Weekend Wrap Up

I just woke up from a very long nap! What a lovely weekend.

High and Low

It's Friday. This has been a long and dubious week. Thunder snow, freezing temps, and two snow days in a row! If I was a kid this week would have been awesome. Today, I'm meeting with ResU's counselor, hopefully they will tell me that school will only take sixteen more months and that the D I got in my math class will transfer in and I won't have to retake it. Hopefully they'll tell me they are really excited to have me as a student and I can totally get a scholarship and night classes start at a reasonable hour. Reasonable enough to hold a day job, that is. I've got high hopes, and like I said, my optimism is gaining momentum.

Either way, I get to go to a brunch dance party tomorrow with friends and loved ones, and I'm totally stoked. I also get to hang out with S.'s Dad, which is always an adventure! Goodtimes.

In really unfortunate news: According to an article on nonpartisan news site Congress.org, "For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan." That's not counting veterans and certain types of reservists. I feel like I could say a lot here but the stat. speaks for itself. I have a lot of veterans and active military in our family and those numbers really strike a chord with me. Wars aren't good for anyone.

Make your weekend count!

Congress.org quotation xposted from January 28, 2011 Social Design Notes Post

Ground hog says Spring is knocking on the door!

The snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches.

-e.e. cummings

Spring, I will let you in.

This suit is from J.Crew and I want to purchase it and then wear it everyday under my clothes until it is warm enough to go swimming. I love it.

The wind shows us how close to the edge we are.

- Joan Didion

Snowmageddon!

I can't stop saying, SNOWMAGEDDON! I thought it was sort of silly and hyperbole, but when I woke up this morning ... I shoveled my words. We were snowed in! What a fun and exhausting snow day. Alas, I crave the sensation of grass between my toes. For tonight I'll dream of warm weather and exciting prospects.

I'm listening to Explosions in the Sky live in concert and being somewhat productive and more optimistic than I have been lately. Actually my optimism is sort of snow balling (better term? I think not), which is really nice, because for a while I really lost site of it there. I drafted out a pattern for my chair tonight and I intend on finishing up the image for the textile I'll be reupholstering it with. Yes, I'm avoiding my statistics homework, but oh well. I've got all night right? I also talked to not one but three old dear friends, for a good long while. Old friends are comforting.

Also, way to go Illinois and Gov. Quinn! On Monday the newly elected Governor Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 1716, the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act into law, granting same sex and heterosexy couples nearly the same rights as a traditionally married couple. Marriage is so 1900's this is the 21st century, civil unions are totally in!

Stay warm and prosper!

Head Space

What does it mean to be modern? It is not strictly a style, but rather an attitude to style, one that is less purist and more creative than you might imagine. To create a modern space is to take in the full panoply of international references, to consider place and climate, form and function, and to invent inspired environments that adapt easily to modern living.

- Phyllis Richardson, from Living Modern, The Sourcebook of Contemporary Interiors

What is style? I mean really, what does it mean to you? I've been asking myself that question a lot this week. There are so many facets of that question to answer, because "style" can take on so many forms and manifestations. Personal style, writing style (struggling with that as well, ha ha), speaking style, living style (interior and otherwise). Do these things need to be defined? Or is it just a creature comfort; I feel better in this role because I can define it to others? Or does defining say a personal style empower us to make bolder and riskier decisions? In my head I want to separate a working sense of style, from my own pretension and self consciousness. Perhaps this question has been plaguing me because my own sense of style/self (is it one and the same?) has been stifled by, well myself. But that's a whole 'nother post!

Have a great weekend everyone, by Tuesday it will already be February! That much closer to sunshine and warmth!

Photo xposted from thesartorialist. (Tuesday January 25, 2011)

Skrilla

A new fave website: Skull-A-Day!

SORRY BEARS!

Swoon

Uh oh, I'm school girl crushin'. Last night I was working on this chair:

As I pulled out about a thousand upholstery staples, my wondering mind made a week old connection. For some reason I was thinking about the movie Everything is Illuminated I had watched last week, in the movie a Jewish American travels to rural Ukraine to explore his family's history. Of course you need a guide when you go to a country whose language you do not speak. Enter Alex, tall, hip, awkward, and very Eastern European, by the end of the movie I had a tiny euro crush on him and his goofy accent. The closing credits of the movie played gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello's hit track "Start Wearing Purple". I remember thinking, that really doesn't go with the movie besides being offbeat and eurocentric. One week later amidst the staples and dust it hit me, that guy must be the lead singer of Gogol Bordello. Why else would they use that song? My logic seemed a little flawed considering I had no idea what the singer from Gogol Bordello looked liked, but alas, a quick google search confirmed my suspicion. The next two hours of my life became a Eugene Hutz black hole. Behold:

He comes off as an infectious anarchic traveling spirit who's all about partying and good will. Eugene is like the Euro Andrew WK with facial hair and goofier clothes. He also seems really genuine and caring about world issues. But let's be honest, I'm a sucker for facial hair and chutzpah. Sorry S, you're my true love, but I found my Tina Fey! What is it about you tall skinny wild boys that make me swoon so good?

Anyway, I'll post after pictures of the chair when I finish it. I'm going to try to design and screen print the fabric myself. This is my first fabric AND upholstery job, so wish me luck ya'll.

Eff the M.I.C

Today is the anniversary of the famous Eisenhower farewell speech where he coined the term, Military Industrial Complex.

Sometimes it's really chilling to imagine where we may be going. I'm an optimist so I always try to look for the ways that we as a people can move in the light, but I've never been comfortable with people far removed from me deciding how the world is run. SPEAKING OF THE WORLD, Worldview ran a special on the speech this afternoon, check it ya'll.

For the record, I'm still totally diggin on 2011. Huzzah.

Why is DIY about Women's Lib?

Hands of My Drill Bits Woman! Stumbled upon after looking up how to make dowel joints ... I just vomited in my mouth a little. Google, are you trying to tell me something?

2011 Hurrah!

So far so good 2011, I'm impressed. My bones are telling me that good things are coming.

And my bones never fucking lie.

A blast from the past reminding me to do what I want on my own terms, because life is fleeting.