Today

I didn't love today.  I guess I was due for a rough day since I've had a string of months that were quite fabulous, so I can take one cruddy day.  Let's just say it started with my dog puking and I may or may not have sobbed in a federal building this afternoon.  (Getting a passport for Shine.)  I cannot remember the last time I cried in public.  Normally I am a bit self conscious if I cry in public and try to hide it, but I did not care one bit.  I cried in the passport office, I cried all the way down the elevator with another guy on it, and through the federal building lobby, and I cried while David was talking to security, and while walking two blocks through busy downtown streets, and then it finally ended in a Walgreens.  It felt good, and it's better than yelling I suppose.  Thank goodness for my sweet, calm husband.  Oh Davey.  I love you. We have been together almost seven years, and not once have you ever told me to stop crying.  You let me have my moment and let it out.  It never helps when you start crying and someone says, "Don't cry."  Well it never helps me at least. 

Today really was not all the bad.  I think I am just very, very tired.  My 10 month old child does not sleep through the night anymore.  She used to.   She has slept through the night once in the last two months due to a combination of traveling and being sick.  Needless to say, I'm exhausted. But I need to keep it all in perspective.  She is healthy and lovely, and we are all ok, and it will pass, she will eventually get the sleep thing.  So until then, I will have mini evening dates with my camera (just took that shot above) and cupcakes and tea sunsets to keep me happy.  It will all be ok.

Jesus Don't Want me for a Sunbeam

Light

Thank you sun.

Stacks

This Doris Salcedo installation is incredible!

Valentines Charms

Friday Music Muse

I'm a little bit obsessed with Neutral Milk Hotel lately...

King of Carrot Flowers pts 2 & 3

...And on the lazy days
The dogs dissolve and drain away
The world it goes
And all awaits
The day we are awaiting

Up and over
We go through the wave and undertow
I will float until I learn how to swim
Inside my mother in a garbage bin
Until I find myself again again '

Up and over we go
Mouths open wide and spitting still
And I will spit until I learn how to speak
Up through the doorway as the sideboards creek
With them ever proclaiming me me oh

Up and over
We go the weight it sits on down and I don't know
I will shout until they know what I mean
I mean the marriage of a dead dog sing
And a synthetic flying machine machine

**photo by Corey Arnold via Cup of Jo

Battered Heart

Available in my shop!

City Girl

Snow Tracks

I love it when snow looks like a cool line drawing.
The top photo is from last year's monster blizzard, and the bottom two are from yesterday.

Support the Arts

Please help my cousin James make this incredibly interesting documentary about music and brainwaves.  Their goal on Kickstarter is $16,000 and they have $10,500 pledged.  They only have 5 days left to reach their goal, and the deal with Kickstarter is they only get money if they reach their goal, so the $10,500 pledged is gone if they don't reach $16,000.  Every dollar counts!

Stop American Censorship

I'm a little late in the game, but thought I'd go ahead and join the bandwagon to help to attempt to stop the wackiness that Congress is trying to put forth.  Below is a letter the CEO of Etsy wrote which explains it best.  When I realized this ridiculousness could potentially result in shutting down Etsy and Paypal and [fill in the blank] I was completely shocked.  For more information click here.

Original letter posted on November 23, 2011

Lawmakers are debating legislation in the U.S. Congress that we at Etsy believe is unnecessary, over-reaching, and ultimately harmful to the fabric of the Internet.
The legislation — the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House of Representatives — grants copyright owners unprecedented power to block or shut down websites entirely for copyright infringements that are already being successfully addressed via existing laws.
We know that this is a concern for some of you in the Etsy community, too. We wanted to let you know that we have contacted our representatives to oppose this legislation. In doing so, we stand with AOL, eBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo! and Zynga (see their letter). We also stand with friends in our local New York City community who are against the legislation, Tumblr and Kickstarter.
Our protest of this specific legislation does not mean that we support piracy or platforms that promote piracy. Etsy is a community of creators and we take intellectual property very seriously. Like other major Internet companies, we have a clear policy and set of procedures in place for dealing with infringing content under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. We have been successfully working with rightsholders to enforce those policies since Etsy was founded in 2005. But under SOPA, anyone who is a "holder of an intellectual property right harmed by the activities" of even one shop on Etsy, could hypothetically serve our technology partners (e.g. payment processors, hosting services) with a notice that would require them to suspend Etsy's service within 5 days. That means that a trademark violation in one shop could affect everyone’s business.
We are asking our lawmakers to defeat these bills and to work with the Internet community to come up with tailored, appropriate solutions that enhance innovation and creativity, rather than risk harming the foundations of the Internet for everyone based on the actions of a few.
We encourage you to educate yourselves about this legislation, starting with the Protect Innovation site built by some of the Internet companies listed above, many of which you probably use every day. The Protect Innovation site provides a simple tool for you to find your representatives and also provides sample letters that you can edit and send to them.
We hope you'll join us in opposing these bills.

Chad Dickerson
CEO, Etsy

Valentine

I had a Valentine's Day photoshoot last week and shot some of my new Anti-Valentine necklaces which are available in the shop!

Julia

We had a lovely snowy weekend in Michigan that included David cooking Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon (delicious) and chasing our super fast crawling baby.  (I just finished reading Letters to Avis from Julia Child which was incredible, and the inspiration for the meal)
Even though it felt super cozy with all the snow on the ground and a crackling fire, I was dreaming of last summer and all the wonderful meals we had on this now frozen screened in porch.

The Magic Flute

We went to the Lyric Opera House the other night and saw The Magic Flute.  It was an incredibly moving and beautiful experience.  I thought a lot about my trip to Vienna and my visit to Mozart's home, and wondered what it was like to see this opera performed for the very first time back in  1791 with Mozart himself conducting the orchestra. 

By Hand

Aren't these hand painted hardwood floors incredible??
via Bluebird

Light

Mother Nature put on another lovely light show for us the other night.

Christmas in February

I have had an overwhelming number of people ask to purchase my Wooden Geode Ornaments which are now sold out, so I decided to start a wait list and make a few more which will be available in February.  If you are interested in being on the wait list send me an email info{at}michellehartney.com and let me know which color you would like! (black, gold, silver or white)

Morning Star

Baby Wearin' Papa

Woody Guthries's Resolutions

via here and here

New Year,

 New light.