daniela

a little less of this, a little more of that

 

did i really just post 30 straight days in a row? why yes, i believe i did. and although i may have on several occasions pushed through with some energy i didn't really have, nablopomo proved to be a great exercise for me. it got me feeling a bit hooked up again, stimulated my creative dormancy, and helped steer me away from isolation which has become all too easy as of late. so although i may not be posting daily after today, i can't wait to be a regular participant again in this here blogosphere. i know i'll have several things i'll be wanting to share that are coming up. no question i'll have to let you know every time i knock another something off the list, or will be excited to announce when our new walk with me blog comes into being, or tell you about another collaboration i'm excited about that's taking flight just this next week. somehow, by committing to this nablopomo thing, i also have a new interest in some older stagnant projects, like wanting to further expand on a line of cards i began a year ago, and get back into the 100 strangers project i started photographing nearly two years ago. there are a couple of e-courses i've had my eye on for some time, and am getting closer to feeling that the time is right for them. lately i've been quite mentally consumed with wanting to paint and delve into mixed media, along with an insatiable need to hold pastels. 

these are good feelings to have, and i do believe much has been re-ignited by showing up each day to post here - having to pause and think about what kinds of creative things my heart wants to be doing - fueled greatly by you rooting me along with your fun and kind comments. thank you friends. and thank you for the help in reconnecting. it feels incredibly rewarding.

grateful today for: nablopomo, new starts, lists, embracing new rhythms, encouraging friends

d's r

 

grateful today for: him

with a little accompanying ditty

day 28

truth is, these thanksgiving-festivities-slash-holiday-retail-hours shenanigans are kicking my arse a bit. the repercussions? a brain much like a doorknob. i actually convinced myself this evening that it would be ok to throw in the towel on this nablopomo deal just 3 days shy of pulling it off. 

but then i saw this. and well, now i feel like i'm in it for the team, and there's no way i'm letting down the team, mm..mmmm. not after those kind words. so i pulled on the boot straps, and here is the conversation that followed:

d: ricky, i have to do a post, but i got nothing. i'm blank. i can't think of anything to write. 

r: well, you could write about how i totally messed up the dinner i tried to put together for you tonight. 

d: 

r: or you could write about the shoplifter in your store today.

d:

r: or you could write about how my crazy latin mother came into town to torture us for thanksgiving.

d: 

r: or you could write about how jasmine got into the raisins today and we came home to dog vomit.

d:

r: see, it practically writes itself!

d:

r: dani?

d:

.....

yep. this is good stuff. luckily, you're all on holiday weekend and likely to miss this altogether. 

grateful today for: "r"ice cream, faithy, sundays, lyrics that get stuck in my head and make me smile each time i sing them

"who wears boots and a suit of red......"

who has a beard that's long and white?

 

ok. bring it.

yes, that really is bob. read more about how he's feeding america here.

grateful today for: this new christmas album.....bless you bob. 

wishing you

 

 ...a peaceful thanksgiving day. thinking of my friends today, and especially those of you who are missing someone at your table. xo.

embracing change

 

matthew fox once wrote, "the only hope mother earth has for survival is our recovering creativity - which is of course, our divine power. creativity is so satisfying, so important, not because it produces something but because the process is cosmological. there's joy and delight in giving birth." 

grateful today for: creative expression, trying something different, embracing change creatively, the beauty of swiss chard

fine dining

i haven't had any vegetables in three days. THREE DAYS. this seems quite impossible (and embarrassing really) after having had something very green or red or purple with every meal (except brekkie) for the last 5+ months. our weekly csa shares plus my own humble garden rendered us with a bounty of veggies at all times, which were staged in every crevice of the refrigerator and nook in the kitchen. 

it was exciting being part of a csa all those months - it made every sunday fun to wake up to. my favorite thing about belonging to one, is never knowing what the harvest would provide from week to week, and how that expanded my cooking repertoire. i have a couple of great books on farm fresh produce that i consulted each sunday as i washed and prepared the delectables for the upcoming week. 

