Robert Hardgrave..

robert hardgrave's work always fascinates me. his use of shape and color is, well, to put it rather un-eloquently, kind of mind blowing. it's easy to get lost in his mesmerizing designs. inspired by disease, recovery, reincarnation and life after death. the first thing that comes to mind when i look at robert's work are the symbols of tibetan thunderbolts. well, i was pretty proud of myself when i made this connection; the above collage is called djore which is the tibetan word for the symbolic thunderbolt, the vajra. i just love stuff like that. robert has a few shows coming up at BLVD and joshua liner gallery, the work in this post will be featured in these shows respectively.

Baby loves his bath

December 30th 2008

March 23rd 2009

In my mind Miles is still the same baby we brought home from the hospital. I constantly go back to my picture file to see what pictures I took 3 months ago at this time.. It is only then that I realize how much he’s really changed… He’s getting so big.. and growing up so much..

But he still hasn’t figure out how to put his tongue inside of his mouth!

Medal of Honor Warfighter, beta multiplayer a ottobre

Medal of Honor: Warfighter, il nuovo sparatutto prodotto da Electronic Arts, si farà provare in anteprima grazie a una beta multiplayer che arriverà nel mese di ottobre in esclusiva su Xbox 360.

Coloro che potranno partecipare alla versione dimostrativa, riceveranno 60 minuti di punti esperienza extra da sfruttare in multiplayer quando Medal of Honor: Warfighter sarà lanciato sul mercato il 26 ottobre. La beta multiplayer darà modo di provare in anteprima la nuova modalità HotSpot, dove squadre di giocatori sono impegnate ad attaccare e difendere punti strategici casuali sulla mappa bosniaca del Sarajevo Stadium. Ispirandosi alle operazioni militari realistiche, i giocatori dovranno essere bravi a cooperare sfruttando le funzionalità del sistema Fireteam.

Beauty

“Is it …….. beautiful, mama?”

He asked, holding up a dandelion before blowing it into the wind.

Words could not even describe what his heart is like right now.

Everyday I am blown  {like that dandelion} into a million pieces by him.

Everyday.

“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, baby.”

Valerie Hammond..

I've been home sick all day. One of the best things about my job is that when I can't stop sneezing, I can work from my bed. That never could have been possible working in retail. ;) So to shake myself out of cabin fever I spent the evening looking at new to me blogs and of course Pinterest. Always Pinterest, lately.

I spotted Valerie Hammond on Westervin. Hammond works in a variety of mediums...and works well in all of them, I might add. Not always an easy feat so it's great to see an artist transpire there talent.Such gorgeous pieces!Perfect for my foggy head.

From her artist statement:

Valerie Hammond has always been drawn to places and objects that are full of mystery. The expressive and devotional qualities of church shrines, ex-votos, and Asian art ranging from Tibetan medical drawings to Buddhist sculptures serve as inspiration for the artist. As spiritual objects, they possess the ability to impart on the viewer a sense of enchantment grounded by human connectivity, and this offering of transformation echoes Hammond's desire to record both the tangible and elusive aspects of the human condition in her work.

Rod Luff The Moleskin Project..

Friend of the blog and Hi-Fructose online web editor, Ken Harman recently opened permanent doors to his gallery Spoke Art. The gallery has had a few traveling shows throughout the SF Bay area. I'll be dropping by to see the new gallery and get coffee with Ken on Saturday and of course to check out the new show; Rod Luff's show The MoleskinProject. In the meantime, I figured I would post some of the press images for the show, because they're too good to wait til next week - if you are in the city, give the new gallery some love.

Rod Luff: The Moleskin Project runs through May 28, 2011 at Spoke Art, 816 Sutter street, SF. CA.

and yes we eat hummus

Overheard:“So I was telling them that you guys did Bradley classes to prepare for your natural birth, and their first question was if you do cloth diapering.” Apparently we’re easy to pigeonhole.

aidan koch for the nurses..

aidan koch recently re-did her website, uploading a bunch of new work. you may remember the post i wrote a few weeks ago on aidan. i originally found aidan's work through aaron chapman, the lead singer of the nurses. aaron contacted me saying that aidan would be doing the art for their next album, that i should check her out. so glad he did...and just look how amazing the album artwork is! you can listen to the nurses here and see aidan's new website here.

iPhone 2 AT T développe son réseau 3G

Opérateur exclusif de l'iPhone aux Etats-Unis, AT&T a annoncé que son réseau 3G allait couvrir près de 80 villes supplémentaires en 2008. Une couverture élargie qui permet d'envisager l'arrivée prochaine de l'iPhone 2, compatible avec l'Internet mobile à haut débit.

