Sunday, August 26, 2007

busy bee in the studio


busy bee in the studio, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

working on more things for renegade craft chicago - the hoodie back is an original screenprint by kelly lynn jones. i bought a shirt by her ages ago that went all wonky crazy when i washed it (i hate american apparel products at this point) & then i waited wayyyy too long to ask for an exchange. i love the shirt print, so i cut it all up and appliqued it onto a thrift grey hoodie & voila; pleased as pie :) hooray!

the other shirts have screen prints by me from a year or so ago & these are what's left; i wanted to give them a little more something fun, so i appliqued on them with vintage fabrics.

so much to do, lists too long, laryngitis is still going strong, teaching added to the list, house cleaning, guests, organizing, new site work (cannot wait for this!), setting up etsy site, etc.......................yikes!

busy bee in the studio


busy bee in the studio, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

chicago renegade is coming up way too fast; i have so much i need to do to be ready for this show. i have some extras hanging around the studio so i'm working on sewing & some applique and getting these guys ready to go to the fair. the blue tank is for me, a little spruce up for me so i'll want to wear it again! the yellow wrap skirt is vintage and i appliqued those buzzy bees on there - it will go to RCF too, it's too tiny for this girl (otherwise i'd keep it!)

studio refresher/organize


studio refresher/organize, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

this has been a long time coming; and a long time in the making. it takes me forever to organize anything. i'm finally framing up goodies that i've bought in the last year & i'm in love with looking up at them in my studio :) i'm getting there, but there are still scary piles hanging out on my two large work tables...sigh...

cutie sprout studio stickers in the mail


in the mail, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

yay!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

school started!

& i'm a little bit behind, not to mention, totallly unable to speak - as in i have such a case of laryngitis that i have to whisper, & whispering hurts! it's very strange to be basically unable to communicate in an auditory fashion. (especially since my kids come tomorrow and i need to be able to talk to them in class!)

so i'll try to catch up this weekend. my list is long!

more later.

xxx.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

cup of the day - back from oregon coast trip!

we went thrifting, camping, sea watching, star gazing, roaming, meandering & thinking about our next trip..alaska next summer!! i can't decide if i should post oregon photos or continue with europe photos i'm not done with yet! this beauty was thrifted for 25 cents :) i think i might continue with venice since i'm not done there yet - then give ya some good ole usa traveling & thrifting & then back to europe (we'll be up to switzerland by then!)

hope your week went well; i start back to teaching tomorrow! summer's always go by sooo quick!

Friday, August 10, 2007

skippin' town for a few

i only have a week (sniffle) of vacation left before i'm back to the full time teaching kiddos all about the wonderful world of art! we're going to head up north the coast for a wee bit of 'do nothing' time & catch up on some magazine & book reading. some camping, some river swimming - if this cold water chicken can stand it :) & some fire time, let dixie dog run around like a crazy dog time, and basically a bit of rejuvenation before i head back in for another year! :)

more europe stories as well as photos & whatnot from this mini trip when i return!

have a fantastic weekend & beginning of next week friends...

xxx.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

camping fusina - more europe stories...


camping fusina, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

we loved this place. it was outside of venice, so we ended up taking the vaporetto into venice each day & return in the evening. it was super cool to see venice from a distance, be dropped off on the non-touristy side of the island to wander around, and watch the sunset from the evening boat back each day.

this place had everything you could need - all sorts of different camping up to staying in your own little mobile home with private bath & air conditioning. there was a rad vine covered restaurant & bar, and old school bus that was turned into an internet cafe, super helpful information people & the nicest italian girl that answered allll of our questions about the venice biennale & getting around. we just loved it here & have plans to go again in 2009, for the biennale that year - wanna join us? i'll put you on my email list of all our friends we are gonna bug into reserving places at this camp & visiting venice! it's perfect for a big group meet up/get together!

more stories tomorrow friends :)

(ps - did a big ole sprout studio update, go take a peekie if you need some sprout treats!)

where we were headed and how we got there!

we sat in the wrong bus depot for a while, so in order to get the right place again with our 4 phrase italian we had down, the mister decided this would do better! it did, we finally got there, but really only watching our bus speed past us twice......#11 come baaaaaaack......!

