Saturday, July 5, 2008

laverne house

I went over to the house on Laverne, the one Loren is working on, today.





The changes so far are exciting, but it is still a little dark in there. Cutting the doorway between the sunroom and living area helped out significantly. Thomas and Loren did that a few weeks ago. Loren found an arched doorway to install. It came from the Bass mansion. It's lovely.






Thomas, Loren, and I took out a rocky stepping stone path from the driveway to the front walk a couple of weeks ago. It took a couple of hours...the soil is not a team player here.





Thomas and Loren also cut the hole for the refrigerator a couple of weeks ago, and new plumbing was installed for the washer and dryer in the garage.



Loren has started to layout the bricks in a herringbone pattern in the backyard for a patio using the bricks we got from evening heists on Parry Avenue. They are beautiful, solid, turn-of-the-century bricks.





The front bedroom and living area have been stripped to the studs and insulation and new drywall will be installed this week.





I scraped grout in the bathroom yesterday for a couple of hours. All my efforts only scraped the first layer. It is a little bit disgusting really. The house sat empty for three years, there's all kinds of dust and grime to find and clear out.





that's before






and this is after. still alot to do....

Saturday, April 26, 2008

simon

simon is a character. rich calls him the early adopter. everytime we bring new furniture into the loft, simon is the first to test it out. yesterday my mom came over to bring me some medicine, i had thrown up 7 times in 5 hours. i needed to go downstairs to push the buzzer and unlock the door to let her inside. simon was sitting on a stack of six cushions, at 4'. a stack i made intending to keep the cats from scratching up the new cushions.

as i walked down the stairs, simon was trying to get down. he tried all 4 sides twice, but he didn't want to make the jump. he just sat there surrendering while i shot this picture. i would have added some reflection and taken more shots, but i was feeling ill and not even wearing my glasses.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

litter bugs

i went for a bike ride this morning. there's this great under-used, under-maintained park right next door to me.



i wish people wouldn't trash it.







Tuesday, April 1, 2008

clearing clutter

"you’ll end up lending this to people," loren tells me when i opened her gift.


it’s a book about clearing clutter using feng shui, a quick read. i’ve already let two people borrow it, and i can’t wait to lend it again. this clutter problem i have is innate. i can’t help it, i’m sentimental. "imagine having to carry everything you own." in the book of birthdays, by russell grant, that’s the quote at the end of the passage for my birthday, which happens to be tomorrow. do thora birch and rupert murdoch have the same clutter issues i do?

"we’ve got to get rid of some of this clutter," i say to my boyfriend. we’ve been sharing a 1000 sq.ft loft for a year. it was his loft first. when i moved in, i was hesitant to make to many changes. i didn’t want him to freak out and have second thoughts about the new living situation. because of this, we’ve spent the year adjusting and rearranging. space is an issue. our kitchen has four upper cabinets and four lower cabinets not including under the sink. most people probably think i’m crazy when i say i would rather have two more cabinets than a dishwasher, but cabinets seem more useful in limited space.

"i can help you rearrange some things in your loft, maybe that will help alleviate some of your frustrations," loren tells me after i unload.

i happily accept her offer. i know in order for this to happen, i have to clear things out and deal with the clutter that has been clogging my life. throughout the year i do small clearings and reorganization, but this is extensive. this supreme clutter clearing is an excavation.

everyone has different clutter. contributing to mine is a collection of shoeboxes i’ve used to store clutter over the years. these boxes have moved with me nine times in the last ten years from texas to north carolina, to maryland, and back to texas. two shoeboxes were added from my travels abroad, one of them i carried from spain to london, then back to texas, north carolina, maryland, and texas again. clearly these things are special to me, but it’s a little ridiculous.

here i have this cast from when i broke my arm in 1987, 21 years later, in a shoebox. racing myself back and forth on rollerskates between the mailbox and the pebbly walk up to the front door, a loop deviously wraps itself around the front right wheel of my left skate. the wheel comes to an abrupt stop flinging me foward, i land on my arm and scrape my knees.

"do you want to keep it?" the doctor who used the saw to cut off the cast asks.

