i really should be calling you, but...

I don't have anything to say, or any time to say it. My house is a mess, my christmas tree stands undecorated in my living room, unfinished birthday presents litter the floor, christmas shopping lists are written on old walmart receipts, my phone dies after one ten-minute call, and Rob and I have become roommates solely concerned with what's for dinner, whether the dog pooped today, and the pile of laundry threatening to crash through the floor into the apartment below. I need a maid, some take-out, some lingerie, and a new phone stat.

Please continue holding your breath for another week - December 16 is my last exam and all this mess can finally be cleaned up. Thank you for your patience, and know that I love you - in my incredibly messy, unorganized, slap-dash way.

Giving Thanks

I've tried a bunch of times to make a detailed list of all the things I'm thankful for, but it's just too much. I can't do it. I got #1 down - family and friends. That's a given. They are all amazing people who have had a direct effect on who I am today. Even the ones who think they couldn't have possibly...yes, them to. Absolutely. But after that, it all breaks down into a jumbly mess. I'm thankful that I have work, that I get to go to college and develop a talent and love that I have, that I can afford a car to drive and food to eat, that sweet potatoes exist, that my dog Greta is so funny and dang cute, that birds can make me feel choked up, that Fall smells the way it does, that jumping into a pool will always feel as good as it does, that jokes will always be funny and I will always love laughing at them. There a million and ten things that I am thankful for. I'll do my best to keep them in mind tomorrow during dinner while I'm eating as many crescent rolls as I possibly can, and thanking Jesus for the Pillsbury Dough Boy while I do so.

Have a great holiday everybody. I'll be thinking of you.

This past Saturday I celebrated my sister Maggie's 30th birthday. She had three cakes and more friends than I could count to help her celebrate, and it was an intense experience. There's so much of me that still sees her as the funny little mess of a girl who I both adored and terrorized growing up. We've been so much to each other over the years - inspiration, confidante, aggravator, instigator - that there are times I think I understand what twins feel about each other. Maggie and I have been, and still are, so connected. There is rarely a time when my heart doesn't twinge a little when I see her. She's my baby sister. I claimed her as my own as soon as she came through the door, and I intend on staying true to that claim. I love you, Mary Magdelene. Happy Birthday~

Happy Birthday Rob!

Happy Birthday to my funniest, most bestest husband ever! I love you so much, and hope you have an incredible day.

I pledge to you this, on this the day of your birth: I will do all I can to make today a great, fun day JUST SHORT of peeing in your own vomit in a crystal's drive-thru (sorry, boys). I love you, Bubby!

Fall Break - WOOOOOOO

We're having a little break from school today and tomorrow, so that certain individuals who live here in A-Town and are particularly interested in a certain fall sport can travel to Florida to drink heavily and watch said sport occur. Pathetic? Yes. But it's nice and quiet here, so I'm not complaining.

I've been completely engrossed by AMC's MonsterFest - a week long movie festival where all they play is horror movies day and night (on a rotation, so there is some repetition). I love it. I wake up wanting to put it on, and think about what I may be missing while I'm away. Oh Tivo, where are you when I need you? Rob got annoyed with it last night after the 3rd Halloween came on, and made me go and rent a regular movie. I'd never seen Halloween Resurrection, so I was annoyed, but the Stewie movie was mostly worth it. I'm not certain why it costs $30 to buy it, other than their capitalizing on the dumb frat boys who will drop that kind of money for a cartoon movie.

While out renting said movie, we also stopped off at our local boozery for some whiskey and beer, and got a tasty pumpkin ale that I could drink way too much of this fall. It wasn't too candy, spicy, thick-y like previous incarnations of it - it was surprisingly light and tasty. No funky after-taste, and no overwhelming potpourri belly aches afterwards. Now if only I could remember the name, you could all run out and try it yourselves. Well, have a hot toddy instead. We had the traditional lemon, whiskey and honey variety with the Barner-Foxes the other night, which was delicious, and supposedly cured Jana's sore throat she'd had for a week. Last night we did an apple cider version, which was pretty sweet (obviously) but good. The cider and cinnamon stick really brought out the caramel flavor of the whiskey...mmmm, talking about it makes me think an afternoon toddy whilst cleaning and such may be in order. Rob may be taking the bus home from school today!

Our apartment complex offers wireless internet, which is awesome. I found out last night that the entire wireless setup (which lived in a small shed right next to/attached to the building) has been stolen, which is not awesome. So not only is the camera dead, but the internet is as well. Of course, there have been gobs of things I've been dying to do on the computer whilst watching horror movies and drinking hot beverages, only because I can't. Normally I can't be bothered with the silly thing. Dagnabbit. Hopefully they'll replace everything soon, but I'm not holding my breath.

