She's A Giant!

Classics, a 10 Year Reading Project

2012-01-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

When I turned 30 in 2011 I set a goal for myself to read as many 'classics' as I could before I turned 40.

This seems a daunting task, and I know I can't ONLY read classics, so I try to mix them in with the more modern books that appeal to me.

In 2011 I read 5 classics of the 21 books that I read in total during the year. Here are my quick review/summaries and I highly recommend that everyone read more 'classics.' It is surprising to me how relevant some of these are.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - I thought I would get bored with the book and never finish it. Instead, I was instantly entertained, curious, and interested in Jane, her surroundings, her view of the world, her cohorts, etc. The story surprised me a few times, and I never did get bored. The ending left a little something to be desired, and in a way I just wanted the story to continue. I wanted to know about her and Mr. R. growing into old age, and I wanted to learn about their children and wanted to meet Adele as a grown lady, etc. I take not wanting a book to end as a sure sign that I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I can understand why this is a classic! (February 2011, 5 stars)

Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - I loved Lord Henry and his views on everything! the ending surprised me. (March 2011, 4 stars)

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I didn't like this book nearly as much as I thought I would. I struggled to finish it even though I liked Amory and his adventures for the most part. (April 2011, 3 stars)

Silas Marner by George Eliot - I was excited to read this book, as it came so highly recommended, but I was a little bit scared that it would be above my head, based on the person who recommended it. However, I really enjoyed this book from the start and loved all the characters. The general moral that I took from the story is that money can't buy happiness and to appreciate what you have and enjoy it to its fullest. (June 2011, 4 stars)

First Love by Ivan Turgenov - I think Novellas are the perfect length. Nothing gets too drawn out and nothing is too rushed. I thought this was a lovely little story about a 16-year-old's first encounter with love. Some really nice passages and a somewhat tragic ending. I liked this novella very much. (October 2011, 4 stars)

Do you have any classic or just very old amazing novels that I should put on my to-read list??

Year End Book Summary 2011

2012-01-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

In 2011 I read 21 books. Not a stellar amount but at least it is consistent with the 20 that I read in 2010.

Some books I just jam through and some I lag and don't read as often as I should (as is the case with a book I am currently reading). I only gave 5 books a rating of 3 stars, most of them 4 stars, and only 5 with 5 stars.

Let me tell you about these 5 faves of mine.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - I set a goal for myself in 2011 when I turned 30 to read as many of the 'classics' as I could by the time my 40th birthday rolls around. I don't have a set list I am referencing but just when I hear about this book or that book or a book I never read but probably should have, I am making a note of it or downloading it to my kindle. This was the first classic that I read (mainly because I saw a trailer for a movie that came out in 2011 that looked good) and I was absolutely shocked at how much I loved it right off the bat. My instant reaction upon finishing Jane Eyre was this: I thought I would get bored with the book and never finish it. Instead, I was instantly entertained, curious, and interested in Jane, her surroundings, her view of the world, her cohorts, etc. The story surprised me a few times, and I never did get bored. The ending left a little something to be desired, and in a way I just wanted the story to continue. I wanted to know about her and Mr. R. growing into old age, and I wanted to learn about their children and wanted to meet Adele as a grown lady, etc. I take not wanting a book to end as a sure sign that I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I can understand why this is a classic!

Tinkers by Paul Harding - I didn't know much about this book but for some reason I kept wanting to read it. Finally I dug into it and was so glad that I did. It was gorgeous and sad and as I wrote initially upon finishing Tinkers: About half way through this book I wanted to start over from the beginning and pay more attention. I will definitely be re-reading this one.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - I know everyone and their mother read this book in the last couple years and finally I gave in to the hype. I expected it to be hokey and ridiculous but instead I really loved it. I laughed, I cried, I didn't want it to end.

Room by Emma Donoghue - This was the first book I purchased for my kindle and it took me a few months to actually decide to read it because I was scared it would be too depressing. I loved it right away as is usually the case when I read books told from the perspective of a child. I find it so refreshing to look at things in a fresh, if slightly naive, light once in a while. While this story is pretty sad, Jack's view of his own life isn't and that is what kept it from being too hard to read. I really wanted to give Jack a big hug. I wrote when I had just finished reading Room: I found it very easy to feel immersed in Jack's world. I could totally understand why he felt scared/anxious about everything, wanting to return to comforts he was familiar with, though they seemed crazy and scary to everyone else. I was a pretty scared little kid, very afraid of the unknown and quiet, so I could relate to Jack in a way. At the end of the book, I wished it would have kept going.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami - I love everything Murakami does, and I might build him up a bit much to people sometimes because I just love his books so very much. Maybe he is not for everyone but I simply can't imagine someone not liking his style of surreal things taking place in a very realistic world. I had been waiting for this book to be released forever, in fact I preordered it about 6 months before it was released so I would be sure to get the first US edition. 1Q84 was not a disappointment and I read the more than 900 pages in one month, which for me is no small feat. My first impression upon finishing 1Q84 was this: I loved this book from the start, had a hard time putting it down, and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. This was a perfect combination of Murakami's amazingly magically surreal style and a sweet love story. I was sad to reach the end and could have read 900 more pages.

I really liked a lot of the other books I read in 2011, and honorable mention goes to Galore by Michael Crummey even though it was much different than I expected it would be. I also really liked The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins!

(If you would like to read reviews for all of these, here is My GoodReads page.)

Here is a fancy grid of the books I read in 2011:

}

Movie Log 2011, Fourth Quarter

2012-01-01T13:27:00.000-08:00

Go back to: First quarter, Second quarter or Third quarter.

In theater:

-The Skin I Live In: This was quite a strange film. I guess Almodovar's films are usually on the dark and odd side, but this was extremely weird. A few loopholes and a slight creep factor. I'd watch it again just to see other peoples' reactions.

Via Netflix:

-Marwencol : This was a super interesting and strange documentary about a man who suffered a traumatic brain injury and created a fictional 1/6 scale world to obsess over.

-Sylvia : This is a movie about Sylvia Plath. I was worried this movie would be extremely depressing, and it was a bit depressing, but mostly it made me appreciate my life and feel very sorry for people with serious depression.

-The High Cost of Living : I had a hard time believing Zach Braff as a drug dealer, but this movie was good. I didn't get bored and definitely a dark sort of rom-com.

-Tiny Furniture : This was a quirky comedy/coming of age sort of thing. I liked it very much except for the ending.

Movie Log 2011, Third Quarter

2011-10-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Go back to: First quarter or Second quarter.

I was slacking in the movie watching department this quarter! I'll have to catch up before the Oscars!

In theater:

-Bridesmaids: So funny and great. I just love Kristin Wiig!

-The Help: I loved this book and the movie was also pretty great. I was not sure how they were going to pull it off, but it was a good adaptation.

Via Netflix:

-Winter's Bone: Beautiful and haunting but a bit slow and anti climactic.
-Gonzo: Interesting but I felt like it started dragging during the last half hour or so.

-Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father: This documentary was very sad and almost unbelievable but also very touching. I really liked it even though it was pretty depressing.

-Gonzo: I forget the full title of this but it is a relatively recent documentary about Hunter S. Thompson. An interesting film about a man I knew very little about.

-Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired: This was a very interesting movie about Roman Polanski and all the drama surrounding him. I liked it very much.

-Bill Cunningham New York: I had heard a lot of great things about this documentary and finally it popped up on Netflix Instant. I loved this movie from start to finish. I wish Bill Cunningham was my grandpa.

I watched a few others, but nothing notable and I was bad about writing my instant impressions.

Movie Log 2011, Second Quarter

2011-07-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

Second quarter of movies I have seen this year, 2011. (Go back to first quarter...)

In the theater:

Black Swan: Wow, so intense! From the start, not a dull moment. Thought the black swan character could have been more developed, but nonetheless, loved it.

Jane Eyre: A good interpretation of a great novel. I don't see why they had to start in the middle and tell the story in flashbacks but felt the essence of the love story remained intact. Loved it.

The King's Speech: This movie was a lot more entertaining than I thought it was going to be, though still a tad slow. I liked it a lot, nevertheless, and even watched a show on PBS about the real story the following day.

