80's dance movies and call off the coffee table search

finally. i've been looking for a coffee table for over 3 years. it's hard to find cool, not outrageously expensive ones that are compatible with my couch. of course it doesn't help that i'm also sick of my couch and want a new rug. it's a chain reaction i haven't wanted to start cuz it's expensive.

but we really need a coffee table. and my housemate erica and i both liked this one right off. erica loves plastic and would like a plastic table, which i'd be ok with. i like this kind of table that mav posted. i'm a sucker for worn wood. but both e. and i enjoy the danish style furniture and this table is pretty darn nice. it is warm (in brown red) and light (in weight) and in our price range.

these wrinkly placemats are from my parents' house and are most likely swedish. coasters are from designtorget in stockholm. designtorget is the best. they sell wares from a lot of up and coming swedish designers.

now begins the search for the dark grey rug. (i would consider off white too if the living room rug weren't one of pinky leon's favorite spots on which to vomit.)


oh and pinky put his seal of approval on the table too. he sniffed its entire perimeter carefully, sat on top and rubbed his cheeks on the corners. that's pretty much his standard seal. that and if you're a person, maybe rubbing up against you, doing little leaps to try to get in petting range and then slapping you or biting you (gently).

erica and i got right down to watching flashdance and eating dinner at the coffee table last night. we've had an 80's dance movie marathon lately. first dirty dancing (which i'd seen at least 3 times before but hadn't realized how sexy it is!), and then footloose and flashdance, NEITHER OF WHICH I HAD EVER SEEN. shocking i know. i loved footloose and recommend it to anyone who for some reason missed it like i did. what a funny movie. flashdance was not that great. i recommend it for the weird 80's dancing and for jennifer beals and for its ridiculous factor i guess.

sunday rainy sunday

when unproductive on a rainy day...make lists...
things to do soon????

*take a screen printing class and print own tshirts, undies, and FABRICS!
*make a card portfolio and take cards to local stores (for real in March!)
*post cards (and other goods) on etsy
*work at a small card publisher or book designer
*pursue a degree in design (at cca?), in literature or in education with a focus on social justice (at sfsu or somewhere else entirely)
*live in sweden for a while
*move to portland or a smaller place and buy a house
*tutor kids
*hang out with old people
*bake
*open a store with other artist/crafters
*open a small store with half books and half handmade cards and maybe sell coffee, tea and one kind of cookie each day. have 2-3 small tables and comfy chairs about.
.....

pinball elvis

friday links, a bit early

sonya mcleskey - a lot to feast your eyes on in these photos
sue's lovely hats at giant dwarf design and her blog, pillow vs. pincushion
living stones found on ana's site - they look so real!
new scandinavian design blog - design mouse

john copeland's sketchbooks
if you're in nyc, check out this art show, metlife (my friend's fabulous artwork is in it)!!!!

swedish women's curling team gets silly - video

i hope to get down and crafty this weekend! hopefully will have something of my own to show on the blog soon. it's been a while!

edgy

this is a photo i love by my friend erica's friend ojay. that's erica down on the right (fake goldfish hanging down on the left side, in case you're wondering). i am a sucker for pictures with people falling off the edges, just parts showing.

mormor o jag

over xmas, i brought this self portrait on the right up from my parents' house. it is from 1993, when i was 20. it's crazy to me how similar it is to the painting i have of my mormor when she was little. i received her painting as a gift from her when i turned 25 (i got to choose from all her art). i wonder if it was not in my mind somewhere already when i drew this self portrait!

snow and loveliness

so we had a week of summer and now snow! my friend erica and i were lucky to be the guardians of a friend's car over the weekend, so we took the car to mt. tamalpais to experience the little flakes of snow.




too little snow to take pics of, but here are some of the beautiful madrone trees. their barks are so shiny and reddish purple, you want to eat them! and that green moss.

after our walk, we went to the pine cone diner in pt. reyes. what a cute place.




check out the decor.

here we are enjoying the goods.


freshly baked apple cobbler and


a chocolate shake

this was after the DELICIOUS hash browns, and eggs and toast. yum!

friday links

some beautiful women making beautiful photographs:
frankie
annukka
malena
strange me
christine diane
claire kramer
and if you like yellow, see this by valerie or this by jen
and one boy nice animals and nature

under the sea

found on lbv5000's flickr photos. i love the design of this Junzo Terada picture. lbv has a lot of cool photos on her flickr pages.

this one also reminded me of maria's new card! i think i am going to have to collect the whole year's worth of her cards. they're all such beauties.

feeling quite grumpy today despite not having pms and despite having gone to see a terrific show last night and having such a good time! saw/heard etienne de rocher, a local fella. what a fun and funny show. went with two friends and what a lovely valentine evening it was. go figure. sometimes there's no accounting for grumpiness.

reclaiming HOMO and indoor colors from the weekend

lucy from peanuts undies. love them.


more photos from the new shelf. i'll stop soon.


maria's gorgeous tree.


these are HOMO cupcakes for a friend's bday.

my friends and i decided it's time to reclaim the word homo. i think we actually decided this after we started using the word and realizing how good it sounds. it's a goofy and round word (with those two o's). it's just fun to call your friend a big homo. it's gotten to the point where it's so regular for us to use the word that it doesn't even cause us to bat an eye. i imagine though people hearing us might think it a bit strange. but homos can call other homos homo. see how fun it is? it all started one night when discussing words we like with a 14 year old catholic boy who is a friend's son. he liked the word pamphlet. my friend christina liked homo. and thus the homo pamphlet with all its rules was born. it's a long story, but homo pamphlet does have a nice ring to it, no?