Rob's birthday is November 4th, which is a friday. I think the Evil Lord Martron is coming down for the festivities - anyone else interested? No plans yet, but if it's anything like my birthday this summer, it'll be worth it.

a banjo does not a lullaby make

Yesterday was so awesome that I need to share it with you. It started out normal enough, with classes and work and all that hooey. The day moved quickly and soon it was time for my 2 1/2 hour voyage into the world of gynocology. No details necessary - those of you who know, know. After my loveless date, I met up with Rob and we went home for a quick run before dinner. On the back half of the run, we encountered a running police car parked in a driveway. "Hmm, that's weird. Cops always leave their cars running when they're responding to a call, so I doubt he lives there. I wonder what's going....OH MY GOD!" Two dogs, one bigger than the other, come flying out of the bushes of the house next door and right for us. I start yelling NO! at them while I'm running in circles trying to keep Greta out of reach of their teeth (which they are baring). I end up in the middle of the street somehow, still yelling and going round and round while the big dog tries to bite us. Rob realizes what's going on and quickly gets between the scary dog and Greta and I. I'm still yelling, Rob's offering the dog his forearm to keep him from biting anything precious like his face or his wife, and out comes the cop from the other yard. He calmly walks up and sprays some pepper spray near the dogs and they both take off back into the bushes. He said he was responding to a call of someone else getting chased by them (thanks to Billy Barty for that - what a noble citizen), and had lost sight of them when they found us. We thanked him for being there and took off running like maniacs. Greta was skittish and freaked (at one point at the end, she got out of her collar and went running in a panic straight towards where the dogs had gone), and both Rob and I were suddenly not as tired from our run as we had been about 3 minutes beforehand. Adreneline is some crazy powerful stuff. Thank goodness we all escaped without even the tiniest nibble taken out of us. Both Rob and I were preparing to get bitten, which is such a crazy thing. I was offering the dog my butt, being the meatiest part of me, Rob was giving him his arm in protection of his Business, and we were both just waiting for the dog to latch on. Weird. After a calming night of showers, dinner and homework we headed to bed around 11. I had just started to drop off when I start hearing this music. "where is that coming from? what the hell IS that?" As I start to wake up more, I realize that it's our downstairs neighbor Shank (no joke, this is what he introduced himself as) playing his BANJO and SINGING in the room directly under our bed. The maniac decided to have his special banjo practice time at 11:45 at night. I kept trying to ignore it, calm down my rage, and go back to sleep. Have you ever heard a banjo roll before? That shit is loud. And he wasn't just playing - he was practicing, so he would keep repeating the same little ditty part over and over and over, trying new variations and harmonizing with it at the same time. Oh kill me now. Suddenly, the banjo goes quiet. Oh thank god, he's tuckered himself out. No, wait.What's that base-y noise? Oh, it's his acoustic guitar. How penetratingly loud of him. Giving up on sleeping in the bed, I got Rob to put in some earplugs and went out to sleep on the couch. I'm sure you're asking yourself at this point "why haven't you pounded on the floor or his door or his head yet?" Well, at this point we were trying to wait him out, because 1.) We were too tired, and couldn't deal with getting up, getting dressed and going down there, and 2.) There's nothing more hateful than confrontation with stupid hippies who have made-up names. Regardless of all that, within seconds of my lieing down (and realizing that I could still hear him in the living room because the whole apartment floor was vibrating), Rob came out pulling on clothes to go and tell him to jam it somewhere else. By this time, it was after 1. We climbed back into bed and eventually fell back to sleep, where we slept off our crazy day in the luxurious five hours we had until the alarm went off. Ahhhhhh. Needless to say, I skipped my class and we made use of the snooze button a lot this morning. Stupid hippies.

We're cleaning out the old house tonight and tomorrow in preparation for a walk-through on sunday. I can't wait to be done with this move. It's tiring having something hang over your head like this, and being in moving mode for two weeks is far too long. We tried to go clean some last night, but there was a guy asleep on the platform bed that rob and I were going to disassemble. Hmm. He's from New Orleans, though, so we decided to let him sleep. They've been through so much already, and now we want to deprive these refugees of their nap?! I think not. So we went home and watched the original Fog with Buckshot and Ms. Foxy instead. I love having the Barner-Fox's living right down the hall from us. It's so damn comforting, even if I don't see them for an entire week. I like knowing that they're there, and that I can walk down there in my jammie pants with a glass of wine to watch some tv and relax.

