Lovely Little Thing

The past few weeks have creeped along, as days seem to do here in January and February but in the last week or so I've felt a noticeable change of the pep in my step with the days becoming longer. It makes such a huge difference to me when it's not completely dark at 4:30pm! Light! Bring on the SUN! Ahhhh. Keeping busy is the best cure for the winter blues, I think. I finished reading Life After Life, which was wonderful. I've also been doing the usual crafting. Finally finished a simple scarf and now I've started sewing the quart coat but I probably should have done that in the autumn because now I'm feeling a bit over winter and would rather sew summer dresses. I made a detour for a while to make some of the Purl Soho City Gym Shorts. Love those, but I must finish the coat! I also have a few little Easter dresses in the works for the girls. AND it does help to have some lovely press about your life and work from wonderful magazines to get you through a winter funk.

In Bloom

I love Christmas and the weeks leading up to it--the ornament making, cooking baking, tree decorating, shopping, wrapping, Christmas music, seeing family and friends, food, food and more food--I love it all. But I'm equally over it almost as soon as 25 December passes! I'm ready to put all the decorations away, clean out closets and cabinets and think of things I want to accomplish in the new year. I don't make resolutions as such, but I often make a list of things I want to get done around the house and goals I'd like to achieve. This year some of those include ordering many photo books and yes, I've made a long list of them. Lois is now 7 and I've only been meaning to to that for all of those 7 years! (Only just today I uploaded her 5th birthday photos to an album online.) I want to organize and clear off the 2,000+ photos on my phone and about a bazillion on my computer, which I have a hard time keeping up with regularly. I want to keep challenging myself with new sewing patterns. Though I still haven't knocked out the quart coat it's next on the sewing table, yay! Ah, there are really so many things on my list! I'm sure it would be a bit boring to hear me rattle on about too many more of them, but one crafty thing I'd also like to learn is how to make beautiful paper flowers, and I think it would be a fun activity to do with the girls as well. I've made some basic paper flowers in the past but never detailed, intricate or particularly life-like flowers.

Beautiful Things

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. More of a slump than a funk, but something that went from relieved to be finished with my book to sad that it is officially finished. It's not often that I have such a big project in my lap at once. It seemed to go from full speed to stop in one day. I'm still very happy it's finished and am looking forward to another big project. In the meantime, I've been up to the usual stuff... sewing, housework (seriously, how is there always so much laundry to do? We need less stuff!), reading.... And I'm looking forward to going to the US next week to visit family and go to the beach, yay! I'm also daydreaming of having our own house one day and what it would look like (just a tad pricey to buy a house in our current neighborhood, so we're not sure when that will happen or where it will be). I've been eyeing my pinterest for inspiration, which I haven't looked at much in months. Some of my favorite images are of colorful interiors.

Inspiration in Bloom

(photo above, Henri Matisse "Bouquet of Mixed Flowers" and all photos below from the Saipua blog)

Ah January and February, I love these months. Some people hate them, especially January, I think. It's a month that often begins with post Christmas blues and resolutions, many of which are just reminders of last years' resolutions not kept. I've had my share of blues in the winter months but in general I love January and February. I see these months as a good time to declutter and freshen up around the house. Clean out cabinets and closets, move pictures or furniture around, that sort of thing. The post Christmas-decoration-pack-up always helps jump start that phase for me. And lately I'm feeling especially inspired. I went out into our garden last week to check for any signs from the tulip bulbs I planted last autumn and saw peeks of green spiking up out of the ground, eep! I planted more than tulips but can't actually remember what, so I'm excited to see what comes up. I love having fresh flowers around our house. We splurge about every two weeks for flowers, but I'd really love lots of flowers and plants around the house all the time. Unfortunately I'm not too creative when it comes to flower arranging and I don't have much of a green thumb.

I think it's art to make an assortment of flowers look rustic and natural in a vase. I have daydreams of going to the Little Flower School in Brooklyn, NY and learning to arrange flowers like I see on the Saipua blog. 

I Love Pictory

I recently read about Pictory on my friend Doug's facebook page. He edited the most recent feature called The One Who Got Away--short stories about you guessed it, lost loves who got away, accompanied by great photographs. I love that feature, but there's also a great one about home, specifically people's childhood homes, which you can read here. Just thought I'd share it with you since I'm so crazy about Pictory lately. They also have features on food and growing older in the archives.
Image from Pictory's site. 

Food for Thought

Today I found a treasure of a book at the Goodwill while stopping in for a few minutes with my grandma. It's The Horizon Cookbook and Illustrated History of Eating and Drinking through the Ages by William Harlan Hale. At first glance it reminded me of one of my favorite books--Art and Wonder: An Illustrated Anthology of Visionary Poetry--so I was drawn to it immediately. This book, though, is all about food. Since Lois was born I find myself thinking about food often and in a way I didn't before. When I refer to my baby feeding chart (at 4 months begin cereal; at 7 months begin yogurt; at 8 months finely milled meats), I wonder what people did hundreds and hundreds of years ago when they didn't have the handy Earth's Best feeding chart and a Whole Foods down the street. I know women nursed much longer than most women do now, but children had to start eating food at some point, and I'm sure mothers didn't always have many options. I'm so grateful to live when I do--a time when I don't have to grow or hunt for my own food to survive. This book takes you back through history when people did. From the evolution of markets, to the search for spices, to the bottling of bubbles, to the art of porcelain, to the ceremony of dining throughout the ages, this book is a gem for anyone who likes history, art, or food. It also has an extensive recipe section in the back. Most of the images here show pages with artwork, but the book is filled with more text than art. So far it's a scrumptious read, especially for the thrifty $2.50 price tag. You can click on the images to view them larger.

