feet week???

ok, i know there are a million pictures of people looking down at their own feet out there. and i know there are so many, that people have probably even said a million times how many feet pics there are out there. i really don't tire of taking them, or of looking at others' photos of them though, and obviously, neither do many of you. astrid's recent one was particularly inspiring.

anyone want to join me in a week of feet (or maybe even two!)?

maybe say, starting monday, september 3 (or jumping in whenever)?


ps. your nickname comments from last post were very fun to read. and i learned how to pronounce some of your names (gracia!) that i'd been saying wrong in my head.

nicknames and mispronunciations

feet, paws and tail

starting another semester at school always requires the explanation about my name - that it's spelled kerstin but pronounced shashtin since it's swedish. (i'm named after my mormor.) last night lying in bed waiting for sleepiness, i tried to remember all the nicknames i've ever had and mispronunciations i've endured. they make for a sometimes amusing list.

nicknames:
shash and shashy - the two most common ones i've had throughout my life
szechuan - a more recent one that developed because my coworker/friend's mom (who's in her 80's) called me szechuan by accident. TWICE. on separate occasions. she had chinese food on the brain i guess. at least i can say i'm a spicy dish. har har har.)
shashtin on the bus - my nickname for when i'm being bossy, stemming from an incident where i got bossy with my housemate about where we needed to get off the bus)
shashafras - just fun to say
pronounced shashtin - nickname from christina after she created a movie (also titled pronouced shashtin) in her mind, about me being assertive
ksh and kshooshy - both given to me by former housemate geof, who wanted to tease me about how it doesn't make sense that my name starts with k but is prounounced with sh
shashywashy - only lindy can get away with this
shussy - not so much a nickname, as the way my childhood best friend's dad has pronounced shashy since i was three. he's a mumbler and from boston, but i don't know if that's a good excuse. it's funny though how it's just normal to me that that's how he says my name. i'd be sad if he didn't call me this.
chachee (like joanie and __ from happy days) - also not so much a nickname, as how that same best friend's live-in maid has prounounced my name forever
shizzden svendzen (said with a fake, very sing-song swedish accent) - started by boys in fifth grade who thought this is what a swedish accent was like. i think casey johnson was a big proponent of this one. luckily, this one only stuck for one year.
shiz - shortened version of the above
maria - given to me by senor ortiz, my spanish teacher who decided to rename me since shashtin was too hard
ann - given to me by julia, who wouldn't say shashtin

and then there are the mispronunciations. a smattering:
kerstin (understandable)
kristen
shloshtin (my 6th grade teacher being mean i think)
justin (common mispronunciation, especially over the phone, even though i don't think i have a deep voice)
shoshtin and shostin (THE most frequent mispronunciations. to me this is the old british lady pronuciation of my name.)
shasta (makes me feel kinda disco)
shashkin (pretty common)
shastin (this one is actually not really a mispronunciation, because in southern sweden they say it more like this than like shashtin)

and i don't even try to make people say shashtin with a swedish accent. i've americanized it.

i don't mind all the explaining i have to do. i'm happy to have my mormor's name. it would be fun to compare notes with other swedish kerstins in the US.

what are some of your nicknames?

silver and gold on sunday

friday flickrs

slightly bigger

on my way to the shuttle stop in the morning.

and earlier in the week, i walked by a small stove store. i like how the owner carefully arranges the parts, making stove parts worthy of being the window display.

flickr favorites this week:

marta's 54
marta's pequeno paraiso
lea's sister
and my VERY favorite this week, also by lea, her grandmother

i'm off to school now (back to my second year in a graphic design program). yay! can't wait.

colors this monday

friday flickrs +

(look how the mannequin has a tree for hair)

hearing paul simon in my head lately singing

I was having this discussion
In a taxi heading downtown,
Rearranging my position
On this friend of mine who had
A little bit of a breakdown,
I said hey breakdowns come
And breakdowns go.
So what are you going to do about it
That's what I'd like to know.

