photo by noa

Those of you who said I didn't need a list last year? Yeah, you were right. But I am excited that we have finally renewed our passports (I find it romantic that Ben's and mine expired within months of each other, even though we got them just before we met) and Henry has his first one! We have some adventures ahead of us! Isn't that one of the best feelings??? Have a great weekend!

Hi Friends! Just taking a moment to check in. On this Friday evening I am:

--reveling in my first moments of alone time in (literally, like I haven't even peed alone) in days
--enjoying a home that is cleaner than it has been since before Henry was born
--super inspired by my amazing friend and partner Michelle, and all the crazy talent we checked out at this fine event
--ecstatic about the fact that I have two more days off with my peanut, and the weather is forecast to be even warmer than today's gorg day
--exhausted from that whirlwind trip to LA with my little guy
--as blissed out and thankful as ever to have such a perfect baby as Henry for a son, and such a rad guy as Ben for both a husband to myself and father to our boy (he is so good, you guys)
-still kinda giddy from watching Henry check out his new toy (the tongue, the WHOLE time)
--amazed at how things have changed
--excited about the possibilities ahead.......
--and about to sign of and enjoy some for of libation (tequila???)

Cheers ya'll, & I hope you have a great weekend!

(Polaroid of me and Henry by Michelle, obv [then + now!], an out-take from the project we started this week! Can't wait/nervous to share! Eek!)

A number of you mentioned in my very informal survey that you don't mind when I post nesting + the home design type stuff. Well how about you help me. I feel like our living room is getting kinda out of control lately and I am itching to clean it up. We can't afford any big changes, but can do little things here and there. Also, we need to baby proof this shit! The spaces at hand, for your reference;

(please note I refrained from picking up or doing any styling for the photographs. Pre baby this would be considered a mess. Post baby, it is considered well picked up.)

And so these are our main living spaces. The nook is a little bit bigger than the photo would have you believe. Now would you like an itemized run down of the issues? You would?

1. I love this coffee table. It was the first real furniture we ever purchased, from an estate sale right after Ben and I moved in together. But it is effing huge. So are the two side tables (even huger) that are out in the shed. I used to love its size, but now I want room to play on the floor with the babe. I'd like a smaller one, but I am hesitant to sell this one, and we don't have room to store it. DILEMMA.

2. I never thought I would say this. We have to many chairs. See above re: floor space. No way am I selling the Bertoia. Do I ditch the rocking chair? (Baby isn't attached to rocking in it.)

3. I was so inspired to photograph the space "as is", I actually stopped in the middle of sweeping. Don't worry. I have since cleaned the pile. (Undoubtedly, a new one has formed.)

4. Oh, the couch. It is the most terrible material, and so it is covered with a canvas drop cloth. If I could buy but one piece of real furniture it would be a couch. Sadly, this will not happen in the foreseeable future.

5. That dinky little vintage light is kinda awkward right there between the couch and the heater, huh? In general, our lighting situation is a little poor.

6. Remember when I hung these shelves? Yeah. I did a shit job. And I am worried they will fall on the baby. Plus it just feels so crowded. I took all the heavy books off and the nicer breakables and am considering if I just want to tear it all down, or fix.

7. My collection of Tend orbs from Britt used to be so well arranged. They have gotten shuffled over the years and now hang in sad singles here and there. Just a simple matter of redoing.

8. Oh, the computer. I am tired of it being in the living room. Must move it back to the nook. (Where I would like to build a desk that runs the length between the walls below the windows, with amps underneath. Simple slim wood top with these legs.)

9. Can't decide between keeping the low console with the stereo on it (and teaching Henry not to touch, but knowing that if he does it won't be dangerous or something irreplaceable) or putting in a (short) fauxdenza. I think I'd like to do a fauxdenza. Right where the computer desk is. It would help with the storage problem presented in removing the shelves from item 6.

10. See items 1 and 2 re floor space. Said space needs a rug.

Wow, are you still here?

Thoughts and opinions welcome. Clearly, I am floundering here.

This list by Haley Ann is a nice reminder that sometimes to do lists can be really, really fun too.

Remember I mentioned crafting over the weekend? Well, I printed a pillow for the baby's room! It was so fun, and pretty easy. My dad bought me Lena Corwin's book for Christmas, and it was really nice to have a guide (I usually just go for things...), it gave me extra confidence that I was choosing the right ink, etc. I am not crazy about the back (the half circles), but am pretty pleased with the front. (Triangles!) I can't wait to print more stuff! Oh, and this would be item 15 from the 30 list. Yes!

