mmm.... coffee.....

skin as white as a cuttlefish bone

oh how i have neglected you, little journal!  i am still dreadfully camera-less: a whole holiday of fun & visiting & not a single photo to show for it.  and i'm going to see abby this weekend & won't be able to take photos!  erg.  that above shot was taken by my sweet ibook - i'm playing with my new toy, a nintendo DS lite, which i have been rather attached to since receiving it for christmas.  it was gifted to me along with Super Mario Bros and Mariokart, but that wasn't enough!  oh no, i just had to go out & buy Animal Crossing!  needless to say there is ZERO crafting going on in my studio, with the exception of whipping up a vinyl case to carry my dear DS around in with it's tiny games.

here, at least, is a little montage of photos i don't think i've shared:

my friend jim & his adorable little daughter emma,
tasty local purple potato

monster i made for my friend ryan,
paul & i at the Harmonix holiday party
 
if i can find the card i'll tell you what amazing little
china shop that is (it's somewhere near Purl Soho)

the inside of the Time Warner building where we had breakfast,
my sister & jo at our thanksgiving dinner.

monkeys with knives on their tails

teresa had her halloween party on saturday.  i dressed as lucille ball because i needed an excuse to wear that emerald green dress again.  it was a ton of fun & teresa cooked up lots of tasty food.  some of these photos i stole from teresa's flickr & the rest of mine are on flickr, too. once again i missed whitney's halloween party, but i sent over some cookies in the shapes of the card suits because the theme was Las Vegas.  last week i had helped whitney sew her fabulous white tiger costume & i hope someone has photos of it!


there was more to this weekend than cookie baking & costume wearing & missing my sister's birthday (sorry, again, lee!)  i made a few small quilts, but i'm going to let you linger on these halloween photos for another day or two...

but i got more flavors than a pack of now & laters

here is the aforementioned 'dark & muddy' quilt i made monday night & is quite a contrast from the last one i posted.  these are the green fabrics i rarely use because they're a little too olive-colored & don't go well with the intense grass greens.  ugh, can you smell that?  i still smell like grease from last night's "You Bring it We Fry It" party at shawn & stacy & sigrid's!  i should have washed my hair, but i got home so late & had to get up so early...  here are a few strange & frenetic photos from the party - the rest are up on flickr:

there was a little bit of theremin-playing going on in addition to the frying of hotdogs, pickles, crab, mushrooms, zuccinni, potatos, twinkies, sno-balls, a fake rib sandwich, broccoli, okra, chicken, tofu, and probably a few other things i forgot!  i blame the poor photography on the hazy air thick with grease & not on the unsteady & grease-filled photographer...

teresa's halloween party is tomorrow night & i'd better hurry home to work on my costume so i have time to bake something.  have a good weekend!

and smart and pretty, too!

today is my special day.  yep.  abby (the best roommate ever) has a thing about sending me barbie birthday cards, i think because it's so ridiculous.  and awesome.  the first one (which is still hanging up in my room) was this amazing glitter-encrusted card where barbie seems to be wearing a cake-dress.  i love that she gives me these cards because they make her laugh.

so far today has also brought me hand-drawn cards on my doorstep from jon & ana, a ride to work from neighbor susan & an entire dish of kugel.  yes.  an entire dish of kugel all for me!  then when i got to work there was a card on my desk from my coworker, rick, and an offer to buy me coffee from greenhouse brian.  i've received piles of 'happy birthdays' via the internet and whitney, marie & i are going to lunch today at Kabob & Curry.

seems like it's going to be an alright birthday this year!  i just have to remain calm & not make any sudden moves...

oh little chewy, don't know what you're doing to me

a few deceptively cheerful photos from last wednesday night - jon & ana lost their sweet orange kitty, Sputnik, to Hope street.  poor little sputty, he will be missed by many...  it was terribly sad, but we had a little bbq wake for him.  my dad had just left for NYC earlier that day and i got to meet ana's parents that evening.  there was plenty of drunken-ness to go around, along with some salad & bbq'd salmon...

some promised photos of coffee & pie from Pastiche on federal hill where teresa, jodie & i took my dad after he bought us wood-grilled pizza at Bob & Timmy's.

i haven't been doing much crafting lately.  i'm slowly hand-quilting a quilt for someone else and, after several trips to ikea, i finally bought some nice shelving for my studio.  i'm completely tearing the room apart & reorganizing it.  i've thrown out tons of stuff & emptied the closet, i got one of the shelves into the room & i started to put everything in it.  it's exausting, but i know it will be worth it in the end...  right?  and i have only 4 days till my mom gets here, oops!  sorry about the mess, mom, i promise to at least clean my room!  here is an embarassing look at the current state of my studio, note the empty corner by the empty closet, though:

i actually cleared myself a little space friday night & stayed up until 3am sewing a mod dress from a pattern i found in a box of patterns that i found in the closet.  but i ran out of brown fabric so, until i get a ride to the fabric store, it just adds to the piles of crap.

