30 January 2009

Happy Friday! Hello Nostalgic Distraction



That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane -
Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs, regardless of your own needs. Feed it up a knock,
speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height,
down height. Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for
hire and a combat site. Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry with the furies
breathing down your neck. Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered
crop. Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population,
common group, but it'll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its
own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the
reverent in the right - right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright
light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn,
return, listen to yourself churn. Lock him in uniform and book burning,
blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate. Light a candle,
light a motive. Step down, step down. Watch a heel crush, crush. Uh oh,
this means no fear - cavalier. Renegade and steer clear! A tournament,
a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives
and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide. Mount St. Edelite.
Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Breshnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom! You symbiotic, patriotic,
slam, but neck, right? Right.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine...fine...

(It's time I had some time alone)

29 January 2009

Things to Make & Do, From Design*Sponge

{This idea, from Kate @ Design*Sponge, is so genius. The below text & above images are all courtesy of the lovely and talented Design*Sponge blog.
I love crafty people!}


What You’ll Need:
1.) fabrics (choose light to medium weight cotton fabrics)
2.) fabric stiffener (i found this at the craft store)
3.) paint brush
4.) rubber gloves (optional, but highly recommended)
5.) containers for molds (i used a tupperware box and a loaf pan)
6.) scissors
7. ) saran wrap

Instructions:
1.) Cut a square of fabric big enough to cover your container. make it bigger than you want the box to be in the end so you can cut the edges clean.

2.) Wrap your container tightly with saran wrap and place it upside down on a working surface.

3.) Put on your rubber gloves and pour some fabric stiffener onto the fabric swatch. Work it around in your hands so the fabric is completely coated with the stiffener on both sides. Squeeze off any extra stiffener, but make sure the swatch is completely saturated.

4.) Lay your swatch down over the mold and smooth down. Add some extra stiffener with the brush on the outside and fold the fabric around the corners like you are wrapping a present.
Brush on another thin layer of stiffener and smooth out any wrinkles, and check to see that the folds are flattened and that they stay put.

6.) Let dry overnight. when the fabric is completely dry, you will be able to easily pull it off the mold.7. Cut the edges of the fabric so you have a clean, even edge.

8.) If you feel the box is still a little wobbly, you can put it back on the mold and coat the entire box with another layer of stiffener and let it dry overnight again. The middle weight fabrics will feel sturdier than lighter weight fabrics.

VOILA!

Note: These trays are great for organizing loose objects and for carrying lightweight objects. They are not strong enough to carry heavier materials, and are not recommended for serving trays or for transporting around heavy things.

Spirituality in My Inbox

It is a good idea to take responsibility for the things in life that we can control or create. We work so we can feed, clothe, and shelter our loved ones and ourselves. We manifest our dreams and visions in physical form with hard work and forethought. But at a certain point, when have done all that we can, we must let go and allow the universe to take over. This requires trust. It requires a trust that runs deeper than just expecting things to turn out the way we want them to. Sometimes they will, and sometimes they won’t. We develop equanimity and grace as we learn to trust that, with the guiding hand of the universe, life will unfold exactly the way it should. We are engaged in an ongoing relationship with a universe that responds to our thoughts and actions.

{Text From Daily Om . One of a Kind Print by Shira Sela, for sale on Etsy.}

28 January 2009

Lolcat's Motherland: ROL Cats.

{My living quarters are comprised of the bone meal of the bourgeois!}

{Where re-education has failed my comrade, the hangman’s noose will succeed…}

{Paned windows are prohibited in this sector, comrade Sergei. Will you kindly report to the Lubyanka, or will you force me to violence?…}
Thank you, ROLCats! Your cleverness is most pleasing.

Holy Effing Hell! In St. Augustine?

The National, Devotchka, Broken Social Scene, Bad Brains, Lucero, Ra Ra Riot, Dave Dondero, and that's just the stuff I can read. Also for a good cause. Harvest of Hope Music Festival. In St. Augustine? Hell Yes!

