overseas

see ya round :)

2009-11-23T20:21:00.004-06:00

hi friends.

So. . . i think i'm officially shutting this blog down. I don't have enough time or energy to share anything in depth anymore. I always feel like it's neglected, so it may as well just go the way of so many other blogs. . .

I'm plenty of other places on the web, so I doubt you'll miss me. Facebook is where I post family and baby photos (my profile is Katharine Licht), my flickr is for art/scrapbooking (when i actually get the chance to do those things), I'm kind of more active on tumblr, and of course there's twitter, too.

Thanks for reading, it was fun while it lasted! If I ever start anything else I'm sure I'll let you know somehow. :)

where do you shop?

2009-09-20T17:11:00.003-05:00

This is cross-posted from my tumblr, but I'm curious about what comments I'd receive, so it's worth a post here too.

I just came home from a massively uninspiring shopping trip. I haven’t really shopped in person (vs. online) in a LONG time, and I was kind of disappointed by what I saw. I know there are seasons of fashion that I absolutely love, and other seasons where I can’t find anything I like, but it was still a bummer. And the place I went only had the basic mall-y line up of stores: gap, banana, ann taylor… I probably should have driven the extra 20 minutes to Oak Brook for Nordstrom, J.Crew and Anthro. But I wasn’t looking to spend tons of dough either, so those three aren’t really where I wanted to head today.

I thought I’d see what others have to say though. Where do you shop? How are the prices? Does the clothes fit well? What do you like about it?

Also, mini pet peeve: when salesclerks offer outfit suggestions. “That would look great with black pants.” Really? What an exciting choice.

fall TV

2009-09-17T21:40:00.005-05:00

Next new blog topic. . . new TV shows for the fall!

Of course, at the top of the list is the new Project Runway and Top Chef. Maybe it's the fact that I've been watching both of these shows for so long, but I feel like it's obvious that there are maybe 4-5 really decent contestants and everyone else is just destined to get kicked off. Top Chef this season especially. I mean, there's the two brothers, the one chick, and the beardy red head guy. . . . who else? It seems like they all kind of don't have it together.

And I'm enjoying Project Runway, but there is not a single person that stands out to me. It always seems to get more interesting once they're down to 6-8 contestants though.

Since LOST isn't on until next winter, I don't have too many other shows I'm really invested in. Biggest Loser started this week, which is my one big mainstream guilty pleasure TV show. And 30 Rock! That quickly became my new favorite sitcom last season. And we get to see what's up with Jim and Pam and little Jim or Pam Jr.

I'm definitely interested in the new show Community, since it features my Friday night clip show host crush Joel McHale. I didn't have a lot of hope for it, but after seeing the first episode tonight, I was pleasantly surprised.

It's Joel! And the guy from the hilarious phone commercials about butt dialing. Hooray.

Booted

2009-09-11T20:31:00.007-05:00

Since you're in such suspense about this topic, and it's obviously one of the biggest issues in my life right now, I'm going to kick off my blogging with. . . . boots!

(Katie, this one's for you. :) So glad you get how huge this is. )

I had been visiting the Frye For-the-Ages boots on the anthro site for over a month, kind of waiting to see if I ever didn't really like them. But no, the love just kept growing. So a few weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

AND. They were sold out in my size. Oh, and also my alternate size up. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? (all caps definitely called for on this occasion.) I seriously almost cried. Then I felt kind of stupid, because they're just boots, but whatever. I was sad.

After a few days of mulling it over, emailing an anthropologie sales rep (helpful but not with the answer I wanted) and googling every possible combination of Frye, for the ages, boot, and size 7 (and coming up with nothing) I found a more than suitable replacement from Zappos. Oh zappos, with your saved credit card information and free shipping, you make it so easy to spend a ton of dough.

I ended up with these, the Frye Jane 14 stitch in "Vintage Brown." The picture really doesn't do them justice, because they look kind of black here, and they're really a nice distressed chocolate brown. And the more I look at the photos, they're almost exactly the same as the others, it's only the color that's different. I am so happy with them. For one, they smell amazing! Really leather-y and rich. They're so well made, too, which they should be for the price I paid. I definitely look forward to wearing them for years and years to come.

The second big heartbreak about my boot saga is, I swear the day I got these in the mail was the beginning of our streak of 80+ degree days again. So, the boots have not really made an appearance in real life. Can't wait though.

Seriously, HOORAY. This is one of the biggest purchases I've made in a while, and it feels so nice to treat myself.

9/9/09

2009-09-09T21:09:00.004-05:00

Nine things I promise to blog about in the next two weeks:

(because I started to blog about all nine of these and realized it was way too long for one post)

1. Boots

2. TV shows

3. Kids spaces (interior design)

4. Eating right

5. Tomatoes

6. Family

7. This blog

8. New art!

9. My David. Of course!

Maybe I should do this more often to keep me on track. I'm a bad blogger, I know.

wishlist 09

2009-08-13T21:44:00.003-05:00

yay, fashion post!

Last year I missed new fall clothes because I was a big preggo. So it's been two years since I've been allowed to get into fall fashion. This year I'm pretty excited about reinvigorating the wardrobe.

I realize this sounds cliche to say, but somehow it's gotten through my head after years of watching What Not to Wear and reading fashion blogs, but. . . I really need to focus on buying just a few really high quality things that I can wear for a looong time. That means resisting all the cheap, cute, but looks like junk after three washings blouses (h&m and old navy, I'm looking in your direction. . . ) And I'm realizing now how important it is to buy nice clothes, because I have so little time in the morning to decide what to wear. If I only have nice things to choose from, I won't have to spend my precious time freaking out about something looking old or worn or unprofessional.

So here's my basic list for this year. Frankly, it's more of a pipe dream list than anything else, but maybe it will keep me on track when I'm spending a little money in the next few months.

1. The boots! Of everything here, I think these have the highest chance of actually being bought. I've wanted a pair of Frye boots for forever, and when I saw these on the Anthro website I knew they were It. A great leather knee high boot, with a mid heel, kinda western but not overtly cowboy-ish. Perfect.

2. A nice jersey dress, for work and church. I like this BCBG dress from Nordstrom but basically, I'm just looking for anything similar. I like this color, the draping, and the long sleeves. I just need something easy and flattering.

3. New blazer. This one is from J.Crew but I'm on the lookout for other options.

4. Gold Cuff bracelet. I first saw this one here. This item wins "most likely to be bought at Target" since I never buy nice jewelry. I tend to lose it, or lose interest in it, so it's better to buy the $12 version.

5. Plaid shirt from Boden. This one has the perfect color combination, and it looks like it'd be appropriate for work and bumming around. It also reminds me of something I would have worn with Converse circa 1994. But that's okay, right? Fashion, so cyclical.

6. Citizens of Humanity Ingrid Jeans. Ever since I was pregnant, I promised myself I'd buy a new pair of nice jeans when I finally lost all the baby weight. I'm not quite there yet, but I want to keep my promise to myself; it's a nice motivator. A lot of people freak out about the price of designer jeans, but I've found that it's totally worth it. I had a pair of Sevens I wore just about every other day for years, they held up so well and were super flattering, so i figure a hundred plus bucks well spent.

So that's it! This was super fun for me, and I do feel like it's helpful to reinforce to myself that quality is so much better than quantity. I can see myself wearing any of these things a few years from now. I should probably print this out and bring it with me when i shop to make sure I listen to my own advice though. :)

Mid Summer Update 2009

2009-07-30T20:39:00.007-05:00

We have a six month old now! He's over 20 lbs, babbling away, starting to scoot around (only backwards, hasn't figured out forward movement yet) and, as always, is so sweet, happy, a good sleeper. . . we're amazingly blessed. Every morning we have a nice cuddle and after work we like to sit on the front step and watch the world go by. They're my favorite parts of my day.

We go on family walks a few times a week.

We've had our first visit to the park.

A morning at the county fair.

And a great long weekend in Iowa at my parents house. Relaxing for me, totally fun for the grandparents, and hopefully fun for David too.

My work continues to be stressful. There are rewarding moments, but it's been a challenge. I had to go into the city for some work events a few weeks back, and it was nice to have a chance to wander around the lakefront by myself. Beautiful Chicago.

I can't believe it's almost August. I feel like we've had some nice summer moments though, so that the months aren't passing by too rapidly. Life with a six month old is pretty sweet, so I'm just trying to enjoy every day.

long weekend

2009-07-05T13:55:00.004-05:00

If every weekend was three days long I'm pretty sure my life would be perfect.

We've had a nice time so far these few days. Even though the fourth was rainy, it cleared up for most of the important parts: the parade in the morning and the fireworks. David slept through most of the parade, despite every single noisy float/band stopping right in front of us. Oh, to sleep like a baby. What he did see he seemed to enjoy.

(Sidenote: David's getting HUGE. Almost 20 pounds already, can you believe it?)

Later we had some friends and Mike's family over for dinner. It was fun. I have to admit though. . the part of the evening I enjoyed most was when everyone went to the fireworks and I stayed home with a sleeping David and the dog. Now that I'm a mom, I'm finding that I have very little quality alone time. As much as I love my husband and baby, sometimes it's nice to just be by myself. So after everyone left last night, I put the ipod on shuffle, cleaned up the house, caught up on folding laundry for the first time in months, and generally just enjoyed the solitude. The fireworks go off only a few blocks from our house, so near the end I walked out onto the front sidewalk and caught a glimpse of a few. That was enough for me.

design team call

2009-06-30T17:39:00.004-05:00

So: scrapbooking. I do it. It's true. I think it's time I man up and stop calling it something else. But I do feel like I come to it with a different sensibility maybe? Anyway. Now that I have this special little guy in my life, it's especially important for me to write things down, remember the stories, create something for posterity. And since paper + glue is pretty much my favorite, why not scrapbook?

I tend not to go too crazy over products, but there are a few companies that I always love. Cosmo Cricke t is one of them. Their designs have a kind of fresh spirit and quirky humor and the colors are perfect in a non-traditional but very usable kind of way. I was doing a search today because I'd heard they're making fabrics of the designs (how awesome is that?) and I saw on their blog that there's a design team call. And it's due today. Nice timing, huh? I've never done something like this but I figure, hey, I love the stuff, maybe it's worth a shot.

Links go to the original Flickr page (where I usually post my art and scrapbooking.)

Pages from my art journal, done when I was pregnant, right after our first ultrasound.

A recent "blowing off steam" collage. Sometimes just cutting and pasting is so soothing to me. And who doesn't love rainbow order?

My April guest design for The Art is Found. I didn't totally love this when I made it, but the more I look at it the more I really dig it.

One of the tutorials from Rachel Denbow's summer art journal class. I'm still working through the class and really loving it. I'm trying to take it slow and savor it rather than finishing everything just for the sake of finishing.

And a recent layout from David's scrapbook, made this past weekend. The journalling is just about the daily stuff of life with the baby. Washing bottles! Etc.

So that's it! Just a few of my precious little paper + glue projects.

I know it's been forever since I blogged. . . and there are two good reasons. I've been:

1. Working so hard at my dayjob I swear my head literally spins by the end of every day. We're at the tail end of the busy season now and I feel like I'm coming up for air. I finally relaxed enough this weekend to feel kind of okay again. It's been pretty intense. It would have been pretty unbearable if not for the fact that I've also been. . .

2. Hanging out with the most awesome baby of all time. Seriously, David is such a good boy and now that he's 5 months a lot of things have smoothed out and we're just cruising along. He's so happy and fun to be around. We feel soooo lucky. Ahh, happiness.

the end of May

2009-05-25T13:29:00.006-05:00

update! i returned the skirt. I figured $70 for something I'll wear once or twice a month in the summer isn't worth it. Instead I bought this one

which I assume I will wear at least 8,000 times. Seriously, I love a good denim skirt.

