thursday at the farm

i planned on sharing some other photos with you today, but i was a little busy cleaning up after being at the farm this evening...

as i was picking tomatoes...

she was discovering mud for the first time!

* * *

after the mud bath, there was a regular bath followed by a delicious dinner with all of our farm share goodies! the yellow watermelon was the perfect dessert!

ps: thanks for your comments on yesterday's post :)

{8 things}

the stressful morning edition

8 am

lovely way to greet the day: mysterious charges on my paypal account. no, i tell the nice woman on the phone, i did not spend $100 last night at 1 am on itunes. she was very nice and super helpful. i do love a good help line. problem solved.

8:44 am

create new super long password i may never remember as an added security measure.

9am

i spy coffee. ah.

9:02 am

coffee moment interrupted by baby crawling around the living room. must focus on this little trickster. boy is she fast. phone cords? yes, please, i'll try to pull that out of the wall. dirt on the floor? yum, that was tasty. (note to self~ time to vacuum)

9:30 am

time to get that little teether down for her nap. she was really tired and went down easily.

9:45 am

for some crazy reason, i decide to try on some dresses in my closet in an effort to get a jump-start on spring cleaning. why oh why did i do this to myself? i should have known that there was no way that i'd be able to zip 'em up, not with this new nursing mama body, but of course i try. and fail, miserably. cute dresses into consignment shop pile. try not to feel too bad. blah.

10 am

finally find the coffee and actually drink it.

10:15 am

spontaneously write the post that you are reading.

more soon. xo *s

thankful

hello hello!

where did last week go? not sure. my apologies for not returning until today! i've been hard at work painting/creating/planning/brainstorming... i also finally have my chalkboard back, (hooray!) so it's filling up with ideas for the future~ lots plans and projects in the works. i'm also pulling together a big etsy upload AND a little giveaway... so stay tuned for that early next week.

today, i'm wrapping up some commissions and tying up some lose ends, then i can relax for the next couple of days. i'm really looking forward to a great meal tomorrow with our families. (yup, all together, my parents and my husband's family) it will also be the first thanksgiving in a very l o n g time when we won't be traveling AND since we'll all be together, we won't have to eat two thanksgiving dinners! : )

on friday we'll take the day for a few adventures to kick of the holiday season... no mall shopping, instead we'll go up into the hills for something called moonlight magic. it all takes place in a little village nearby, they light up the sidewalks and riverside with festive luminaries, while all of shops and galleries stay open late. a nice way to enter into the hectic holiday season don't you think?

it's been a foggy gray day here in new england, i stayed in and made soup for lunch and decided to take some kitchen pictures for you!

happy thanksgiving to those celebrating here in the states! i'm thankful for you, my wonderful blog readers! thanks to you and have a happy weekend!

xo *s

ps: we did see some meteors last week! we watched the night sky as we were serenaded by lots of howling coyotes! i had some pretty cold/windburned pink cheeks the next day... but it was worth it!

a monday list.

my pieces for the eta show.

getting everything together for my squam classes!

i am going to make beet soup.

a list of (some not so fun) things:

- the day started out with an eye full of shampoo. foreshadowing.

-i then opened my shipment of carefully chosen squam supplies to discover that they had shipped everything but the paint. yes, the paint which was the majority of the order.

hello? dick blick? yes, um, i'm gonna need that paint you forgot to put in the box to teach a painting class in a few days... instead of bursting into tears, i suprised myself by remaining calm, cool and collected. they overnighted it for free and say it'll be here tomorrow. i leave for squam on wednesday. so that's that. fingers crossed.

- remember how i was going to share with you my photos from the opening of the enormous tiny art show at nahcotta? well, let's just say things didn't go quite as planned... in our first attempt at a mini summer vacation, (note that summer is pretty much over and this was our first attempt at a get-a-way) our new car died on us just as we pulled into freeport, maine. we thought it'd be fun to go to freeport, walk around for a bit and then hit our favorite spot for dinner before then making our way back down south (about an hour or so) to portsmouth, nh for the opening.

instead of having a leisurely and relaxing eveing, we rode in a tow truck to portland, then in a taxi to the airport, then in a rental car back to portsmouth. we made it to the very end of the opening, got a very late dinner and made it home just after midnight. yup. that was fun. i say all this to tell you that's why i don't have any pictures of the opening because we were just too frazzled. i hope you'll forgive me.

