we're off to an icy start

ice. -10°C. cold, crisp air. it seems cleansing. fresh. and along with clear skies in which the full moon and eclipse were visible last evening, it was the perfect start to 2010. and to kick off my blog camp 365 project, i took 140 pictures today. pretty good start, i say. happy 2010 to all of you!!

random thoughts on new year's eve

i woke up this morning with random thoughts swirling in my head and you know what that means...it means i feel compelled to share them with all of you....

~  whose eyes are these anyway and when did they start needing reading glasses?

~  the child is now so horse-crazy she is referring to her room as her stall and answering questions with a snort and a paw of her leg.

~  there seems to have arisen some kind of insane misunderstanding that in order to join the blog camp 365 flickr group, one must submit one's underwear to inspection. i would like to say that although i have no idea how this notion came about, i can assure you all, with 100% certainty, that i want nothing whatsoever to do with your underwear. it's really all about taking pictures. if you choose to take pictures of your underwear, that's your business, of course, but please keep them tasteful, this is a nice group.

~  i have a vague sense of panic knowing that the grocery stores are going to close in 15 minutes, even tho' i am quite sure that i don't need a thing.

~  how can my husband have a child that's turning 18 today? and does it make me old too, tho' i had nothing to do with it?

~ sabin and i met the lovely and talented brigitte bouquet (of wobbly plate fame) in copenhagen the other day and had such a great time talking to her and her husband. she gave me a pretty little red wobbly tapas plate and sabin spent yesterday afternoon arranging small tapas plates on it. she even made a menu and we had to order whether we wanted small, medium or large. and no matter the size the plates came with carefully arranged carrot, blueberries, cheese, tomato, cucumber, cottage cheese and chorizo. it was a great present, thank you BB!!

~  i wonder if i should do my monthly blog print after i post this, or will i feel compelled to write something else later today?

~ why am i in rereading mode at the moment? i just keep reading stuff i've already read (most recently mistress of spices). does this happen to you?

~  how come other people can make their "blogged" thing a link on flickr and i can't? (hmm, maybe i should install that plug-in, eh spud?)

~ this photography takes my breath away.

and with that, i believe it's my last posting of 2010 (tho' you never know). i wish you all a very good new year's eve full of laughter and good conversation and just a wee bit of champagne. looking forward to seeing you all in 2010. and do join in with our 365 project on flickr. there's something really comforting to me to imagine a whole group of us, all over the world, taking pictures every day and sharing them with one another.

the flow of laziness

jægerspris slot

the home of some or other countess danner who was the mistress of some or other king

(undoubtedly named frederik or christian).

she surely spent a lot of time in a state of somnambulant laziness,

hanging about, waiting for the king to show up.

i've very unwisely spent the next-to-last day of the decade in a state of somnambulant laziness. i slept in 'til almost 11 (bliss). i braved the grocery stores, just as everyone (including myself) was hamstering (direct translation from danish) for the days ahead when the stores are closed - but i was so relaxed from all that sleep that the lines and the crowd didn't even bother me. i bought food for a new year's feast. i made homemade lemon curd for a passion fruit roulade that i'm going to make tomorrow. i picked up some great hummus sandwiches from sundwich, a local sandwich place. mid-afternoon, we watched hercule poirot (he really gets a lot of grief for being belgian). i baked a loaf of bread on which i sprinkled sunflower seeds. i did four art journal pages in a state of total flow (thank you clary sage).

and i did it all in a very advanced state of relaxation. because i know that we're not running around with anything that we HAVE to do for the next few days. we're making our own leisurely new year's dinner tomorrow - some gorgeous madagascar prawns (was so relaxed i didn't even think about food miles). a beautiful beef roast with all the fixings, the aforementioned lemon curd and passionfruit roulade, a bit of champagne - just for ourselves. after all of the running around and hectic feelings of christmas, we're bringing in the new year in an utterly relaxed style at home. and i guess i've reached a point in my life where that sounds just perfect.

