circus circus!

(a county fair in managua, nicaragua, from wylie maercklein's flickr page)

i am fascinated by images of carnivals, circuses, county fairs...... really anything that has ferris wheels, brightly colored, striped tents, photo booths, signs for funnel cake and popcorn with incredible typography, neon lights.... especially old images-- circuses from the 1920s are really the top for me. i want to find a book of these images. i love the old bearded lady stuff and the side shows and freaks.... it makes me sort-of sad to look at and think about, but i love it nonetheless.

i found so many images on flickr this morning i didn't know which to choose! here are some of my favorites.

(vermont state fair, 1940, from the library of congress flickr page)

(vermont county fair, 1940, from the library of congress flickr page)

(circus krone in augsberg, germany, from grooveb's flickr page)

(lake county illinois fair, from swardraws' flickr page)

(photobooths at the orange county fair, from the photobooth blog)

(delta county fair, colorado, 1940, from the library of congress flickr page)

(washington county fair, new york, from bobtrancho's flickr page)

(open air circus, coney island, new york, from the library of congress flickr page)

museo de arte comtemporaneo de castilla y leon

is this photo of the museo de arte comtemporaneo de castilla y leon (musac) not a dream come true?? it is beautiful!! those colors..... oh, swoon. the red-maroon-orange-yellow-green part of the building is one of my absolute favorite color schemes, and i can't stop staring at it!

it was designed by madrid-based architects mansilla & tunon, it won the 2007 mies van der rohe award, and you can read all about it on the 2modern blog. and you can feel free to stare all you want-- i'm right there with ya!

total lunar eclipse

did you see the eclipse last night? what a sight! ryan and i laid out in the yard for about an hour watching as the earth's shadow covered the moon, and it was beautiful. this was the last total lunar eclipse until december 21, 2010, and it was perfectly visible from this southeastern part of the country where ryan and i have found ourselves living these past 6 months.

click here to find out more about eclipses...
there will be a total solar eclipse on august 1st of this year; we will see it as a partial eclipse, but read about the eclipse path here-- you might be lucky enough to be living somewhere where you'll see a total eclipse of the sun! (that always reminds me of that part in little shop of horrors when they sing about a total eclipse of the sun, and that's when the crazy plant appears... remember that?)

clever. so clever.

i just saw this on simply olive (it was also posted on treehugger today....) and i had to post it.
no clues. you just have to watch it.
(read more about it here)

signs from afar

i am quite amused by these signs i found in the stick people in peril flickr pool this morning via fffound. (maybe i'm amused because it's 6:30 in the morning and i've already been up for an hour...?)

the caption above this one was "punch your way down the stairs!"

and a new year begins

with the beginning of each new year comes a sense of wanting to clear out and start fresh in the studio. what will 2008 bring to my art? what will i bring to my art in 2008? what will my art bring to me? so many questions unanswered, so many questions to ask.

something that is feeling really important to me at the start of this year is the idea of slowing down. not that i'm constantly moving at hyper-speed or anything, but sometimes it feels like my brain is. it spins so fast that i end up confused and frustrated and not getting anything done. my intense desire to want to multi-task and do everything that i possibly can ironically slows me down and creates chaos in my brain.

so, in honor of the new year, i am setting the intention to slow down and do things one at a time.
also, to spend more time doing things that fulfill and inspire me, instead of just trying to work from morning until night.
i think that is why i'm drawn to this image this morning:

nature walks. they always always always fill me up with love and gratitude.
lisa congdon does it again.

{image via her flickr page}

a weekend in south georgia

ryan and i had a fantastic weekend down in south georgia for the thanksgiving holiday. we camped for three nights and did/saw way more than i expected-- we started out at skidaway island state park (images above), where we camped for 2 nights, took a little side trip to tybee island (images below), where people were swimming, it was so warm! i couldn;t believe it. ryan and i were laughing because we brought winter coats, and then it was sandal weather. we are clearly from colorado. :) but it turned out to be a good idea, because the weather took a turn and got pretty chilly.

then we spent a day in savannah, which is such a lovely town. the mansions are ridiculous, and it just has that old south feeling that i've been looking for since moving to georgia. atlanta doesn't quite have it, being the big city and all. we ate at this great restaurant for lunch called mrs.wilkes', and if you are in the area i highly recommend it. it was a big ol' southern meal, complete with creamed corn, collard greens, beef stew, fried chicken, and the works. (i, of course, was not able to eat a lot of it, being a vegetarian, and i was sure to stay away from the collard greens, which i suspected were cooked with a nice ham hock!)

