Saturday, December 29, 2007

greetings from mexico


A natural well, the water goes down 150 feet! Really amazing sight.


Chitzanitza-----the Mayans were mathmatical geniuses!


The water was clear, refreshing, beautiful, salty, and fun!


Sitting under my beach hut, sipping my margarita---look at the amazing clouds.

More memories of Cancun will appear here, once I have a little more time. I stayed at the Grand Bahia Principe- in Tulum (about 60 miles south of Cancun) It was a really relazing time.
I wish you all a great 2008!

Friday, December 7, 2007

oh my!



It snowed in Richmond this week!!! For more than 2 minutes!!!! This is the view from my front door, I must admit it was beautiful, and it finally feels like the holiday season now.









This week has been eventful to say the least. I got a promotion at work, I am the new Kiels countermanger, which means I have to learn the ins and outs of the line, during the holidays. It was also the last week of school, which meant things to turn in and events to go to. IT SNOWED! And finally I had the final show from the service learning project I have been working on all semester. The show was held at a local fire station, and there was a great turn out. The final display of my piece references the original idea for the project; Judy Chicago's "dinner party". I was really excited because the leader of ART 180 walked in and knew right away what it referenced. I think that in art education there are topics that may be hard to teach, but the pressence of the lesson is important. What I mean is... Normally a third grade class would not understand Judy Chicago's piece, but when they learn about their place at the table and what it means, the pressence of the piece is there.
I only have one final left, which is not too bad. After that, I am going to be a busy bee. I have plans to make so many new things, hopefully I wil have the energy to go with the plans. I have missed sewing on my machine and the itch to embroider is there. I hope that everyone is having a lovely december so far.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

"There are two ways of spreading light, to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."-Edith Wharton

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

feeling cozy



Here I am at thanksgiving. This year my family went to Berryville, Virginia, where my cousin lives and we spent the day on the farm. I normally hate photos of myself, because I am the least photogenic person I know. However this one turned out alright, aren't those horses amazing with the sun setting, it was beautiful. In these next two weeks school will wind down for me, which I must admit I am ready for. The winter season seems to be upon us and I am feeling how cozy my apartment is, the warmth of my living room, the productivity that my studio holds, the calmness of my bedroom, I am so excited to be able to spend more time here making over my break. I want to get some things made to post onto etsy and of course I have some christmas presents to make, oh yes and some cards too! I just found out that my family is going to the carribian for christmas, so it looks like a Davy Jones christmas this year!



"Home the inescapable place, the place to which the heart's compass turns" -Joanne Harris, Coastliners

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

nests and nesting











It seems that this semester has finally calmed down, most of my work is finished, and now it is just getting myself to go to class. The PRAXIS was a bit nerve-wrecking but hopefully my score is high enough to let me move on in school. So with the calmness that comes with having the greasest portion of my work finished, and my life calming down a bit, I feel more relaxed. When the weather gets cooler and the leaves are bright I start to feel more and more compelled to nest in my home. The outings that I have in the summer are gone and the urge to be home, making, reading, playing, relaxing comes back. I am really looking forward to making, during my winter break. I have been making all semester, but mostly demonstration models. Aside from those all I have been working on is my quilt, and a few other small things. Today I got the Amy Butler "stiches" book, and I am in love with the layout of it. Such a beautiful guide with intersting projects in it, I really want to make the pajama pants first! (Considering I have had the fabric to make some for over three years, I better!)
Last night I got the urge to put out a few winter/christmas decorations, as you can see from the photos I stay away from traditional decorating, and go into a modern/vintage twist. I want to add a few more things, like vintage christmas cards, and such but that will wait til after thanksgiving. I hope that everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving. I am thankful for so much this year, things seem to be in place for me at the moment, and for that I am most thankful.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Hot chocolate



I was sitting here peeking at some of my favorite websites, avoiding my paper of course, and stumbled upon this recipee on Joann Harris' website. As you can tell, from previous posts I am a huge admirer of Harris and her work, and am currently reading chocolat, which I put off for a long time because I love the movie so much. However the book is marvelous and one of my favorite parts in the movie, and book is the hot chocolate. Well here it is Vianne's hot coco recipe:

1 2/3 cups milk 1/2 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise 1/2 cinnamon stick 1 hot red chile, halved and seeded 3 1/2 ounces bittersweet (70 percent) chocolate Brown sugar to taste (optional)
Whipped cream, chocolate curls, cognac, or Amaretto, to serve

Place the milk in a saucepan, add the vanilla bean, cinnamon stick, and chile, and gently bring it to a shivering simmer for 1 minute. Grate the chocolate and whisk it in until it melts. If you must, then add brown sugar, but do try without it. Take off the heat and allow it to infuse for 10 minutes, then remove the vanilla, cinnamon, and chile. Return to the heat and bring gently back to a simmer. Serve in mugs topped with whipped cream, chocolate curls, or a dash of cognac or Amaretto.

