Project Ride

I have this thing with bicycles, or well, I have this thing with them being stolen from me... My first bike was a Specialized Hard Rock, (good money. good quality) stolen a mere two months after my move to AZ. That's when I was informed that I was living in the bike theft capital of the world. Not sure how accurate that is but I can attest to it's partial truth. After the Specialized was ripped from my heart, yes, ripped, I only purchased used and undesirable bikes, be it aesthetics or quality. A smart choice as each bike was subsequently stolen from me.

Will you take a moment and cross your fingers because I think I might just get attached all over again...

I bought a used Trek cruiser off of Craigslist two weeks ago and I'm super excited. I've been looking for a bike for several months. When I say looking, I mean scouring the internet, going to shops, reading articles, soliciting the advice of friends, test-riding. No joke. I thought I might purchase a new cruiser but I was hesitant because they all come in blah ugly pastel colors. Then a friend of mine, well versed in the bike world, deterred me from my original ugly options because they were low quality. I thank him on multiple levels, for saving me. Finding the Trek was a dream come true because it's much better quality and because with the help of another amazing friend (this dude can take your car apart and put it back together and it will run better), I'm breaking down my bike, painting it, replacing a few things, and putting it back together again.

This is going to be so much fun! In fact, we already broke the bike down and WOW! Bikes are ridiculously awesome. Here are a few pics.






Just wait till I sand it, paint it, and put it all back together again... I'm so excited.

Your finger crossing on my behalf is so helpful! You may uncross them now.

xoM

eleven.eleven.eleven

Eleven Haikus For Eleven/Eleven

Here they are:

On it being 11/11/11

Sun up then rain down
Today’s elevens get wet
Let’s go for a walk

Twix philosophy

I eat in layers
First Chocolate then caramel.
The shortbread, my dream

I haven't the faintest idea what you just said...

My hearing is bad
so i just nod and smile.
A question? Wait, what?

Today

First I went to work
Worked and worked then came home
Ugh! But now, there’s pie.

On not fitting in

Sandra reminds me,
we are our own puzzles and...
we fit perfectly.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

My toothbrush is gone.
Strange, my brother is gone too....
This is a bad sign.

Portion control, What’s it worth?

I just ate fourteen
bite size snickers candy bars
note to self, king size

Wha' Happened?

Dear V, Where are you?
It's eleven eleven
We planned to party...


New Bed

This bed is all mine.
soft soft memory soft
I'm a queen daily.

What She Said

Patiently I wait
For all of you to realize
How awesome I am

Hello Atrophy

Oh, it's you again.
You come so quickly!
Just go! Leave me sore.


and two to grow on...
My life lately

I feel like dancing.
Kissing would also be nice...
Hmmm.... guess I'll watch Bones.

It’s not conceit if it’s true…

In this world, my friends
Are the luckiest people.
Because they have me


And, a special 11 syllable haiku 3, 5, 3...

Not the best scary movie partner in the world

What was that?
No, Don't go downstairs!
Idiots!

I promise, I can count. I just got carried away... )

Have I told you lately that I love you?

Theoldman, (his coinage, not mine) likes to ask me that question every once in a while. Nobody else asks it of me and I haven't ever repeated it to anyone else. There's a sentiment in the phrase that is deeply connected to him and it's fascinating to type it out to you.

I was at a musical fireside this evening. Quite the array of performers and levels. Mostly piano, mostly a community enjoying music. In the mix was a young man of asian descent who completely captivated me. It wasn't just that he was playing great, but it was also how he played. I love when musicians become an extension of their music, the sounds resonating through their bodies. It's quite magical. And then, because I'm a dancer, I start envisioning the choreography I'd create for the piece. (female with short hair, black leotard, short black pleated skirt, barefoot...if only you could see the movements). I stray though... this young man was playing a familiar song from the soundtrack of my early childhood, which song came from a piano where my Dad sat and pounded out the years of our lives.

Theoldman is a lawyer. Or well, was a lawyer until he retired. Now he's a farmer. I guess he's also a musician... Really, he is a writer and a musician. Wait... he is an artist! This is the first time I've ever considered my dad to be an artist. It's true though, strange and true.

My mom is an artist, too. She denies it. She's like Maverick with her creativity. He takes a toothpick and a tube sock and builds a shopping mall, she takes a toothpick and a tube sock and builds a home, barbie furniture, halloween costumes, and science projects.

Wow, I did not begin this post thinking I would write a tribute to my parents. Instead, I was feeling a love for life and for art. It makes sense though, now that I think about it... I am my parents' daughter, both are artists. Life and art right there.

Sometimes you wonder why you ever thought things were unclear... In a split second everything can come into focus.

Who has cookies long enough to keep them in a cookie jar?

My real problem is not keeping the cookies long enough to put them in the jar, it's getting the cookie dough onto the sheet before it detours to my mouth.

I don't know why but I feel I've just awakened from a long slumber...