then the highlight of the trip for both of us was a trip to the okefenokee swamp in the southernmost part of georgia, where we had high hopes of seeing alligators, but there were all hiding due to the chilly, damp weather. we canoed around the swamp for a good chunk of the day, and it was amazing. i mean, amazing. the water was this crazy murky black, and it looked like we were canoing through a sea of coffee. the vegetation is like nothing i've ever seen, and it was so quiet and peaceful. i'm bummed that we didn't see any alligators, but the swamp was definitely a place i would like to visit again. it was truly incredible.

all in all, a relaxing, satisfying, inspiring weekend. the best kind. :)

found

i discovered a really fun website this morning called found. it's a website dedicated to collecting found things that give glimpses into someone else's life-- found notes, drawings, lists, etc.
(it started when one of the website's creators got an i-hate-you sort of note from a girl to a boy on his car windshield, meant for someone else!)

it makes me a little uncomfortable in a way, hoping i've never left something around for someone to find that might be embarassing or something (because that would be the end of the world, you know) (I'm being sarcastic), but i like that people become anonymous, and it's all just a part of life. nothing personal.

anyway, check it out here. it's quite intriguing. :)

{ps: about the note in the top image: i take it was a child, who seems extremely wise for his young age. and i hope he's having a better time of it now.)

life is a road, not a highway

i have been feeling a little off lately. i'm not really sure why, although i think it is just the ups and downs of being both an artist and a human being. it seems that the up and down is just a part of life. my life, at least.

i was reading earlier, immortality by milan kundera, which i read once before, but which is striking me in entirely new ways than when i read it the first time several years ago.

{ps... read his books. they are really something else.)

this section spoke to me:

'Road: a strip of ground over which one walks. A highway differs from a road not only because it is solely intended for vehicles, but also because it is merely a line that connects one point with another. A highway has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects. A road is a tribute to space. Every stretch of road has meaning in itself and invites us to stop. A highway is the devaluation of space, which thanks to it has been reduced to a mere obstacle to human movement and a waste of time.

Before roads and paths disappeared from the landscape, they had disappeared from the human soul: man stopped wanting to walk, to walk on his own feet and to enjoy it. What's more, he no longer saw his own life as a road, but as a highway: a line that led from one point to another, from the rank of captain to the rank of general, from the role of wife to the role of widow. Time became a mere obstacle to life, an obstacle that had to be overcome by ever greater speed......

In the world of highways, a beautiful landscape means: an island of beauty connected by a long line with other islands of beauty. In the world of roads and paths, beauty is continuous and constantly changing; it tells us at every step: "Stop!"'

this seems to fit for me these days. my life has become a highway, both physically and metaphorically. i am driving more these days here in georgia than i ever have before, and i get stuck in traffic every day, and it makes me want to scream. the time in the car is not peaceful, relaxing, rejuvenating, or any of the good stuff. i find myself cursing and wanting to get to where i'm going as fast as i possibly can, so as not to waste any time. on a metaphorical level, i'm measuring my life by 'islands of beauty.' i compare myself. to everyone. there's always someone out there who is doing something i deem a little (or a lot!) better, or they seem to have it a little (or a lot) more together, and lives seem just a bit better than mine. as an artist, this comparing is both useful and detrimental: i'm learning a lot by watching what others are doing, but at the same time i'm allowing the line to be crossed from healthy admiration to jealousy, and that does *nothing* to feed my creativity. it's like i'm waiting for something big to happen that i can mark as 'something i accomplished' on my life-highway, when really my life is happening right now. RIGHT NOW. isn't that crazy? this is my life. and that is your life. right now.

anyway, sorry to sound melancholy. the book is pulling big questions out of me, and where else to put them but out into the big ol' internet world?

enjoy the book if you decide to read it. :) it is wonderful.

georgia weekend: part 3, the aquarium

i am fascinated by jellyfish. have i ever mentioned this? i think they are just incredible, and i spent about 15 minutes staring at them at the georgia aqaurium this weekend.

there were many many other delights of the sea to view:

sea turtles...


tons of fish, of course...


sea horses (another fave)...


beluga whales (4 of them!)


and a 63 foot long viewing window into a tank that had an unbelievable array of fish in it, including 3 whale sharks (the biggest fish known to man), a hammerhead shark, and some sawfish in it. i love this shot with the silhouetted people.

it was awesome.

georgia weekend: part 2

i just wanted to share some more of the photos i took this weekend. it was so great to just wander around taking photos for 3 days!

these shots are from the centennial olympic park/ cnn/ georgia aquarium area (in downtown atlanta.) i know they are slightly blurry, but i am in *love* with these photos. especially the first one with the water droplets on the camera lens from the fountains...

