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i love Saturday.

finally Friday

good morning. i'm looking forward to the day ahead, at the very last minute of the end of the day yesterday i asked my boss if i could take a personal day today... and here i am, at home... happy.

i wanted to give a little update on the paper crane project (the link will bring you to the flickr group for the project), first of all thank you to everyone who has offered kind words of encouragement that have really kept me going (or folding as the case may be). at present i've sent upwards of 100 cranes to places across the world, it's fun watching how far my little cranes will fly. however, it's also mighty expensive... something to which i didn't give nearly enough thought prior to launching this project. because of the costs i've tweaked one part of the project, i'm now asking participants to send me a print of their crane picture in the mail rather than having the option to send it as an attachment on an email. i'm also working on a few other ways to help out with the costs, but nothing is set in stone... as soon as i've got something to share, i certainly will. although it seems a million years away at this point, when i'm done sending all the cranes and i've received all the prints i'm planning on creating an installation of 1000 pictures of 1000 cranes... which is why i think it will help to have participants send me prints, so at the end of this i don't have to worry about coming up with the money to print 1000 pictures (because undoubtedly at that point i'll be an unemployed grad student).

moving on...

i didn't get around to posting about music (i'm seriously considering switching days that i post about music, Wednesdays are just not good) so here are a few musicians, albums and/or songs i highly recommend:

• "Lonely Day" by Phantom Planet
• Want One, Rufus Wainwright (i love Rufus... love, love, love him)
• Ray LaMontagne (anything and everything by him)
• Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco
• The Common End (my man's current project. if you look at the page with the photos i'll give you a hint, he doesn't play the drums and he's not balding)

oh and how could i forget? my turquoise Pyrex nesting bowls arrived yesterday! i won them for only $9.99 on ebay and i love them. i snapped them really quick this morning in dim light so their true beauty isn't really showing, just know they are amazing.

i hope you all have a great weekend, i thoroughly intend to!

oh sugar sugar

it's Wednesday, but i don't have a music spotlight...not yet anyway. hopefully sometime later on today, or tonight, i can pop back in with some sort of music goodness. i have weekly meetings on Wednesdays... i'm not sure why i chose this day of the week as the music day of the week... i'm going to have to think about switching that...

anyway, i did want to take a minute and direct your attention over to sugarloop and the latest sugarloop gocco print (which i'm completely, madly head over heals for). Bernadette is the genius behind sugarloop, she hails from a place that i can only dream about... New Zealand. Bernadette makes amazing limited edition gocco prints which can be purchased at her etsy shop. i really love them all, but the ones featuring her owls just get me... and i'm not even a huge bird lover. Bernadette has a great blog which you should definitely take the time to visit, my favorite recent post of hers is this one which features some truly beautiful textiles from Japan.

drool

this morning i was searching google images for a picture to share of the Pyrex set of nesting bowls (turquoise in color) that i won on ebay for $9.99!! but another image caught my eye and i completely pushed aside the idea of posting about my bowls, i'll just have to take a picture myself when they arrive. this nesting bowl set, in the shape of a lotus flower, is designed by Koo de Kir and available for purchase at their website. i found the link via Better Living Through Design (through google images of course) and just couldn't stop staring at them! if i hadn't just bought the Pyrex bowls and i had an extra $89 laying around... these would be mine. maybe there's someone out there who doesn't have enough bowls but does have an extra $89 and can make these beauties hers!

oh the places you'll go

good Monday morning.

as i'm trying to get all sorts of work done before leaving early to go to the dentist, i decided to take a short break to share just a couple things...

first, this weekend the man and i went to a small exhibit of Dr. Seuss' works at the Newbury Fine Arts Gallery on Newbury St (in Boston). the gallery is small but had a great collection that followed a time line in accordance with Ted Geisel's life. did you know that when he wasn't creating marvelous stories as Dr. Seuss, Mr. Geisel was painting surrealist pieces? i didn't. this little exhibit sparked my interest to make the trip out to Springfield to go to the "official" Dr. Seuss museum.

second, i am officially going to Simmons College in the fall to pursue an MSW (Master of Social Work). FINALLY i heard back from Smith College this weekend. although they were considering me for longer than anticipated, they had made their decision and sorry... but it's a no go. honestly, i couldn't be more relieved, choosing between Smith and Simmons was a decision i was not looking forward to... in fact i think it's fair to say, i was dreading it. although Smith left me hanging for a while, the wait is over and my exercise in ambiguity has finally ended.

moving on and looking forward...

hope you enjoy the weekend

i intend to.

things i enjoyed this week:

• Gomez
• annie's holga shots
• bugheart's polaroid.a.day. set
• my green-oriented April issue of Real Simple

did you know?

did you know that today is World Water Day? i didn't until i read this post on treehugger.

a couple other points about March that you might not know...