Beginners: I got to go to a free screening of this film and didn't expect too much from it. The movie was probably the best film I have seen in the theater in a very long time. It was very real and sad, about love and loss. Ewan MacGregor with an American accent is just a little bit weird though.

Midnight in Paris: Owen Wilson and Woody Allen found that time machine I have been searching for forever, and it's in Paris! This movie was so magical and I loved every minute of it, even though Owen Wilson usually kind of annoys me. When it ended I felt a little sad that it was over, the same way I feel about books that I love.

Water for Elephants: I read this book so long ago that I barely remember a lot of the details. I thought this movie was pretty good. I probably would have seen it even if I hadn't read the book, simply because I love circus stuff. But Reese W. and that kid from Twilight just were not very believable. The elephant was the star, obviously.

Netflix:

The 400 Blows: Watched this many years ago and was not disappointed with this revisit. Such a wonderful story of youth.

Dorian Gray: A newish interpretation of the Oscar Wilde story that came out in 2009 I think with Colin Firth playing Lord Henry. Recently read the book and figured why not watch the film? I kind of hated this movie and wished I did not watch it. They really kind of twisted the story, especially the ending and made it into a weird mystery, all while dragging the story on and on for no reason.

Pie in the Sky: A documentary about Brigid Berlin, an artist from the Andy Warhol factory days with OCD. A super interesting lady and I loved this movie.

The Joneses: When you are feeling Californication withdrawals, this dark comedy with David Duchovny and Demi Moore will fit the bill, even if the story is a bit ridiculous.

My Father, The Genius: This documentary focuses on a daughter following around her father, an architect, learning a lot about him and trying to understand him. I liked it quite a lot.

Dogtooth: This was the most disturbing movie I have seen in quite some time. Not unwatchable, very interesting and unpredictable. Netflix definitely had it categorized right under "dysfunctional family movies."

The Kite Runner: For some dumb reason I never read this book or saw this movie. I really enjoyed it and even cried a little bit. Now I wish I had read the book!

Hounddog: This movie sounded like a less depressing version of Precious. However, it was still pretty depressing even if it was filled with Dakota Fanning singing Elvis. Also, I hated the ending. (What gives with endings?!)

Beneath Our Skin: This was a very interesting documentary about Lyme Disease. An eye opening look at this overlooked disease and a peek into a handful of sufferers lives and doctors who treat the disease. I know this sounds boring, but it was seriously very interesting.

Upsidedown, The Creation Records Story: This documentary about Creation Records out of the UK was very entertaining even though it was quite hard to understand at least 1/3 of what everyone in it was saying. A great music documentary, especially if you are into shoegaze or britpop.

Pushing Daisies: Okay this isn't a movie, but I watched almost all of the 22 episodes in two weeks and that show was so great and cancelled too soon! (I am waiting to get the second season from the library to finish the last few episodes!)

I was hoping to get to see a bunch of movies at the Cannes Film Festival in May but that did not happen at all. Bummer.

Any recommendations???

Trip of a lifetime.

2011-05-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

A while back you might remember I posted about a little film that Matthew and I worked on which won the 48 hour go green competition in Portland and was going on to be screened in Las Vegas along with the other winners from each competing city.

Shortly after finding out that we won for Portland, we found out that we had been picked as one of the top five films out of all the films (hundreds?) that participated in this worldwide competition!

So, what does that mean? It means that our film is being screened at the CANNES FILM FESTIVAL.

Matthew and I, along with the rest of the Monsieur Soeur team, are going to fly over to France to support our film, take a real vacation, get some sun, spot some celebs, drink loads of wine, eat fancy cheese, and take advantage of all the free museums!

Having never been anywhere outside of California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada nor been on a trip longer than seven days in my life, nor been on an airplane for longer than three hours, I am over the top excited/nervous and it feels like the last month and a half have been dragging on and on.

I have no idea what to expect. I am hoping to: sleep on the plane, not get lost, wear only dresses, meet friendly people, enjoy lots of sun, eat lots of delicious food and wine, see some great films, take lots of photos, and spend lots of time with my favorite guy. And as that lovely poster just above tells me, it's always sunny in the Cote d'Azur, which sounds absolutely magical.

We leave in about 24 hours and will be pretty out of touch for the duration of the trip. Wish me luck, and I'll be back in a couple of weeks!

Movie log 2011, First Quarter

2011-03-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

I set out to see as many movies as possible in the theater during 2011 as my new year's resolution. I am going to post a quarterly rundown, including my immediate reactions. I am also going to include notable movies that I watched at home via Netflix instant watch, which tend to be documentaries!

Here goes...

In theater:
-True Grit. Loved it! Have to see the original now.

-The Fighter. Marky Mark and Christian Bale were both good but overall the film was too violent for me. Made me very nervous/anxious. Also the ending was stupid.

-Somewhere. Was excited to see this and it thoroughly bored me. An uninteresting and unfunny version of Lost in Translation. Another stupid ending.

-Tron Legacy in 3d. Creepy computerized Jeff Bridges aside, the movie was pretty cool.

-Barney's Version. Meh. A sad story about a not very likeable guy. Pretty forgettable. Kind of feel like I wasted my free movie ticket on this one.

-Red Riding Hood. I feel like this had the potential to be awesome but it was pretty much just like Twilight but with a little more artsy look and no vampires.

Via Netflix:
-Finding Sean. This was a random documentary I found on Netflix and loved. It centers on a 6 year old boy who grew up in the Haight district of San Francisco in the '60s. Really great footage from that time period.

-Exit Through the Gift Shop. This documentary was so great. I did not really know much about Banksy or street art or this film before I watched it which probably made me like it all the more.

-Alice Neel. I found this on Netflix after watching Exit Through the Gift Shop and was so glad I chose to watch it. Never had heard of this fantastic painter but now am a big fan! The film was made by her grandson which made it all the more personal.

-The Cats of Mirikitani. Another art documentary found from Netflix, this was a very touching and interesting story of a Japanese artist living in New York I had never heard of. His story was very interesting, and it has a happy ending.

-District 9. Finally watched this. My feelings are mixed. It was disarming, stressful, extremely engaging, interesting, sad and maybe too real. Liked it a lot but wouldn't want to watch it again, too draining.

I'm an aunt.

2011-03-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

Last week I took some time off work to go visit my little sister, her husband, and their new baby! My little nephew Evan Matthew.

He was kind of scared of me at first, or just a little confused why I looked so much like his mom but wasn't actually his mom and kept taking pictures of him!

But he came around pretty quickly. I feel like he grew up noticeably just in the 4 days I was there! By the last day he was almost smiling! Little Evan is so super adorable and his big brothers are so excited to have another brother! I had a great time visiting with all of them and hope to get back soon.

Enjoy this video of the little guy hiccupping which is the cutest/funniest ever.

The rest of my trip was filled with lots of friends, gin, dancing, delicious food and fun. I miss California but was so glad to get home to Portland.

<3

Watch our film! To the Land of the Setting Sun!

2011-03-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

Hey friends, here is the latest film that Matthew and I worked on!

This film won Best Film, Audience Choice, and Best Writing in the 48 Hour Go Green 48 film competition in Portland! The film is now going on to be screened in Las Vegas along with the other competing cities' winning films.

We are so proud of this film and hope you enjoy it also! We have a very talented and fun team and I am glad to be part of it.

Watch the film here! (Vimeo won't let me embed it!)

See the rest of the film race films by Monsieur Soeur on Vimeo.

Random things

2011-02-24T15:19:00.000-08:00

I don't have anything super important to post but since I am home from work due to a fine dusting of snow covering this fine city, I thought I ought to try to make some sort of cohesive blog post!

It is snowing like crazy outside, and I am so glad I stayed home from work. The coolest thing I found on the internet today while I was catching up on reading blogs is this super awesome stop motion video of a magical book shelf organizing itself!

The sheer patience and time it takes to create something like that is just astounding to me!