heading to venezia!

we ended up taking the night train to venice from paris. we had some snafu's getting out of paris and had to bypass marseilles which was on the list (no old sk8 park for the mister & no laying nekkid on the beach for me - sadness - next trip though!).

the eurail passes were a bit trickier than, hop on, hop off, fly by the seat of your pants...i had a mini meltdown leaving paris because of language barriers, mess ups on tickets, being told we couldn't go several places (marseilles, slovenia...) that we were told previously we could go to. and the reservations? huh? i thought we just got on...apparently not. for the big cities especially, you *have* to reserve your spot before hand, & guess what? you can only do that by standing in lines that are hours, HOURS long. no, apparently there is no website, nor phone number to do this, just lines. very very very long lines to speak with someone you have a very hard time understanding (& really, i know this is my fault, if i was a better language learner...sigh....) ...and then when they mess up your tickets (oh HUGE sigh, for real?) you cannot just go back up to said person that screwed up ALL 5 of your ticket reservations (no, once we are in venice, we cannot leave back out of paris to go to switzerland, we need to leave from *venice* to get to switzerland...oh my!) no, no - you must wait in said line *again*....can you say e.x.a.s.p.e.r.a.t.i.o.n.!!!!!!!!? yep, i had a mini meltdown. tears, stress, the whole bit........we ended up booking the entire rest of our trip the 4th time in line (well, there goes our day in paris) thus nixing our flit around whilst ever we felt like plan...

ahhhhhh....but let's go back to the night train to venice! *that* was pretty cool. we got to see southern france and fields of beautiful sunflowers during sunset and woke up to gorgeous, warm, (hallelujah, i'd been freezing & wet for a long time) sunshine - yay venice!! we had 3 other people in our little sausage/sardine sleeping quarters compartment that was about 10x8 - kinda snuggy in there but i slept just fine! we departed the train and waited a while for the bus in the wrong place (thus the bus drawing to fusina up there!) & then onto camping fusina - we loved this place! i'll tell more about it & getting around venice closer to the other photos.... :)

Saturday, August 04, 2007

funny HP, DH post

just a quick link here...if you are a harry potter fan, and not too uptight & are up on your movies & pop culture references, you'll probably find this post very funny: deathly hallows run down it's like the cheater version to the book; all the chapters shortened & quite humorous digs at the plot -- but very comical. warning - it's super duper long; so save it for when you have a bit of time.

Friday, August 03, 2007

leaving paris


leaving paris, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

next up is venezia friends!

so awesome


so awesome, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

we really liked paris & did not get to spend near enough time there - only 3 nights. we will be going back at sometime for sure. we had all outdoor adventures in paris - didn't even get to step into one museum! we wandered up to montmarte & went up the sacre coeur basilica, wandered down to notre dame cathedral & around the seine. we loved our meanderings but did not get our fix! we're scheming our next trip already :)

crooked house


crooked house, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

this was around the corner from picasso's studio on montmarte. isn't that crazy? we were pretty smitten with the "old" that was everywhere in europe!

amazing throughway in the gardens

we stumbled across the Jardin des Plantes while roaming paris. it was really lovely to see such a large pretty garden open to wander around in. there was a killer old art nouveau hot house but it was being renovated so we had to peek through the fence instead! this throughway with these super tall trees, so straight & narrow that created this zipper of sky was really amazing.

butterfly window


butterfly window, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

there were a lot of cute boutiques, but i steered clear. i knew i would want loads of goodies & i knew i still had a far ways to go with that pack & wouldn't want to haul things around. i had a little argument with myself when we passed this one darling place with these awesome tote bags - i have a thing for bags & these were soooo cute! & french! & reasonable! & i love them! but, i said no to myself, and sadly walked away like a good backpacker should!