- i've been having fun packing up for squam and i thought you'd like to see a sneak peek. notice no paint yet, but lots of other fun goodies! i'm getting so excited to teach my class!

- i had special photo shoot with this amazing lady last weekend! it was so much fun, she's magic that one... can't wait to show you the shots she took of me. excited to see you in a couple of days thea!

- school started last week. i had first day jitters even though it my husband's first week as a new professor here at smith. i made a first day of school celebratory dinner that included a fresh arugula and goat cheese salad, a homemade pizza with carmelized onions and summer squash and chocolate lava cakes... it was nice to be cooking again now that the kitchen is (somewhat) unpacked. it was delicious. i am now attempting a chilled beet soup. wish me luck.

- the crisp fall air is officially here. love.

- hopefully with paint in tow, i head for the beauty of squam on wednesday morning. i cannot wait. going with an open heart and mind and with a car packed totally full of creative supplies. i'm so looking forward to meeting many wonderful people and having a magical time. i keep having to pinch myself.

till soon,

xo *s

a summer evening escape.

{tonight}

we've escaped the heat of the "city".  luckily the "country" is only a short drive away.  

cool breezes, hot dogs on the grill, red sox (winning) on the radio, a gin & tonic with lemon balm in my hand and my best (canine) pal by my side.  it's a perfect summer evening.  a little snapshot to share with you.  

long road & a fresh start

lordy loo!  what a busy last couple of weeks!  (actually, insert stronger language than lordy loo if you'd like here  _____! )  

since the last time typed to you here i've turned a year older,  am able to walk (wobbly) again, we've moved AND i am no longer married to a graduate student!  although, i should proabably stop saying that last part since i scared a friend recently with my facebook status which announced that same thing... she of course just got the "no longer married" part and panicked! (oops) what i mean to say is that jesse, my darling husband, defended his dissertation, which was just about 7 years in the making.  we did it. hooray!  it's been a long road... but we are so happy that it has ended in a wonderful new job and a favorite place to settle down in and call home once again!  

so where have i been for the past 2 weeks?  well, we stayed longer than expected in the land of grad school for a few days as there was much celebrating to do and paperwork to be signed.  we then returned to home to pack up our things and move on out of the wonderful little house in the country that we'd been living in for the past 7 months and into our new apartment in the "city."

i think i've actually started about a hundred blog posts to you in my head, but this is the first time i've actually been able to sit down, concentrate and write. although i'm not writing from our new apartment, but from my husbands office, since don't have the internet at our place yet. not only do we not have the internet, but we don't have any of our furniture or stuff!  you see, it's all been in storage in ithaca since january and although moving is such a chore, i'm kind of enjoying the new space sans "stuff!"  it's a beautifully sunny, old fashioned apartment with hardwood floors and tin ceilings and i can't wait to share some photos with you.  

well, instead of a list of {8 things}, i feel as if i could write a list of {800 things} to you since it's been so long!  i began feeling bad for not blogging, but when i read this post i realized that i wasn't the only one.  now that things are truly settling down a bit, i'll be setting up my *new* spacious studio and being here with you to report in on a regular basis from now on.  i have lots to catch up on, so i'm signing off for now.  i'll be back this week to fill you in on some new artistic endeavors and some exciting new creative projects in the works.  

it's nice to be back.  thanks for all of your good wishes!  

xoxo, *s

 

a june afternoon

a sun dappled afternoon, just some peonies and me. bigger here. {#8 from the morning list.}

it's been framed.

hi ya-

i wanted to pop in briefly to show you this piece that has now been framed up.  i used to work as a framer, so this part of the process for me is pretty fun.  a black shadowbox frame with a vintagey polka-dot paper as the background seemed just right.  (i know vintagey isn't a real word, but it works)  i'll be back later over the weekend with {8 things} things for you & a sneak peek.  

stay tuned!  xo, *s

ps:  this little one is heading into the shop in a few minutes... : )     

bits from my holiday weekend...

and now we are waiting for friends to stop in for a lunchtime picnic, then to a cookout for dinner. what have you been up to over the long weekend? 

i'm so glad you liked sketchbook friday!  see it here (on flickr).

xo, *s

today's 8 things

today. 

today is friday and i don't know where the week went.