I am a little unsure about how to finish a list of 30 things to do before I turn 31. Because, you know, in about 2.5 months (or less?!?) our whole life is going to radically change forever, and all.

I am afraid to commit to too many extra curricular activities, and I am not sure how to integrate life with the little guy into the list.

The list kind of implies things you were not doing before, right? So almost everything I imagine I want to do with the babe could be on it. But since he is entirely new that doesn't feel quite right either. I could say "use cloth diapers!", but really, I can't. But I also can't make a list of 30 things that don't directly involve him, as I expect he will be an overwhelming part of my life before I turn 31. (As kids always will, but with newborns, you know?) I am afraid to say, I will do all these things! When I might not have time to do any of them?

So, I leave in incomplete for now. Your thoughts on the general conundrum are welcome. ;)

1. finish the unfinished
2. renew our passports
3. camp at lake arrowhead
4. sew
5. make with felt
6. work/life balance
7. make family christmas stockings
8. smarten up our yard
9. finish (er, start) the little guy's room
10. have a big black and white poster made
11. more houseplants
12. spend lots of time with the little guy at the beach (come on summer, need you on this one)
13. continue the c&q flea market line
14. get and use wacom
15. use the printing book I got for christmas
16. compost
17. use the heck outta that ping pong table
18. continue gardening, with renewed dedication
19. keep using that little video recorder my dad gave us last year, and actually edit the videos
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

it is time to admit that i am 30, and my birthday has long past, & those things not yet done are simply that.

to review, 29 things to do before i turned 30....


1.Take sister on a road trip (or fly to a really cool city)
2.Print/organize/archive photo collections (in progress?)
3.Go back to Yosemite, preferably with a group of friends
4.Register for ncarb
5.Start a drawing journal/sketchbook
6.Host Thanksgiving (with my mother in law's help) (i hosted christmas, twice?)
7.Hike Cowles
8.Visit dad in Tokyo
9.Ice skate with sis (this one is So her fault, really)
10.Start an exercise routine
11.Open an etsy shop (cactus and quail counts! even better!)
12.Engage in volunteer work
13.Watch Labyrinth with Lorenzo & Massimo
14.Find chocolate brown boots (spensive!)
15.Bake something
16.Take a textile course
17.Visit Scarlett in Portland
18.Use a laser cutter
19.Find a campground we like near San Diego
20.Learn and refine photoshop skills
21.Trick out my bike
22.Host a summer outdoor movie series
23.Finish cleaning the effing shed
24.Start a real adult serious savings
25.Finish the Buffy comic series
26.Work again in a woodshop
27.Take mom to hot springs
28.Branch out beyond the IPA (and the IIPA, and the Pale Ale) (to be fair, I was PREGNANT almost half the year)
29.Garden, with Ben

Speaking of websites and designing and secret projects, it's finally time to share some big news with you. Eeee! I am so excited to announce that the next few days will see the launch of Cactus & Quail, my one woman paper & design studio!


I have been like a crazy bee working on this, guys... it has been so hard not to tell you all about it. Especially since that is what I work on most weekends! Anyways, I will save the nitty gritty details for when I launch, but for now I give you this; there are three unique facets to Cactus & Quail 1) the custom work 2) the ready-made illustrations (super affordable pretties that can be customized by you or me, then printed at home!) and a flea-market to sell all the little handmade & limited edition things I sometimes like to make.

So. Now you know what has been up my sleeve. Check back soon for more details and the official announcement when Cactus & Quail goes live!

Yeah, these babies came from our garden.

I finally feel comfortable crosssing #29 Garden, with Ben off the list, now that we have harvested:

-tomatoes
-spinach
-basil
-kale

Yay!

(the cilantro was a fail, the squash is still acting mysterious , and the edamame went from what looked like infancy to pathetic and old and, way past it's prime. Not sure what happened there.)

I just want to tell you guys how excited I am.

There are things brewing. Big things, little things, some might even say huge things. Personal things and not so personal things. And I am just about to bubble over with excitement to share them all with you, but it just isn't time yet.

But, soon. Promise.

In the mean time, I am so excited!

photograph by aimee brodeur

Or maybe I will just be a weekend behind. Who knows. Here are a few snaps from last weekend, when we finally planted our baby garden! (yeah! Thanks for the encouragement!) Carinna and I did not manage to take many pictures in Palm Springs. Not sure what is up with that. But we had a fantastic time. Maybe that is the explanation. Michael killed it, of course. Duh. I then rushed home to recover and dote on the pets.