Tonight is a screening for the most recent film race that Matthew and I have participated in. I am super excited about this film and hope everyone loves it. I will post a link to the video when it is online. You can watch the one we did a few months ago here! I did most of the illustrations for it and am super happy with the way it turned out.

I finally listened to the new Radiohead Album, The King of Limbs, today and it is quite lovely. A little more mellow, ambient, toned down from In Rainbows but it is nice. I like it. It seems to fit my wintery mood of late. I intend to listen to it over and over and over again until I know it as well as In Rainbows which I LOVE.

I feel like 2011 is already zipping by and there are already so many plans for the rest of the year. Trips planned for March, May, July, August, October and December, not to mention all the awesome BBQs and hang outs that will be happening once summer hits! I can't wait. Sunshine that is actually warm! Quite a novelty.

In book news, I recently finished reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and was genuinely surprised at how much I loved it! I am excited for the movie, even though I have my doubts that the movie will stay true to the book. Here are a couple of quotes I liked: "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being, with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you." "Even for me life had it's gleams of sunshine." "Love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the wellbeing of one's companion."

I have made a sort of long-term goal (maybe ten years?) to read my way through as many of the supposed classics of literature as I can get through. In between each I will read something modern probably, just to break things up a bit and refresh my brain.

I am currently reading The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman and am about a third of the way through it so far. I like it just fine, am finding it easy to read and interesting, but it isn't blowing my mind or anything. Sort of comes across as a collection of short stories with loosely intertwined characters. We will see how it winds up.

What should my next classic be???? I have Picture of Dorian Gray and I think something by James Joyce on my Kindle so maybe one of those. I am completely open to suggestion on this, so help me out!

For Valentine's Day, my favorite gave me a Diana Mini. It is blue and covered in adorable little fluffy white clouds and I am anxious to see how the photos turn out! Another reason to wish for sunshine--prettier photos on real film! I will post some highlights here probably.

Ok going back to watching the snow and listening to jams. <3

Admiration/Inspiration

2011-01-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to get this blog back to a regular blog. You know, where I can post whatever I want and not feel restricted by (or guilty about not) posting photo projects.

One thing I want to do is to interject artists that I am mildly obsessed with once in a while. I see so many amazing artists around town, and also online all the time thanks to blogs like The Jealous Curator and Art Hound and I want to share my faves.

So, I was at The Woods, in a pretty grumpy mood, playing Bingo and drinking Bourbon. I went to the bathroom and what did I find? The most amazing paintings on display. Giant and colorful and perfect. I stood and stared far longer than anyone waiting for the bathroom. I immediately made note of the artist and spent quite a while the next day ogling and reading and marveling about Joan Hiller.

Swoon.

I love love love the paint by numbers style of the paintings and they were even more gorgeous in person, not to mention giant and I want one! She does commissions, too! I have a birthday coming up, I'm just saying. :) She is having a show at Tiga in March, so I might have to save up and get one of these magical paintings.

This reminded me, I have had an idea in my mind of embroidering based on old paint by number canvases, but have yet to come across any that I like. Maybe I should try my hand at creating my own.

Books read, 2010: A Memoir.

2011-01-03T17:07:00.001-08:00

This post might be a bit obnoxious, and my original plan did not work because of java.

In any case, in 2010 I did not top my 2009 record of 27 books read, as I only finished 20 books. However, of these 20 I really loved a lot of the books I read and rated only four of them with a 3 or 2 star rating! I am a pretty generous rater, but still. 16 out of 20 books rated with 4 or 5 stars is a pretty good ratio if you ask me.

I reread a handful of books I have loved in the past this year which is something I don't normally do, but I am glad I did with these few (Kafka on the Shore, Geek Love, People of Paper) because I really do love them all!

Again I am not going to post reviews for every book, check out My GoodReads page to see more review type stuff. However, I will tell you about a few of my faves.

My favorite of the (previously unread) books that I read this year was Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. While I did not bother to write anything about this book when I originally finished it, I would like to say now that this book surprised me by making me laugh and cry, and I really thought the description on the cover and on amazon did not do this book justice at all. Beautifully written and I really did not want it to end, which is how I feel about all of my favorite books. Recommended to me by my Mostly Stitches counterpart, Vanessa.

My second favorite was No Wolf by Richard Stofle. Now I may be a tad biased because I have worked with and known Mr. St. Ofle (as he is known in certain circles) for quite a few years by now. But, again I have to say that this book surprised me. I did not know that Richard had this very creative and entertaining and interesting and heart wrenching writer inside of him. If I haven't recommended this book to you in the past year, now is the time. I would loan it to you, but struggling artists and what not, you should just buy it. (You can also read a chapter of the book on that website if you wish!)

My third favorite was The Secret History by Donna Tartt. This book had been recommended to me by a friend multiple times over the past few years and for some reason I never picked it up. It sounded too pretentious, too deep, too hard to read. But instead I found it immediately interesting, pretentious in the best almost comical way, and perfectly dark. I read it extremely quickly, loving every page. Definitely read this one if you haven't! And thanks again Mandy for recommending it!

Honorable mention goes to What is the What by Dave Eggers. I don't even care if half of it is made up, I enjoyed it even though it made me very sad. The hopefulness was astounding.

I got a Kindle for Christmas from my most favorite person so if you are wondering what to get me for my birthday (January 27th, I'll be 30!), Amazon.com gift cards or items from my Wishlist or even just book recommendations are more than a girl could ever want.

Now here for a lovely grid of the 20 books I read in 2010.

Books read 2010

Michelle's favorite books »

Happy reading!!
p.s. this is my 100th post on this blog!

Photo a Day 2010 is complete!

2011-01-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

Day 365. December 31, 2010. Spent New Year's Eve with the best people eating the best food and having the best time.

There were days when I felt like this project would never end, but actually 2010 went by pretty quickly. It was a great year and I am looking forward to 2011!

My only real resolution is going to be to go see more movies in the theater, because I just love it and I think I only saw like 5 movies in the theater in 2010, which is just crazy. I also am going to work on trying to think more positively and manage my money better. No promises on those two, though.

Happy New Year!!! :)

Days 352 to 363! Only 2 days left!

2010-12-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

Most of these photos are Christmas related, but here is the absolute best one, maybe of the entire year! Hope everyone had a truly magical holiday!

Day 355. December 21, 2010. An army of Santas is creepy and awesome.

See all the photos from my photo a day project here!

One more post about this photo a day project and then this blog will get back to normal. Books, food, adventures, and fun times all sprinkled with photos. :)

Days 333 through 351, almost done!

2010-12-21T10:19:00.000-08:00

So close to finishing!!!
I am only posting two photos from this bunch. One is just miraculous and one is just too adorable.

Day 336. December 2, 2010. How can you not marvel at this magical leaf!?

Day 337. December 3, 2010. Itty bitty deers and colorful lights to decorate the mantle.

The next photo a day post may be the last!
View all of the photos from 2010 here.

Merry Christmas!

Days 322 to 332 of 365

2010-11-28T19:41:00.000-08:00

Wow only about a month left! Here are my favorite three photos out of this group.

Day 324. November 20, 2010. Drove over the Burnside Bridge and saw the new Portland, Oregon sign! I approve.

Day 330. November 26, 2010. Experimenting with bokeh effects from a rooftop during the tree lighting downtown.

Day 332. November 28, 2010. Trekked to Sherwood to Chop down a Christmas tree! The tiny ones are so cute!

p.s. See all photos from this series on Flickr!

days 307 to 321

2010-11-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, two weeks behind again!
Here are a few of my favorites from this group!
I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by.

Day 308. November 4, 2010. Church marquee wisdom on my walk home made me smile.

Day 318. November 14, 2010. I always marvel at how pretty the St. Johns Bridge is, every time.

Day 313. November 9, 2010. Fall trees are the prettiest trees.

Day 321. November 17, 2010. The rain has definitely started and that bus better get here soon.

Days 293 to 306!

2010-11-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

Only 2 months left!

Here are two of my favorite photos of these 14.
Day 296. October 23, 2010. 72 hour film race creations made by me and Meghann!

Day 302. October 29, 2010. This tree outside my work was wearing a scarf, and it wasn't even very cold outside!