(entire lyrics here. what are gumboots? hm)

he's kind of like woody allen in his flippancy regarding breakdowns. i like it. i often get paul simon lyrics stuck in my head.

friday flickrs (soon at 1000 favorites!)
by debbie carlos
by emiliebjork
livingroom
by eamonn harnett (wow!)

chillin' with PL

it's been a while since pinky leon's been on here, hasn't it?

he discovered the sewing machine cover today.

a special package

my mom recently came back from a trip to sweden. these goodies are from that trip.


from my mormor's things - a print of vallsta back when it was a school.

among the many letters and cards i sent my grandparents, a watercolor by me sent to her in 1998.

so far, i've only read about half the letters i wrote to mormor throughout my life (talk about a tearjerker). reading them makes me remember again (redundant but true) how important mormor was (and is) to me. there are not many people in my life who i've felt and expressed so much love for and who made me feel so loved.


and lastly, front and back of a retro cutting board from designtorget. good choice mom!

friday flickrs

snjezana josipovic (apparently a conspirator with one of my flickr favorites, woodenheart. snjezana's are achingly beautiful as well!)
sweet and like a painting
another
and

other favorites of late:
sometimes foreverIII
summery
Shoes, Clayton

oh dear, tagged.

tagged by the lustrous mati. and brought out of my blog slumber.

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. Lately I've been wondering if I can learn not to take people so literally. Or not to put so much trust in/weight on words. I think my love for words has gone too far perhaps. Not only do I love the way words look and sound, the letters that make up words, the histories, etymologies, translations. Not only do I escape into and find happiness in stories, sensuality, humanity in poetry, but I also believe the words people say. I know that supposedly people say more nonverbally than verbally, but I want to believe the words because they carry meanings. I guess gestures carry meaning too (perhaps a clearer, simpler meaning). I just know I am way too disappointed lately in how meanings (my own and others') seem to shift so quickly. I'm not sure which words to believe. The sentences all seem fleeting. Except for maybe ones like, "Everyone wants to love and be loved."

#2. {continuation of #1} It makes me appreciate the honesty of animals. But at the same time all that shifting of meanings, all those grey areas, complexity, all those illusions, delusions, fantasies, tales, subversions, inversions, secrets, disguises and especially the unravelling and attempt to understand, does make life interesting.

#3. Have you ever tried to make a list of all the crushes you've ever had? I will try (excepting recent ones or otherwise terribly incriminating ones).
* Tommy Miller (Off and on through gradeschool, starting at age 5. Pretty much everyone had a crush on Tommy at some point. He was that cute. Johnny Depp cute.)
* Scott Green (1st and 2nd grade. Mostly because my BFF Heather also liked him.)
* Heather (BFF. So it goes.)
* K & K (My cousins, brother and sister. They were older and cooler. Come on you have cousin crushes too.)
* That Hawaiian guy (Can't remember his name.)
* Molly W. (Prom queen and {obviously} popular girl who for some reason befriended {to some degree} me {a nerd} in freshman English. We played tic tac toe during class despite the fact that we sat right up front, before the high-panted, Shakespeare-obsessed Mr. Schiller.)
* Josh S. (Because he told me he voted for me for some contest. Clearly I was starved for flattery.)
* Chris (Had to distract myself during economics class. He sat in front of me.)
* Asa (During my year at Lund in Sweden. Mostly she made me laugh.)
* Mattias (Also in Lund. Requisite dangerous boy crush.)
* Mariana (Also in Lund. Mariana was in my first women's studies class and ran up behind me one day and pinched my side hello. This was a year I was low on close female friends and this pinch, in addition to her being lesbionic, nerdy and super cute, was enough to completely crush me out and render me mute in her presence and in class.)
* Woman with low voice in Intro to Fem at UCSC (Requisite dangerous girl crush.)
* Emily A. (Anthropologist student with amber-colored eyes. We were on the Porter dorm paint crew one summer. She was dating a boy AND a girl and was very sexy.)
* Ethan (Incited probably my boldest first move ever. {It's about time for new bold first moves.})
* Woman who rides the UCSF shuttle and brings her bike. (She seems down to earth, groovy and kinda punk. I like her hair and that she smiles at the shuttle drivers.)

My god this is only like half of them. Must stop here.