Everything else in life is just flowing along. For some reason I've been having a harder time dropping David off at daycare. . . He is just so amazingly cute these days that I hate to not be around him much during the day, especially when work is challenging, as it has been this week. But I am thankful that the time we do have together is so much fun.

May is always my favorite month and I'm sad to see it coming to an end. Springtime is the best and it always seems so short.

oh, decisions

2009-05-20T19:34:00.003-05:00

So I bought this skirt from Anthropologie. I got a gift card for Christmas and it's been burning a hole in my wallet ever since I lost (um. . . most of) my baby weight. Even though I love about a million things on their website, I just decided to order something and satisfy my fancy new clothes craving.

I really like it, but it's not exactly what I thought it would be, and it doesn't quite match anything else I own. At this point there are two options: 1. Buy a new blouse and shoes to go with it. or 2. Return it. I do love having an excuse to buy more clothes, but really, is it a valid excuse?

Any suggestions?

There are many other more important things to blog about, but its nice to throw in some fluff every once in a while, you know?

he's got a lot to say

2009-05-14T20:37:00.002-05:00

I think David has discovered consonants. I love this kid. Even his voice is adorable!

By the way, I'm classing it up a bit and changing most of my internet usernames to my actual name. My tumblr is now katielicht.tumblr.com. I might even switch the blog over at some point. . . but that's a huge pain, so we'll see.

lovely afternoon

2009-05-12T20:10:00.005-05:00

I had a long day at work today but it was a lovely spring evening at home. David was super sleepy when i picked him up at daycare, and he went down for a little nap when we got home around 5. Thank you angelic baby! I had a half hour to myself to just sit on the patio and unwind. David woke up right around when Mike came home, and we sat outside for a while and went for a little walk around the block. The weather was beautiful and it was the best way to end my day.

mother's day, this year and last

2009-05-09T20:44:00.003-05:00

I want to preface this photo by saying, it's an OLD photo. I'm definitely NOT pregnant again. :)

This is what we were doing a year ago on Mother's day. Even though this is my first official Mother's Day, it was definitely something last year.

Where would any of us be without our mothers? Now that I have a child of my own I'm amazed by my parents. Amazed by any parent that turns out a halfway decent, normal, happy child. It's a daunting task, but not without it's charm.

Especially this particular charm. The end result of those two little lines, one year later.

just about everything!

2009-05-07T18:58:00.005-05:00

brain dump! there's about a million things I've been meaning to blog about. Here you go.

I've been falling into a pretty good work/home/life balance. It's not ideal but I think for now it's pretty close. As usual, David is as stellar a baby as I could hope for, so that definitely helps. He's been going to sleep between 7-8, only waking up twice, and then up for the day around 7:30. That last part is key, since I can get up at a decent hour, get ready by myself, and THEN have some fun baby times before we head out for the day. The mornings go about ten times better than I could have imagined.

Work has been pretty good too. This week was kind of a big deal for me; I was art directing a photoshoot by myself for the first time. I had a lot of apprehension about it initially. I don't think art directing is one of my strong suits, plus a few things have happened at work in the past year that have really done a number on my self-confidence. And I always feel like self-confidence is half the battle. But! It went pretty well, and I definitely feel like I did better every day. Even my half-assy food styling skills improved. I'm happy I was given the chance to do this and I hope that I can continue to improve.

And overall, I really do enjoy going to work. Do I feel like I'm missing out on seeing my son? Yes. But. I also feel like I enjoy David so much more when I see him for only a limited time. Something about that sounds horrible, but it's true though. When I'm with him, I'm totally loving it since I know the time is precious.

He's getting so fun, too! He is making little laughy baby noises. He's grabbing at toys and really examining them. When it's been sunny after work, I've been taking him on little walks in the Baby Bjorn, and he loves looking up at trees, he gets this fascinated look on his face and just studies them intently. It's totally adorable.

So, in summation: things are good. I don't know if I could ask for much better.

David loves the dog. Isn't this the cutest?

back again

2009-04-18T15:21:00.002-05:00

I don’t know why, but I think I assumed when I came back to work things would be really different. So far it has been SO SIMILAR it feels like the past three months have not happened. I still love working with the same people and projects, and the same people and projects still annoy me. I can’t keep my desk clean for the life of me. I start every morning with the intention of working super hard and then end up chatting way too much and checking my email every 15 minutes.

It’s like so many other aspects of life post-baby. When David was born, my entire world was reborn. My perspective, my goals, the way I think about myself and my life. With all those things changing, it felt natural to me that the rest of the world should be different too. But somehow the rest of the world was unaware of the existence of my son. What, no parades? No renaming of expressways or airports? Everyone else is still attending work and school and driving around and going about their lives like nothing happened? Huh, strange. The first time I left the house by myself post-baby, I went to my beloved Target. Everything about it was exactly the same, but I felt like I was somewhere new and different. Hard to describe.

Anyway, I'm doing surprisingly well back at work. I only cried once this week, and those were happiness tears when I saw his first smile after picking him up at daycare. The transition was mostly eased by the fact that Mike stayed home almost every day this week. The hardest part of going back to work is the whole morning routine getting myself and the baby up and ready and out the door. David doesn't start full time at day care until the week after next; so maybe it will be more challenging then. For now I'm easing into this life adjustment. It's going better than I expected.

Easter 2009

2009-04-13T13:48:00.004-05:00

A couple from Easter and one more from this morning for good measure.

As soon as I started writing here I heard the little gruntings that mean my little man is waking up from his noontime nap. It's our last full day together; usually I'd let him be for a while and finish writing, but time is precious today so it's baby playtime now.

Hope you had a happy Easter.

massive mixed feelings

2009-03-30T17:54:00.003-05:00

tummy time! This is important as the back of David's head seems to be getting flatter.

Things have been going extremely well lately. It's actually a shame, since just as everything has fallen into place, I'll be going back to work soon.

My days at home have developed into a pleasant pattern. In the mornings, I bring David into bed with me and usually feed him there. It's such a nice cuddly time. The rest of the day is playtime, feeding, rocking, sleeping, repeat repeat repeat. There are some days when he goes on a Nap Strike, and those days are less than pleasant, but I think I'm getting better about reading his sleepy cues and getting him down before he gets overtired. But on days he does take good naps, I can make dinner or bake something, do some yoga, work on art projects, spend time online. And even though it IS hard work to take care of a baby, I know I'll miss this relaxed pace of life when I have to return to the office.

I can't imagine that I could have more conflicted feelings about going back to work. There's a large part of me that can't wait to get back: to see my friends, to have adult interaction again, and even just to work again. I miss designing! But there's an equally large part that's kinda heartbroken over it. I know I'll miss him, and I also worry about the daycare thing. Even though I really like David's daycare, it's not the same as the one on one attention I can give him every day. Honestly I just try not to think about it too much. And if I'm continuing to be honest. . . I daydream a lot about working part time some day. At this point I don't know if I'm cut out to stay at home full time (the main drawback to maternity leave has been feelings of loneliness/isolation); but part time would be ideal. We'll see where time takes us.

i'll take you down where the birds fly by

2009-03-17T17:21:00.005-05:00

Having trouble stringing the words together lately. I swear I always think of things to write here, but then they flit away from me. I guess because a lot of it is so mundane. Do you really want to hear about my struggles with trying to get David to nap during the day? Or cradle cap? Yeah, I didn't think so.

So here are a bunch of things: My parents came for a visit. We had a great time. The weather has been amazing and long walks are so good for me and my un-excercised body; the boy mostly just sleeps through them. I have been to a few different moms groups and feel that I don't fit very well into the suburban mom demographic (maybe this is something I should expound on at some point). But I am making friends with some of the younger moms at my church, which is good I think. I can't wait until David starts sleeping a little longer at night. . . I'm getting used to waking up 2-3 times a night, but that doesn't make it any easier.

Our little guy is doing great though, and I really can't complain. . . I only have five more weeks of maternity leave and I am trying to savor it all while I can.

And some pictures.

little dude

2009-03-11T17:42:00.004-05:00

photos!

my favorite subject: a baby and a puppy

asleep in the swing

bundled up for a cool day walk with Mike.

I tweeted recently about my life revolving around David's naps. It's totally true. If he doesn't nap, he fusses a lot and that makes me crazy. If he naps too much, I get kinda bored and wish he would wake up. Little dude has been sleeping almost ALL day today. I actually called the pediatrician about it since it seems so out of the ordinary. Then I felt kind of dumb because, really, who worries about their infant sleeping too much?

why I shouldn't leave baby stuff on the floor

2009-03-05T14:41:00.002-06:00

pug in a boppy.

We really need to get a toybox or a toy cabinet or something, otherwise I'm going to wake up to this every morning.

my little buddy

2009-02-24T10:06:00.003-06:00

I can't believe it's been a month since our David came into the world. The days are becoming kind of blurry at this point. . . every day is similar but there's no real pattern yet. Just lots of feeding, napping, being held, crying a little. He loves to lay on the ground and just kick his arms and legs around. Little baby excercise! It's amazing to watch him grow and change every day. About a week ago we definitely noticed him actually starting to look at things, and he's making all kinds of noises now, too. He's our little Grunty Magoo.

My thoughts are pretty quiet so I don't have a lot to share. I feel all my energy streaming out of me straight into the little guy, so there's not a lot left over for anything else. I do post to my tumblr almost everyday. It's one of the little things I try to do on a daily basis to make myself feel like I'm accomplishing something. I feel pretty good if I do the dishes and get a load of laundry done every day. It's a pretty small world for me. I think that's how it should be though, just me and my little guy.

how we spend our afternoons

2009-02-13T16:10:00.001-06:00

napping and listening to andrew bird. feeling peaceful. i think we're both too warm but i don't want to wake the little guy!

thoughts at three weeks

2009-02-11T14:29:00.003-06:00

I'm trying to gather some thoughts together about the transition from being pregnant to being a parent. It's unlike anything else I've ever experienced mentally, physically, emotionally. I look at all the books I read and classes I took about childbirth or childcare, and it all seems a bit futile. I'm glad I was mentally prepared, and had a good base knowledge, but the reality of it blows any kind of practical knowledge away.

I had such an amazing pregnancy, I wonder if that's not part of the reason the transition was a little hard for me. I always hear about women that are so glad to not be pregnant that having a kid seems like a breeze, but it was the opposite for me. Man, being pregnant was great. I actually felt better during most of those months than I do normally; and I know that makes me incredibly lucky.

After those few rough weeks, I finally feel like I've settled in and am really enjoying my time at home with my son. And at almost three weeks out, I'm feeling a little more like my self, like my identity is coming back, I'm not just a Mom. Its reassuring after some time wondering if I'd ever feel the same again.

The pleasant weather here has helped immensely, too. We got out for a walk three days in a row, fresh air and sunshine never felt so good.

in between

2009-02-06T16:06:00.003-06:00

couldn't resist this shot. :)

This afternoon my mother in law came over to take David off my hands for a few hours so I could run errands and get out in the world. It was only my second time away from him in the two weeks since he was born, and man . . . it's weird. How can you miss someone you've only been away from for twenty minutes? I didn't even make it an hour and a half before I came home again.

I would have been gone longer, maybe, if I had any cash on me. Can you believe I forgot my ATM pin number? It's been so long since I've used it it's completely slipped my mind.

