alessandra and beatrice's day of happy

nothing says "a day of happy" better than monster-faced ugly complicated tiny pies!

of course not. so when alessandra came over (home for the hols all the way from new york!) early for pre-book-group-fun-and-afternoon-glee... we used my new williams sonoma mini-pie makers to make tiny apple pies (so we thought) for the book group ladies. oh ho ho ho. no indeed. we made three. they take forever. they turn out ugly - so ugly, in fact, that we turned them into monsters. they are SO complicated.

but... of course... we had an amazing time anyway because we're secret sisters separated at birth. yes we do start singing the same song at the same moment for no reason at all. so. many. ridiculous. things.

LOVE.

19 before 20 - first one down!

so on wednesday i went and did something off my 19 list!

6o's bangs!

i've been having awful fun with them... despite the face weirdness that's been happening the last few days.

(photos by my lovey emily - more to come - we did a whole photoshoot!)

resolutions

i'm a big fan of resolutions. but i don't do the "lose weight, stop being stupid, eat better, make more money" type resolutions. i do the kind of resolutions that whenever i don't feel like myself, when i feel like who i am has somehow blown away... i can look at the list and feel the way i want to feel, the way i ought to be.

you know what i've decided?

2011 is going to be a great year.

2010 was busier and more eventful than probably all the years of my life up to it combined. in lots of ways... some good, some bad, some completely and utterly horrifically awful, some that started out great and ended up horrible, some that started off ok and ended up marvelous. basically the full spectrum of how-things-can-be-in-life.
i was in a play, i graduated, i almost died, i had an interesting... yes well anyway enough of that, my mom had surgery, my dad did something weird to his arm, i started college, i had an identity crisis. twice. the list goes on and on and i haven't been a regular enough blogger or picture taker to do one of those nifty "my year" posts... plus some things i just don't wish to be reminded of. or to remind anyone else of. or to remind certain people of. it just isn't the thing.

but.

december 2011 will be a different matter. at the end of this glorious year, the first in my 3rd decade (born at the beginning of a decade... that's why i share decades with the beib-child) ...i'm doing one of those posts. and it will be awesome. just you wait and see.

(this post is reminding me of back when my cousin nathan used to say "mannn, this is MY TIME!" ...silliness)

this year i take pictures (because of there being something worthy of having its picture taken, you know, my life), this year i figure my life out (yeah.. thats gonna happen), this year i write more, create more, paint more, be happy more. etc. it will be grand. i have a shot at being full of joy this year. and it's gonna happen. bam. new years awesomeness up in here.

1.1.11 - 11:11

make a wish! make a big amazing wish!

rebecca

"if you think i'm one of those people who try to be funny at breakfast, you're wrong."

-from rebecca, by daphne du maurier

19 before 20

yesterday, when my lovey alessandra came over, we made our lists!
this is a little list of my goals for the year...inspired by elsie

i'm very happy with my goals. and i've already done one of the big-uns! pictures later explaining which one!

it's christmaaaaaaaaas!

i hope everybody had a happy christmas!

in my family, we love christmas with all our hearts... we have ever so many traditions. in the morning when we wake up, there is wassail in the crockpot... we always watch these two amazing disney christmas song singalong videos, one from the 50's and one from '93. the '93 one is SO my favorite. Hip Hop Noel? oh my. it's just the best thing of the whole world. watch it watch it and you'll see.



so, for christmas, i gave my sister and brother-in-law this vintage scrapbook/photo album from the early 40's. i found it in a vintage store, and knew i had to give it to them immediately - it's full of a young army couple's pictures of them together, their family, their friends, and some pictures he obviously mailed to her from war-zones in britain- pictures of bombed roads and his army friends walking around deserted towns with bulletholes in the buildings. one of the better parts - there's a letter in it from one of the country cousins, and i got their address from it and found out that the couple lived just a few miles from my sister and her husband. it's just... amazingness.

little did i know.

for christmas she gave me a vintage '34 journal/scrapbook, of the writings and and friend's notes of one "Beulah", chronicling her high school adventures and graduation and friendships.
from the same vintage store. from the same day.

uh. what? we're ridiculous.

also for christmas, my sister got a typewriter!
so that evening i got mine out and typed our 2011 aspirations. we had a veritable stenographer's pool! we like to think we're rather like these ladies

so that's a bit of our christmas!

in which a few little skating chipmunks decorate a tree

tis time for our annual layne and claire skating fun time! i love my dear adorable friend.
last year we bunburried english accents the whole time, wore ugly sweaters, and knocked over small children by accident ( a whole string of them...)

this year we are much older and more mature. we didn't fall once!

while skating, we were talking about change - specifically how much we've both changed since last year. so much has happened to both of us in the last year, and we've grown from it. both the bad and the good, so much of each has happened. and looking back i can see how all of it has changed me as a person, expanded my views, given me perspective and depth of person. and i guess that's the key to things - a good and happy life can be lived with plenty of bad events in with the good ones, so long as you let the experiences be. just... let them be. there is no need to tease them or bother them, or to revel in their sadness.

i've been thinking about that song, "empty your hands". we should just empty our hands of the experiences that changed us, so that we can hold new, beautiful things to our lives. the song is all about how much of life's present you miss if your hands are full of past. it is so comforting, really, how much we can change, adjust, and keep going in a year. it gives so much hope that each year i will progress, and become a better one to live. it used to scare me so much to think that there was no knowing what i would be like, or what my life would be like in 5 years, or even one year, but i love that now, because i know that each year, each new lesson i learn, each person i meet- they are all a part of whatever this whole life thing is for me, and they're supposed to be there.

we decided last year that the hugenormous tree in the middle of the rink was flown in by eagles. this year we discovered that, in fact, it was! and the ornaments? put on by little christmas chipmunks who carried them in their cheeks and scurried up the tree en masse.

(note in above picture just exactly how life is. next to adorable layne, a poor fallen noun. and she, oblivious... unknowing... naive. ah yes... too soon, as the song goes, will she know the world so wild.)

Art, pt... 3?

here is one of my final works for the design class i was in this semester... an abstracted color self-portrait.

(it's my favorite from the semester)

A Very Classy Birthday Up In Here

my birthday and my mums birthday are right next to each other, so for my 19th and her 50th we had a little birthday collaboration! sister deary and i decided we should have a Very Classy Birthday, complete with champagne and candles and carla bruni and pearls. so on went the 60's type outfits and the back-seam hose, on with our jacqueline pearls and fancy prom dresses!

...i with my cupcake and she with her cake...

and a most joyous time was had by all.

as for my 20 before 20... unfortunately it has been temporarily lost due (i believe) in part to the dear puppy. however a new years list is forthcoming, and everything from the 20 list is on there.

i'm all about classiness these days... my "life and style" as those girls on the go would say has morphed into something rather 1960's new york art student from the upper classes of the mid-west. which makes me happy.