Evidently

Sunday Sermon

Sep 28, 2008 | Sunday Sermon

Take a break. Catch your breath. Relax.

I’ve known about our trip home for ages. So, leave it to me to decide last minute that IZ and I could use travel pillows.Â I managed to get my studio area clean (you can see the floor in the photo… Hello! No strings on me.) enough to be inspiring again.Â To compound my fate, Joann’s had fabric I’d been eyeing for ages on sale. SALE! It’s a rare moment when you see a Japanese print at our store, so I snatched up what little they had left and got to work.

I didn’t mean for our pillows to be so matchy-matchy. I swear. That was an accident. But the browns in those prints looked so beautiful against this amazing Egyptian cotton I’ve been hoarding, I couldn’t resist. It’s probably a good thing this was so last minute; as I was handing IZ his, a stray thought crept into the corner of my studio and shouted, “HEY! YOU! MONOGRAM THAT PILLOW.”Â Apparently, Martha Stewart has taken up residence in the north corner of my space. She should really tidy up that spot.

Monogram? What a fabulous idea!

Then I looked at the laundry and my empty suitcase and thought better of it.

Next time.

Speaking of New Leaves

Sep 24, 2008 | Boy Wonder, In Photos

Look who was hiding beneath all that hair.

I meant to take a “before” photo… but you can kinda get the feeling for just how long his hair was in the photo on the post below.

After his cut, I said, “Wow… I can finally see your face!”

His response, “Wow! I can finally SEE!”

Ushering in Autumn

Sep 23, 2008 | In Photos, This Life

The weather is clued into the calender around these parts. Yesterday’s turn of the season brought appropriate weather. It’s clear and sunny and crisp. Sweater weather. We actually turned on the heat for the first time in months and I’m pretty sure I smelled a stoked up fireplace when I walked Sophie last night.

The change in seasons also means our annual trek home. I’m busily attempting to right the wrong in our house before we leave. And my bedroom… is so wrong. Yesterday I managed to unearth the floor in our space while simultaneously creating small land-mines crafted of laundry baskets. Everything is sorted and tomorrow will put my washer and dryer into continual use. This much I abhor about traveling: it always seems to have laundry bookends.

There is always so much to do before we leave. I get a bit manic, I think, trying to accomplish it all. There is something about traveling that makes me want everything “just so” before we embark. The proverbial list has lists–items that will never be crossed off, even if I had started last week. I think I’ll add a few items I’ve actually finished just to make myself feel better.

Today, though, I took an opportunity to stop and do some art with the boy. Despite the packing and the laundry and the excessive errand running that is left to do!Â We’ve yet to decide how we’ll use the finished project. But the making of these sun-prints seemed a fitting way to wish our Warm Friend safe travel to the other hemisphere.

Now, it’s time to take down the bunting, pack up the picnic tablecloths, and rake a few leaves. Pull a few weeds. Buy one last bouquet of Dahlias. While I’m busily packing summer skirts into my suitcase, I’m pulling out fuzzy sweaters and closing up windows. We will return to Autumn in full swing.

But first, one last dose of sunshine on the golden coast. We plan to accompany our Warm Friend on her journey south. . . at least part of the way.

Sunday Sermon

Sep 21, 2008 | Sunday Sermon

Turn over a new leaf.

Here

Sep 18, 2008 | This Life

We are shifting into fall andÂ our school routine. I have to admit, I like the pattern. Which is odd.Â I expected to really mourn my loss of free time. The last part of summer was completely my own which afforded tons of time in my studio.Â However, I’m finding our routine to be a bit of a comfort. It makes for a cleaner house, at least. Because IZ and I share the teaching load and alternate days, my teaching days create a perfect opportunity for getting those pesky loads of laundry done. Which, is a good thing. Right?

Lately, though, what free time I’ve had has gone to creating. While the rest of the house is starting to look livable again, my studio is an absolute disaster. I have piles of projects waiting, mounds of fabric, and sewing debris an inch thick on the floor. I don’t dare walk in there barefoot for fear of a brash encounter with straight pins. Ouch. I’d like to think of it as creative chaos. It’s probably just messy.

My goal is to have it cleaned by next week when we leave for our annual trek home. A trip home that is about survival for me. We didn’t go in May, due to the wedding. So this is a necessary a sanity break, if nothing else. A planned “summer”. The weather here for the past few weeks has been glorious, but it’s not enough. So, we schedule a pilgrimage to all spaces holy at least one a year. In this case, Anaheim, Santa Barbara, and Marin make up the trifecta necessary for me to endure another winter here. It’s been too long since I’ve been home.

This trip promises to be interesting, but I’ll blog more on that later. In the meantime, we’ve been busy entertaining. Typically, I like to spread these things out–I’m so intensly private, to have three social encounters in my space in one week is usually overwhelming. But with the trip, we’re trying to touch bases before we go. You know how it goes. What’s that old cliche? Strike while the iron’s hot?? Anyhow, it’s made for clean spaces and that makes for a peaceful space I really crave.

This post has been a bit random. Right? I really thought I’d be blogging more in September, but I’ve been so busy with Mireio that I’ve barely brought my head up. It’s a good kind of busy, but I’m going to try to rectify this bad habit. There has to be space in this new pattern for finding my way here.

Before I go, though… I have to show you these:

I’m absolutely giddy about them! They’re so beautiful and I can hardly wait to send them out. If you want a little love coming your direction—you know, not a BILL, let me know. I’ll pop a note off to you.

And this is for Cap. I’m thinking about you. BELIEVE