On top of sweeping, mopping, and general disguising of cosmetic boo-boo's in that albatross of a house, we're also heading out to IKEA to buy a bed (goodbye floor - you suck) and then on to somewhere in atlanta (it all looks the same to me, so I never know where I am or where I'm going) to hang with Mr. and Mrs. Robinson and Co! I am so excited to leave town and do something completely unrelated to school or moving or cleaning. It's midterm, and I deserve it dammit. I'm fully looking forward to Alison's CandiCornTini's, being that I love both candy corn and martini's. She doubts we'll be able to drink more than one, and I'm looking forward to proving her wrong. I also hope that some ATL kids will trek out to see us, being that I haven't seen them since RibFest at Tone-Dog's. That includes the BabyMama's - I need to smell me some baby. Oh man, baby smell mixed with candy corn drizzled in vodka - does it get any better than that?

As a side note to those of you who care - I finished my 900 square inch tapestry yesterday and took it off the loom. Booya! Still have a lot of finishing to do, but it's off that infernal machine. Sunday afternoon I dye wool in preparation for the next project (ikat weaving), which actually might be good enough to hang. Sorry no pics, but the camera is still broker than broke.

I woke up today knowing I should just roll over and go back to sleep - just call today a wash and try again tomorrow. I knew this, and yet here I am, out and about still holding onto the weird, slightly sad feeling in the pit of my stomach that I started the day with. A girl in weaving this morning told me something sweet her mom said to her, and I got all teary eyed. I think everyone thought my eyes were watering because I was laughing, but I was laughing at how ridiculous it was that I was crying. Do you see why I should have stayed home today? Can you see how confusing this day is going to be? Maybe a skipped afternoon class and a pumpkin latte from Starbucks will ease my woes a little. Definitely a run tonight. That always makes me feel better, no matter how much I complain before and during. It's amazing to me that knowing the benefit of something is NEVER enough of a boost to get me to do it. Everything's always got to be so goddamned complicated.

I am freaking out. A brandy-new TJMaxx/HomeStore superstore AND a brand new Kohl's opened up here in tiny lil' athens BOTH ON THE SAME DAY! I feel sick to my stomach I want to go so badly. I can just see all my super deals and fabulous finds going home with complete strangers, and I won't stand for it. Most likely I'll go, try on a million things, and leave with nothing. I just need to go and touch everything and take in the scent of the sweat of 3 year olds laboring for pennies. It's intoxicating, isn't it?

oh dear....

I just want to 'thank' Billy Barty for that 'humorous' little guest entry below, even though it absolutely belongs in the "Too Much Information" category. What he thinks of my husband's tic tac is between the two of them, and I'd like to be left out of it. I guess that's what I get for asking someone to pick up my blogging slack while we're in flux. yikes.

Oh, and because of the great little pic that BB plucked off the interworldbot, I'm also getting fun spam comments. Totally awesome! So now you all get to play the little game before you post from now on. Again, I can only blame myself.

I'll hit you with warm fuzzies soon. Sorry if you thought I suddenly went insane.

in the midst of a passionate session of lovemaking with my casual sex partner andrew, i came to the conclusion that size does matter. who are we kidding, girls? must we continue to flatter and, therefore, lie to our beaus about the importance of the girth, diameter, length, and tilt of that most memorable of members? i am ready to cease the charade that i have allowed myself to perpetuate with my partner rob. i will no longer allow him to believe that his 3 inch erect penis is enough to satisfy this raging lust which burns within me. i will be direct in my honesty and lay him aside when it comes to matters of the flesh. to those of you who might find fault with my decision, i implore you to consider this: what would you do with something that looks like a peppermint-flavored tic-tac resting atop two dusty mothballs?

calling all handcrafters!

I came across this great website on a list-serve I'm on - knittingforthedisplaced.com. It's a woman from Pennsylvania who came up with this idea of knitting wearables for the Katrina folks who've been dumped up North and don't have any idea what to expect from a real winter. I figured, hey this would be an easy way to help out with all this craziness, and it's small enough to jam in my bag and have with me at school. win-win! so get out your cute scrap yarns and knit up some hats and scarves for these people! they're gonna freeze their butts off! her site lists details on how to get her the stuff, what she does with it once she gets it, some sample patterns for ideas, and updates on how the project's going. check it out!