#4. At some point I forced myself to choose between making the US or Sweden my home because my longing for wherever I was not, was stifling. I sill miss Sweden intensely quite often. And lately I have this fear {#5. I worry about things I have little control over.} that global warming will change the weather/air/environment all over the earth to the point that Sweden will change so much. I mean everywhere changes anyway in so many ways, but I have this strong desire for Sweden to always remain how I remember it as a child. I want there to be two tv channels and a few radio stations (already long changed). Little advertising/signage. Not many cars. Tra skor. Kex Choklad. Fil. Saft. People all sitting with their faces to the sun in summer. Dancing and singing around the midummer pole. Blaklockor. I want the air to feel/smell the same. This list is a book, so I really shouldn't get started.

#6. Sometimes I wonder if I should try to appear more like people expect queer lasses to appear. Get multiple hoop earrings, wear a studded belt (not happening), use more hair product, buy a suburu stationwagon (not happening), wear my keen shoes more, wear baggier jeans. All unlikely. Sesame St. taught me I don't need to conform, but like I said, sometimes I wonder...

#7. I need to go to therapy. I know in some ways it will probably be really good, but sometimes it seems so stupid to me. Paying to talk to someone. Seems especially strange when people are at war and living in poverty. Or as Andie McDowell says in Sex, Lies, Videotape, when there's all that garbage piling up. (Actually I think she's just generally worrying about all the trash while at the therapist, but this one reminded me of that scene.)

#8. I like an assignment.

I tag: erica, karin, gwen, jenifer, abby, hayley, dandelion, kim.
I would tag camilla too, but she's more of a photo tjej. (You could do this all in photos though...)

it's been hot

i'm not complaining. having grown up in so cal, i enjoy the heat.

been spending time in our backyard, which at first glance looks kind of sparse. it is mostly concrete. but once you get down in there and sit under our one tree, it seems almost lush. there is greenery all along the edges, about 3-4 feet worth along the fence, which encloses the yard on three sides. our downstairs neighbors care for the flowers and whatnot. we have a few rose bushes, some succulents, nasturtiums, assorted green leafy leaves and grasses, mint, the aforementioned tree, which produces an inedible mystery fruit, and these geraniums. (my mormor always had a lot of potted geraniums on her balcony and in her apartment. they make me think of her.) one of the three adjacent yards has some sort of fountain now. the trickling water adds to the lush feeling. all the flitting, buzzing, crawling of the birds and bees and ants and spiders factors in too. i can almost imagine i'm in some english country garden or a tropical place, until i hear the sirens, car alarms, yelling etc. in the distance, and neighbors on cell phones in the not so distant distance.

a couple of days ago sitting back there, i stared for at least five minutes at a perching (ie relatively still) hummingbird. i did not realize how tiny they are. they are really tiny!

been reading anais nin's diary. there are seven fat volumes of her diary and that's not nearly the whole thing apparently. it is not super sexual (at least not so far) as some might think (given some of her other writing). i've been surprised at how familiar many of her insecurities and musings are. it's comforting.

anyhow. here is (kind of a lot of) friday flickr goodness (a bit early).

in the grey/silver category:
this whole set and this photo
flowers and foliage
little bear

at diana's
at astrid's
at hanne's

dean street, brooklyn
light
more light

have a good weekend!

another dress + trainlove

i posted some trainlove over on Sew Green.

lace and leaves

spent some time on the other side of town today. (the more shee shee {sp?} side.) found a few cheap cheap cute clothes at goodwill. and then window-shopped a bit. the above pretty dress i spied at flicka, a swedish store. stores over on fillmore are out of my unemployed price range. (actually they were out of my employed price range as well.)

friday i'm going to try kickboxing with mati (a seasoned kickboxer ;-)) and then in the evening i'm going to her art opening. exciting! check it out if you're in sf.

i had been thinking i want to try some kickboxing or martial art or self defense. something to get in touch with my anger. (i know it's in there.) and to move my body in new ways. not to get too new-agey, but that mind-body connection needs some activation. i think i'm heading for some biggish changes and i'm hoping some yelling and/or tae kwon do action will give me some (much needed) confidence.

i see how kids with siblings (and especially boys or tomboys) test their physical limits so much more than i ever did as an only child. they tumble and tug and hurl themselves about and at each other, ride skateboards and break their bones and get up again and again. my friend heather and i could most often be found playing dolls or stuffed animals or swimming in her pool. sounds placid, but our play certainly had its edge and wildness to it too. i remember one day her sister nichole and heather and i got ahold of some of those fat, squishy nerf bats. we ran madly around their laundry room, which was an island in their house (open on all sides), endlessly chasing each other and bonking one another on the head with those bats. we were fast, frenzied, violent and laughing hysterically throughout.

