A tour.

I keep thinking of this book:

Wisconsin has been dealing with some pretty interesting (read: typical Wisconsin) weather. Not very spring-like, really, but spring here is more a vast quantity of weird combo-precip than straightforward blossoms-on-trees and gentle showers-bring-flowers. It's sleet-mist or sunny-thunder or hail-rain. However, the past couple days have shown traces of sun, if not been particularly "sunny." Today I went out with my camera for the first time, on an adventure into The Great Backyard. Actually, it was a quick traipse around the back yard and then a little journey through my childhood playhouse. To see what was afoot in there, and what the flora and fauna were starting to do in the woods.

So... to begin. This is the playhouse.

My dad built this house several years ago, and first it was in our side yard (my parents' house had two yards, one that [was] on the side of the house, and one that is definitely in the back, down some stairs and above the ravine). When they decided to build a garage in the side yard, they hauled the playhouse down a level, and now it sits on the gravel path below the garage (behind and above where I'm standing to take this photo). The one great thing about putting it down at the edge of the ravine is that it got...

... a basement! It needs a good sweep, clearly. Then again, that is a mud floor. Spring cleaning, anyone?

It is outfitted with all the modern amenities.

And once you get downstairs, the door leads out to the playhouse's own backyard. And then what does one happen to find in the playhouse's back yard today?

SPRING.

Tobias Keene and the Generations show at The Trout Museum of Art

I just spent the majority of the day on Thursday at The Trout Museum of Art, finishing up the setup of a really wonderful exhibition that opened on a limited basis tonight, and to the public tomorrow.

"You can just be a crazy bugger, it doesn't matter." -- Tobias Keene

We finished setting up this artist's absolutely marvelous show today, and I urge anyone and everyone within getting-here distance to check this show out. It's open to the public April 13-July 21, 2013, $6 admission, and it's actually three generations of Keene painters.

Tobias Keene, whose work is the primary spectacle, lives in LA and is originally from England. His father, Arthur Keene, painted and drew for most of his life, and Tobias's grandfather, English World War II artist Arthur "Van Art" Keene was known for his illustrations, paintings and graphic work. They all have a style that reflects their generation, their subject matter, their aims as artists and painters. It's a really spectacular grouping of work. 

Tobias Keene's architectonic scale paintings, done primarily in oil, are attention-grabbing and edgy. He utilizes thick paint, huge canvases, and bright colors to demonstrate a thoroughly contemporary take on subject matter that often looks back in history, such as Louis XIV or Nike of Samothrace (the Winged Victory). They all contain a certain amount of mystery, with traditional and historical images put into a contemporary context with emphasis on pattern and color, such as The Orange Pope which depicts an image of a seated Pope, certainly an homage to Francis Bacon in a particularly Keene rendering.

My particular favorite is The Girl in the Golden Chair #4, in which Keene has captured the elusive and recognizable expression of a bored/tired/annoyed red-haired, barefoot girl slumped down in a chair, whose direct gaze draws the viewer not only into the composition, but into the imagined psyche of the subject. What is the girl doing there? Is she waiting for someone? Could she be hungry? How long has she been there? Is she waiting to go somewhere, and where might she be headed? Or, conversely, what are you looking at?

It's a must-see show, a first of its kind for Appleton. 

It felt like drugs.

Yesterday was a weird day. Around 1pm I suddenly had an undefeatable urge to nap. Immediately. So I took a thirty minute power nap before heading into work (zonked, totally), and the rest of the night I was a complete carnival. Or maybe just the Tilt-a-Whirl, but that's enough for one girl.

My brain felt fuzzy and sharp at the same time. My body got achy; my legs were killing me by the end of the night. I started talking uncontrollably about stupid things; my mind was wandering. I was distracted and inattentive. But I wasn't hungry.

I got home and sat down on the couch across from my mom, and I said, "Mom, did you feel 'weird' a few days after starting the Whole30?" I didn't know how to describe it. It kind of felt like my body was going to fall apart, and my brain was seeping out of my ears a little.

