The Beauty in the Details

Yesterday Cameron and I spent the day in Fort Worth celebrating our anniversary and checking off a few items from my architecture bucket list. It was architecture nirvana!

Chilombuguay!

If you know nothing of the World Cup (as I didn't and mostly still don't) you must watch Men In Blazers. They're perfectly edited five minute intros into the various team competing this year in Brazil. Complete with funny commentary (British accents!), great graphic design and cupcakes, enjoy!

Haute Bjorn

This look from Comme des Garcons is baby carrier (minus the baby), over pinstripe suit over leggings, basically it's wonderful.

Just Ugly Enough to Work

Once in a while I glance at a few of the shows from fashion week and have my usual favs that I look at (Thakoon, Narciso, Zero Maria Cornejo, etc). Usually I find a few things from 3.1 Philip Lim that I think are cool, but this season I was really intrigued by his whole collection. The word that kept coming to mind was "ugly" and yet the close weren't boring or banal or tacky, they were ugly done in such an interesting way. It got me wondering if I had gobs of cash would I go for the interesting ugly look or play it safe with things that look "good" and are a bit boring. And as soon as I typed the last sentence the words of Garth popped into my head.

two for two

Watching two black and white movies about New York in two days feels random but I just watched Frances Ha and it was really incredible. I put it in my top two list for the year along with the hunger games which makes it in by default since it's the only movie I can remember seeing in the theatre this year. But back to Frances Ha, it's on Netflix and has some foul language but is really a fantastic movie about friendship, creativity, life in general.

Groceries

"Sure, I had my tough times, but you don't sit there and say, 'Wow, I was stocking groceries five years ago, and look at me now.' You don't think about it, and when you do achieve something, you know luck has nothing to do with it."

I came across this quote from Kurt Warner, while helping my son with his state report on Iowa. Somehow it has inspired my to keep at the ol'art making while in my currently position of unpaid grocery shopper, maid, childcare provider etc. and who knows what can happen in five years, I could be playing in the NFL.

The Big City

I watched Woody Allen's Manhattan today for the first time, while doing the dishes/laundry (hey if I can't talk to other adults while visiting art galleries the next best thing must be watching people act out the scenario).

I was so moved by the gorgeous cinematography and the musical score. The acting was great, I love me some Diana Keaton, and minus the slightly creepy vibe of Woody Allen dating a 16 year old, I felt transported back to my few visits to Manhattan while Cameron was living there (though sadly there was no mention of Dominican food which remains a cornerstone of my New York visits).

Try Try Again

Today I'm inspired by stories of failure. It sounds strange to write that, but tonight I was driving home from a meeting with a few friends and we were recounting stories of great intentions and ideas gone awry. I don't remember the last time I have laughed so hard hearing a friends story of her failed attempt to make wassail with grapefruit and the look on her guests faces as they sampled the drink. The conversation gave me some much needed perspective about dealing with the small failures that inevitably occur each day.

don't worry, be uncool and make something

Great article posted by a former Wellesley art professor. I need to get back into a studio and make something.

Eva Hesse, 1959 by Stephen Korbet

 



The Chop

So I'm considering cutting my hair short, as in shorter than a bob short. This would be the shortest I've ever had my hair since my bowl cut of 1983 (which I must say has stood the test of time, well done mom). So I type in short hair pics to pinterest and find a link where the first five pics include, katie couric, jane fonda and sharon stone. yikes I was not off to a great start. I have a sinking suspicion that short hair won't look great on me but I want to give it a try before it looks like I'm sporting the q-tip look beloved by elderly women everywhere.
In the off chance that anyone reads this blog and wants to have an impact on your friend and or family members hair, let me know which of the following choices you prefer (if you prefer I not cut my hair don't tell me that as it will most likely make me want to cut it all the more, as Cameron has sadly discovered).
a

b

c

just crazy enough to work

The Prada Spring 2014 is completely nuts, but I love it! The colors, textures, beading and shapes are all over the place yet they somehow work. The looks are so playful and fun. Oh when will target do a Prada colab so the other 99% can look this cool.