Vanity is a Cruel Mistress

Ok, the weirdest thing happened to me on wednesday. I had GREAT hair, perfect hair. People were looking at me confused, asking what I had done differently, and they were hard pressed to hide their surprise at how fricking incredible my head looked! It was disarming at first, then just downright annoying. I knew that whatever grooming miracle that had taken place that morning would NEVER, EVER happen again and I was doomed to return to messy bessy-ness the next day.

kewpie hatchet

I found this googling 'kewpie' in reference to a comment I was making on Sarah's blog, and frankly it scared the hell out of me. look how happy that little thing is toting that big ol' ax! this quite possibly could be the simplest and most perfect halloween costume yet. do you think home depot sells novelty-sized hatchets? a-boo! shiny hiney!

i'm tired, y'all

did i tell you i'm tired? i'm tired. i never thought i would be one of those people who wished for just a couple more hours in the day, but here i am, wishing for just that. it's amazing how fast 6 am become 8 pm - where the hell does the stupid time go? i woke up this morning and it felt like i had just gone to bed. and the dreams! i have been having the craziest dreams, and keep getting woken up in the middle of them from the alarm, which is slightly startling. one second i'm dealing with lemur/monkey things with roller skates for feet, and the next i'm sitting up in bed bewildered and confused that's it's morning already.

last night, for kicks, rob and i went to the space center to run. for those of you not from this world (Athens GA), the space center is the big exercising complex at the university with all the weight rooms, pools, and crap like that. they have this inside track that's all squishy and flat and air conditioned, and with the heat lately we thought we'd give it a try and let mr. heat stroke have the night off. it was the craziest thing i've done in a long time. it was like swimming, driving, and going to the bar all at once. some people were whipping around the track like someone was chasing them brandishing knives, some were walking slow listening to ipods AND talking to a buddy, and some were weaving and bobbing around all these crazies just trying to keep pace and not get knocked over. i kept getting caught up in these groups of people and then get spit out further on down the way, it was like riptides for cripes sake. it was pretty fun, though and we'll probably start going there a little more until this heat breaks.

as you all know, school started last week. this semester's going to be a healthy challenge for me - weaving on floor looms, which are large-ish machines with wheels, pulleys, hooks, eyes, pedals, cranks - the works. i've been working on it for 2 classes straight and don't have it ready to go yet. i will be patient though, and respect this process of preparing to work. grr. this term we're focusing more on texture and pattern than on imagery, so i'm pretty psyched to see where it goes. i'm so much more attracted to tactile things, so learning to make bobs, bumps, and tufts is pretty exciting to me. i'm also taking a contemporary art history class with a woman who is brilliant. she speaks at a level that so exceeds mine that rarely do i understand more than 2 sentences of hers at a time without having to stop and think about it. unfortunately for me, she doesn't stop spewing these little gems to let me catch up, so i'm also only hearing about every 4 sentence. better hurry up and adapt, or i'm going to be sucking mud quickly. lastly i'm taking a textile class, which takes what i'm learning in fiber arts and pulls back from it to focus more on the chemical/physical makeup of the fibers themselves. it's going to be tough, mostly being that it's science-based, and i swore i was done with that crap. but i really think it'll benefit me in the long run, career-wise, if i've had exposure to this side of it. plus i get to have a class with about 35 19-year olds with dreams of being fashion and interiors designers. yippee.

i've got some pictures of shoes, purses, palm trees and other crap that i haven't shown you yet, and i honestly can't make any promises that i will. i guess that way it will be a surprise.

speaking of that, will someone please post photos from the baybay shower this past sunday?! i want to know what i missed out on doing homework.

a monk's life

my most awesome bestest friend Sarah and I have been having a lot of conversations about clutter, and the means with which we deal with it. We're both very into getting rid of the old that sits and gathers dust to make room for the old that we love and can't do without. I am now finding myself daydreaming about making piles, filling bags and getting rid of so much stuff. Beauty products, art supplies, crappy acrylic 70s yarn, fat clothes, skinny clothes....I can't wait to ditch it all. Look out Habitat, here I come. The hard part is going to be making myself either repair the stuff I like that is broken or torn, or get rid of it. My adorable orange vinyl purse with the broken clasp..my beautiful green silk dress with embroidered taffeta overlay that needs serious hemming by a professional (aka not me)...these things need love. Can I give it to them? Or will I toss them aside like the many apartments and old navy shirts of my past?

The coconut rum filled haze is lifting

and I realize that I haven't updated this thing since I got back from NY. The florida trip was great - very lazy and rum-soaked. I will say that we did try to run/walk every day-ish, but I was pretty whiney about it. Big surprise there.

