A man after my own heart.
(mom, turn up the volume and hit the little button in the corner that has the four little arrows!)
Saturday, August 18, 2012
This Is My Home
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Opportunity Lands!
Have you SEEN this?!
If you haven't, I totally understand... you were out of the loop for a few days, no one told you we were going to space, you were super busy with all the things you have to do here, on earth. I get it. I, too, can get overwhelmed by all that's happening in my immediate surroundings, let alone the world, let alone what's going on in space!
But, now that you know.. aren't you excited?!
For me, all it took was one look at this photo. To be in that room. To feel that excitement!
But now, really take in. Read slowly.
And realize: What it took to make {this} little Opportunity get to it's destination. What it took to make {the} Opportunity land. What it means for {the} Opportunity to have a "rock-vaporizing laser" oh yeah, and "other instruments", too, of course. It lays out a reasonable calender of time for {the} Opportunity to do what it needs to do. First {the} Opportunity makes a move in Mid-September ("at the earliest"), and the next dramatic move would go down in October or November. {The} Opportunity knows.
Okay, so I'm not going to become a person of space (is that what someone who works at NASA is called?), it's true. But, I am going to very carefully understand what is happening here. I'm going to apply it to my own current fluctuating, roiling, "careful and methodical" choices, fate, time and space and friggin go for it.
What's your opportunity?
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Mail Art
I just know I have some mail art readers that peek into this little house in the clouds every once in awhile. You, well, this is for you. I love a good art benefit and I happen to love the purpose, the mission, behind The Prison Library Project so much so that it's inspired me to go looking for our own Prisoners Literature Project program here in Northern California. Excited to get my volunteering on!
Considering the love and support of snail mail is part of 8mm ideas own mission statement , I couldn't pass this by. I'll be working on and sending out at least two pieces (will post here or here when finished), partly to keep the USPS in business, as well!
Have fun, get your art on, and support a great cause to create a better world!
Friday, August 3, 2012
The Rules: The ones I actually try to follow
(this sign hung in the art room, stenciled by sister corita)
Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules
Rule I Find a place you trust and then
try trusting it for awhile.
Rule 2 General duties of a student: Pull everything out of your teacher.
Pull everything out of your fellow students.
Rule 3 General duties of a teacher:
Pull everything out of your students.
Rule 4 Consider everything an experiment.
Rule 5 Be self disciplined. This means
finding someone wise or smart and
choosing to follow them.
To be disciplined is to follow in a good way.
To be self disciplined is to follow in a better way.
Rule 6 Nothing is a mistake. There's no win and
no fail. There's only make.
Rule 7 THE ONLY RULE IS WORK.
If you work it will lead to something.
It's the people who do all of the work all the time
who eventually catch on to things.
Rule 8 Don't try to create and analyse at the
same time. They're different processes.
Rule 9 Be happy whenever you can mage it.
Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you
think.
Rule I0 "We're breaking all of the rules, even
our own rules. And how do we do that?
By leaving plenty of room for X quantities." John Cage
Helpful Hints: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands o. Look at movies carefully, often.
Save everything - it might come in handy later.
There should be new rules next week.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Brocantes, the life of France
Two years ago, we happened across an incredible find, a brocante off the beaten path, filled to the brim with crazy goodness. We emptied our pockets into Guillmile's hands, threw fresh lemonade down our throats, and promised we'd return the following year.
So, when we showed up on a blazing hot day this year, to the same exact warehouse and found it locked up, no one around, we had a slight moment of panic.
We all clambered out of the car, walked all over the property, shaking big doors and trying to peek into windows to no avail. Just as we started to drive away and wonder, if he'd actually closed up shop, would he have left all those fabulous old doors and window panes outside along the property?! we were barked at by a dog and noticed this huge stone house we'd be standing alongside that nearly disappeared into the overgrown ivy. We knocked on the front door. An older man opened the door, "Oui?!" and in our broken French, we tried to ask where Guillmile was? Shouldn't he be open? Did he happen to know anything about it? Oui, oui, but of course he did! This was Gui's landlord, he owned this massive, sprawling property we were traipsing all over and yes, he had Gui's number if we could wait here at the door just a moment.