Turns out it wasn't what I thought (numerous unscientific theories ranging from electrolyte imbalances to contracting a virus to having accidentally ingested some kind of neurotoxin -- well, not really, but--). I checked out the "Day 3" Whole30 email and found that, like clockwork, I was experiencing one of the tougher days in the whole project, when my body starts burning fat fuel instead of carbs/sugar fuel.

Weirdly enough, after seven hours of sleep and another long day at work, I feel much better. Yesterday is like a sort of realistic-yet-bizarre dream. And today, the best part (or perhaps the part I am most proud of)? We had an event at the bookstore this morning for which we put out FIVE BOXES of doughnuts and cookies, not to mention the trays and buckets of home-baked goods and leftover holiday candy that is always in the break room there. I successfully ignored my insane craving for danishes-cruellers-fritters-cakes and managed to leave without taking even one bite.

I'm going to cheat a little bit and have a beer at the bar tonight, but it'll be a light one. I'm a 98% Whole30-er. I admit it.

Feeling great otherwise, though. Still have not been tempted to step on the scale, but maybe I'll do it in a couple of weeks rather than waiting until the entire month is up. We'll see. Onward!

The Little Things: Vintage Kitch Edition

I have a love affair with every kitchen I've ever been in. Be it the kitchen(s) I've grown up in -- my parents majorly remodeled ours, so I count it as two, or my grandparents' sprawling space, my various apartment kitchens, friends' kitchens and friends' parents' kitchens, and even the hodge-podge common area kitchens in college dorms. Pretty much that's my point right there -- kitchens are my favorite place to gather, but more than that, simple just to be.

Right now, I'm sitting at my kitchen table with my laptop and a cup of tea. My cat is trying to get my attention by being a pain in the ass, but that's not uncommon. Other than obviously doing my cooking in the kitchen, I check my email here, often sit at the table and read a book, listen to music here, and decorate/buy things for the kitchen more than any other room in my apartment.

I've got a thing for vintage kitchen... stuff. I was going to say kitchenware, but it's not really limited to just utensils or a teacup here or there (although if I did collect anything, it might be teacups). When I moved in, I inherited the cutest apartment stove I've ever seen, courtesy of my sister who lived here before me and scored it at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Enamel-top and chrome tables, wooden cupboard pulls, vintage ice cream bowls, Pyrex stacking bowls, Jadeite (or as much Fire King as the heart could desire), a Hamilton Beach malt machine, and the list goes on. Yes, it's love.

What it all comes down to, though, is that love for teacups and stacking bowls is all well and good, except a little bit silly if one doesn't use them. So I try to use them a lot. Now that I'm giving this Whole30 thing a try, I've got a feeling I'll be using things a lot more. But some stuff is just nice to look at, such as these amazing Bakelite fruit knives, which of all things in the world, hold a pretty dear place in my heart. (Fruit knives? Really?)

I can't be the only one who finds the kitchen to be the best room in the house!

It's rainy 'round here today. April showers indeed. Happy Monday!

Day 2 and Moqueca

I've been on a cooking kick! And as Day 2 of my Whole30 trial wraps up, I have to say that I'm feeling pretty good. I admit that I've haven't cut out absolutely everything completely. I'll admit to:

A teensy tiny bit of creamer and sugar in my coffee in the morning. Compared to what I usually have, this is nothing. But drinking it black all of the time would be... well, depressing.

I bought some Terra brand vegetable chips and realized afterward that they (may) contain canola oil, which is apparently not Whole30 approved, and also just because they're chips they can be dangerous. Anyway, I love them, so I'm rationing them to make the bag last longer.

I'm probably eating more fruit than I should.

To remedy the fruit situation, I went to the store on my way home from work and bought some more snacking veggies like baby carrots and avocado that aren't sweet, but man, I have a ton of oranges sitting around. Someone's gotta eat them... I'm just watching a little more, and I'll dwindle down on fruit once I get through some of it. I'm not a fan of wasting food/money either.

