Monthly Archives: June 2012

Jun29

decals + smoothies

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decals + smoothies

Here is a Photoshop document I put together to try out some decals on my pots. This will be an experiment! I don’t intend to use the full images. There will be lots of slicing going on. They will become less ocean and more color and line. But still ocean-y. If they work at all. We shall see.

I would like nothing more than to be transported into one of these photos right now. The beach is my happy place, and I’ve been a little crabby today. A couple days ago, I started my own version of the Clean cleanse that Blair mentions here. I’d been thinking about doing something like this ever since I had my food-allergy reaction a couple months ago. So here we go. 21 days. (roughly) No coffee, alcohol, wheat, oats, dairy, eggs, soy, or a whole list of other foods. Liquid foods for breakfast and dinner. I’ve been making my own smoothies rather than buying the expensive Clean stuff. I just stick to the Clean Elimination Diet ingredients and try to get a good number of calories and a balance of protein/fat/carbs.

After a few weeks, I’ll add things back into my diet one thing at a time and see how I feel. Maybe I will get some sort of clue about why I haven’t been feeling so great lately. If anything, it will be a good reset. That is, if I can get through the first few days. Crabby.

Jun26

staycation

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staycation

My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece all came out to visit us for a long weekend. So I’ve been away, relaxing with them, making and eating peach crisp and chocolate chip cookies, swimming, going to the movies (“Brave”: so good!), hanging out on the deck, and catching fireflies. (You can see the firefly catchers above. I was playing around with Instagram on Chris’s iPod.) This year we can’t afford plane tickets to anywhere, so we’re grateful for visiting family. The girls were pretty bummed last night when everyone went home, especially poor Charlotte. She’s our sensitive girl. We’re all getting back to normal today: sunscreen, swim lessons, PBJ on the pool’s picnic tables, laundry. (Laundry that I should really be folding right now.)

Jun19

new fiona

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new fiona

The new Fiona Apple album is out! I’ve listened to it about ten times now. Thumbs up! It worked well for both throwing pots and walking. (And of course, just sitting and listening.) Here’s a live performance of one of the songs.

Jun18

unfold

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unfold

I came across the Belgian design studio Unfold last week on the blog Musing About Mud. This is some crazy cool futuristic pottery! They are using 3D printers to extrude coils on a set path, creating some pretty amazing pieces.

While I love things that are handmade, there is also something really intriguing about this process, too.

Check out their work here and watch the 3D printer in action in the video below. (Photos by Kristof Vrancken.)


Jun15

ting ting ting

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ting ting ting

Here are a few of the things that came out of the kiln today. I sure wish they weren’t covered with a crazy amount of crazing (tiny cracks all over the glaze). They are sitting on my work table, and every once in a while I hear another little “ting” as they continue to crackle. So I still have not found my ideal combination of clay and transparent glaze. This clay had crazing problems with multiple commercial clear glazes. Unfortunately, I threw a number of things with this clay on Wednesday, so those pieces will be getting teal and green glazes for sure — no more crazing clear!

I think I am going to try an Aardvark clay next — either Nara Porcelain or Bee Mix 5. I think my heart is in porcelain though. I just like throwing it. I do like Laguna Frost if neither of the Aardvarks work out. Frost just cracks on me occasionally, so if I can avoid that I will. But Frost sure is pretty. It’s so, well, frosty!

One of these days I will finally have a batch of pots that looks the way I want it to and is functional! It just takes so long to experiment with the limited work time I have. This is a test of my patience for sure.

Jun12

8,000 pounds

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8,000 pounds

This is what four tons of gravel looks like. It looks like a sore back to me.

I have been working all spring on creating and leveling a few paths in our yard. It has been a lot of work, and putting down the landscape fabric and gravel is the last step. We also have a few areas that were already covered in gravel, but they have gotten thin. (They get a lot of play. Gravel is a toy, you know.) I’ve been avoiding this last step because, hello — 8,000 pounds of gravel.

The girls were pretty excited when the gravel truck pulled up. How much of an angle does the dump truck need to make before the gravel starts rolling?? Oh the dramatic tension.

I guess it is time to buy a wheel barrow.

Jun10

the mommy, the daddy, and the baby

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the mommy, the daddy, and the baby

Elise had a birthday party for her seventh birthday yesterday. We put together a premiere party for her first short film “The Mommy, The Daddy, and The Baby,” complete with a red-carpet entrance and popcorn. It’s short, so there were several encore presentations. Chris helped Elise out with the technical parts of this — she wrote it and really made all of the directorial decisions herself! I didn’t get to see it until the day of the premiere. What fun!

Jun7

at the park

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at the park

One of the cool things about living in the city where I grew up is being able to take my kids to some of the same places I loved as a child. Some places aren’t the same. Leawood City Park used to be so much more awesome. Today’s playgrounds can’t hold a candle to the playgrounds of the ’70s. What, no giant mountain with a volcano ladder coming up the middle and slide down the side? No, just the same old playground equipment you find at every playground. Boo. But some places are just as fun as I remember, like Antioch Park.

I remember how fun it was — but also a little bit scary — to walk over the stepping stones across the pond. I watch the girls hesitate and start to walk a little more slowly across the stones, and I know just what they are feeling. I watch them run through the little old western town buildings, and I know what games they are playing.

The giant rocket ship slide may be gone, but most of the park is still intact, and I love taking them there. I’m glad they love it, too.

Jun5

beach ball

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beach ball

Last weekend, Chris and I got to spend a night away from the kids (only our third night away in seven years of parenthood). We didn’t go anyplace crazy, but it was good to have a whole quiet evening to ourselves — well, not so quiet considering we went to a music festival. Somehow my children manage to make more noise than a stadium full of speakers.

On the way to the Beach Ball, we stopped to check out Chris’s (not husband Chris, friend Chris) new space, Pemberlie, at Brocante Bliss. Her space looked amazing, and you should check it out if you can. Chris (husband Chris) had to restrain me from purchasing everything in the neighboring booth, reminding me of the reality of our Honda Civic. Good stuff though. I will be back with a van and without a husband. You didn’t hear that, Chris (husband Chris).

The concert was a lot of fun, too. I went there mainly to hear The Shins and Kimbra. I think The Joy Formidable took the prize for most entertaining performance though. (It’s always fun to see the lead singer destroy the stage, right?) I’ve also had a Metric song stuck in my head since then. I kind of would have liked to have seen The Shins in a smaller setting with a more attentive audience, but still, I really enjoyed it. I didn’t feel as old as I was afraid I would, and it was quite entertaining to people-watch with all the youth reverting back to ’80s fashions.

Thank you, Gram, for watching the girls. They had so much fun with you. And thanks for coming with me, Chris (husband Chris), even though you didn’t know any of the bands. You did take an awesome spacey photo of Foster the People though.