See the full set of photos from 2010 so far here.

Days 284 through 292 of 365

2010-10-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

Here are my three favorite photos out of these nine! Fall is the best.

Day 285. October 13, 2010. The sky filled with chemtrails as I wanted for the bus.

Day 288. October 15, 2010. I just love the pretty fall trees!

Day 291. October 18, 2010. I walked right past this guy and then went back to take his picture while crossing my fingers it would not sting me!

27 Days: 257 through 283

2010-10-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy month, friends.

Here is my favorite photo from the last 27 days. I wanted to pick this guy up and bring him to work with me!

Day 281. October 8, 2010. On second thought, I should have moved this guy out of the middle of the sidewalk but I was in a rush!

As always, you can see all the photos from this photo a day project on Flickr.

I found a great site that will let me print a book filled with all of these photos! I think I will make that happen after this project is over, and this blog can get back to normal.

249 to 256

2010-09-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, this year is almost over! I finally switched my camera to widescreen, don't know what the hold up was before. Here are my fave 3 photos from this bunch of 8.

p.s. keep your eyes peeled to Mostly Soup as I intend to kick start it back to life with soups and stews and maybe even bisques and risottos over the fall and winter.
<3

Day 249. September 6, 2010. A drive over the beautiful St. Johns bridge on a dreary evening.

Day 251. September 8, 2010. Celebrating Vanessa's birthday with lots of pasta and wine.

Day 256. September 13, 2010. Was surprised to find this mysterious pink glob was hard, like a seed pod.

240 through 248

2010-09-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

Day 240. August 28, 2010. Saw these pretty and perfect rose buds in the neighborhood

Day 241. August 29, 2010. Sunday morning scones with blueberries from our yard!

Day 242. August 30, 2010. Walking home I noticed the mailbox that thinks it is a tree.

Day 243. August 31, 2010. Out way past my bedtime having fun, waiting for the bus in the rain.

Day 244. September 1, 2010. Late night happy hour at Gustav's with our buddy, Buck.

Day 245. September 2, 2010. The final batch of coconut rum cupcakes for Cory & Perry's wedding. Pretty and tasty!

Day 246. September 3, 2010. In Salem for the weekend, a whirl of color.

Day 247. September 4, 2010. Setting up flowers for the reception while family photos are being taken is a fun job.

Day 248. September 5, 2010. Walked through a creepy deserted part of Salem before coming home to Portland.

236 through 239 out of 365

2010-08-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

Here are photos from the last 4 days. Enjoy!

Day 236. August 24, 2010. After a lovely evening with friends, this was the last thing I saw before I fell asleep.

Day 237. August 25, 2010. This adorable owlie keeps watch over our house when we are away.

Day 238. August 26, 2010. These flowers make me think of Halloween.

Day 239. August 27, 2010. The tiniest, cutest succulents. Each was about 1/4 inch across!

226 to 235 of 365.

2010-08-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

Here are my three favorite photos from this batch of 10. At this point I am pretty dang close to quitting this project every other day.

Day 227. August 15, 2010. Late night slow exposure macro shots are my new fave.

Day 232. August 20, 2010. Walked up to meet some friends for happy hour and found this tiny bike rusting away outside.

Day 234. August 22, 2010. Heard lots and lots of this lovely sound thanks to a new amp that my favorite bought.

224 and 225

2010-08-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Day 224. August 12, 2010. Walking home from Hollywood Theater, these neon lights caught my eye.

Day 225. August 13, 2010. Found this 'single molecule of a good neighborhood' in the park by Lloyd Center.

210 to 223, two weeks behind again!

2010-08-11T22:01:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy over the past two weeks that I barely had a chance to unload the photos off of my camera let alone sort through them, write captions and post here!

Summer is in full swing, though more than half over and I am looking forward to this weekend because the only plan I have is to bake cupcakes and drink coconut rum on the deck in the sunshine!

Here are my three favorite photos from the past two weeks.

Day 215. August 3, 2010. A different route home led me to discover another welcoming neighbor.

Day 219. August 7, 2010. My masterpiece, P.P. Peterson, star of the 48 hour film race film.

Day 222. August 10, 2010. These wasp carcasses were perfectly intact after being killed by poisonous foam.

As always, the whole set of photos from this project are over on flickr.

<3

Days 203 to 209

2010-07-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

Not the best bunch of photos but I don't mind.
Here are my three favorite of these seven.

Day 203. July 22, 2010. This tree is kind of amazing.

Day 208. July 27, 2010. Missed my bus stop and found this awesome sci-fi scene glued to a giant rock.

Day 209. July 28, 2010. This tree looks like it came from space and I was almost blinded taking it's picture.

200, 201 & 202

2010-07-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

Day 200. July 19, 2010. This little buddy crawled out of a box of junk to keep me company.

Day 201. July 20, 2010. The only thing stopping me from plucking these fresh raspberries was the owner 3 feet away watching me.

Day 202. July 21, 2010. This little magnetic deer arrived in my mailbox today and is much smaller but also cuter than I imagined!

195 through 199

2010-07-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Only 5 days behind so here are all five photos from the past week. It has been a sunny, fun, and happy week. Hooray for summer!

Day 195. July 14, 2010. The rain chain which I had never heard of until I moved into this house!

Day 196. July 15, 2010. Stopped by Ambassador for a drink after some home grilled burgers.

Day 197. July 16, 2010. This little squirrel was squeaking at me from above as I walked home.

Day 198. July 17, 2010. This sidewalk inspiration by a 7 year old near Interstate made me smile.

Day 199. July 18, 2010. Terrarium party in the park was a great way to spend a perfect Sunday afternoon.

Days 185 through 192 minus a few.

2010-07-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

8 days behind! Went camping this past weekend with a bunch of fun people, here are my daily photos from that trip. You can the rest of my Photo a Day picsover here on flickr and the rest of the camping pics are here!

Day 188. July 9, 2010. Driving to Lost Lake, where the trees touch the clouds.

Day 189. July 10, 2010. Canoeing on Lost Lake. Perfect and lovely and so so pretty.

Day 190. July 11, 2010. Saw this little cute snake on a walk through the overgrown forest trail before heading home.

Day 191. July 12, 2010. Back to civilization, walking to work on a dreary Monday, this made me smile.

Days 175 through 184

2010-07-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

Once again I am over a week behind. Here are my three faves from this group of photos spanning June 26th to today, July 5th, 2010.

Day 176. June 27, 2010. Went for a walk and found this house in the neighborhood where the vampires live.

Day 180. July 1, 2010. This round brick wall is pretty awesome.

Day 184. July 5, 2010. Took a detour to Hawaii on our way back from Vancouver, no big deal.

Days 161 - 174, June 11 - June 25!

2010-06-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

I am not going to overload you with 14 pictures, so here are my three favorites from the past two weeks and you can see the rest over on flickr if you so desire! It's been a busy couple of weeks but I am posting this from my very own little office space that is going to be so cute so soon. Moving is a pain but it's so worth it. Now on to buying all kinds of new stuff!

Day 167. June 18, 2010. This church steeple (I think that's what it's called??) caught my eye when I walked an unusual route to the bus stop.

Day 173. June 24, 2010. Drinks and scrabble in the sunshine with one of my favorite people.

Day 174. June 25, 2010. Drive slowly in front of my house please!

day 160

2010-06-10T17:54:00.001-07:00

Day 160. June 9, 2010. One of the best combos ever, warm chips, perfect salsa, and crisp cold beer.

6 days!

2010-06-09T18:20:00.001-07:00

Yikes! It is way too easy to get behind on this blog! Here are the small versions of six days worth of photos, enjoy!

Day 153. June 2, 2010. Mr. Trimet Bolteyes kept me company on my bus ride to work.

Day 154. June 3, 2010. This jolly man is meant to be filled wine, but instead he just holds bread and sausage and stares at me while I cook.

Day 155. June 4, 2010. Convinced that a moth landing on your arm out of nowhere is good luck.

