THIS is temporary seasonal unemployment.

The Penland Gallery closes for the winter months, and it felt like as soon as I really settled into my new job, this winter hiatus began. It is not a bad thing: I am visiting friends and family and getting away from the wintery mountains for a while...(although I do look forward to some snow when I get home...the novelty of real winter has not worn off for this California girl)(It probably will soon enough.)

(On a side note: yes, I will be returning to the gallery in the spring, and yes, I still like my job.)

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I visited Kentucky, and Susie and I partied like a couple of sick little girls.

Books and Fevers.

Shortly thereafter, I packed up my cold-medicine and flew to Texas. It hurt my ears a lot. Don't fly when you're sick, if you can avoid it.

I'll be here a while longer, and then head further west with my big brother and my NEW CAMERA.

New CAMERA!? So why isn't this blog post full of pictures? Because I don't have it yet....I just submitted my order online, after talking and thinking about it for months and months.

I have been unhappy without a camera. And I haven't been blogging, or documenting anything, or posting work on Etsy, and I mostly blame this on the lack of a camera.

Some recent things:

• Replaced a watch battery that has been dead for a couple of years.
• Ordered film for my Polaroid land-camera. Three cheers for tangible photographs!
• Covered my parents' kitchen table with scraps of paper, spools of thread, and tiny books. I call this area of the house the "exploritorium," and they are supportive.
• Seasoned a cast iron dutch oven for my parents.
• Reconstituted some of my sourdough-starter for my parents.
• Shared the secrets of making sourdough bread with my parents. Their minds have been blown.
• Bought an $8 olive-green smith-corona typewriter on the first full day I was here, and carried it home on foot. In the rain.
• Participated in late-night Christmas eve "reindeer games" with my big brother. Much stifled hysterical laughter.
• Made "black sticky gingerbread" from a very pretty site my boss told me about.
• Won at Scrabble...a few times.
• Watched an embarrassing number of episodes of Law and Order...

Somewhere far away, he is watching water drip from the
faucet and wondering if he's able to jump on the ceiling fan... 

And since my blog is presently this boring, I'll go ahead and add that I miss this guy. Thank you (a million times) to my roomie for keeping him out of trouble while I'm away.....

I'LL TELL THE WORLD.

A while back I found this vintage Valentine via RomanceWriter on Etsy. (I was searching for globes.) I like how sweet and slightly aggressive it is.

I haven't had a proper Valentine for some time, but all you really need in mid-february is grocery-store tulips, a nasty sinusy headcold, a humidifier, aerosmith videos on youtube, "third rock from the sun" on netflix, and a few days of aggressive bookbinding.





The little orangey/red book is a prototype of my new favorite binding (well, not totally new to me, but new favorite. what?) Single-needle-link-stitch with a concertina and hard covers. Sewn with a curved needle. Mmm.

Proper mail is essential for a good mid-February too.



Handmade Valentine from dear Vikki Cruz, and bits and pieces and veryfine penmanship from Beth Schaible.

This? Good.

I think this project is worth mentioning on the ol' blog. Kyle Durrie of Power and Light Press is raising funds for Moveable Type: cross-country adventures in printing. Check it out.

What really delights me about this project? The scale model. Obviously.

I have a cold. I am not happy about it.

Let me tell you about September in Los Angeles.

After being back in LA as a grown-up for 3 years, I think I finally get it.

For a few days I ask myself, "did it cool off dramatically, or am I catching a cold?"

Then it warms up, and I ask myself, "did it warm up again, or do I have a fever?"

This repeats several times, and wears me down until I DO catch a cold.

It has been very cool and pretty the past few days, but I have not totally enjoyed it, (see above) add to this general fatigue of start-of-the-semester, and working hard to finish piles of books.

Speaking of bookbinding, I have discovered, (and I think I discovered this last year too, but have learned my lesson. again.) that 29/30 seems to be the age when sitting on the floor for hours, tearing/folding paper does not work so well. Don't get me wrong: I am damn flexible for any age, and won't stop working on the floor sometimes....but my GOD! has my back been killing me this week! This morning I got up at about 5am, just thinking, "I will be so much more comfortable standing." After work I was flat on my back on my yoga matt for a good long while, in my skinny hallway.......cause, you know, there's paper all over the floor in the living room.

But you know, rather than making it all about age, (Michelle,) I can also say that 29/30 is a perfect age to consider needing a BIG good-working-height table...right? I mean, I own my own tear-bar now. I'm moving up in the world.

Here are a couple of things to look at: no more complaints, I swear!



One of my students brought me (and the class) early-birthday-cupcakes today.
She works in a cupcake store.
(Yes, you read that right.)
More exciting than the cupcakes? The arrival of some new metal RULERS and yardsticks for CSUN Printmaking! And they are flush-to-edge, which is my favorite kind.