I had intended on doing some thrift shopping this afternoon but I have a cash-only thrifting policy (I like to limit myself so I don't buy things I don't need just because they're cheap.) My wardrobe right now is pretty sad. If I'm not wearing pajamas and my husbands t-shirts, I'm wearing maternity clothes. The problem is, most of my maternity clothes are work clothes, which isn't great for hanging around the house. And my regular clothes definitely do not fit yet. Maybe this weekend I'll find the time to get out again and go buy some $2 t shirts.

my kid doesn't suck

2009-02-05T09:30:00.007-06:00

um, literally.

So I know I've shared before that I've been having some problems with breastfeeding. And after numerous visits with a lactation consultant, endless nursing/pumping sessions, and a drug whose main side effect was to make me want to lay in bed and cry all day, I'm finding that I just do not make enough milk to sustain my child. David is a lazy eater, and the catch-22 of nursing is that if your kid doesn't eat enough, you stop producing enough. It's been a downward spiral the past few weeks.

totally intense charts I've had to keep: time and length of feeding, quality of feeding, diaper contents, amount of supplement, amount of expressed milk. I feel like I've been working on a crappy science fair project.

I keep second guessing myself and wondering, maybe if I didn't let him have that one bottle in the hospital when I hadn't slept in a day and a half, maybe if I would have seen a different lactation consultant, things might be different. But I'm coming around to see the realities of feeding my child will be: nursing if I can, pumping if I can, and making up the difference with formula.

It's been incredibly heart wrenching and I will admit I spent a large portion of the past week crying, but I feel ten times better today. I know this is the beginning of many hurdles of parenthood that basically teach the same lesson: you have to do what is best for your family with the resources you have, in a way that will maintain your sanity. I don't want to spend all of David's infant months weeping over ounces of milk; I want to spend them loving and enjoying him. I've made my peace and am moving forward.

afternoon shadows

2009-02-04T16:14:00.004-06:00

enjoying the relatively quiet days at home.

One week and a bit

2009-02-01T17:52:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was a big day for our family: David's baptism! I know a lot of people wondered why we didn't wait a while to baptize him, but it's something that's pretty important to Mike and I and I'm so glad we did it.

It is such a blessing to have a pastor for a dad. Not only did he marry us, but he also performed the baptism yesterday, for his namesake grandson. While it was happening I remember feeling like it was one of the most holy moments of my life, with my dad performing the sacrament, my brother and sister in law as sponsors, and our church's pastors there too. It felt nice to be in church, too, something so normal to me after the past week of non-normalcy.

After all of yesterday's hoopla and family visits and running around, we're decompressing a bit today. It's so nice to have Mike at home for an extra hand with diaper changes and milk warming. The next five days alone are looming large for me. I'm lucky that David sleeps so well at night, but I'm definitely still adjusting to being at home and learning how to take care of this new little person all by myself.

baby and puppy, just hangin' out

cuteface

2009-01-28T11:22:00.005-06:00

David, 6 days

We had a good morning today. Last night I slept for more than 4 hours, and this morning David has been either alert, eating, or sleeping; not too much frustrating in-between of crying or fussing. We even danced around listening to Jack Johnson for a while. Happy times.

This afternoon has been . . . okay. I met with a lactation consultant about my breastfeeding issues and the news wasn't great. I have pretty low supply for some reason she couldn't pinpoint. Thankfully I have a new plan of attack and it can only get better from here.

a whole new life

2009-01-26T18:27:00.004-06:00

Me and my David

We had our baby! The experience was unbelievable. . . yeah, I still can't really wrap my head around it. Can't believe this precious thing grew inside my body and now lives in this world.

I've been writing a long story about my labor, which I'll post at some point. I'm happy with my birth experience, which is nice because it's been a little rough since then. I'm not going to lie, this has probably been one of the most difficult weeks of my life. Nursing is not coming easily, going without sleep is definitely not fun. It's just hard, and I know people always tell you that, but it's totally different to live through it.

Which is not to say that this isn't also the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. I feel like I understand Love in a whole new way. For not only my son, but for my husband too. He has been a total saint.

More to come soon. . .

dropped!

2009-01-20T18:18:00.006-06:00

I can't figure out why this baby isn't here yet. I've been dilated to 3 cm for more than a week, and the doctor keeps telling me I have a "favorable cervix." Every day I have more Braxton Hicks contractions. And the baby has definitely dropped. See above for evidence (and compare to a week ago!)

I know I've said this before, but my emotions really do vascillate between peace and anxiety these days. I know that the baby will come when it's ready. I know that this is not my event to plan. (Which is part of the reason I'm slightly uncomfortable with the idea of being induced, which will happen this coming Sunday if there's no baby before then.) I know I need to be patient and let whatever happens happen without fretting about it. But I'm ready, we're ready!

I was really hoping to give birth on this historic day. How amazing would that have been? I suppose there are still a few hours left in the day, though by this time I'd rather just have a good night's sleep and start laboring tomorrow morning. Let's all hope.

baby watch!

2009-01-18T08:18:00.003-06:00

I feel like I'm on Baby Watch this week, like it's a storm or big event followed by a local news station. It should have it's own theme graphics and music.

Thanks Brian Fantana.

So, update: no baby. However, I did have a lovely day yesterday so I can't complain. Lazed around in the morning, got a pedicure in the afternoon, made some art, watched Juno. Appropriate, I know.

There's been a repeating pattern this week that I can't quite figure out though. Every evening I start to feel. . . different, somehow, and go to bed thinking this will be our last sleep without a baby. Then when I wake up the feeling has totally passed. At this point I'm just assuming the kid is taking after his or her mother (punctuality is not a strength of mine) so I'm trying not to get too impatient.

remaining days

2009-01-13T17:43:00.006-06:00

belly update! 39.5 weeks. large and in charge.

I have four more days until my due date. At this point, it's safe to say I'll probably be overdue. Just a hunch. I hope it's not by too much though. I still feel pretty good but it's hard to wait and wait and wait for something and then . . . . wait some more. I've been going back and forth between feeling peaceful and feeling super restless. I know I need to cherish these last days of childlessness.

A few good things:

- I have successfully navigated this pregnancy without getting cankles. HOORAY! It was one of my biggest fears. Stupid, I know, but yeah, just one of those things. I still fit into my regular shoes and boots. They might not zip up all the way, but they fit!

- It's the coldest week of the year. So far it hasn't affected me much. Maybe my inner pregnancy heater finally kicked in. (Which is a good thing since my winter coat no longer buttons very efficiently.)

-In my delicate condition, everyone at work worries about me driving. Any amount of snow fall = snow day! Tomorrow's looking pretty good.

well, I'll be

2009-01-06T18:07:00.004-06:00

I actually made some art. Hurray! A few pages from the week of Christmas. There are more on my flickr, and more for me to add tomorrow, too.

(The book is getting so fat that it doesn't open flat anymore, hence my fingers in every picture. I kind of like it though. Gives it a nice scale.)

Anyway, besides art, here are a few other things that have been occupying my time this week:

-updating my tumblr more often. I think my attention span is better suited to tumblr these days.

-Rereading Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth. I highly recommend this to any pregnant woman, or really any woman. I usually have an aversion to this word, but it's very. . . empowering. And has helped me to overcome some of my fears and weirdnesses about birth. One disclaimer, it is kind of for hippies, so if you are not into crunchy tales of giving birth naturally on a farm, it might not be the book for you. But I'm into it.

-Trying to maintain a positive attitude despite the fact that I have HAD IT with wives tales, other people's advice, birthing horror stories, etc. I'm a pretty sensitive person and I think I take things too seriously, I just need to let all of it roll off my back. Honestly, though, who wouldn't hate hearing things like, "your hips are too small to give birth naturally." What the hell, ladies?! Let's be kind and understanding with one another. Luckily the good stories and sharing have outnumbered the bad, but the bad ones just linger with me.

-On to better things. . . . I checked out Swedish Cakes and Cookies from the library and I think I might actually have to buy it. I made "Marta's Chocolate Slices" last night and not only were they super simple to make, the results were fantastic. Plus the book is just cute:

magical science experiment

2008-12-29T18:34:00.006-06:00

giant baby! 37 weeks. photobooth self-portrait.

Sometimes I forget that I look like this. Then I find myself near a full length mirror and it wigs me out a little.

There have been a few periods of time during my pregnancy that I've felt really connected to the season in one way or another. Some of the milestones seemed to really merge with the larger patterns of the year. It turns out that I had planted most of my garden right around when I got pregnant. And then I took the pregnancy test on Mother's Day. And soon after that, little seedlings started coming up in the backyard. The zinnias were in full bloom and the tomatoes were finally ready right around when I started showing.

And then, Advent. The time when the church prepares for Jesus coming into the world as a little baby. So this Advent was super meaningful to me. . .preparing for our own little baby. I woke up the day after Christmas and just kind of felt Ready in a way I hadn't felt before.

So that's where I am. Despite wondering and fears and nervous anticipation, I do feel like we're ready. Almost there.

And in other good news, I also got some of my making mojo back. I've actually been making collages and drawing and finishing the quilt I started months ago. I really hope this continues for the next few weeks. Who knows what my creative life will be like after that. . .

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T11:47:00.003-06:00

image from notebookdoodles. (a new blog discovery, which is a gift in itself.)

Although it's been a tough few days, the sun is finally out today and I'm feeling happy and Christmassy. This was the first year ever that I've not been with my family on Christmas Eve, which was difficult. But video iChat, lots of baking, and positive thoughts have made a big difference. Even though I'm not with my loved ones, at least I have them and it's just one day out of the year.

Today we had breakfast and presenting with Mike's family, and now we're watching episodes of Arrested Development and working on crosswords. I made croissants and pain au chocolate, which has been on my baking to-do list for a while, and feels like a nice accomplishment. Maybe later today a nap and some snacks, with fake champagne. Yay.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

2008-12-19T09:34:00.003-06:00

Fireplace mantle dressed up for Christmas.

I will be spending most of my day in this room. . . . I'm home from work! Yay for bosses that do not want a pregnant woman driving in a snowstorm. It's a good day for baking cookies and finishing a bunch of baby-related tasks I've been meaning to work on.

santa claus came early

2008-12-17T21:49:00.004-06:00

so, guess what? we have a new baby in our house. and no, it's not a human baby.

it's a macbook! yay. it's been so long since I've had a laptop, I'm pretty stoked. photobooth is pretty sweet too. i have a feeling there will be many many photos that look very similar to these.

holidays and indignities

2008-12-07T15:54:00.004-06:00

On the homefront.
I'll tell you a secret: I don't feel like I am very good at decorating for holidays. I don't like a lot of store bought stuff (which means i don't like spending money on store bought stuff) and when I attempt to make my own I'm not pleased with the results. This usually means our house doesn't have too many holiday touches. Which is why we haven't ever put up a big tree and we've been married adults for four Christmases now. I'm determined to change that this year. Or at least improve.

But it's December 7 and we still don't have a christmas tree. Two reasons: We are indecisive. and. Why are all the fake trees pre-lit nowadays? What a cop out.

I am having Mike finally bring down the advent/Christmas decorations from the attic later today. i don't mind not having a tree. but the house feels empty now without the advent candles and nativity scene.

But I did bake gingerbread men today so some sort of festivity has been achieved.

On the pregnancy front.
I am reaching a state of indignity. Putting on shoes and socks is a challenge. I finally broke down and bought the kind of jeans that goes over the belly. It's a new level of pregnant around here.

new art making space

2008-12-04T19:38:00.003-06:00

Most of my art supplies are now condensed into a basket for big paper and a rolling cart/shelves for small papers, photos, and everything else. The cart fits pretty neatly into the front closet. And when I need to work, I roll it out and work at the dining room table. So far I'm pretty pleased with the arrangement. The lighting in the dining room is a lot cozier than the office, so that's a plus.