we are somewhat limited to the variety of produce here in the pacific northwest, but our farmers kept us wholly delighted with their keenness for growing heirloom varieties, which gave us some colorful (and muy flavorful) alternatives to what we've been used to. and can i tell you how fun it is to prepare meals with yellow tomatoes or purple potatoes? this would give me such glee - so much so that i always spent more time photographing the resulting dishes than eating them. 

which now has turned out to be a very good thing. what else would i have written about on day 24 of nablopomo?

grateful today for: farmers, organic produce, and my own little garden which i just put to bed for the winter

becoming leonard cohen - part two

 sketch or document things that you use in your daily routine
inspired by keri smith's book "how to be an explorer of the world" :

 

 

cutting board, tea, jasmine's leash, field notes, keys, shower head, sugar bus, boots, sage, music, my fairy hat.

i stuck with yesterday's plan, vowing to take note of basic things i use every day, even tried to romanticize them a little. in the end, i realized how many seemingly small things comprise the workings of my day. i highly recommend the exercise - it shifted my awareness in an unexpected way. how i do appreciate that keri smith for always helping me see the familiar in a different light.

today i am grateful for: all of the above, and the explorer in me

becoming leonard cohen

i have always loved things. just things in the world. i love trying to find the shape of things. - leonard cohen.

part one:

today i'm in need of employing my ability to see things. stop, be still. to seek recognition in the little things. what i identify as my own grounding exercise. so to kick-start my oh-so-blank mind today, i vow to be an explorer of the world, and to do whatever my hero, author keri smith, tells me to do via her awesome book. the first page i open the book to will be meant for me, today. because i believe in that kind of .....oh, destiny. so page 81 it is: 

exploration #26 - sketch or document things that you use in your daily routine. 

my first response?  "but my daily routine is so ..... uninteresting. and really, exploration #24 would be way more "arty", and look at #27......" 

but oh yes, destiny, blah blah blah. ok, attention, i'm all yours. let's go.

grateful today for: keri smith and all the grooviness she is, an unfettered day for exploration, wind

faith + daniel

this last summer my lovely friend faith asked me to photograph her wedding. what? i've never photographed a wedding before, not even as a second shooter. no experience. none. i repeatedly tried to convince her that she didn't want me to do this, that this was her wedding for goodness sake, but she dug her red heels in. needless to say, i got seriously wigged out on the day of the wedding.

but all that nervous-making was for naught. faith and daniel couldn't be more easy going, more appreciative, more patient or more kind. and their wonderful ceremony reflected their insouciant spirits. it was a day full of sunshine and green grasses and picnic fare and love with family and dear friends. 

 

and faith couldn't have been easier to photograph....my goodness she was stunning. every photo i took radiated her beauty and happiness and sweet contentment. 

 

 

here is "the" first kiss. whew....got it!
 

 

 
 these two were up for anything, bless their big squishy hearts.
 

oh faith and daniel, thank you so much for the honor to photograph this awesome day. it truly meant the world to me. and hey, now that i'm over the whole nervous thing, can we do it again? 

today i am grateful for: faith, and faith

weekend sigh

it's friday night (and oh my, did you see that beauty of a moon?) and it feels good knowing i have the next two days off. i'm in tune to a subtle shift in the velocity of my breath, and i suspect the shoulders have already come down a good inch. and just knowing that there aren't a lot of plans on the weekend roster also does the psyche good. there will be a minimal amount of time feeling obligated, and much more time letting things just be.  i'm even thinking maybe, just maybe, i can spend some time in my big cushy orange chair and delve into the increasing stack of books vying for my attention on the night stand. yes, just look at all those lovelies. hmmmm, which ones would you choose? 

good night and long sweet dreams.

today, today, today. bless us...
and help us to grow.
~ from the rosh hashanah liturgy

today i am grateful for: when the moon is a magical tilted crescent, caroline myss, books that illuminate, furry ones too, and internet in the home. 

