swallowfield

summer vacation + a giveaway

yesterday was the last day of school for my kids. i usually feel a little more on top of these things, but i've been practically sleepwalking since we got back from brooklyn, so as a result i've been a bit of a slacker mom this week. i didn't bring my camera to school to take a picture of their happy faces as they came running out, and i didn't do all the things i'd meant to do to properly thank their teachers, either. i think/hope they know i appreciate them; i have a bucketful of respect and admiration for teachers.  i don't even feel successful as a parent field trip chaperone most of the time, so i think they are a special breed. and that goes double for the homeschooling parents out there.

anyway, here we are on the first day of vacation.  they have big plans and i have some big deadlines. we'll see how it all pans out.  we made a family decision to turn the tv off for the summer starting on monday.  no more 10am martha stewart for mom this summer (shut up,) and no arthur for the kids. (somewhere in the fine print it says mom can watch random episodes of hbo series on her laptop after they're asleep. shhh. don't tell.)  they have a few week long day camps here and there over the summer, but on the other days i really want a quiet and relaxed routine where we can all get our stuff done + needs met. some of my happiest moments from summers as a kid were being cozied up somewhere with a nancy drew book, or beachcombing and finding the big flat sunny rocks to sit and warm up on after a chilly dip in the ocean.  we'll spend lots of time at the beach,  i know, and hopefully i'll find the time to squeeze my art deadlines in  around the edges.

what are you doing  with your kids this summer,  if you have  any?

damn, it's hard to take a picture of your own neck.

i have a few of the many necklaces i made from my designs left from renegade. (thanks to everyone who bought them there, btw!) leave a comment and i will draw five names of five winners to send a necklace to on sunday, june  22nd at 6pm est.  i think some will be hitting the shop in a few weeks, once we get our groove down, too. ((note: necklaces are all different sizes + shapes and may not look just like this, but they're nice, i promise.))

have a great day.

post-op catch up

oh, hi!  thanks for all of the nice words about the decorations - because you asked, i'll tell you that the auction was a big success. we made a lot of money, i think people had a good time, and it all turned out better than i could have hoped for. i brought my camera but totally forgot to take pictures during the evening (of course) - i got swept away in the event and it was over before i knew it. here's what i will tell you: the decorations were perfect, thanks to the creative genius of ms. meg rooks. they were subtle and lovely and everyone purchased the flowers at the end of the evening to bring home. i am not sure how it came to be that i ended up buying a branch of flowers i'd mostly made myself, but there you have it. everyone had to have a few of them. the addition of beer, wine and food this year seemed quite welcome. (beer and wine especially.  funny how that works.) the bartender basically ran out of libations, so i say it was a success, right? it felt social, happy and relaxed in a nice way.  and after swearing up and down i wouldn't do it again, i found myself driving down the road with meg on monday morning, planning next year's decorations theme. d'oh. i think it's kind of like labor.

+ i have to say the flowers are pretty addictive to make - yesterday i worked on making some fabric versions in a similar style. i'm still teaching myself and i think the technique needs more tweaking, but they're fun to do + positively seem to signal spring, don't you think?

this week i am catching up and doing some overdue work - around the house (hello, laundry, legos and dust)

+ working on a commissioned drawing that's based on another one i made last fall.

and today i went along on a third grade field trip to the art museum to see bright common spikes exhibit by john bisbee,
which completely knocked my socks off. check out the video here if you're interested.  the day got even better when i followed up the museum visit with lunch with a good friend at the green elephant. holy yummy vegetarian, batgirl.  i might have a new local favorite.