Life updates

So it's been a great deal of time since I've posted anything at all on this site. I've certainly thought about it, even drafted up some posts, but nothing seemed to be of any worth so I left things blank.

I spent my day slowly cleaning my place and doing all of our laundry. My cleaning soundtrack consists of Jon Brion, Jon Nakamatsu's Chopin Selected Works, and a new one, Peter Broderick's "Music for Falling From Trees." I'm feeling more than a little burnt out lately and find I can cry at the drop of a hat. Oddly not tears of frustration. I've been more than a little morose lately, and I'm somewhat consumed with thoughts of losing loved ones. I've been a little overzealous in reading everything I can get my eyes on detailing the crash of Air France Flight 447. It's all I can think about when I let my mind wander and all I can think of is how horrible a way to go it would be. I think I need to re-read Don Delillo's White Noise to get myself to see how ridiculous I am in fixating so much on death. At least laundry is one of my most favorite chores.

On an entirely different note, please if you have not done so already, go see Up. It's beautiful and magical and everything you could ever ask a movie to be. We went last night with a group of friends and I found myself crying within the first ten minutes of the movie. And not the usual one or two drops of tears that are usually drawn at the end of a good movie. I was audibly sobbing at one point and kind of embarrassed. I might actually do the unthinkable and pay my $10 again to see it a second time in theaters.

I head to Europe soon. I'm not sure how to feel about that yet, I still feel like I'm unorganized, yet have done everything I can possibly think of to prepare. I'm very intimidated by the idea of traveling alone, but I think this will be a growing experience for me. The longest Steve and I have been apart from each other in the past three years is one week while he was at the organic farm learning the ways of the land. I find myself feeling more than a little sad when he's at work or goes out late at night and I'm a little annoyed at myself for feeling so clingy. Luckily he is not annoyed, but I need to do something on my own to re-gain a little balance. Luckily my friend Jessica, who I am traveling with, is in a quite similar position with her boyfriend so we'll be helping each other get back on track a little.

I think part of the reason why I've been unable to post anything of worth on this site is because I'm no longer writing papers. Blogging was always a way for me to warm up for the real deal, also a very effective tool of procrastination. My life has become a bit formulaic lately, but oddly I'm not unhappy about that. I go to work, I come home, either Steve is working late and I cook myself pasta or stir fry, watch a movie or read a book, go to bed. If Steve is not working late we'll go for a walk, cook together, maybe grab a drink with friends. I go to his gigs about once every other week. I see friends a decent amount to grab a drink or a coffee. Life is just flowing. I know I'll tire of this flow soon and will need a new project or challenge, but honestly there are a ton of unfinished projects and challenges that I'm simply avoiding. Namely my artwork which I keep forcing myself to work at and hating everything that I come up with. I'm definitely in a period of stunted creativity. Hopefully I'll come back from vacation recharged.

I just finished reading Murakami's Norweigen Wood. While a fast and engaging read I didn't really love it. The sex was kind of awkwardly overt in a way that seemed too trying on his part and I didn't really fall in love with any of the characters. I guess I just never really connected with the book. I am glad that I read it though, I know that he had aimed to write a simple and purely plot driven novel and it was a great book to have on hand while waiting for the bus. I think I'm due a re-read of Wind Up Bird. I'm kind of searching for the book that will get me through my 15 hour flights and coming up short. I've been in a bit of a 'book rut' in the sense that I've been reading Nabokov, Murakami, Nabokov, Murakami. I actually have about 15 books I've purchased over the past three months and have only read one of them (Junot Diaz's Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - read it, you must!) the rest have collected dust...

This post is a wonky beast.

Because it's fun...

This week was New York Fashion week, and since I sit at a computer all day I couldn't help but browse the various collections and read the blogs during my breaks.... I've decided to just link to all of my fav looks for the hell of it.