On the whole, though, I feel great. I felt pretty energetic all day except for a brief period in the midday when I had gone several hours without food and became irritable and sort of lightheaded. Leftover shrimp from yesterday helped me along, and when I got home I made a version of moqueca (Brazilian fish stew) from this recipe, paired with a side of prosciutto e melone. Is there anything better than that? So simple, so divine. As for the stew, I've now plenty to last for a few days.

Even with the limitations, making new and interesting things -- and shopping for different ingredients -- is actually kind of fun.

good ol' selfie and the whole30

The photo below has little (nothing) to do with the fact that I'm starting the Whole30 today. It's a pretty terrible quality photo, isn't it? I may or may not have done that on purpose. ;)

Partly due to my mother's unwavering dedication to eating healthier since last summer, starting off with this program before going full-fledged paleo on the world, and partly due to the fact that my own healthful eating and weight loss has hit a serious and annoying road block, I've decided to give this a try.

I've always been overweight. If not by a lot, then always by a little. Only within the last few years have I really started to take the health side of this more seriously. I took up cycling a couple of years ago, and in the summers I try to shop at the farm markets and eat whole foods as much as possible. But what about in the winter? What about when those baked casseroles start to sound real good? Or when my coworkers deposit three or four trays of baked goods in the break room and all I can think about is how much I won't be satisfied until I have another chocolate peanut butter cookie? What I need is a change of pace, a new way of looking at how I eat, and a better way of taking care of myself. That's where the Whole9 team and the Whole30 program come in (and also my mom, over at knitorious, who has taught me through her actions that this is not only possible, but enjoyable).

And the Whole30 sounds great! Whole foods only. That's it. Of course there are some limitations, but they are things I mostly already follow: No dairy (I've only got to cut out the creamer from my coffee and yogurt), no bread (no more crackers, but I haven't bought bread in months), and no sugar. THIS WILL BE CHALLENGING. But I'm halfway there. In 30 days I hope to feel more energized, fit into my clothes better, feel awesome on my bike -- because it'll actually be warm enough to get out on the road! - and create some eating habits I can take with me past the 30 days.

As far as my history with weight loss goes, I'm at my "usual" right now. Last summer I weighed in at my highest, which was 196. I freaked out and knew that was just not okay, so I counted calories and successfully lost about 25 pounds, which, give or take a couple, has remained about par for the course since November.

So for posterity, and also as a benchmark, I'm going to throw out there what is totally taboo to throw out there: my weight. I've been ashamed of it my whole life, for better or worse (we could have numerous discussions about the pros and cons of this, but it will just be depressing, so let's not). The point is, I'm not going to weigh myself for 30 days. That's part of the deal: no scale. I weigh 174 lbs. There. Big sigh. Why is that so hard to admit?

I'll keep up with this for the next thirty days, and then some, and on Monday, May 6, I'll give myself a little weigh-in and see what's up (or hopefully down), and how I feel then.

Cheers!

2013!?

How it happened that so much time has passed since I last posted... I'm not sure. Things have happened, and I must have been so wrapped up in happening them that I never sat down to write about it. Well, that's good, isn't it -- it just makes me a bad blogger. Ha!

First things first -- The Holidays Were Awesome.

I had a fantastic holiday season. My aunt and family flew in from Rio de Janeiro for the holidays and only just left yesterday to return to the warm southern clime. A very good friend of mine flew in from Denver and I was able to see him a couple of times over the week of Christmas, as well as hanging out with some of my other VIPs. My cousin drove up from Madison just a couple of days ago for a long-awaited sister-cousin visit with my own sisters. I had a wonderful holiday party with the art museum people, and a belated holiday party is yet to be had for the bookstore. We had a wonderful, laid-back New Years Eve celebration with plenty of other relatives -- aunts, uncles, future brother-in-law and grandparents. In sum, it was and continues to be a wonderful time of year.

