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today i endeavored to unfunk myself. wake myself up. i've been comatose these last weeks of january. sluggish thoughts turning over in my winterbrain.
i put on some coffee when i got home. did NOT take a nap. thought instead about the neglected kingdom of my little studio. and while a dusky twilight settled over the rooftops of my neighborhood... i turned on the light strings above my art table and started clearing and cleaning.
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I made this crock pot chicken pot pie. I recommend you make it if:
A. you hate yourself
B. you hate a friend and want to get back at them for something
otherwise. just don't.
iPad scribbles! done with sketchbook pro app for ipad.
good messy fun. the one on the left is from a rug i saw on pinterest.
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slow going in the travel journal. i seem to be more interested in reading travel books, playing words with friends, watching irish thrillers on IFC, and gearing up for an evening spent at DOWNTON ABBEY. also i made chicken pot pie in my crockpot. also i did more doodling & coloring on the ipad. the end.
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this morning i went to the licuado shop on york here in highland park.
i've been wanting to try this little shop for awhile. i decided to try something i knew how to translate. which was numero 4.
the lady behind the counter whipped my strawberries, bananas, and walnuts into a light milky froth. also she gave me a large, even though i ordered the medium. this happens to me a lot. but it is not something i complain about.
next time i'm going to have the escamocha. either that or the chamango.
i also took home some arroz con leche for safekeeping.
not for me! in case a guest dropped by later.
sister, when you come out we're going here! we can sit outside at the orange table with the plastic ivy plant. you can knit. i'll play words with friends on my ipad.
whadda ya say?
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catboy & catgirl are snoring away on the couch. i'm doodling on my ipad. watchoodoin?
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i only thought i'd made stew before. i hadn't actually.
fortunately last week my dutch oven cookbook arrived. i read about it over on POSIE GETS COZY.
i've been getting cozy with posie for a long time so when i saw the book recommendation i assumed she left it just for me. i mean i know she has other readers, but i doubt they all have brand spanking new orange dutch ovens. like me. i just bet they don't.
i was very pleased with the weird foil tip the recipe mentions. any chance i get to do something strange whether in cooking or other life areas i seize the opportunity.
so i got my foil and i started seizing.
i did.
this is what happened.
i'm aware that a big pot of brown stew may look less than appetizing, but...
it was very extremely intensely wonderously delicious.
it was all that.
just in case you were wondering.
and if you come visit me on facebook i'll give you the entire recipe. instead of half.
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i am extremely persnickety & miserly when it comes to art books. this one is unputdownable!
which. is why i endeavored to sit at the kitchen table in the sunlight, drinking coffee with the slider open, reading every word, poring over the photos. today. hello sunday.
new flowers from the market. a fresh tablecloth. mild winter air circulating in from the open door.
a cat with his winterpaws
a captivating book
with pictures!
beef stew bubbling away in the dutch oven. must push pause button. must push it now!
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the streets were filled with sparkly sunbeams as i drove home to start my 48 hour vacation.
the porch was all golden and full of promise.
a halo of light spread out over the roof of my little cottage on the little hill in the middle of the big metropolis.
home to roost. home to a lounging twinset of cats, one almost finished travel journal, stacks of reading, a quiet house with no talking, and no being talked to, a bedful of pillows, a red flannel granny gown gettup, a new dutchoven cookbook, and a delicious winter rain that is beginning tonight. (claps hands and squeals)
In other news... go HERE and read about Aslan the sweet pupper who's trying to find his way from Afghanistan to Virginia. A very worthwhile cause to support I think. You who love animals will enjoy reading about this. Sara, a bloggy friend I happen to adore, is at the center of the story. I'll be mentioning it a lot in the coming weeks as money is raised to bring Aslan to his new home in America.
PHOTO OF ASLAN FROM SARA BERRY'S BLOG
You can also read about The Afghan Stray Animal League HERE. They are doing good work to help save animals in Kabul.
I've put a widget up in my sidebar if you'd like to contribute.
update: 100% of the money to bring Aslan to America has been raised. thanks for all of your donations!!!
This post was approved by the missus.
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here. a small sliver of poem. to go with the glimpses into my travel journal.
taken from New Years by Dana Gioia
because sometimes i like the little bites better than the whole piece.
But can this blur, this smudgy in-between,
This tiny fissure where the future drips
Into the past, this flyspeck we call now
Be our true habitat? The present is
The leaky palm of water that we skim
From the swift, silent river slipping by.
The new year always brings us what we want
Simply by bringing us along—to see
A calendar with every day uncrossed,
A field of snow without a single footprint.
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feeling a lot of this...
because i'm working in this...
oh joy!
still stumbling around in the dark on facebook with my friend beavis. if you have any tips i know you'll share them. like for example do you put all of your blog posts there automatically? hmmmm...
thanks laura for the social fixer tip. {you'll want to use it on me when i get better at words with friends and start posting my high scores every 5 minutes.}
an unexpected really cool thing is seeing what so many of YOU look like - the ones without blogs. putting names to faces. that's nice.
i have a big loopy grin on my face reading your comments & suggestions on my 49 things list. i'm pretty sure i will get everything done this year. every single far-flung outta sight thing. but if not it's okay. the main thing is peering inside and seeing all that's possible winking back at me. i always did like the possible better than the actual.
also turns out i had 2 things about my new dutch oven.. over which i am CRUSHING. madly. you can make things in here! and they taste really good! dutch oven recipe links? please share.
so i have a new #14 involving an orange grove. and since i take relaxing very seriously it involves laying down.