I can't say there's much. . or anything. . happening there right now though. I'm exhausted today. I actually fell asleep on the couch at 6:45 waiting for Mike to come home and make me dinner. It's been kind of a rough week at work, so I'm not sure if it's that or some crazy baby growth spurt. Either way, I'm glad tomorrow is Friday.

organic

2008-12-03T12:54:00.002-06:00

from playnice:

Your joy is organic.
Birthdays, weddings, firsts of any kind- we want these events to be special. But you can’t force a moment to have meaning. Keeping your heart open will give you more meaningful times than you could ever force. And without the stress of willful over-planning, you can relax and enjoy the memories you’re making.
Today remind yourself: My joy is organic.

nice thoughts for the beginning of December.

My month is off to a good start. I've even made some collages in the past few days! Wonders never cease. I'm reviving my December envelope book project. It's a happy thing to work on as the days get merrier and the baby gets ready to be born.

progress and process

2008-11-29T12:32:00.005-06:00

I continue to become more and more at peace with our house/space situation. At one point I felt like all my interests and art supplies were going to be boxed up and put in the attic and forgotten. But I feel like I turned a corner at some point this week and things have really been on the upswing.

Some things that are helping:
-Tackling one thing at a time. I think it had been so overwhelming to me that I kind of shut down and just assumed the worst. I'm finding that if I clean one shelf or reorganize one cabinet at a time, it all seems manageable. Plus we have way more room in my house than I realize, if only things are organized in a more functional way.

-Getting rid of stuff I truly don't need. How many books are on my shelves that I will never have an interest in reading again? How many tiny scraps of paper have I been holding onto because they might be perfect for some theoretical future project? It's best to put it all in a goodwill box or the recycling and just move along.

-Embracing the change. The more I work on reorganizing, the more I feel like I'm making tangible strides towards Making Room in our Lives for the Baby. And then I'm happier about everything.

clean bookshelf, with my vintage books for clipping at the top. I know it's not lifestyle photography at it's finest, but it's prettier than it was before, that's for sure.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T19:46:00.007-06:00

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments on my last post. It really is nice to be able to share something on a blog and feel like I'm receiving something good in return. I'm definitely less stressed now that I've made a list, and also given myself a reality check.

I have to say, I think Harriet might be on to something. . . maybe I really am more anxious about the baby than I'm willing to admit, but it's easy to transfer the worries to the furniture, to something tangible. So I have been turning those thoughts over in my mind and trying to make some peace about all of it.

And now, some happier, more Thanksgiving-ier news! I have been baking every night this week, which is so satisfying to me. Even when I'm doing two loads of dishes every night and not sitting down until 9 PM. We're having Thanksgiving at my parents tomorrow, so I really don't need to do or make too much, but I still like to bring something. This year it's two pies and some cinnamon rolls for Friday breakfast.

I'm super excited about this pie recipe from Martha Stewart Living, I think the November issue. Triple Chocolate Pumpkin pie! How can you go wrong?

(obviously not my photo! thank you amazing MSL food stylists!)

My other pie is pretty classic, the "Perfect Pumpkin Pie." I've made this one before. It really is foolproof, and takes almost no time if you opt to use a premade pie shell.

I'm so happy for this four day weekend and for all the things I have to be thankful for. I hope you have a great holiday, too.

to-dos

2008-11-24T18:30:00.003-06:00

As I posted on twitter today, I'm starting to get a little hyperventilate-y about having a child in less than two months.

It's not labor I'm concerned about, or my life changing, or really the actual kid at all. I'm worried about STUFF.

I think it would be helpful for me to not listen to other people, ever. Throughout this pregnancy, the only time I have ever been nervous/anxious/scared is when I take people's questions and comments and turn them into something to fret about. People keep asking me, "oh, is your nursery all decorated?" And the answer is a big no. No crib, no changing table, no cute arrangement of books and toys on a cute shelf.

For the most part, I'm not super concerned about this. It'll get done, and if it doesn't, oh well, we'll figure it out once we get there. But the more people ask, the more I think about it. And freak out.

We still have to figure out how to rearrange our house. I feel like I'm putting together a Rubik's cube here. The guest bedroom will become the baby's room, and the office will become a combination office/guest bedroom. The issue is, what to do with our two giant desks, two computer workstations, my ginormous mountain of art supplies, etc. etc. And it kills me to say it. . . I feel like the art supplies will be the first thing to go. I have enough concerns about that to merit it's own blog post, so I'll just leave it at that. But otherwise. . . there are questions of storage, questions of furniture, questions of how is this all going to happen with a kid on the way, and during the busiest season of the year.

I think it's time to write a detailed to do list. Just to maintain some control over the whole ordeal.

and I know this is one of my rambliest blog posts ever, but it's just all on my mind and I thought I might as well share.

twilight

2008-11-21T12:53:00.004-06:00

I have a confession to make. I read. . . . and enjoyed. . . the Twilight books. You know, the cheesy teenage vampire series that's getting all the hoopla right now. Now, when I say "enjoy," that doesn't mean I think they're great works of literature. The writing actually kinda sucks. And most of the characters are weak and sort of annoying. BUT, it is super fun escapist reading. And it brought back a lot of forgotten teenage memories and feelings that I haven't indulged in a while.

So, tonight my book club and I are going to see the movie. I'm pretty excited for some frivolous girly fun.

oh, teenage vampire love!

If you're interested (no matter whether you've read it or not), here's a hilarious (but spoiler-filled) comparison of the book and movie from nymag.com.

32 week photos

2008-11-20T18:36:00.003-06:00

I've had a few requests for some bump photos, so here you go! These are from this week. I have been trying to take pictures somewhat consistently, at least one every week or so. It's one of those important "for posterity" things. I know that I would love to see photos of my mom when she was carrying me.

Things are still going amazingly well. I get tired when I try to do too much, and just physically getting out of bed can be a challenge, but I haven't run into any other problems. Though I still have two months, and I honestly can't imagine how much more I'm going to grow in that time span. . . so we'll see how much more challenging pregnancy can be.

miscellany

2008-11-18T11:28:00.005-06:00

i have real content brewing but for right now, just this.

i often save things onto my desktop at home, or my pictures folder at work. I really need to start writing down where these things are from, because most of the time, i rediscover them months later and am curious about their origins. aren't these old jungly animal photos great? you know I love old photos, but old exotic photos are even better.

and. it's interesting that I found these photos saved from just around seven months ago. Lately I have been thinking about buying myself a baby gift. . . you know, not for the baby, but for me. I have a habit of buying a pair of shoes anytime something important happens in my life: new job, promotion, whatever. So it's not surprising that I'm thinking about really splurging for this really important event. I've been wishing for a pair of Frye boots or shoes for a super long time. . . here are some favorites:

ensuring our child's imminent nerdiness

2008-11-13T07:40:00.005-06:00

I'm nearly 31 weeks pregnant now, only a little more than two months to my due date. Since I'm due around January 17, I have a pretty convenient countdown of the days: whatever anyone says on the news is the amount of time until we have a new president. It's a good estimate for me. I think yesterday it was 68 days. Whoa.

As the baby gets bigger I'm definitely thinking about it as more of it's own person. It seems like it's a constant companion. The baby goes to stupid work meetings with me, cooks dinner with me, listens to NPR in the car with me, that kind of thing. It's really comforting. I feel like I will miss it slightly once he or she is actually out in the world.

Lately Mike and I have been talking about how we should read to the kid. Usually when we say this, we're sitting on the couch, and the reading materials at hand tend to be J. Crew catalogs or Newsweek. I'm pretty sure "Lightweight wool. Dry clean. Sizes 0-12" is not exactly a riveting bedtime story, though we did get some appreciative kicks after an article about the demise of the GOP in Florida.

Last night Mike was a little more determined and we got out a few of the board books we've received so far, and some of the poetry anthologies I've collected over the years. It made me so happy and emotional to have Mike reading to our baby. Except that he kept cracking up at how cheesy Robert Frost can be. And the Dylan Thomas choice was a little more depressing than something you'd normally read a kid. But we had a nice time.

three or four days

2008-11-09T17:36:00.004-06:00

here are a few the things that have happened since I last blogged:

1. I got sick. Thursday I stayed home from work, watched terrible TV, made chicken stock, and laid around blowing my nose all day.

sick day breakfast: tea, orange juice, cinnamon toast.

2. I learned an important lesson: don't drop your iPod on the garage floor. After the fall, I tried to turn it on, heard the worst noise and saw the sad ipod face:

It is totally broken. Sad times.

3. Mike and I actually went to a movie together. We saw Role Models on saturday afternoon. Recommended! Not the best ever, but still a nice time. Mostly it was great because we rarely venture out together, just the two of us, and I think we're both realizing the time for leisurely saturday matinees will be coming to a close in the next few months.

election day 2008, part 2

2008-11-04T18:05:00.002-06:00

as american as. . . , originally uploaded by katie-oltremare.

I figured today is a fitting day to post something as patriotic as an apple pie. I made this on Sunday, and I think this was by far the prettiest pie I've ever baked. It was tasty, too, as evidenced by the fact that most of it was eaten before I even had a chance to take a photo.

I cast my ballot this morning, and I have to say I did get a little misty-eyed in the voting booth. I feel pretty proud today.

It was crazy at work, almost felt like a holiday. Just kind of a heightened sense of . . . something. Though that could have also been a heightened sense of worry about traffic. With the big Obama rally downtown lots of my coworkers were leaving early to avoid any big jams. It's kind of fun to live so close to all the action.

election day 2008

2008-11-04T15:14:00.003-06:00

i had to share this: new york times election day "word train."

Users enter a word that describes their emotion and the site live updates. there are categories for everyone, mccain supporters, and obama supporters. here are some screen shots:

McCain:

Obama:

yay for typography and feelings and politics.

weekend bits

2008-11-02T18:44:00.005-06:00

my pumpkin. It's supposed to say "i (heart) (narwhal)", but it actually just looks like a weird face to me.

Friday night we went to a pumpkin carving party, hosted by some of my friends from college that I hadn't seen in forever, which was nice. I have to say, I am glad that most of my social group has moved on from the "let's all get together and then drink way too much" era of socializing. Not only is it a plus for me to be pregnant and still have fun, it's so much nicer to be able to do something creative together, have interesting conversations about real topics, and get home at a decent hour. Yet another step forward into real adulthood.

Today was long (we forgot about switching the clocks last night) but I got a lot done and it's been a pleasant sunday. Made chili and baked a pie; cleaned a lot. All good things.

my lunch from today. leftover winter squash soup, triscuits and cheese, and v8. vegetable-y!

so, two blogs in two days. the momentum has started. [i meant to post this on sunday, that still counts, right?]

it's a delicious soup

2008-11-01T17:49:00.006-05:00

Today was the last farmer's market of the year, and I'm so glad I went. The chilly weather seemed to turn most people away and it wasn't as crowded as it is normally. Today's goods: "Pumpkin Pecan" granola (yummy!), acorn squash and butternut squash to make this soup, Jonathan and Granny Smith apples for a pie, a few sweet potatoes to bake for side dishes this week, and a baguette from the nun's bakery. I thought it was funny that the lady who sold me all the produce said, "these will all keep for at least three months," I laughed and said it would probably all be eaten within the next four days. Seasonal fall foods are the best.

When I got home from the market I started roasting the squashes for tonight's soup, and listened to a Fresh Air interview with Michael Pollan. I don't know what I would do without Fresh Air podcasts. It's part of my Saturday domestic routine, cleaning or cooking while listening to Terry Gross interview fascinating people. I tend to get a little superstitious about things, either that or I'm just a huge creature of habit. I feel like I can't work in the kitchen without it.