-March is National Social Work month

-March is also Colorectal Cancer Awareness month as declared by the US Senate. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the US and there is no federal, and very little state, legislation requiring insurance companies to cover the cost of preventative screening. to learn more about legislation on colorectal cancer, and how your state did in a legislative report card, go here. if your state received a poor mark, like Massachusetts-- we got an F, you can write your state representative, like i did, urging them to open his or her eyes to this issue. the link provided will give you all the tools necessary to speak up about this issue.

today's music choice and a little bit more

wow, the response to the paper crane project is astonishing! i really didn't expect people to receive it as well as they apparently have. i didn't post anything yesterday because my day was devoted to sorting through emails and thinking about what i had done. anyone who knows me will tell you i'm the type of person who acts, then thinks... it was an impulsive decision to step up the crane project to 1000, but a decision i'm glad i made. we'll see how it turns out, the twists and turns that are down the untold road for the paper crane project... a little organization helped me put it into perspective. i've even created a flickr group specifically for the project, so if you're on flickr i encourage you to join! if you're not but maybe you have questions or are interested to see who else may be playing along... stop by.

i'm sure in the coming days there will be more musings and thoughts on my crazy idea, but i'm done for today. as today is Wednesday... the day i've dedicated to music.

today i'd like to blab a little about Elliott Smith. the day i first heard about Mr. Smith was the day of his death, making my introduction to his music just as tragic as his lifestory. Elliott Smith's music is a lot of things, but happy is not one of them. Elliott's music is melancholy, angry and sometimes just downright upsetting. that being said, Elliott Smith made some of the most beautiful music that my ears ever did hear. when i think about my top favorite musicians, Elliott Smith is in the top 3. although he died too young and under tragic circumstances, Elliott's legacy left behind is his story in the form of sweet, sweet music.

the paper crane project

would you like a crane? well if so, i'd like to send you one.

please email your mailing address to:

thepapercraneproject@gmail.com

i'll pick out the color/print, but if you have a preference between large and small just say so. i can't promise that i can send you what you request, it will all depend on the supplies i have at the time that i receive your request.

all that i ask is that you take a picture of the crane upon receiving it and send me a print of the picture.

by receiving a crane you are participating in a crazy project i've decided to undertake, simply called "the paper crane project". i'm going to make 1000 cranes and send them to 1000 people. i ask that you take a picture of your crane and then send it to me, as a print in the mail (*because of the unexpected costs of this project i'm asking that participants send the print rather than email it to me to save me a few bucks at the end. if this is really a problem, you can email me about it*). once i receive all the pictures, i'm going to put them together in some sort of installation... obviously there is still thinking to be done about this.

as you can imagine, this might become a little burdensome with postage and whatnot... if you feel so inclined, you can send a stamp with your print... but don't feel obligated. i'm doing this because i think it will be fun and because i'd like to see how my crazy idea plays out, not to start a stamp collection.

so... if you're interested, please email me your mailing address (and crane preference if it applies) to thepapercraneproject@gmail.com

you can also check out the paper crane project on flickr.

also, if you'd like to learn more about what 1000 cranes symbolizes; i'd recommend reading this Wiki article on Sadako Sasaki.

cold water

good Monday morning...

in my continued attempt to live a greener, more eco-friendly, lifestyle i thought i'd blab a bit about a new product that i really like.

it all started a couple months ago (even though it apparently was introduced a couple years back) when i saw the ads for Tide Cold Water... i thought to myself, well... might as well give it a try. when we ran out of detergent a couple of weeks ago, instead of getting the regular Tide (or whatever detergent happens to be on sale) i picked up the cold water version instead. i have to say, i'm pretty impressed. i bought the "fresh scent" version, it smells great and does an equally great job at cleaning. here's an article about the cold water version of Tide on treehugger with interesting comments by treehugger's readers. you can also find other opinions by doing a google search for "Tide Cold Water".

devoured

i wanted to drop in quickly today to say, i finished On Beauty -written by Zadie Smith- the other night. i thoroughly enjoyed every word of this book. an excellent presentation of character and depiction of just how complex the inter-workings of families (and people in general) can be.