And now we're heading full-force into fall and school starting again. It's really strange to have just gotten back from such a summery vacation where I pretty much lived in my bathing suit, to now be gearing up for cordoroys and school schedules. I've still got a few more days to make the transition, though. And I'm pretty excited about my new cords. Fall clothes are so much better than summer. Listen carefully and you might hear me coming....

Happy belated birthday to Miss Jen. We're both 32 this year! Yippee!

Yocal returns unharmed from Big City

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

This is how I walked around New York the entire time I was there - head up, mouth open, "'gaw dawg, that's a big buildin'". I got mugged every day.

Nah, not really. I got off the plane, put on my game face, surpressed the stupid trait I've learned living in Tiny Town USA to say hello to everyone I encounter, and hadd my first solo cab ride into the city. It was fabulous from the second I walked out of the airport. I felt like I was supposed to be there from the minute I got there, and I WANT TO GO BACK. The energy, the sounds, the opportunity - everything was fabulous and it's hard to stop fixating on it. There's more photos on Flickr, so click away. I'm going to go find a job and apartment on the web machine...Look out N'Yawk, here I come! (Oh, don't worry - I'm bringing Rob along!)

not bad for government work

once again I'm here in this basement office waiting out the last 15 minutes of my day, and I can't help but feel disappointed in the way I'm spending Clarke County's tax dollars. luckily, I have plenty to keep me distracted from this creepy "worldcom" vibe I'm getting. while I stuff some free pens in my bag, let's enumerate my current happy distractions.....
1. What a WONDERFUL time I had a Tony & Gia's on saturday night. I'll tell you my social anxiety was kicked way up on the way there, but it all went away once I got there. Right after I spilled cole slaw juice on my thigh and dumped some beer down my leg. After that, it was awesome. So nice to discover new friends, and rediscover some old ones!
2. Pillows. Not the dirty kind, but the wedding kind. I've offered to make a couple of ring pillows for my boss's wedding, and I get to do what I want. We went out and got some pretty $25 a yard fabric for me to play with, and today I'm going to get cording and ribbon. Look out sewing machine, here I come! I'll post photos once I get started.
3. NEW YORK, baby! Oh my god, I have not seen my beautiful, most talented, make-me-pee funny friend Sarah in a year, and I finally get to have her within squeezing reach this friday. We are gonna wreck that town.
4. Swimming. It is too got-dammed pretty out today to not spend at least 2 hours at Legion Pool swimming and reading. It rains so much lately that it would really be unhealthy of me not to take advantage of all this Vitamin D (that's the right one, right? Wait, maybe D is milk and A is sun....whatever, I just don't want rickets.)

Hey Blogspotters, has anyone tried out this new photo link option they have? Does this mean the end of Flickr?

Me love you long time

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

Yay, happy anniversary to us! Three years, and it's been great. Not easy to say the least, but worth every damn minute of it. Oh my man, I love him so.

Look what I got!

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

Isn't it pretty? My husband loves me and I've got shiny rocks and I feel special. If you can't see it very well in the photo, don't worry because I'll show it to you when I see you. A bunch of times.

Happy Birthday!

It's my birthday today! In honor of that, I'm going to spend today focusing on my fortune - my husband, my family, my friends, my sweet flea-ridden dogs. All the things that make being born a thing to celebrate! Thanks to all of you for being in my life, and helping me discover what I'm all about. What a lucky girl I am, to have such amazing people in my life! Thanks!

responsibility to yourself?

so Rob's grandmother falls down last week (through her glass-topped coffee table) and ends up in the hospital with scrapes, bruises, and a very slow heartbeat. the situation boils down to her needing a pacemaker to keep her going. rob's mother is out of town, so we pack up the car and head out to atlanta to tend to the situation. a million nurses and doctors later, topped with the first mcdonald's i've eaten in ten years from the cafeteria inside the hospital with a 'healthy eating' billboard right around the corner from it, we get everything figured out and the grandmother settled into a rehab center to recover. as we were driving back from atlanta for the millionth time last night, we got to discussing the question of aging/elderly/sickly family members, and what our role is in all that. Essentially it boils down to the question of whether or not we stay in the southeast (even though we aren't entirely happy here) to tend to and enjoy our families on a regular basis, or to go our own way, find a place that we can be happy in and enjoy the family on major holidays and the occasional summer vacation. how much does "place" effect ones sense of wellbeing? could we just get used to it here? or would we always be wondering what living in the desert would be like or if new york is as fantastic as it looks?