Now, we're the curious types and it's hard for us to sit just outside such an ancient looking house and not, at least, poke our heads into the foyer. So, I began to crane my neck just inside the door, it was so dark, I could barely see a thing...but it was old in there. Very, very old. I heard a t.v. and my sister thought she saw a stove of some sort. We both noticed the incredible wallpaper, peeling right off the walls and the narrow, wood staircase that swirled up to somewhere...when he suddenly appeared again at the door with Gui's phone number and a very nice "Au Revoir!"
We stayed on the property, we rang Gui, he told us he'd be there in 10 minutes (though after a half an hour, we started to wonder if we'd actually understood... did he say "dix minutes" or did he say "dix mois"?!). Eventually, he opened the enormous warehouse doors and let us in. He had redecorated, redesigned and had so much new (read: old) great stuff!! The educational posters were one of the first things I noticed, so we took them all, every last one of 'em! Gui was thrilled, we were thrilled...this time we gulped down cold, fresh apple juice and we all left happy!
Brocantes are a funny place, and whether its the shops, the owners or the stories that come out of the adventure, they make for some of the best times we have in this fabulous France!
Friday, June 22, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Outakes From An International Shoot
Though we are here in France for one job, we still need to keep doing the others that keep us in business back home. Mine is to get some shots together for our new greeting card line, "Greetings 101". I designed this juicy, super-stripy collection based on the color ways of vintage travel posters and suitcase labels I've collected over the years.
I thought I'd use my niece as a model, as well as the old French chateau we're currently staying in. It seemed appropriate, as she's half Spanish, and so are the cards!
She's been a real sport about the whole thing (because she's fantastic that way).
These are just some of the shots we probably won't use, among the 40 or so others that we shot.
All cards, in both French and Spanish, are available on our website at 8mm ideas.
Monday, June 11, 2012
ThereYouAre
We celebrated our dear friend, and fellow hostess on the Chateau Getaway, Cathy's birthday today in France.
I made her three pieces: The triptych of life. They were so fun to make, I want to do more when I get back. Maybe start doing one of a kind pieces again and putting them out into the world. I'd like to create and follow through on some real tactile goals this coming year. Making small pieces of art work for others seems as good a goal as any.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Boom, is right
We're all getting very excited to head off to the South of France to start the French General Chateau Getaway...leaving tomorrow morning and landing in Toulouse on Saturday. I'm anxious to see my parents who've been traveling around France for the last two weeks, to hear about all the fabulous places in the Mediterranean they've visited. I know they'll have a million stories of people they've met, addresses they've exchanged. And we all land in a house together for the first week to catch up, drink, eat and get a whole lotta merry... Boom (o boum) is right! (top five favorite songs of all time)
Monday, June 4, 2012
Dads, Pops, Fathers
Fathers Day is coming up...and we have some fabulous new cards in our shop that I'm so excited about. It's so cool to have this online card shop now: So nice to be able to finally say,
'oh, whats that? you want to know where can you get my cards? well, online, of course!'
instead of,
'um, well, if you live in (name town I don't have an account in) I'm not sure...um...' Soooo, there's that!
I really love our mothers day cards, too, and though that 'holiday' has passed, you can still get all our mom's cards in the shop, as well. The great thing is, the cards are just right for sending to your mom any day of the year. I've always been a fan of just celebrating the mom, herself, rather than yelling out 'happy mothers day'... I like sending my mom a card any ole day, just cuz she's my mom (or madre, or mutter, or maja), hence the official cry of that national holiday hasn't hit up my cards yet.
But, back to fathers day, which is what we were talking about in the first place...
Compared to other photo shoots I've worked on over the years, this one was surprisingly easy going! The models were a charm to work with. And we all really believed in the cause, as well.