day 19

sugar bus love

due to unforeseen circumstances, i am sitting in a parking lot of the washington state ferries, “borrowing” their wi-fi since our signal to the internets at home is down. it is not a reasonable hour for me to be here, nor is it warm (read: brrrrrrr), and probably not very safe either. but i’m a stubborn chica, and there is no way i’m going to let this nablopomo business get the best of me. no sirree. i am here, and i am doing a post, albeit not much of one because i have about 7 minutes of  life on this old and weary macbook battery. so, this would appear to be a perfect time for me to say thank you thank you for visiting me here in this space, for hanging in there with me and not leaving me out to dry, and for being generous with such lovely words and thoughts in the comments. i really mean it. the meditation of this exercise has been a very good thing for me, and knowing you are there sure makes it more fun. truly, thank you.

ok, carry on.

grateful today for: you

every day

...in every way i'm getting better and better and better.

grateful today for:  a path to healing

the morning update

 morning contemplation

every morning, by the time i wake up, there is usually an email waiting for me with an update of the early shenanigans that take place here in the house while i am still sawing logs. we've sort of lost control of our animal kingdom as of late it seems. i'm pretty sure there's lots of pet laughter that ensues once ricky walks out that front door for work. for example, i give you today's weary update:

hi dani - 6am is WAY too early for dealing with this crew. owen is being extremely true to finicky feline form by snubbing her special new kidney food - how is it possible for her to give me such a look of contempt when i give her a nice portion, all smooshed up into nice little bite-sized pieces, and warmed....did i forget the garnish? billy the kid, of course, swooped in on his regular food, took 2 or 3 bites, then sauntered over to owen's side of the counter, and while owen was giving me "the look" he gives her a shove and starts in on her breakfast. that gave owen the chance to run over and start munching away on billy's regular food which she is not supposed to have. all this going on while i was trying to get jasmine's breakfast together....i had just finished creating the last of the perfect meatballs to hide jasmine's arsenal of pills in, when i caught the cat breakfast switcharoo - the quickest solution was to just switch bowls over switching cats. (these two are SO wearing their santa hats again this year.) this did not sit well with jasmine since she had been waiting on her breakfast, who barked repeatedly in protest. ok. done. with jasmine now all set, i remembered that owen needed her pill - she was still giving me the "i am not happy with the breakfast AND i am still hungry" look so i thought this should be easy....i hid the pill in the little salmon pill pocket (who could think up such a genius thing?) and placed it on top of a fresh little bite of her special food - no go. she gave it a sniff, then the snub - arrrrgh! it's a salmon pill pocket owen!! how could you NOT like salmon? hmmmm....she likes billy's food, yeah? yeah man! so i tried to spread some of billy's food like gravy on turkey....
does she like it?
noooooo......have i mentioned i had not had a chance to make coffee yet?
then i remember the irresistible bonito flakes....it's bacon for kitties (who can resist bacon?) so the pill is now wrapped in a salmon pill pocket, smeared with a cat food gravy AND wrapped in bonito flakes....i've made a kittly breakfast benedict - does she go for it???
a little sniff....
a little taste....
SHE LIKES IT!!
at this point i notice jasmine working on something......somehow she's managed to grab a spice jar off the counter and get the lid off and stick in her tongue as far as she could while i was making the owen masterpiece breakfast. how does a dog get the lid off of a seasoning bottle? last i checked you and i are the only ones with opposable thumbs in the house. what is going on here?
after everyone's been fed, watered, peed and medicated i finally have a chance to pour myself some juice and try to start some coffee - of course that is the perfect time for billy the kid to want a "horsey" ride on my shoulders. can i come back to bed now? 
and that is your morning update. 
ricky

and you know what? i'm pretty sure they do this because they know he'll do anything for them. the same way i know it too. did someone say bacon? 

grateful today for: each and every one of them

at blackwater pond

at blackwater pond the tossed waters have settled

after a night of rain.

i dip my cupped hands. i drink

a long time. it tastes

like stone, leaves, fire. it falls cold

into my body, waking the bones. i hear them

deep inside me, whispering

oh what is that beautiful thing

that just happened?