"yes." i beam. having a broken arm is the highlight of that year. both of my parents lost a parent and then divorced. My name was omitted from the list of second graders for valentine’s day. i got eight valentines. not a good year.

i’ve kept the cast all this time in a shoebox, maybe i looked at it a handful of times in all 21 years. photograph it and send it to the landfill. that’s my new mantra. atleast that way i can frame it and hang it on a wall to see and remember that poignant time in my life. i can’t do that when it’s sitting inside a 9 1/2" box inside a dark closet buried by other boxes, all the contents of my shoeboxes share this dilemma. things i don’t need, that i never look at but keep, because i might want to see them someday. letters, my first driver’s license and speeding ticket, badges, ticket stubs, notes and letters from friends in middle school and high school, they all need to go into a book, be collaged, or framed; or, gulp, thrown away (or recycled).

this doesn’t mean i’ll stop being sentimental, if these special things are in books they are valuable. they transform from space cloggers to something to look at, a story to be told. my closet happens to occupy the career sector of the bagua in my loft, making boxes filled with history inauspicious preventing new things from entering. i want it to be organized and efficient.

shoeboxes are not solely responsible for the disharmony in my closet. a whole foods bag full of photos from when i was shooting film has been keeping them company taking up space on a shelf. i didn’t want to throw anything away, and i just didn’t want to deal with it.

"what if i can use these?" that’s what a hoarder says.

"use it or send it to the recycling bin," my new mantra answers.

assured it needs to be done, i make piles of 4 x 6 prints. i go through each pile over three days. some of these space cloggers i immediately toss into the recycling bag. others i keep to put into an album, but most are doubles of photographs i’ve already put into an album.

"i will send these as postcards," i tell myself.

they find a new home, a shoebox for postcards. this kind of shoebox is okay. it has purpose. it helps me achieve my goal to write people more often. three days later, the discards take up 90% of the bag which is now removed from my closet and my life. i have space now on the shelf for a container holding notecards, envelopes, and stamps. it is functional.

a person can only clear clutter when ready. dave is a photographer i’ve worked for over the past year who has clutter issues bigger than mine. he asked to borrow my clutter clearing book. he is aware of his clutter problem.

excited to hear what he thought of the book, i stopped by this week to pick it up and to tell him about the trip i took to new york for my birthday.

"i enjoyed looking at your photos," he tells me.

"thanks," i smile.

he comments on a few of the photos telling me about when he was there with his family.

i tell him a bit of my experience, i mention my birthday was last week.

"oh when’s your birthday?" dave asks me excited to mark it on his giant desk calendar.

"march 11, it was tuesday," i tell him and watch as he navigates his arms buried under the sea of papers on his desk. the whole mess looks like waves before a storm. he sees me smiling.

"i figure it will take me about a year and a half to clear my clutter," dave confesses, then asks, "you know why?"

he opens his desk drawer which i imagine to be a horrifying abyss. he pulls out a little yellow post-it note and holds it up proudly for me to see. it’s a red ink drawing and scribbled "i love you daddy" by his three-year old son.

"i have hundreds of them," he says to me with a guilty smile.

"you should frame it," i encourage him knowing how these sentimental bits from life are important.

"i have the cast from when i broke my arm when i was 8!" i say to let him know i really understand his plight.

"and you know, colin isn’t three anymore. (he’s in junior high!) you have to clear the old stuff out to make room for new stuff."

dave tells me he is in need of reinventing himself professionally. i tell him the clutter clearing will help. he agrees. i leave it at that. he can only begin the clutter clearing process when the time is right for him.

it is a beautiful soul-soothing practice, i know he will see positive results as i did. i feel i have just scratched the surface. it has already made daily/weekly maintenance easier. i still can’t carry everything i own, but for now it feels good to start my 29th year traveling a little bit lighter.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

hillary's long nose

so my friend loren yesterday tells me about hillary's big whopper. i found it hard to believe hillary had told such a blatant whopping lie and then covered it up saying "that's how i remembered it."

are people actually excusing this?

it became clear to me long before march that hillary would not get my vote. she represents old thinking.

but this. for this she should drop out of the race.

"All Things Considered, March 25, 2008 · Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) 1996 trip to Bosnia has come under scrutiny. Clinton said last week that, as first lady, she flew into an air base in Bosnia "under sniper fire," citing the visit as evidence of her foreign policy experience. Now she says she misspoke with regard to the risks she faced on the trip."

she says she misspoke, but she's misspeaking. she lied. she intentionally told an untruth.

i mean i realize it was 12 years ago, but seriously. her apology for her "minor blip" sucked. and really, mistaking an escape fromrapid gunfire for a casual stroll is not a blip. she says that she speaks a million words a day, how many more of those words are total lies?