Day 156. June 5, 2010. Rode the ferris wheel, watched the swings, walked a lot, ate yummy food (not at the carnival) and got stuck downtown. Ah summer! (p.s. more pics from the Rose Festival on flickr)

Day 157. June 6, 2010. Only a few more days of seeing this lovely door on a regular basis.

Day 158. June 7, 2010. Spied a couple of wild mushrooms hiding in the soggy grass on my way home.

Day 159. June 8, 2010. Sometimes I wait by the bus at this stop because I like this tiny little roundabout island. If I were a squirrel I'd live there.

Days 148 through 152

2010-06-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

Day 148. May 28, 2010. Pretty kitty Mila tried to evade my camera after lots of hot tubbing.

Day 149. May 29, 2010. The view as we drove out to Forest Grove for Em & Beth's wedding.

Day 150. May 30, 2010. A last minute neon green photo before falling asleep.

Day 151. May 31, 2010. A feast that I slow cooked all day. It was worth it.

Day 152. June 1, 2010. These California poppies made me wish for sunshine on my drizzley walk home.

146 & 147

2010-05-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

Two photos that really make me smile :D

Day 146. May 26, 2010. I left work in a great mood and this guy made my day even better.

Day 147. May 27, 2010. A robot with a mustache giving me a thumbs up, just one of many wonders at Last Thursday on Alberta.

Days 140 through145

2010-05-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

Day 140. May 20, 2010. The Hollywood Theater is so beautiful from the front, this picture doesn't do it justice at all.

Day 141. May 21, 2010. Checked out the new Beauty Bar and sat on this lovely couch.

Day 142. May 22, 2010. An exciting Saturday night with the dinosaurs, no big deal.

Day 143. May 23, 2010. A creepy walk through a park after the LOST finale led me to this intriguing door.

Day 144. May 24, 2010. A bunch of shattered glass kept me busy while i waited 15 minutes for the bus due to my hurt foot.

Day 145. May 25, 2010. Cheap drinks in a tropical oasis on a cold and rainy May day.

Days 138 & 139

2010-05-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Day 138. May 18, 2010. Fought my extreme fear of bees to try to snap a picture of this guy on this flowers that look like giant purple dandelions.

Day 139. May 19, 2010. There were about 8 squirrels surrounding this tree this morning. This guy came close to have his picture taken!

Week in review, days 131-137

2010-05-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Day 131. May 11, 2010. Waiting for the bus, story of my life these days.

Day 132. May 12, 2010. Soaking up some sun on the porch swing after work.

Day 133. May 13, 2010. After HH at Binks, we wandered across the street to tour the Movie Marvel Museum which was pretty awesome.

Day 134. May 14, 2010. Friday night with friends and Poppy.

Day 135. May 15, 2010. Grilled glazed donuts with ice cream and caramel at Swift. So so so so good.

Day 136. May 16, 2010. After a long lazy Sunday afternoon, dinner and drinks at a new favorite spot.

Day 137. May 17, 2010. Pretty ironwork on a building near work that caught my eye.

Day 130

2010-05-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

Day 130. May 10, 2010. Waiting for the bus in the sun.

days 125 through 129

2010-05-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

I am getting a little bored with this project to be honest, but hopefully someone out there is still reading my blog!

Day 125. May 5, 2010. Stack of books to be read (minus the glass castle, why is it in that stack?)

Day 126. May 6, 2010. Creeped out by this wax head clay man at Tiga.

Day 127. May 7, 2010. The bye & bye at the Bye and Bye. Tasty and colorful!

Day 128. May 8, 2010. An exciting Saturday night at Fred Meyer.

Day 129. May 9, 2010. Weird yard art abounds in the yards on the side streets off of Hawthorne.

8 days including a vacation!

2010-05-05T00:25:00.000-07:00

Day 117. April 27, 2010. Woodgrain and amber glass, what more could you ask for in home decor?

Day 118. April 28, 2010. Above the clouds, heading to sunny CA! (more photos from my trip: CA Adventure!)

Day 119. April 29, 2010. Bird portraits while chatting with Anna on the steps of a beautiful church.

Day 120. April 30, 2010. Driving over the Bay Bridge into SF, a beautiful day and a lucky shot!

Day 121. May 1, 2010. The cutest window display we saw, for sure. Chocolate gnomes!

Day 122. May 2, 2010. This crazy colorful art near the security screening part of the Sacramento airport is kind of pretty.

Day 123. May 3, 2010. This owl thinks he is so sneaky hiding behind all that grass!

Day 124. May 4, 2010. Creepy weird snake thing in a diorama window on the way to New Seasons took me by surprise.

6 days, dang I am behind!

2010-04-26T22:51:00.000-07:00

Day 111. April 21, 2010. Maiden + Groupon followed by a free show at Berbati's = a good Wednesday evening.

Day 112. April 22, 2010. Late afternoon shadows vanish before you know it.

Day 113. April 23, 2010. Whoever lost these glasses was probably off to a slow start the morning I saw this scene.

Day 114. April 24, 2010. Stopped into McPeet's for a delicious beer. By far, the coolest neon sign in Portland.

Day 115. April 25, 2010. Found a friend at an old train yard after eating a delicious DQ blizzard.

Day 116. April 26, 2010. Another dark, rainy, gloomy and spooky night.

109 & 110!

2010-04-20T23:08:00.000-07:00

Day 109. April 19, 2010. Where do all those wires go??

Day 110. April 20, 2010. Moosiford looks spooky sometimes at night.

107 & 108!

2010-04-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

Day 107. April 17, 2010. After being in Salem all day, we got stuck behind a train the minute we drove into Portland!

Day 108. April 18, 2010. Took a drive to look at an iPad, eat some fro yo, and watch some planes take off.

103 & 104!

2010-04-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

Day 103. April 13, 2010. I think I found Moosiford Junior?

Day 104. April 14, 2010. Waiting for the bus next to a looming church bathed in sunlight.

101 & 102

2010-04-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

Day 101. April 11, 2010. A menacing stairwell or a closet door, you decide.

Day 102. April 12, 2010. I left my office to find sunshine and millions of beautiful flowers everywhere I looked!

Day 100, Beach House, Design, etc.

2010-04-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

Day 100. April 10, 2010. Went to see Beach House live at Doug Fir, an amazing show.

You can also see a couple videos I took at the show here: http://vimeo.com/msuzanne/videos
the quality is terrible but you get the picture. It was so fantastic. I love Beach House! The opener, Bachelorette, was surprisingly good also.

This weekend I made myself a new background tile image. The image for the wallpaper came from an actual wall I took a photo of at a friend's house a couple months ago. I am really really happy with how it turned out.

You can see the finished product here on my blog, and also over at Shesagiant.com and on Twitter (which I am currently boycotting).
In the next few weeks, with the help of my extremely patient boyfriend, I am going to revamp my entire site, integrating this blog there, etc. The entire site feels pretty irrelevant to me at this point so it definitely needs some updating.

Happy Spring!

Days 98 and 99

2010-04-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Day 98. March 8, 2010. A kind of drunk shot out side my house. Don't worry about it.

Day 99. April 9, 2010. Maybe I should just take pictures of the sky and trees for the rest of the year. I could do it!

Days 92 through 97

2010-04-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm a few days behind. Sue me. I think the dandelion photo I took today is my favorite of the last couple weeks. Enjoy!

Day 92. April 2, 2010. A rare but welcomed empty bus ride on a Friday night.

Day 93. April 3, 2010. The last remaining Chia herb. Still alive but not growing much anymore.

Day 94. April 4, 2010. Doubling my music library for Easter, the view above me from my perch in the music room.

Day 95. April 5, 2010. A tree with pink & white flowers. How?!

Day 96. April 6, 2010. Dance to night! I love the color and font on this sign!

Day 97. April 7, 2010. Make a wish! I wish for sunshine and summertime fun.

90 & 91

2010-04-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

Day 90. March 31, 2010. Sometimes it feels like I live on the edge of a forest.

Day 91. April 1, 2010. Oops, someone forgot their shoes on their way into the office today.

88 & 89!

2010-03-31T17:52:00.000-07:00

Day 88. March 29, 2010. A glimpse at an Easter craft project in process.