Pretty Pretty Prints

Here's a great article about shifting careers and what to do with a Wellesley arts education.

a few words

I'm reading Anna Karenina for the first time and really enjoying it. I read this sentence today and it earned a fold on the upper corner of the page so I thought I'd share:
"This was a lofty, mysterious religion connected with a whole series of noble thoughts and feelings, which one could do more than merely believe because one was told to, which one could love." p.207

I'll have another, please

I bought these bad boys at TJ's in Salt Lake today and they provided a much needed pick me up at the end of a long day with the boys after my three day vacation. I missed my little guys but boy can they wear me out. I look forward to the day when vacations become a bit more relaxing once again, but until that point thank goodness for sea salt and chocolate!

Pretty Pictures

Here are a few of my favorite looks from the Dior Couture show.
I love the layers in this first look.


Cool celadon color and beading in this skirt.



Fiesta meets minimalism.

The proportions on top of this dress is a little stuffed sausage for my taste but the texture and colors are great.

Read Along

I love getting a chance to read a few articles on the Mormon Women Project's website each Sunday. I always feel uplifted and in awe of the great variety and strength of these women. Here's a quote that really struck me from an interview with Tina Richerson:
If we try to live up to some ridiculous idea of perfection we totally miss grace, we completely miss grace. Grace is something we need to embrace; the Lord knows us, and He doesn’t want us to be like everyone else. He didn’t make us to be like everyone else. We’re all individuals and he needs us to do his work to build up Zion to strengthen and edify each other. We are all part of the same body but if the body is walking around with the knee thinking it’s supposed to be the nose or the head thinking it’s supposed to be the shoulder… You can’t do your job if you think you are supposed to be something else. Just find out who you are in the Lord and make your space in the Church. 

Garden Envy

Two days ago while getting my tires changed I secretly stole a page out of one of the magazines in the waiting room. Actually I take that back, after four hundred dollars spent I consider that I paid for the page I took. But anywho it was a blurb about a monograph for the landscape design firm Nelson Byrd Woltz. It was just a few sentences but the small photo was so beautiful I had to look them up to see more. Here are some of my favorite images from their site.

2 tbsps of Tranquil

It's been a long, tiring day but somehow staring at this painting by Eugenie Marais feels a bit therapeutic  now if I can just buy one of those tubs to soak your feet in I'll be all set.

Louise Please

I like these paintings by Louise Belcourt. They remind me of the landscape of my childhood growing up in Carpinteria mixed with my love of cutting up magazines. 

Mound, gouache on paper, 013

Mound, gouache on paper, 2013 

Have a Seat

West Elm why must you torment me! Sending me catalogs filled with lovely patio furniture I can neither afford nor house. For some reason I'm obsessed with the idea of relaxing in a nice patio chair and reading a book in silence. hum....on second thought I suppose I know exactly why this sounds nice, but on the upside we did take a family trip to our apartment pool today and in spite of the icy water temps we had a great time.

At Home with Art

I was reading this not glowing review of the show 'Better Homes' at the SculptureCenter and a few google searches later I found these great photographs by Josephine Pryde.

Woodworking

Cool printed sculptures by Richard Woods.

This has gone too far!

Typically this blog is for things that inspire me, but in my quest to be inspired on pinterest I was accosted by this image with the title "nutella brownie oreo cupcakes with nutella frosting". I mean really! I used to eat Nutella by the spoonful in Italy but even I think this is going too far. A brownie cupcake with an oreo shoved into it and covered in Nuttela, that is just crazy.

A Favorite

A great interview with one of my favorite designers Dries Van Noten. Those Belgians, so creative and yet so grounded and thoughtful (truthfully he's the only Belgian I'm familiar with but I'll just assume they're all the same). 

Constructivist Fashion

I love these simple drawings.


And I have no idea what is being advertised in this poster but I kind of love it. (unless of course it's some recruitment poster for stalin's youth organization or something, Russian anyone?)

Familia

Today I'm inspired by my family. We had a nice relaxed Easter Brunch at my dad's house, complete with egg hunt, delicious food and good conversations. Sure there were the few awkward moments, teen sister crying at the table, kids pulling out beloved potted plants, and trying to start a conversation with someone who looks like they are about to fall asleep, but overall I'm really grateful that we feel so at home at my dad's house.

