white picket fence

art journal: summer pages

I think I finally feel emotionally removed enough from the events of this summer to share my art journal pages here. I made most of these when I was finalizing my decision to leave the workforce. (See larger images on my flickr.)

I really like the concept here, but man, would it have killed me to iron those ribbons before gluing? ack. 

That's some art. I hope you like it; I'm glad I made these pages and glad I'm finally able to share, too. 

But... I've been having some internal struggles about collage work in general since watching this video about a man whose image was stolen and used hundreds/thousands of times without his permission. I know what I make is not on that level at all, but basically, I'm starting to feel sort of weird that I sometimes use other people's designs, illustrations, patterns, and personal photographs in my art. There's a lot of hubbub on the web lately about responsible use of imagery. And I really do try to use the materials responsibly, change it enough that it's not just copying, and lately I've been working a lot harder on using sources that are more than 50 years old (because I have some hazy knowledge that tells me work goes into public domain after 50 years. Though I don't know if that really makes a difference?) 

I know this is kind of a moot point since I'm not currently profiting from anything I make. But still. It matters to me that my work has integrity. And it seems like there's some gray area there. 

Anyway. What do you think? If you are a collage/mixed media artist, does it matter to you? 

girls weekend

alternate titles: Treat Yo Self 2011!, and Self Portraits in Reflective Surfaces. 

First of all:

Mimosas: Treat Yo Self! (and okay, that's all, I promise I will not beat that joke to death.)

My friends Mindy and Renae and I have been planning this girls weekend in the city for a few months now. I was looking forward to it immensely. You know the last few weeks have been weird and stressful and yeah, I was super glad to get away and have some fun (and be kid-free!) for a little while. 

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. At first I kind of thought it would be cheesy, but it was classy for the most part. Our floor was the Bob Dylan floor. Fun. 

I love when out of towners come to visit because it's a great excuse to go to Millennium Park. It's not just for tourists. It was the perfect fall day, too: clear and cool but not too chilly.

And Mindy is into geocaching, so we spent part of our time in the park looking for a geocache. I've never done it before but it definitely seems like a fun adult scavenger hunt. 

We spent the rest of Saturday shopping downtown and in Wicker Park. I can't remember the last time I had such a girly shopping excursion: Anthropologie, of course, Zara, the Renegade Handmade store, Quimby's bookstore, and pretty much every shoe boutique in the neighborhood. (Though my cheapskate tendencies came out even on a supposed "treat yourself" day, I didn't buy much other than the few wardrobe staples I've had on my list for a while.)

Mindy and Renae have been two of my closest friends for a long time. Spending time with old friends is the greatest.

Plus! The official purpose of this weekend was for us to plan a Craft Social. We've been talking about doing a gathering of friends for a long time, but I think we finally got our plans nailed down. Next spring (mostly like Saturday April 28th), we'll be meeting somewhere in the Ames / Des Moines area for a day of fun and crafting, maybe an outing to the Des Moines farmers market. If this is something you'd be interested in attending, let me know! We're still nailing down plans and will send out invites early in 2012. We'd love to have you. 

hello, again.

and with a little formatting update! i'm trying my hand at a slightly new design, new title bar. . . what do you think? I might tweak some sidebar things to match but I'm not sold on that idea. I have this problem where I get so into just DOing something that by the time it's finished I'm not sure if I actually like it or not. either way, I got to draw some letters and you know that always makes me happy.

anyway. hi. how are you? we are doing pretty good. and here's what have we been up to: 

messes. all day, every day.

naps. and also some days, no naps. i think I get a dozen gray hairs for every day the boy does not nap.

pumpkins!

and cuddles that are borderline "too rough!" (a popular phrase around our house these days.)

So I've never been a super consistent blog poster, but I will say taking a little break was nice. When I first stopped working I had this goal to post a certain amount of times a week, but really, if I have nothing to say, why not say. . . nothing? BUT I am extremely glad for all of you that read and comment here. It's such a bright spot in my days.

Hey friends. I'm taking a break here for a little while. Be back soon.

about skating. and dumb anxiety.

my skates! yes, I am a 31 year old woman that owns a pair of roller skates! proudly!

You know those articles in women's magazines about like "Top Ten Tips of Happy Moms!" and "Five Steps to Stress Less!"? They're full of these platitudes that always seem amazingly obvious to me. Connect With Your Spouse! Eliminate Activities You Don't Love! Make Time for Yourself! I used to read these articles before I had kids and wonder, who are the idiots that can't figure this stuff out? 

Well, I'll admit now. I'M one of those idiots. Lately I've been feeling really anxious. I know there are things I can do to make myself feel better, but I avoid them. I put pressure on myself to cook all our meals from scratch, I'm the only one that worries about our house not being decorated well enough, I waste my downtime on things that aren't relaxing to me. . . and then I suffer for it. It's all stupid stuff I could handle if I just stopped and redirected myself. Yes, there have been some speedbumps lately (our living room being torn apart for 2 weeks to get rid of mold is the biggie) but that's no reason for me to freak out daily and feel like I'm a horrible mom. I know that's not true. 

Soooo. I joined this roller derby class. I'm really doing it: I'm Making Time for Myself! Getting Fit! Pursuing a New Hobby! etc. 

The class is Derby Lite, and I think their tagline says it all: Roller Skating for Fun and Fitness for Women Old Enough to Know Better. (It's offered through my local park district.) So far it has been fun and it's a good challenge for me. Learning how to fall down (and get up again!) is kind of enlightening for someone that once broke their arm rollerblading. Plus, it's hard to worry about stuff like the dishes not being done when I'm solely focused on skating/not injuring myself. I really look forward to practice and I'm hoping this is something I can continue with for a long time. 

And, an added bonus: if you're local, there are some Friends and Family skate nights in the next couple months. Let me know if you'd like to come along, I'd love to have you. 

weekend at grandma's

We love going to Iowa to see my family. Seriously, I could not be luckier to have all these people in my life. Of course the kids had a blast too. David LOVES playing with his cousins. We visited my mom at her school too and I think he was pretty impressed with lunch and recess with the school kids. 

David has been resisting naps lately and frankly? I just can't deal with entertaining him all day long. So I let him watch Thomas the Tank Engine videos on my laptop. 

Eating a s'more, in the garden. He also still has dinner (lasagna) all over his face. I will admit that the boy's cleanliness is not one of my higher priorities. 

Norah has been somewhat challenging lately. I'm not sure why — teething? realizing it's no fun to be a baby and she would rather be walking and talking? Who knows? BUT. Look at that smile. I can't stay mad at her for more than 2 seconds with a face like that. 

I had this thought that taking 2 kids to my parents for a few days would be stress relieving for me. I guess it was, sort of, but the ordeal of the car trip and both kids' terrible sleep for 3 days kind of negated any overall relaxation. So I'm happy to be home into the normalcy of all our own beds, Sesame Street on the DVR, and trips to Costco. I can't believe it's October now; I had a lot of plans for September that fell apart or were forgotten. So I'm gearing up to get back on track and whip our house and our daily routine into shape. Here we go!