1. today.

here's peek into one of my little books.  these are not my sketchbooks, they are smaller books filled with the scraps i find on the studio floor during a clean-up.  some bits are too precious to be thrown away, so they are saved in boxes and books like this one above.  so yes, since i just had a big clean up in the studio, i have more books like this one that are going to be filled and shared soon.  

2.  today.

stephanie reminded me that  i wrote about this process in the interview you can read here. 

3.  today.

i realized that i the foggy brain feeling i have had lately is due to feeling completely overwhelmed.  not to complain of course, but you know how they say "when i rains, it pours" ???  well, i feel like i have a little rain cloud over my head!  

4. today. 

blasted birds fly away in the car this afternoon and drove around in the springtime sun.  then this song came on, and well, this is how it felt.  you said it so well kelly rae!  things are shifting, in a good way.    

5.  today.

we may have found new home, not sure yet, but fingers are crossed.  you see, we are currently in between homes, jobs and lives.  all of my belongings are in boxes, most of our stuff is in a storage unit in another state and my studio is what you may call a make shifty sort of one at the moment.  you think this could have something to do with #3?!  

6.  today.

loving the lilacs, leafy trees and warm spring breezes.  working on appreciating the little things in life, taking it day by day and trying to remember to breathe.  (yes, i do have to stop and remember to calmly do that once and a while) 

7.  today. 

exactly one year ago today, this happened.  to say that i did a happy dance would be a complete understatement.  BIG hugs to lucie who wrote to holly.  i'm so happy that our first little correspondences have turned into friendships. this blogging world is quiet magical if i do say so myself.  

8. today. 

speaking of squam, (hint, see #2)  this is the best.  check in out!  found via the squam blog.

so that's my 8 for today.  i have so many more... 

what's today like for you?

wishing you a happy weekend!  we're heading to our favorite little "gorges" town for a few days and then i'll be back on a regular schedule.  as i type this, i am already planning next week's blog posts.  how's about another sketchbook peek?!  i'm excited for that.  : )  

i'll also share some more news and a couple of other things to look forward to.  

until then, xo, *s

a list of 8 things. the third in a series.

 

today.

it's thursday and this list was supposed to go up on tuesday. 

today. 1

was not what i planned. (see today. 5)

today. 2

the photo shows a blurry me at the twist fair.  if the picture wasn't so blurry you could see that my sweater was inside out.  proof here, along with more photos of my set-up. 

today. 3

my darling husband sweetly pointed out that my sweater was inside out right before the customers showed up, i was thankful for that.  he wondered if i was following some new fashion trend or not. 

today. 4

just for the record, i was not.  i was a wee bit frazzled due to the fact that the twist fair was also my first day off of crutches in over a month. 

today. 5

speaking of frazzled, i've been on the phone all day with doctors offices & insurance companies. this was not my planned day at all. i'm scheduled for arthroscopic knee surgery in a month.  last week i thought i was in the clear, but i've been told otherwise.  the most important question i had for my doctor was how long it would be until i could do yoga again.  he says 3-4 weeks post surgery.  i miss yoga.  

today. 6

i'm excited because my sister flies in tonight, from colorado, for a week.  my husband is out of town for a while doing field work along the all along the east coast, so that makes having my sister here all the more fun.  

today.7 

my class is over.  it was fantastic and i highly recommend it!  i'll be back with my final homework assignment soon.  for details on how you can take the class too, see my new "byw" button along the sidebar. 

today. 8

tomorrow is a new day.  

what's today like for you? 

xo, *s