my lists will defend me

i really love to make lists. really a lot. i write one on my wrist almost every day. this is the list of stuff that must be completed before day's end. sometimes it actually happens.  one of my favorite authors, terry tempest williams, writes: 

I love to make lists. Maybe it's my background in beehives and breadmaking, the whole business of being industrious and frugal (of which I am neither) that a list promotes. Or maybe it's the power that comes when you can cross something off a list. Done. Finished. Move on to the next chore. I can see in a very tangible form what I have accomplished in a day. Or perhaps it's the democratic nature of lists that I find so attractive.  Each task is of equal importance on paper. so "pick up fresh flowers" carries the same weight as "do the laundry." It's the line slashed through the words that counts. Never mind that the pleasurable items are crossed off by noon and the difficult ones, meant for procrastination anyway, get moved to the next day's agenda. The point is that my intentions are honorable. My lists will defend me.*

my thoughts exactly, terry. my thoughts exactly.  now here's some art about that. 

*Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place. New York: Vintage Books 1991, p. 87.

changed my life...

i've had a major breakthrough. the yellow ones DO stop. i'd been going to the wrong bus stop. manda and her friend abby were witnesses to the life-changing event. they were going to work with my roommate, nikki, who was taking them on a tour of the capitol and we were all walking out to meet the bus together. i started to turn left to head for my loathsome bus and nikki said, i go this way. so we went with her and lo and behold straight down the sidewalk and across the street from my lousy stop, but sneakily hidden* by some trees was a stop that served two, that's right, two buses - an express and a local - that run every 5-10 minutes and get to the metro in 10-15 minutes. and right down the street from that is another local bus. so now there are three ways for me to be lazy. i still like to walk now and then, but it's so nice not to show up to work a sweaty mess; and i think my coworkers appreciate it, too. thank you, nikki, for changing my life.

*i know some of you who live around here will be tempted to scoff and say, how could you NOT know about this stop? how could you even think it's hidden? but, to you i say, can it. and then i say, go down the stairs in the archway and glance to the right. can you see the bus stop? well, i couldn't. now look left. see? see? and if you're reading this in the winter, when there are no leaves on the trees, you're cheating.

yesterday...

i bought more running clothes.

remnants of a label

best if used by (second generation), 2007

drypoint on wood on handmade kozo paper and found objects cast in resin

pint size

a few years ago, two of my artist friends and i discovered that we all use jars in our work and that our work harmonized together quite well.  we put together an exhibit titled, remnants of a label.  i couldn't figure out what to make for this exhibit. i did use jars, but none of my current artwork really applied to this concept. through experimentation and desperation, best if used by was born.  here's an excerpt from my thesis that explains the work: 

In the remnants of a label series, I floated small prints inside of resin cast in mason jars and then broke the jar away. The jars are important in referencing the feminine tradition of preserving. I used to help my mother preserve the apples that we picked from the trees in our back yard. I also remember the many jars of different foods lining the shelves in my grandmother's pantry, needing some dusting before being opened for consumption. My jars are an unpolished amber color, as if they'd been sitting on a shelf for a long time, perhaps past the expiration date. Have these traditional roles expired? The prints inside the jars relate to self. Do these jars preserve or trap me within the traditional role? What would happen if I break from that role? I also think of how my heritage has shaped, molded and marked me, as the glass jar has the resin.

my must-haves

i started to write a comment on miss kitti's post, but it outgrew the comment section, so i decided to make it my own. imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?  so here are my weaknesses. i will also steal everyone else's comments, especially the electrolysis. never shave again? sign me up.  i also wish i didn't have to sleep or eat. except i really like food (lately in strange combinations) so that one would never work. 

but really, aside from diet coke (totally a headache cure, kitti, i'm with you all the way) i have a major weakness for sports equipment and art supplies.  i love love love buying running clothes and shoes, backpacking and camping gear, swimming stuff...you name it. it's an investment, no? (so i tell myself when the credit card bill comes. and then i comfort myself with thoughts of the frequent flier miles i earned with each "investment.") i most recently indulged in climbing shoes and a harness. boxing gloves are probably next; i already have the wraps. but i need a place to box. (details, details) i entertained the idea of buying a punching bag, but i have no place to hang it. i most desperately want a bicycle. a hybrid. yes, yes, i already own a serviceable bike...from 1993. and i'm not exaggerating. i bought it with the money i saved from my paper route. so i deserve a new one. especially since i've worked so much overtime lately...

