not fast enough for us

"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.

five things

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.

thoughtful

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. :)

Iowa, pajamas, music

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. . . :)

lots to share!

1. I put some collages on my etsy shop. Here's one:

If you or anyone you know is interested, let me know. . . i'm giving free shipping for friends & family. maybe even discounts if I really love you. :)

2. Sometimes it’s just one image that gets me moving and wanting to MAKE things. The images of this little journal by emily falconbridge made me want to immediately come home from work and put together something similar. I really love patterned paper in good combinations. (link via ali edwards.)

3. I know this is totally a teenage girl song. My first thought when I heard it was, "dude i would have loved this so much when i was 17." Well it turns out that I love it just as much at 27. Funtimes.

Kate Nash, Mouthwash

4. My public library finally set up an emailing system to let you know when your books are due which is so incredibly helpful to me. I'd wager to guess that this will save me upwards of $50 a year in fines. Probably more. I kind of wish I was kidding about that. But it's all good now!

5. I really wish more of my friends had blogs. It doesn’t have to be fancy, get a tumblr people! I don’t care if you write about what you have for dinner every night, or the marginally funny things your children say, I would still read it. The great thing about blogs is that they have made my curiosity about other people’s lives totally acceptable. I’m the kind of person who WILL look into your house if you have no curtains and leave the lights on in the evenings. I don’t think it’s a weird/creepy thing, I’m just genuinely interested in the way people live, how they decorate their houses, what they’re up to. Anyway. . . friends, get blogs. Or at least update the ones you do have on a more regular basis. It would make me love you more than I already do. And friends who do have blogs. . . thank you.

Ring Them Bells

i haven't been listening to a lot of NEW music lately, which is a little unusual for me. there's always something new to be obsessed with. . . just not this week though.

Instead, it's been ALL Sufjan, all the time. LOVE him so much. There's just something about his music that feels like it's made just for me and my particular taste.

photo via moderate mike at flickr.

I also rediscovered Camera Obscura this week. It was so warm the past few days I needed some springy music.
Isn't this adorable?

Songs of 2007.

i did a little quasi-scientific research the other day to determine my favorite song of 2007. The research consisted of sorting my songs by play count on my itunes and ipod. so, here are some of the tops:

(fyi, i'm linking to myspace so you can enjoy some of these fantastic artists' sweet sweet tunes.)

plasticities, andrew bird

lake shore drive, the innocence mission

legs of bees, fruit bats

fake empire, the national


cast a hook, laura veirs. as you can see, there is a video with NARWHALS in it. of course it's one of my favorite songs of the year!

i feel it all, feist

myriad harbor, the new pornographers

empty hearts, josh ritter

two, ryan adams

every song from caitlin cary's "begonias" since i tend to listen to it obsessively when i make art or clean or whatever.

I also think i should add that "can you please crawl out your window," the hold steady and "ring them bells," sufjan stevens, both from the i'm not there soundtrack , probably deserve to be on this list. i'm way into both of these songs right now but since they were only added about a month ago the scientific itunes thing is kinda misleading.

and my number one most played song of this year? flossin', mike jones.


i like to listen to it on repeat at work. for like, hours at a time, no joke. i can't say i can really explain this. but it probably has something to do with my little brother.

art + time

i don't know why it took me 27 years to figure certain things out. maybe that shouldn't surprise me as much as it does. but. music and art and literature have been incredibly meaningful to me lately and I've been feeling a little baffled by it. like, where did this all come from?

last night I watched a documentary I'd recorded on PBS (side note, i have turned into the kind of person that records documentaries on PBS) about art in the twenty first century. it was later in the evening and I've been going to bed so early these days so I was a little zonked. i was drifting off to sleep to the voice of Jenny Holzer talking about horses and her hope for her art to be "lovely and exacting." that dreamy feeling put my mind on this track.

the novel about grace changed the way I think about nature and the world, all the glorious/mundane ways the world works. infinite jest, well, that's enough for another post, but it sparked so much in me. i think about the Ghent Altarpiece almost every sunday when i go to communion. even music makes more sense. after owning blonde on blonde for half a dozen years i think I'm finally starting to "get" it.

ghent altarpiece: adoration of the lamb, jan van eyck + others

so again . . why would it be that NOW, of all times, when I'm not taking classes and learning and seeing new things all the time, that I would finally get hit over the head by all this?

last night i had a little mini revelation about it. right now there is not really a lot to ponder in my life. i make coffee, go to work, make my logos and text changes, come home, read, cook, watch tv. It's stable, comfortable, unchanging. So of course now, when my mind isn't filled up with looking for a new job or boyfriend or neighborhood to live in, there's plenty of room to really let things soak in. It's a nice feeling, especially because I know I will not be young and childless and have plentiful free time forever. I'm enjoying it and feeling really happy.

