etsy shop now open!

i finally did it!  i opened up an etsy shop of my very own.  about time, right?  i will be adding polaroid and digital prints soon, but for now, you can find two different 2011 calendars and two separate packs of photo postcards.  if you have any special requests, e-mail me or send me a convo on etsy.  hope to see you over there. 

#19 - ride a bicycle

the view of lower manhattan from governor's island

i don't have any good photos to go along with this one, but a few weekends ago, the mister & i took the ferry to governor's island and rented bicycles.  it was so much fun!!  it was a cool, late summer morning and we were on the first ferry of the day, so it wasn't very crowded.  super fun!

#6 - go to the beach

labor day on long beach, ny

number six on the list was to go to the beach.  i grew up on a lovely, lovely lake in the midwest and also not too far away from some great sand dunes on lake michigan.  i only ever went to the beach on occasional family trips to florida or south carolina.  as much as i love the lake, i do love walking in the sand, the smell of the salty air and the soothing sounds of the waves crashing.

i've lived on the east coast for almost five years, and aside from a wonderful destination wedding on captiva island and a couple of non-beachy trips to coney island, i still haven't been to the beach.  if you look on the map, you will see that new york city is very, very close to the ocean.  however, this does not mean that it is easy to get to the ocean.  or so one would think.  most options involve taking a 2 hour subway ride, renting a car and sitting in traffic, or taking a train and then hailing a taxi.  but i came across the perfect beach getaway from the city.  long beach.

a direct express train from penn station had us at the long beach train station in just under an hour.  after that, it was a few short blocks from the station to the beach.  you do have to pay for a beach pass here, but i think it is totally worth it. the beach is clean and wonderful, and there isn't a touristy boardwalk.  it is very, very relaxing (if you can block out the sound of some of the louder new yorkers in the mix).  i can hardly wait to go back next summer!

p.s.  in an attempt to work on #15 on the list (shoot more film), i took an underwater disposble camera to long beach.  haven't quite finished the roll yet, though.  luckily, i took a snap with the iPhone!!

+++++++

soaking up the last bits of summer in maine

less than a week later, i found myself enjoying the final days of summer in old orchard beach, maine.  it was so wonderful!!  a bit of a trek to get up there, but it was so great to hang out with kristin and her family and visit their fantastic beach.  there were lots of great "fair food" type places (fried dough, candy apples . . . even a dairy queen!), but i was on a no-sugar diet (great timing, i know) and didn't get to enjoy any tasty treats.  i did however, get to play skeeball there!

so, after a long drought of no beach time, i had a double dose this summer!

here's hoping to a long weekend at the jersey shore next summer, more trips to maine and lots of visits to long beach!

protecting a sand fort from the entire ocean

#20 - play skeeball

i wasn't sure how easy #20 on my list would be, so i ended up buying this awesome iphone app, just in case.

but when i went up to maine to visit kristin, we walked right by the arcade and saw in big letters, "SKEEBALL." yes!!!



while going to the county fair didn't quite live up to my childhood memories, playing skeeball totally surpassed them! (probably because i am much better at skeeball at age 33 than i was at age 10.) it was super fun and we got lots of tickets, so kristin's kids were able to get a decent prize. i snagged a tiny bouncy ball for myself, just to have something to show for my efforts. =)



so many tickets!!! playing skeeball as a grown-up is awesome!

#25 - go to a county fair

cross another one off of the list!

finding a county fair near manhattan proved to be a little tricky. but the dutchess county fair in rhinebeck sounded promising, so i asked some friends if they could go. elizabeth took the bait and we drove up to rhinebeck on sunday, august 29th.

i don't think this fair quite lived up to my expectations, but that could be because i haven't been to a fair in quite a few years and i always went to them in indiana. where, you know, people are more in to farming and stuff.



a lot of the games booths were the same all over the fair, but this one stood out to me (probably because it was so photogenic). we didn't play any games (mostly because the prizes weren't that exciting), but elizabeth's boyfriend tried to sink the creepy clown in the dunking booth. he hit the target, but was *just* outside of the inner circle. i think we were all sorry that he wasn't successful!