Day 89. March 30, 2010. Waiting for the bus on an extremely rainy afternoon, all these colors looked so vibrant compared to the grey everywhere else.

Days 86 & 87

2010-03-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

Day 86. March 27, 2010. After failed dinner plans, Matthew, Vanessa and I went to see Patterns and Paper Brain at Kelly's.

Day 87. March 28, 2010. Easy chocolate chip cookies and milk and BSG. A perfect end to a fun-filled weekend.

Daily photos, 82 through 85

2010-03-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

I am pretty bad at keeping this updated daily or even every other day. Oops. Enjoy!

Day 82. March 23, 2010. Road construction blocking my normal bus route. Why is this scooper just sitting there without a truck attached??

Day 83. March 24, 2010. After an Ethiopian feast, drinks at Vendetta. One out of five girls at this table doesn't smoke--me!

Day 84. March 25, 2010. The spread at Cara and Neal's Twin Peaks housewarming party.

Day 85. March 26, 2010. The insides of a piano at Smash Putt Mini Golf.

Days 78-81

2010-03-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

Day 78. March 19, 2010. McKenzie, Tito, Vodka. This made me giggle on my walk home.

Day 79. March 20, 2010. A beautiful sunny day spent in the park drinking whiskey with my favorite, a perfect afternoon.

Day 80. March 21, 2010. The first pair of shoes I've seen on a telephone wire in Portland.

Day 81. March 22, 2010. Empty park on a dreary Monday morning.

Days 75, 76, and 77

2010-03-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

Jeez Louise this year is flying by. 2010 is already about 20% over! The good news is that summer will be here before I know it!

Here are my three most recent pictures. Enjoy!

Day 75. March 16, 2010. This jolly chalk art skeleton kept me company while I waited for my bus to work.

Day 76. March 17, 2010. Met up with Holly on St. Patrick's Day for some beers, pizza, scrabble, and this crazy game that I really sucked at.

Day 77. March 18, 2010. On my way to work, my shadow made me look 10 feet tall! She's a giant!!!! :)

Day 74.

2010-03-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

March 15, 2010.
Cute bright white flowers on an almost 70 degree day made me smile.

Days 71, 72, 73

2010-03-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

Day 71.
March 12, 2010. Walked by this wall on my lunch break and it made me want to go to the coast real bad.

Day 72.
March 13, 2010. Driving back from St. Johns we stopped to take some pictures of this awesome giant water tower.

Day 73.
March 14, 2010. Crazy swirly lights on a relaxing lazy Sunday.

Is anyone out there looking at my blog??? Say hello sometime!
<3

P.S. You can see all my leftover photos from the photo a day project over here.
Also, check out my (and Vanessa's) new craft blog, Mostly Stitches and don't forget about our rarely updated but awesome food blog, Mostly Soup.

69 and 70

2010-03-11T16:33:00.000-08:00

Day 69.
March 10, 2010. Relaxing and reading on an almost spring afternoon.

Day 70.
March 11, 2010. Uh oh, the biggest cat of all time lost it's head!

66, 67, 68

2010-03-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

Day 66.
March 7, 2010. Snuck this photo in just before midnight after the BRMC show.

Day 67.
March 8, 2010. Crazy peeling birch tree by my new house, it looks fake!

Day 68.
March 9, 2010. Tiny pine cones on my block! So adorable!

Days 64 & 65

2010-03-07T15:29:00.000-08:00

March 5, 2010.
After a lovely dinner and drinks with Mari and Gum, we saw this friendly fellow before going home to sleep.

March 6, 2010.
Went for a walk through a creepy dark cemetary and this was the best photo of the bunch.

Day 63.

2010-03-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

March 4, 2010.
I've walked by this guy at least 100 times and never noticed him until today.

Day 62.

2010-03-04T17:44:00.001-08:00

March 3, 2010. All the trees are blooming and this one was too pretty not to take a picture of!

Day 61.

2010-03-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

March 2, 2010. Amazing whiskey gingers at Swift Lounge for Breanne's 23rd birthday (such a baby)!

Day 60.

2010-03-02T15:54:00.001-08:00

March 1, 2010. One corner of my new room. I love this brick reddish orange wall!

Day 59, etc., etc., etc.

2010-03-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

Hello! So so so, my laptop is amazing and I finally got caught up on the past month's worth of photos.

It is way past my bedtime but I just had to get this finished!! I am way too sleepy to post all the photos, but please do catch up over on Flickr.

Day 59.
February 28, 2010. Just a little woodland creatures tea party on the front porch of my new house at the end of moving day, no big deal.

Hm, what else is new. I moved and so far my new place is fantastic. I got a new laptop and it is the bee's knees, I can't believe I waited so long. February has the most birthdays of any other month, spring is arriving early here in Portland, and I might never catch up on sleep! Goodnight!

<3!

The future!

2010-02-27T22:13:00.001-08:00

I finally got a new laptop! It is a shiny pretty fancy purple Dell studio something or other and her name is Jem. Yes I have named my laptop, don’t judge me. Photos coming soon.

Days 22-30.

2010-01-31T13:55:00.000-08:00

Ok so I have been behind on photos because my computer is busted! But fear not, dear 13 followers, I will be getting a new laptop by the end of February!

Without further ado, here are the photos you have missed! P.S. You can always keep up with this over at flickr too: Photo a Day 2010 set.

January 22, 2010. Adventures in extreme dive bars with Breanne, our first--New 715 Club.

January 23, 2010. A lovely walk on a surprisingly lovely day with my favorite guy.

January 24, 2010. My soon to be new kitty roommate, Covered Wagon.

January 25, 2010. Pretty part of a pretty church.

January 26, 2010. Yardful of homies.

January 27, 2010. Cutest homemade card for me by the super awesome Matthew Flook :)

January 28, 2010. A Couple birthday gifts to myself.

January 29, 2010. Walking around on Hawthorne, saw this Typeplanter.

January 30, 2010. Practice embroidery project number 1 in process.

Maybe there's a trapdoor under my chair, and I'll just disappear.

2010-01-28T22:21:00.000-08:00

I was pretty sad to hear today that J.D. Salinger died.
He has been one of my favorite writers ever since the first time I read Franny and Zooey.
I have read Franny and Zooey more times since then than any other book and I have recommended it to more people than I can count.
I loved Catcher in the Rye also, and all of his short stories make me smile.
But Franny and Zooey will always be my favorite, as will Mr. Salinger.

R.I.P., Buddy.
<3

p.s. I'll catch up on photo blogging soon, I promise.

Day 21.

2010-01-21T17:26:00.001-08:00

January 21, 2010. Really pretty sky after work today! Those clouds will probably rain on us soon.

Day 20.

2010-01-21T17:25:00.000-08:00

January 20, 2010. Weird wall of cement cylinders near my house. The one in the middle looks like a moon and stars!
>

Day 19.

2010-01-21T17:24:00.002-08:00

January 19, 2010. Yummy fish tacos at Radio Room. I ate one before I remembered to take a picture!

Day 18.

2010-01-21T17:24:00.001-08:00

January 18, 2010. Gigantic ice cube in my fancy cocktail made by Missy's little brother at Teardrop.

Day 17.

2010-01-21T17:23:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2010. Shredded a ton of documents and helped Matthew organize a closet.

Day 16.

2010-01-16T23:06:00.000-08:00

January 16, 2010. Learned how to Embroider today!

Day 15.

2010-01-16T23:05:00.000-08:00

January 15, 2010. Cutest puppy ever in a rain coat waiting for his owner outside Aalto.

Day 14

2010-01-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

January 14, 2010. Siamese mushrooms! This guy and his friends made a delicious gravy!

Day 13.

2010-01-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

January 13, 2010. Matthew made a real raging fire!

Day 12.

2010-01-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

January 12, 2010. Lots of favorite things this day: Vanessa, cheap drinks, The Standard, and a photobooth (that we didn't use!)

Day 11.

2010-01-14T17:15:00.000-08:00

January 11,2010. Origami pig at the pub while Holly and I chatted and drank Whiskey.

Rain, rain, go away.