Recently I've been having my way with the way I see the world. My world that is...

Here for instance are my lampshades...once boring, now unboring



All the coloring I do on pages of notebooks, featured here, backlit.



I thought it was pretty cool.



Now my lampshade can wear my earrings when I'm not... and although you can't really see, there's all these designs from the holes I poked in the shade. Depending on your perspective the light sorta pops out at you.


I was walking through ikea one day staring at all their made up rooms and was like, "come on you guys, nobody has a bookshelf full of only white books..."

You know what I'm talking about because you've walked those showrooms and thought about moving in to those monochromatic, streamlined, comfortable rooms.. I really do love Ikea. Those color coordinated bookshelves are intriguing to me (along with most everything else), so beautiful. I went home that day, and, out of curiosity, began to sort all my books by color...

turns out some people do have shelves full of only white books... and red...and blue...



Last night I lay in bed awake with the darkness, all these words and thoughts and ideas swirling with the tick tock of my internal bedtime clock. I climbed out of bed two different times to scribble some scrabble with a pen I only hoped had ink onto the pages of a book that I hoped were blank...



Now I have this to decipher...

I am excited because I'm participating in a worldwide art project called The Sketchbook Project. A bazillion people do it, get a sketchbook and a theme and then soak those pages in creative juices. I'm curious what the outcome of the project will be... I wonder about a book I haven't even written in yet.

http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

Please someone, join me in falling in love with Tom Rosenthal and all his quirky videos, especially the one below. I am recently obsessed.

http://www.tomrosenthal.co.uk/



Two last thoughts. 72 days of marriage for KimK... and I'm not surprised. 2 years for my favorite artsy couple: zooey and ben... and boo

Satisfied Yet?

Today my friend mentioned that we live in a city where we seek to be entertained... we go out to eat, we go to the movies, we pay for tickets to a show. He wished to be somewhere in nature, where he could be the active person and not the receiving. It's later in the day and I find myself in front of the computer, seeking to be entertained... looking at art and design blogs, watching music and dance videos, reviewing the Halloween pics and posts of my FB friends, and it dawned on me that what he was saying was all too true. In fact, I don't believe this seeking happens just in large cities. Who among us hasn't sought after such entertainment? And then further, has gone home and sat in front of the TV and/or computer and poured themselves into the screen, losing their physical to exist in the mental?

Because of my recent surgery, I've spent a whole lot of time watching episodes of Vampire Diaries, Friday Night Lights, Downton Abbey, Grimm, Pan Am, The Colbert Report, Parks and Rec, Bones, and yes, one episode of Jersey Shore. I've pored over random blogs, and wandered through pages about avocado growth, how to properly paint a bike, the best bathrooms in the world, and a little boy who wants to be a girl scout... And while it's interesting, it's not satisfying.

All of this came to a point when I watched the following video. If you want to continue reading this, you'll have to commit to watching the video...



I loved this video so much. It's strange because it also made me very sad. I wanted to be the people in the video. This is the point when I realized that what my friend said was true. I am always seeking to be entertained in this format when I would rather seek the entertainment by my own doing. I don't feel like I'm living my life while watching others live theirs. And, I think that's just it. There is some hunger within each of us to live our lives and we spend too much of it trying to fill that hunger by watching other people live theirs via the internet as well as beyond.

What's ridiculous, is that I found that video in my wandering and it spurred me to think and to action. It's art. I love art. I am an artist. So the frustration in the way I seek to be entertained is also the path to this discovery and this blog, and creates the end product, my art. And isn't that the purpose of art? But that doesn't mean everything on the internet is art. It is all so intertwined. I love and hate the knots and paths of it.

I guess I'm just saying, I need to get out more.

All of this makes we wonder what we used to do for fun before our lives were all documented and experienced via the internet? Before we paid other people to entertain us? Before shows and movies and restaurants and amusement parks?

Being the entertainer is appealing to me now more than ever. The funny thing is that once I've put all this into action, no doubt I'll be back here to blog about it. It's a twisted world and I'm not quite satisfied yet.

Here are some of my twists and turns...

E-joy.

M

Forgive me, but I deleted this video because it always immediately started and then I had to go scrolling down looking for it. It's Robin Bacior's music video, Ohio.

Amazing dancing, editing, and music. And here's a link to the kind of atmosphere I want to create in my life...

http://www.booooooom.com/2011/10/26/jasper-wongs-little-shop-of-wonder-colouring-book/

sick

I am sick this week. It's no good being sick. So instead of a lot of talking, here are a few pics from the summer. I spent a month in NY for work. While I was there I was able to see my sister Em as well as some pretty amazing art.



I love this. Beautiful how it can be so real and totally made of stone. Rodin is amazing.



Emily and I as art.



Van Gogh makes me happy.



Me and my Tracy crew spending summertime at the Hamptons studio.



Stacy, Chaz, and I at the film fest.

Time for my nightcap of sudafed and nyquil.