i learned of On Beauty via ship of fools, which is an online free-to-all bookclub organized by some of my favorite blogging ladies. i am weary to participate in the discussions regarding the early parts of the book, only because i am a horrendous spoiler of secrets...

so i'll say no more, except that i highly recommend reading On Beauty.

on Saturday

i love Saturday... my only full day off during the week, i relish every minute of it. the distaste of Thursday night vanished when we were let go early at work yesterday... due to a mild snowstorm. we got a few inches, enough to muck up the streets and cause parking issues... but not too bad.

this picture i took a couple of months ago in Harvard Square. i had first seen the lantern-covered tree with Meera sometime in December (i think) when i had my Polaroid back on my Holga (see here and here). i loved them so much, when i saw they were still up the last time i was in that neck of the woods... i felt compelled to take another picture (stopped at a traffic light, frantically trying to find the camera and take the picture before the light turned green).

are you ready to order?

i had such a heinous night last night, still this morning i can't shake it...

i wait tables two nights a week, i'm lucky in that i work at a nice restaurant and am able to supplement my measly social worker salary by working only two nights a week. usually our customers are pleasant, polite and poised... however, every now and then, this is not the case. last night was one of those god-awful nights when i found myself swearing uncontrollably while carrying dirty dishes into the walk-in where my ghouls of customers couldn't see nor hear me.

i'm not going to get into it now, the abuse i suffered or the worthlessness of the night, i am just going to share a few sites that i take solace in after surviving a horrendous night serving ungrateful curmudgeons.

a few gems include:

• bitterwaitress
• the stained apron
• can i take your order? not!
• waiter rant

may i introduce to you...

Teaser, originally uploaded by John Baird.

John Baird, a brilliant man. he takes simply beautiful and impeccably well-composed photographs that stun me, each and every one of them. what's more is he makes cameras. yes, this man actually makes cameras. this picture is a shot of one of his pinhole cameras, while in progress... the results are brilliant. i'm always amazed by photographers who enable a sort of placidness when taking and making their pictures. i'm the type that shoots and then thinks and then doesn't fuss much... plainly because i just don't have the patience. though i don't truly know him, i think of John as having an abundance of patience. i urge you to not only check out his photography but his website as well... John doesn't just make cameras, he makes furniture so beautiful you could cry just looking at it. John is one of my favorite people on flickr, not just because his art is magic... he's also a ridiculously nice guy.

music i love: Air

a while back i had contemplated setting aside one day a week to mention music. i love music and i have a lot of favorite musicians that i'd like to share, in the hopes that i can turn some people on to new music and remind others of music they love but have forgotten. maybe you won't like my choice, but then there's always next week. hopefully this will work out, if not... oh well!

so for today i've chosen Air. a French duo that became known sometime in the late '90's... though admittedly i didn't get turned on to them until a few years ago. it was love at first listen, i heard their album Talkie Walkie first and gobbled up every second of it. then i was introduced to Moon Safari and again devoured it completely. some of the best transient music out there, calm and soothing... but also upbeat and electrifying at times. Air just came out with a new album called Pocket Symphony which i like as well but haven't listened to it thoroughly enough yet. sometimes certain music strikes me as perfect for a specific season (Ben Harper is very spring and summer to me) but Air transcends all seasons, the perfect aesthetic companion no matter what time of year.

George and his Spectra magic

La la da la, originally uploaded by rebeccamissing.

my friend George has a Polaroid Spectra and he knows how to use it. actually it was George's Spectra shots that got me interested in having one to call my own. George has an amazing eye, no matter what camera he's using. just another celebration of Polaroid Week on flickr.

for the love of plastic

i got two rolls of film back today! both taken with my beautiful, beloved Holga. i ship my film out to a&i (in Cali), they never fail to disappoint. when my local, awesome, shop closed their doors a while back i searched and couldn't find anyone as good in the Boston area. i shopped around a bit for mail-away labs and although it can be a bit pricey, sending my film to a&i is completely worth it. i know i had said i was going to try to post only Polaroids this week, but how could i resist? also, how could i resist a third post in one single day? phew... i think i'm done for now. have a good evening!

sew green

you must, must, must go check out sew green. sew green is a new eco-friendly blog created by 11 fantastic blogging ladies that all became acquainted through this crazy inter-connected blogosphere.

i'm excited and waiting with anticipation to see what this collective genius comes up with. this much i know, with a banner like the one sew green has... you can't go wrong.

sew green, originally uploaded by dressform.

