leave of absence

it breaks my little heart to abandon this fledging of a blog, but i am going into surgery on thursday. nothing big, nothing major, but i'll be out of commission for a little while. never fear, i will return with snappy outfits and crafty endeavors soon enough.

time to go get this lip piercing a plastic retainer and stock up on library books!

homesteading

the array - lights, darks and red for the middle squares.



for $5 at an antique shop. love it.




i really dig traditional quilt designs. log cabin dates from the 1800s, where the red square in the middle symbolizes the hearth and the light and dark sides remind us of the duality of life. neat! the light/dark combination allows the final blocks to be arranged in all sorts of neat designs. i'm going for a kind of scrappy look to it, since this allows for lots and lots of fabric purchasing and non-boredom-inducing repetitive work - just the kind that makes me abandon projects recklessly.

and, you know what? it's fun to shop for fabric. a whole new section of thrift stores just got more interesting!

21.7.08

pardon the wacky facial expression. something in my genes prevents me from ever looking normal in a picture - compounded with being naturally not photogenic, results range from weird stare-downs to bemused faces.

i found this skirt in the deep recesses of my closet. it's probably from high school . . . ?

scarf : h+m
shirt : j.crew
skirt : target
shoes : forever 21

this outfit makes me feel like a sicilian pirate - it's those red/white stripes with gladiators! i had originally wanted to write my honors thesis on ancient piracy in the mediterranean, but this will have to do instead.

benevolence of thrift gods

COMPLETELY struck out at the flea market yesterday . . .

but all was turned around when the bath, me goodwill came through with (2) complete outfits. yee-haw! i was so pumped.

shorts : thrifted, bright! orange linen
belt :thrifted, brown braided leather
shirt : thrifted, ralph lauren
scarf : thrifted

[invisible] shoes : thrifted, topsiders

this is my first 100% thrifted outfit and it feels so good . . . it's taken me quite a while to get to that point, where i own enough thrifted clothes to pull together entire outfits. thrift shopping is so different from regular stores, where you don't go in looking for a particular piece, but trust in the serendipitous and fickle nature of thrift deities . . .

16.7.08

as they say in minnesota, uff-da. it's hot today.

i've been running around on a day off from camp, thrust back into the real world of banking and doctor appointments and intarwebs and, honestly, i think skirts are the most comfortable and classy way to live.

they're perfect in the winter with tights on, and in the 80 degree weather summer [i know, i know, we're lucky in maine with no humidity and it never ever getting above 90] i am so much more cooler wearing a skirt or a dress than if i had on shorts or pants. my only beef with skirts is wearing shirts over the waistband, rather than tucked in as i am oft to do - i always find that the waistband is kind of bunchy and bumpy from underneath, where i prefer a smooth silhouette.

this skirt is one of my particular favorites - many a person has told me it looks like something their grandmother would wear, little do they know that is some high praise; grandmum chic is where it's at.

necklace : montsweag flea market, maine. i knocked a third strand off because i didn't like it.
shirt : j.crew, by way of maia's closet
skirt : value village, montreal. originally ankle length and buttoned all the way down, but i hemmed her right up.
shoes : old navy, montreal. on sale for $10! i like that they're vaguely greco-roman but not overly gladiator-esque.

on a maine thrifting note, i went to montsweag this morning for some flea-marketing and it was very disappointing . . . boo. off to goodwill this afternoon!

home sweet home

OHMYGAWDTHATBRITNEYSHAMELESS.


sunset on lobster lake

the west branch of the penobscot

monkey children at ogden north

beautiful odgen north campsite - a type of gauguin-does-maine landscape


lil'claw of lobster lake - with katahdin in the background, maine's highest mountain and a terminus for the appalachian trail

the view from lobster mountain, a short 2 mile hike

beeches and birches on the way down from lobster mt.

goodnight lobster lake! if it's 8:30, it must be time for bed . . .


