a sunny weekend

visiting erica who is house/dogsitting in bernal heights. this is cooper, the orange, sturdy, love dog.

gallery store just opening in bernal

between some houses

new summer shoes (cat tail not included)

en overraskning! (a surprise)

got this sweet package from camilla in the mail. what a surprise and what a treat! tack sa mycket camilla! det gjorde mig verkligen jatte glad.

pinky leon i don't think has a very good nose. when i visit other dogs and cats, he never seems to notice/sniff me/my stuff. the only things he likes to sniff are eyelashes, breath, toes, and the occasional furniture. boy did he enjoy the swedish bark camilla sent though! that got a big, big sniff. (it was my favorite part too i think, though i like photo of the dogs in the woods. {is that really morran? i've never seen her like that! she's usually having tea parties. fikande med dockor. but i have seen her toppling some of her crocheted friends over lately...}and i am interested in the poetry book. i know i've seen that one in mormor's collection or in the house of someone i know...)

thanks again! tack tack. stor kram!

flowers for misabi

my mom and her horse misabi. misabi had to be put to sleep the other day. my mom got misabi when misabi was 5 (is that right?) and they've been friends for over twenty years. when misabi came to our house she was dark dappled grey and here she is all white. misabi was a gentle and sweet and beautiful horse and will be dearly missed. love to you mom!

another lovely horse pic found on flickr

grime vs. green

this post from andrea really has me thinking. andrea just moved from a block away from my house, to the east bay.

i think a lot about moving to the east bay. a lot! and i think about moving to portland. and i think about moving to sweden. i think a lot about moving. but i also have been known to use moving/the idea of moving as an escape from personal troubles. and i realize those follow wherever you go generally. and so i try to think about making my home where i am, making my happiness where i am.

but like andrea, i'm tired of the grime and ready for more green...

i like this comment of hers: "It's as if this self-respecting environment fostered even more goodness." i think about that related to sweden a lot, a country whose environments (urban, suburban and natural) are generally clean, cared for and respected. and it seems in turn, people respect their enviornments/themselves/each other more. in sweden they have allemansratt, which directly translated, means every man's right. it means everyone has access to nature in sweden and can be in it respectfully (picking berries or flowers, but not all the berries or flowers, camping anywhere, but not leaving your trash, etc.) when everyone has equal access, people take care of nature better.

my housemate erica talks about wanting to start a campaign with community leaders to make mission street (and the mission) clean. there is the argument that this will lead to (more) gentrification of the mission and push a large Latino population out. cleaning up the Mission would also threaten homeless, drugusers and prostitutes. and will all these people just be relegated to a new, uncared-for neighborhood then? and if i move somewhere cleaner, more beautiful, will i be more inclined to ignore the existence of uncared for places and people/racism/homelessness/others' suffering? at the same time, it seems the lack of city interest/funds in making the Mission clean is a kind of racism. it's complicated. all the problems are interconnected. (like andrea also says in her post, one gets in trouble when one only looks at it from one angle.)

do we just try to deal with these issues locally, or do we need a revolution? can't we all have green and beauty?

blurry cat, but i like the light. dusk-time pinky leon.

i put some stuff up on etsy, but didn't take very good pictures...

next week i'm off to visit my parents and my dear friend lindy who is back from israel and the first year of her 5 year rabbinical training. very excited to see her, laugh with her and hear of her adventures. then it's up to oregon to check out the green. if any of you have any oregon tips, please pass them on! (am already planning to visit ella posie.) maybe i will run into one of these lovely women...

tuckered out now. more words and pictures soon hopefully.

fair report

it was a beautifully sunny, though windy day at the fair. linden street is sweet and the fair got very crowded in that narrow space. fun people watching. i sold more than i have at other fairs, but the entrance fee was also the highest. these fairs just aren't worth the fees for me since my stuff is rather inexpensive. (plus i usually end up spending any profit on food and purchases.) and i have a hard time sitting outside for seven hours selling. and then schlepping all the stuff. thank goodness for friends who help schlepp. (the schlepping was especially difficult yesterday because my neighborhood was blocked off for carnaval and there was no driving on my street. we had to walk several blocks with all my stuff to the the car. ay.) the best part of the fair was seeing dear friends stop by (thanks guys!). anyhow, i'll be posting unsold cards on etsy soon. for now i'm thinking no more fairs with high entrance fees though!

