Don't let your silly dreams fall in between the crack of the bed and the wall...

What a week for live music in Chicago. We saw the Great Lake Swimmers, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, M. Ward, and CONOR OBERST of Bright Eyes all in two days.

Wednesday night was the Great Lake Swimmers at Lincoln Hall, a new venue in Chicago which was opened up by Schubas, one of my favorite places to see live music. It's super small and intimate-so small you can be a big dork and make a painting for your favorite band and then go up to them after the concert and awkwardly hand it to them. Yeah, that was me last year at a Great Lake Swimmers concert. It went like this:

Me: (awkwardly) "Hi, I feel like a dork but I made this for you guys."
Erik Arnesen: "Why do you feel like a jerk?"
Me: "No, I feel like a dork."
Erik: "This is so cool I love it. You shouldn't feel like a dork. Tony look at this." (Shows it to lead singer)
Tony: "Wow that's cool."
Me: "I really love your music. I have to go" ...(and I walk away quickly, very embarrassed and go to my friends Seeley and Peter, "let's get out of here"

It took every ounce of courage for me to do it...I'm shy. I just love their music so much, and one of their songs (Your Rocky Spine) means so much to me and inspired me to do a painting, so I gave it to them. Yes, big dork, I know. This is what I gave them. It's actually a mixed media piece. All of the green is hand cut paper, which took forever to do with an exacto knife. I liked it at the time, but now I hate it and I'm embarrassed by it, especially because it looks like the girl is touching herself, but I swear she's not. The woman was from a figure drawing. My face is red now. Dork.



Back to music. Last night we saw all those lads mentioned above at the Monsters of Folk concert at the Auditorium Theatre, which I had never been to before (incredible venue). This is the best way I can describe my experience. The music/sound/visual/environment was so amazing I felt like all of my innards needed to be poured out of my body while screaming at the top of my lungs, laughing and crying at the same time. Oh, and my innards would have come out in every color of the rainbow. And there would have been glitter in it. I should do a painting of THAT. So yeah, it was the best concert I have seen in a long time. With three lead singers/guitarists from famous bands, you would think there would be too much ego on that stage, but it wasn't like that at all. They played each other's songs, MOF songs, and blew the crowd away.

The highlight for me was when Jim James was singing Bermuda Highway. Tears were pouring down my face.

"sometimes I walk around town looking at faces
wonderin why their bodies go to silly places.
Walkin past the carpet mills looking in and takin stills,
your ass it draws me in like a Bermuda highway.
Oh, don't carve me out! Don't let your silly dreams,
fall in between the crack of the bed and the wall.
Two times I fell asleep in a dirty basement
snoozing in cobwebs and the cement.
Sometimes I wonder why that meek guy got all the fame,
maybe im to blame for his short bitter fucked up life. "
-My Morning Jacket

Pleats and Fringe

Here are a few of the clutches I made over the weekend. The pleated purse was so much fun to do. As I've said before, I live for pleats. Creating them has the same therapeutic calming feel to me as embroidering or crocheting does. I have two more pleated ones to post...buy them here!


only $38
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$32
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$32

Halloween preparations

Tonight was pumpkin carving night! I played a little Sufjan Stevens (the Illinoise album) and carved away while Woody G tried to steal the pumpkin seeds spitting from the table. I cooked up the seeds with a little sea salt and olive oil and they tasted oh so gooood!

I've always loved Halloween so much. We're having a party again this year! Last year I was Amy Winehouse, tattoos and all. This year I will dress up as my beloved Bob Dylan (from the Don't Look Back documentary when he was carrying the oversized lyrics to Subterranean Homesick Blues.)

Autumn Days

I got some new colorful tights over the weekend...I'm sporting my smurfette look here with my nosey dog.
We went to Michigan over the weekend and got to truly experience autumn, which is practically nonexistant where we live since we're so close to downtown. Here is a pretty view out the front door.


Woody Guthrie, David, and I went to the beach on Sunday to play catch. One of my favorite things in the world is watching Woody G run free. He's my little running buddy.





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Here we are racing. He's a fast sprinter. I'm trying to teach him the art of pacing. My little Prefontaine wannabe.

The September Issue

I finally saw The September Issue this week! It's a very interesting behind the scenes look at the making of Vogue Magazine, and of course the infamous Anna Wintour. There were no surprises for me when it came to Wintour. Her persona was as expected and I'll leave it at that.

The delightful surprises were from her colorful staff, specifically Grace Coddington, who stole the show without setting out to at all. In fact she did not want to be part of the film and had to be persuaded to let the camera crew follow her. I am now a bit obsessed with Grace. She brought some much needed passion and heart into the film, and also stands up for herself against Wintour, which the others seemed to be afraid to do (and I don't blame them one bit).
Grace

Image courtesy of 13goingon47.files.wordpress.com

Andre Leon Talley brought the humor. I cracked up when he was "working out" at the tennis courts with his Damon Dash trousers, shirt by Ralph Lauren, a Piaget watch encrusted with diamonds, a Louis Vuitton beach towel tossed over one shoulder, and a slew of monogramed Louis Vuitton bags to hold his tennis racket and workout clothes. Here is the clip from the movie:

Andre

Image courtesy of hellobeautiful.com

If you are at all interested in fashion it's a must see!!