So hey, it's National Blog Posting Month!I believe I have tried and failed to do this every year, and I'm sure this year will be no different. At least it makes me more aware of my sporadic blogging. I do have a lot to share and I also want to keep better track of what is happening in my life right now. . . my last few months before the baby. It would be nice to have a happy record of that.

calming. family.

2008-10-14T20:42:00.005-05:00

I try not to sit at the computer so late in the evening, but I'm still riled up from a crazy day at work. Sometimes I have a hard time calming myself down after something stressful. So here I am, with my hot apple cider and my "dreamy" mix on itunes. mike is watching baseball in the other room and the dryer is humming pleasantly. I guess the best part about post-work restlessness is that I get a lot done: clean sheets on the bed, laundry has been done, dishwasher is running and kitchen is clean.

I had a great weekend visiting my family in Iowa and Minnesota. Both of my maternal grandparents have birthdays in October, and this year they are both 80. The majority of my mom's side got together saturday afternoon on my aunt and uncle's lovely farm in southern Minnesota. It was beautiful. And amazing to see so much family. I hadn't seen most of my cousins since my wedding. Also amazing that we are pretty much all grown-ups now. There isn't really a "kids table" at these family functions anymore. And if there is, it's for the next generation, the great-grandkids. Time just running along.

I brought my camera along this weekend and did not take a single photo. Sometimes you just want to experience things, not capture them, you know? I think I'm okay with it.

restless

2008-10-08T19:21:00.003-05:00

feeling restless this week. can't concentrate at work, not making any art. Just in a little slump I guess. I don't mind the cooler weather, I welcome it actually, but the sun setting before 7 pm is totally on the not awesome list.

also, for the first time in my pregnancy, I am seriously missing wine. i'm realizing a lot of my fall and winter time relaxation/recreation involves wine. I mean, maybe it's good to change those habits, but right now, man. . . . thumbs down.

On a positive note I have been doing many other lovely autumnal activities. I started working on the baby's quilt and am really enjoying it. i hope my excitement doesn't fade as the project goes along, but for right now I'm always looking forward to the next time I get to cut and sew. I haven't ever taken on such a large sewing project and I'm seriously excited about having the finished product.

I think that' s all. Just wanted to pop in and say hi. Hope you're having lovely autumnal activities too.

happy day

2008-10-02T18:33:00.004-05:00

good day today. why? oh,

• woke up early enough to do a pregnancy yoga DVD before work. it really is true that excercise makes you feel better. who knew?

• i let myself have a little regular coffee this morning. it's a semi weekly treat I allow myself and it always tastes and feels so good.

• wearing my new favorite earrings. something about my new haircut makes me want to wear giant roundish earrings. these were seven bucks from target and are the prettiest rosy gold color.

• all my favorite blogs updated today. yes, this makes my day nicer.

• work was busy but not crazy busy. ate lunch with friends and not at my desk, for once. had some pleasant afternoon conversations.

• and the obvious: it was the most beautiful october day today. crisp. the setting sun was gorgeous.

happiness.

iowa surprises

2008-09-30T18:49:00.004-05:00

i really love going back to iowa. i love it so much I don't mind when I get lost on the country roads after I've already been driving for five hours. . . . but that's my own fault. the country is so pretty it made up for the lost time.

i visited my friend Mindy in Ames this weekend, my college town. i can't imagine how it would have been any better: going to the des moines farmers market & craft fair, walking around campus, talking about arty stuff, listening to music. and a gastronomic tour of ames too: the west street deli, stomping grounds, the cafe. yay for ames.

two stories though. the melancholy one first.

when i drove into town and neared campus, a ton of college memories flooded back to me. and not good ones. I've had ample time now to cultivate my collegiate memories into a neat little package of happy times. being back in ames reminded me that there were a lot of not so great times. feeling lonely a lot. wishing I was different, smarter or cooler or whatever. worrying about school. i had pushed all those things away and it was interesting to face them, now that it's so far in the past and I'm in such a good place right now. so I suppose that's a happy ending.

and now. . .the funny one.

saturday afternoon mindy and I went to walk around campus. we started at the design building. oh, my old home away from home. it was surprisingly crowded for a saturday, and we walked into the main atrium and saw a political rally about to begin. and who was speaking this afternoon? ashton kutcher and demi moore. unbelievable. i was actually a little ticked because I just wanted to wander the building in peace, and it was interrupted by stupid ashton kutcher.

college of design.

stupid ashton, can you see him down there? i also feel like this picture is sorta creepy since nearly EVERYONE is talking a photo.

ames in the morning.

bows and flowers

2008-09-24T18:33:00.004-05:00

new shoes from anthropologie! I treated myself to something fancy since my maternity wardrobe is fairly small and kinda plain. and frankly, I'd rather not buy anything else I won't be able to wear in four months. so shoes it is! can you believe it had been almost a year since I purchased any new shoes? that is a looooong time for me. maybe I have learned some restraint in my late twenties.

hey, thanks for all your comments about my puppy. she has been doing perfectly fine since the episode and seems all back to normal. now I'm thinking about this. . . if my dog getting sick worries me that much, how much more will I worry about a child? I guess that's what every mother deals with.

my special little ditka friend

2008-09-22T18:02:00.005-05:00

i love my dog so much, i'm one of those people. this morning she gave me a little scare. . . . poor puggy had a seizure. I took her in to the vet and I think everything is probably okay. it could have just been a blood sugar thing, since she didn't eat enough yesterday. they sent away some blood work so by tomorrow we should find out if it's anything worse. it's amazing how distracted I can be just from worrying about my little pup. I got all my work done today but my heart just was not in it.

i have some happier things to share, too, but today I just wanted to post these photos. i did a little ditka photo shoot last spring. I should do this more often, i have tons of pictures of Mike and I, but not too many of the dog. she deserves it.

things to do

2008-09-09T20:55:00.003-05:00

I never know what to call my work. art? collage? scrapbook? it is what it is though. i'm pleased with these two, made the day after we had our 20 week ultrasound. I always feel like my artwork is better when i'm happy.

This is the kind of week where all I want to do is cut and paste and cut and paste. just let the pages in my art journal fill up, and make postcards for friends, and start a new sewing project. instead, I'll be working late every night and coming home with enough energy to eat, finish a few chores, and veg out in front of msnbc. I am always a bit envious of people that can stay up late working on projects and still function normally. i guess being pregnant doesn't really help that right now.

The prospect of an entirely free weekend makes it all better though. the weather has been so perfect this week it feels like time to start all the fall projects on my list.
-finally, finally putting up curtains in our bedroom. i found some simple white sheers and I think they might look great with a wide brown grosgrain ribbon sewn along the bottom. if I get ambitious.
-reorganizing and redecorating our mantle. I'm starting to get the thrifting urge big time, since it's been a couple of weeks, and hopefully I can pick up a few cute things.
-cleaning up the garden for wintertime. i have to say, the garden definitely fell to the end of the to do list this summer and it's looking a little unkempt, to say the least.
-organizing our wreck of a spice cabinet. you should see it, it's not pretty. so far I haven't found any perfect solutions. . . but I'm convinced it's out there somewhere.

to be honest though, if I even accomplish one of those four I'd be pretty stoked. i like takin 'er easy these days.

happy home

2008-09-04T19:21:00.004-05:00

i actually have a lot of artwork to share, but it's been so dark outside I've had no chance to photograph it. hopefully soon though. it's been a good week for my art book.

So. Today was a crummy day at work. Half the day I had too much to do, the other half I was sitting around doing nothing and waiting for other people to finish their projects. Not fun. Plus I seem to have some kind of mood sponge, and whenever someone close to me is in a bad mood, it rubs off. Not fun, part two. Then, the worst part. I had to attend a meeting with three of the biggest bigwigs of the company since my boss was out sick. I was slightly unprepared, not to mention feeling nervous and out of place. The actual meeting went fine. . . until they starting talking politics. Talk about uncomfortable. Two of them had opinions that could not be further from mine. . . . ugh, horrible. I wanted to puke and cry at the same time. Ouch. A topper on top of a bad day of feeling unsettled and moody.

But there's good news. As soon as I got home, I cleaned the kitchen and started making dinner, a chicken pot pie from scratch. I changed the sheets in the bedroom and did a load of laundry. Had an idea for a collage and started cutting some pieces while the pot pie was in the oven. And now i feel like I've flushed out all the bad of the day and reordered myself. Sweet relief.

All these simple things have made me feel so much better about myself than whatever dumb thing I accomplished at work today. And obviously, I don't feel like this all the time, I do enjoy my work. But after a rough day it's nice to come home and be comforted by domesticity.

last week of august

2008-08-27T18:30:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it's the last week of august already. I've finally been out of school long enough to not be affected by the cycles of the school year, so summer always seems to last into september for me--it usually stays hot here that long. this summer has been even more unusual since I don't think we've seen a temp above 95 yet, so I feel like it's barely been summer at all. and which also means I have a lot of green tomatoes still hanging around, refusing to ripen. here are a few though.

some other random things:

last night I had a dream I was trying to construct a miniature of Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavillion (see below) out of frozen yogurt. It was going pretty well if you can believe it.

I also dreamt that Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum were time travelling robots from the future. Both of these things have made me smile throughout the day.

door county and milwaukee, august 2008

2008-08-25T17:57:00.005-05:00

the subtitle for this entry would probably be "the bathrooms of wisconsin." i think the baby was sitting directly on my bladder all weekend long.

anyway! pictures!
on our sheep farm tour! I'm really excited, can't you tell?

mike and his sheepy friends

on a lookout tower, peninsula state park

eagle harbor sunset

whitefish dunes state park

milwaukee art museum

we had a great time, it was really relaxing. I always forget how much I love the country. we stayed on "the quiet side" of door county so I'm sure that made a difference. i think we experienced most of what door county had to offer, including: numerous wonderful hikes in state parks, a climb to the top of a lighthouse, a fish boil, yummy custard, browsing at touristy shops but not buying anything. . . and of course our wonderful bed and breakfast/sheep farm, whitefish bay farm, which I highly recommend. the breakfast was great and the sheep were soooo cute and friendly.

we also stopped in Milwaukee for a day this weekend too, and I always forget how much I love smaller cities. we visited the art museum, walked around downtown on the riverwalk quite a bit, mike drank a lot of brewpub beer, I loved shopping in the third ward and seeing the public market. happy times.

leisurely day off

2008-08-20T09:29:00.004-05:00

some artworks for an online art journal class I'm taking.

I decided to take this class, not because I feel like I need instruction on how to make things, but just for more of a boost, new ideas, whatever. It's been a good experience but has underlined something I've known about myself for a while. . . I really hate to follow directions. I cook from recipes all the time, but use them as a loose guideline. I've never sewn from a pattern in my life. So, in making these pages I feel like I'm using the tutorials as more of a suggestion than a direction. and I am totally okay with that.

Today I have the day off work and I'm going into the city to get a haircut at my old favorite salon in Wicker Park. I'm feeling sorta nervous because I might take the plunge and get some blunt bangs or something completely new. I guess we'll see. I think the haircut urge comes from the fact that if I can't really control how my body looks in the next few months, I might as well have cute hair. Plus it's a nice excuse to go bum around in my old neighborhood. I do miss it sometimes.

Then tomorrow, Mike and I are off for a long weekend in Wisconsin-Door County and Milwaukee. It should be fun. We're staying at a bed and breakfast that is also a sheep farm so you know I'm deliriously excited.

bits and pieces

2008-08-12T21:22:00.003-05:00

Some pretty things I've found in the past few weeks. Wildflowers in a park near my house. Zinnias in the side yard around dusk. And "natural graffiti," shadows from some foliage on our dining room floor.