it was super hot, but we did manage to find some shady spots here and there. elizabeth and i both fell in love with these rainbow umbrellas.



we saw some sweet newborn farm animals and watched some dogs in the dock diving competition, which was really fun.



soaked up the sights and sounds, saw a mini parade, and even managed to walk by chuck schumer several times!



and i had an elephant ear!!! it was SO good. that one did live up to my expectations. mmm, i'm totally craving another one right now.

all in all, it was a good day. if we go again next year, though, i think we'll hit up a fair in new jersey. ;)

sixty-four colors

(click to view larger)

i have several favorites so far from sixty-four colors. if i had to pick my top five that we've done so far, i think i'd have to go with red, pacific blue, scarlet, goldenrod and blue green. which diptychs are your favorite?

i can hardly believe that dani & i are already well past the halfway point of our project. the weeks are just flying by! we only have about 26 weeks left to go and we're trying to come up with something extra special for our final week(s). stay tuned!

#31 - add to the list of flickr friends that i have met in real life.

(the lovely elizabeth taylor)

i am an idiot. i recently met meredith and stephanie and was all excited to put together a post about #31 on my list.


(meredith & kristin on the brooklyn bridge)

then, as i was going through photos, i realized that i met, lindsay, tania AND jason this year.


(tania & lindsay at an anthropologie event)


(jason & erin in front of soba-ya)

and i got to see kristin again! i guess i had it in my head that i would meet people who were traveling to new york or i would travel somewhere and meet them. the good news is that i've met five new flickr friends in real life this year! and seen lots of other flickr friends again and again. hooray!! flickr friends are the bestest. for reals. if you don't have some, you should go out and find some. they're awesome.

arthritis today

(click on the photo to read the text)

last fall, the editor in chief of arthritis today magazine contacted me about my portrait project. a few months later, i was interviewed about the project, and now, here it is in print! crazy exciting.

and now, i'm able to cross #11 off of the list!

#9 - make more handmade gifts

i love picking out a good gift, but i wanted to try and make a few this year, too. i was totally in love with this project on design*sponge and decided to give it a go.

first, i used a paper doily as a stencil for the lacy part. filled it in with fabric paint.



then i made a letter stencil out of freezer paper. i ironed it on to the bag and then used fabric paint to fill in the letter.



i should have let it dry a little longer. maybe the edges of the letter would have been cleaner that way. but i still think it turned out pretty well. my friend loved it!



just wish i would have remembered to take a shot of her carrying it. =)

#14 - read five books for fun

well number five sure was easy. i'm not quite three months in to the list and i've already read six books for fun. i do love to read, i just don't always make enough time for it. having it on the list is definitely good motivation. so is easy access to my public library!

books read so far:

1. one year off by david elliot cohen. a re-read, actually, but it had been quite a while since i read it last. loved it just as much the second time. it's a real life account of the author, his wife, their nanny & their three children on a one year trip around the world. wanderlust much?

2. the first annual grand prairie rabbit festival by ken wheaton. a story about a young catholic priest in rural louisiana who holds a festival at the church. MUCH funnier and more interesting that it sounds. a great read.

3. the lost symbol by dan brown. the latest installment of the adventures of robert langdon. i still like angels & demons best, but if you are a fan of that or the davinci code, then you'll enjoy this story set in washington, d.c.

4. unclutter your life in one week by erin rooney doland. a great, practical guide to get you started on getting rid of the clutter in your home and at work. i read it once quickly, just to get the general idea. i plan on going back and really going through each chapter thoroughly. an encouraging read.

5. my life in france by julia child with alex prud'homme. i absolutely loved it. i will probably end up buying a copy, so i can re-read it. and i know i would have loved it, even if i hadn't just watched julie & julia, but the movie is what made me aware of the book in the first place.