I love rulers.

So, speaking of new and birthdays and stuff, um, I bought a new computer! Long overdue, AND Apple had a back-to-school free ipod w/ a new laptop promotion. For students. AND educators.

Everybody wins.

Here, enjoy this obligatory narcissistic "I-have-a-new-laptop-with-a-camera" picture. As those of you who know me really well can attest, (Jenni, Maranda, you with me?) Few things in life delight me more than making faces at myself.



So this new toy is trouble.

But, hey! LOOK AT THAT PILE OF BOOKS BEHIND ME!

(and I moved them there for the photo...I don't actually store finished things so haphazardly. And anyway, they're not all finished.)

I promise I'll tell you about my summer. I promise.

Exhale.

Oh my... was I ever sick! Sick and busy. Narcissistic as it may be, I had to document what my days were like there for a while...bundled up like this, feeling dreadful, but binding the hell outta some books. My apartment is trashed at present...like a busy, sick, artist lives there. yuck.

Things are better now! Better! Better! BETTER! I'm better, for starters. Still a bit of a cough, but I'm not depending on cold medicine to get me through days or nights. ah. Well, maybe still the nights.

This is the end of the semester at CSUN. Today I got most of my grading done...I wasn't drinking coffee while I was sick, so today it hit me pretty hard. I also made a rather long list of things my students are going to CLEAN on Thursday! I plan on bragging about my awesome intro class in a separate post. later. tomorrow.

UNIQUE was great. I really was doubtful about how it would go, what with my illness and fatigue and all...but it was good, and I'm glad I did it. More about it in another post.



And what else? Rainbows. It rained on Monday and the LA winter that I love so much seems to have arrived. There is snow on the mountain-tops, and it is clear enough to see the mountains. People are putting up Christmas lights. LA is beautiful this time of year.

Sick. And "Plenty" at Happy.

I had a productive, yet restful thanksgiving break. But out of nowhere on Sunday a horrible monster took up residence in my sinuses, and I have been miserable the past couple of days. If I'm not making any sense in this post, its because of this beast pounding on the inside of my brain.

But the sinus monster isn't going to stop time. The end of the semester is in sight, and I have to pull myself together.

Anyway, check out the small works show "Plenty" at the cute little boutique "Happy." Here is a recent feature on apartment therapy. If you're able, come out on Friday and hang out in my neighborhood!

March Cold.

I have a nasty cold. This was taken a couple of days ago, when I was still in denial about being sick.

I've had so much going on, and I know that this sickness was partially caused by being run-down.

I went to Nashville the weekend before last, drove up to Murray, Kentucky to eat at Hihburger and see friends, and then back down to Nashville for a college friend's wedding. It was a really, really good time. I'd post pictures, but I have not scanned my polaroids yet.

I saw plenty of ice-storm aftermath:



It did snow a bit on my drive back to Nashville, but just enough to delight this city mouse.



It seems like mere moments after I got home to Los Angeles, my friend Jenni flew in to town, and stayed with me this past week. I was NOT on vacation, and actually had tons of work to do for my show in Bakersfield, but I managed to burn the candle at both ends, and we had a great time. I got to show Jenni some of my favorite California things, and we discovered some new cool stuff. And of course we laughed like crazy about stupid stuff the way we have since we met in eighth grade.



Jenni helped me haul my work up to Bakersfield this past weekend, and then we took the long way home...a very long way home. We took the time to trespass in orange groves, and we found a wonderful honey farm on highway 126.





And we went to the Griffith J. Griffith Observatory... Twice.



Most of these are Jenni's pictures, by the way. So we had a splendid time, in spite of the stress, and business, and work, and sickness. Now I'm just trying to pull myself together and feel better.

Say, my show at Surface Gallery in Bakersfield opens this coming Friday, from 5-9pm. The work is there, and perhaps even on the walls. I'm looking forward to seeing all the pieces together, because the way I've been working on them has been very one-at-a-time, due to my teeny-tiny apartment.



Do come. "A splendid time is guarenteed for all." I'll be wearing a stunning new frock from Anthropologie. Well, I wore it to Whitney's wedding, but its new-ish...I think all the smoky smell from the "after party" has aired out by now.

My cold medicine is starting to make me sleepy, so I should conclude this post.

Good evening.

There is a Tavern in the Town.

I'm finally home from my adventures on the rocky edge the atlantic ocean. I came home with many bits of shell, my pretty bound books, twenty polaroids and a lovely cold.

Later this week I will give a more detailed account about my all-too-short time at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, but for now, I'll just share the definitive lyrics to a song Bonnie taught us late one night......



While I was away, I reached the "100" mark in sales in my Etsy shop, followed quickly by "101". Thank you all! New work will be posted for sale this month.

More news and goodness in the coming days.....fare-thee-well.