Friday, I'm in love....

Uniform Project Picture Book from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

I am SO going to miss this.... And you can check out the new (365 day) video here.

Kimono, interrupted....

So, I've been working on the design and construction of this little kimono-inspired jacket for the last couple of days and it's been a blissful heaven of linen/cotton delicious splendor and a productive soiree of the rarest kind, minor sleeve setbacks notwithstanding. I can hardly tear myself away to sleep or collect my children from school. Honestly, I have to set an alarm, or I will forget.

What could put a stop to this, you ask? The perfect storm of my mother-in-law's imminent arrival and the untidiness of my bathrooms.

Duty calls.

Great big ballistic good lordy, and other things I don't ordinarily say, along with things I say altogether too often.

You know how sometimes you read or hear something that speaks to your heart in a way that stops it and makes you fall down? Because it's the answer to the question you didn't even know you were asking? And the sayer of the thing that stopped you is not Anais Nin or Ghandi or anyone, but just a blogger you read every day and adore and somehow that makes it better and more meaningful and awesome in every way?

Do you know what I mean?

I didn't think you would, but anyway (maybe if I keep talking it will become more clear, though that's hardly ever the case) - Liane recently said this:

i don't want to give up or deny my creative desires. i want to organize my life around them, not push them aside to live as i think others expect.

and then my heart stopped and I fell down. I still haven't quite up-righted myself, but I do feel better. So. Okay. I'm a creative person. That's what makes me happy. I will organize my life around that. My house is a mess and dinner is late and I'm not going to take any crap about that. So there.

And I've been making space. Space in my home and space in my day - Or at least trying not to feel super guilty about the space and time that I already take to be creative in....

As if I'm not already a bad enough housekeeper......

SEE? how the guilt came right back in?

I have to work on that.

Stunning photo that doesn't have anything really to do with this post, but just seemed to fit, by Futurowoman Fotographie.

And you can read all of Liane's awesome post here.

Horror show - after.

It's finally done and I'm rather pleased with it and myself. A tub of Mod-Podge ($10), an Italian novel (a gift I received 25 years ago - the giver would heartily approve of this usage, I think, especially since I never learned to read Italian), laser printer, pencils, and some lace from my stash....
....and the rug, from FLOR (a splurge at $75). Altogether $85 over budget - but really, it feels at least $100 better than it was, so: Bargain!

Friday, I'm in love....

I'm in love with this sleeveless hemp work coat I spied on Sri Threads (with which I am also in love). Must make something similar....

Amarti E' Una Follia

A novel called Amarti E' Una Follia by Constance Heaven can only be soft-core porn. In Italian. And did I recently wallpaper my entire fireplace in it's pages? Lei scommette il suo asino dolce.

Horror show.

See this tile? I think about smashing it with hammer every day.

Every. Day.

I know what you're thinking - that I promised you a horror show and didn't deliver, that the tile is not morally reprehensible, that it's not even really all that objectionable, right? I know! I think that's the very reason that I hate it. If it was truly hideous, I would probably pity it, feel protective of it and even learn to love it. But instead, it's just there. Hoping I won't notice it. Meh.

Did you notice that there's only one glass door and that there has never ever been a fire in the fireplace? Both of those features were a great comfort to me when I found my 9-month-old grinning and waving to me from inside.

I know that one day I will come across the perfect beautifully-decayed cast iron hearth in a salvage yard and haul it home and live happily ever after. But until then, I have to do something about this tile. As usual, I have a budget of $0 for this project.

How they talked me into a puppy.

Seamus: Mama, Sam has a puppy.

Me: M-hm.

Seamus: Mama? Guess what Ashley is getting!

Me: Ummmm.

Seamus: A puppy! We should get a puppy.

Fin: We should get a baby.

Me: Oo! We should get a PUPPY!

really really not-puppy-getting photo by Steven Daniel.