i've become so fearful of regretting the relationships i've created with my family because of my wanderlust, that i'm almost willing to suck it up, work some whatever job and enjoy being nearer to them. but then i realize how dangerous that could be to those relationships, and i end up back at the beginning again. i don't want to regret, i don't want to resent, and i want everyone to be happy. is that too much to ask?

git 'er done

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

So you all know we've been fasting, cause you all read Rob's site. So I won't go into that in any detail, except to say that it was hard and I can't really remember right now why we thought it was a good idea. Health or some crap, I guess. I don't feel much different, I don't look much different, and I didn't lose a bunch of weight. Some, a good bit, but not a ton. So, we're cooking up some chicken for dinner, trying to forget our silliness, and making our pants fit again.

School break has been good to me so far. Some parties, some crappy space movies, some sun. The yard looks pretty, the dogs are happy (wormy, but happy), and we're fixin to get our swim on soon at the local apartment complexes throughout our fair city. I booked tickets to go to NY in July to see my sweet Sarah (Yay for us!), and I am nervous and happy and superstitious about it. I won't let myself get giddy until I'm on the damn plane. I think I've been watching too many Sex in the City reruns, cause I have this compulsion to pack nothing but darling dresses and sexy heels. Someone please set me straight.

Here's a call out to all the kids - we're planning a "see ya, sucker" trip in early August to Florida to camp and swim in some gorgeous natural springs for a couple days before Rob starts LAW SCHOOL. Anyone interested is welcome to come along. There's scuba diving and snorkling to be had, if'n you're into that sort of thing.

Storm's a brewin. Can we please stop with all the rain? Crikey, even the plants are sick of it.

Drumroll, please.....

I found out last night that the University of Georgia has officially deemed me worthy of their art school, and I have been officially accepted! TaDa!!! Thank you thank you, you're all so kind.
I am officially back on track and nearing my goal of an actual degree in 'Something I Give a Shit About'. Now I just need to decide whether to go for a Costume Design minor now, or wait and go to grad school for that later....decisions decisions. I'll keep you posted on what I decide. Right now all I want to do is go outside and play with my dogs before the day goes away.

What I've been up to....

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

This is why NO ONE has heard from me or seen me in weeks - presenting my final project for fabric structure. It's a felted wool (almost) life size marionette that I made from plaster casts that Rob did of me, and it almost killed me. I can't wait to make another one.
If anyone ever wanted a puppet twin of themselves, you now know where to go to get one. But be warned, they can be a little bit scary.

Weaving Again

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

Here's a photog of me working on the loom - aren't I intent on my work? Well, this is staged. I took the picture myself because I wanted to document my weaving for posterity's sake and I happened to be home alone. Sorry to ruin the mystique. Look at our orange chair instead, and the giant dog curled up in it. If you come to my house, never sit in that chair. It's Mowgli's and he'll let you know it. Plus it's starting to smell a little like him, and is covered in his fur. All around, it's an unpleasant experience.

Art Fart

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

I just got done having a critique for this piece, and boy are my arms tired. This is an in-progress shot of my tapestry loom final, which is an interpretation of a painting Maggie did of Mowgli. It didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but to be honest they hardly ever do. I wondered today if when I have a child, I'm going to be a little disappointed on how he/she comes out merely because he/she wasn't exactly what I expected.....maybe I should adopt. All joking aside, when you just put so much of yourself into something it's physically painful to see it less than what you imagined. Everyone in the crit was very VERY supportive, though. It's always a nice surprise when someone random says something incredibly beautiful about your work - that they've been paying attention and have been considering it, not just looking at it. A critique is an intense process, even if it's a little TOO friendly/supportive at times. I don't think anyone said anything negative, or questioned anyones process or anything. And I'm not sure if I think that's a good thing or a bad thing.

HIATUS

Just wanted to drop a little niz-ote on you to apologize for so slack with this whole blog thing for so long. Too many got-damned things to keep up with, I'm afraid. Just to catch you up: I've gotten my first bit of sunburn of the summer, have switched over to 'all flipflops all the time' mode, lost a little more weight (yay!), fell in love with sushi all over again, painfully realized through a good friend's experience how easy it is to lose someone if you aren't vigilant about it, got food poisoning for the second time this year, learned that just because someone is running around in their underwear doesn't give you or your husband the right to touch their peepee, and that taking a vitamin on an empty stomach can sometimes scare you into thinking you're pregnant, but just for a couple days.

I should be back on this shit, with pictures and all that happy crap, in about 2 weeks. Bear with me.

I'm back, baby!

