Friday Music Muse

Even when I was a kid this song made my heart ache.
Landslide
by Fleetwood Mac

I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
Till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older and I'm getting older too

Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older and I'm getting older too
Oh, I'm getting older too

Awh, take my love, take it down
Awh, climb a mountain and turn around
And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide bring it down

And if you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well, the landslide bring it down
Oh, the landslide bring it down

Stinky

This little animal may or may not have rolled around in skunk spray last week.  Which may or may not have lead to a tomato juice bath. 

You Had Me At Hello

Yesterday Shine and I walked over to the Art Institute and I stumbled upon a painting by Harald Sohlberg that stopped me in my tracks.  I have been to this museum hundreds of times (I went to school there) and have developed this beautiful relationship with some of the paintings.  They are like old friends I go to visit.  As I walk through the galleries, I nod my head at the famililar paintings and look forward to seeing my favorites.  Sometimes they are moved to a new location, and I wonder if they like their new home.  I was wondering if I had perhaps skipped over this painting over the years because it did not resonate with me at the time for whatever reason.  It made me think about how pieces of art can hit us differently at varying points in our lives.  Art can bring us to so many different places in our hearts and in our heads.  I stood in front of that Harald Sohlberg painting and heard the leaves on the trees rustling, and I felt the cold damp air blowing off the lake, and I smelled the wet green grass, and I fell in love with art all over again.  (Not that I ever fell out of love.)

Tuesday Poetry Post

Night Shift 

by Sylvia Plath

It was not a heart, beating. 
That muted boom, that clangor 
Far off, not blood in the ears 
Drumming up and fever 

To impose on the evening. 
The noise came from outside: 
A metal detonating 
Native, evidently, to 

These stilled suburbs nobody 
Startled at it, though the sound 
Shook the ground with its pounding. 
It took a root at my coming 

Till the thudding shource, exposed, 
Counfounded in wept guesswork: 
Framed in windows of Main Street's 
Silver factory, immense 

Hammers hoisted, wheels turning, 
Stalled, let fall their vertical 
Tonnage of metal and wood; 
Stunned in marrow. Men in white 

Undershirts circled, tending 
Without stop those greased machines, 
Tending, without stop, the blunt 
Indefatigable fact.

*photo by Ellen Kooi 

The Last Picture

This will be the last time my sweet Shine's face will be on this blog.  I keep thinking about when I was little and "they" said not to have kids wear clothing or backpacks or anything with his or her name on it.  A potential kidnapper could see the kid's name, and call out to them, and children are so sweet and trusting that they would think the person is a friend of her parent and...
I have bad dreams.  Oh I have bad dreams.   And I get nervous that once Shine gets older if I keep posting her photo online that some bad person will recognize her and call out her name and...

I know I have an over active mind, but I want to know I have done everything to protect my child.  So if anyone is wondering why I no longer post photos of her face, this is the reason.  It might help me sleep a little bit better at night.  I'm sure there will be lots of photos of little hands and feet and the back of her head, so she'll be around.  Woody is happy about this news because he thinks it means he will be getting his staring role on this little blog back, and that's probably true. 

Baby wearin' Winter Coat

I've been on the hunt for a big baby wearing winter coat that is also cute.  Shine fits perfectly (for now) under this Anthro beauty!  I love how I can wear it two different ways too.

Favorite Couples

I was off the charts uncool last night but I could not help myself.
There are two couples I idolize:
Shauna and Stephen of Somethings Hiding in Here and
Carson Ellis (illustrator) and Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists)

...and last night I met Carson and Colin!!!  They did a book signing in Naperville so I headed out there with my mom and my baby and presents.  Yes, that's where I got really uncool.  I couldn't help myself though and I made a necklace for Carson that was inspired by their new book Wildwood.   They signed my book, and I explained the necklace, and they were so sweet and nice and I'm sure when I walked away there were like..."creepy" but that's ok.  I'm just so excited to have met these wonderful creative people. 

Here I am nursing Shine.

I was too shy to take a photo so I did a creepy lurking photo which is totally blurry, and I hate posting bad photography on here but I can't help myself. 
Here is the talented and blurry Colin Meloy.

Ghost Rider

Art for the lumberjack/bike enthusiast.

Sculpture by Brian Wondergem via Design for Mankind

Burby

 Here are a few pics from a stroll through our noisy neighborhood the other day.  David is threatening me with talks of moving to Evanston (and another unmentionable location that is too upsetting to even mention here) so I need to watch what I say about the city I suppose.  We did take a drive through Evanston on Sunday, and I have to say it is absolutely gorgeous and lovely, as are many other Chicago suburbs. My intention is not to offend anyone living in the suburbs at all, it's just that I grew up in the burbiest of the burbs and while these areas are peaceful and pretty, I'm just not ready to leave the city any time soon, even though I curse at it from time to time.  It's a love/hate relationship.  If we could take out the crime, and the sirens,  and the speeding cars, and all the spit on the sidewalks and...ok I'll stop.

Fun and Functional

I have a feeling my coats would not mind hanging from these fun racks.  Remember when antlers were all the rage not too long ago?  Zoë Bissell’s functional art is a clean and refreshing updated version of the antler trend.  She has a colorful selection available at her Etsy shop.

VP

This is what happens to your corner when the Vice President is a block away.