Sunday, March 16, 2008

saturday continued

after brunch we went to the hell's kitchen flea market. got some obama in '08 t-shirts. st. patty's day inspired. it wasn't a very impressive market, but a market all the same. had a canole. and then stopped in to the cupcake coffeshop for some jasmine tea and a bathroom break before meeting ted to head over to MoMA. someone handed me a flyer about the big bang theory. i'm not sure what the message was, but ultimately it was expressing pity for those of us who take stock in the theory. it basically gave a bunch of scientific facts and said if you believed it they congratulate you for having more faith than all the christians combined and they feel sorry for you. whatever. the universe isn't 3000 years old.

so ted, rich, and i walked through rockefeller center to get to MoMA, that skating rink was so much bigger when i was a kid. we got close to central park, ted was hungry. we dipped into a building where ted knew a good burger, but the line was long and we stopped in angela's rock n' roll deli instead before meeting stephany in the park. listened to a jazz quartet, took some snapshots at strawberry fields, people everywhere. a beautiful day. we walked and walked. past the bandshell and people dancing on roller skates, roller blades, and a segway to disco music. frisbees, dogs, babies in strollers, bicycles. lovely. ted was about to do the potty dance, we made it to a starbucks on 77th and lexington. the dirtiest bathroom in nyc. not what i expected on the upper east side. stopped in to look at some puppies before we headed back to the hotel. when we got closer to the hotel there was this shoe store. nikes. ranging from $80-$4000. rich got a pair. (not for $4000) called thanksgiving. looking at them makes me want to eat sweet potatoes.

we met ted and stephany again in brooklyn to have some pizza at grimaldi's, but the line was 60 deep. we walked back to have pizza at a place called oven instead. it's on henry street next the the blue pig ice cream. another delicious meal. seems like all we did was eat and walk. but it was great.

the first day it took a minute to get acclimated, but by then end i was ready to move to ny.

i'll be editing pictures this week and have them posted on my flickr page.

the weekend

i met adan in harlem friday after rich and i had a terrible breakfast at a diner. it's a strange sensation going underground at 23rd and lexington and coming up at 125th in harlem. i was sticking out like a sore thumb....we had lunch at sylvia's...soulfood.

http://www.sylviassoulfood.com/

it's been around since 1962. i had fried chicken (dark) and a waffle. yum. it was good to see adan. i see him periodically when he comes back to dallas. i wish i'd had more time in harlem, perhaps some other time.

friday night we met ted and stephany for cuban food on the lower east side. boca chica. it's at 1st and 1st. we walked from the gershwin. great neighborhood, lots of different restaurants, little markets, flowers, produce, dry cleaners, etc...the city is alive. from there we hopped around. otto's shrunken head tiki bar where i had 3/4 of a beer to the beauty bar where i had two cape cods, to the crocodile where i had half a beer and some pizza. (you get a small pizza with every beer!) some of ted's friends from denison met us at the beauty bar. good times. medha and i talked c-stands. she works in tv and convinced me upon my move to new york there will be no photo assisting. i had had a glass of wine at dinner forgetting wine and beer before liquor even sicker. all four of us were hungover in the morning. we had to change hotels, trucked it down to the wall street area, it was rough. ted and steph didn't make it to brunch at the essex.

very cool. $16 brunch includes three mimosas, bloody marys, or something else to cure your hangover. i had mexican matzo brei which is the best migas i've ever had. and there are creamy white tennis balls stuck to the wall.

http://www.essexstreetmarket.com/

end of the week

thursday morning i took a morning stroll around the block. my camera battery was low, so i went back to the hotel for a bit and charged her up. we checked out shortly after that and dropped our bags off at the gershwin.

http://www.gershwinhotel.com/

cool place, funky...but it's really more like a super expensive hostel.

from there we stopped into a vintage clothing store before hitting the empire state building. the views of course were amazing. i got a little vertigo after i stepping out the door. new york has so many layers, i love it. we hopped on the subway at some point and got off in the financial district. had some pakistani food at this tiny place, i don't even remember what or where exactly it was. but it was tasty goodness. on we got to the wtc site. the plans for the memorial seem appropriate. i was expecting to feel some energy there but i didn't. maybe the energy from all the tourists was distracting.

we walked down wall street. so icy down there in the afternoon. we got some coffee and hopped back on the subway to brooklyn. walked back to the island over the brooklyn bridge. it was getting late and dinner time so we got back to our hotel and then headed over to little italy through chinatown for dinner. there's this little stretch on mulberry in chinatown of two or three funeral homes, a florist, and a funeral product store. i'd never seen anything like it. we ate at benito one. it was okay. i had steamed mussels and egg drop soup with spinach. we headed back on the subway, it was the most entertaining subway ride to date. this dude, 18-22 years old got on at the same time as us. his fly was down and totally exposing him in the fly region. at first i wanted to tell him, and then i thought maybe he was creepy and doing it on purpose. my camera was sitting in my lap and i took a couple of snapshots hoping he wouldn't notice. these two women were sitting across from me. he turned toward them, and i waited to see if they would notice. they did. we made eye contact and shared some laughs. a train wreck. i think he may have had a couple of drinks, peed before he got on the train, and just didn't notice. it was hanging out when we jumped off the train. bizarre.