Hey kids, sorry about the hiatus. Things have been hectic around the Snackstyn house - finishing up Spring term (only about a month left!), deciding what to do about Summer (one class will be taken), and thinking about Fall (I'm taking on a Minor in Costume Design). Lots of decisions and meetings and work - whew! Put on top of all that random clandestine moments with Rob where we try to catch up between shifts at his stupid job, and you've got a tired couple of kids. Things are starting to slow down and get back to normal now, though. Perhaps I'll even have time to sweep up all the dog hair, water the plants and really clean the bathroom. Don't get your hopes up though.

My visit with my mom was great. She is so fun - I wish she lived closer so we could hang out more, but I have a feeling our paths will cross again in the future. Plus Wilmington is so cool that it's great that she's there - now we have somewhere cool to visit/vacation at that's in driving distance! And oh my god, she got the cutest damn dog. Greta absolutely fell in love with her - it broke my heart that she had to go. I keep entertaining the idea of getting a little buddy for Ms. Greta, but another dog?? Hello! I can barely deal with the two we've got! Plus Mowgli hated it - lil' Lucy was getting all the attention, Greta wouldn't play with him, and everyone kept herding him around to avoid any confrontation between all the dogs. Ugh - not fun. I don't think I can go through that week of acclimating Mowgli to a new dog any time soon. I thought we were all going to kill each other.

I'm working on a new tapestry, and I think it's going to be pretty cool. I'll post some pics when I've got a decent amount done. Oh, and a photo of my bag I made so Sarah can see it. I've got so many damn projects going at once, it's ridiculous. Wait until I have my final fabric project started too - Whoo! It's going to be a fun month coming up!

skritch skratch

Ugh, Tony's sickness is creeping up the back of my throat like a razor-toed slug. That's what I get for 1) hanging with sick people and 2) drinking my weight in vodka. Oh immune system, why have I compromised you so?? But I must report that saturday was completely worth it. I had a fantastic time, laughed a lot, and even got some girl time in with Alison at the mall. It was a much-needed break from my school routine, and felt really good to just relax and not think about anything too hard. Of course, afterwards I felt bad for not having anything to eat at the house and making Marti sleep with the dog blanket. But everyone survived, and I made a couple new friends - Yay, Ben & Alison!!

My mama's coming on friday, and I can't wait. I haven't seen her since xmas, which seems ridiculous to me. In preparation, I need to get some serious work done in the next few days. Ready, set, go!

Oh my goodness....

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

my dog is so cute! Can you even stand it? I tell you, sometimes I can't. But then she goes and does something like eat her own poo, and I quickly get over it. Gimme a kiss!

Weaving

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

Here are the inkle belts I made. Pretty cool, huh? I'm especially fond of the middle two. I made a bag and used the pink and brown one for the handles - very cute!

You are so jealous....

I just saw John Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) speak at school. He was awesome. And cute. And married. He went to BYU - no crap he's married! NCMO, anyone?? He did dance a couple times, and it was as good as the movie. Very super excellent.

Our computador is fixed, so I'll post some pictures tomorrow-ish. I have weaving photos, and dog photos. No Rob photos yet. I got a "before" photo from his mom, then forgot it at her house. Dammit. So it might be a couple weeks until that starts - it just doesn't seem right to start in the middle. You've got to see where he was to truly appreciate where he's at.

Technical Difficulties

Our little iBook has become possessed, so I am unable to properly update right now. Currently, I'm wasting the taxpayers money telling you this. Not a great habit to get into. I think everything will be fixed by tonight though, so perhaps another, more 'official' entry later? Until then....

Cheater

I responded to some comments on the last entry, and got a little long-winded. That's my official post for today. Back-track if you're interested.

Question:
Anybody ever relax/straighten their hair? I'm thinking about doing it, and wanted to put out some feelers and see what folks think. Supposedly my hair guy can just relax it so that it's wavy, not pin straight. I figure I'll only have this mop another year or so before I get sick of it and cut it all off again anyway, so why not?

Fuh

What a weekend. I know that sounds like I am pooped from all the craziness and fun, but that is not the case. I was struck with a very hard case of the "i miss my friends" blues, and still haven't been able to shake it. What's confusing about it is the fact that this mood creates in me a lack of ability to contact said friends and scare those feelings away. I become withdrawn, anxious, and guilty feeling...bluh. It's just been so hard to meet people here. Almost a full year in classes, and I haven't even had a coffee date with any prospective new buddies. It's starting to wear on me, too. I'm starting to feel really socially awkward, and unable to carry on normal conversations with people. I seriously think that if I didn't have my fabric class, I would never leave the house. Kind of like when we lived in Savannah...