Things have been nice and quiet around here. Lately I have been waking up fairly early and really enjoying it. sunday morning the whole neighborhood was so cool and super quiet, I ate breakfast on the back patio and it felt like I was the only one awake for miles. It's lovely. We've been having some friendly bird visitors on our back patio, too; a hummingbird, a pair of american goldfinches, and a daily afternoon sparrow party (dozens of them!). It's fun to watch.

I'm appreciating all these calm docile moments. Lately I have been feeling a little unsure about some of my friendships. Once again it's an issue of my being in a different life place than some of my friends and it makes me feel so awkward. I'm pretty sure it's all just my perception, but still, I think about it too much and it troubles me. Not everything is easy. But. Everything is good, ultimately.

here we go

2008-08-07T08:15:00.005-05:00

It's been my belief for a long time that I don't want to buy a lot of things for our children. I mean, what kid doesn't love the box something comes in better than the actual gift itself? Also, most kids stuff isn't very aesthetically interesting to me. Who wants their house all full of colorful plastic junk? And I certainly don't want my child in either the all-princess or all-truck wardrobe that most stores seem to stock for little girls and boys.

But anyway. I think I found my weakness:

threadless baby onesies. First of all, they're all adorable and funny. Also, they're limited editions, so I think, ooooh, if I like it I better get it now. The dumbest part is that they're kind of expensive for something the kid will only wear for three-four months, tops. I still can't resist though.

So far I've kept it under control, for the most part. I just ordered the Cookie loves Milk, and the Giraffe and Elephant fire brigade. I should also confess that I bought a Giraffe and Elephant fire brigade shirt for myself too. Maybe I'll email a link to the Noah's art shirt to my parents, I'm sure they would approve and be happy to oblige.

gratitude

2008-08-02T10:28:00.002-05:00

thank you for all the congratulations and well wishes, my friends. one thing that has been really nice so far about pregnancy is getting a chance to connect with people in a new way; new conversations with friends who are parents, a good reason to get in touch with old friends I haven't talked to in a while. so, it's been nice.

As far as my pregnancy goes, I have been soooo lucky so far. No real morning sickness to speak of, only some tiredness (but nothing that a nap on the couch or going to sleep at 9 pm can't solve). I feel pretty blessed by that. The worst thing I've noticed is that I pretty much lost interest in everything for the first few months. Hence, not much blogging. :) Hardly any new pages in my art journals or scrapbooks. And my garden got a little overgrown. Things are getting better though, my house is actually clean again too.

January 17 feels like a long time away now, but I know it will be here soon. We aren't going to find out if we're having a boy or a girl, so it's an exciting surprise to look forward to. I just hope that everything continues to go as well as it has been so far. It's a pretty amazing experience.

the newest adventure

2008-07-29T20:40:00.004-05:00

Speaking of books I've been reading lately. . . . there's been one on my nightstand for about three months now. Even though I haven't been enjoying ALL of it, I've found it educational, amusing, perplexing, terrifying, eye-opening AND reassuring.

What is it then? Well,

Yeah dudes. It's true. BABY time!

I have lots to share, more soon, but after 16 (well, 14) weeks of waiting, I had to put it out here. :)

all things considered.

2008-07-15T22:08:00.004-05:00

Things i've been considering lately:

1. Getting a haircut with bangs.

2. Taking a life drawing class.

3. Cleaning out/tossing a TON of my paper stash. (just considering though. we'll see.)

4. How can I make the most of the rest of the summer? I need to regain that adolescent feeling of exciting summertime adventure.

I think we need to go on vacation somewhere new and exciting. Currently the top of the list is a bed and breakfast in Door County Wisconsin that is also a Sheep Farm and Art Gallery. I swear I didn't dream that up, it's totally for real.

5. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that the premiere of this season of Project Runway tonight pretty much negates every bad thing that's happened to me in the past two days? Oh, Tim Gunn, his voice is like a soothing balm to my troubled soul.

verstiegenheit

2008-07-13T15:39:00.006-05:00

I don't have a way with words and most of the time I can't express my thoughts on things very well. At least not without saying Dude half a dozen times. Anyway, I read books for the way they make me think and feel, for the way they change the way I think and feel. But I'm going to try and get some thoughts out on this one.

So with that, I've jumped into all 1,000 + pages of Infinite Jest for the third time and I'm going to try to keep up with the Infinite Jest Online Summertime Appreciation Society and/or Book Club. It's totally official.

I vaguely recall buying the book the summer after I graduated from college. I can't remember why but I suppose it was partially because I liked the cover, the clouds and the orange, white and black futura type. I started reading it for real, the first time, somewhere in the spring of 2004. I can almost pinpoint the day that cemented my first reading. I even have a little souvenir.

That's right, cook county jury duty. I sat in that room all day and read read read. To be honest, I didn't get a lot out of my first reading. I understood practically nothing about Marathe and Steeply and anything related to Quebec (still some of the rockier parts for me to get through) and overall, i just didn't GET it. I don't remember finding it funny, I don't remember thinking about it when I wasn't reading it.

Then came the second reading, last summer. It became such a joy to me. I laughed out loud. I think I frightened all my friends and coworkers by always bringing up anecdotes from some weird book they'd never read. I thought about the book constantly. I even felt like the characters should have been there when we took our trip to Boston last fall.

It really helped me to keep notes, something I've almost never done with a novel. By the end of my second reading, little index cards were scattered all over - my nightstand, the living room, my purse, my car - all with character notes and vocab words. The vocab words really helped. I wish I would have saved all my vocab cards from last summer since apparently not all those words stuck.

So, there's that. In an attempt to not bore people that don't care about Infinite Jest (most of you, I'd wager), I'm moving my book nerdiness to a tumblr, oltremare.tumblr.com. See you there. It's going to be the best tumblr o.a.t.

fyi.

2008-06-30T20:09:00.002-05:00

just thought you should know. i figure if I don't have any interesting thoughts or new works of art to blog about, I might as well blog about my snack choices.

hope you're having a nice summer. :)

Some of my last month

2008-05-31T08:08:00.005-05:00

So I've been feeling kind of "meh" about the internet in general lately. Sorry folks.

Here are some other things I've been doing with my time:
1. Mike surprised me with a trip to the zoo on my birthday.
2. Trip to Iowa to visit my parents, eating Dari Barn twice in a span of less than 24 hours.
3. Trying to get my snow peas to climb up a little support I made for them.
4. I was out of my office for a photo shoot all last week, which was a nice change of pace. I took home all the unused prop fruit and made some tarts this weekend. Yummy.
5. Took a trip to Goodwill this weekend too, it's been a while since I've been to a thrift store. Thrift shopping is great because I enjoy the process and the outcome ($3 perfect fitting short sleeve cashmere sweater! among other treasures).
6. I saw David Sedaris for the first time yesterday on the Daily Show. Can you believe I have never seen his face? It's totally surreal to hear a voice that is intensely familiar coming out of a strange head. I can't really explain it other than to say it weirded me out.
7. Lots of other fun things that I can't really recall right now. Things have been good though. I just don't feel like writing about it very much. :)

rainbows and flowers

2008-05-14T20:36:00.005-05:00

I'm still feeling pretty quiet. I have to say, my break from the internet has not been as much of a break as I'd hoped, but I feel like I'm making strides. I have been taking walks and reading and cooking more than before.

I've also noticed that I feel a lot less pressure to start new projects. When I constantly look at flickr and read art blogs, I get crazy with the amount of stuff I want to do/try/accomplish. That has definitely subsided in the past week or so. It's refreshing, and I feel like it's allowing more room for original ideas and my own taste/aesthetic. Essentially, I feel better about making my own way, rather than wishing I was more like someone else. If that makes sense ...

Anyway, here are some pretty pictures. Rainbows and flowers. Word.

not fast enough for us

2008-05-03T16:12:00.007-05:00

"Walking was not fast enough, so we ran. Running was not fast enough, so we galloped. Galloping was not fast enough, so we sailed. Sailing was not fast enough, so rolled merrily along long, metal tracks. Long metal tracks were not fast enough, so we drove. Driving was not fast enough, so we flew.

Flying isn't fast enough, not fast enough for us. We want to get there faster. Get where? Wherever we're not. But a human soul can only go as fast as a human man can walk, they used to say. In that case, then where are all the souls? Left behind. They wander here and there, slowly, dim lights flickering in the marshes of the night, looking for us. But, they're not nearly as fast enough, not for us, we're way ahead of them, they'll never catch up. That's why we can go so fast; our souls dont weigh us down."
Margaret Atwood, The Tent

I have a lot to share but not a lot to write today. i'm conducting an experiment this week and trying to slow down and cut back on some of the noise in my life. I'm hoping to reduce the massive and wasteful amount of time I spend on the internet, the mindless TV watching, the obsessive email checking, the shopping online with no intention of buying. It's just NOT good for too many reasons to list. I want to be more aware of my time and how I'm spending it.

So with that, I don't know when I'll come back to my blog, it could be a few weeks or so. Just a little break. I'll leave you with a few links and art projects and things.

I can take a break from a lot of things on the internet, but not flickr. And definitely not my favorites. Lately I've been looking for photos of creative gardens, outdoor rooms, and beautiful naturey things.

I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver right now, and it's definitely inspiring me to spend more time in the kitchen and garden. All the seasonal, super healthy recipes from the book are here.

Measure for Measure is a New York times blog about songwriting, and Andrew Bird is one of the contributors. Fascinating stuff.

some collages from this weekend. i could have made ten more pages in the same color palette, I was really enjoying it.

Thanks for listening. See you soon.

Want to know what makes me sad?

2008-04-28T20:08:00.007-05:00

Imagine you're enjoying a nice saturday morning reading the newspaper. You turn to the second page and see. . .

Yep, that's right. Narwhals are totally endangered and facing extinction now because of climate change. I had a suspicion about this and now it's confirmed. The whole article is here in case you're curious.

I have been a little extra sensitive lately, but seeing this threw me for an emotional curve and it made me SO sad. I ended up crying on and off for hours after I read it. I just love narwhals so much, and for me, it represents so much more than just the endangerment of my most beloved weird arctic marine mammal. What's happening in our world? It's frightening.

Anyway, once again I am seriously considering starting up a Narwhal Appreciation society, proceeds going to a Save the Whales or Save the Arctic organization. Honestly, polar bears shouldn't get all the press! Narwhals are way more magical and interesting than a big jerk of a bear.

mail art and a meme

2008-04-24T16:23:00.004-05:00

this is a piece of mail art I made for robyn. our trade was my first experience with this kind of mail art, and it was really fun!

and. Here's a meme I've seen in a few places around the blog world lately, I thought I'd share my answers. . .

What was I doing 5 years ago?
2003. . . hmmm. Kind of an awkward time of my life. I was living in chicago in a weird neighborhood, still not used to not being in college anymore, not loving my job at all. i had great friends, though I don't think we were the best influences on each other at that time. Overall, probably your run of the mill 23 year old malaise. On the upside, i saw a ton of great live music that year and bought a lot of shoes. So, there you go.

Five things on my to-do list today (or things I did today):
1. Get work done so I don't have to stay late at work.
2. Return a purse I bought from anthropologie. but this probably won't happen today.
3. Cook dinner.
4. Go out and look at my garden even though there's only three little sprouts so far.
5. Watch LOST. yay!

Five snacks i love:
1. triscuits and cheese.
2. hummus and pita
3. chips and salsa.
4. fruit crisp with vanilla ice cream.
5. dark chocolate.
apparently I love combinations of things.

