Let's get this party started.

check.

check.

check.

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EXTRA EXTRA

GIRL LOCKED BEHIND SEWING MACHINE CRANKS OUT CAROUSEL DRAWINGS FOR SEPTEMBER DEADLINE. 

ENTIRE WEEKEND SPENT WATCHING LIFETIME MOVIES. someone help. AND 

RE-THREADING A TRUSTWORTHY but angry SINGER MACHINE. 

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In other news. 

YOU CAN'T GO AROUND LIKE THAT!!!

without your swim cap.

there.

That's better.

___

Moon River

I have this love/love relationship with Breakfast at Tiffany's. 

Yes. love/love. That is what I meant to say.

I love how when I first watched it I thought, WHY DOES EVERYONE LOVE THIS?! Audrey Hepburn's character is crazy!. I am having trouble following her. She lives in this alternate universe and people just encourage her to...

[silence]

Then I look in the mirror. And I tuck my hair behind my ear and go along...

researching the structure of a camel's face for a new theater project.

And 

thinking of ways a green baby puppet can enter the stage. via parachute. 

( every thing I say is for real. )

. more to come on the recent projects I am working on.

really busy

which means more NY travels. and you know what that means. 

new ways to carry sculpture on trains. in streets. on subways. and under tables.

oh. updates will happen. 

when they happen.

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I love/love Breakfast at Tiffany's because there can't be any hate for the writing behind it. It's smart. It's funny. It's clever. and then look. 

I am one of those people who love it. too.

 Truman Capote. 

makes me smile. and reach for a highlighter.

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Tiffany's

It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name." 

— Truman Capote

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Holly Golightly: You know the days when you get the mean reds?
Paul Varjak: The mean reds. You mean like the blues?
Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you’re getting fat, and maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid, and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling? "

— Truman Capote

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"It's a bore, but the answer is good things only happen to you if you're good. Good? Honest is more what I mean. Not lawtype honest--I'd rob a grave, I'd steal two-bits off a dead man's eyes if I thought it would contribute to the day's enjoyment--but unto-thyself-type honest. Be anything but a coward, a pretender, an emotional crook, a whore: I'd rather have cancer than a dishonest heart. Which isn't being pious. Just practical. Cancer may cool you, but the other's sure to." 

— Truman Capote

 

(That last quote above is the kind of thought that reminds me there is nothing holding me back and everything pushing me forward. My stomach gets tight when I read this one. I love it that much. Be honest. About who you are. That's all. How genius. How serious. How encouraging.) 

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.newest tablet drawing.

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So. I love the story. 


no matter how disjointed Holly's thoughts seem. 

I think the best things are disjointed. 

And in being so, make a lot of good sense. 

Want to see something?    

Look. 

You can be extremely mature and childlike at the same time. 

*

*

*

I hope.

DISTRACTED.

Rearrange your LIFE

So this kind of stuff is normal for me.

It's not that I am prone to horrible things. It's that I step in gum.

Exhibit A. above

and birds poop on me when running and stuff. I am cool with it. because it can be hilarious.

Just sayin...

I think they are small reminders to chill out on whatever "rush" I think I am in.

Because I always think I am in one.

Most recently:

I committed to hanging work in a coffee shop. You may be familiar with the place. If you aren't. Look out your window. You should see about 6.

And I should also say that I am under their spell --> just like most of you. It is an addiction and no, I'm not getting help. I got a Gold Card.

and the longer you love this stuff the more complicated your order gets until you are THE person you used to laugh at. And personally, I try and word my order with pauses and in such a way to make it look like the customizing I do is a lot less than... "yep that's it.. um. oh also and can you throw one pump of sugar free vanilla in there?"

and they're all like- "let me repeat that" and I'm all like- "please don't. I'm embarrassed."

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And I try and change my routine to spice up my weekdays.

The best idea I had recently was to eat Life cereal for lunch at the office.

I haven't had it in a while and now I'm severely addicted again like I was during 9th grade softball season.

Although try and transport a small amount of soy milk to work for your lunch cereal. It's dumb. Take the whole thing. I am sometimes brilliant.

According to a reliable source I found this out when I Googled for some Life Cereal info:

Life is a breakfast cereal made of whole grain oats, distributed by the Quaker Oats Company. It was introduced in 1958[1]. The cereal's advertisements currently sport the slogan "Life is full of surprises".