Things I don't want to smash with a hammer:

moody light through this window,

this star,

this Amsterdam Canal House pot with newly-planted dill,

these pictures,

and my bedside table, piled high with books, and fresh flowers,

Remember my tale of suburban woe? In which our heroine is oppressed by the mind-numbing futility of housework, struggles bravely and ultimately triumphs over mediocrity? Oh thaaaat tale of suburban woe, you say.....

I thought I should begin it with an incomplete list of things I do not want to smash with a hammer. Accentuating the positive, as it were. The next chapter may be quite a horror show. Prepare yourself.

Friday, I'm in love....

Yeah, tutus: dresses by Ouma Clothing, photo by Galaxie Andrews.

the Burbs.

I live in the suburbs. In a tract home. It doesn't matter which one because they're kind of all the same. But, I'm on a mission to kick the ever-lovin tract out of my home. Come along, won't you?

Earth Day Goodness!

Cosa Verde and Modish are giving stuff away for Earth Day! Yes! Four lucky winners will receive prizes worth $400 each. I'm not kidding. Go here to enter. Contest runs until Earth Day (4/22) and winners will be announced on April 23.

Eco happenings on Poppytalk....

Poppytalk Handmade's Green Pop Market opened this morning. Guess who is in it! You'll never guess. It's Me! And a bunch of other super amazing super green artists. Now through May 7. Awesome!

Sayonara, Summer Mom.

Or Spring Break Mom, or whoever you are. It's been lovely. We've visited cousins, geeked out at the Tech Museum, planted seeds and ate homemade pizza with good friends. And now it's pouring rain and I have to start barking at someone to do his homework.

Egad! I can't wait for summer....

Friday, I'm in love....

I love the day the Anthropologie catalog comes, and I Love this rug.

Envy. So there.

I'm envious. Look at these beautiful homes. People actually live in them. Some of them have kids, even. That last photo is from Dottie Angel, and I know for a fact that she has four kids and yet? No rancid cereal bowl on the banquet.

Meanwhile, I live in what appears to be a storage unit with three other castaways. Which? Is admittedly, fifty percent my fault, at least. Because I'm the only one who cares - so I could pretty much frouf the entire place if I wanted to (and I do) even though the other castaways are boys.

I need to frouf something.

Photos from here, here, here, here and here. So there.

This? Never stops being funny.

Breakfast is very important.

Breakfast is very important. It sets the tone for the whole day.

Cute toes, Summer Mom!

Maybe it's not quite time for Summer Mom to emerge, but it is spring break this week....So it's like a Summer Mom preview. Complete with pedicured Summer Mom tootsies.

On tossing and turning.

Spent most of last night tossing and turning - due to looming decisions large and small, a difficult relationship and a malfunctioning car horn down the street. Finally drifted off and woke up this morning out of a dream about birth. Not birth exactly, but the thirty-seventh week anticipatory wait. The moment when you realize that the baby is coming at a time of it's own choosing and no amount of hand-wringing or preemptive laundry on your part will make the least bit of difference. The liberating release of control that you never had to begin with.

It's left me with the feeling that something beautiful is about to come into the world.

If only I can get out of it's way.

sweet photo by dayben.

Three unrelated things:

1. Pompons. Or are they pompoms? I like "pompons." Sounds more old-timey and a little pretentious.

2. Good tidings today from both Poppytalk and the rikrak studio. Details to come.

3. Had the following conversation with Fin....

Me: Do you want to share a banana with me?

Fin: Yes.

Me: Do you want it rolley or monkey?

He looked at me like I was crazy - kind of like you are right now, but the thing is, Fin and I have this conversation at least 12 times a week, and suddenly, today, I'm crazy. (We also spend a considerable amount of time each day sneaking up on and scaring the bejeezus out of each other, and I really hope he doesn't start looking at me sideways about that because it is superfun to make a five-year-old jump out of his skin and then be asked to do it again.)

Me: What?

Fin: (with a full eye-roll) OK! We'll monkey it, whatever.

Whatever indeed.