Cats about Town, The Rice Museum, etc.

A few photos taken in the earlier part of January.  Sorry to be a little quiet around these parts - I'm working away on jewelry and between that, my real job and trying to get out occasionally, there isn't a lot of time!

I did reignite my Pinterest account (it's funny to notice my whims swing to and fro between pinning images and tumbling them) so if you're on Pinterest, we can follow each other there, if you like! (I've also got a Tumblr but it hasn't been updated in a little while.)

NYE

Photo taken by Dave sometime during the late afternoon on 1-1-2011.

2011 was a pretty good year for me.  I took a huge risk and quit a job that was destroying my soul, draining my energy and causing my hair to fall out (and was soon after rewarded with a wonderful job I wouldn't have otherwise been able to take.)  I proved to myself that I'm still capable of hustling up a living income doing things like selling old clothes.  Although I had really bad anxiety for so much of the year, and I although I wish that my anxiety hadn't caused me to avoid doing things that probably would have been fun or good for me to do, I did manage to overcome my fear that having an acetylene tank in my house would be the death of me (wasn't,) that riding the bus would give me fleas, pink eye, scabies or bed bugs (didn't,) and I am (slowly) learning to silence the persistent inner-mantra that says I'm not good, or capable, or talented enough to succeed at what I try.  I'm happy to have been able to surround myself with really good people; to have made new friends who I hope to know for a long time, and to have done a pretty good job at staying in touch with old friends who live far away.  Almost everyone I care about from Colorado has come to visit me since I moved to Oregon two years ago and I am very grateful and lucky for it.  Besides that, I'm grateful for my fat stacks of postcards and letters from some very dear people, and I'm grateful for Dave, more than I could coherently express here.

I don't really resolve to do anything differently.  I'd like to read more (my friend Janine-In-Alaska has by now probably exceeded her goal of reading 100 books in 2011 and she's an inspiration for me to attempt the same, even if I set a number closer to 1/2 or 1/3rd of hers.)  I'd also like to write more – despite receiving a degree concentrated in writing, and emphatic encouragement from my professors and thesis committee to pursue a career as a poet, I haven't put down anything of note in nearly two years.  (My friend Daniel says this isn't the end of the world and I believe him, but it's still unnerving.)  I would like to spend more time outdoors: in the woods, on the coast, near water, especially in summer.  I want to return the favor of visiting new homes and cities of friends who have come to visit me, as well as visiting my grandparents, nearly all nonagenarians and for the most part, quite lucid.  I'd like to see jewelry-making grow to be more profitable (there are some really cool plans in the works thanks to the help of Dave and my friend Megan.)  I hope to get better at remembering when movies that I want to see are coming out and making the effort of going to see them in theaters, because watching on my 13" laptop screen can be a little underwhelming.  I'd also like to give myself permission to buy Days of Heaven, Badlands, Hitchcock's Rebecca, Gilda, Last Year at Marienbad and Easy Rider on DVD so I can watch them whenever I feel sad or nostalgic and not have to walk all the way to Video Verite to rent them.  That's about it.

Real Christmas Gifts To Myself

I told myself I would hold off on getting myself anything for Christmas this year (normally, if I buy anything for me around the holidays, it's pretty small) but yesterday, I ended up making two little splurges that I happen to like a whole lot.  

This blue, silk wrap dress from Anthropologie (purchased second-hand, but next to new) and these earrings made by my lovely, very talented friend Annie, who also shot the Eden look book a few months ago.  And that's it 'till the New Year!

Lately

Some more recent photos via my Instagram.  I've been working a lot lately in anticipation of taking a week off to go home to Colorado for Christmas.  I'm so, so, so excited!  Sunshine on snow, cheap (good) thrifting, (hopefully) seeing some friends I haven't seen since moving to Oregon two years ago, plus some friends I've been lucky to see / visit with frequently in that time, plus parents, plus home cooking and driving around listening to Cruisin' Oldies, the primo oldies station and Open Air, my best friend Jessi's new radio station (well, it's not technically hers, it belongs to Colorado Public Radio and she is the music director.)  Five sleeps till Colorado!

My friend Carly (Ng)'s basement studio (well, her whole house, really) is fantastically decorated and has motivated me to craft some DIY motivational signs of my own for my workspace.

 ThanksgivNG at Carly's house.

 Post ThanksgivNG karaoke at Chopsticks II.

 I had the pleasure of meeting this adorable cross-eyed kitty on a walk home from work.

 Sunset in Irving Park.

My first trip ever to the bins.  I found two vintage (working!) table lamps, a carved agate candle-holder and a great little ceramic vase / jar that's the perfect size for coffee spoons.  All for $6!  Now I understand what all the hype is about (though I believe it when I hear that the bins are not as good as they used to be.)

 Carly making friends with a sweet pup.

The most beautiful kitten I have ever seen.

 My pretty mum in a tree at age 25.

 My Dad's family (he's on the far right - I love those bell bottoms and that beard!)

I recently cleaned up and organized my "paper life."  This is the stack of correspondence I've received – just from friends, family is another stack – since moving to Portland.  Needless to say, I felt moved and very, very lucky all day after seeing all these wonderful letters and cards again.

A beautiful blue-sky day.  For whatever reason, it has been dry and sunnier than normal and feels just like a Colorado winter, which makes me really happy but also even readier to go back!

Mules

I'm in a bit of a cart-before-the-horse situation.  I wrote a few weeks ago about a vintage kimono I'd just bought with the intention of wearing around the house as a robe.  The only issue is that it's quite long, long enough that it drags on the floor a bit if I'm barefoot or wearing super-flat shoes.  The pattern is along the hem so there's absolutely no shortening it.

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Consequently, I'm on the hunt for 1950's Spring-o-Later style heeled mules but am having a very difficult time finding anything that will work because (a) the vintage ones that I find on Etsy and fall in love with are never, ever, ever a size 10 (or if they are, they're woefully overpriced) and (b) all of the other ones I've found online seem to have been designed for pole dancing instead of puttering around the house.  Xtabay had a lovely collection of these shoes last spring (some pictured here) but again, they were all far smaller sizes than I could wear.

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The Loved One collaborated with Jacques Levine a little while back and their designs are pretty much exactly what I'm hunting for (well, maybe minus the leather rosette) but they don't seem to actually be available anywhere?  Or perhaps I'm just not looking in the right places...?

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For now, I suppose, the search continues...