view whole set of pics from capsule

off to the design fair

tables and gear for capsule

ih-kee-ah (sw) or eye-key-ah (eng)

went to ikea this week to get frames and ended up with these sheets as well. (i actually really like simple, classic sheets, but i always seem to purchase patterened ones. i do the same thing with plates.) aren't these groovy though? as my housemate erica aptly described them, it's like sleeping in a field of daisies.

i also stocked up on swedish treats of course at ikea:
dammsugare
bilar
choklad
knackebrod
skorpor

(ibland koper jag ochsa chokladbollar, kokosbollar, tunnbrod, mariekex, kexchoklad, dajm och dumle. det finns mycket pa ikea, men inte fil och inte hallonsaft eller vinbarsaft)



a few flickr favorites of late:
stripes
feet, socks
a braid

a colorful capsule for you

going to frame these up (like below) for the fair.


stop by the capsule festival for design street fair in hayes valley this sunday if you're around sf. it's from 11-6 pm on octavia and linden street (which is like an alley). i'll be somewhere around the middle of linden street.

see the new hayes valley park, lounge in the (i hope) sun and say hello! i'll probably be a nervous wreck, so seeing some familiar bloggers and friends would be a welcome relief!!

links

links i'm adding to my links page right after i post this. i can't believe some of these aren't on there yet. they've been in my favorites folder for a while now.

posie gets cozy
anna emelia
shiny squirrel
the felt mouse
nick butcher
lily of the valley
truedesign
simple me
put your flare on
little messes
orangekanin
while she naps

oh there are more, but this it for now.

back to making cards for a fair next weekend. i realized if i sold all my cards i would still only break even on the fee for being part of the fair!! ug. better get cracking.

on my itunes today:
john lennon
interpol (the first time i heard an interpol song {nyc}, i got teary. not sure why. something about the quality of the guy's voice. same thing happened when i heard the dead can dance guy's voice {who sounds similar to the interpol guy}, and i don't even really like dead can dance. so i burned an interpol cd and wasn't that into it, but then that thing happened where if you listen to something long enough you start to like it. now i really like them. weird.)
anna ternheim (sw)
laleh (sw)
jane's addiction
neko case

swedish ceramics, shirts, pippi and kerstin

just finished listening to designsponge's podcast with karin eriksson and it made me cry a little. i think it was the combination of hearing the sweet swedish accent (reminds me of my relatives and swedish friends when they speak english), thinking about sweden and being inspired by karin's career switch, success, beautiful ceramic work and what she had to say about design. i just found it lovely. listen.


i know enough with the roses already.


here is a shirt i bought from H & M that i'm liking. i am a BIG sucker for dots. and aren't these cute ones? i like the styles out now with all the ruffles, buttons, pleats and other girliness. so much more interesting with all the extra stuff. (it must be a pain in the ass for the sweatshop workers though. i try to only buy sweatshop free or used clothing, but sometimes i am weak and i go to H & M.) i also like the style of throwing everything together, lots of layers of not necessarily matching colors, patterns, clothes. sorta pippi longstocking-esque (while we're on the topic of swedish ceramicists and clothing stores, we might as well mention swedish fictional strongest girl in the world, the fabulous pippi långstrump. it's funny cuz when i was little i wanted to be annika so that i could be pippi's friend. didn't want to be pippi. that must be why i now fall for rock star girls and the like.)

for the SPT introductions i'll tell you a story someone told me, about me. early in our friendship, christina told me about driving in the car listening to music and creating movies in her head. (since she told me this, i've learned that apparently lots of people create their own movies/scenes to music they hear. news to me.) anyway, she heard some rock 'n roll tune (i should remember which, but do not) and thought up this movie called pronounced shashtin (my name is spelled kerstin but pronounced shashtin and i am pretty much eternally explaining this. it's in my work email signature even.) in pronounced shashtin the movie, i wear some tight black dress and i kick ass. i won't tell you the graphic details, but suffice it to say i am, let's say, romantically assertive in the movie. anyway this is all very funny because i'm pretty quiet in general (although i do have my pronounced shashtin moments).

