11.21.2008

one last thing

I was just sent this link to some fabulous Obama pictures.
They are pretty fabulous, and if there is one thing I will be giving thanks for on Thursday, it's our new President.

happy early t-give

Since we are both either hitting the road or hopping planes for the holiday, I am giving you my happy Thanksgiving wishes early. I'm leaving here at the crack of 11 pm tonight for an exciting adventure to the San Francisco bay area, to spend the week with Mary and David and David's siblings. I like this new tradition of mine of spending Thanksgiving with strangers, makes things interesting. I didn't know what picture to post, but happened upon this one in google images. You should think about getting Roux a head dress.

Lama + Mexico


Someday when I have more money than I have now, I'm going to buy this place out. It's like Anthropologie, only with a South American twist. You are going to love, love, love it.

Just look at this



And this


And this


And this

It's orgasmic.

I just asked Alex if we could call number two Llama and he said absolutely not. (BTW, there's an actual reason they spell theirs Lama instead of Llama).

This is over and out for me for the next week. I'll be back the first part of December more relaxed, more tan and with one more dog.




11.19.2008

new things



I am downloading some new tunes, and came across this video by Bonnie Prince Billy (pictured above) called horses. I think it's very endearing.

I also stumbled upon Amy Jean Porter, a new artist I like. If you go to her website you will quickly see why.

11.18.2008

Sunset Sunday


{photo by Alex}

11.17.2008

hot shots

To keep you updated on the birdwatching...this weekend we saw a Northern Pygmy Owl, and it was incredible. What luck to stumble upon a tiny 7 inch owl in the middle of an expansive forest!
We also took some cool pictures. I took this one after I was messing around with my curtain and noticing how nice the Chief Joseph image tapped to the window looked as it peeked through. Mary took these last two of the apartment building and the Antique shop. Sometimes it seems like I live in a movie set.

11.15.2008

Stock Imagery

For my final project in my technical foundations class we have to build a monstrosity of a website, and it has to be for a real organization. I'm building one for the local Weimaraner club, mostly because I've been working with them pretty extensively lately anyway. I've been using a lot of stock images from Getty Images, and in my haze of web-building this morning thought it would be interesting to see what sort of images Getty has on file for Rhodesian Ridgebacks. The Weim images are all very noble and artistic. Not so with the Ridgebacks.
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11.14.2008

vaired

My oh my, the last couple days have been filled with some fun things. Here's a brief run down....

Yesterday, Mary, David and I went to a state park in nearby Idaho that we recently became aware of. Of course, on the top of the agenda was seeing some cool birds (it's been so nice to have my bird watching buddies around again). By the end of the excursion we were not let down. Below are two of the most exciting and memorable birds of the day, the Varied Thrush (kind of like a fancy Robin) and a whole bunch of funny little Rosy Finches. Also, of note were three Bald Eagles, and my first identification of a Flicker strictly based on its flight pattern. Good stuff. (pictures borrowed from google images)
Wednesday night we decided to go to our favorite coffee shop in Moscow to get some work done, which we did, but we were also pleasantly surprised by some live music. The band is called Whispertown 2000 (take a listen here) They were fantastic, and I immediately downloaded their album. They also inspired us to go home and practice our own music, so stay tuned for my new life as a musician.

Last, but not least, we went back to Idaho (apparently that's where all the good stuff happens) last night to see a presentation by Gary Ferguson, co-author of Decade of the Wolf. I was captivated the entire lecture, and am inspired to figure out how I can find a place within the wildlife biology field. I was also shocked by some very ignorant comments from the crowd at the conclusion of the talk. I guess I had never realized how deeply rooted some people's hatred for wolves is. Some of their concerns are understandable, but it's amazing how much they want to hold on to their anger and fear, and completely ignore the information and facts given to them by Ferguson that clearly pointed out why their fears are based on misunderstandings.

Anyway, I bought a book and had it signed by Ferguson. He wrote, "May you never be far from wild places," advice I think will weigh heavily on my next step in life.

Nieve


Every morning for the past two weeks the minute I wake up I sit up and look outside our window hoping for snow. I don't even check the weather forecast, I just hope.

Today is that day.
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Snow bunny:

What's your weather like there, champ? I'm beginning to understand why grandmas love to talk weather; it's a way of mapping.

11.12.2008

tid bits of Tent Show

On Saturday, a few of us braved the rain and cold for the second annual Traveling Tent Show. It wasn't nearly the production it was last year, but a few out of town participants really made it all worth while. Below are some images from the day, and a video that doesn't have to do with tents, but was perhaps the highlight of my day (sorry Mary for exploiting you and your coon hat.)






It's that time of year



Virtually all of the leaves are gone, but every now and then I come across a few that are still hanging in there and, like every year, I feel like giving them a high five for refusing to fall like the rest of 'em.