Thank you Joanne for this recipee!

time

This week time seems to be slipping through my fingers. I had the loveliest of weekends, I had to work for a few hours but other than that I had some un-structured fun with P. My mind was needing a weekend off, to forget all the things I need to get done. It was good for me. So this weekend to come, I have to take the PRAXIS exam, eeek! It is a test that is a little like the SAT and it is so that I can move on with the teaching classes at school. This is a one shot deal for me, most people take it more than once, but since I am taking level one and two of the teaching classes together I do not have time to mess around with taking it again. I am a little nervous, standarized exams are not my thing, but I am determined to get a passing score! I may not be posting til after all this is over, but I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful fall trees and colors. I can not believe thanksgiving is next week-wow time has flown this fall. I will be back online writing after I get to the bottom of the barrel of my homewrk.

Monday, November 5, 2007

sixteen candels

My little sister was born on my 8th birthday. Yes, thats is correct we have the same birthday. It is unusual and it has taken me a long time to get used to sharing my birthday. When I was younger I really dis-liked it, and it always ended with her taking my cake or one of us being upset. Of course now we are older, and wiser, and have become a little better at sharing... This weekend my mom and I threw her a huge sweet sixteen birthday party, it was lovely. (Our real birthday is on wednesday the 7th). Below are some photos of the card I made her using an old needle case, I thought it came out well.









Here are some clips of the party we had on saturday night. It has been a few years since I have had a real cake with all the cadles on it for my birthday, 24 almost caught my hair on fire...







Wednesday, October 31, 2007

one by one.







Time is going by so fast lately. Maybe it is the busy schedule that has become my life, or maybe it is the days getting shorter. Either way it seems like time is slipping through my fingers, like sand held tightly; fast. In the midst of everything going on I have found time to work on my quilt. I have been trying to do a little bit every night, and hour or so. It helps rid all the clutter that piles in throughout the day. Keeping my hands busy has always been a good way for me to get through life, and stress. So working on my quilt sewing circles together and making more circles really helps relieve the days pressure. It is great to have a project to work on that can be picked up and put down again---I recomend it. As you can see in the above photos, it is now almost the right proportion for a queen size bed the wide way. Just a matter of building up the length. I hope that everyone had a lovely halloween!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

its here!

The air is crisp, the leaves are turning, and I even put an extra blanket on my bed last night. It finally feels like fall! Unfortunatly I am also feeling the season change, I have some sort of cold/sinus thing. I can't really skip anything at the moment so some drugs and vitamin c are in store for me. This weekend I went to my mom's house and I could not believe it, I got a brand new car for my birthday--super exciting I know. For those of you that do not know me, I had been driving my fathers ford F150 red truck since he passed away. Yes all 4feet 11inches and 3/4's of me! I loved it! While I am super excited to have a brand new pretty car, it is hard to let go of something like that. Funny how inadememnt objects can grab hold of you because of the ties that they have in your memories. As long as the memories are there though, it is ok to let go of the objects, sometimes it just takes a little time...

Monday, October 22, 2007

homework?



Ever felt like ignoring your homework? I did yesterday, however I made myself productive in another way. I got all my fabric organized, got rid of things I will not use and made the studio look a bit neater. Clutter makes it hard for me to think, so hopefully I will be able to focus on the homework again.



Sunday, October 21, 2007

neat finding



Yesterday I went to 3 quilt stores on the central virginia quilt tour. I was excited to see lots of fabric, get some ideas and purchase fabric for a bag I have been wanting to make. I enjoyed the tour, and did not go crazy buying fabric. However I did finally get the fabric to make my bag. While going to these stores, I discovered a half priced book store in Richmond. These images are from a singer sewing book that I got. The book is a great tool on sewing, but these images are what got me. They are so charming and sweet.



I have so many ideas for sewing and fabric right now, but my time has become limited. I sat down to work on homework last night and thought that it would be a short project, it ended up taking four hours. This seems to be the way things are going, but I want to do well so the time is a good investment. I am hoping that over my winter break, a whole month!!! I will have some time to work on sewing and finish my quilt. I have still been working on it but the process is running much slower. It was nice to get out yesterday take a drive and see some new things here around Richmond. It gave me a chance to clear my head.



Saturday, October 20, 2007

thoughts on a lazy afternoon

"everything i do, i give my heart and soul..."