i guess i'm thinking of this story because as i'm going to be making some changes soon in my life, i feel i need to tap into that pippi strength and into pronounced shashtin kerstin more. i'm inspired by mati's recent blog entries where she talks about letting go of some of her self labeling and being more who she wants to be. (she writes it beautifully.) read.

oh, and on all these swedish notes, here is my cousin karin's new blog (a different karin). she writes in english, swedish and french - take your pick.

mini-scape bookmarks?

been making these watercolor scribbles to get back into watercoloring (after about a 10 year hiatus). i'm thinking of making these scribbles into bookmarks - laminating them and selling them cheap at the next fair maybe. making these, i remembered that i don't actually want the really really nice, thick, rough watercolor paper cuz it absorbs so much water and color. it looks good while you're painting, but by the time it dries, it looks faded and the cool bleeding effects all but disappear. it's good if you want to paint multiple layers, but for quick sketches, not so good...i think i need to get the smooth kind. i like how you can't really control watercolor though. it makes it both frustrating and exciting for me.

flickr-ing and the trouble with quilts

i love the rosebush in our backyard. the roses are so ruffly and not packed with petals.

i've now become one of those obsessed with flickr favorites people. i can't stop following the chain of favorites. clicking on someone's fave i like and then going to that person's favorites and on and on until i hit someone who doesn't have favorites. (they must not have discovered/fallen into the enchanting hole of flickr favorites yet.) i noticed that my favorites (which i often leave as a sort of screen saver on my computer since i think they're so beautiful) tend to have a lot of the same colors. they make me want to make a quilt. which leads me to the title of this post. flickr-ing and the trouble with quilts....

the trouble is, i make the tops and then i don't quilt them. my quilts are all about color and patterns and not about the quilting, which is not to say i don't appreciate the stitching of others' quilts. (i've mentioned her before, but she's worth mentionioning again, ANNA VON MERTENS! now that is some amazing stitching.) anyhow, i don't want the tops to pile up. i don't like unfinished projects. but the quilting hurts my neck, arm, back, etc. i know there are quilt shops that do the quilting for you. but these are little quilts and it seems silly to have them machine quilt a little quilt. i guess i'll just keep making tops for now and hope that someday i can just take my time with the quiltiing...

zzzzz

more miniature landscapes in the works.
slightly tipsy from a work event. too much so to blog.
i like this link from camilla.
good night!

my own little tree

from jenny vorwaller. isn't it lovely? i love it! jenny's blog is one of my favorites. most of you i'm sure know her blog, but if not, check it out.

i like the way jenny writes, often sharing pieces of thoughts, or poetic, abstract descriptions, leaving her meaning up to some interpretation. i like it when someone's writing makes you think/feel not just because of the content, but also because of style/form. i also like what she has to say, her choice of colors, her photos and her art. see her etsy shop too.

oh, and my little tree came in a package with swedish hymn music on it. not sure if that was intentional, but the swede in me thought, "roligt!" (roligt=fun)

since it's SPT and we're still on the theme of introduction, i spose i'll share some other tidbits...

what, what, what....the self portrait challenge site suggests some questions to answer, one being who lives in your house?: my housemate/friend erica (the sister of a friend from high school) and pinky leon. both of these characters have had numerous appearances on this here blog. speaking of my housemate erica, erica and i both love christopher walken, and this question reminds me of the hilarious SNL christopher walken census skit. the census taker comes to ask cw how many people live in his apartment. cw is this crazy guy wearing a hawaiian shirt who thinks he's married to a bobcat. but in answer to the census guy's question, cw says 80 people live in his apartment. the census guy is obviously incredulous, and asks who these 80 people are. cw counts candy bars among his apt. inhabitants. oh, here is the transcript (you can find everything on the internet!). cw's delivery is of course the funniest part though. he is ridiculously funny.

mini-scape and rearranging

a mini landscape (cut from an ugly painting i made) and


my roommate erica is switching her art room with her bedroom. i like the new color combo in her new bedroom, very creamy.

lotsa cards

latest cards. gearing up for a craft sale may 28. i both dread and get excited about these fairs.

self portrait challenge (re)introduction

the theme this month, for the new and improved SPT site, is introduction.