here's wishing all of you exactly the new year's eve you'd like.

wordless wednesday - sabin's tree

365 group created

i have created a 365 group for 2010 in flickr. i called it the blog camp 365 group, mostly because there are a zillion 365 groups and that name worked as a unique name. i've made it so you need an invitation to join, but please do request one if you'd like to participate. i just thought we should reasonably know one another. at least at first. maybe i'll change my mind down the line.

i've made it less restrictive than many flickr 365 groups. here are the rules:

1.) do take a picture every day.
2.) post when you have time.

i'd also request that you do leave comments. for me, doing this is about pushing my photography, so i'm really interested in feedback - good or bad. i hope you all feel that way too.

so click on the link and request an invite to play along and then get ready to take some pictures.

100 creative things in 2009

"one gets a sense of how beauty always has to inhabit a faultline between utility and ideology." - said a recent article on heather moore. i'm not sure how much ideology makes its way into the things i make, but i would like to think they combine utility and beauty. i vowed to finish 100 creative things (if i could count the stuff that's just started, i'd have been there a long time ago) in 2009 and i hereby give you the final four...

#97 - my latest baby quilt - up up and away - (going up on my etsy shop later today).

#98 - the first quilt block for a memory quilt for karoline, husband's oldest.

the balloon design i used on the baby quilt originated here.

i wanted her to remember the balloon ride she took in iowa in 2005.

and although the quilt's not finished, i'm counting it because the rest will be designed by her.

this was the gift she unwrapped on christmas.

#99 - the quilt block for mathilde, husband's middle child's memory quilt.

this one to remind her of all of the giant pieces of chocolate cake

 she ate on our trip to the philippines last year.

she'll design the rest herself, according to the memories she wants on her quilt.

#100 - a cuddle quilt for my nephew owen.

as you can see, i didn't get it sent.

i used the super cute crab fabric from ikea and backed it with a soft green

(and very stretchy hard-to-work-with blankie, also from ikea).

it's hand-quilted with yarn ties.

and that's it, 100 finished acts of creativity in 2009.

i may have to do it again in 2010!

writing is the new praying: non-resolutions for 2010

i'm not super big on new year's resolutions, at least not the traditional kind--you know, exercise more, get more rest, eat healthy, lose weight, run a marathon, stop drinking wine - all that stuff. but during 2009, one of my resolutions was to carry a camera with me at all times and if i can count my iPhone, i did, in fact, achieve that. i also vowed to create at least 100 things and i have also achieved that (photographic evidence of the last few coming soon). in my private, written journal, i declared that i wanted to be a blogger blog of note and that happened in 2009 as well.  so in the interest of writing as the new praying, there are a few things i'm going to do during 2010.

1.) the main thing i intend to do involves these gorgeous moleskine calendar notebooks i scored last month at norli bookstore in oslo. inspired by these beautiful journals by cathy cullis that i saw on flickr, i decided that i want to do mini art journaling in these calendar journals. i also love these. and these beauties by geninne. i know that mine will land somewhere in between and somewhere more me, but it's something i feel motivated to stick with. the small size of these and the fact that there's a different color for each month makes me think i can stay interested. the only drawback is that they have faint lines, but i'm hoping that i can deal with that, tho' normally i feel constricted by lines.

2.) i'm going to embark on a 365 photo project. i haven't selected a flickr group and i'm not sure i'm going to (unless some of you are interested in starting one with me? - do let me know and i'll create it). i very nearly did this in 2009 as it was, but i'm thinking it would be good for me to push through my current lack of photo mojo if i gave it a whirl.

3.) the simplicity project - as you know, we are planning on being very selective about what we buy during 2010 here at our house.  thanks to a great suggestion by glenn, i'm going to keep myself posted/accountable/focused on this quest by sharing a weekly "what i didn't buy" blog with all of you.

4.) a book contract. i want a book contract in 2010.



so there you have them, my three main resolutions that i'm hesitant to call resolutions for 2010. what about you?