Feist - 1 2 3 4

Feist, 1234, from youtube

i'm obsessed with this video. seriously. everything about it is perfect. I can't remember the last time i loved a music video this much. (I'm assuming it was mo money mo problems back in 1997? ten years man.)

anyway, part of the reason i love it is that the song is tops on my list of Tracks to Listen to on Repeat. Runners up include Roscoe by Midlake and Myriad Harbour by The New Pornographers (fyi, links go to myspace and the songs are there, DO IT, listen). I estimate that about half of my music listening in the past five days have been just these three songs.

oh yeah, and PS: in case you're wondering, the answer is YES, i am already teaching myself the dance to this video.

the latest. . . .

the latest. . . ., originally uploaded by oltremare.

i've always loved flickr, but in the past few weeks i've been crazy obsessed. my favorites are growing by leaps and bounds. i LOVE looking at my favorites; i really love seeing how my tastes and preferences change from week to week. this week it seems like i'm all about the muted/natural/organic.

other positive things
+ going to the white sox/red sox game with my husband yesterday. fun times, good game. it was actually a bit surreal; on the red line down to the game about 75% of the el car passengers were wearing red sox gear. boston fans travel well, apparently.
+ right now i'm listening to midlake on myspace and they're gooood. also, hello. . . . why have i not heard of this band? i think there's a theme developing, i'm about a year behind on new music. oh well. late than never, etc.
+ i ate an awesome peach today.

among other things. it was a good day.

internet-stolgia

Last night I had a dream about Tiny Showcase. I was visiting rhode island and was having a really in depth conversation with the guy that runs it, jon. We talked about art and artists and how I have never managed to successfully buy a print before it gets sold out. Also, I told him that I really miss Slatch.

It’s clear to me that I have been spending way to much time on the internet lately. Work is sloooooow.

Now I’m reading old slatch via the wayback machine and it’s making me intensely nostalgic for the internet of 2003, it sort of gives me flashbacks to my first job out of college. It’s also making me laugh out loud inappropriately in my quiet office. I miss slatch so much. Is it pathetic to actually miss a website?

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.

been away.

checking back in, it's been months hasn't it?

more photos + commentary to come, but the past month and a half has been filled by:

- spending the last near two weeks at the national conference for my work. i wore a giant foam star costume every day and it was totally awesome. but it made me feel so removed from everything--my house, husband, dog, email, real food, real life. . . . it was so groundhog day ish. it was fun but i'm also sooper glad it's over with, back to real life now.

-a lovely wedding on lake superior in northern wisconsin. magical friendships that haven't changed in years. raspberries picked and immediately eaten. many beers. fun. and more fun.

-a short trip to northwest iowa and southeast south dakota. back to the tiny tiny town i spent my young youth in, which seems so much smaller now after the years. and my grandpas farm. it felt so natural.

- also. the garden growing. eating food i grew from a seed will never cease to amaze me. spent an hour or so weeding this afternoon, working up a sweat. it's really satisfying.

-other stuff. good books: about grace and four seasons in rome by anthony doerr. the girls by lori lansens, seven sisters by margaret drabble. i've been reading a lot actually. and music: feist, spoon, ryan adams. these words and music have been the steady undercurrent of all the craziness lately. so that's good.

i think that's it. i honestly feel like i've lost myself over the past few weeks, working hard at work and then being so removed at conference. i'm getting back into my life and trying to get every backward thing righted again.

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!

things that are good.

+ i bought the 14 minute version of Rappers Delight on iTunes today. Best 99 cents I ever spent. big bang! i got clientele!

+ for the most part, the weather has been nicely cool and springlike lately. I've been taking long walks after work almost every day. i love feeling the endorphins kick in after about a half an hour.

+ this friday I came home to an amazon box in the mail. i didn't order anything from amazon so I was pretty curious. inside was Borat, sent by my little brother. how sweet is that? Mike and I watched it and nearly hyperventilated laughing at the naked wrestling scene.

+ seeing all my rome roommates at a wedding this weekend in iowa city. complete with all the families and babies in tow. then later at night playing strip 'em match 'em at the Atlas. why do i love bar games so much?

+ speaking of Rome. we leave in ten days. sometimes I get so excited I can feel my heart beat faster. other times it makes me so emotional I just want to put my head down on a table and cry. but mostly I'm trying not to think about it too much so I can actually get work done and lead a normal life for the next week and a half.

If You Come to Greet Me

I've been making a lot of things lately. So of course that making needs a soundtrack. I think I first heard Laura Gibson on KEXP some morning, it was one of those few instances when I heard one song and immediately bought the entire album. If You Come to Greet Me is her full-length debut. This is pure Katie wintertime music: soft, sparse, folky, girly. It's perfect for quiet background music.

Laura Gibson's website and myspace.