intro to pinky leon as well

hmmm. words of introduction are always tough. my shirt pattern here looks like a quilt. i like that about it. i like color, pattern, texture. i like photos that look faded. atmospheric photos and art that evokes a mood. i'm sentimental to the extreme. need a lot of alone time but i usually drive myself a little crazy if i spend too much time alone. an only child. a cancer. i actually don't think much of astrology, but i do fit the cancer description pretty well. i like to be at home and cozy. i like thinking about home and its meanings. i love stories and poems, words and letters. i like quiet. i'm easily overwhelmed by noise, strong smells and fast pictures. so i probably shouldn't live in a city. but i like loud, smelly, fast people so?? now i'm being a little silly, but it is kind of true too. that's it for now. maybe more intro in the coming weeks. maybe i'll answer the questions on the new site next time.

i took tons of pics for this since my camera was overexposing. even digital cameras surprise!! i like that.


ok, that's enough!

torn and a link

caught these just before someone came to plaster new adverts over.

a photog (mav linked to a while back i think) who i rediscovered this weekend in my marathon flickr viewfest - shayna bethany. i think she's fabulous. i love the atmosphere(s) and mood(s) in her pictures and the tenderness of her portraits. beautiful!

now i'm off to see sigur ros. weeeee!

topsy-turvy

so lately i am consumed with thoughts of things i can't really write here, as much as i'd like to! that's partially why i decided to take a blogging break. that and to try to craft more. but i find myself just perusing flickr about the same amount of time i would take to blog, so....it's back to blogging for me.

whenever i want to change one big thing in my life (a relationship, a job, a housing situation, etc.), i start questioning everything in my life. suddenly i want to move to sweden, join an organic farming, crafting lesbian commune (oooo, is there one of those? ha!). i'm thinking things are going to go a bit topsy turvy in the next few months. (my blogging might be sporadic.) i wish i could let go and have faith that all will be well. i seem to be able to do that in the mornings, but at night it's anxiety central. i think i'm just wired that way, though i do think i can work on changing that too...i fear change like the plague, but i also want to take risks and live life more fully. so i'm trying to make friends with my fear, as they say (do they say that?). accept that things are going to be strange and rough and shaky for a bit.

anyhow, here are some cutie pics of pinky leon. my smart friend christina reminded me to look at him when i'm not feeling so well. smart.

i have always found watching PL clean himself calming. i think it's because it's so animal. makes me realize that i am animal too and that as a human animal, i make my worries to a great extent. that, and the timing of the cleaning is so regular and calm.

i'm grateful for smart friends and clean kitties.

wow

check out this woman's amazing self portraits.

spring - break

going to take another week or two break from blogging, but wanted to share this budding tree, all the leaves sticking straight up.

i spent the weekend in grass valley with 6 fabulous women (3 in their 30's and 3 in their 50's, myself and one shiny dog). needless to say it was a lot of fun. and we saw this great sticky upy tree (not the botanical name of it).

thanks for your nice comments!

see you soon.

book + escape = bookscape

i think i feel a blogging break coming on. maybe one or two weeks.
want to focus more on making stuff.
see you in a bit, if not sooner. :-)

ednice, her loon and the orange chair

this weekend i met hannah's and jason's adorable kitty ednice. here she is playing with her loon (from emily) through the hole in her orange chair. the loon makes loony noises, startling ednice when she plays with the him. (ednice has a spotted tummy.)

everybody now, AWWWW.

holy closeup!

i CAN NOT BELIEVE i just found the closeup setting on my camera. i've had the camera for over a year and have been so frustrated with not being able to take close pics. i assumed the setting would be on the dial on the top with the other settings - portraits, landscape, etc. but no. today i decided to take a look at the manual. doh! i can't believe i never looked in the manual for this. i am simultaneously kicking myself and very very excited.

be prepared for a lot of closeup pics now.

(sometimes i crave black olives like nothing else. i can eat a whole can. i love the lindsay olive font & design.)

happy weekend!