i missed the ark, but i could've sworn you'd wait for me

i spent this past weekend in NYC with lee & jo.  there was much playing of Dr. Mario & eating of delicious food!  we went out to Marseille friday night & i ordered the bellini martini & the salmon with eggplant, saturday lee & i had brunch in the park - bagels & lox from Cafe Lalo, jo cooked some tasty tasty steaks for dinner, lee bought me some ridiculously cute shoes, more nintendo playing, we watched the world cup finals & ate delicious NYC thin crust pizza.

my new roommate, emily, arrived on the 1st & my old one had finally moved out the day before.  there wasn't much time in between, but i squeezed in a little party that friday night.  i drank lots of champange, played my parents' records real loud & danced around in the empty room.  quite a few people came by, some crafty ladies, teresa's brother was visiting with his girlfriend, ana cooked some tasty fried tofu & bok choy with ben who was back from Transylvania & armed with a mysterious bottle of "romanian home brew" that made your tongue revolt from your mouth.  a fabulous time was had by all, or at least me!

i'm coming over but i won't be long

i've been matting some amazing things from the military collection at work these last few days.  i'm not a fan of military things, i can't stand watching images of war & i don't like the history channel, but some of these paintings are so delicate that i can look past the violent aspects & appreciate them.  how can you not love those mutton-chops?!

this library is such a wonderful place, it's gorgeous & small & eclectic & full of great people.  i am so lucky to get to work here, even for just a little while.  before the holidays they had a party: after the doors were locked we went down into the staff lounge for a potluck dinner!  it was so neat to hang out, drink wine & meet people's partners.  someone asked where the budget comes from for it, there isn't one, they just decided to have it for themselves & provide everything.

cinderelly cinderelly, night & day it's cinderelly

i love halloween!  i got some candy from the front desk for being dressed up & there are many (too many) little grey & black cupcakes awaiting me at home.  teresa's party was fun: there was pumpkin carving, lasanga, soup, black rum, cupcakes, pumpkin bread, great people, party crashers, costumes, & cupcakes.  maybe our logo for our craft group should be a cupcake since there seems to always be an abundance of them whenever we get together!  i don't have any really good pictures of my costume, just this little one i took myself.  i'll take some photos of my wings, i made them out of heavy gauge wire, black nylons & lots of red glitter.  i also wore a black tutu & not much else!  i was an evil little faerie & i was damn cold all night, but it was worth it!  yes, it snowed in new england, but then yesterday & today are warm & sunny...  i'm going to spend the rest of my day down in the lowest level of the stacks cleaning some musty old leather tomes.  doesn't that sound fun?  i think so!

pomegranate tea

sneaky peak!  i actually managed to get up really early this morning & sew for 3 hours before going in to work.  i made 6 ginko leaves & 5 elmer's glue cuffs.  i drank a ton of coffee with very little food & am quite the busy little bee!  i also dumped a whole pot's worth of fresh grounds all over myself & my shirt pleasantly smells of coffee...
  the RISD sale is this saturday & i'm a lot more prepared than i thought.  i had dinner with teresa last night & we figured out what we're bringing & what we need to display.  i counted up how much merchandise i'll have & i feel less stressed.  i haven't been as stressed, i seem to be continuing with the more relaxed approach to life i developed while spending my summer swimming in art's pool!  it's nice, i like it, not being so frenzied & panicked, i barely have any anxiety the morning of a sale now.  i've mentioned it before, but you have no idea how different my life has become in the last year or so.  it's amazing & i am so grateful.

here's a photo of rosh hashana dinner at neighbor susan's that doesn't even show half of who was there!  18 people came & it took every single one of susan's & my dishes & silverware to set the table. (if you know me then you know that's a hell of a lot of dishes!)  most of my glasses & all my chairs, too.  it was a wonderful group of people, even the new roommie rachel came (in red on the left) & we're still eating the leftovers.  i baked a delicious honey cake that i'm definitely making again...  what else have i been up to?  that was monday... tuesday was spent with a migraine...  yesterday was work & then collecting all my stuff back from next door...  and sewing sewing sewing!  so come by the sale on saturday!  benefit st. in providence, RI from 10 to 4!

i'm in love with your brother

jodie, teresa
tara, patricia
roxanna,
kristen
allison & me

cupcakes, cupcakes,
more cupcakes,
some candy bars,
cupcakes &
banana bread slathered in lemon glaze
with a side of cupcake.

we crafty ladies sure know how to party!  there was an afternoon of crafting & chatting & cupcake eating at my home this weekend. tara came down for the day, kristen recently had a birthday, teresa's was the day before, i think jodie's just passed & mine will be in a few weeks so what better excuse for meeting up?  later on i let their boys join us for some bbq & drinks & more cupcakes.  did i mention there were lots of yummy cupcakes?  sorry to any of you that couldn't join us or that we forgot to invite!  there will definitely be a next time & i will try to be more organized about it & let you know in advance.

i stayed up really late last night making this new generation of zippurses: vinyl clutches.  i'm really excited: they'll coordinate with the vinyl cuffs & maybe, if i have time, there will be wallets!  i'm using the skeleton one today, test-driving it to make sure it doesn't fall apart & so far so good.  they probably won't be ready for the RISD alumni sale, but i'll definitely have them at the Bizarre Bazaar in Boston if we get in...  i can't wait to go home & make some more!