11.11.2008

T-Time


We've been spending most of our time in the studio for Typography actually setting letters, old school like. It's pretty incredible how much we take our technology for granted - there's nothing like struggling with a lock up for a typography piece for 3 hours and then thinking about how the same change on a computer would just take one click of the mouse. As frustrating as it can be, I definitely think there's something to be said for tactile work - especially in our digital world.

This assignment was to create concrete poetry and/or a haiku. We decided to come up with a haiku that epitomized all the things you're not supposed to do in typography - but in a very cool, attractive way. One of the major things that's been drilled into our heads repeatedly is not to paint the sheet; in other words, don't just fill up the entire page for the hell of it. Basically, you just need to have a reason for everything you do - which really is how all of life should be. (Deep, I know). Rick (professor) was recently showing us some of his very first works, one of which was a poster for a concert series. Under the ticket prices he had a typo that said "senoirs" instead of "seniors". There are a few other intentional mistakes in our piece, but those are the major ones.

Our haiku:

he's painting the sheet
and making seniors senoirs
amateur mistakes

The second 'senoirs' will be printed on top of the current one, but that at least gives you an idea of what the thing says - it's all backwards so otherwise you'd have spent a lot of unnecessary time wondering what in tarnation it says.

Our lockup:

Getting the lockup on the press:


Rick loves smoking, which usually is something I hate but I make an exception in this case because he actually rolls his own cigarettes and something about that tobacco smells really good.
Ironically, in our first run the u was missing from amateur, which I actually rather liked.

Our print run: (I also like the one that accidentally got inked)
And a few other miscellaneous studio shots:



11.10.2008

yummy design

I have been snacking on this chocolate for the last week which was brought to me direct from Germany. It has many outstanding qualities including intricate design patterns right on the chocolate, exquisite taste, and cool packaging.

11.09.2008

Paper Cranes

The weekend has been comprised mostly of work. The next two weeks are finals time for me, which means I have a lot of artistic slugging away to do.

I spent most of the afternoon today making origami cranes out of the pages of a '78 book on dog care. They looked so nice sitting on the coffee table in the afternoon light.
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Roux's been working pretty hard, too.

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11.05.2008

i am SO happy.

Last night was one of the happiest moments of my entire life. I can't believe it's real. I can't believe we made a collectively intelligent decision. I can't believe we have been part of this historical moment in time.
My day went like this: arrive at school intending to get a lot of work done. Listen/watch MSNBC all day. Go to seminar class, sit next to friend who is streaming live results on her lap top, making it unable to pay attention in class. Watch 30 minutes of CNN in auditorium at school with some other students. Head to car and start driving home to Palouse while listening to NPR. Hear that Barack has won Ohio, get overly excited and apparently start driving too fast. Get pulled over by policeman who asks me why I was speeding, and I respond, "Because Barack just won Ohio!" Get out of ticket. Arrive home to a delicious dinner and excited friends. Watch coverage on laptops, and then head to local Tavern to watch on the big screen. Listen to the bar tender say that Barack is not even a legal citizen of the US. Become dumbfounded. Become overjoyed as Barack is declared President-Elect! Enjoy a round of drinks provided by one of the 4 other people who were in the bar. Tear up at his incredible speech. Do a lot of hugging and dancing. Run down main street with my arms out yelling "Obama!" Rejoice some more at home. Watch some more coverage. Fall asleep a very happy person.

You betchya

It's in the bag. I'm so excited about it that it almost seems surreal.
GO OBAMA.

Last night we had a little election night hang out with our friends, Eric + Lara. We played some election night drinking games and made these cupcakes.
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At the end of the night we made Eric + Lara take the McCain ones home to eat. I'll be savoring O-B-A-M-A for the rest of the week in choclatey goodness.

11.04.2008

fishbowl

It's up! It's always a strange experience to see the results of months and months of work and ideas come to life, and it is extremely relieving when you find yourself pleasantly surprised. Mary and I felt pretty good about it after we finished installing, but we felt really good when we returned in the evening and found it illuminated and alive. Hopefully, I will have a better website sometime in the near future where I will display some more images, but here a a few to give you the gist of things: Day time view:

From the inside:
As you have already noted, today is election day....my stomach is in knots, and I can hardly focus on all the work I need to get done. Live stream from MSNBC is my constant companion today in the studio. I hope tomorrow we will be making joyful posts about our newly appointed president Obama. Stumbling upon stores like this one in Portland give me hope that good things are coming...

Election Day '08 (with a little TV on the Radio)

Yeehaw, it's Election Day!\

I already voted, but if you haven't, GET ON IT!
One last political message from Chuck:




We saw TV on the Radio Sunday night and it was totally and completely enthralling. However good you thought they were, they're 10 times better live. Also, their new album is awesome, so get it if you haven't.
This is my favorite track on that album - it's one of those songs heard best if you stop everything you're doing, turn the sound up and just listen.



Also a big fan of this promo video for Staring at the Sun.