it is literally impossible for me to go into an art store and come out empty-handed. (i think i've done it once, but i was with a friend. and she bought some items that i'd helped her pick out, so it doesn't count. i will always find some paint, pens, squeegee, paper, paint, chalk pastels, pencils, sketchbooks, book cloth, paint, wood, stretchers, paint, canvas, fabric, paint or some kind of goo that makes something else do something cool. i would love a printing press. this one. i did recently acquire a studio. that deserves a post all its very own. oh, did i mention paint? 

also, i wish i could sing. like really belt it like aretha or a fine frenzy. ok she doesn't really belt it cause it's not her style. but she could if she wanted.

adventures in winking

a couple of girlfriends and i meet periodically to check out the dc art scene and eat delicious food. we talk about all kinds of things, catch up on each others’ lives, laugh, joke, tell stories, vent. we make up rules: it’s girls only; its refreshing to be around such vibrant, intelligent, happy women. you have to hold a fork to talk. recently, we came up with the winking challenge. we have to wink at random strangers we find attractive. or maybe not strangers. it’s an exercise in flirtation. back in the day, i was such a good flirt that i earned the official “best flirt*” title in my byu** ward. i’m not sure what’s happened since then, but we can delve into my dating neuroses another day, another post. don’t hold your breath.


anyway...

melanie and i went to the nats game last night after i victoriously replied to her email first and won her extra ticket (but not her heart; this isn't that kind of story). we were slightly disappointed that we were sitting between two old men on my left and a senior partner in her firm and his wife, on melanie's right. it meant that our flirtatious plan of asking whatever cute boys were around us how to scorekeep wasn't going to work. so instead, i attempted to remember my little league scorekeeping skills from days of yore (and failed pretty miserably) until the gentleman to my left loaned me his scorecard so i could catch up (we'd missed the top of the first). he struck up a conversation and offered me a beer. later, after melanie and i returned from a 3-inning winking-slash-food run with dogs, diet coke and gelato, but no successful winks (seriously, doesn't ANYone make eye contact anymore???), my new friend struck up more conversation. he asked for my business card and gave me his phone number, inviting melanie and i to the carlisle for dinner sometime in the future. i'm supposed to call him and leave a message if he's not there. he made sure to tell me it was ok to call. about three times. keep in mind this guy could be my grandfather. maybe he forgot he'd already told me. he was also worried that i'd lose the score card that he'd written his number on. as soon as our new boyfriends left after the 7th inning stretch, melanie proceeded to tell the partner and his wife about our exploits. i'm not sure if they thought it was humorous, strange or disgusting, but after rumors on the appalachain trail that my dad and i were dating when we hiked together, i guess nothing really surprises me. again i digress. when melanie and i left, her co-worker's wife made sure to tell us to have fun on our geriatric date. now that was nice. but – ew. and that's not the end. melanie and i metro'd home because i don't have a car, she hadn't driven to her firm that day and we'd gone straight to the game from work. i'm pretty sure the boys checking us out on the metro didn't have cars either, cause i'm pretty sure they weren't old enough to drive. i mean, i guess appealing to all ages has its advantages, but um, seriously. i mean really. seriously.

*not biggest flirt, best flirt. note the distinction.
**to clarify: i did not attend byu. ok i did, as a visiting student and then as a non-degree student when i lived in utah for the two years between undergrad and grad school. and i also attended a byu ward while i was there.

okay okay oKAY!

i knew i wasn't going to be good at this...

so, after a loooooong hiatus, here are some of the best lines from Sacrament meeting yesterday. to be followed (fingers crossed) by more interesting things.

1. "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." (this was the opening line in her talk.)

2. "We're Mormons; back in the 1800s we INVENTED moving!" (his response to a friend's plea for help moving.)

and then i ate enchiladas made by my lovely friends miluska and kevin and watched the olympics. sadly, i missed the men's 4x100 free relay. thank heaven for the internet. however did we get along without it?