-mary oliver

grateful today for: words by mary oliver that articulate what i never can

can i have another sunday please?

it's been a sleeping-in-on-finally-a-day-off-french-toast-and-apple-compote-breakfast-eating-big-pot-o-soup-making-airing-out-driving-with-an-open-sunroof-and-jasmine-in-the-rain kind of a day and i would like it to not go by so fast, please. the body wants to rest but the soul wants to cook, breathe, create, connect. which in itself is really a very good thing. 

bits of sunday randomness: 

a hand cancelled envelope i got at a zurich post office 1997

i have no idea why this guy from my youth keeps popping into my head. there's no explanation for it. none. and i can't shake him. a sudden emersion of childhood memories maybe? i had lots of his comic books, and i recall coloring in those pants with red a million times. last night i searched for and found the above envelope i had saved from a trip 12 years ago. how i did love you globi.

love this project, will never forget this essay, and hope to submit my own some day. 

best laugh today was finding billy the kid sliding all the way down the bannister, backwards. he is a cat, so he will never admit that this really happened.

inspired by the creative energy of this : abstract forms of deconstructed and reassembled warning and prohibited signage as new street aesthetics.

and leaving you with a sunday evening moment of musical and video zen from a man that utterly enchants me. 

grateful today for: art, good food, music, writing, believing, and when a sunday is a sunday

gratitude in rubber

every year, on the second saturday in november, rubber soul has its holiday open house. and every year, sixteen of them now, there is a flurry of action leading up to the big day. the preceding week is all about the fluffing and stuffing. new products arrive, new sample cards are made, treat trays are ordered, decorations and fresh lights are hung, and i always make sure i have a hefty number of new candles to burn.

and every year on this day, i am invigorated by it all. i love the connecting with happy people eager to create their holiday cards. i love the familial feeling i have with our longtime loyal customers. i love the sense of community with this family even though several come from many miles away. i am full of gratitude for every customer that chooses to visit us, and chooses to share their creative as well as personal stories with us. i am grateful that i have a job i feel passion for, that has always provided for me, that keeps my soul and body and mind nourished. 

i am grateful, oh so grateful, for all of these gifts. and i can think of no better way to end the day than to be this wholly in gratitude. sweet dreams.

caution

but "i'm not dead yet." :)

grateful today for: gimmicky fun under the wire

acquiesce

some very long work days this week have caught up with me and i find myself wordless, and additionally wondering how i ever thought i could manage this nablopomo business. so i thought i would turn it over to one of my most dog-eared/loved books for help, and let tomorrow's meditation be exactly what i need it to be. and as is usually the case when you give such things up to the universe, it really is.

as i travel through my life,

times of joy and times of strife,

i pray now to realize,

the whole within - energize

my spirit self to align

with universal all divine.

- beverly shapiro

from the book "prayers for healing: 365 blessings, poems and meditations from around the world" 

grateful today for:  accepting my limitations, learning how to center myself, connecting with the divine

happenstance

recently we went to fort ward on bainbridge island for a little airing out in the sunshine, and we sat down on a bench tucked away off the beaten path. and it was then that we stumbled across our first exposure to the world of letterboxing. inside a little square tupperware container, tucked almost out of sight, was a small notepad, along with a pen, an ink pad, and a stamp. 

there were rubber stamps stamped on pages

and words of happenstance

a riddle

words of love

and words of gratitude

and then of course

we had to leave our own mark

i've never letterboxed before, but i can see the appeal. it's like a treasure hunt, with maps and clues and navigating skills in the great outdoors, which sounds just as satisfying to me now as a big kid than that younger one i was that did scavenger hunts at slumber parties. you can find a world of information on it all here. and now that i've tasted the thrill upon finding other people's declarations/stamped art, i'm not sure i can turn my back on it. nope. i've always loved me a good treasure.

grateful today for: unexpected happy-making discoveries 

walk with us

 

photo by kristin zecchinelli

recently my dear friend kristin in maine made me the most beautiful gift. it didn't have a ribbon, wasn't wrapped, and not even in a package, yet this grand gift brought me to sweet weepy tears. she gave me a walk. oh yes, a walk. she took me on a mini journey in her neighborhood. through the lens of her camera and her soulful spirit we walked together, even though i wasn't physically there. we looked up at trees, we studied the details of the ground, we went to a diner, we had a great day. and i get to take this walk as many times as i need to to soothe me like only walks can. 