first couple of days in nyc

i had such a lovely birthday this year. rich surprised me with a trip to new york city. he had meetings most of the week including my birthday, so we spent most of the week there through the weekend. we had a fantastic time. it had been so long since i'd been, and i've never really gone for fun as an adult. we did do a couple of touristy things i'd never done, like a trip to the top of the empire state building. thank goodness there wasn't a line.

tuesday night after rich went through all his emails and i had circled the neighborhood snapping street photos, we had dinner at this little spot called cinema. can't find a website, it's on 2nd avenue between 69th & 70th. lobster spring rolls, spicy goat cheese pizza, frittes...tapas and such, delicious. a delightful birthday dinner.

wednesday morning was brisk and gorgeous. i had walked for an hour to 14th street in chelsea, when i got a call from shawnee's brother jacob. i met him (literally, for the first time) and his friend parisa at the whole foods in columbus circle for lunch. parisa is actually from my hometown...small world. i trecked up broadway through times square and made it there in an hour and fifteen minutes. after some indian food and birthday cookies, we walked over to central park to throw the frisbee. good times, they're both really fun, and what an incredible view we had. it wasn't crowded, but there were quite a few people out and about. and dogs, lots of dogs.

parisa had to go to work, she's a dances with a company and had a performance that night. jacob decided against his mundane responsibilities of laundry and kitchen maintenance, and we walked around the park. who could blame him, i've done the same thing. we only got as far as the Met before we walked out to park avenue. there, we saw a slew of media in front of the building where now former governor spitzer lives. we walked on and cut back into the park after the Met and circled back exiting the park again on the west side and cruising by lincoln center. jacob went into best buy, and i walked back to the hotel. i couldn't wait to call shawnee and tell her how much fun we'd had...

rich and i met my uncle for dinner at la colonial. french vietnamese on lexington and 57th. we were going to take a cab, but they were all full, so i got some more walking in. thirteen more blocks! we had a really nice dinner, uncle jim is fun. his new granddaughter arrived a bit early, so my aunt was in boston. she actually arrived on march 11 which happens to be my birthday, it's very exciting to have another pisces in the family.

Monday, February 25, 2008

changes

green willow was the color i chose for a wall in the hallway six months ago. it was a green i had wanted on a wall for as long as i can remember. it wasn't long after the paint had dried that rich and i agreed the color was too saturated. i told him we'd get used to it. and we did. but last week i decided with all the clutter clearing and the 6-month renewal on our lease, that it is time for a new color. this time we went with a much more subdued hue. it's still green, pale parsnip, much more soothing.

i bought rosemary and lavender plants yesterday. i hope they get enough sun inside the loft. if not, they may become gifts for friends who are fortunate to have a yard with available spots with lots of direct sunlight. i also potted some cosmic kitty herbs, we'll see if they sprout. the seeds are a little old.

almost to the other side with the clutter clearing. a few spots left to be cleaned, organized, and purged. i'd like to be done by the end of the month. then once a week, i plan to maintain. we need to get a bookcase for rich's office area. i'm going to donate his old sofa to someone who will come collect it, but we haven't found a new solution for the space yet. oliver's claw sharpening habits are creating a problem. josh told me last night about rubber covers you put on their claws, it's a humane solution, and humorous too. http://www.softpaws.com/ rich doesn't understand that declawing isn't an option. i don't want to buy anything oliver will set out to destroy. it's a dilemma.

my other dilemma with the cats right now is changing their diet to organic. i wish i had started it when oliver was a kitten. i made some homeade cat food last week, they didn't want to have much to do with it. so we bought some organic wet food to mix with the remaining conventional dry. when that's gone, i think i'll get the organic dry and make homeade organic wet food. i'm switching their litter too. i hope this doesn't prove disasterous, though they mostly adapt well to change. i wish i had done this originally too, i didn't do my homework.

a styling job starts today. it may be a two week job, i hope, instead of just one. we'll see.