i also remember one night during college, my friends mia and oona and i decided to wrestle/tumble on the lawn outside our dorms. of course it was more silly/fun than seriously rough, but even that level of roughness and physicality (heightened by the damp grass and our inability to see well in the dark), was initially so foreign to me.

it's odd how i feel more and more detached these days from my body, spending the majority of most days sitting in front of the computer. i do walk around town a lot (and go dancing occasionally), but i'm definitely not getting enough of that frenzied, freeing, physically (and in turn mentally) challenging energy.

hm, from lace and leaves to kicking and tumbling...

floral fabric cards + flickr favorites

have some alliteration.

3 in a row

+ some flickr favorites:
grassy
long arms
in the light
golden
hair snuffles

little things

hearing laurel laugh on the phone as she tries to hold the phone while also holding her baby girl. her boy close by. always now when i talk with her on the phone, she is laughing while herding and responding to the little ones. so sweet to hear the joy in her voice over the madness of motherhood. she appreciates the humor of life's craziness. between the laughing, the phone keeps beeping in our ears, as laurel's cheek accidentally pushes the number buttons.

getting kim's cd mixes in the mail, one with a parental advisory for explicit lyrics. there i was toning down my mixes and one of the older (though clearly spicier) bloggers busts out the explicit lyrics. she reminds me not to care quite so much about what others will think and to be oneself.

picking up my requested books and cds at the library - they have great stuff for free. gifts for everyone.

listening to nick drake's sad, beautiful songs (cd from the library).

receiving emails from anya, a childhood friend, telling me a secret and sending old photos to make me laugh.

pinky leon cuddling up to me, resting his head on my arm. pinky leon being a cat.

my mom calling every day (even if she doesn't always say the right words).

reflections

i'm off (taking the train, which i am very excited about) to grass valley this weekend to visit a friend, and then to my parents' next week for i don't know how long. been going through some rough patches lately. it's odd how sometimes that leaves me feeling completely uncreative and other times it makes me want to make things. right now it's the latter. part of me doesn't want to go away this weekend because i think i'd get a whole lot of stuff made. (and i haven't made much for some time!) but i am looking forward to visiting with my friend and getting out of town and into the trees for a bit.

here are two SF windows for you.



if you click on this one, you can read a bit about it.

have a good weekend!

friday flickrs

seduced by colors and papers
by the view
by kim's old tulip
the softness of sand (and all his photos!)
light
pool dreams

lalala

stack of cds for the cd exchange. i am pretty happy with the design. unfortunately i think the glue i used is having a weird affect on the paper (making it kind of grey-black). this paper was probably not the best for printing.

the shelter cover is inspired by sean hayes' song, rosebush inside about moreese bickham.
the lyric on the animal cover is from slow pony home by the weepies.

insert is here and here.

and below is the first cd i've gotten from the exchange. very exciting, and sarah's mixes are great!

flickr perfection

the most perfect record photo
i can taste the salt in the air
buildinglove
reflection

graphic designer badasses

these first two are by Alvin Lustig made with only pieces from the typecase!!!





see this website about him. it is really good. he is for sure a favorite graphic designer/artist of mine.

and below is a logo by Lester Beall



These images are from the book Nine Pioneers in American Graphic Design
(all men of course. boo.)

leaves and organic bras

made this big leaf for a scale project for my design class a while back. thought i was getting it back today, but no. so i took some photos of it. it was fun to make something with wire inside. hadn't tried that before.

have i mentioned i'm not buying any new fabric this year? (i have to keep telling myself this. and now telling you.) i figure there's enough great fabric already in the world. man it's tough though when there are fabrics like that flowery one in the leaf (bought last year at bolt in portland).

this year i am not buying clothes at big stores (or much at all) either. i think i've only bought one shirt this year. (but where does one buy organic bras i ask you?) a lot of my clothes are falling apart though. yeah, i'm on a year of no chain stores for fabric or clothing. i wish there was a place that made organic clothing that was tailored really well. i would pay a lot if i knew something would last a long time and fit well and was produced sustainably and fairly. it seems reasonable to me to spend some extra cash on sturdy staple clothes. and then when feeling like it, spruce them up with handmade and thrifted items. it's easier to not buy anything when you have no money to buy anything with too. ;-) (although i guess a lot of credit-loving americans don't feel this way.) well i'm rambling here.