Polaroid love

can't see through it, originally uploaded by eshu.

good Monday morning... i'm intent on feeling good this morning. even though my brain and my body are trying to tell me otherwise.

there's something about this daylight saving's switch that anually throws my body for a loop. last night i did not sleep well, i saw every hour on the clock... i'm sure of it.

moving along... to better things, like 'Roid Week Spring 2007! i didn't participate last time around, i'm pretty excited for this week. i'm going to try to not post anything digital and keep it all Polaroid (or at least solely film as i'm expecting to get 2 rolls of 120 back!!! if i do... it's going to be ridiculously hard to restrain myself from posting at least a little something!).

say hello to my little friend

say hello to my little friend, originally uploaded by eshu.

look at what came in the mail today!

a sockmonkey from my buddy the 10 cent designer

i love, love, love him.

i took this with my new (to me) Polaroid Spectra that i got off of craigslist for $15... this has been a delightful Saturday.

day 5: anticipation

the finale. perhaps my favorite of the five as well. my anticipation is for the snow to melt and for Spring to come. jen's... well i think the coffee and brownie speak for themselves!

i've thoroughly enjoyed this project, so thanks jen for humoring my silly request. it's got some creative juices flowing and i think it's safe to say that there's more to come.

stay tuned...

day 4: enchanting

i'm pretty excited with day 4. enchanting was my word of choice, a descriptive, but that's not why i'm excited.

i'm excited because i think this one looks great (jen's is on the right by the way). there's really nothing similar between the two photos, but still they compliment each other in all the right ways.

tomorrow's the last day of this project, sad but true.

day 3: blue and cream

jen on the left, eshu on the right

so here we are at day 3. i think what's been most exciting about this project, for me anyway, is to see how differently each of us interprets the theme. jen picked today's color theme, blue and cream... i merely tried to come up with something that would work. it's interesting because my picture doesn't have much merit by itself but paired with her window scene it becomes a different image.

until tomorrow...

day 2: pile

so here we are at day two of our creating beauty project. it was my turn to choose a word, a noun if you will; so i chose the word pile. truth be told, jen isn't even aware of this, i was inspired to choose this word because of the big, beautiful pile of sticks and such in our backyard.

obviously that didn't work out the way i wanted. but this worked out better than i could have imagined, as jen pointed out so well, the chaos of her image and the calmness of my image play off each other in all the right ways.

until day three!

day 1: Henry

on a whim last week i sent jen, simplyphoto, a note. 'wanna make pretty things?' i said. humoring my weird spontaneity she said, 'sure. why not?'. thus was born our week-long project. each day we will present a collaborative diptych and each day will be something different... but still the same. we chose to each choose a word, object, descriptive or feeling; we decided we'd present them to each other and then we'd each interpret it with our respective cameras.

we thought we should start the week off with Henry. we each have a ridiculously adorable cat named Henry, don't they look smashing together?! stay tuned for tomorrow's chosen choice.

hi

i don't need a remedy, originally uploaded by eshu.

i love the weekend.

oh happy day!

untitled, originally uploaded by eshu.

this is my friend's daughter, she's a ham and loves the camera (almost as much as it loves her).

last night, i got home early from waiting tables and was greeted by a VERY unexpected surprise in the mail.

it was my acceptance letter for the Master of Social Work program at Simmons College, i wasn't expecting the decision until the end of March. i'm excited and all over the place this morning, big decisions lie ahead. i had also applied early to the MSW program at Smith College, they told me (in not so many words) "well... we like you, but we're just not sure how much yet" (ie i've been deferred). so i'll wait a little, file my taxes and my FAFSA and i'll keep on keeping on. a good way to start the weekend anyhow!

speaking of this weekend, it's supposed to be unseasonably warm here in Boston on Saturday so i'm hoping to get out and shoot a good deal. also Pan's Labyrinth is still playing at the best movie theater on earth (Coolidge Corner) so we've made up our minds not to miss it this time around.

also, keep your eye out next week as Jen (simplyphoto) and i will be putting on a little project for your viewing pleasure.

happy weekend.

invigorating

Decorative - Cracks, originally uploaded by josephking.

yesterday, via Things Magazine, i discovered Joseph King and his ongoing project of collecting (and displaying) envelope security patterns from across the world.

anyone can participate by scanning an envelope's innards and emailing it to him. while you're checking out the collection on flickr, in his set of security patterns, you'll find the email address to which the scans should be sent. i fell in love with this project immediately, although i've enjoyed looking at each image separately... i think they look the best, all together, as thumbnails. enjoy!