of course the only proper way to show her how moved and grateful i was to receive this mondo cool gift, would be to take HER on a walk here in the pacific northwest. and it's a fact that i'm already crazy about the great outdoors and taking walks and exploring, but knowing i was going to be walking with kristin made it an event that i couldn't wait to get underway! i was truly excited to get out on that walk and share it with her.

then something wonderful happened. we both felt the power of these gestures, how good it made us feel, and how it combined everything we love to do. it was an organic blossoming from our passions, an unfolding of ideas. what if we shared walks with other people? yes. and started a site, where these walkers and their walks could be featured? yes. and continued to share our own walks too? yes yes!

and so a collaboration was born. and word spread quickly - so quickly in fact that a group was created today for zealous walkers to stage their walks until the new site was ready. imagine being able to enjoy a walk in a sunny place when one's spirit is sinking, or satisfying a craving for a big city adventure - what possibilities.

"if you are walking to seek, ye shall find." - sommeil liberosensa

oh yes, this is going to be a very very good thing.

grateful today for: collaborating, creating, and connecting through art

where the wild things are

i'm pretty careful with my pennies these days, but every once in a while something comes along which taunts me to the point that i convince myself my life would not be a good one without it. so i clicked on the add-to-cart button over at mcsweeney's, and upon it's release, the wild things fur-covered edition was mine. hee hee. a tad embarrassing really, how i carried it all around the house with me on that first day. and as if books weren't already one of the finest gifts one could give oneself......a fuzzy and funny and dark tale? by dave eggers?!!   i should have bought two.

you are likely already familiar with some of the coolness that is dave eggers - maybe his lauded memoir a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, or his significant literary work what is the what: the autobiography of valentino achak deng, or his unique monthly magazine, or that he was one of three TED prize recipients in 2008 and what he did with his wish, or that he co-wrote the screenplay for away we go.

but what i love him for the most is the 826 valencia project that he co-founded, a non-profit group that fundamentally supports young students with their basic and creative writing skills. it's also so much more than just the tutoring, which if you're interested in learning more about you can watch the video below - i promise that it's well worth the time.

did you watch it? isn't it all so inspiring? hmmmm....i wonder if they would consider tutoring me. i can look pretty young in my braids, and truth be told, i'm all out of space travel supplies. 

grateful today for: dave eggers, volunteers, people who make a difference

mr. wainwright

there are few musicians that provoke the kind of intense visceral response in me the way rufus wainwright does. at the risk of sounding all squishy, he vibrates my soul somehow. i weep when he holds his voice in a certain pitch, and weep again with his beautiful piano chord transitions. he is steeped in crazy-good talent. i've been revering this man since his first album eleven years ago, and my gut continues to flex when i hear him perform anything - new or old. that said, i guess i'm in for quite an emotional workout tonight :)  benaroya hall, seattle 7:30.

grateful today for: rufus wainwright, music that makes me feel alive, and being up to going to my first concert in over a year.

want more? 

a mixed jam

every year for as long as i can remember i have made the majority of my holiday gifts. i've always enjoyed this way of giving - it feels much more natural, comfortable and rewarding for me. last year was uber fun as several of the components we made comprised a theme - we had ourselves a mixed jam. 

we spent many of our weekend days that summer hand picking fruit - blueberries, loganberries, raspberries and strawberries - then stockpiling all the just-picked berries in the freezer. it was stuffed tight, that freezer. i was determined to make jam for the first time that fall - something i've always wanted to learn, and which also happened to be on the list. once properly trained by the lovely and generous donna paulson, we were off and destroying the kitchen, and developing scrummy fruit combinations along the way.

 

then there was lots of tie-dying to be done. lots. we tie-dyed tea towels, and no two were the same. each one was like a fresh new palette to go crazy on. every rubber band, pot, pan, pushpin and clothespin were employed, and towels were hung on makeshift lines all around the house to dry.

but you know, we couldn't stop at the grooviness of the colors and patterns alone.  they still needed a bit more rock and roll, so we used some of our favorite stencils from the awesome ed roth book, stencil 101. 

after all the washing, more drying, stenciling, then ironing, we moved on to the final touch of the package, and a "mixed tape" was born (well you know, on disc.) hence, all the pieces for a box of mixed jam.

this year will be much more low key, but some kind of something will get created here, and that's the goal here this weekend, to figure out what that will be. schemes and plots will be hatched, and in turn more production havoc will be wreaked in this house, and we will love every messy minute of it.

grateful today for: friends to make stuff for, a home to create in, tie-dye, and a two-year supply of jams

sazzybirthdaypants

today is our dear and funny and silly and kind and compassionate and generous and uber thoughtful friend sazzy's birthday.