favorite neighborhood boulangerie

this is the first boulangerie we went in when we were walking to our hotel. of course, for the next 3 days, it was our favorite! next door, was this darling older lady selling tarte legumes which were amazing (& heavy & solid!). at the boulangerie, we had the eclairs - the best i've ever had anywhere - & i'm an eclair lovin' kinda gal. we also bought 2 kinds of their bread, twice - and we tried the spinach tarte, the madeleines were terrific, we got those all three times we stopped in...we also tried this massive almost 2 inch thick crumbly cookie thing that was super yum. i think we had a fruit tarte too. i would not be one of those "why french women aren't fat" kinda gals - i would be a very robust gal with that boulangerie too close to me!

i spoke french in all the little places i went to & even though it was rather basic, i was pleased that everyone spoke back to me in french, not in english! it was pretty thrilling to engage in the basics of a foreign language & be understood & sorta understand on my part - it was like a secret club; especially since the mister was clueless & he was rather impressed with me :)

from the spy glass


from the spy glass, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

a few more photos from ole par-eeee...

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

tagged - taking a break from europe!

tagged by the lovely shash - a little breather from the europe posts...now the question is, how much do you really want to know about me? :)

Rules: 1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. 2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves. 3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their eight things and include these rules. 4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and that they should read your blog.

1. habit: i lick my lips when i'm nervous or things are chaotic & too much is going on. i don't really realize this until much later when my poor little lippies are all chapped. i'm trying to notice when this happens now & go get the balm!

2. random fact: i was born in a small town in beverly, massachusetts. i love new england and spent a lot of my summers up there as my parents are big new england fans as well. many summer memories involve boston, small coastal towns like rockport, eating lobster (not me though, after i cracked my first one ever and tiny green lobster baby eggs came out it was all over - clams henceforth for me), going out for ice cream at the best little ice cream joint called dick & june's, eating cannoli's at mike's italian delicatessen in the city, long road trips, candy stashes, books to read & crammed in a car with my brothers! there is a small part of me that wishes she lived on the rugged maine coast...

3. habit: drinking tea in the morning. habitual/ritual. i love this habit.

4. random fact: i have a terrible summer cold right now that has sunk down into my ears. i'm prone to ear infections & in fact, have lost a lot of my hearing in my left ear from when i was little. thus the wondering, dazed look sometimes when someone tries to speak to me in that ear and they get the quizzical question mark above my head look. it makes me sad sometimes because i cannot always hear the thunder which i love, and being in loud cavernous spaces with lots of noises can be extremely disorienting for me.

5. habit: leaving my water glasses lined up down the metal shelf next to my bed. i have to have a glass of water next to my bed each night & then of course, i leave them...i'm always asking for the glass maid to please clean up her detritus :)

6. random fact: i turned 33 in venice this year and am told it is my jesus year. i feel like this should mean significant things are going to happen. or that i need to be very open to options...i keep thinking about this and know it will be showing up in my writing i do on the sly & in my artwork.

7. habit: never reading the entire sunday new york times. and always making a vow to get through all of it. never happens.

8. random fact: i feel a lot of the time that i am one of those people that are good at a lot of things and not particularly stellar or passionate about any one thing. for a long time i've felt like this was somehow negative...like i should have a driving force that rules out all other interests. i should be someone who works in her studios all hours of the night, forgetting about everything - so focused and intense...& yet, i have my spurts, but it never consumes me. or someone who calls themselves a "runner, or a marathoner"...& yet, i jog occasionally & take walks & dream about being a fit, tone, mighty marathon type. or, someone who can gourmet cook & bake up anything...& yet, i dabble - i love to eat, i love to cook up food that is yummy & go through my baking jags, but it is never an all the time thing for me. or, i wish i was someone who had a super green thumb and gardened non stop through the summer months....& yet, i love my houseplants & pretty jade plant and my new meyer lemon baby plant -- and i try my hand at herbs that last for a while and inevitably whither up...& yet...my attempts at joining a community garden have been stymied and my goal to use the entrance to our building as a potted plant garden came to ruin when our nasty landlords hauled everything away and dumped it in the trash :(

well....i ramble. but, i love that i have way too many interests, but am always a bit envious of those seemingly hard core, dedicated folks that are fully consumed by their passion.

i need to tag 8 people? i might not get to that many. how about wendy, sian, ileana, lesley, donna & jena.

have a great wednesday! i'll be back a few more paris stories for you soon. :)