I present to you the "If Meghann Made Tons of Cash and Lost 40 lbs Fall Collection"

Stunning floral floaty Zac Posen dress
I would wear this with leather sandals though

Amazing vibrant yellow puffy skirt by Oscar de la Renta

Meghann would cut out the weird hat and booties, but this dress is deeeeelightful

Hmm i'm seeing a pattern (pun, tee hee) in my choices, but this Anna Sui colorful dress is lovely

I loove the yummy and simple the layers in this Diane Von Furstenberg ensemble

More vibrant yellow

ooooh, and this soft gray and white polkadotted Jason Wu gown

And I'd totally rock the leather gloves with this Marc Jacobs look, but I think I'd have big curly hair.

And pretty much the entire Marchesa line, but most especially this, this, and oooh this.

Some days just call for a velvet cut out dress.

And I'll wear my little dresses with this lovely Michael Kors camel hair coat (umm short sleeved coat? really? Soo pretty....So senseless)

Coat, dress, and yes, the hat. Magic.

What does my collection say about me? Feminine, possibly too much pattern, rarely edgy, loves color.

warmth

My new etsy vintage red candelabra in action! We chose light blue candles to avoid an overly christmasy feel. I'm really happy!
This second shot is just me trying to get the space needle and the candles in the frame.

Since my addiction to apartmenttherapy does not seem to have any signs of letting up, i've just been feeding the monster. We installed our new hanging plant in the living room last night (once some cleaning has happened I'll post a few pics) and now big plans are in the works for transforming the room of doom into a legitimate guest bedroom (no futon!!!). We're also in the works for building and framing a growing collection of art prints... We tend to gravitate toward bright colors and monster looking things so I'm interested/slightly worried about how it will all look when put together. I'll probably post our practice layouts once we reach that step and ask for advice.

Since the funding is limited we've also been focusing on eating at home every night (pretty successful so far) and drinking with our friends at home rather than going out. We'll be breaking this pattern Friday for Daron's bday dinner and karaoke extravaganza :)

Treats all around

So today ended up being a quite lovely Thursday. Here I sit on my gray felt couch (a button has worn through already, It's taking an emotional toll on me, much like that first scratch on a pair of shoes). I guess Steve and I shouldn't have such fat butts. Anyway, here I sit, with - no, not wine- french press coffee tonight. Cat is in window, as she should be. Steve's mama had his violin restrung last week so now I must be supportive and listen to him learn how to play again. He sounds, by his own admittance, like a 5th grade Chinese boy. Not the child prodigy kind. I'm not gonna lie, it kinda hurts my ears and I hope we are not pissing off the neighbors.

Anyway, today, I accomplished not a damn thing at work. I really did try, but all I really did was clean out my desk, arrange my post its prettily on my desk, consolidated piles, emailed a few folks in a pestersome manner, then day dreamed. Ok, I did actually accomplish more than that, but it was a less productive day than usual. So I decided today was a good day to go visit my ladies at Sugartown Vintage in Ballard where my arts are currently hanging out. So Steve picked me up from work and we headed our way. Went and chatted with Amy, picked out an awesome pair of vintage red pumps (twisty and peep toed). I casually looked at the awesome vintage dresses, but didn't actually try anything on. About once a year I give vintage shopping another shot - it always ends horrible and has me swearing off having breasts and eating cheese. What looks hip and irreverent on most girls, on me likely looks dumpy, or at best, like a costume.

On a side note, what's even worse is that I just found out that the owners of Anthropologie donate to anti-gay and pro-life initiatives. CRAP. That's the only place I've ever found that sells clothing that allows you to own breasts above a size C. I can't say I'll swear off Anthro, but I'm going to try harder to find local alternatives.... I've had no luck thus far though.