Don't forget to send YOUR dad a fathers day card this year! Tell him stuff you don't tell him all year long, you know, the good stuff, the juicy stuff, the how much you love him and how he's influenced your life in all the right ways stuff. Dads like that kind of stuff!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Bon Voyage!
And while much of it is returning to places we've been before, or visiting artists we've visited before, for the 60 or so women that are coming along with us this year, it's all brand new. That's where some of the real fun comes in... It's such a treat to see, some women who've never left the U.S. before, some who've only been to the city of Paris, some who've only heard about the life in France, all coming together and experiencing a live farmers market, or a tiny apartment of a weaver who's entire half of her house is taken up by a 15 foot loom, or eating lunch atop a medieval village while gazing over lavender fields.
And then there are the moments that we laugh til we're crying, or we discover we had a talent for something we didn't know was possible (we do a lot of fabulous craft classes out in the studio at the chateau), or I'm strolling the streets with my mom when she finds the perfect *thing* she loves and must have (most likely vintage linens of some kind, it's an addiction) and we squeal with happiness and make our way back through the little village we've lost ourselves in.
We meet so many incredible women from all over the world who join us for one solid week of a life-changing event. Every year I have to pinch myself that this is my "summer job". It's a ton of work, but the rewards are many.
I don't know many people who get to travel to Europe and even work with their family, especially their mom, but this summer we actually have two guest artists that get to do just that: Debbie & Shea Fragoso of A Guilded Life and Wendy & Monica Addison, from Theatre of Dreams. Mother and daughter teams, creatives, and super fun women. We also have the artist Charlotte Lyons coming for one of the weeks, as well. All these women, besides being incredibly talented and very funny, share very similar obsessions with me: vintage ephemera, fabric, and the juicy dig!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Forever is Way Too Long
Today
is the
perfect day
The sky
just so
clouds moving
fast
Drops of water
on leaves
of Russian sage
Dog sitting
her chin
on crossed paws
Light streams
through branches
of locust tree
I sit
just so
at the
small table
...
Everything is
perfect
just like this
you would have said
(Requiem by Abigail Gramig)
I've wanted to write about Suzanne almost every day that I've woken up since Deceber 14th. I can't even bring myself to use a euphemism. I can't quiet my head and allow myself to face the truth. And then I tell myself, no one actually knows the truth. No one knows what happens once you're gone from this dimension. She could still be here in someway. Right?!
And so I've avoided writing about Suzanne, because this all sounds incredibly personal and painful and really should I be sharing this here?; well, I finally realized I can barely show up here without doing it. I want to talk about Suzanne, I want her name said once a day, I want to think of her and be able to bring her up, something she said or did or a memory of something that happened, I just want her remembered, talked about. But more than anything, I want to talk with her.
It's the foreverness of it all that makes my heart constrict. That makes me never want things to be totally quiet anymore. There's a movie going. Or there's music. Or both. And yet I crave it, I think about it, I wish I could quiet things down... but that's too quiet, there's too much room there to have reality set in.
I had planned on growing old with Suzanne. I could see it with clear vision. It involved family, laughter, wrinkles, grey or still dyed hair (we were forever dying our hair) and a park bench, or a porch, somewhere in Brooklyn, because we had finally accepted what we'd all resisted for years, and RK and I eventually retired there. We're telling stories to make the other one gasp! One of us is smoking, most likely. We get a phone call from my sister, K., saying she's coming to visit...
The forever part feels crazymaking.
In December, when I went to NYC for the memorial I was delirious.
The service felt surreal. I was numb.
In February, when I went back with intent, to celebrate Suzanne's life and friendship: this time, I thought, I'll punch the city in the face, then I'll kiss it straight on the mouth, then I'll scream at it and ask how it could wrong me this way. And then I'd forgive it. I had to.
RK, my sister and I, as well as other good friends, traveled to the very city where we all lived some of our greatest years together with Suzanne. We would be gathering with so many more friends over the next week and reliving memories. I really didn't know what would happen. I'd hoped I'd keep it together, but I was also hoping to fall apart, fall down in the streets and, fall in love again. This was our city.