Compte-tenu de l'accueil plutôt frileux réservé à l'iPhone en Europe, on peut être certain que la prochaine version du téléphone Apple sera d'abord réservée aux Américains. Et aux clients AT&T en l'occurrence, qui sont près de 4 millions à avoir craqué pour l'iPhone.

Ceux-là vont d'ailleurs prochainement profiter du réseau 3G puisque leur opérateur a annoncé que sa couverture allait s'étendre à 80 villes supplémentaires. Fin 2008, ce sont 300 villes américaines qui seront couvertes par une norme beaucoup plus rapide que l'EDGE.

Même si cette couverture est moindre qu'en France, elle ne peut que convaincre Apple d'accélérer la sortie d'un iPhone 3G, annoncé par le patron d'AT&T en novembre dernier.

D'ailleurs, rappelons que Steve Jobs n'a jamais démenti cette information, précisant juste que ses ingénieurs recherchaient le meilleur compromis entre l'Internet mobile et l'autonomie.

so far. so good.

Despite someone forgetting to set their alarm last night and waking up 10 minutes before our ride to the airport was to arrive… WE HAVE ARRIVED in Oregon!The Minneapolis airport was easy enough thanks to my ring sling. We packed in such a way that we had very little to carry. You know, besides the most precious cargo ever.It was a little early in the morning for OBaby, note the tired expression. But he dozed a little while we boarded and took off, so he was bright eyed and bushy tailed in time to play with Daddy on the flight.He did such a wonderful, wonderful job on the plane you guys. I had nothing to be afraid of. He flirted with the stewardesses and one even dubbed him her boyfriend. He was full of smiles for other passengers and giggles for our seat buddy. We read Eric Carle to him and he learned about how gravity acts upon plastic keys when one throws them. Twice. At our seat buddy.Whoops.The lap of a traveling Mommy. Burp rag, check. Keys and links, check. Sakura Bloom Ring Sling, check. Camera, check. Water bottle, check.It was a 3.5 hour flight and OBaby was all smiles, all the time. Well, except the nap part, but that went absolutely swimmingly.In the end, we flew across 2/3rds of the United States with a 4 month old and we so much to be thankful for.Happy Thanksgiving, All!

Dan Dan the professional man

My laundry doin’, furniture makin’, computer fixin’, sci-fi lovin’ husband has a real world post-college job! I couldn’t be prouder! The only problem comes when people ask me what his job is. I get that same look on my face that I used to have when people asked me growing up what my dad did… “uh, something with computers I guess.” Eventually I got really good at using terms like I knew what that meant, “oh, he’s a sql server database architect”, but if asked to clarify, I had to disclose my ignorance” I think it’s like… computer stuff.”So, here I am at the next stage in life, answering that question with the same level of naivet√©. “Dan got a job? That’s great! What’s he going to be doing?”Here is what I do know: He will be working for a company called eCreative Works in Plymoth, MN (about 40 minutes from where we hope to live). His job title is Web Developer, and the offer included health and dental (thank GOODNESS!). That’s all I got folks.This lack of understanding of his professional job has not hampered my enthusiasm about getting him a professional wardrobe, however. Last weekend, while out shopping for graduation outfits for us both, I came across a bargain basement “Marshall’s” type place that carries only men’s dress apparel. You wouldn’t think I would be all that excited about this, but oh, I was. I got 4 (good-lookin’) shirts and 2 (very stylish) ties for Dan – each item was $10 or LESS! If I’m not careful, I’ll spend his whole signing bonus before he gets it…Just for fun, here are some pictures from the end of the year dinner we went to last night. This was with the Breakaway Ministry cabinet that I was on this year, planning short-term spring break mission trips for >150 Wheaton students.The ministry cabinet, also known as a few of my favorite Wheaton people.Dan, the ministry’s honorary member/tech support also made an appearance at the dinner. “Wow! What a professional looking shirt!” you might say.(Apologies for the wacked-out color on these; we just got a new digital SLR, and sometimes we forget to change the shutter speed when we go outside. This equals over-exposure.)

On The Street Olek..

Brooklyn Street Art posted a crochet covered  tricycle by artist Olek. Sweetest little yarn bombing ever.

Photo by Jaime Rojo.

We are a family

On March 3rd and 10:56 am I read this post. Everything resonated with me.

I was having a particularly rough day. I remember it. I was frustrated with everything. I had a rough evening at home. I had a rough week.

I wrote a comment on that post. Something I had NEVER told anyone. Something I never said “out loud” before. I needed to get it out and thought of that blog as the perfect safe haven. Nobody knew me there. No one was going to judge me and I wasn’t a frequent commenter so I probably wouldn’t have many people come visit me from one little comment. I thought.

{It has taken me this long to talk about it, because I never wanted to put these words out there for someone who knows me to read. But I can 100% say I no longer feel this way. It took me A LONG time to snap out of this, but I think I am finally there. Sure sometimes I lay in bed and still wonder the what-if’s of if we had waited longer to have children, but I no longer wish we hadn’t. Not even for one second. Not one second. And that is the only reason I feel comfortable talking about this now. Because I am not there anymore. It’s just a memory. And not one I am fond of.}

The post was about Postpartum Depression. At the end of her post she said:

“How are you dealing with it?

Are you medicated?

Or do you use other therapies?

Do you talk about it on your blog?

Or are you too scared to admit it out loud?”

On March 3rd at 10:56am I commented:

I don’t talk about it.

Even 14 months after having my son I
still
feel like I struggle with PPD daily.

I hate
it.

I don’t feel completely attached to him. I love him with all
my heart, I
really do, but I still don’t see what the joy is in this whole
motherhood
thing.

Everyone says its so worth it and so
rewarding. I don’t
see that.

I’m pretty sure I don’t ever
want another one.
It’s so hard.

So, I just don’t talk about
it.

How do you say out loud that you don’t like being a mother?
That you wish you had waited longer (I was 26!!) or that you kinda wish you
hadn’t even had your son? How
do you say that out loud and be okay with it?
So you just don’t. you keep it inside, you smile and tell everyone how great it
is to be a mom.

How do you say you wish you weren’t a mom when
all around you people are having miscarriages, your friends have having still
born babies, your friends babies are dying of SIDS, or cancer, or dealing with
some horrible disease. How can you be so selfish? They want a baby so badly, and
you have one and don’t?

You just don’t say those things..So I
keep it inside.

Maybe I’m the only one, but I’m not ashamed of
medication, but I don’t see how it could help. how could a pill change my way of
thinking? Will taking a pill make me love my son more? Make me love being a
mother more?

I just don’t see it happening.

So, I
smile.

*************************************

I thought I would be “safe” posting those feelings on a blog I never comment on. By 11:30 my first email came. The subject line was “I couldn’t ignore you response” She went on to pour her heart out to me while telling me what helped her and she would do anything she could to help me.

20 minutes later, another subject flashed in the bottom of my screen “I’m sorry this is so random” Again, another brave mom who sat down and wrote me a LONG email about her struggles and how her heart broke reading my comment and she wanted me to know I wasn’t alone.

Again, another email and another email, until I received 6!!! emails from women I had never talked to before from a blog I don’t frequent.

My eyes welled up with tears at the thought that these women with lives and families and struggles of their own took time out of their day to email me and show me love.

I don’t know why I am constantly surprised and blown away by this community. The community we have is amazing.

Women that drop everything to offer support. Women that drop everything to offer advise on everything from cooking, to style to breast feeding and birth. We weep with each others sorrows with cheer with each others joy. We are a family. We talk about bodily functions that you shouldn’t mention in pubic. We offer breast milk and emergency breast feeding to each others children’s. We send each other presents and love notes. We drive hours to have lunch with each other. We are always there to commiserate in temper tantrum moments and we always invite ourselves to the pity parties! We all seem to have a bad day together, and we all seem to have good days together.

We are a family.

{just to reiterate. I am feeling better. MUCH better. I don’t have thoughts like that anymore about parenthood, or Miles. He is my sunshine these days, even when he is dark clouds and rainstorms, he is still my sunshine.}

let them be kids

It’s tempting as parents, to choose the more convenient route.To choose dry, clean clothes over wet, sandy ones.To steer the kid away from the ocean rather than let him run in it.To keep your own shoes and socks on rather than join them.But think of the exploration, the memories, the joy that would be missed.