Crutch

This blows my mind:


I was just lucky enough to make a trade and get the scarf below, which is designed by Crutch from etsy. This piece, if paired with the right garment, reminds me of something Fanny Brawne (the character in the movie Bright Star) would wear and make. I'm going to create a fun outfit with it!


Here's a cute bolero she made, but it's already sold out:

New work

Here are the new clutches I just finished. I had some fun with these. This first one was inspired by a previous purse I made that has about 12 or more hours of hand work involved in it between all the beading and embroidery. I LOVE doing work like this, but it is not possible to sell these detailed pieces at a decent price, nor do I have the time to spend this amount of work in one purse. So, this is my compromise!
Inspiration:

New creation:

I've never worked with the color blue like this before. It was sort of fun.

Back from the dead

I was sick all last week so I'm happy to finally be back to normal. Over the weekend I worked on a lot of new clutches which will be finished in a few days. I also finally finished my line of men's jewelry. I have had several clients commission me to make a male version of my charm necklaces, so here they are! (I have a bunch more on the way)








Isn't my model lovely?

New Clutches

Here are two more new clutches I just finished! The one I just listed already SOLD!

Bridal Buzz

Here is another new clutch I just added to etsy. This piece has a vintage feel to it which I love. I hand dyed the pom poms with black tea, which was something new for me. I added a light blue ribbon on the inside of the clutch, which can be counted for the bride's 'something blue.

Going to the chapel...

Here are the necklaces I worked on last week for my friend Stephanie's wedding! It was a departure for me, which is always good because I get to learn something new. Congrats Stephanie and Lance!!!
Here are the sketches I started out with:


She chose style 9 so we did a couple versions of it. This is what they turned out like:

The Decemberists

Tonight I am going to see The Decemberists at the Riviera!! I'm so excited to see them live at this venue. It's a great month for music here in Chicago. In addition to The Decemberists, The Great Lake Swimmers will be here, Wilco, and Bob Dylan.

I love that I need a dictionary to listen to The Decemberists' lyrics. My favorite song by them is still I Was Meant for the Stage. Gets me all choked up and makes me think of all the parents out there who have discouraged their kids from pursuing a career in the arts. This is the best part:

"Mother, please be proud.
Father, be forgiving.
Even though you told me
'Son, you'll never make a living.'

From the floorboards to the flys,
Here I was fated to reside.
And as I take my final bow,
Was there ever any doubt?
And as the spotlights fade away,
And you're escorted through the foyer,
You will resume your callow ways,
But I was meant for the stage.

A few of my favorite things...

Dendrite brooch by Nervous System:

I love this lemon yellow clutch by Renneslechateau:


Recycled leather and lace capelet by Jessamity

Last day as a newlywed

Today is our last day as newlyweds. It is very hard to believe that a year has already passed since our wedding. I get choked up just thinking about that day because never again will all the most important people in our lives be together in one room. At least we have the memories that will stay with us forever.

We got married at our house in Union Pier, Michigan


We didn't have a wedding party, but I had to have three special friends with me while getting ready. Here are two of them. They made me laugh a lot and kept me calm before the ceremony. On the left is my buddy who took many of these photos.

There is my third friend who was with me while getting ready. Me being a last minute Charlie, I of course hadn't painted my nails, so Stacy was kind enough to do it minutes before the ceremony!


We each have three brothers ( David is lucky enough to have a sister as well!)
The guy who looks like General Custer is my brother Adam, who read some Bob Dylan lyrics I choose. How could I not include some of his lyrics in our ceremony? Behind Adam is David's brother Mark, who married us. Our oldest brothers (both named Mike) walked our moms down the aisle and Chris and Tony stood up with us during the ceremony.

We each wrote our own vows.

Mr and Mrs

October 4, our wedding day is an extra special day for us. My parents were married on Oct 4, 1975 (that's their wedding photo on the left) and David's parents were also married on Oct 4, 1958. David's father passed away a few months before we got married. Our wedding day would have been their 50th anniversary.

Cake? Yes please.

For our first dance we swayed to Wilco's Far Far away. It was a perfect day.

Far, far away from those city lights
Might be shining on you tonight
Far, far away from you
On the dark side of the moon
I long to hold you in my arms and sway
Kiss and ride on the CTA
I need to see you tonight
And those bright lights
Oh, I know it's right
Deep in my heart
I'll know it's right
By the bed, by the light that you read by
By the time that I get home to say good night
I need to see you again
On the dark side my friend
On the dark side