I've adopted a big project at the art museum that promises to keep me busy for the next few months. I have a natural deadline that falls before I depart for school. Very soon the museum will take on the annual challenge of their one-day Art at the Park art festival which takes place every July in Appleton, so there will be even more to help out with.

The bookstore continues on as it ever continues on. Post-holidays the retail world goes into recovery mode. I'm always relieved when the mad rush is over.

Books read:

A Moveable Feast -- Ernest Hemingway
The Great Gatsby -- F. Scott Fitzgerald


Albums recently hooked on:

The Heist -- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
An Awesome Wave -- alt-J
Break It Yourself -- Andrew Bird
The Wild Hunt -- The Tallest Man on Earth
Ceremonials -- Florence + The Machine
All the Little Lights -- Passenger


And where school is concerned, strides have been made. Small, yet significant strides. I've been hemming and hawing, unable to decide which school would be better for me: the University of Glasgow or the University of Edinburgh. It seems that I have chosen the latter for a variety of reasons. The most important one is that I came to grips with the fact that I applied to Glasgow's technical art history program almost a year and a half ago (!?) and at the time it seemed ideal. But now, after almost two years museum experience, my interests have shifted. The bottom line is that the Masters program at Edinburgh now makes more sense. I'm pretty stoked!

So, until next time, here is some travel-porn: Real Edinburgh.

An Ode to Martha Stewart

Did I just title this blog entry what I think I titled it?

Er...

Well, let's be honest. Since I've aged into the Martha Stewart's target demographic, I have to admit that I *sigh* like her.

YES I SAID IT. I LIKE MARTHA STEWART.

Now that that's done.

I don't subscribe to her magazine(s?), or watch her show(s?) or even own any of her many, many craft books or cookbooks, but let me just say: I respect her. I respect her taste and style, and I like quite a bit of it. I think Martha Stewart Living Magazine is laid out wonderfully; I hardly ever take cues from it, but I love to look at it (when my mom's subscription arrives).

I've long known that she has lines of product available at various stores -- bedsheets, kitchenware, towels, you name it. But I was also rather relieved to run across some of her Christmas craft stuff this season. There are some pretty cute and tasteful decals, stickers, gift tags, ribbons and whatnot that can be found at one's local craft store (I stopped by Michael's)... and I just put together my Christmas cards in about a half hour by simply sticking stickers. And perhaps the best part was that instead of cutting up new paper, I reused the simple blue snowflake-print paper in the sticker packages to use as "snow" on my cards.

This year was a compromise: I have time to make cards, but I'm not really in the mood to make them entirely from scratch, as I have in the past. So I bought Martha Stewart decals (the snowmen and the candy) and stuck them to card stock that I already owned. Couldn't have been easier.

Happy December! Days to Christmas: 21

Salt-Roasted Beets with Whipped Goat Cheese and Pistachio Vinaigrette

The Purple Pig made me a beet believer. When I wrote about my recent trip to Chicago (here), I mentioned that one of our stops was to this splendid destination spot for lunch on Monday. The first dish we tried from the antipasti menu was Salt-Roasted Beets with Whipped Goat Cheese and Pistachio Vinaigrette. Not a particularly big fan of beets, it was a little unusual that I would want that, as opposed to some of the other dishes, but that was the one, alas. I was in the mood. And even after eating Chorizo-Stuffed Olives and Chicken Thigh Kabobs with Smashed Fried Potatoes and Tzatziki (I know, right?), it was the beets that stuck with me.

The other day at the grocery store I craved it so badly that I bought a bunch of beets for the first time in my life, with no idea of how to actually go about preparing it. Turns out, when I got home and did a little internet searching, the recipe is wide-spread by other Purple Pig fans. And it was so easy. So I've decided to share it; I made it as an appetizer for a big belated Thanksgiving meal that my family had today. With serious help from this eHow video, it's surprisingly easy to make -- the only annoying part is peeling the beets, of course. For how much effort one really has to put into it (not much), the result is amaaaazing. Best in small quantities, as an appetizer, and/or as The Purple Pig serves it, like tapas.