-Wikipedia. is my source.

BECAUSE I ALWAYS TRUST IT WITH EVERYTHING.

Note: Life Cereal generates that whole nostalgic reaction I get when I shoot back to my childhood and the rituals that comfort me when my todays go crazy. You know. the ones that put you in the cereal box fort from third grade Thursday mornings when you had to eat fast or you'll miss the bus. But there was always enough time to read the back of the box for the 45345th time.

I think their slogan should be " REARRANGE YOUR LIFE"

My point is. You should shake it up sometimes. Rearrange what you usually do. Even if that means taking a bit of nostalgia with you.

Because there is a lot of stepping-in-gum happening. but that's not the best shake up to your day. The best is when you have on a new pair of flats or when you are newly addicted to Trevor Hall's Who You Gonna Turn To? or when you know you are going to bike to neighborhood karaoke on a weeknight or when you spend the night on your deck reading by strings of Christmas lights.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So switch it up.

Eat cereal for lunch. and do other things

Like this.

In closing, I would like to show you a short project I just completed.

It is a photo documentary I did at work called:

The Life of a Balloon Dog

Come on. is that not cute.

Shortly after this documentation, the dog unravelled into a noodle and wilted away. RIP.

Watermelon Parade.

If I ever complain about things. Remind me that today I don't have poison ivy on my face. (Unless of course I do have it on that particular day.) because that has happened. And that felt close to a worst case wake up scenario. It was a lesson in humility, walking through Target.

And FYI. poison ivy hurts sometimes more than itches. Word.

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In other news.

If I complain, remind me how good it is that this picture is not fake. or staged. But that I do own a bike with a white chain.

Because when the bike shop says, "We can replace that chain with a regular one or.. wait. we have colored chains if that is important to you."

I say: "Yes. Color is important to me."

note: slight jest and light heartedness behind the bike shop statement.
complete seriousness and focus in mine.

Color is my business.

See:

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We may or may not have been planning to make smores.

In the oven.

and setting off the fire alarm.

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But, in a different kind of colorful,

 some things are seriously hard and disheartening.

And that is all part of a journey. Ask the cast members of the Bachelorette. ok.

So it is great that, along the way, you can peace out from big decisions and projects and ride your bike to a Watermelon Festival.

And celebrate what you have.

And celebrate where you are.

And celebrate that you are going.

moving.

working.

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P.S. 


for the past two weekends,

my sister has performed in an outdoor theater production of Pippin.

Look at her on the left- throwing it down all Bob Fosse style.

Theater + Outside = oneofthebestthingsinlife.

seriously. add those letters and you get that!

Not.

But look at her go.

She's a full time nurse. delivering babies in the day. and dancing in a theater at night.

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And if you know the story of Pippin, you know it is super appropriate to this post.

The prince desperately searches for meaning and magic and extraordinary things.
But he realizes that he was searching for things that were empty. and less real.
and that the real extraordinary magic is in relationships and in the richness of your life.

It is not about being clouded by expectations of better things.  But about being content.
 and loving what is right in front of you.

how full is your cup?

Mine is super full. even though there is that great big crack down the side of it.

Character people. Character.

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labor and delivery

It is easy to get carried away. to think of possibilities and ideas. to make lists. and dream of projects. and soon, I have a big, fat, fictitious pile of what-could-bes and wouldn't-they-love-thems and maybe-this-weekends


but it is most important. for me. to keep working. 


And building. 


So sometimes I have to take a DVD into my studio and shut the door for a few hours.

This week: Freaks and Geeks.


but let's be honest, is that not every week?

Because huge plans are huge. and the only way to get them done is to start on them. 


Sh. 

A puppet is being born.

                                    

                                                                                                         ....and this story continues

little pieces of my heart are scattered about. here goes one more in another direction.

My dear friend Katie is moving.

she will be taking a piece of 

The Carousel Series 

with her 

Love you so bad. Miss you so bad.

But if you're a carousel horse. then so am I. And we are attached to the same carousel. So if you can't see me, ask the little operator man in the middle to lean back. I'm on the other side.

xoxo. All the best. My heart is sad and happy at the same time.

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