{you can click on the image to view in flickr, where there may or may not be more detailed info.}

I was really thinking about swapping out number 16 from The List (take a textile design class). The class is not exactly cheap, also Britt (who I was hoping to take the class with) and I have a hell of a hard time coordinating our schedules. But after seeing these photos on textile designer Karen Barbe's blog I am having a hard time giving the activity the axe. What I would do with strands of woven fabric? I HAVE NO IDEA. But I WANT TO MAKE THEM.

*I could hang potted plants with them, maybe?

All right already! After your comments, posts like this in my google reader, and chatting with a gardening coworker (who assured me that kale, radishes, lettuce, zucchini and tomatoes would all be happily planted right now) I'm gonna do it. Today after work we are headed to City Farmers (thanks Shelly!) then Saturday it's plantin time!

I will let you know how it goes.

Image by CS Neal via mint, which also popped up in the reader today.

I might have bitten off more than I can chew. We are well into (beyond) the first half of the year. Even if you count the in progress/scheduled items, I am not half way through the list here. And there are a few things I am less interested in doing now that I was last winter. And there are so many things that conflict, especially financially. I can't buy chocolate brown boots, take a textile class, trick out my bike and do all this travelling I want to do.

For now, here is an update, and I am considering permitting myself a mid year (or a little later) swap on some of the items.

1.Take sister on a road trip (or fly to a really cool city)
2.Print/organize/archive photo collections {in progress}
3.Go back to Yosemite, preferably with a group of friends {scheduled!}
4.Register for ncarb
5.Start a drawing journal/sketchbook {oops!}
6.Host Thanksgiving (with my mother in law's help)
7.Hike Cowles
8.Visit dad in Tokyo {this might have been wishful thinking}
9.Ice skate with sis
10.Start an exercise routine {oops!}
11.Open an etsy shop {in progress, sort of, but maybe better!}
12.Engage in volunteer work
13.Watch Labyrinth with Lorenzo & Massimo
14.Find chocolate brown boots {this might have been flat out DREAMING}
15.Bake something
16.Take a textile course {swap?}
17.Visit Scarlett in Portland {scheduled}
18.Use a laser cutter {swap?}
19.Find a campground we like near San Diego {does 5 hours away qualify as near?}
20.Learn and refine photoshop skills
21.Trick out my bike
22.Host a summer outdoor movie series
23.Finish cleaning the effing shed
24.Start a real adult serious savings
25.Finish the Buffy comic series {in progress}
26.Work again in a woodshop {swap?}
27.Take mom to hot springs
28.Branch out beyond the IPA (and the IIPA, and the Pale Ale) {get on it woman!}
29.Garden, with Ben {in progress, sort of. the garden project was haulted after the dog debacle. is it too late to plant anything if we start now? with started plants?}

You guys play top 10? Top 5? I can't do top 5 of anything, too hard to limit it and get the priority right, and top 10 is just too many for here, so let's stick with top 3.

I have been playing "top" since about 9 years ago when I met my friend Bruce, he was interviewing me for a job. (He became my boss before my friend.)

"Top 3 bands?" he asked. I was flabbergasted. What kind of interview is this? He proceeded to ask about movies and books, and I recently generated top three for TV shows after rewatching Twin Peaks. So here are mine;

Music
-David Bowie
-Bob Dylan
-The Beatles

Films
-Harold and Maude
-The Royal Tenenbaums
-Cabaret

Books*
-Catcher in the Rye
-The Unbearable Lightness of Being
-Still Life With Woodpecker

Television
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-Twin Peaks
-Arrested Development


I love asking people this. And I try to always be prepared with my tops.

I asked Emilia's husband (then fiance) once about movies (since that's his jam), it might have been best movies of the decade that I asked about though, being freshly into 2010. He was a little caught off guard, unprepared with a list, but he ended up emailing me a well thought out list of like, 100. It was awesome.

How bout you all?

*I first thought of blogging about this after generating the TV top three, but I was embarrassed about the book section. Guys, I am not as literary as you all. This is a loose list here, one that I am not passionately attached to, so I feel a little, I dunno, like I shouldn't be claiming it, but I have to claim something. Anyways, after Michael** forced requested that Peonies pick her tops in music I had to do a tops post. Lets just not start talking about who we DON'T like, K?

**speaking of michael AKA the Flashdance, have you guys entered to win a free room at the Ace for his industry night?!??!

This camping trip was almost as epic as last summer's, just on a mini, 2 day scale.


I have been on a quest to find the perfect Southern California camping spot. (Big surprise.) Aside from being 5 hours away from San Diego the Kern River might be it. The river was pretty strong, what with all the snow that was had this year, but we were able to carve out a nice little swim spot off our beach. The temperature was hot enough that the cold water felt great, perfect for sticking our chairs in and just lounging all day. It was fantastic.