A Good Story

For anyone who likes history, has an interest in Thomas Jefferson, or Monticello, his home in Virginia, here's a good story by Maria Kalman in the NY Times. I've been to Monticello a few times, and it was one of my favorite places to go when I'd visit my mom in Virgina (when she lived there). I love this little story, especially the way it's written and the whimsical, childlike artwork that brings the story to life.

Musee d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower

This morning we asked Lois what she'd like to do today, and she said she wanted to go to the Musee d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower. She thought it would be really romantic to go to the Eiffel Tower on Valentine's day. Here she is posing in her Valentine outfit before we left.

First, we went to the museum. The Musee d'Orsay is wonderful, in part because it's not too overwhelming. It's not especially small, but in comparison to the Louvre it is. It's also known for its extensive impressionist collection, which is a period I like a lot, so it appeals to me. And then there's the building itself, which is really interesting and unique as it used to be a train station. Lois only got fussy a few times, but we were able to calm her down without having to leave. (One thing that was nice was they had a baby changing room with chairs--like a little sitting room for mommy and baby, so I was able to feed her privately.)

You can see how cool the building looks from one of the upper floors.

I love seeing famous paintings in person. I always think it's neat to see art in person that I've seen in books and on cards, etc.


One of the most impressive things at the museum was this model of the Paris Opera. It was really big as you can see and very detailed. It must have taken a really long time to make.

This is a close-up picture of the stage.

We ate lunch at the museum restaurant. This is what we saw when we looked up--fescos and chandeliers. A real fancy pants French restaurant.

Then we went to the Eiffel Tower! It was a beautiful day, as you can see.

There was a carousel near the tower. Cute French music played as it spun around. It was so French!

Me and Lois at the Eiffel Tower! She will love this when she's older (I hope so anyway).

Attempted family self-picture. That's Lois under the bear ears.

Lois was actually asleep here. Still, I couldn't resist trying to get a picture of her with me in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Tomorrow's our last day here before we go back to Zurich. We're going to a flea market and . . . I'm not sure what else yet, but I know it will make me happy because it will be something here.

My New Favorite Thing . . .

Lisa came over this week for coffee and banana bread (and to see the baby of course!) and brought me more vintage books and what is now my new favorite thing: Child Life Magazine. I had never heard of it before, but I'm so happy I have now and that Lisa gave them to me. She gave me three copies from the 30's, and I love, love, love them!

The magazines are filled with stories, games, and educational information. The illustrations are especially engaging. They are so beautiful, and knowing that they were created in the days when all graphic art was done by hand makes them look even more amazing. I've been scouring ebay for more and found quite a few. I placed one bid on a lot of 8 but lost to someone else, but there are many more to bid on. (Isn't ebay wonderful?!) Here are a few pages from Child Life. Click on the images to view them larger.

Artist Trading Cards

A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to be part of an ATC group (artist trading card group). Sounded like fun to me, so I said yes. Each month there's a theme, and each person in the group makes one card for every other person based on the theme. This month's theme was your birth year + or - 10 years. I was born in 1975, so I could have done anything related to 1965 or 1985. I decided on 1985. It was hard for me to nail down my idea. The possibilities were open and endless. I had a few ideas that just wouldn't have worked on something that had to be 2.5 x 3.5, which is the size the card has to be. I decided I wanted to do something related to 80's fashion, but what? I was looking at random 80's pictures online and thought something related to breakdancing would be great. Then I was reading Amy's blog and found the perfect image from Breakin' 2 (which actually came out in 1984, but that's okay--weren't people breakin' all though the mid 80's?). I love how it turned out. I wanted to make it look like a pop-up with glitter beaming behind the dancers. Initially I wanted to cut them all out and put the glitter behind the three of them in different glitter colors, but I didn't have time to cut all of them out. I like the way just the girl turned out in the center as the one that pops up. I can't wait till I get the rest of the ATCs in the mail when I get home. We're off to Japan now. Gotta run. See you from the other side of the world tomorrow, or the next day, when I recover from our 11 hour flight!

Lost Art Salon Event: The New Yorkers

Tonight from 5:30 - 8:30 Lost Art Salon is having an opening reception for The New Yorkers, which will showcase work from five New York artists from the early 20th century. How can you top listening to jazz, sipping manhattans and checking out good art on a Thursday night?
 Click the image above for more info.

Lost Art Salon

A few weeks ago Andrew and I went to the Lost Art Salon. It's a great place in SF to buy affordable modern era (1900-1960) art. They also regularly update their web site with what they currently have in stock. You can even rent their space for events and stylists can rent some of their artwork. It's definitely worth visiting.