in my (sometimes) humble opinion

Got some pictures from the big trip up, this one is my favorite. Esther took us horseback riding and Nika was amazing, it seriously inspired me. My photography class went well last night, I basically got to show off a bunch of my pics and attempt to answer questions. Next on the list of things to do is finish some pieces for the Community of Artists exhibit coming up at the Octagon, then make a little memory book of the Girls Trip.

I thought I'd have a few weeks to relax at home with Matt before either of us are travelling again, but it looks like he might have some business in NYC next week. Hopefully I'll be able to join him for a few days. I've never been, anyone have any advice?

I'm back! I know, you probably thought I'd just gotten lazy on the blog/ flickr/ e-mail front, but I actually have an excuse! I've been on a 10-day Kindred Girls road trip with three of my (four) sisters and my niece, Nika. We flew to Vegas where my sister Esther (in the green swimsuit) lives, then drove up to Provo and Salt Lake City to visit my 7-months-pregnant sister Katrina and my Grandma Iris, then back to Vegas, then to LA to visit my Grandma Dorothy, more family and the beach.

I have a ton of pics to put up, blogs to read, e-mails, etc but first I have to get ready for a photography class I'm teaching tomorrow (yikes!) then I'll get to all that. Thanks for your patience, hope you're having a great summer too!

Wow, just wanted to say thanks for the amazing comments on that last post, I really appreciate all of them. That was definitely something different for me and I love that people got it. :)

For years I have told myself I was going to enter artwork into exhibits at the Octagon. There's a Community of Artists show coming up and I am challenging myself to enter 3 pieces (due July 24th). So now that I've said it here I have to do it, right? The pic above is the first entry. I've always wanted to try an assemblage/box type thing. I'm really happy with it and am excited to do another one.

Watched An Inconvenient Truth last night (Al Gore's documentary about global warming). Yikes. I knew it was going to be scary, which it was, but it's so ridiculously important. I'm currently not planning on having kids, so that "save the earth for the children!" stuff doesn't really work on me. But I am fond of, you know, breathing, eating, drinking water, living, stuff like that… It drives me crazy how this country turns environmentalism into a political issue, which is so isn't. Anyway, see the movie and check out what you can do (or I'll totally blame you when the ocean swallows the coasts).

On that note, have a great holiday weekend!

Made these fancy cd folders for Kathleen's cd swap. Got Ulla's fabulous French mix yesterday (yes, I'm a bit of a francophile).

Speaking of music, Stuart Davis's long awaited amazing new cd is finally available! It was worth the wait, check it out!

Found these on a walk with the ferrets the other day. I’d been looking for egg shells, and I found two and a huge body-less beetle! I’ve had such a great week, received tons of goodies in the mail (including some great vintage wallpaper pieces and beautiful greeting cards from Amy at PosyPress), spent time with great friends who I hadn’t seen in a while, watched some good movies (damn Mos Def is cute!), finally made it up to Minneapolis to get my Ikea shelf.
That was interesting (attempting to fit 3 80” long boxes into our car: check out the madness). Picked up some fun stuff at Paper Source (a great practice at self control - good thing it’s 3 hours away), spent lots of time with my honey. Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

 
Well, spring has come and gone, and now it’s summer in Iowa.  Yep, 87 degrees today.  I miss those 3 days of spring…
My sister was venting to me about her new job and we were sharing different ways we’d thought about getting out of work.  Like I’ve considered slicing my finger with a box cutter (not bad enough to get stitches, just bad enough to bleed a lot), she’s contemplated slamming her finger in a drawer or running to the bathroom to "throw up", and even punching herself in the face, because certainly they wouldn’t want her dealing with customers with a black eye.  I couldn’t decide if we’re slightly insane or just creative (obviously we’re not full-on insane because we haven’t actually done any of these things.  Yet).
But the good news is…  I quit my job!  WOOHOO!!!  I’ve been there for 7 years, so it’ll be weird, but I’m so ready to not have any excuses to do what makes me happy.  Matt’s thrilled too, now he won’t have to hear me complain.  Seriously though, I’m so lucky to have his support, he’s my biggest fan and it means so much.  If it weren’t for him I’d be working at Subway dreaming about being an artist (and not of the  sandwiches).
We’re headed to Minneapolis tomorrow for an Ikea trip (another perk of living in Iowa: 3 hours to the nearest Ikea).  I’m planning on getting this shelf for my basement studio (my thinking is if I write about it here, It’ll be incentive to hurry and get it organized so I can post great "after" pictures like these).
Have a great weekend, whatever the weather!

 
I made these necklaces last night, I forgot how pretty pressed flowers and leaves can be.  These are tiny, the frames are less than an inch high.
So I think I’m going to start selling stuff on Etsy ("your place to buy & sell all things handmade").  I don’t know when OriginalTilly.com will be back up (it needs a lot of work done, a programming overhaul) but I’m still making stuff to sell, so I might as well.  Besides, some of my favorite artists sell stuff there!
Listening to: the Ditty Bops (good sunny weekend music!).  By the way, the comments are fixed for real now.  Seriously, try it!