I have another lesson to add to the lessons learned list- permit myself some flexibility.

While I would not classify this excursion (in the intended spirit) as a road trip, I am going to go ahead and cross off the first item on the list-
1.Take sister on a road trip (or fly to a really cool city)

Because, and I quote, she doesn't really like to travel that much. (I know.) And? She doesn't really like cities that much. (I know.) (Hey, just cause we are sisters doesn't mean we like all the same things.) What she does like? Small quaint towns, especially ones in the desert. And we happened to travel through one of those, one that she likes just so much, she is adding it to her list of places to live. So, I think that counts in the intended spirit of the list item. Additionally it counts because we offered to take her with us on a road trip that involves stops in no less than 2 really cool cities and she declined. (I know.) But next year maybe I should take her to New Mexico? Lots of quaint desert towns there, no?

things learned over the weekend camping trip:

-nearly everything will be improved by adding arugula
-as suspected, it might be necessary to drive 5 hours from san diego to reach kick ass, water inclusive camping
-it is always summer somewhere
-just like when you were 14 and she was 2, you still want to sit and read all day, while your sister will want you to, you know, do stuff
-start camping trips on sundays, if at all possible
-just cause you are sisters doesn't mean you like all the same things
-the dead marshes, no matter what tolkien or jackson told you, are probably at the kern river

instead of a perfect world, I have been dreaming of the perfect bag;

*brown leather (somewhere betweeen carmel and chocolate)
*new, but classic in appearance
*simple, rather masculine
*sturdy
*large enough to hold my huge wallet, a sketchbook, my camera, maybe a water bottle, if lucky, and miscelanous cositas (little thingies), or in a major pinch, my laptop, wallet and cositas only
*but small enough to not quite be a messenger bag, exactly
*a long enough single shoulder strap that it can be worn, while biking, across the chest like a messenger bag
*but styled to be worn over one shoulder, otherwise, if desired
*not entirely brake the bank
*wears well with many years of hard use

I have been lamenting all over the internets (and the meatspace for that matter) about the lack of summer. It is just plain old not hot here in San Diego.

But you know what? F*ck it. I am going to try my damndest to kick start summer. Last night, Little Sister arrived. She is on break from school. What is more summer than that? So even though reports tell us it is not exactly sunny down there, we are going to the beach. The first (San Diego) swim of 2010.

Summer 2010, it is on. I have in mind; library, too many books -- movies, indoor and out - - water (ocean, river, pool lake bring it!) - - weekends away - - shooting film on my old minolta - - bbqs - - dogs - - parks - - ping pong - - camping - - ice cream - - thrifting - biking - cracking away at The List - - soccer watching -- lounging....

Ambitious, I know. Which means I am going to cut back on the blogging. A little less commenting/reading? Maybe only a couple of posts a week?

So, summer.

Image by my new favorite, Abby Try Again

So I have a couple of items on the list that refer to routines and habits, specifically starting a drawing journal and an exercise routine. These are tricky when it comes to crossing off; how does one determine that a habit has been set? I remember doing an exercise in an intro to psych course, we were taught that it takes 25 days (I think) of doing an activity to set a habit. So I decided that once I had about a month of consistent behavior I could go ahead and cross off the items. (With the intent, of course, that I continue.)

Then I realized if I actually shared my progress as it is happening rather than once the goal has been reached, I might be more likely to follow through and succeed. Like you know, if you do your chores you get a gold star? Or unlike my first (failed) attempt to go vegetarian.*

So I made this little calendar, it starts Monday last week, cause that is when I got serious (this time) and got the tracking idea a few days later. I will put it in the sidebar and update it once a week or so. The orange E is for exercise and the blue S for sketch, obviously. The goal is to work out 5-6 (quick) times a week, and sketch at least 4. I am doing way better on the E, which is totally weird. But I am ok with that. One thing at a time. Maybe once the exercising becomes habit it will be easier to encourage a second daily routine?

*when, as a grade schooler, I was first inspired to be a vegetarian after seeing a whole pig roast at the palm springs weekly street fair. but, I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, so I thought I would try first. Give it a week or two and see how it went, then if I found I could actually do it I would, you know, tell my family. The next morning my grandmother was flabergasted at my odd breakfast behavor. "What do you mean you don't wan't bacon? Bbacon and potatos is your favorite? of course you want bacon." Then later in the back seat of my parents car on thed drive back home to Vegas, I sat staring at the beef jerky grandma packed as a snack for me. "Being vegetarian is too hard." I thought. And ate the damn jerky. Later, in middle school I wisened up and told people my idea so they would not try and shove meat down my throught. It stuck that time.