Tuesday Poetry Post

Ladies and Gentlemen in Outer Space

by Ron Padgett

Here is my philosophy:
Everything changes (the word "everything"
has just changed as the
word "change" has: it now
means "no change") so
quickly that it literally surpasses my belief,
charges right past it
like some of the giant
ideas in this area.
I had no beginning and I shall have
no end: the beam of light
stretches out before and behind
and I cook the vegetables
for a few minutes only,
the fewer the better. Butter
and serve. Here is my
philosophy: butter and serve.

posted with permission from Ron Padgett.  Please go to his website for more information about this wonderful poet.

Stylist for a Day

Sometimes it’s fun to play dress up.  My dream styling job would involve plucking a model right out of a photograph by Dutch artist Desiree Dolron and dressing her in one of Pooka Queen’s structured shrugs (below).

Pretend Sky

I'm so grateful for this purple sky, and watercolor clouds, and the setting sun.  (And the rising sun too)

Shine

Friday Music Muse

Montezuma
 by Fleet Foxes

So now I am older,
Than my mother and father,
When they had their daughter,
Now what does that say about me.
Oh how could I dream of,
Such a selfless and true love,
Could I wash my hands of?
Just lookin out for me

Oh man what I used to be
Oh man oh my oh me
Both the slave and the empress,
Will return to the dirt I guess,
Naked as when they came.
I wonder if I'll see,
Any faces above me,
Or just cracks in the ceiling,
Nobody else to blame.

Oh man what I used to be,
Oh man oh my oh me

Gold teeth and gold jewelry
Every piece of your dowry
Throw them into the tomb with me
Bury them with my name.
Unless I have someday,
Ran my wandering
In my underway

Oh man what I used to be
Montezuma to tripoli
Oh man oh my oh me

*image from here

Gratitude

Today is my birthday.  I remember a time when I used to whine about getting older.  Silly, youthful me.  Now I feel lucky for another year, and for all the wonderful people in my life, and all the love in my heart, and for my health.  Thank you mom and dad, for giving birth to me, and raising me to believe that love and family is what matters most.

Us gals are laying low today.  I am sick for the first time in a long time, and I'm hoping my baby girl doesn't get this nasty cold because I just cannot bear the thought of my Sweet One with the sniffles. 
 

 

Red Eye

We were mentioned in the Red Eye's Renegade recap!! I had stepped out of the booth so they interviewed my brother Adam:

"There were two young boys who came in. They came in with their parents, and the dad was kind of like, 'All right, let’s go,' right away. And they wanted to stay and look at the charms. You don’t necessarily think of that as like the masculine thing—charms, bracelets, necklaces—and they were loving it, and they ended up getting some. One kid got a lightening bolt with his initials, and the younger kid got a sword and a wolf. It was just really cool. They were just having so much fun. They were really excited, and they wore it out, I thought that was kind of cool." —Adam Kendrick (the brother of owner Michelle Hartney), with Kylie Neal; Recycled Rings; Chicago

Day Date

Photos from our stroll downtown to meet daddy for a coffee date.

Amy Casey

 I stumbled upon Amy Casey’s highly detailed paintings and drawings last month while I took a stroll through my neighborhood, which happens to be loaded with galleries.   Her show at Zg was incredible and almost entirely sold out!

 

Sunday Morning

The light is so extraordinary in September.  I took this shot right after I woke up the Sunday morning before Renegade. The vase was made by Etsy seller Joe Papendick.  (I got it for David's birthday.)

Tuesday Poetry Post

A Party of Lovers
by John Keats

photo by Lidia Gasteiz

 Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes,
Nibble their toast, and cool their tea with sighs,
Or else forget the purpose of the night,
Forget their tea -- forget their appetite.
See with cross'd arms they sit -- ah! happy crew,
The fire is going out and no one rings
For coals, and therefore no coals Betty brings.
A fly is in the milk-pot -- must he die
By a humane society?
No, no; there Mr. Werter takes his spoon,
Inserts it, dips the handle, and lo! soon
The little straggler, sav'd from perils dark,
Across the teaboard draws a long wet mark.
Arise! take snuffers by the handle,
There's a large cauliflower in each candle.
A winding-sheet, ah me! I must away
To No. 7, just beyond the circus gay.
'Alas, my friend! your coat sits very well;
Where may your tailor live?' 'I may not tell.
O pardon me -- I'm absent now and then.
Where might my tailor live? I say again
I cannot tell, let me no more be teaz'd --
He lives in Wapping, might live where he pleas'd.'

The Village at Renegade

Renegade was incredible.  The weather was perfect, the customers were sweeter than ever, my friends all stopped by to say hi, and my family...I could not have done it without all the support from my family.  This time my brother Adam and his girlfriend Kylie helped me the whole weekend.  They were expert sellers, they held my baby, and put together countless charm bracelets.  And then there was David. My sweet and supportive husband.  He took care of Shine in the morning while we went off to set up and was up with her in the middle of the night so I could get a little rest.  I feel so lucky. 

Renegade Sneak Preview

Here's a peak at my new display I will debut at Renegade this weekend.  I've been knee deep in cardboard and utility knife blades. Oh, and it just took me almost four hours to get my baby to sleep.  It was basically 3.5 hours of nursing because just holding her only resulted in crying.  (her, not me, well, me a little bit) I suspect teething.  I'm famished, tired, and trying to keep it together.  Good times.