So, I'll be taking my artsies down this Sunday, they'll take a break for a bit. I might enlist some photog friends and their awesome cameras to help me photograph my artwork and maybe set up an etsy site. What I really need is an awesome website-y friend who wants to make me an awesome website for free or for art exchange.... Anywho, the show was a relative success. Sold three ladies:
This one to the lovely ladies who own Sugartown.
Then sold the upper painting to my good pal Elena, then the bottom one to the Grants who I love quite dearly. I'm happy to sell paintings to my friends because it allows me visiting rights.

So, we walked around Ballard, ran into one of two people we know who live in Ballard (Micah and Rodney the dog were hanging out outside their pad, taking a post-work day breather). After a week long romance with www.apartmenttherapy.com I had the craving to buy some house treats, but after 2/3 of the stores were closed, and the three things I considered buying were way out of my budget we kind of gave up. On the way back to the car though, we passed by Great Harvest Bread and remembered that at the end of the day they sell you two loaves for the price of one!!!!!!!!!! Buy one get one free local organic bread? What? That's Meghann heaven for you. So we dropped in, bought a sourdough loaf and a focaccia/cheese loaf and of course had our complimentary free slice of the bread of the day. We headed to PCC to pick up some more delicious real foods - which was also quite wallet damaging.

Once home Steve cooked up a really great meal of chicken thighs with oyster mushrooms, and leeks in a white wine sauce with a side of cous cous and brussel sprouts. We watched our shows which were hilariously delightful. I've been planning and plotting all week with little changes to make to our nest, and I finally bit the bullet and bought my very first etsy purchases. I will soon be the delightful owner of the following:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20510288

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14920861

http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=13660823

I am so excited to put these up in my home!

After my next paycheck I have my eye on the following:

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&navAction=jump&id=13957824&search=true&isProduct=true&parentid=SEARCH+RESULTS&color=10

In yellow

and a print from this artist:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=20660658

I'm also in the market for a big jungle like hanging plant to hang from our ceiling above our two lamps in our living room. I'm hoping to find one on craigslist though - I have a hard time spending over $30 on a plant and I've yet to find a good healthy hanging plant under this price...

I'm going to be working very late nights next week, so at least I have something to look forward to next pay day!

Great, now i'm all coffee buzzed and it is most definitely my bedtime. I am going to go harass the cat, she looks way too peaceful.

Goodnight moon!

Work in Progress

I've been working on this pair for about three months now, but only seriously moved forward on it these last two days. I am quite fond of their little squirrel buddy (though his acorn could use a little work). I'm unsure if I should go a bit deeper on the blue in the background and am still not quite sure what the man should be wearing (need to look up some men's coats or something).

Any suggestions?

January 20, 2009

What an amazing day. I am truly proud of our country. What a speech.


P.S. I love all of the amazingly vibrant colored coats and men's scarves - and think it's appropriate that W and Laura wore black and gray... And can we talk about Aretha's hat?

absolute horror

So, today as Steve and I were having a 'cleaning party' which involved dancing around the house while cleaning to the soundtrack of Justin Timberlake's first album JUSTIFIED (believe you me, very dance inducing) when I realized I had not seen Inga in over an hour. Sooo I checked every room. No Inga. I called for her and Steve started looking for her as well. No Inga. We checked under every surface, in every corner, under each sink and in each cabinet. No Inga. I started flipping out. So we pulled out our fail safe move of putting food in her bowl and shaking it around (our kitty loves her food more than life itself) - No Inga. Steve realizes that he took the garbage out almost an hour ago and didn't fully close the door. I flipped. So we started looking around outside, calling, shaking her food bag, desperately quizzing our neighbors. No Inga. I start bawling, Steve stays totally calm. I went back inside for a bit, calling, looking everywhere we had previously looked and still no luck. I start giving up. We look outside, in the garage, all around and I start imagining horrifying scenes of finding my dead cat in our ally the next morning, I continue bawling. Steve keeps looking, I head inside, about an hour has passed.

I walk into the bedroom and there she is. Stooopid cat. Where the hell did you go?


















Yes, yes you should feel bad.