Five things i would do if i were a billionaire:
1. pay off our house and buy a vacation home somewhere nice in the midwest.
2. pay off my parents house, buy my brother a new house
3. give money to our church and my dad's church
4. Buys lots of goats and cows for heifer international.
5. Ginormous blowout of a European vacation with all my friends and family! italy, paris, london, ireland, copenhagen, croatia, germany, etc. etc. Seriously, you're all invited, all expenses paid. :)

Five bad habits I have:
1. Never answering my cell phone.
2. Spending waaay too much time on the internet.
3. Keeping a super messy car all the time.
4. This is probably TMI, but it's my worst habit right now. . scratching my itchy excema hands. :(
5. Not keeping in touch very well with my old college friends and extended family.

Five places i have lived:
a selection of the many, from smallest to largest :)
1. Wentworth, South Dakota
2. Marshfield, Missouri
3. Ames, Iowa
4. Rome, Italy
5. Chicago

Five jobs i've had:
1. Camp Counselor.
2. "Bingo the Dog" at a pumpkin farm.
3. College Residence Hall Tour Guide.
4. Screen printer at a sporting goods factory.
5. Graphic Designer for lower-grade textbooks.
This list could go on. . . i've done a lot of weird jobs in my life.

well, that was fun. now i'm off to do all the things on the to do list for the day. :)

warmth!

2008-04-20T20:17:00.005-05:00

my mom and I at "cloud gate" (aka, the bean) millenium park, Chicago.

okay, how many other good things could have happened this weekend?
1. friday night i fell asleep on the couch at 9 PM. yes, that's a good thing.
2. my mom came to visit. and she brought dari barn ice cream. .. with crunch coat (a hometown favorite). dude, best thing ever, in the universe.
3. we went to millenium park saturday afternoon and just sat there forever watching people. i really love millenium park, I truly do, and am really happy that some of my tax dollars as a city dweller funded it's billion dollar-ness.
3a. we had such a nice day walking around downtown, walking along the lakefront, drinking warm drinks at the cosi on michigan avenue with all the art kids, taking the metra through all the western suburbs, etc. etc.
4. today I did the crossword on the patio, then fell into some kind of dreamy sun coma/ half sleep. SUNSHINE. it is back, and like I said, I honestly feel like I'm in a whole new world. it's glorious.
4a. also this afternoon I made some collages with the windows open. is there anything nicer than a good music mix mingled with the birdsongs from the backyard? it's kind of the ultimate nice sunday afternoon sound.
5. tonight mike and I rode our bikes over to a friends house, sat on a patio, drank beers, and petted dogs. let's think about all the good things in that sentence. there's a lot.

Honestly though, it's so strange to live in this new universe of warmth. I feel like this was one of the worst winters I've ever lived through and now it's totally bizarre to get used to non-winter anymore. I'm sure I sound like some kind of weirdo talking about this, but I'm guessing if you live above the mason-dixon line you'll probably understand. SPRINGTIME. Yes.

"but now I'm gold"

2008-04-18T17:50:00.004-05:00

portrait of a backyard, friday at 5:30 cst.

This morning was one of those sucky mornings when everything is frustrating, wrong, headachey. Which was a shame since it's kinda lovely outside. The first days of spring here feels like moving to a new continent. . . the t-shirt continent. Can I get a YAY for t shirt weather?

Anyway, here is a chronological list of the things that improved my day:
1. giant bottle of san pellegrino
2. carefully crafted on-the-go playlist on repeat for a few hours
3. a little bit of fresh air
4. closing my eyes and just dropping out of the cubicle world for a bit
5. mashed potatoes for lunch
6. finding awesome snacks in the break room and totally freaking out over how good cream cheese+marionberry jam is on crackers. Yes!

All these things were totally a formula for greatness. I feel ten times better than I did a few hours ago. BOOM! What a way to start the weekend. Happy Friday.

lettuce and bloomsdale spinach germinating as we speak

2008-04-15T18:26:00.003-05:00

tiny signs of life in our yard. and a stack of books that sums up where my thoughts reside these days.

"the art of french vegetable gardening" is dreamy and full of gorgeous garden photos. it makes me kind of swoon-y and gives me romantic notions about my own little "potager" (fancy french word for vegetable garden).

growing my own vegetables has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done and I highly, highly recommend it for everyone. even if you only have a little patio you can grow container tomatoes and herbs or even super fancy stuff like dwarf eggplants. seriously, go for it!! okay, that's the end of my little gardening PSA. :)

just born this way

2008-04-14T18:44:00.004-05:00

Lately I have been looking back through my years and seeing that so much of me really hasn't changed, even since I was a little kid. I mean, here I am at 27, still writing, drawing, dreaming, making little art projects. The same kinds of things I did when I was in elementary school. Looking through an old diary, I found an old list of goals I made when I was a senior in college. it's interesting to see which I've accomplished, which are still relevant. Really only one of the goals is no longer relevant, and the ones I haven't accomplished I'd still like to.

1. Get a radio show.
Yes! One of the best experiences of my college years.

2. Run a 10k.
Sadly no.

3. Design a typeface
Two actually! Here's a shamless plug: one of which you can purchase if you so chose. :)

4. Fall in love.
Of course! Yay for Mike.

5. Buy more purple t-shirts.
What a random one. . . I actually don't think I own any purple t-shirts.

6. Bake more.
I've been highly successful on this one. Just made some bacon muffins yesterday. Mmm. . . bacon muffins.

7. See Caedmon's Call, REM, The Rentals, and Sigur Ros in concert.
Funny. . . none of these. I did see countless other bands while living in chicago, so I think this is mostly a success.

8. Become more knowledgable about wine.
Yes. Here's some photographic evidence: visiting the Gloria Ferrer winery on our honeymoon, intently studying some kind of brochure.

9. Paint a triptych.
Hmm. . . haven't done this but maybe I'll revive this goal.

11. Host a fondue party.
Best party of my life. . . I should do this again sometime.

12. Write a hit play.
Ha ha, this one is a bit tongue in cheek. Who knows though, maybe someday.

13. Learn more about classic rock.
Check!

14. Get a cool job.
Yes again! Finally.

15. Start writing more faithfully in my journal.
Another one I should probably revive.

It's nice to see that I've actually made strides forward. Sometimes it's hard to see changes because I've evolved so slowly. I'm starting to compile a new list, too. I think this will be a "things to do before 30" and more of a big dreaming list. Coming soon. . .

five things

2008-04-08T19:51:00.003-05:00

five things!

1. some new art journal pages. :)

2. this past weekend was one of the best we've had so far this year. absolutely perfect weather. and this morning when I woke up the grass had all magically turned green. it kind of feels like the wizard of oz when everything turns technicolor. and after all the yard work and being outside this weekend, I feel like pinocchio when he turned from a wooden puppet into a real boy. thank you springtime, i am a real girl again.

3. if you are at all interested in the work of emily martin of the black apple , do yourself a favor and download the podcast/interview with her at craftsanity. it's an hour and a half long but it just flies by, she is so charming and informative. it made me respect and admire her even more than I already do. highly, highly recommended.

4. i have been stuck in a lunch rut for about two months now and I couldn't stand the thought of another spinach salad or tuna sandwich. thank goodness for smitten kitchen. I made this bulgur salad with chickpeas and red peppers and it is sooo good, I was in nigella mode after work, eating it straight from the bowl standing in front of the frig. In general, I don't cook a lot of fancy or new things, but I always want to, and this was a great way to do it. now have a week's worth of lunches I can actually look forward to.

5. finally. there was a little talk of this in the comments of my last post, but I think it's definitely time for a mix cd swap. I made a boo-yah playlist and I'm willing to trade . . .email me (katielicht at gmail.com) if you're down. YAY.

color palettes

2008-04-02T20:41:00.005-05:00

1. In good (although limited) company..., 2. boxes, 3. solo ante la inmensidad, 4. green ones are hard to find, 5. Picnic party in the garden., 6. red rain, 7. Rothay Park Robin X, 8. Orange mood, 9. red rain, 10. math books.

a mosaic from my flickr faves.

my color palette is an area of my artwork I'm trying to develop lately. I go to the same old favorites over and over, or rely on pretty basic combinations (red and light blue, orange and green, overall monochromatics, etc.) So, I delved into my flickr favorites to find palettes I found interesting that I generally don't or haven't used in art or collages yet. I figure, if I'm drawn to this image at least part of it has to be the palette, right? one thing I'm definitely seeing is a lot of orangey tones. . . .other than that it's all just super pretty and appealing to me.

I think I learned this trick at some point in college, to look at photographic imagery to find palettes for artwork. Not like it's groundbreaking or anything, but it's a nice reminder to always look for new inspirations.

I have been working late this week and I come home late and pretty tired. I'm full of ideas but not a lot of motivation. So, a glass of wine, looking through flickr pretties and listening to the
new andrew bird ep and she & him is a nice way to wind down the day.

animals I love

2008-04-01T19:53:00.005-05:00

a few shots from our trip to the farm/petting zoo this weekend. i love this place. it's free and little and you can kind of just stop in whenever you get a farm animal craving.

what's that you say? other people DON'T get farm animal cravings? oh well, maybe it's just me.

some friendly goats

my favorite llama, I call him Speckles.

and of course, a more domesticated favorite animal of mine, even though she is kind of a monstery beast. puppy Ditka!

this one really shows her in all her weirdo geriatric pug glory. man, I love our dog so much.

and one more thing. . .

this made me cry big fat tears. I know this elephant has probably been trained in some way, but i still find it incredibly moving. gives you a different opinion of all the non-human mammals out there.

art. and the past

2008-03-31T18:00:00.006-05:00

this weekend i spent so much time in the art room making page after page of collages. it really makes me so happy. lately i have been worrying a lot that I've become too focused on results / feedback from others / some kind of commericial success. which is never what I intended this to be. so I looked back through a lot of my old work, before I started posting things online, back when it was solely about me and my personal fulfillment.

when I look at my old work it makes me glad that I took the time to make a painting, glue together a collage, whatever, instead of watching reruns on tv or spending endless hours reading blogs. It's nice to look at my (albeit small) collection of work and just feel proud that I have these pretty things to show for myself.

I have a lot of new things to show (as soon as it gets sunny enough to get a decent photograph!) but I wanted to show some of what's been making me happy this weekend.

the past five years worth of art journals. the flickr breaks it down.

from my messy watercolors phase. fun fact, i'm pretty sure I painted this the day before I met my husband.

more messy watercolors.

stack of little books.

more little books. yay for ribbons!

it was a nice weekend overall. sunday afternoon we went to the little petting zoo in town so I could see my favorite llamas. and out for sushi for dinner since it's been sooo long and I had a taste for some unagi.

hope you had a nice weekend too, friends.

saturday mornings

2008-03-29T08:56:00.004-05:00

every weekend I have the best laid plans to get up early on saturday, run errands, make art, bake something, just get going!

well, that's happened maybe once. most of the times I hit snooze until 8:30 and then sit around in my pajamas drinking coffee and watching reruns of the soup. today was somewhat better. until I started making bread and realized there were no eggs. and i got distracted by flickr. . . . then the morning slips back into its lazy inertia.

i did take advantage of the glorious morning light in our dining room to take some photos. this will eventually make it's way into my 27 mini book, which comes along sloooowly but surely.

my favorite books of the past year.

here's to a more productive rest of the day.

thoughts on a day job

2008-03-26T21:51:00.006-05:00

little yellow birdies, began as a doodle during some work meetings.

so, i have been thinking lately about my job. In the past week or so, I have had a big surge of creative energy, outside of work, and that always makes part of me wish I had more time to dedicate to my personal art.

The thing is, I'm pretty sure if I didn't have the outlet of my job (doing graphic design for a small corporation), I wouldn't have the same kind of creativity outside of work. I really do love my job. Loving my day job energizes the rest of my life; I know this now because I've had jobs I haven't liked, and it totally sucked away all my vitality and spirit. Now I'm content with where I am. I really respect and admire my supervisors, and I enjoy spending time with my coworkers--many of whom I now consider good friends, outside of work. I get to work on some pretty neat projects, too; signage, logos, invitations.

