hello paris, good bye paris; i'm a bad blogger

too many modes of keeping everyone in the technology loop is happening over here! we have been in paris 8 days & leave tomorrow for marseille. paris has been absolutely amazing to us. i really don't want to leave & have every intention of returning soon.

for those of you only keeping up via this blog, please consider hitting up ye ole facebook there on the left & being my friend (tell me that or else i will think you are one of those random facebookers i don't know from adam & ask to be my friend). a ton of photos are there & i've been trying to do little updates as to our wanderings there too. these will be much slimmer now anyways as our internet access will bound to be spotty as we move along on our europe mosey-ing.

i haven't been able to post photos to my flickr with this french computer; just to facebook so that's why there isn't much there either!! but upon return; there will be an overload for sure.

off to marseille; after much consternation we finally found a cute; read=expensive b&b to finally stay in. we are treating the next 4 days in the south of france like we are on super vacation; not our usual cheapie ass vacationers ;)

after marseille, we are trying our hand at driving a rental car through france & into italy on to florence -- think good thoughts for us!!!

more here as soon i can happen along internet access again!

bisou bisou from paris
xxx

pub o' the day, #1

pub o' the day, #1, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

aw yeah...london town here we are! more photo up on my flickr & my facebook!

we wandered all around hackney, shoreditch, & hoxton. 2 pubs, 2 space invaders sitings, 3 banksy sitings, 1 b&w photobooth, 2 beers, 2 orders of chips, lots of gardens & parks, 1 inner city farm (so rad, totally wanted shashtin to see it!), lots of cobblestone, tons of bikes, & the overground train because of the tube strike going on right now!

off to see art tomorrow (that is, if the tube strike is over...!)

yay london!

yay london!, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

we have arrived - stories soon :)

last day of school/beginning of VACAY!

a homemade life, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

so, i'm looking forward to doing not only lots of this: tea, reading, listening to music & relaxing, but also, being gone for TWO whole months over in europe. it's a little unreal to me that we get to go back for 2 months this time. we went 2 years ago for 5 and a half weeks, & it was the first time for both of us (the mister & me). & let me tell me you, the needle went in deep - as in, yep, we've waited this long for a reason - because now, we'll never be able to get out of this travel abroad bug/habit/addiction!

we've traveled the states extensively. i think we've been across, coast to coast over a dozen times, & the mister way more than that. we like our road trips, clearly. :)

we fly on monday (good thoughts while we are up, up in the air would be appreciated!) -- into london. we love london! hello pub a day's, tate modern, yummy tea & scones, art, art, art & basically having a grand ole, spot on, bloody good time!

then, paris - montmarte specifically. 8 days. awesome. & then, we are off to marseille for about 4 days, & then florence for a week. after that, venice for the biennale - so stoked to see contemporary work in that fun crazy crumbling old setting of venice. after venice, we are little more loose, but i think we'll do ljubljana in slovenia & some small towns around there. then budapest, & hopefully a good long week in berlin. i hear we are going to love berlin & there is a fabulous young art scene going on there! we go back to london for our last week & hopefully will cruise out to wales & edinburgh for some countryside.

so thrilled to be heading out so soon! but now, i must eat a piece of the crazy van gogh cake that just walked through my office door from one of my second graders. really, a starry night cake?!

cleaning up lots here at school - the art room needs a good, huge scrub down & then i get to have a cocktail & do the same to our place for (hopefully, oh please universe, let this be the one) a subletter who comes on saturday to check it out.

don't forget, you have until saturday evening to get free shipping in my sprout studio ETSY shop & then, no more goodies will be up for the summer until i return. if you simply must show some sprout studio goodies to some friends or make a purchase, my regular shop will be open, but i absolutely will not be shipping until i return in august!! it's a true vacation this time! which i've never done before, i've always tried to co-ordinate my shop being open & get shipping done somehow in the past. not this time, no sir. we are relaxing our minds 100% :) i can't wait!

so, you guys have a lovely weekend, when i post again, i'll be miles from san francisco & hopefully sipping a lovely pint in london! i'll be posting here occasionally as i can find internet, but most sporadically i'm sure.

kisses to you!
*j

renegade craft fair - brooklyn - this weekend!

renegade craft fair - brooklyn, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

if you are in ny (or anywhere in driving distance) go check out the renegade craft fair happening again this weekend -- this is such a fabulous show & i'm so excited that my friend, kim, is running my booth & showing off all my sprout studio goodies again! this year i'm sharing with a super talented artist, irena sofia, & i'm so excited to have her work with mine!

please come & visit & support RCF vendors -- it's so important right now to do all we can to support small, indie, art businesses!

thanks!

good morning, FREE shipping, vacation :)

hiya!

it's monday, one official week before i fly over the pond to euro-land to galavant around for TWO WHOLE MONTHS!!! craziness i tell you. :)

in order to clean up around these parts, i'd like to sweep out the dust in my etsy shop, so please, won't you do me a favor & purchase something lovely for yourself? it's going to be FREE SHIPPING over the ole sprout studio etsy shop until this saturday. then i'm shutting up the etsy doors for the summer. my regular sprout studio shop will be open, but i will not be shipping while i'm gone.

do a gal a favor & grab some goodies!!

happy monday!

xxx.
*jenifer

keri smith's guerilla fortune art project

...as many of you know i teach art to K-8 kiddos full time too. recently i had my 6th & 7th graders do one of keri smith's guerilla art projects. i absolutely love her book "the guerilla art book" & have used several of the projects with my students. i assigned the fortune affirmation project to them - they had to make 15 fortunes, about making someone feel good. they ranged all over the place, from simply, "you look good today" to "you are a fantastic human being & don't let anyone tell you any different" :) they were instructed to go out & about the city of san francisco & leave these fortunes around. it made my heart flutter a little to read through all of these fortunes & see their documentation photos & know the power of a good feeling was magnified in multitude & there were many smiles throughout this last week from strangers picking up paper fortunes from my 6th & 7th graders. it's heart warming no? i love that the kids enjoyed this so much & some of them got way into it. here's just one email i received from one of my 6th graders:

Hi Ms. Lake,
Here are the pictures I took showing where I left the "fortunes". I walked around my neighborhood and then to a market area nearby. I handed out 17 of them and my brother and sister walked with me. We had fun and it actually felt good to send people good wishes. I saw one guy go to his car and read the slip of paper and then he looked at me and smiled! That was cool!
Thank you,
A. G.

sometimes i just adore my job :)

have a great thursday!

friday flickr faves (on a monday)

friday flickr faves - again, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

thank you most inspiring people for sharing your lovely photos with me.