"what is periodontal disease?"

tonight's categories are...GUMFIGHT....


to continue the habit discussion...

here's the view when my housemate and i shamelessly eat hit cookies and watch jeopardy. every day. at 7:00. it has become a habit. a slightly embarrassing one. i really am not a big tv watcher. didn't watch it for years. but lately i think i may have to give up saying that i really am not a big tv watcher. because i watch jeopardy and american idol! not even obscure educational shows. but mainstream, popular, commercial laden shows. but it's fun to make fun of alex trebek. he's so condescending and tries to pretend like he knows all the answers the contestants don't. (why do you need those index cards then alex?) and he thinks he's great at foreign accents. i pretty much suck at jeopardy and i still like to watch it. erica and i know the answers to some of the questions, but usually different ones, which is good, cuz otherwise i might start feeling competitive.

they have jeopardy in sweden too. the host there is annoying in a different way. he's just wacky in a "i'm a really really excited game show host" way. (just looked him up and i guess he's off the show now after 14 years...)

more about habits later this week perhaps...

cute dog and habits

my parents' giant schnauzer payton getting a bath. this was taken in december. (amazing how december in so cal looks so much nicer than spring in sf. still raining, raining, raining here.)

(you're getting this old pic cuz i haven't taken any this week. recovering from last week's daily picture-taking/uploading etc.)

maria asked us about habit this week. i like the idea of habit. of going to the same place each day at the same hour and seeing the regulars. it seems like people in novels or in tv shows always have regular places they go to hang out with the other regulars. but what's interesting about that is when something unexpected happens to break the regularity.

i wonder what the purpose of habit is. it seems like it is to ground, calm, comfort.
but then there are people who make things habits in order to improve at something - drawing, swimming, etc. but even those activities also ultimately yield calm in a way??

i like a certain amount of habit in my life. but i have to watch myself so i don't get too comfortable in my habits. i finally had to take myself by the collar and give me a deadline for finding a new job. the problem is i don't know what i'm looking for. i'm a person who likes to have a goal and work toward it. but for six years now i've thought and thought about what my goal is/should be/what i want to do, and the thinking is not leading me anywhere. nor are the lists and brainstorms and discussions. it's time to just try something new. anything! just to get some movement going on. to break the habit. scary!

pink & red and favorites from the week

1. store window pink accordion skirt and reflection
2. tomales point (from last sunday, but when i saw this hiker's red raincoat and red umbrella, i knew it had to go on my red day!)
3. thank you all for participating!

it's been quite exhilarating seeing all those colors this week! (my favorites linked to below) personally this experiment was challenging as i tend to focus on certain colors for months at a time or even years. but it did make me think a lot about focus. how focus can make you see certain things more clearly and distort other things at the same time. made me think, among other things, about all the random thoughts i get stuck in and what all i may not be noticing because of this...

the pink/red/lots of colors soundtrack:
the weepies:
tangerines are hanging heavy, glowing marigolden hues. teasing a half-pale moon. and i feel a pull to the blue-velvet dark and stars. pink magnolia, blushing and coy, savors the sun while she shines. you've got yours and i've got mine. together we glide through the blue-velvet dark and stars... all it takes is a little faith and a lot of heart, sweetheart.

the rolling stones:
She comes in colors
Have you seen her dressed in blue?
See the sky in front of you...
Have you seen her all in gold?
Like a queen in days of old
She shoots her colors all around
Like a sunset going down
Have you seen a lady fairer?
She comes in colors everywhere
She combs her hair
She's like a rainbow

thanks again everyone!
ps. a special thanks to mav who directed a bunch of you this way for the week of colors and for suggesting it be a color a day. (i was just going to do one color for a week originally.)

favorites from the week of colors:

yellows: ana's, lisa solomon's, lazyjane's

blues: mooncici's, abby's

greens: operation paper cut's green coat, mav's catgrass, shimmersnap's bowl

whites, browns, blacks: soulemama's son wow!, jumilla's lamps, happythings' snugglers, lisa solomon's bowl and garlic, meredith's black and white, abigail percy's, mav's, camilla's, birdinthehand lisa's, cedarseven's, mayfly (can you tell this was my favorite day?)

oranges: mo.wask's jellyfish, mati's, windowsill's kitty (cousin of pinky leon??), bugheart's tights (on yellow day too), jenny vorwaller's, stephanie's pincone

pinks, purples, reds: mama k's, simple me's, friederike's

some of the many cool blogs i found through colorweek: truedesign, mizutamago, little messes, treats and treasures, alaska, long beach