Gym Crush

I've always had a soft spot for lowbrow tv shows. Not the lowest of the low mind you, ie no jerry springer or local news. But just a step above that, say the early Real World episodes that I would clandestinely watch when my mom wasn't around (since MTV was not allowed in the Eddington house), or watching the Baywatch reunion show at Wellesley with Haley who also secretly used to watch the show (kelly slater was on it ok, and he's kind of cool right?), or more recently watching Australia's Next Top Model on youtube while working on my master's thesis project (far superior to the US version, they've actually produced a supermodel!).
Anywho for the last few years we've been sans TV so my only entertainment has been heavily edited via Netflix. However, over the last six months or so I've been working out at the YMCA and been forced to watch TV while I workout on the elliptical (I can't bring myself to stare at the wall for 30 mins). I have to admit that I'm now appalled at, bored by, or mystified at pretty much everything I see, granted maybe it's the hour, no good programming at 9am? Anywho it's making me feel like an old fart. I flip past MTV and suddenly I no longer think the downfall of Western civilization is fun viewing. I have to chalk it up to having kids and suddenly worrying about the crazy people that are going to inhabit the planet with them when I'm gone or worse they might become one of these loons.
Well this has been an overly long way of saying the only channel I can bare to watch (aside from the blessings of a Top Chef rerun at 9am) is the HGTV channel. As a person with some design background I'm a little ashamed of my new found affection for these slightly middle of the road makeovers, but who cares, at least I don't worry about the fate of humanity after watching someone get a new bathroom. My favorite show by far is Property Brothers, I have a secret gym crush on these random realtor/contractor twins and their affable way of dealing with some pretty loony clients. Wow I really am an old fart, sigh, but hey it's a step up from romance novels right?

this makes me smile

Grandma Pearl

Enjoy this gem from kickstarter. And for only $10 you too can have a personal voicemail from Grandma Pearl.

Print Pics

Great cut and paste look to these pics from Details.

A little Shakespeare for Sunday

Wrote Shakespeare, ‘They do not love that do not show their love.’

Half Stupid (or How to Stay Young)

I love this interview with Bjork that I found randomly on YouTube. She's fifty percent sensible, ie  pays the bills and  drives responsibly and fifty percent crazy or childish as she calls it. Tomorrow I turn thirty and I hope that I can be more responsible in some areas of my life (no more late fees!, a grocery budget!) and more crazy in others (don't hold back creatively!, experiment!). Here's to the next decade and having a bigger appetite for life.

A Mormon Woman

I've been having lunches with my dad for the past two weeks and it's been great to learn more about his life and also to hear about what he thinks about various aspects of my life. We've woven in and out of discussions of religion and it's been really eye opening to hear what knowledge or assumptions he has about the LDS church (which I've been a member of my whole life). I feel a little guilty that we've never really broached the subject in any depth before, but discussions of religion aren't always the easiest to have so I've shied away from them in the past, at least with my dad.

Anywho he seamed to be under the impression that women are somehow of less value in our religion than men. I was genuinely surprised and taken aback by this sentiment, I thought, "doesn't he know me at all?" The sentiment he expressed is so antithetical to my own experience as a church member. This isn't to say that all church members are perfect and that some women in the church haven't experienced a feeling of being relegated to a lesser role, which i know sadly does occur, but it simply isn't my personal experience. I went to high school in the Mormon Mecca of Provo, Utah and I was surrounded by strong women who were examples to me of how to dream big and live life with passion and purpose. At the root of this was growing up with a single mom who was the leader and provider in our home, but I also admired women in my church congregation who were professors, musicians, artists, wives and mothers. The role that the church played in my life caused me to dream big and think that I had infinite worth and potential as a daughter of God, and for that I am so grateful. I thought about this today as I watched this video put out by the LDS church about women. I'm usually a little cynical about short motivational videos, but I'm throwing the cynicism aside for the moment and saying that I really enjoyed watching this so I thought I'd share.

 

Too Cool For School

I had a great lunch with my dad today (finally I eat some decent Cajun food!). He told me about the private school he attended in Bogota growing up and one google search later I discover the architecture of the school is really interesting. It reminds me of a school I visited in Urbino, Italy with my architecture class back in the day.