happy valentine's day to all the homo lovers out there (that is homos and even straight people who love their homo friends and people who think they're honorary homos {like my housemate})

many pretty things

from karen jean young's organic card collection


kaj beckman, swedish illustrator and writer


swedish money
i love that swedish money is colorful and that they have cultural figures (including women) on their money - writers, musicians, etc. i love the design on this musical instrument one 50 kronor. the musician is jenny lind.





and richard diebenkorn

anna von merterns has new quilts on her site. look at this one.




and my new petal ring from brooke medlin - it's so smooth and lovely!

friday links, corners and a funny night

so for those of you not in SF, it's been crazy beautiful here lately. sunny and clear and warm like summer. last night erica and i decided to walk around in the mission in the summer in winter heat. i wanted to show her this cool salon where the haircutter has her beautiful art up. erica suggested a drink first. so we went to la rondalla where they have sweet margaritas that make you not realize how tipsy you're getting (that place has led to a wild night once before, so i should have known...).

anyhow, after the margarita and a half there, we decided we needed dancing of course. we peaked into the beauty bar, which is a place you can get your nails done while drinking fancy cocktails. neither of us had been there and there was no dancing going on, but the bartender yelled at us to come in, so we did. he was really into making drinks and shaking his shaker thing (what are those called?). the other customers all looked like they were members of the ramones. seriously all of them. the regular manicurist (who is apparently renown for painting unicorns or virgin marys on nails) was out, so her housemate was filling in. somehow i ended up getting diagonally striped pink blue and green nails (and then smudging them right away after). soon three of the ramones were boogying and we joined them. (well not so much joined as danced near. the ramones seemed to want to dance by themselves.) it was quite a fun night. hadn't been dancing since our prince vs. dolly halloween party. dancing should be a required activity. it's so good for you.





friday links:

found throught the flickr corners pool:

hoping for happy accidents - lovely design blog by artist k. cooper. she has great taste. and her bedroom corner is one of my corner favorites.
moopy and me
liquid paper
abigail a. percy

my corners today are from my new bookshelf (or the rearranging of my sewing room that happened as a result of the addition of the shelf).



that's walter from hopskipjump sitting next to hank. i was lucky to get walter for xmas!

corners

cup corner

a corner i posted before the flickr pool existed...

other people's corners flickr pool

here are some of my favorite corners. and here are some more. more. more. more. there are
just too many. too many i say. i do!!!

wednesday i pick up my new bookshelf. will post a book corner then. you will want to eat the color of the bookshelf. i do anyway.

when...

when your downstairs neighbors are having very loud sex, smoking cigarettes (and the smoke goes directly into your room), playing loud music into the wee hours, talking really loudly on the phone for hours into the wee hours, and peeing off the back steps into the yard, it can be nice to go for a walk in tennessee valley, eat outside in the sun at the dipsea restaurant, go to an art show and watch a sappy lesbian romance movie.

friday links and a bookshelf

my links page has been updated. let me know if anything seems off there. some newly added are:

(found through poppy) yee-haw industries - make sure to check out the cool type in their posters and cards
(found through camilla) viaLetter - more font related
pretty raccoon clothing
k-fresh designs
muse to muse

i think there are a lot of good links, not to mention lovely pictures, found through the flickr corners pool. hopefully i'll get into some of my corners soon and post pics of them. maybe after i get a new bookshelf.....

i saw this used bookshelf today that is the perfect color (light cantelope-ish green) and dimension (a large square). it's a little too expensive, but it's hard to find nice, wood bookshelves that have any character for cheap these days. the only problem is that the shelves sag a tiny bit in the middle. i'm thinking if i put the books on the sides and decorations in the middles though, it might be ok. i can't stop thinking about the thing, so i think i better go back and buy it tomorrow...then i can rearrange my space to have more room for fabric storage. do you get furniture stuck in your head too?

i can't wait to get my port2port february postcard!

remington writer

i think i'm in love with my new typewriter! hail craigslist for this find! 15 dollars!!! for this old timey remington typewriter. it lived with this beautiful artist, a., in my hood. i walked to her house in the dark and rain to pick the typewriter up this evening. first of all, her house, which looked plain on the outside, was beautiful and homey inside. actually first of all, a. was beautiful. she peered out cautiously when i rang the bell and then opened the door wide. she had crinkly long red hair (tied back). beautiful fairy hair and a broad, sweet smile and beautiful face. so secondly, the flat. rugs and warm hardwood floors and paintings on the walls and food cooking in the kitchen. beautiful furniture and colors. i really couldn't even look around because i was there for the typewriter. but i know that that place was filled with beautiful things and i wished i could look around more.

i came unprepared. i thought i could fit the typewriter in my backpack and walk home. then i realized it weighs like 50 pounds (it rivals my sewing machine of lead). i think a. had a hard time parting with remington when it came down to it. she put a paper in it (i coudn't figure out how because it was locked) and started typing. the ribbon is well used but does make faint, lovely letters! a. appreciated the loveliness of the letters - she typed quite a few of them. in fact it seemed she had a hard time stopping! and she appreciated how the typewriter looks (who wouldn't!), but i guess she's getting rid of things (according to her dinner friend) and the heavy typewriter belonged to a writer friend who had lived there and left it behind when she moved. a.'s dinner friend drove me home (5 blocks away). very nice, especially considering i was only paying $15 for the typewriter. the typewriter dinged in the back seat as we drove. cute.

one thing i love about SF is that there are so many houses that look kinda beat up on the outside (and are beat up), but when you get inside them, they're so beautiful. so many treasures. i wish i could see more insides of SF houses. maybe i'll have to do some more craigslist spying, i mean shopping.

i will be taking more (better hopefully) pictures of remington in the daytime and when i have the strength to lift her from the floor to a more honorable location.

pressing the keys is VERY satisfying.