{this is a photo of a pool with a fountain pushing the water around, lit up from beneath. beautiful, eh?}

autumn is coming...

it's becoming fall here in georgia, and i am *loving* it. these are some photos i took at candler murphy park in atlanta the other day-- the weather is perfect here lately!!! fall is my absolute favorite time; it's like a new beginning for me. i love the cool touch in the air, having to bring a sweater with you, sitting on the couch knitting and drinking tea.....

exploring buckhead

i spent some time wandering around buckhead the other day, and i'm finding that i like atlanta more and more each time i go there. the above photo is the outside wall of belly general store, an adorable little cafe which also sells gourmet provisions and has a quaint and comfortable feel.

while walking around the virginia highlands area of town, i came across a house with a yard full of bamboo! i had no idea bamboo grew in georgia, but apparently it does very well here. supposedly it is a very chic thing to be using in your landscaping these days. who knew. i felt like i'd entered a different world!

and here are 2 very different houses i came across in the v-h area... the top 2 images are of a yard that had junk and old signs hanging from the fence all the way around the house. very interesting. love that disco ball. and below is one of the lovely houses across the street, in a gorgeous neighborhood full of stately old houses that reminded me i live in the south now. there are some seriously amazing houses here!

i'm off to buckhead again today, so more photos later...

Georgia, Here I Come!

so friends, the decision has been made. we are moving to georgia!!

our trip at the beginning of the week was exhausting and cut short by weather and flight delays, so unfortunately i don't have any photos of our new home-to-be yet, but by the end of next week, you will feel like YOU live in suwanee, georgia! i will be posting a ton, i'm sure, as i get to know my new area of the world...

thank you to all of you who have given me suggestions about where to go an what to do- it''s going to be hugely helpful! the best news so far: there is a whole foods in a neighboring town, so it looks like i'm not going to be subjected to nothing but waffle houses and chicken restaurants after all. :) thank goodness.

one last thing: to any of you in the boulder/denver area reading this: i am having a sale in my studio this coming monday and tuesday to try to clear out some inventory, so i don't have to lug it all across the country!

please email me if you would like more information, or check out my website for details.

georgia on my mind

the day has almost arrived. ryan and i are off to suwanee, georgia tomorrow morning, bright and early (we have to leave our house at 4:30 am... blech.... good thing i like getting up early!)

from what i've heard from countless people so far (thank you to those of you who have left comments and sent emails-- they're much appreciated!), georgia is absolutely stunning, and suwanee is a fantastic little place to live. so, to say the least, i am excited about our trip tomorrow and learning about a part of the united states that i truly know nothing about. i have my camera charged and ready, so i'll be taking lots of photos! check back in the next few days for updates...

for now, a few images of georgia i found on the good ol' internet that are intriguing me. (not necessarily suwanee, but georgia in general.)

{okefeneokee swamp, waycross georgia}

{the swamp again}

{a waterfall near savannah, georgia}

{lake lanier, just minutes from suwanee! apparently it's man-made...}

{the suwanee river-- isn't there a song about it? anyone know who it's by?}

{and how could i pass on posting this?? i had no idea armadillos liked to drink budweiser. i also had no idea that armadillos even lived in georgia. that's reason enough to move there in my opinion! i'll have to start hunting for armadillos. (not to actually hunt them, of course. to try to get photos of them or something. or to get one as a pet. they're so cute! and i don't really think they drink budweiser...... i'm sure this shot was posed. :) }

i think i'm moving! to... georgia???

so friends, i have strange news. all this time i've been *hoping* to be on my way to the lovely city of philadelphia, and things now seem to be changing.

ryan has been accepted to the georgia campus of the philadelphia college of osteopathic medicine, which is a hugely unexpected turn of events. so, we are off on a plane bright and early on monday to check out the school and the area (i've never been to georgia!!)- it is in a town called suwanee, which is about 25 miles north of atlanta.

help! does anyone know anything about atlanta and the surrounding area?? what about the art scene? any great shops/restaurants/parks/museums/areas........ i need all the suggestions i can get..... LEAVE ME COMMENTS!!

this image makes my world complete.

i cannot get over this photograph. i think my world just shifted, knowing that things like this exist somewhere out there. i was looking for images of hanging lanterns and came across this image of floating chinese lanterns at the botanical gardens in montreal, canada. i would give just about anything to see this in person. the website says that this is the 15th year that the chinese garden in the botanical gardens will be aglow during september and october, for people to come visit and learn about chinese legends.

why don't i live in montreal?

the swan image came from an unbelievable site called trek earth (i'd never heard of it before, but am clearly hooked already.) these images below are fr