6. the catcher in the rye by j.d. salinger. somehow, i never read this in high school. oh, how i wish i had! it was a little slow for me at the beginning, and it took a while to get used to the language style, but in the end, i really, really liked it. i can see how it would make a huge impact for younger people.

i'm sure i will be adding to this list as the year goes on, but for now, check off number fourteen!

#10 - surprise someone

oh, boy, did we ever!

some very lovely ladies had an idea to surprise our friend, kristin, for her birthday. everyone was so nervous that the secret would be blown, but we totally pulled it off! a wonderful video slideshow of our photos was unveiled to kristin this morning and she was blown away. it was so great. i seriously couldn't stop smiling all day!!

cross another one of the list!

(i have a couple more surprises in the works . . . can hardly wait to reveal them!)

#23 - learn to crochet

(bad blogger, bad! i uploaded these photos right away, but didn't add any text to go along with them!)

when i originally posted my list on flickr, erin offered to teach me how to crochet. so, a couple of sundays ago, we met up at birch coffee in the flatiron district and got to it.


my first partially completed, almost correct granny square pentagon. still, not too bad for my first try!


(isn't erin the cutest? i love her hair this length.)



here is erin's much more professional looking granny square. told you she's good. she was a great teacher, too. thanks again, erin! looking forward to our next crafternoon!

#27

#27 on my list is to get my medical file organized. since developing rheumatoid arthritis, the amount of paper work related to my health has grown exponentially. the system i set up last year just wasn't cutting it any more. so, i sorted everything out by doctor with a couple of extra sections for insurance companies, clinic visits, etc. and voila! nice and organized. (although, i can see already that i'm going to need a bigger binder. eeek.)

sixty-four colors

when dani & i met in washington last summer, we decided we needed some kind of collaborative project. i came up with the idea to draw a color each week out of the crayola box of 64 and our project was born. it has been so much fun to hunt for a particular color each week and put them together in a diptych.

sixtyfourcolors.blogspot.com


(my favorite diptych so far)

so many people asked about doing something similar, that we started a group over on flickr. after we do our diptych, the group has the rest of the week to search for that color. want to join in the fun?

and while we're at it - cross #26 off the list!

the list

33 things to do before i turn 34

1. go ice skating in central park
2. walk across the manhattan bridge
3. give my husband lots of kisses (in progress)
4. give my puppy lots of cuddles
5. make something with my sewing machine (find parts first)
6. go to the beach
7. renew my passport
8. learn a new recipe
9. make more handmade gifts
10. surprise someone
11. have my photos published
12. visit at least one new city
13. go to the new museum
14. read five books for fun
15. shoot more film (in progress)
16. practice random acts of kindness (in progress)
17. buy or make curtains for my bare windows
18. give my mom & dad big hugs
19. ride a bicycle
20. play skeeball
21. have dinner at tree
22. mail letters to my favorite people, near & far (in progress)
23. learn to crochet
24. go the macy's thanksgiving day parade &/or the greenwich village halloween parade
25. go to a county fair
26. start a new photo project
27. get my medical file organized
28. shop at more thrift/vintage stores (in progress)
29. open an etsy shop
30. clear out the clutter (in progress)
31. add to the list of flickr friends i have met in real life
32. organize my workspace at home (in progress)
33. document this list

33 things

for my 33rd birthday, i made a list of 33 things to do before i turn 34. i am always so inspired by the lists that andrea, kristin, elizabeth & dani make, so i wanted to give it a whirl this year. elizabeth, in particular, made an awesome mini book to document her last list. i used to scrapbook a lot, but now that everything is online, i haven't done anything. a mini book seems like just the ticket to get back on the crafty track.

so, taking inspiration from elizabeth, her inspiration (elise blaha) and ali edwards' december daily books, here is the beginning of my 33 things book. mostly assembled and waiting for the documentation to begin!

































(can i just say how happy i was to find these sparkly aqua letters at target? and how happy i was to use my new japanese masking tape? hint: the answer is very.)