I'm a Fan

This heartbreaking read, Comfort, of a mother's sudden, irretrievable loss of her amazing five-year-old daughter, Gracie Bell, was really, really, incredibly raw and gorgeous, and made me a stalwart fan of writer Ann Hood, whose most recent novel, I had heard of, but paid only passing attention to. Now I will read everything this woman has written, and I thank her for sharing her grief--ponderous, unscalable--with the world. This is the third book I've read in the last few months (Beautiful Boy by Mike Sheff and An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken) that punched my heart with the enormity of a parent's love for their children, such tenderness, such sweetness, such boundlessness. It's everything, isn't it? Everything at all. Book cover and photo courtesy of Ann Hood's site.

26 January 2009

Like It or Not, There's Part of Me In You

If you've forgotten about Ida, why not revisit? In 1996, this album meant absolutely everything to me (and most of my girlfriends, much to the chagrin of our current or ex-boyfriends). Their harmonies still break me in half. Get I get a shout from the ladies?!

Obamicon Yourself!

Yeah. It's pretty cool. You can even make t-shirts and mugs and stuff. Visit it here.

25 Random Things


Tagged by the great Kitty Kat, these are very random, tmi elements of my personality:

1.) I've never had a driver's license. I've driven cars. I'v hit fences with cars. I've been screamed at by my own sweet mother while trying to drive. But I've never made it to the DMV for a driving test. I want to drive, but it's obviously become a huge issue at this point. HUGE.

2.) I love the sound of my own voice. I will read aloud whenever possible. Even to my cat.

3.) I love the shit out of cats. I talk to them in the street. And they talk back.

4.) I played a Timucuan Indian in Florida's official state play, Cross & Sword at the St. Augustine Ampitheater, while I was 13 and 14. I wore a pantyhose bikini, a long black wig, a moss skirt, and Texas dirt. I sang in Timucuan a song I can still recite...Iti i tini qua nu mona/arabo ne he me itihu..."

5.) I also played Mary Warren in The Crucible when I was 16. After that community theater production, I quit the game while I was ahead.

6.) Following puberty, I wore a bikini on the beach or anywhere else (besides onstage) only once. A black and white-striped bikini. Tim Toman, my pubescent nemesis (he had no idea), made all kinds of fun of me (I had a perfectly proportioned, thin, and appropriately developed 13-year-old body), and I've been wary of swimming attire ever since, I believe. What hell is junior high, I tell you.

7.) I will not write or call you back, for the most part, and I never mean for it to hurt anyone's feelings or anything. I've got this reactive paralysis. I am getting better at answering the phone. But e-mails, ooh lordy. Those are hard.

8.) I would happily bear Elvis Costello's children.

9.) I sometimes pretend I'm in a movie. It makes the surreal elements of my life more bearable.

10.) Ama means love. My middle name Livia, came from Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce. Literary hippie parents!

11.) I am INSANE for candy.

12.) I'm very impulsive.

13.) I've been told I'm hard to talk to.

14.) I sigh all the time.

15.) I have a crush on Barack Obama.

16.) I have a terrible temper.

17.) I'm not as innocent as I look and would like to have you believe.

18.) I used to steal the local museum/church donations around my historical hometown. Plus I'm a reformed shoplifter in general.

19.) I'm pretty good at karaoke.

20.) I know all the lyrics!

21.) I inherited a mouthful of bad teeth.

22.) I bust out my elevated vocab when trying to get what I want with customer service peeps.

23.) I hold grudges for a long time. Another issue.

24.) I know my correct bra size. It's crazy.

25.) I could sleep all day long if you'd let me.


I now tag Dana!

Birds of Sorrow

"You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair. --Chinese Proverb

Image courtesy of Caryn Drexl on flickr. The talented photographer also has has her own site as well as an Etsy shop. Absolutely beautiful and narrative and lush and smart.
Also, Happy Chinese New Year! Here's to keeping those birds of sorrow up in the air where they belong! Long life and prosperous days to you all.