In Between

Hello!
I'm alive I'm alive, don't worry. By the title you probably think I've been away for the past week because I made a baby. Hah! No, I've actually been busy welcoming back my creative pulses, trying to squeeze them for every drop -- hopefully these lil lemons are here to stay for a while. Alex is the name of the new dresser we built last night!

I got these really neat drawers that seems nobody wants to get rid of on Craiglist because apparently they are that awesome. I've been eyeing the Alex drawers from IKEA for months now but being on a budget, never could justify the cost. But in the end, our trip to IKEA this weekend turned out to be a really good decision. I love that the portfolio drawers are wide enough to carry delicate pieces of paper for crafts, and sturdy enough to hold tools and knick knacks. Speaking of which, HOW in the HEYDIDDLE does all THAT fit into THAT box so neatly? It's a mystery. I took one look at that single bag of screws and said to myself, Crap. This is going to be fun. I ought to document this.

I laid out all the pieces for the photo but it turns out that doing that organized the whole process from the start so it was pretty easy to figure out what goes where with what when and how. I love when things work themselves out like that, don't you? So, I told Jason not to help me until he was done with his work, and one by one, we managed to piece the whole thing together in less than two hours.


In that two hour duration of building, I remember thinking to myself the following:
"Wow, it actually fits. "
"Smells slightly of Japan. "
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh..."
"This is especially cool because I BUILT IT."

Ta-da! We even did it free of cursing and injuries. Isn't he adorable? I'm going to push him right under the desk there, and start putting away those cluster*#$! of paper [stage left] RIGHT NOW. Bye!

These photos can't have been from more than four years ago, but it seems so long ago that we've played around like this. Funny how some things seem more beautiful the further and further they get pushed into the past. Like how movies used to be "OMG$4.00AREYOUKIDDINGME?". Or how knocking out your two front teeth by falling from a tree really fucking hurts at the time, but now it's a good story. Or that tragic evening I ran away from home in the rain and I thought I would die but really it turned out to be a truly defining experience in my teen age.

These are my sisters. One is older and the other is younger -- we're no more than two years apart each and yes, we fought a lot. I probably started 90% of all those fights, of those, 99% involved smacking or throwing of objects. We really needed a brother.

See the entire set at my portfolio site. Comment on the grain and I will virtually throw a Rubix cube at you.

And it doesn't have to be super brand new, I just ask that it rides smooth and fits my body comfortably so that I can ride and ride for miles and miles and feel the wind on my face and the sun on my back and forget that everything bad disappears and all that's left is beautiful and magnificent and brilliant.


Oh, and that it's no less stylish than exemplified in these lovely photographs above.

Ugh. Is anyone else feeling as unmotivated as I have been lately? I can't seem to find a rhythm of things. My pipeline of projects is never full and lasts about oh, a day, before I drop it. For what, exactly? A movie. My interests lately have been drawn to movies movies movies. I can't get my Netflix DVD's fast enough. There's a GREAT sounding new movie released nearly every week this summer so far. 500 Days of Summer, The Hurt Locker, Funny People, TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, Twilight: New Moon, Moon, Inglourious Bastards, Paper Heart, Harry Potter, Public Enemies, District 9, Ponyo. (I'm bolding what I haven't yet seen but bet your bottom dollar that I damn sure will.)

I guess the point of this was to acknowledge my lack of motivation, with hopes that things will turn around. Soon.

"... So put on a happy face!"
I am actually deeply looking forward to snowboarding season. Look at these blue skies taken last winter on a ride up to North Lake Tahoe. Can you feel the 7AM cold against your face? The virgin powder grinding beneath your board, the feeling of weightlessness as you fly over the mountain... oh my god look what you've done to me!

Everyone, if there is one thing my boyfriend is passionate about, it's snowboarding. He's been doing it for like 10 years, long before I showed up in the picture. I'll let him tell you which one he loves more. When we first started dating it was a long distance relationship of a two and a half hour drive between us, leaving us roughly two days out of schedules to see each other. After a couple of months of that routine, winter came and changed it up on me. Our new routine consisted of him coming up the night before to spend the night, only to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn the next day to head to the mountains for the day. All day. Every weekend. CONSISTENTLY. Albeit I was toasty warm in bed, sleeping like a normal human being, I began to feel a sort of resent for the mountains, as if they were taking half my weekend with him away from me.

Stupid, I know. I'm a girl.

The next winter Jason came up with a rather genius solution. He decided that I should come along with him! Me, his girlfriend, the most NON-ATHLETIC PERSON ALIVE, to join him in a recreational sport. (That sentence, with that combination of words, by the way, should not exist.) His Christmas gift to me was a new board and bindings and boots. ummmm, awesome?

Let's just say that season kicked my ass. Badly. The next one, this past one, got a lot better. When there was soft snow my confidence boosted and I learned to go fast and get used to the speed. I could only ride heel-side and only just started to learn how to carve (I should probably insert the word "barely" in there somewhere) at the end of last season. I guess that's where I'll pick up next! My goal this year is to be able to keep up with them. Oh, and to not have to push myself along with my hands when it gets flat. That's just embarrassing.

Talk about eye catching. Don't just just want to melt in this moment? I need a trip to the mountains.
Hugh Forte via greenweddingshoes

Oh dear. I wouldn't mind cruising around town on this baby from Gary Fisher. I really think that this is the sort of exercise I need -- cruisinnnn'...

Imagine having this right above my couch, or even above my long desk. DAHHHBEAUTYYYY 3-pockets please.javascript:void(0)

Who brings a twinkle to my eyes? Jason, my partner in crime. He’s so close to me that I sometimes don’t see him clearly or notice the things he does for me. You know how it is. I’ll go through rotten phases when I think “he’s not sweet enough” or “he isn’t thoughtful enough” but literally as soon as the thought crosses my mind, he does something absolutely darling to flat out prove me wrong.
I have this Blankie that I’ve loved and cherished since childhood. Despite knowing how much it means to me, he occasionally teases me by calling it a “towel”. Grr.

I've taken it with me on every vacation, road trip, and sleepover I've ever been to. One corner used to live in my mouth. I had a technique for rubbing the soft fabric on my upper lip while sucking my thumb (a habit I didn't break until 4th grade or something ridiculous). Today I have a way of wrapping it around my head and over my eyes when I can't sleep, creating a cloud of soft warmth that soothes me like a charm.

The other morning we were getting ready to start the day and he’s uncharacteristically making the bed for us. Upon leaving the house I run back inside to grab something and see that after making the bed, he’d arranged two pillows and Blankie to form a HUGE smiley face, as if to make up for all the times he’s called it a towel. And I totally forgive him because of this moment.



Moments like these are common with Jason. He'll contradict my negative thoughts with a sleight of his hand and completely melt my heart. I don't know, maybe it doesn't take much to make me happy, but in my eyes, he totally turns my world right side up.