my special little ditka friend

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.

Want to know what makes me sad?

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.

animals I love

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.

sketchy

more giraffes. . . a page from my sketchbook. and there are plenty more where this came from. a few weekends ago I went to the library and just sat at a desk with a stack of animal reference books and drew for a few hours. I sometimes forget how much I like drawing. it really puts you in a totally different mindframe.

griffle!

So, yes, the Giraffe is my newest animal obsession. Not exactly sure where this one came from. I think because they are interesting to draw.


Some background here: in one of the library books I checked out about giraffes, there was a small appendix containing a LONG list of names the giraffe has been known by. Favorites include: garsantes, giraphus, griffle, hirable, orafflus, siraf, and zirnapha. Needless to say, I have become focused on "griffle" and that's basically what I call giraffes now. Griffle! It just seems to fit.

An unrelated and slightly more serious note. Lately I have realized (or, if you're feeling fruity, "the universe has shown to me") that the best way for me to make art is to do what comes most naturally to me. Big epiphany, huh? I've probably read that in about a thousand blogs and artist-type self-help books. But for some reason in the past few weeks it's just clicked, big time. I can look back and see that whenever I have pursued something with my whole heart and not a lot of brainy anxiety, the results have been succesful and well-received. Alien Robots is a prime example; it's something that just kind of came to me, and I did it because I enjoyed it, and the outcome was way better than I would have expected.

I've spent so much time in the past few years consciously trying to develop a style, or following someone else's style. Well, no wonder I was frustrated with my artwork! It's a classic square peg/round hole-type situation. Now it just feels super FUN and FREEING and I can't wait to come home after work every night and draw griffles or make my collages or whatever.

So, in conclusion, YAY. Also file under: why didn't they teach me this kind of thing in my four years of design school? :)

Boston '07

right up next to the green monster!

Last weekend we went to Boston for a short trip. It was a nice time, very baseball-centric. (Obviously.) We ate great seafood and walked around in the park. Saw some historical stuff and some cool art, ate gelato. Can't ask for more.

This wasn't my first time in Boston, I was there once, for one day, during the summer I worked at a camp in Connecticut. The strange thing is, it felt totally different this time, like my memories were of an entirely different city. I can't explain it but it kind of weirded me out the whole time.

Also. I've been rereading Infinite Jest this summer. I get really into the books I read and this one is, of course, no exception. So the whole time we were in the Boston MAMA I kept expecting to see like Don Gately on the T, or some ETA kids running around. We did see a lot of questionable people on the streets so I guess that satisfied me to some extent.

And on that note. . . I finished IJ this weekend and almost cried. It felt like losing a job or a best friend, I've been spending so much time with it in the past two months now I don't know what to do with myself. I guess it's time to start reading another 1000 page, unbelievably engrossing novel. Any suggestions?

five minutes in my head

things that are making me happy. august 02 07 edition.

about grace by anthony doerr is absolutely killing me. LOVING it unlike any other modern novel i've read in a long while. it's changing the way i observe the world. when i read it i feel like i'm grabbing hold of a thin string that's attached to something momentous and REAL about the world. isn't that what a novel is supposed to do, ultimately?

more obsessions, musical: "boxer" by the national. i can't remember the last time i was this overtaken by an album. i'm getting that sick addicted feeling for it. like everytime i turn on my ipod or get in my car, i think, "i can't listen to this anymore or I'll ruin it." and then i turn it on and find more to love. also, this summer is the first time I've heard of them. where have i been for the past few years? the national is great.

mike and i went to the county fair the other night and I could just watch the goats for hours. we watched a pen full of young males, all careening around and jumping and headbutting each other. i think goats are climbing the ranks of my favorite domesticated animals. watch out, llamas.

i've been feeling lucky/blessed these days. work is slow so i get home by 5:15 or so and actually have time to do some housework and make dinner. is there anything more satisfying than cooking a square meal which features vegetables one has grown from a seed? the answer is no, my friends.

two years

according to wikipedia, the second anniversary is the "cotton" anniversary. but apparently in our household it's the tennis racket anniversary.

anyway, yeah, we've been married for two years. it hardly feels that long... it was a good night tonight though. we had a nice dinner out and afterwards walked down to the county fairgrounds. the circus is in town tomorrow and we caught a glimpse of some of it. it was a nice evening.





may is such an excellent month for us. really, the past few weeks have been nothing less than perfect springtime.

wants and needs

things i have had cravings for recently:
+ v-8
+ perrier*
+ laura veirs "bright glittering gifts" played on repeat ad nauseam**
+ a real simple-style home with either no clutter, or rather-- gorgeous, art-directed clutter.
+ a sunny weekend morning to buy seeds and stick my hands into the earth

obviously some of those are easier to achieve than others. but there's a theme of sorts. i am craving a little sparkling, wholesome, pretty austerity. rome and working a lot put my schedule out of whack and life without a routine makes me a little antsy. hence the need for simple clean things.

* i'm now addicted to sparkling water. it's true. i have a "con gas" problem. and I love it.

** speaking of laura veirs. the new one, it's so good. the lyrics are perfect, the music has that laura veirsyness. i can't put my finger on it. it's like being alone on an ocean liner in the the middle of the night, the middle of the pacific, every star visible in the sky. it has that celestial coolness. so it comes highly recommended from me to you.

laura veirs and saltbreakers

plus, i feel really connected to her since I read something where she said she dreams a lot about whales. swoon!

florida, and cows of the sea

we're old skool and use a real camera. so these are finally, finally my pictures from florida. we jetted around on a boat. and we saw some manatees. and many other things. basically, it was the best ever.

i'm a midwestern girl at heart, always will be, but I'll be damned if I don't end up a snowbird in my later days. one of those old ladies that spends half the year down south. while I don't completely adore florida that year round sunshine is hard to beat.