sloth

i have been feeling sort of yucky the past two days, so today i stayed in and wore my sweatpants all day and didn't even do the dishes. which i bet is the true definition of 'sloth', if i were to go look it up.

of course, i am too lazy to go look it up.

wearable sculpture

take a look at the amazing jewelry creations of anna lorich...

aren't they just like tiny wearable sculptures? i am especially drawn to the fabric pieces, although she works in a wide variety of media...

mom was here

i've been playing hostess a lot lately, first when billy came to visit last week, then when my mom came to chicago for her birthday weekend (and we enjoyed some fancy celebratory food).

it's been busy around here, but my mom left this afternoon so tonight i have my little apartment to myself... and it feels a little strange, actually. i've had the tv on all evening because it felt so quiet (desperate housewives, anyone?).

for fall

gina and i went on a little ikea trip yesterday morning, and i got this blanket i've been wanting. its yummy think felt with different colored stitching woven through. also, it's gigantic and covers my whole bed.

yay.

just a sweet little scene

the other day when i was walking to the zoo, i passed a group of women who had brought their spinning wheels to the park and set them up. about 5 ladies were sitting in the sun, just spinning wool roving into yarn. they were chatting quietly while working, and had brought a little picnic basket full of fruit. it all looked really pleasant.

temptation

i remember reading about this experiment in one of my psychology classes in college. a kid is offered a marshmallow (oooh, delicious!), but is told that if they wait a few minutes to eat it, they will get an extra one (oooh, TWO marshmallows!). obviously, the kids want two marshmallows... but it turns out delaying gratification can be pretty hard on the little ones. here is a hidden camera video of some of the the agonizing temptation:

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

clearly, some kids handle the waiting better than others. after the original experiment, the researchers followed the progress of each child into adolescence, and demonstrated that those with the ability to wait were better adjusted, more dependable, and scored an average of 210 points higher on the SAT.

art inspiration: takino hillside park

take a look at this national park in japan. i can't believe a space like this exists for children to play in. it sort of blows my mind.

and there are also lots of wild outside areas of the park, like this:

all I ask of living is to have no chains on me

i was so sad yesterday to hear that mary travers of peter, paul & mary had died. my dad used to sing peter paul & mary songs to me and my sister, and my appreciation only grew deeper as i learned more of their songs throughout my awesome/hippie elementary school experience.

their music and social activism continue to inspire me.





"Give me my freedom for as long as I be.
All I ask of living is to have no chains on me.
All I ask of living is to have no chains on me,
And all I ask of dying is to go naturally.

And when I die,
When I'm dead, dead and gone,
There'll be one child born in our world to carry on,
There'll be one child born to carry on."

elephants, leopards, and tigers (oh my)

ok. so, i might have made a whole bunch of finger puppets... instead of job-hunting or dish-doing. i made this one a while ago and she just really needed some friends. so you see, i couldn't help it.

stripey rugs with wood and white

via here

the bird and the bee

jeni told me about this fun little duo the other day, and now their songs are totally stuck in my head, especially "again and again". i can't embed the official video for the song because of copyright stuff, but here is a video of one of their live performances:



Say my name, say my name, say my stupid name?
Its stupid how we always seem to do it again, oh.

You're so stupid and perfect and stupid and perfect.
I hate you, I want you, I hate you, I hate you, oh.
Again, again, again, again.

three things

1. this weekend was the renegade craft fair. it was awesome, and i spent way too much money. somehow i managed to not take any pictures of the actual fair, but here are some of the free buttons i picked up, and a shot of some unintentional color coordination:

2. billy was in a pizza eating contest, and is now kind of famous in madison (although maybe not as famous as me, because of that one hilarious billboard thing that happened).

3. i have a newish plant/tree that needs to be named, and i'm really hoping that you have brilliant suggestions. here are pictures:

an adventure

in wicker park there is this old elevated railroad track that people are trying to get made into a park. but right now it's just an abandoned track that people sometimes walk along. technically i think this might be trespassing, but it's neat and exciting maybe because of that.

there is no staircase or anything to get up to it, so you have to be creative and climb around a bit to get up there. and once you're up there, it's a little bit like, "hmm. imaybe i didn't think this through - i am now on this elevated path over the city and what if there is no way down?" and for a minute it seems like maybe there isn't, and maybe you have to live up there forever because there is no way down.

of course, eventually there was a precarious but doable route back to street level, which involved scaling about 12 feet of dirt and then wedging between a fence and a wall.

all of this made me feel like i was pretty brave and scrappy. also, when you're up there on the elevated track, you can see lots of stuff you might not otherwise see, like this puppy swimming in a kiddie pool.

llama costume party

i know what you're thinking. you're all "lizzie, this is the second cutesy-animal-post this week. what is this blog turning into?" and trust me, i hear that, but i can't not post this video of the llama costume competition from the minnesota state fair. i hope you understand.



(many thanks to wyn for sending this my way.)

good stuff

here is my little painting i got from anna right before she moved. isn't it nice? i just framed it so it can join the wall o' art in my kitchen.

also, i finally got a booth shot with tanya:

the photobooth never disappoints.

sometimes a flowchart is helpful

piglet joy

fair warning: i can hardly stand how cute this is, and i have a very high threshold for cuteness.

ok. look at these photos (from this article) of a dog who totally ADOPTED A TINY ABANDONED PIGLET as her own.

can you even stand it? look how TEENY and WRINKLY it is! and the big dog loves it! life is awesome.

the science of adorable rainclouds

it would be more appropriate to post these on a rainy day, and it has actually been pretty much the nicest weather-week ever, but i saw these raincloud mobiles (from cocon) and fell instantly in love (and when you fall instantly in love, you know, you want to share that love immediately). also, i watched the science of sleep the other night and have been thinking about little adorable things i could make or sew ever since. not that i don't just always think about things to make and sew. because i do.

kite festival

on sunday, we went to the annual kite festival in two rivers, wisconsin. are you ready for all these kites? there were animal kites:

and rainbow kites:

and geometric kites:

and synchronized dueling kites:

and some nuns were there, too.

even more kite festival photos here.