It's not always puppies and rainbows, that's for sure--during our busy times I work late a LOT and it can be stressful and crazy--but for the most part I feel really blessed to have finally found myself at a good place in my career.

Anyway, to bring it back full circle, one of the things I most love about my job is that no one ever seems to care that I draw through about 75% of all the meetings I attend. Last week I made doodles through an entire meeting, and that's essentially what I was there to do. Seriously! It's great.

our music and us

2008-03-24T22:34:00.007-05:00

Both Mike and I have been spending a bit of time in the past few days converting our CD collection to MP3, taking boxes and boxes of discs from the attics. It's such a weird trip down memory lane.

For all the early emo and Christian ska and other random and somewhat questionable stuff in my old collection, there are a few discs that I still love and would never be ashamed of.
look at the cracks on this puppy. it was carted around in countless backpacks before the dawn of the ipod. i'm actually surprised it's held up this well. i almost had a heart attack when I realized i bought it about 13 years ago. dude.

Between the two of us there's quite a wide spectrum of music. just in the past half hour I've heard the hold steady, bruce springsteen, cat stevens, the beach boys; i did my flail-y white girl dance to ben folds "kate." and now we're listening to some Dr. Dre. want to guess who's collection that's from?

tonight has been a lot of fun, just the two of us listening to music. the dog is sitting under my chair. I made a few collages earlier. such a pleasant evening.

behold the man

2008-03-22T11:13:00.003-05:00

the betrayal of christ

ecce homo

the entombment

thinking about these caravaggios this week.

happy easter, friends.

sparkling clean

2008-03-18T20:29:00.005-05:00

is there anything better than a clean house?

the apartment therapy spring cure is going pretty well for me. so far, it doesn't really seem that organized online, but the book has really given me a boost to get things done. More than anything it's raised my consciousness of my surroundings, what works about my house and what doesn't. And after the whole week of really pondering what needs to be done, I realized that what my house really needs is to stay clean and clutter free. I don't really need new furniture. I don't need more knicknacks.

okay, I have to admit though, I did buy an wood and metal monogram from anthropologie, and a few pieces of art from etsy seller labokoff. (highly recommended! beautiful prints, i LOVE them.) and finally took some wedding photos to get framed, but that's a different story. why yes, i did get married almost three years ago, thanks.

my prints from labokoff. aren't they pretty?

anyway! clean and clutter free. that's the goal. I cleaned so hard on saturday afternoon, like workout hard. it was so incredibly satisfying. I think the soundtrack helped, too:
fruit bats, spelled in bones (twice)
belle and sebastian, if you're feeling sinister (twice)
the strokes, is this it

I'm going to make up a fake statistic and guarantee you 94% success in scrubbing every surface in your house while listening to these albums. it worked for me!

still winter

2008-03-11T18:53:00.003-05:00

it seems like there are signs of spring everywhere but here. the magazines and catalogs in my mailbox are full of hyacinths and short skirts. even the sun setting later makes it seem like my neighborhood should be warm and blooming. but it's not.

i don't think I'm really complaining though; it was warm enough today to ride my bike to the grocery store, one of my favorite activities of all time. there's a little path and a big pond between my house and the ultra foods. even though it's still wintry it's pretty in a sparse way. isn't that an interesting little seed pod?

mini-book, big fears

2008-03-08T15:28:00.001-06:00

new project, originally uploaded by oltremare.

I think I may have expressed this here before. . . . I have a weird phobia about what I consider "real" scrapbooking. I have always made paper-based art, collage, all that, but for some reason i get all intimidated by all the uber professional scrapbooking out there right now.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm not secretly Type A, because I don't really like doing things unless I can do them perfectly or at least extremely well. Most of the time I don't deal with it though, because I've always tried to avoid those things. (Sports, anyone? :) ) It's so dumb though, that I've put so much pressure on myself in this arena, which really isn't anything to overthink in the first place!! Stupid unfounded fears.

Anyway, I've realized lately that age 27 has been one of, if not THE best year of my life. And I really feel like I want to document that. So; what you see here is the beginnings of a mini-book. I'm pretty stoked.

thoughtful

2008-03-07T11:14:00.005-06:00

I really love getting comments on my blog, and flickr, and just connecting with people through the infite tubes of the internet.:) Often though, I just read other blogs and never comment or email people, as much as I might enjoy or be inspired by them. So, it's my resolution for the new week to do a bit more connecting.

This was inspired a little bit by Carrie & Danielle's friday focus. I think I might start doing these little resolutions on a semi-weekly basis.

Other nice things this friday:

-thinking about the rob & big DVD making its way to my mailbox in a few days. I LOVE this show and it makes me laugh so hard every week. hijinx!

-fun friday lunch out with my coworkers today

-signing up for the Apartment Therapy Spring Cure. I have been meaning to do so much with our house but I always end up slacking or ignoring it. Maybe this will give me the boost I need. . . .

-my Pandora "Cat Stevens" station. Soothing sounds of the seventies, totally mellow.

-a whole weekend with no plans. lots of time for relaxing and working on fun projects!

happy weekend. :)

good day sunshine

2008-03-05T18:21:00.004-06:00

images of florida. gotta love that pinky sunset light. there are a couple more on my flickr. The last photo was taken at the mini-golf course we went to. There are literally dozens of photos of that giraffe. Can you spot him?

I always have a hard time writing vacation recaps, since once I'm home I can't seem to recapture that free vacation feeling.

One of the best parts of the trip was seeing how Mike and I have so much fun when we're together. We get along so well and laugh about all the dumbest stuff. Sometime if I'm feeling generous I'll tell you some of the pirate jokes we came up with on the trip. For example,

Q. Who is a pirate's favorite fashion designer?
A. Arrrrmani.

And so on.

The weather was great, the visits with grandparents were pleasant, and I really love all the Florida wildlife--lots of big weird birds. It's a Katie paradise. It was so nice to sit out on the little dock behind our hotel and drink coffee and watch the birds in the morning. After such a long, confining, crummy winter, it just made me feel like ME again, like taking a deep cleansing breath.

florida.

2008-03-03T17:06:00.002-06:00

it was great. we played mini golf and watched baseball. we saw a lot of birds and ate a lot of fish. i was warm! I can't ask for anything more than that.

Now we're home and exhausted. I've had my pajamas on since about three this afternoon. . . unwinding with some tea and getting ready to watch last week's Lost on the DVR. Takin' 'er easy.

More pictures and stories soon.

headed south

2008-02-27T21:14:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow we're on our way down to Florida. Resounding YAY all around. I will be back next week with photos. and a tan.

Just a few last thoughts. Tonight as I was intently scrubbing the sink, sweeping the kitchen, and generally tidying the entire house, I had a flashback to being about 12 and asking my mom, "why do you always clean the house before we go on vacation? it's not like anyone's going to see it." but now, I GET it. you want to come home to peace, and clean.

I love how being an adult solves most of those weird mysteries of childhood.

Iowa, pajamas, music

2008-02-25T21:13:00.004-06:00

I feel like I'm just going to toss a pile of images and sentences here tonight. but that's okay. I guess I'll number them to make it seem less scatterbrained. We all know the truth though.

1. This weekend we went to Iowa for my new niece's baptism. It was nice to be with my whole family, as it always is. And good to get out of town, even if we did go somewhere with way MORE snow than here. Always love some Iowa time.

2. I realized the other day that I have been wearing the same pajamas for like three years now. Not cool. So, i took action!

These are from target and they are ADORABLE. Way cuter in person I think. The colors are really pretty and the pattern is so cute. On sale for $9 at my target! It doesn't get any better than that.

3. And finally. i have been listening to the same mix for the majority of this month. Lovin' it. Mindy, this should be coming your way sometime soon. . . :)

let's get out of this country

2008-02-19T17:19:00.005-06:00

well, just the state really. but i have had that camera obscura song in my head now for a few days.

Next week Mike and I are headed down to Florida for a few days of beachy fun, spring training baseball, and me not complaining about the weather every three minutes. I tell you people, it's turning me into Captain Bringdown, big time. Negative twenty wind chill tonight! And, every time I go outside I get so mad I feel like punching the cold air in the face. And that's kind of difficult. So! This trip could not come at a better time.

Gotta represent for the family team. Dude, i cannot wait.

where have your walls gone?

2008-02-17T13:14:00.005-06:00

today it is raining on top of the two feet of snow we have. honestly. . . I don't think the weather could get any more gross than this. yuck. so this is today's art journal page.

the weekend has been good in spite of it. yesterday Mike and I went to the city to visit the Museum of Science and Industry. In all the years I've lived in this area, I've never been; crazy, right? There was a special presentation this weekend of a new virtual tour of the 1893 World's Fair-the Columbian Exposition. It was fascinating and I'm so glad we got the chance to see it. The scale of the fair is truly amazing and it's hard to even imagine what it must have been like for the people who were lucky enough to see it back then.

(this is the only image available from the museum's web site and there weren't any brochures or other information about the virtual tour. it's still a work in progress, so maybe someday.)

If you've ever read Devil in the White City, or even heard the Sufjan Stevens song "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!" you know a little bit about the Columbian Exposition, so I don't think I should launch into any big history lessons here. :) The idea of it appeals to so many aspects of my nerdiness. . . art history and architecture, chicago history, old stuff in general, things that are basically fairy tales come to life, spectacles. The wikipedia page is here if you're interested.

happy valentines

2008-02-14T11:27:00.004-06:00

some flickr prettyness for today:

1. What's Cookin'?, 2. do you like my baubles?, 3. Untitled, 4. Spring's coat...., 5. Sketchbook Stuff, 6. Untitled, 7. Frills, 8. I love you more than tea, 9. heart tags, 10. we had sunshine today, 11. take 1, 12. New eye candy for etsy shop, 13. Be Mine, 14. pink cupcake with sesame street toy, 15. Peonies from my yard, 16. HI

happy valentines day!

lucky number seven

2008-02-12T17:31:00.000-06:00

since I don't have a lot to say I'm doing one of those "seven things about me" posts. just random stuff. for the record, yeah, i haven't really created anything lately so I don't have much to share. I think my brain is frozen. and the negative wind chill can bite me.

okay, anyway! here they are.

1. I absolutely hate being "blessed" after sneezing. It's probably because I sneeze a lot and would just prefer people to ignore it.

2. I sing songs to my dog ALL the time. Most of them are tuneless. And most of them are about how she is a pug dog, or how bad she smells. So the songs are not good, but I sing them with love.

3. I have vivid dreams and remember them often. When I was younger I had recurring dreams that I was shopping for something specific and could never find it. These dreams stopped when I married Mike. Seriously! Now I dream a lot about whales, and sometimes Bob Dylan.

4. I have really bad excema on my hands this winter and it looks like I have some kind of flesh-eating bacteria. It's getting better, but at one time it was really gross. Not sure why I'm sharing this. You're welcome!

5. If Google ever went away about half my life would fall apart. I rely so much on gmail, my google calendar, and google reader. I use gmail as an address book, I email PDFs of my work to myself for safekeeping, all my appointments I would completely forget are in the calendar. . . it would not be pretty.

6. I am not very good about remembering birthdays, and I really wish I were better about sending gifts and cards. This was one of my New Years Resolutions.

7. I'm starting to get SUPER excited about planting my garden this spring. I'm hoping to plant tomatoes, zucchini, snow peas, spinach, green peppers, hot peppers, and herbs. I think this is finally the year that I have learned I can't grow basil and oregano from seed, so maybe I'll finally have some herb success.

on that note of looking forward to springtime. . . I'm out.