! hilarious. alvin and the chipmunks singing "please, please me"?!!

a case of the tuesdays?

ugh. i do not want to go to work today (or any day, really). it is dark and windy outside and i mostly just feel like staying home with some music, coffee, and research. it is time to get serious about this working for myself thing, and it is all i can think about. also, i want to make these cookies. oh, and i want to read the tenth muse, because it looks amazing (is it one of those things i have just not paid attention to before?) a lot of my thoughts lately are about what i want out of life, what i want to do, and what i want to surround myself with--not in a hopeless, depressing way, but in a "let's make it happen" sort of way:
i want to read more.
i want to cook more.
i want to take more photographs.
those are just three, i am holding back a little, because being on the internet is like being in public, and it's good to not let it all hang out all the time.
however, it is off to work for me.
i am always ten minutes late and i hardly ever care. i think that is not such a good sign.

there are days--lots of them lately--when i want to stand on the roof and scream at the top of my lungs.
amy suggests that perhaps that could be the american equivalent to the siesta. round about noon we all hop out onto our roofs, wherever we are, and let loose, just get it all out.
i almost feel refreshed just thinking about it.
minnesota will never be the birthplace of that tradition.

walking home from the bus stop tonight, i turned into one of those people. you know, one of those people you don't run into often, but you are probably glad you don't. those people who perhaps sing or whistle along to whatever music is playing only in their ears, those people who bop along on the sidewalk, just happy to be alive. agh! those people!
i was suffering from an overload of energy (i do work in an office after all--another subject for another day) and i just really could not help but sing along with my ipod and then get terribly distracted by the deep dusk sky and the white lights on the trees along second street. and seeing as i am so obsessed with valentines, i tried to draw a heart for you while the exposure ran. it reminded me of writing my name with sparklers as a kid, the bottom photo reminds me of a slinky. the lines and textures of the photos also remind me somewhat of the lines and textures in printmaking, which are always unique and wonderful.
oh, and of course i couldn't resist the moon mingling with the twinkle lights above the squares of the condo roof.
it felt great to bop around the sidewalk, sing along with gillian welch, and play with my camera for a few minutes. it felt great to ignore everything else and be really happy to be alive.

it's snowing already. we are under a winter storm watch. and yes, i am obsessed with the weather. these few darkest weeks of winter really are difficult. that might sound overly dramatic to those who love winter, or who do not live in minnesota, or have completely stable emotions. the darkness and the cold really do get to me. they trick me. i start functioning in survival mode. i start to think i am a terrible person. i don't mean to be a downer, just honest. i realize this is my third weather-related post in a row, but that is actually what is going on in my life. i have not decorated for christmas. i have not yet made all the presents i want to make. but that is okay. in a few days i will be home with family and we will have christmas and it will be lovely.
also, i have made a wonderful discovery of late. or rather, a friend shared her wonderful discovery with me: the big book of soft toys by mabs (!!) tyler. published in 1973, this woman is the great aunt of the likes of joelle hoverson and amy butler. the pictures are amazing, the colors so vivid. i managed to find my own copy online, and it is en route to my house! here are a few of my favorite pages: