24k magic

before the chickens and below the wolf moon

this morning, i woke up to quiet wonder loaded with possibility and enjoyed the wolf moon on the porch with the cats.

we have been in the 70s this week. crazy. we had an easy winter and i still couldn't wait to see it go. (not that it has.) next week, we could have a freeze that freezes all of the new growth on the roses right off.

so i don't forget where i put the links, i will list the ones that made me smile this week.

1) not affiliated with the calculators
2) my garden getting ready for spring
3) #29 with snoop slays me
4) okay, this made me smile and tear up.
5) we need more charlie askew syndrome.

be more vulnerable

challenge accepted
to be more vulnerable
glitter incentive

ancient + magical

this video is beyond words and makes my heart so big. nature and God's choreography never fail to do that. do yourself a favor and make this as large as your monitor can make it.

this past year was an amazing year, full of hard work and accomplishment. i can not tell you how excited i am about this new year. i keep getting excited about it. you know the feeling that you know the wonderful thing in the box, yet you can not bear to unwrap it because your heart might not withstand the happiness?

yep, that.

cheers to the change ahead and the splendid new year.
xo

counteract with love

when tragedy strikes,
we can counteract with love.
evil stands no chance.

serifa, frutiger and some panky pank

this year, i decided to make a little book for our holiday card. maybe, it was too much sugar or the book design class that i taught this semester, but i forged ahead with the idea.

this little card/book has made me selfish, though. you ain't getting one unless you sent me a card last year. if you didn't mind not sending me one last year, you don't mind not getting one from me this year. haha. (not really) (not really on the haha and really on not getting a card.)

the book is set in serifa and consists of three pink paper folios with a total of eight pages. i took a positive descriptor (which most holiday letters are chocked full of) from each of our four little update pages and i mashed it with other words set in frutiger. the first page is the mashup greeting with a blank page on the back. the next four are our updates and the inside back page is blank for a handwritten greeting. the back page follows with the year and my website url.

to get the registration correct for back and front printing on a copy machine is usually impossible, so i decided to do a french-folded construction to alleviate that and pull a little fakey on the back & front action. the outside folio encases the two french-folded folios.

since i was wanted to print this as cheaply as possible, i designed four folios to a page and cut each book out with an xacto blade. so, it was cheap, but it was a bitch on the time.

the cover is sewn and then washified with a collaged word of positivity cut from a vintage book on top. each book has a different word.

i still need to finish the other half of them, but they are all glittery and girly and a nice hit of happy in celebration of Christmas and a reachout to our faraway friends and family.

i feel happy of myself

if this doesn't make you smile, you might be dead.

words for action

and a beautifully written essay.

already

grace

grace covers many things…
uncertainty, doubt, fear, exhaustion, insecurity, an empty tank, mistrust and the list goes on.

today, i realized that it was exactly five years ago that our life changed in less than five minutes with a shut of a door. it has been an amazing five years. a.ma.zing. God restored our lives fully and brought my kids and me to a much healthier and happier place.

it seems that crisis forces you to tap into that reserve of yourself which you had no idea existed. if you ever think that you can't, you are wrong.

you can.

the thirst project

yesterday, the young founder of the thirst project spoke at our school. $20 gives clean water to one person and $5000 buys a well for a community without clean water.

seth maxwell's talk inspired me the most with the challenge of 'what if?'. what if i give 10% of my sales to start a fund for a water source for a family? what if we all thought that we could each make a difference? please take a look at this super project. read their story and thank God for what you have.

i thank God for:
1. my three healthy, happy and incredible children
2. all of our garanimals that share our little slice of peaceable kingdom
3. a happy home
4. our friends and family
5 the place between too little and too much
6. the luxury of furthering my education
7. each of my senses
8. a healthy body
9. a happy heart and my students
10. clean water

happy thanksgiving.

you look fine.

*love*

a student put this on the mirrored window of the engineering building to catch all of the art students catching themselves.

can i be the first to tell you that you look fine on 11.11.11 at 11:11? actually, you look freaking marvelous.

xox

queen of seventeen

today, she is the queen of seventeen. she didn't want cake or to off with someone's head. she is at the age that cash is king and preferred cold hard cash. hopefully, a stash book made by her mama warms it up a bit.

i had found this book while thrifting and knew exactly what to do with it. i glued each page to the next one. after they dried, i cut the stash pocket out of the core.

vvgirl, you have been my roadmap for all of these years and given me the best seventeen years of my life.

happy birthday, dollface.

22 on 22

for tracey, 1970-2011

tracey's seven-year old daughter says that her mother is now at the river jordan.

a fresh blade

yesterday, i was walking past my phone niche with an x-acto blade in my hand and i had to stop and give it a little vintage paper love. i had already been using it as a stop-by for little prayers and thought to make it a true focal point. adding a vintage tin for holding written prayers seemed like a perfect companion to a phone with a direct line to 1-800-YO-JESUS.



this phone niche was one of those features of this sweet old house that i fell in love with when i first walked through it. the time invested in hand carving decoration into wood for small details like this makes me appreciate those yesteryears.

as it turned out, it had originally been on the other side of this wall in the original common hallway that gave access to a renter who would rent the front room with its own separate front door. the renter would have phone and bathroom privileges back in the day.

the niche before::

and in with the new

today is my last day of holiday and it was toasted with a mop and bucket with the doors open wide. just outside the door and down the steps, the meyer lemon tree is blossoming and it is seventy degrees as i type.

a.ma.zing.

in eight weeks, we will officially be in spring. though, it has been feeling like spring for the past week or so in spite of the cold snap that finally froze the bougainvillea blooms a few days ago. this spring will be glorious and i cannot freaking wait until the roses bloom in two months.

it is truly hard to believe that in may it will be three years since this little home has been ours. 2010 was a fantastic year for this family. another year in which God protected my children and to protect teenagers is no easy task.

so, out with the old and in with the new. this year is gonna kick major booty all the way around. excuse me while i go find the vinegar to polish the doorknobs.

its visible attitude

jean cocteau once said “i love cats because i enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul." i raise my coffee cup to that and have to add that i love chihuahuas because i enjoy my home; and a lot by a lot, they become its visible attitude.

a few months ago, boothe begged to keep picasso at his apartment. as much as i miss mr. peepers, i know that boof needs to have a little slice of home away from home with him. for Christmas, v gave me this awesome papier-mâché chihuahua that she made in honor of picasso.

we have been missing our visible attitude something fierce and adopted a fosterloved chihuahua yesterday. yes, another one. pearl is attitude galore and came home to a cat who thinks he is a dog, a cat who knows she is better than a dog and a sister and brother who already adore her.

love bounces off the walls here. the fur does fly, but that is why God made vacuums.

pearl

minnie pearl aka missy misdemeanor aka pearl

hands, head and heart

he who works with his hands is a laborer.
he who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
he who works with his hands, his head, and his heart,
is an artist.
–st. francis of assisi

i adore this quote.

with this new year, i am going to explore more with my hands, head and heart. on four needles is a good enough place to start.

in my mind, hardcore knitters knit socks. though, knitting gloves is ooching its way up there on the serious ladder. all i had to hear was "mom, of course, you can do those!" she was picking out the wool and i was finding the right size for the four needles before i could say "oh, sheeeeeeet."

when my daughter was born over sixteen years ago, i was determined to be a knitter. i checked out books at the public library in brooklyn and read phototutorials in print to teach myself how to knit. i started by making sweaters and hats for her and her brothers.

this pattern is from weekend knitting: 50 unique projects and ideas which is a superlovely book.

the grey bit is the thumb marker. once i do a few more rows and get ready for the fingers, i will have to carefully take those stitches out and work in the round for the thumb and, later, the fingers.

this new year will be an exploratory year while i work on my thesis. i am so freaking excited about this new year. happy new year!