2010-01-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

I feel bad writing a blog post without posting any pictures, but I thought my laptop was totally dead and today it decided it wanted to work. I am honestly just feeling too lazy to upload pictures and post them right now, because I stayed up too late last night and don't have the patience after typing all day at work. So, just thought I would let my readers (if there are any!) know what is going on. I am still taking photos daily and I will try to post some tomorrow, if the computer wants to work. Otherwise I'll just stockpile a bunch on my camera and have a massive post in days to come. In the meanwhile, feel free to look at Matthew's pictures over at FLOOK.ME/FOTOS as he is being a little more strict about posting daily and his pictures look better than mine. Don't forget about me though! I will be back soooon!

Day 10.

2010-01-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

January 10th, 2010. Creepy trees after tasty Thai food.

Day 9

2010-01-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

January 9th, 2010. Finally dropped off our Christmas tree at the park. Sunshine!

Day 8

2010-01-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

January 8th, 2010. Sad winter playground.

Day 7

2010-01-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

January 7th, 2010. Tiga, best bar on my street. Discovered The Everly Brothers thanks to Ricci.

photo update!

2010-01-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

January 5th, 2010. Extremely delicious Popeye pizza at Blind Onion!

January 6th, 2010. Gigantic stack of papers to be assembled into packets at work.

This week has been pretty exciting as you can see. Matthew and I also went to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox which was just all around, well, FANTASTIC just about sums it up. What other F words could I use... Furry, Fun, Fancy? Ok I quit. Just go see the movie!

Photo a day, 2010

2010-01-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

So I decided to take on this photo a day challenge based on the fact that I don't take as many photos as I should, and my boyfriend got me this really nifty book from PhotoJojo.com for Christmas that has all kinds of fun and crafty ideas for projects that you can do using digital photos!

So it has not yet been a week, and I am already feeling that this is quite a daunting task. At least for the rest of the rainy season. Looking forward to all the pretty flowers I will see when I am walking out and about in the lovely city of Portland. I made two rules: No pics of myself and pics taken on my phone don't count.

Once 2010 is over I intend to bind all or maybe just my favorites of the year's pics into a book that will basically be Portland through my eyes, or something that sounds less cheesy. I am not diligent enough to post here daily with this project, but I will post as often as I can with all the photos that I've missed. You can also follow this project on Flickr.

Here are my first four:

January 1st, 2010. The end of Christmas!

January 2nd, 2010. A pretty gray sky to match my gray mood after watching Up In The Air.

January 3rd, 2010. Drinking the most delicious wine ever with my favorite.

January 4th, 2010. My buddy, Animal, sleeping cutely in an empty box by my heater.

A new year, an attempt at resurrecting a blog.

2010-01-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe how infrequently I have been posting over here. I fully intend to make 2010 a much more productive year in terms of this blog, Mostly Soup, creative outlets, my Etsy shop, maybe a redesign of my website, etc. I am going to be doing the Photo a day challenge for 2010 and I will post a weeks worth of photos at a time most likely, as I will not be able to post every day, knowing myself.

But for my first blog post of 2010, I am going to do a summary of all the books I read this year, as that has been probably the most consuming aspect worth blogging about in 2009. Since I was unemployed from January to July, I had plenty of time for reading and rediscovered how much I love to read, and was able to continue at a pretty steady pace throughout the last half of 2009. 27 books total!

Thanks to GoodReads I have been logging all the books I have read because I never would have remembered all of these on my own. I do not think I have ever read as many books in a year as I did in 2009, and maybe that can be another goal of mine for 2010, to top my 2009 books read number. In any case, here we go:

I should probably write a short summary or review of each of these but I really don't want to. It's my blog, I'll do what I want! :) If you have questions about a specific book I would love to elaborate. My brain is just not up for 26 summaries right now. And yes I read Oryx and Crake twice. The second read was to refresh my brain after reading Year of The Flood. The second time made me love it even more.

Here is the list, with my ratings.

12/16/09, On Love by Alain De Botton, 4 stars
12/3/09, Into The Beautiful north by Luis Alberto Urrea, 4 stars
11/22/09, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, 5 stars
11/15/09, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, 4 stars
11/8/09, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, 5 stars
10/16/09, The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, 5 stars
10/16/09, Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 3 stars
10/3/09, 1984 by George Orwell, 5 stars
9/12/09, Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov, 4 stars
9/4/09, Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote, 4 stars
8/21/09, Everything is Illuminated by JOnathhan Safran Foer, 5 stars
7/28/09, Drown by Junot Diaz, 3 stars
7/21/09, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, 4 stars
7/15/09, Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk, 4 stars
7/1/09, Below the Root by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, 4 stars
6/6/09, Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, 5 stars
6/2/09, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, 3 stars
5/19/09, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, 5 stars
5/1/09, Eeeee Eee Eeee by Tao Lin, 4 stars
4/21/09, The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy, 5 stars
4/9/09, Forever by Pete Hammill, 3 stars
4/1/09, Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger, 5 stars
3/20/09, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, 5 stars
3/10/09, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, 3 stars
3/1/09, Girlfriend In A Coma by Douglas Coupland, 4 stars
2/7/09, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, 5 stars
1/15/09, Fugitives and Refugees, A Walk In Portland, Oregon by Chuck Palahniuk, 5 stars

Ok that's the end of this nerdy book post. Any book recommendations?

Jeez Louise.

2009-08-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I wrote in here. Jeeeez. What a slacker. Well what can I blog about, if anyone is even reading this.

My sister is engaged, so I am going to visit her this weekend. I am really looking forward to it because I will get to spend the whole weekend with her rather than trying to fit visiting with her into whatever else I have planned when I visit Sacramento. I will be on her turf (Santa Rosa) and catering to her whims. I hope I survive.

My house is in disarray, as two people are moving out, me and the other lovely lady are switching rooms, and two new people are moving in. Also the new roommates have a cat! Really anxious for all of this moving stuff to be over so I can settle into having my own room for the first time in almost a year. Crazy.

I recently read The Time Traveler's Wife, and then saw the movie a couple days ago. I have very mixed feelings about it all. The book I liked. I really loved it at first, time traveling, mixed up story line, likeable characters. But then I got a little bored with it once reality kicked in. The trailer for the movie has the most horrible song ever in it, making the movie look extremely over the top cheesy, which is what I was afraid they would turn it into. Focusing more on the Romance than the Time Travel. I guess that's what sells. My biggest problem with the movie was just that, but I went into it expecting that. They rushed through all the parts and aspects of the book that I liked and focused mostly on the "reality" which was what kind of bored me in the book. But overall, I think the movie did a good job of bringing to life a portion of the book, but it just wasn't completely encompassing of the full story. If that makes sense. However, I know that a movie that completely translated from the book would be impossible to make since the book spans such a huge amount of time. I could probably go on and really pick the movie apart, but I won't. I liked it. Didn't love it. The book is way better and way more interesting.

Went to see Julie and Julia with V. Very inspirational and once this heat goes away, expect Mostly Soup to be updated like crazy! Haven't been much into cooking at all in the heat.

Went to the Oregon coast recently with my favorite of favorites, and did not want to come back. One day I will live at the beach. One day.

Ok, that's enough outta me.

P.S. If you haven't already, check out Topical Thursday. Really fun blog with lots of great artists contributing! Sort of honored to even be part of it!

<3M

And repeat!

2009-07-21T16:07:00.001-07:00

Hello friends. My new favorite thing to make is repeating patterns, a la pretty wallpaper such as this:

and all the other pretty pretty wallpapers over at Walnut Wallpaper!

After much trial and error making this lovely for Kristin that isn't quite perfect...

I picked up a few tricks and made these which I am totally in love with!

Also, I got a job finally, and summer is here! It is hot and I like it. Weekends are filling up quickly with trips and bbqs and I am one happy girl.

Oh and! Don't forget about my etsy shop... Put some new stuff in yesterday! ShesAGiant.etsy.com!

<3M

Finally.