Salt-Roasted Beets with Whipped Goat Cheese and Pistachio Vinaigrette

2-3 medium-sized beets

kosher salt to coat the bottom of a pan 1/4 inch

1/4 cup chopped pistachios

4 or 5 oz. (1 package) of unflavored goat cheese (creamier is easier, such as Chavrie)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + 1 teaspoon olive oil

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

pinch salt and pepper

For the beets: Scrub the beets clean and pat dry with a paper towel. Coat the bottom of a bread pan or 8x8" baking dish (depending on how many beets you use) with kosher salt to about 1/4" depth. Place beets in the pan. Cover with tin foil and roast in the oven at 375 degrees for about 45-60 minutes or until tender and easily stabbed with a fork. Pull out of the oven and allow to cool slightly, then peel the beets. Dice into 1/2x1/2" cubes and put into a bowl. Allow the beets to cool to room temperature or put into the refrigerator to cool. Best served slightly cooled, but not cold.

For the whipped goat cheese: In a mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, whip the goat cheese until it begins to get creamy. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil and blend well.

For the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar and the pinches of salt and pepper. Add the 3 tablespoons of olive oil and whisk until it is blended well and takes on a creamier consistency.

Pour the vinaigrette over the beets and toss gently. To serve, place as many beets as desired into a small serving bowl (1/2 cup or so is nice to start), topped with a dollop of whipped goat cheese, and sprinkle with pistachios. Serves about 4-6 as a starter. 

Choppin' 'stachios.

The vinaigrette whisks up to a really lovely consistency and complements
the sweetness that the salt-roasting brings out in the beets.

Beets ready to be peeled.

Whipped up goat cheese.

It's a guilty pleasure to share my entire plate! The beets are in the small bowl in the upper
right corner, and the plate itself consists of mashed parsnips, pecan-topped baked sweet
potatoes with sour cream, turkey, marshmallow fruit salad, green beans, and corn pudding.

Et voila!

I hope everyone had a really lovely holiday weekend; it's back to the grind tomorrow!


Update 06/11/13: Check out my newest blog, Artsy Abroad, and the latest simplified variation of this recipe with a few different (better) photos.

Chicago Greets the Holidays

And we greeted Chicago with open arms.

Last month I arrived home from a roadtrip out east (which I blogged about here and here) and immediately wanted to go somewhere else. I was on a travel high. That happens when I finish a trip that I either wasn't totally satisfied with or it was shorter than expected. In this case, it was both. So within a couple days of my return to Wisconsin, mom and I booked a couple nights at the Hotel Sofitel Chicago Water Tower.

Before getting to the hotel, as we arrived in the city earlier in the day, we made a beeline for the Art Institute of Chicago, where I was on somewhat of a mission to find early 20th century European paintings, and mom wanted to see it for the first time since the Modern Wing was added. And what a place it is now -- I was impressed as a high school student when I visited that museum, and it simply never gets old. At $18 admission/person, it's a place you want to be able to invest some time. (I remember when Tuesdays were free and regular admission was something astoundingly affordable like $6... those were the days.) Sunday was busy, but not crazy, and there's a lot to see. We spent a couple of hours and felt as though we had done a solid for the arts.

It's worth it right now just the see the vast amount of van Gogh on display. I could look at those all day.

The Bedroom, Vincent van Gogh, 1889

We had lunch at a cafeteria-style place across the street from the museum and then went to find our hotel.

We were in love at first sight, let me just put it that way.

Sofitel Chicago Water Tower in the late afternoon from the corner of Wabash and E. Chestnut

When we arrived, we took advantage of valet parking because in-and-out privileges are always nice, but we didn't even end up taking the car out again. With only one full day in the city, it's no surprise. The French hotel brand lived up to its origins -- everything was French or themed as such, all of the information bilingual and the employees greeted you in French as well. The architecture of the building is really something, and its interior decoration is just modern enough to feel edgy and young, but just traditional enough to keep it from being uncomfortable or cold. The service there was top notch and the room was just fantastic, not to mention the feathertop beds. Tres magnifique!