On a more positive note, Rob and I have been running a couple times a week. It's been pretty awesome, and I am on the brink of getting addicted to it. I don't know if it's the running that addicting, or the fact that most of my pants are getting too big. Either way, I'm feeling pretty good about it. It's going to be fun getting to see the look on people's faces when they get to see Rob again. He's going to be about half-a-Rob by this summer - pretty amazing! I should start documenting his belly as it diminishes. I wonder if he'd let me?

Molasses

Damn this week is creeping by. I guess it's better than waking up and realizing it's friday already - those weeks scare the hell out of me. This slow-bee-doh-bee-doh crap is hardest in this ding dang office, though. Why oh why do I always end up with jobs that I have to pretend to work because there's nothing for me to do?? I know, you're all fuming at me from behind your piles of work right now, and I'm sorry. But gimme a break! I can't tell if it's because my choices are limited from my lack of a degree, or because I have never been very "into" my work. I'm not lazy or anything, I just haven't found any jobs that have been very interesting. At least not in the long run. I try like hell to keep in mind that this is a means to an end, I am in school and THAT is my full-time lovin' it job. It's not easy though. The only true solace I have is that I can finally, after a million years of this, see a tiny little blip of light at the end of the tunnel. And it is amazing. What I'm going to do once I get there - don't have a clue. But I will be formally trained in something that I love to do, and that's alright by me. Of course this all hinges on whether or not I get accepted into the stupid ass art school. You'll hear more about that in a couple weeks while I'm working on my portfolio.

I still can't help but wonder though, do you ever LOVE your job? Is it possible to get to a place that you love to work? Because even if your job is to do the thing you normally do as a reward to yourself for working (music, knitting, doing the hula), it eventually turns from a reward into work. Then what? You need to find a new reward to reward you for working on your former reward? Ack. So tell me kids, who loves or even LIKES what they do? And what motivates you?

Whew

Thank god, the evil has left. All tests are overwith for the week, class is canceled, and I get out of work at 1:00 this afternoon. I feel like that guy in the commercial who exhales the entire ad aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I'm going to go home, have some lunch, and try to whip out three belts this weekend. Ho yeah! I am going to Nico Case tomorrow night and I have dog class in the afternoon, so there will be some interruptions - erk.
Allison, are you coming with Ben to Marti's for practice? Perhaps a knitting/drinking date is in order. I don't think I have the gazongas to bring the loom into the bar, but my knitting is subtle enough. I get the wierdest looks lugging that thing around town - like I'm carrying bags of vomit or something. People do NOT like things they don't get.
I'll be posting photos of all my finished belts next week sometime, for anyone who's interested. Anyone know any cool braiding/knotting techniques they feel like sharing? Finishing the ends of the belts is boring, and I'm looking for something cool to do.

Woman Possessed

It's hard to believe how damn cheery I felt just two days ago. Today and yesterday I have such a pissy-ness about me - I could kill someone for looking at me wrong. Poor Rob of course has been getting the brunt of it - he just can't seem to let me be when I'm snarly. I know he just wants to fix it, and if I could just work my way past the bitch that seems to be running the show I would tell him how much I appreciate what he's trying to do. But she's mean and strong and won't go away. I need a young priest and an old priest...

Can you feel the love?

VDay
Originally uploaded by Makstin.

What a day - rainy and cold outside all day (very Portland, I must admit) but had a happy day all day. Started out with a cupcake at work (yum) and ended with an amazing dinner of artichoke heart & asparagas risotto & those little steaks that are so tender and velvety and delicious, topped off with a double-butter chocolate cake and one of my favorite wines (a Copola Pinot). I have the best husband in the world, and am I definitely feeling the love.

Heddles! Part Deux!

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

Here's the heddles doing their job -
holding down alternate lengths of yarn and creating a space to weave through (see the hole?). Cool huh?

Heddles!

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Originally uploaded by Makstin.

check it out - this is an inkle
loom, and the stringy things are called heddles. i'll show you what heddles do later. i'm going to make a 1,000 hippie belts on this baby and then sell them at the WP show, just you wait and see.

This is for you, Sarita

Ok, so I've jumped on the bandwagon. I promise to try and be good about updating. I'm awful good at finding ways to avoid studying political science, so this might be just the thing for me.

Sarah, I'll post photos of my most recent projects as soon as I get a chance. Everybody else, you can see them too. Cause you know you want to.