I was received, I was welcomed, I was challenged and I was rewarded.
But I missed Suzanne.
After a full night of revelry, all in the name of our friend, the next day my sister and I headed out to Suzanne's home in Brooklyn. We turned onto her block and it started to snow. That instant.
The flakes lightly floated onto our jackets and touched our faces and the moment we arrived at her door, I turned to face my sister and
it stopped.
As instantly as it began.
It was an amazing week, incredibly high in a non-stop movement of friends and city and talk of Suzanne. Every glass that was raised, every toast that was made, was made in her name. These people, these NY friends of ours, they made this happen. I walked by the buildings we lived in and the restaurants we ate at and did the cappuccino at our local joint ino, where we always saw someone we knew. This time it was Patti Smith.
Ha!
Suzanne would've loved that.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Monday Might Make You Move
(via) i know i cry at the drop of a hat, and the strangest things move me to tears. this is one of those things. worth hitting full screen viewing, and turning it up.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Everyone Should Take Letter Writing This Seriously
If you just can't seem to get it together to send a note to someone,
maybe you need Melvin The Machine.
(via)
Friday, May 25, 2012
A Most Sentimental Posting
I posted this ad on craigslist today, we'll see what happens...
A most sentimental piano must go. This piano made it's way to SF all the way from the big apple, NYC. It's first owner was a musician that lived upstairs from me in our old apartment building on Carmine Street. He loved it but couldn't take it with him when he moved. So, he sold it to his subletters for $25: A super sweet couple with a little boy, who loved trilling those keys, eventually moved out from our old building and they knew they had to pass on the piano. A good friend, who lived across the hall from me, and two flights down from this couple, took the piano for $25 and the job of moving it downstairs. He was a musician and loved this piano, often rousing the building with a good tune that floated thru the stairwell. Eventually, this neighbor and friend, filled up his little studio with a number of other life necessities and had to let the piano go. My sister jumped at the chance to get a piano for her little girl she was sure would play it night and day. So, my good friend and neighbor moved it onto the landing between our two apartments, to wait for the pick up. And there it sat. For months and months. Not unused, no, no... the multiple talented fingers that played those keys, oh my! Anyone that came thru the building in those days, anyone with an ounce of ability, sat down at that piano bench and played a tune. The old boyfriend, long gone now, of an upstairs neighbor, used to spend hours out there on the landing, playing big, beautiful songs. One holiday season, my sister was very sick, and my family came to visit, we had a big dinner in my pre-war apartment kitchen, we left my front door open and he played and played, entertaining everyone who came by. Eventually, Joe, the super of our building, came to us and said the piano had to move. My sister didn't think she'd get around to moving the piano, so I took it in. My neighbor and good friend helped me move it into my apartment, I found the perfect little wall for it to lean up against and it started it's next phase of life. I fell in love with a boy who loved to play. I would spend dreamy afternoons watching him make up songs, knowing just a tiny bit of that tune would leak under our front door, to anyone who happened past. He tried to teach me chopsticks. I showed off, playing the only two songs I know. And he kept playing and playing because he knew I loved it so.
When it came time to leave NYC and move to SF, we debated moving the heaviest thing we owned... and found we didn't want to part with it. So, the movers came, wrapped it in a blanket, and carried it out of the only building it had known for over 15 years. It found a new life here in SF. New players came thru to tickle the ivories and it's been a good instrument all along.
But, it's time. We've got to move on and so does this faithful piano.
A perfect piece for someone that loves to play, or wants their little one to learn.
So much history, so much love has gone into this little upright, now it belongs to you....
We wanted to ask $25 to keep up the passing of the guard, but are happy to let it go for free. The catch is that you must figure out how to move it out. We're up two flights of stairs and it's a heavy beast. Do-able, but heavy. Because it's a stand up, all the weight is in the back end. It's definitely seen a lot of days of wear and tear, so it's a piece to be loved and cared for. Keys are most likely out of tune, though it has been tuned since we moved here, that was a few years ago.
