"Pattern - Pink" in watercolor and gouache Happy Friday! If you've been around here for awhile, these things are abundantly clear: 1. I sew all the time 2. I write all the time 3. I go to Trader Joe's all the time Yesterday, I was at TJ's as usual, and as usual, I struck up a conversation with the clerk, a compact, sun-tanned and energetic man I would put in his fifties. Maybe it's because I spend a lot of time alone, but I constantly find myself in deep conversations with shop clerks …
writing
Body Image
So last week I accidentally hit 'publish' on a post that I was nervous about. It's the one that follows, and it was very hard for me to write and was mortifying when I hit the wrong button before I was ready to share. Gah! as they say - so typical of something I would do. In a fit of embarrassed panic, I unpublished it, but it ended up showing up in readers, and then I got several amazing emails and comments from people who shared their own stories and were so supportive -- I was surprised …
Sunny, with a slice of sweetness
All this sewing means lots of indoor and sedentary time, so now I'm trying to get out and about for some vitamin D and exercise. Luckily, we are having a most unusual spring here in Seattle. It's full of sunshine and twittering birds (of the real variety) and people wearing shorts. And what could be sunnier than a mandarin orange? These are called Gold Nugget Mandarins, and are incredibly tasty. Before K was born, M and I used to live in downtown Seattle and every weekend, I would walk six …
On my mind…
I've been thinking about these words by Theodore Roosevelt a lot lately, so I made a simple paper cut. I don't like to compete. Deep deep down, I'm sure I'm fiercely and frighteningly competitive and will claw my way to the top while gnashing my teeth and leaving detritus in my wake, if given the chance. But I clearly remember the day I consciously decided not to compare myself and not to compete if I could help it in any way. I was about eight or nine, and like many first-borns of …
Creativity in Small Bites
The other day, I stumbled upon an itty bitty shop in one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seattle. The storefront of The Aviary is so diminutive, you might miss it if you blink. It's attached to a hip and happening store called Blackbird, a very Merry Mishap kind of place. On the sandwich board for The Aviary, it said "A Creativity Shop", and in I went. I found a small, but thoughtfully-curated selection of pens, notebooks, art supplies, books and unique paraphernalia to "stimulate right …