Friday, October 19, 2007

Finally it is raining outside! Somehow the rain matches my mood today.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

october where are you?



I love fall more than any other season. The bright leaves, pumpkins, the warmth in the food, the bright warm tones everywhere, and the feeling of returning to sweaters and preparing for winter. Halloween, my all time favorite holiday, and my birthday are both in the fall which makes it that much more delightful. However this year the weather is still in the high 80's and there is still no rain in sight. The warmth was ok in the summer but at this point I have had it. I want to feel the crisp air that comes with october, the smell of the leaves and the first frost. I have to admit the weather is beginning to freak me out a little bit. I am trying to be more mindful for the enviorment and am intersted in learning about ways to do more. I am open to any suggestions. There was a night a few days ago when it got below 55 and it felt so good, I even made a cup of tea and sat and read on my red couch, it was delightful. I have my fingers crossed that it will begin to feel like October soon, or at least by November.



I have been so preoccupied with school lately that I have not had the chance to post as often. I am sorry about that because I really enjoy writing this blog. I do not think that very many people read it, however it keeps me motivated to make because the audience is there and I can get my thoughts out. This photo above is of a project that I have been working on for a class. I had to write a lesson plan, my very first formal one. I then had to present it to my class, as if I were teaching it to fifth grade. Overall I am really happy with the presentation and the projects ended up being great! The lesson was based on Frida Kahlo and the Day of the Dead. The students had to find symbolism in Frida's work from the day of the dead, and then create their own art with symbolism of someone or a special thing they have lost. The photo is of the finished pieces and the bulletin board.

This weekend is the central Virginia quilt tour. I am super excited! I will not be able to make it to all ten stores but I am going to try to get to four. (This is ambitious with the school work I should do, but I think I will manage). Check out the site if you are interested in going: http://www.tourdequilt.com

Friday, October 12, 2007

thought.

Any so-called material thing that you want is merely a symbol: you want it not for itself, but because it will content your spirit for the moment. ~ Mark Twain

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

odds and ends


The past few days I have been hiding in my apartment, I had my wisdom teeth pulled. As seen in the scary picture above my face was lopsided for a few days and looked as if I was smuggling nuts and berries in one cheek. I am better now and my face is almost back to normal, just a little sore on one side. Soon I will be back to eating normal foods again!


Last week when october came in I had to go to the pumpkin patch and choose some pumpkins of my own. Keeping the rule in mind: I carried all of these by myself, even though I really wanted the HUGE Hagrid sized one. The two orange ones are called cinderella pumpkins and the white one is called a cheese round. I am not sure I will carve these yet, they are pretty cool how they are. I wish that it would feel more like fall outside, it has been in the 90's this weekend and still. I love fall and would hate to miss the feeling of it this year.


I have been admiring this view of the Richmond Fan for the past few weeks. I have had to park on the sixth floor of the parking building and while it scares me to drive up there, the view is amazing.

Books can really change or motivate a person to think about things in certain ways. I finished reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" a while ago and it was wonderful. When it was done I had a hard time finding another books to read and went onto some David Sedaris short stories books. He is amusing but I wanted to be back into a story that captivated me. Finally I gave in and am reading another Joanne Harris book, the fifth that I have read by her. I am reading choclate, the one the movie is based on. I never thought I would like this one as much because I have the idea of the movie in my mind, however I am about 75 pages in and it is wonderfully delightful. Her books really captivate me and flow beautifully. I do not know of another writer that makes me want to devour the food that she writes about as much as she does.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Miss. Ana

Today was my final day teaching for my service learning project. It goes on for 12 weeks, however I only get three to teach. My project was to make a placemat that depicted an ideal setting for a family dinner in their eyes. The placemats were not to function as utilitarian objects, but more as sculpture. The final presentation of these will be in december at the Planet Zero gallery in Richmond. I am going to display them, Judy Chicago style, all around a table with the artist statements that the kids wrote out. I never ever in my wildest imagination pictured myself teaching small children (third grade) however I have to say it went well, and I actually enjoyed it. Most people that know me know that children have never been my cup of tea, but I have to say I am not sure I ever related to them on an artistic level, and at this level I think I can work with them. I still do not think I ever want my own but the idea of having to teach them for a year or two before I can teach high school does not intimidate me as much as it did five weeks ago. Below are a few of the finished placemats, and yes she does have that many people at her dinner, and yes those things with lots of eyes are fish!











The coolest apron I own, and believe me I own a lot of aprons! Thanks babe.

new camera











My old camera was acting out on me, so I got this new one, a panasonic luminx glass. So far so good, I am still trying to learn all the buttons and what they mean, but I am excited about it.