 

happy birthday sazzy! we sure do love your bad-ass self! 

xoxo

grateful today for: her :)

happiness is

....a smile in the pacific northwest on monday

that arrives in maine on wednesday.

west coast to east coast.

pure happiness indeed!

grateful today for:  quick snail mail, smiley faces, kristin and her sun flares

the people's car

i've been having a sporadic love affair with volkswagen my whole life, and didn't fully realize it until recently. let me back up a little. my first camping trip ever was when i was just a wee thing, and it was to the sierras in a volkswagen camper. i know i don't need to explain how this sort of spoiled it for me for any camping trips that would then follow. 

 

^{rad bus spotted at a campsite this summer}

when i was 16 i learned how to drive a manual transmission in a vw bug. not just any vw bug, and not because i needed to learn it at the time, but because it was ricky that wanted to teach me, and ricky was all about the fun. 

 

^{ricky and said bug}

since then volkswagens for me have just been one of those head-turning happy-making sights on the road, and vw buses have remained a sort of fantasy. you know the kind.....where it's always someone else's bus, someone else's little dream come true. 

 

^{sugar at sunrise farms}

until now. i won't even try to articulate the whole soul-searching depths i went into that brought a little sugar into our lives this summer, but she sure embodies some full circle kind of magic for us. 

 

^{sugar at the grand forest}

and let me tell you, when life has you rushing around, and feeling disconnected and scattered, there is nothing quite like a ride in a 1969 vw bus to slow one down and get oneself re-grouped in. nope, it really leaves one no choice but to do just that. 

grateful today for: fahrvergnügen

one two three four five blissful pola days

a euphoric feeling has taken complete hold of me this week, and there's one very clear reason for it: it's 'roid week over on flickr. five straight days of celebrating instant film. five days of being totally distracted from work and woes, and that's a good thing. 

 

i can't articulate with words the joy of hearing the voot-voooot sound once i press the button on a polaroid camera, or the witnessing of magic as mini art develops in my hands. 

 

i'm captivated by the fabulous photos that are being added fast and furious to the group pool. 

 

mmm hmmm, this is a very very good week.

grateful today for: polaroid, my sx-70 camera, and art communities that share and embrace

bench monday + love

i have found that you can ask just about anyone to stand on a bench for a photo, and they do. they just happily get right up there. no questions asked. and this becomes even more notable when the aforementioned is obliged by someone on their wedding day. 

 

these are my friends faith and daniel, who didn't even blink when i asked them politely - sometime in between the toast and the ceremonious cutting of the cake i think - to step a little to the left, now to the right, oh, and now kindly up on that bench please? 

but seriously, don't they look amazing? (more on these two lovelies later.)

grateful today for: love, free-spirited friends, kilts, and genius people that come up with genius photo groups that make certain days that much sweeter, especially mondays.

seeking clarity through nablopomo

i'm not quite sure what's come over me this morning - blame it on the full moon, ovulation, that one extra hour from daylight savings time end, or the first day of feeling lightness in a desperately long time, but i just decided right here, right now, to participate in nablopomo. bam! what better way to involve and stimulate my right brain into more creative thinking, and distract it from the other side steeped deep in worry these days. today i had actually planned to begin a 30 days of gratitude photo project -  i still plan to be in grace, but will instead just add my gratitude to each of the next 30 posts. see that?  i'm speaking just like i believe i'm going ahead with this. and let me tell you, this will be no easy feat for me people, as i have been quite mute in many a ways these days. so here's to attempting 30 consecutive days of engaging, creating, connecting. 

*runs off to start scribbling ideas in her notebook*

grateful for: those days that you wake up and everything feels like it's going to be ok.