Chicago is a very common destination for us Wisconsinites because it is so deliciously close, yet far enough away that at about a four hour drive, you feel as though you've gone somewhere. I used to go to Chicago in the summers quite often with my dad, who is and was a full-time artist and would exhibit his work in Old Town and Gold Coast shows. As a teenager, I spent a lot of time wandering down the streets and checking out the shops -- before I even had a job. I have a very nostalgic connection to certain parts of Chicago -- namely Old Town, Lincoln Park, and the Gold Coast neighborhoods -- and of course the Magnificent Mile. I remember when Virgin Records had a store on the corner -- I always had to hit that up. But it is no more.

Anyway. The first night we decided to grab dinner at Francesca's, of which there are many, but the closest one was on Chestnut, very close to the hotel, so we walked there. The holiday lights had just been strung on the trees, so the atmosphere downtown was really lovely.

We took an evening stroll down Michigan Avenue to check out all the lights and window shop. Burberry was looking quite nice (the aubergine velvet coat, particularly!) and since it was so warm for mid-November, it was quite comfortable in our light jackets.

Next time I'll remember to bring a regular camera instead of my phone, but you get the idea!

The following day, we did a bunch of shopping along the Magnificent Mile, and I ogled all sorts of garments at Zara, Topshop, and Allsaints Spitalfields (which is a place that anyone can feel free to buy me things from, as much as you want!). Mom found some great deals at some of her favorite stores, and we enjoyed an amaaaaaaazing lunch at The Purple Pig on Michigan Avenue. It's absolutely the best place I've eaten in the last several months -- family style Mediterranean and the service is wonderful. Just the best. It was one of the goals/highlights of the stay!

For dinner we stopped at Sofitel's Le Bar for cocktails, where I had an absinthe-dashed beverage enticingly named The Monkey Gland, and then it was across the street to McCormick & Schmick's for dinner.

We took a stroll down Rush Street and passed out in food comas not long after.

The next and last day we spent the morning having coffee on Rush, window-shopped a little more and then picked up a friend and headed out to the suburbs. My mom was meeting a long-time friend for lunch, so I tagged along with my friend and we also had lunch before jumping back on the interstate and heading north for home.

It was a truly amazing little mother-daughter mini-vacation. I couldn't have asked for anything better. And it was the perfect recipe to inspire and at the same time sate (for the moment) my wanderlust, so that I can now focus on my next big trip: EUROPE.

Cheers, lovelies!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Wisconsin!

And from the most nontraditional celebration I've ever experienced. And yet quite possibly one of the yummiest. But don't I feel that way every year? Yes. Yes, I do.

This year, Thanksgiving is split into two celebrations because my dad is currently on the road (in Iowa as we speak, on his way back from a nearly two-month visit to the west coast) and won't be with us until tomorrow. Our second and all-inclusive turkey dinner will be on Sunday. But tonight my youngest sister is visiting on holiday break from college, and my other sister stopped by with her fiance and his daughter. My grandparents dropped in with the all-important bottle of wine. And one thing we were not short of this year was wine!

My contribution was the putting-together of sangria, which one could say came from a recipe, but was mostly my own throw-stuff-in concoction. As follows, the way I made it, with ideas:

---

Fruit:

About 2-3ish cups of fresh cranberries (or one of those little mesh bags)

2 large crispy apples, such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp, diced

1 cup Patron Citronage

2/3 cup granulated sugar

Sangria:

1 750ml bottle wine, chilled (red, white, blush, whatever you want!) -- I split a sweet red and a rose blush.