ACROSONIC
24.5" deep
56 3/16" wide
with original bench
Sunday, May 13, 2012
MOMS day should be every day
Not only did I end up with probably the best mom in the world, but the luck continued when I got a mother-by-marriage that's really incredible to me, as well.
It started with Kick.
Kick is my mom, that's her nickname. But it's what everyone who meets her today, calls her. I started to think about all the incredible things I know and love about Kick and how lucky I am to have her as a mom. And it made me wish I knew her mom better, because she loved her Bernice as much as I love my Kick.
It put me in mind of something my friend, Nancy, wrote about: I, too, would list my mom as the number one teacher I am thankful for. She's my best friend and makes me laugh as hard as anyone does. We can talk til we're blue in the face and barely staying awake, we can hound a topic til it grows whiskers. She paints and plays tennis and throws dinner parties and holds weekly mahjong sessions and she's the only one that reminds me that though she's a certain older age that remains to be unspoken, she still feels about 17. Thank goodness she warned me, 'cuz now I know what she means.
And only my mom could give me the best gift I've ever gotten and it didn't cost a thing: One night across the dinner table, in a room filled with people, she said, "I feel like Molly is like my sister." I'll never forget the way my heart soared and our eyes filled to the brim.
I don't know why I got so lucky in the parental department, but I'm awfully glad I did.
Happy Mothers Day, Moms.
Monday, May 7, 2012
And The Winner Is.....
Tyn, get your pen ready to write!
And, in the meantime, email me your address so I can get some 8mm ideas to you! YEA!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Of course, I didn't personally know Adam "MCA" Yauch, but when we heard of his death today, I remembered a time from years ago when my niece was very young and playing in the playground with my sister and they bumped into Adam and his young daughter. She came home and told me how incredibly nice this Beastie Boy was and suddenly we had a whole new respect for the boys. Since then, the Beastie Boys have become a huge part of my musical life, as I married a man who can recite most every song, with perfect timing. He doesn't even have to have an album on to reference line after line. These boys had a talent that really hasn't yet been met. It seems fitting someone would have combined that with the genius of Sesame Street.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Paper Lover seeks Paper Geeks To Celebrate
I'm a paper lover, with my moon in paper nerd and my rising sign in paper addict. It's with this acknowledgement I can admit I am having a whole new love affair with 8mm ideas.
A lot of people say they only send a card at christmas, or valentine's day, or on one of the other obligatory holidays when you think 'shoot, i gotta get a card!' But, I'm thinking about all the other days that come between those days, when people's mailboxes are stuffed with nothing but bills. Those are the days for 'oh man, i gotta send (someone) that card. it's sooo perfect.' That's why we here at 8mm ideas leave our cards blank inside: You know what you want to say, you just need the card to say it in. We believe the love/ snark/ juicy memories/ simple sentiment you write is just the right thing with the right card.
And that's what we're here for.
It just so happens, at this very moment, I'm so super excited about these next steps here at 8mm ideas: We've entered the 21st Century (very, very difficult for a girl who prefers to a typewriter to a computer, and pencil & paper to any button-y thing that's put in front of me) and have arrived at the book of faces.
That's right, 8mm ideas has a facebook page. I'm actually going to write here, right now, go to our facebook page and thumbs it up! Come on, it's crazy! We wanna celebrate with everyone!
And we think a great way to celebrate is to keep in touch with others and tell them something/anything/x's and o's, whatever it is on every day of the year. You know how much trouble the post office is in?! Couldn't we do a little to keep them in business? Over the years, come rain or snow, they've delivered letters and packages and, in our house at least they delivered coconut halves and license plates (yes, made into letters from my brothers). Someone in your life needs a card, and that someone or someones would benefit greatly hearing from you. So leave us a note in the comments, telling us who's day you plan to make. Stella will pick a name out of a hat this Friday and we'll send you three 8mm ideas cards to do just that with!
Thank you for all your support, dear readers, over the years. We couldn't do it without you!
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