2009-06-22T14:12:00.001-07:00

So, after years of people telling me that I should probably figure out a way to sell my portraits and stuff, I set up an etsy account. For now, there is not much there, but I am going to work on that a lot in the coming days/weeks, as well as redesign my website. Lofty goals, I know. On etsy, I am going to offer Custom Vector portraits, silhouettes, maybe some felt portraits/silhouettes after I try it out, maybe some abandoned vintage clothes here and there, who knows. The sky is the limit.

SHESAGIANT.ETSY.COM!

Please please tell everyone! If they want something custom illustrated, send them my way!

Here is a sampling of some of the silhouettes I have been working on.

The lovely Kristin of HissAndHearse.com, who got this whole ball rolling with her genius ideas.

The extremely talented Jessica M., who has always been an inspiration and muse to me.

People really love bikes. I am going to do a road bike really soon too.

This is going to be some kinda logo for my new site, I think.

Let me know if you have any ideas for things to be silhouetted, or if you or anyone you know might want something done! Babies, dogs, your mom, whatever!

<3

Giants and more

2009-05-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

In all the craziness of last Thursday, I went into a little gallery whose name I already forgot, and was wowed instantly by the work of Julie Morstad. I think I might be a little late on this, because some of her pieces look familiar, but maybe I am just dreaming her drawings!

There was a slightly different version of this at the show, it was my favorite!

I am off to Sacramento for a quick weekend trip, ciao!
<3

Gotta get me a bird seed shirt.

2009-05-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

So I guess this is turning into a Book Blog. I have been using Goodreads.com to keep track of all the books I have been reading lately. So far, in 2009 alone, I have read 10 books. Last year, I read a total of 8 books the entire year. Crazy how much more time I have to spend on reading since I am not really working at the moment. I love books.

Anyways, the most recent book I read was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safron Foer.

I never read Everything is Illuminated, but I probably will soon. I really loved this book for so many reasons. It is told mostly from the perspective of a very smart, very scared, very curious 9 year old boy. I love stories told from kids perspectives, probably because I really don't remember how I felt about stuff when I was a kid. But what I liked more than Oskar's story was the story that was woven in about his grandparents. How they met, how they felt about each other, how they felt about love, and life, and how they lived. Another thing I liked about the book, is that there were photos thrown in here and there. I wish more books had photos. Not of people but of places and images that invoke a feeling. My favorite little story that was told to Oskar and Mr. Black was from a woman who never left the Empire State Building. The picture posted in that section was just so perfect, it made me feel as if I was there with them, hearing her story. Most of the book made me sad, just because it is a lot about loss and almost all of the characters are grieving, but I also laughed a little, and just really enjoyed every page. Most of all I think this book made me realize that I need to appreciate a lot of the little things I tend to overlook. Not an easy task.

This & That

2009-04-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since my last post, and I guess it is because being unemployed, I feel like I don't have many new and exciting adventures to post about. I basically read a lot, walk a lot, internet a lot and do stuff in illustrator once in a while. The last book I read was just so great that it deserves it's own blog post.

The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy.

My dear friend Olivia recommended this book to me quite a few months ago, and she has never steered me wrong. I loved this book instantly, and the main character, Sally Jay, was just so adorable and funny from the get go. All the characters are quite quirky and the way Miss Sally Jay describes them all, along with herself, just made me giggle and grin throughout all 200 something pages. I finished the book within a week, and that is because I was trying to take my time so it wouldn't end too quickly. I think this will be one of those books I remember for a long time and re read often, not to mention that I have already been recommending it to people left and right.

I love books written during the 50s and 60s about that time period, and this book was no exception. If only I had a time machine...

Name that book

2009-03-19T11:41:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I got a part of a quote stuck in my head, and just found the rest of it. Then I looked through my now mostly defunct livejournal and found some other quotes from books I have read over the years. Made me want to re read a bunch of books. See if you can guess what books these quotes are from!

-"Everything today has been heavy and brown. Bring me a Unicorn to ride about the town." (Bring me a Unicorn, Anne Morrow Lindbergh)

-"I was having a wonderful time and the whole world opened up before me because I had no dreams." (On the Road, Jack Kerouac)

-"Never drink diet soda. It shows you have no nerve. Only drink real colas, caffeine-packed energy drinks, or vitamin water. Hate champagne, because that's what everyone expects you to love. Energy drinks are the best party drinks. You never get tired. You never have a hangover. And you can make fun of all the loaded people who think they're clever but are really acting stupid." (Paris Hilton, I forget the title)

-"We accept the love we think we deserve." (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chobsky)

-“Everything everybody does is so—I don't know—not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless and—sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you're conforming just as much as everybody else, only in a different way.” (Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger)

-"Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart." (Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami)

-"There are those whose own vulgar normality is so apparent and stultifying that they strive to escape it. They affect flamboyant behavior and claim originality according to the fashionable eccentricities of their time. They claim brains or talent or indifference to mores in desperate attempts to deny their own mediocrity. These are frequently artists and performers, adventurers and wide-life devotees. Then there are those who feel their own strangeness and are terrified by it. They struggle toward normalcy. They suffer to exactly that degree that they are unable to appear normal to others, or to convince themselves that their aberration does not exist. These are true freaks, who appear, almost always, conventional and dull." (Geek Love, Katherine Dunn)

-"Nobody believes the identites we've made for ourselves. I feel like everybody in the world is fake now - as though people had true cores once, but hucked them away and replaced them with something more attractive but also hollow." (Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland)

-"I thought how strange it had never occurred to me before that I was only purely happy until I was nine years old." (The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath)

-"Hysteria is impossible without an audience. Panicking by yourself is the same as laughing alone in an empty room. You feel really silly." (Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk)

I wish I had documented more quotes that I have liked from books. Need to start doing that.

♥

2009-03-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

I woke up today feeling extremely positive and happy and just loving life. Walking around town today was perfectly peaceful and calm. The sky seems extra blue, the sun seems extra bright, and the clouds seem extra dreamy. Flowers are starting to sprout up and every unexpected daffodil I see makes me smile. I am going to miss LOST tonight because I am going to be spending time with my friends laughing and having a grand time and I just honestly couldn't wish for anything better right now. Spring is definitely here and I love it.
♥ ♥ ♥

New House

2009-03-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

Soooo this past weekend Jessie and I moved into Vanessa and Holly's house in NE Portland!

The move went extremely smoothly and we are settling in nicely. It is a little odd living in a house that I have hung out at often for the past year. odd but not bad. just still getting used to calling this place home. You can see more pictures of the place here.

on a completely unrelated note, I just finished reading a book called Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I had been wanting to read it for awhile, so when I came across it in V's stack of books I snatched it up. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was an easy read. I liked but didn't love it. I like the way the author didn't really reveal what was going on right up front, but sort of snuck little clues in as the story went along. The ending made me cry just a tad and the main point of the book was pretty interesting. I am glad I finally read this book, but it just didn't blow me away.

Well that's all the new and exciting news I have! Happy happy happy!
<3

Book VS Movie, Revolutionary Road

2009-02-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

I was super anxious to see Revolutionary Road, the movie, but decided to read the book first. I sped through it and loved every page. I found it hard to put down and it even made me cry. I saw the movie yesterday. I think it was a pretty good translation from book to film, but having read the book I just felt like I knew way more about the characters than was presented in the movie. Their thoughts and feelings and what they wanted to say but didn't. I think the common belief is that interior monologue in movies cheapens it somehow, but I think it can add a lot sometimes. I mean how were we to know that Shep loved April until he told her so, when in the book that fact is made clear quite early on. I could nit pick this to death, but I won't. Overall I really liked the movie. The dialogue was pretty much straight out of the book and that is what I was hoping would remain unchanged. Also, who doesn't love Kate Winslet? And her really cute outfits! Definitely go see the movie but you should probably also read the book first.

New Project

2009-02-18T10:50:00.001-08:00

Someone really awesome told me that I should try to recreate my vector drawings with felt. I tried it, and it was really fun, and it turned out pretty great.

From this:

To this:

Now a couple of questions. Where can I buy Shadow box frames for cheap? and would you buy something like this from Etsy?

V Day

2009-02-13T16:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day just a tad early! ♥ ♥ ♥

P.S.Lots more vintage Valentines here.