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thing #1: i started a facebook page.
wait. i mean i TRIED to start a page vs. a personal profile or whatever but my efforts met with failure.
so i had to go the personal route. my friend beavis was doing it.
highly intelligent conversation snippets between beavis and i:
what is the like button for?
what is the talking about button for?
let's friend each other.
what's the subscribe button for?
where is my wall?
okay well maybe you can see my wall, but shouldn't i be able to see my wall?
where do you post at?
what do you mean it's hidden?
why is it called a wall?
you mean if i accidently update my profile picture 900 times everyone will know?
you are unfriendable.
because i can't figure it out! that's why!
did you friend all the people who friended you otherwise how did they know you were there?
try to friend me again.
go take another screenshot my wall does not look like that.
thing #2: paging carol turner. carol turner. carol turner. email me i've sent you 5 emails. fix your mailbox first though so when i email you back you'll get it.
thing #3: FULL TILT BOOGIE is still on sale. there is one scholarship class available thanks to carol lyles shaw. if you have hit the skids and don't have a red cent to your name, but still want to take a journal/bookmaking class...email me PRIVATELY with a brief message. i'll get in touch with you by january 15th with all the deets.
thing #4: ROD is still on sale.
thing #5: i took out my macro lense and did some tulip exploration. those saucy tulips! ravishing aren't they? they are from a bouquet my sister sent me for my birthday last week.
thing #6: found 2 shots of buck moss from july... on the camera i used with the macro lense.
taken about a week before he died. so long sweet boy.
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I mulled over my list all week and added new things every day. brimming with big ideas. that's me.
...to do before i turn 50
1. learn how to crochet
2. rent a tandem bike and ride along the boardwalk with sister
3. ride in a helicopter or little plane
4. make an instagram book
5. discover a little town in the middle of nowhere.
6. explore it.
7. pick strawberries
8. go on a lot of walkabouts to see what’s what and who’s who
9. go visit joyce in carpenteria
10. go to pink’s hotdogs for a martha stewart dog
11. go spend the weekend with d.e. & o.e.
12. attend at least one solo reading retreat (two is better)
13. make a new friend
14. lay down in the middle of an orange grove and stare up at the sky
15. fly to chicago and see suzanne
16. find a new european city to explore
17. find a new mexican town to explore
18. roadtrip to the lost coast
19. long weekend in san francisco with lianne!
20. plant a catnip patch in honor of cookie
21. say yes more than no
22. teach another online class
23. practice sketching on the ipad often
24. form an itty bitty local journal group
25. or at least think about it
26. swim in an ocean or sea
27. fry some chicken
28. paddle a boat somewhere
29. wink at people in cars that pull up next to me
30. paint
31. cook lots of one-pot meals in my new orange dutch oven
32. drink more red wine
33. spend time in the garden
34. dance
35. plant a lemon tree
36. eat some catfish
37. do handstands in the ocean
38. find a dentist who is not an asshole
39. have a mammogram
40. set up a facebook page
41. sign up for an online nikon class
42. eat more superfoods
43. go on a hill walk in portland
44. pet a llama
45. float on my back in the carribean
46. spend the night on a train
47. plant sunflowers!
48. use up all the wood panels in the garage
49. make an issu magazine
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5 Years In 5 Minutes from MAM on Vimeo.
5 years. 1500 photo booth photos. i have no good explanation for this. except to say... i send my sister LOTS of pics.
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there is an inverse relationship between my enthusiasm for playing WORDS WITH FRIENDS and my skill at said game.
if you are one of the unfortunate scrabble playing souls who has gotten stuck in a game with me.
i'm. sorry.
i know it's like playing with a 6 year old.
a kind friend who is 200 points ahead of me told me i just need practice. then she asked me what letters i had and suggested some moves.
instagram i just can't quit you. i'm stuck. it's your own fault for making the crappity crappiest crap photos look way less crappy. which is why i'm taking the pics with my tiny fuji point & shoot.
the embroidery above are budapest flea market finds.
speaking of...if you want to borrow my instagram button (i made in photoshop) and use it to link to your own followgram page please feel free!!!
thank you for the birthday wishes. and for coming here and visiting. and caring about my latest creative hijinx. you're nice, i like you.
i'm working on my 49 things list. taking my time. here are my 48 things from last year. i'm not a natural list maker, but this one is sort of fun to do. there are plenty of things i didn't do, but i'll still use my giant mental eraser to clear it all away. start fresh with a gleaming surface for my 49th year. a white slate of possibility.
if i can just stop playing bad scrabble long enough...and making instagram photos.
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It's officially official. I'm not a little 48 year old anymore!
I'm a 49 year old!