Friday, February 22, 2008

obama rama

i went to reunion arena a couple days ago to see barack with loren and my mom. we got there around 10:15, the lines were daunting, we didn't know if we'd get in. after moving about 5' in 30 minutes, we joined a rush of people into a new line, and ten minutes later we were in our seats. i've been to mavs games at reunion that weren't as full. it was exciting, all the positive energy. i am ready for the change. we need barack and his inspiration. and we need action from the people. i've heard several women say they feel guilty for not suppoting a woman in the white house. but it's flawed logic. it's not about a person's reproductive organs, nor the color of his skin. it's about the message and his vision. if hillary were president, it would just be more of the same. we are a country so desperate for a positive transformation.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

pobrecito simon

simon started growling last night when i pulled out his 2-door deluxe carrying case. understandably, he doesn't want anything to do with a trip to the vet. first he had an ultrasound to check his heart murmer, they shaved a spot on his chest. then friday he had seven teeth pulled. we knew he'd have to have one pulled, it was in bad shape and digging into his lower gums. but holy moly, seven teeth, he hardly has any left! but he's happy now and frolicking around, which he wasn't before. so that's good news. he wishes he had some narcotics left, but he'll forget about them soon.

other good news is that i've finished the design for my website and secured hosting, so it should be live very soon. i'll post the link when it happens.

Monday, February 11, 2008

infinite clutter

believe it or not, i am still clearing clutter! melissa came over saturday night to have dinner and knit. while she added length to her scarf, i rummaged through shoeboxes and purged stuff i haven't thought about in years. the oldest momento is the cast from my broken arm, it's 20 years old. i've decided i'm going to photograph it and toss it. more recent things included my first driver's license and first speeding ticket, my eyebrow ring, photos and letters, lots of letters. i'm going to photograph those too and finally put them into a collage, or just send them to the recycling bin. i have lots of work ahead of me. this morning, going through more stuff i found more shoeboxes under a table in my closet! geez.

last week i did have an exciting find. in an old american express travel bag my dad used to carry his camera and lenses, there along with an unbelievable telephoto lens were two books of matches. (my dad has collected matchbooks since before i was born.) one book was from pizzeria due on wabash in chicago. (it still exists!) and the other is from brick church pipe shop in ridgewood where my dad used to buy his tobacco when he smoked pipes. as far as i can tell, it is no longer there. richard nixon used to go there as well. both books are full, never been used. i can't throw them away. but i will use them in photos.

in that book of birthdays, i remember it gives you a thought to consider, mine says something like, "imagine having to carry everything you own." i'd be totally screwed.

i'm off to tackle the remaining shoeboxes.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

roosevelt island

still clearing the clutter...i have one little short stack of photos left. this morning i came across a picture i took at roosevelt island just before i moved back to texas from maryland in 2002. one of the monoliths is entitled NATURE. it reads:

THERE IS DELIGHT IN THE
HARD LIFE OF THE OPEN

THERE ARE NO WORDS THAT CAN
TELL THE HIDDEN SPIRIT OF
THE WILDERNESS THAT CAN REVEAL
ITS MYSTERY ITS MELANCHOLY
AND ITS CHARM

THE NATION BEHAVES WELL IF IT TREATS THE
NATURAL RESOURCES
AS ASSETS WHICH IT MUST TURN OVER TO
THE NEXT GENERATION
INCREASED AND NOT IMPAIRED IN VALUE

CONSERVATION MEANS DEVELOPMENT
AS MUCH AS IT DOES
PROTECTION

i am still moved by this and haunted.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

clutter clearing

today started with some clutter clearing. i've had a paper whole foods bag full of pictures since i started shooting film. that's three or four years of pictures that have been hiding in my closets for a few years. some are getting thrown away, some will be sent away as postcards, and some will be saved for an album. i still have two stacks to go through. maybe i'll finish tomorrow.

i have to run out and get paper to print the pictures for loren's portfolio. then i'm off to the hardware store to pick up something to hang our pots and pans and some wall anchors for the towel hook device. the loft is shaping up.

stepped on the scale again today. i've lost 7 lbs since i cut gluten out of my diet a couple of weeks ago! amazing. it's like all the extra weight i was carrying around my waist has just melted off. now if the extra weight could come off my legs...i'd like to lose 30 lbs total and gain some muscle. yoga must become a part of my week atleast twice. so 23 lbs to go...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

paper arts

paper arts is a great store for paper here in dallas. located at peak and elm, it has such a great selection of papers whether you are looking for scrapbooking materials, paper for invitations, something for your art work, or even paper for a perfect lampshade or wall.


http://www.paperarts.net/
118 n. peak dallas, tx 75226
214.828.9494