it is late and it's already been an exhausting week.

made a wee book today

from scraps of paper hanging around and whatnot.



inside:





inspired by lovelydesign and five and a half. see five and a half's tutorial here

sharing dinners

my housemate erica and i are finally sort of executing our plan to make each other dinner regularly.



our first meals were, by erica, a ratatouille (which you almost want to make just so you can say ratatouille) and by me, an asparagus tart (eaten about 15 minutes ago and now making me very tired).



this weekend is the last homework weekend of the semester! after this weekend i plan to cook more, start riding my bicycle, blog more (including blogging on sew green!), dance more, go to more movies, make cards again, make a skirt (this has been on my to do list for far too long), screenprint again and start swimming again.

now i think i'll take a nap. ;-)

some time ago

i put some shoes that didn't fit me right up on my blog. gwen was happy to take them off my hands, and look at the bounty i've scored in return!



this morning as i was stepping out of the shower, alone at home, the doorbell rang. now our doorbell is normally one that makes everyone around, including the cat, jump straight up in the air and then want to run for cover. seriously loud. but it's even more unnerving first thing in the morning when you're alone, and naked, and soaked. needless to say, i did not rush to see who was there. but later when i left the house, there was this gleaming package of goodies on the stoop! it washed away all the doorbell jitters. ;-)

gwen's purses are, as many of you know, little works of design heaven. look at that super tubey handle, the body of the purse's shape! and her packaging. so thoughtful and good. a big thank you gwen!

find some of gwen's goodies here. and i'm wondering if they'll soon be here as well....

inspiration station

my painter friend sarah haba now has a website! and will be part of the oakland open studios in june.

lately i've also been appreciating elizabeth catlett's work.
the below images are from the book something all our own.

cartas (apparently inspired by the color purple)


woman's torso


dancing


fluted head

a lot of her work focuses on representing women, and particularly women of color. i find so many of her pieces very beautiful and moving.

and finally, some flickr inspiration:
skull kid's viewfinder pics
lula
goldie
#24

for mothers day

which it really is all year round

cd + cover art exchange

anyone feel like it's about time for some new music - a cd exchange?

for my quark class i'm designing a 2 cd mix cover + insert. thought it would be fun to put it to use and exchange it!

guidelines:

*2 cds with a theme (or 2 themes) of your choosing + your cover art to match
*i am hoping 10-12 people will participate, so you'd be sending 2 cds to up to 12 people and receiving up to 24 cds in return
*cds to be sent out by june 5

if you're interested, please leave me a hello in the comments and send an email to kshooshy@yahoo.com with your mailing address.

some random examples of the type of music you might find on my mix:

the decemberists, interpol, michael jackson, be good tanyas, dolly parton, duke ellington, sigur ros, bob dylan, otis redding....

hopefully even though i barely post these days, some of you will still stumble across this and want to participate!

this morning

in the kitchen

from the yard

flickr-y for friday

PL's standard complaint. as usual claiming to be starving.

boy, not much is going on on my blog anymore. i wish i had more time for it. too much schoolwork. hopefully some non-cat and non-self pics this weekend. (i tend to take pics of myself and PL when i don't have a lot of time, i'm finding.) but here are two new to me folks on flickr that i think you might like.

artist land and cinder's work, twigs and paint and such: bedroom, roads of trees, swanville cottage (what a beautiful kitchen!)

and

woodenheart's photostream: this one and this one. sad and so good. look at this set in a slideshow (better to see them bigger)

have a nice weekend. sorry it's so sparse here these days.

kitty cat

PL booty

have you seen the kitty kat youtube?

my camera is on its way back from being repaired. i've missed it and hope it arrives soon.

some flickr faves for you.

delicate:
1, 2, 3

sweet:
1, 2, 3

i was supposed to go dance away a crushed crush tonight, but erica and i didn't make it out.
chocolate will have to do. (so far i've had toblerone, some pirouette cookies {which i actually bought for a 30 inch tall food scupture contstruction i have to make for a design class - i need to stop eating my materials} and organic chocolate milk.)