My sister was visiting this weekend and gave me this vintage-look book cover case for my iPad. I loves it! If you have an iPad you know how slippery they are. I've already dropped mine twice. There are more pics of it over at my Followgram page. Link down in bottom sidebar...
I'm Instagramming it up! That is to say when I'm not playing scrabble on the Words With Friends app on my iPad. I toggle back and forth. And I'm only playing with 2 people so if you want to challenge me to a game of scrabble my WWF name is my full name. I think I can take on about 5-10 more games. If I don't take up the challenge with you it's only because I'm up to my ears in letter tiles. don't worry. Unlike Alec Baldwin, if i'm on a plane playing WWF I will cease and desist when asked. I will not cause a scene. I will not!
When I come to my senses I have a backload of posts to share involving Dutch ovens, travel journals, cats, and iPad visual journal pages. They're all up in my head. Somewhere.
I was just telling a friend last week, "I don't understand all the INSTAGRAM hoopla. I don't alter my photos. I don't want to alter my photos. I don't want to see anyone else's altered photos. And I don't do social networking."
Big spoon
Filled with words
Put it in my mouth
And eat them.
HAH
Sent from my iPad
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Playing with INSTAGRAM. It's fun to take photos I overlooked and instagram them. Are you instagramming? Oh and if you are... Are you on FOLLOWGRAM? Kind of addictive once you start. If you want to move off your iPad or iPhone and look at a collection of your or your friend's (or strangers) instagrams then followgram is where you go online. On your computer. Make sense? Oh who am i kidding you ALREADY knew this. Leave a link so I can check you out...or tell me your INSTAGRAM name.
um. mine is dispatchfromla. i put a link down there on the bottom right sidebar to my followgram page...
and i just updated this post to tell you that. so there.
Sent from my iPad
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my cute friend sent me this cute website showing this cute keyboard. the one on my screen down there...
i got really excited and in about 25 minutes i had my own cute keyboard.
and that made me really really happy. and it made my fingers really happy because basically they feel like they're typing on little candy cubes.
so thank you Eng Gee Fan for your genius idea that filled me with the desire for cuteness.
from los angeles to kuala lumpur xoxoxo
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This enchanting casita embraced me from the moment I walked inside.
and.
I was smitten. A regular smitten kitten! The La Bamba Guesthouse.
I thought I would dislike sharing my breakfast each morning with La Dueña. It was one of the highlights of my trip. Really & truly. As my visit drew to a close we started yacking more and more. I even had the pleasure of meeting one of her sons & his bride to be.
REally delightful. One of my favorite vacation rentals yet.
La Dueña also has a place in Akumal with major va va voom factor. I'm thinking with 4 bedrooms & 4 bathrooms it would make an outstanding journal/reading retreat house for 4-5 people. A weeklong retreat in paradise. She told me about a special swimming lagoon close to the house. It's also close to TULUM, where I've been wanting to go.
Ideas. Doing what ideas like to do.. Take me on warm & luscious magic carpet rides.
just wanted to share...
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Goodbye 2011. You were a good year.
I tried to narrow you down to 12 photos, but needed 16 instead. You were just TOO BIG!
I wanted each photo to represent something significant.
Life. In 16 photos.
Magic, wonder, sorrow, contemplation, pleasure, new experiences.
In the last 12 months I...
donned my new polka dotted swim costume and played in the Szchenyi baths with my sister,
spent a week with my long lost brother,
found a sweet little reading retreat cabin next to a babbling brook,
made 3 travel journals & filled them up,
somehow convinced water from the Siene & Danube to come live with me at Moss Cottage,
met a stranger for dinner in Paris,
enjoyed some fun playdates with a local blogger i adore,
roamed around the city with my head out the window,
successfully hid my cache of pine needles and red brick dirt from the customs agent who pulled me over at LAX,
spent 2 blissful weeks at a dreamy casita in San Cristobal de Las Casas where i met a new friend (hello wickie!)
(and even though my uncle montezuma met me at the airport on the way home i didn't care)
rode a scary chairlift in Hungary with my sister and didn't fall off and break either of my legs or kneecaps,
wrote a movie in my mind while riding Budapest public transportation,
drank lots of fizzy elderflower soda cocktails on my back patio,
lived through an epic windstorm hurricane nightmare thing and survived a brownout for 3 days,
roadtripped to a little beach town where i was upgraded to an ocean front room,
had the pleasure of meeting my very own stranger in paris (chrissy!)
watched the Eiffel Tower lights come twinkiling on with Suzanne,
got a new fence around Moss Cottage,
cried while my cat Buck died in my arms,
started going on walks more regularly in my neighborhood,
got an iPad & discovered a whole new world,
created FULL TILT BOOGIE,
made a lot of books,
slept in the twin bed at Mama Moss' pad in Kansas for 5 nights,
read lots of good stories,
dreamt lots of big dreams & took good notes,
met a nice preying mantis in my back patio,
got stuck in the Guadalajara airport with a planeful of pushers and shovers,
had my heart warmed many times over by all the nice people who read this blog.
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My time at the Guadalajara airport finally ended yesterday at 2:30 pm
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