what a five days. dismayed at first and then daily by the mosquitoes [hordes. swarms. the children looked like lepers from their bugbites at the end], unpredictable high winds on lobster lake and the surprise! thunderstorm at the beginning, we managed to have a pretty good time.

on the second day, things turned around and after a full day of 5 hours paddling, we reached lobster lake, scudding across whitecaps from a tailwind.

ogden north was one of the most beautiful campsites i've ever seen. white sand, wind-sculpted pines and cedars, stony beaches for swimming. the children wore their hair down, forsworn clothing and frolicked around the beaches like south sea natives.

third day out, we canoed [literally] a 1/2 hour to jackson cove, where (5) kids and (2) counselors summited the very prestigious and challenging (2) mile hike of lobster mountain.

shallow bay was our [unnecessary] rest day - a full 14 hours of sleeping in the sun and reading out loud stardust by neil gaiman, editing out the more racy sections. too bad there were 6 inch leeches, lurking in the water . . .

AND we saw a bear! in all the time i've spent outdoors in maine, that was my first. it was on the road though, not while at night, which would have less exciting and more terrifying. still.


there is something so languorous about canoeing trips that i don't believe are found on any other sort of wilderness expeditions. unhindered by backpacking's strict weight limits and by kayaking's need for tetris-packing, we were in camp and set up by 2 pm everyday, leaving the afternoon for gentle exploring, lizard-bathing on rocks and reading.

but, then i come home and remember the luxuries of wearing inventive outfits and daily showers with razors and ice-cold white wine . . .

off off and away

packed [amidst other things]:

(12) gallon bags of customized trail mix.
(60) protein bars.
(10) cups of oatmeal.
(12) packs of pitas.
(30) gallons of water [no polar pure. boooo.]
(1) copy of neil gaiman's stardust
(9) campers.
(3) counselors.
(6) canoes.

practiced an alphabet of strokes today - j-stroke, c-stroke - and will be frolicking for five days on the beautiful west branch of the penobscot and the "little claw" of lobster lake.

once burned

what did i do saturday night?

i watched a 80s tribute band called "twyce [sic] shy".

and, you know, they were pretty good.

4.7.08

the top -- at camp for INDEPENDENCE DAY theme
the bottom -- at home, plus again today . . . oh summer, you relax so many social norms.

top

dress: winners, mtl - it was stashed in the formal-wear racks, in a completely different size section. fate? i'm sure of it.
scarf : simons, mtl. i'm not sure if the keffiyah look is in, out, dated, still hip; i dig this nonetheless.
cardigan : thrifted? i've had this for eons - and wear it almost everyday
belt : black, patent leather. from a secondhand shop in maine.

bottom

collie-dog got in the way

dress : . . . sister's closet . . . sorry maia!
cardigan : see above.
belt : thrifted, goodwill, maine


i'm back up to camp tomorrow morning bright and early -- goodbye real life!

distractions

a week has flown by already!

good ol'narragansett cabin has kept busy by going on the "snowgoose" for the day - the camp's lobster boat! a full day of sunbathing, fishing and lobstering . . . with only a few tears from the cabin's resident vegetarian who did not appreciate seeing fish flop to death in a bucket . . . pretty gruesome for an 11-year-old. contrasted to the boys who also go out on this boat, there was a chorus of little girls everytime a fish got caught, "ohhh can we let him go?! . . . he's so pretty!! . . . let's let him free!"

in addition, liza demonstrated that freedom is not free.

the very next day, cabin narragansett set out in the wild for an overnight primer trip - a short canoe jaunt down the lake in back. there were many s'mores which, coupled with hot cocoa, made for a raucous night of pants-off running around and speaking to trees in british accents. there was also much frolicking-in-the-water and singing-of-our-all-time-favorite-song/dance, of course substituting "lass" for "lad".



obama also has the 11-12 year old demographic in the bag, should he be worried.