1/2 cup Patron Citronage

1/2 cup cranberry juice

(Optional: Would be AWESOME with a little fizz: substitute part of the wine with champagne, or add club soda and more wine)

Mix all of the ingredients for the fruit mixture together in a bowl or container, then seal and refrigerate for 4-6 hours, or overnight if you've got the time. Pour the fruit into a large pitcher or dispenser and add wine (and/or champagne if you choose) and the last of the Citronage. Stir. Serve chilled over ice.

---

The best thing about sangria is that it can be made pretty much however you want to make it. This was a fall inspiration from Toasts & Tastes, the first recipe listed there with many other ingredients. What I made was based partly on what we already had available, so we cut out the port and used sugar instead of the syrup. The sugar could be adjusted however you'd like to accommodate varying tastes for sweetness -- this does turn out quite sweet. But then again, that's the way I love my sangria!

Aside from this yummy drinky, mom put together olives and tapenade, bacon-wrapped chicken thighs, asparagus, corn, sweet potatoes and a pumpkin pie with homemade whip. My sister contributed some Martha Stewart-inspired homemade cookies that rivaled Pepperidge Farm's Brussels cookies.

A nontraditional dinner as far as Thanksgivings go -- but what a dinner! I'm so thankful to have been able to spend some time with family today. And then we went to see Lincoln at the theatre. (Go see it!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Next time I'll post a little something about my recent trip to Chicago. 

Cheers, lovelies!

New sleeves for a new blazer...

I officially completed this jacket tonight -- actually, I started it this afternoon, but such is my attention span with these things that if it had taken more than two hours, it might as well have been a millenium. It took "a lot of patience" and no real plan. Everything was done by holding up this piece of fabric to that length of fabric, trimming here and chopping there, and hoping against hope that I wouldn't mess something the hell up.

WELL I DIDN'T.

I did have to lock my cat out of the room, however, as he was insane about all of the thread and scraps of fabric everywhere.

Alas, the first crafty-sewy thing I've done in months and months: new sleeves for a basic black blazer!

The shirt was this ridiculously awesome find at Goodwill last week. It was gigantic (I'm saving the rest of the shirt for a later project, whatever that turns out to be.) It was too baggy to wear as a tunic because it bulged in all the wrong places, so the next step was to try to figure out what sort of project I could use the rad fabric for. And yes, it is metallic! It shimmers just a little.

I had a super basic black blazer (I have a few of these, actually), and decided I would cut one up, or at least chop off the sleeves and give it new ones! So I chopped the sleeves off the shirt, shaped them up to the measurements (roughly -- none of this was done to standard, mind you, I don't have the patience to even find the tools let alone use them)... I used my sewing machine to fix the seams on all of about 20" of fabric total, and hand-sewed the rest.

What I needed to maintain was the shoulder padding in the blazer, and since the sleeves were already constructed, using a sewing machine was out of the question. I've been inspired by all of the rhinestoney, embellished trends going on right now, such as Topshop's"Rock-oco". Anyway.

Et voila! This is a picture of me looking really proud of myself and trying not to rub it in your face:

Check out those freakin' sleeves! I die. I'm so wearing this every day.

Well, in my dreams.

Ideally, it will eventually have embellishments such as little pearlescent and silver-metallic beads. But I have no patience (again) for this tonight, so the sparkliness of the fabric will have to suffice for a little while.

I'm giving myself a pat on my own back right now, but seriously. This is a minor wakeup call that sometimes the best things come from our own brains -- and thrift shops. :)

The Staves - Dead & Born & Grown

Aha! I've found another treasure.

No surprise I scour British music blogs, is it?

The debut album for Watford-based The Staves, Dead & Born & Grown is a sweet, flowing, calm, folksy album that is just perfect for a fall evening with a cup of tea and some friends or a kitty on the lap. The Guardian describes their folk sound as that of "post-Marling, post-Mumford," and I would have to agree. It's charmingly mellow, and the vocals are, in my mind, the gems of this record, leading us through the gentle melodies with less of a banjo-crazed Mumford & Sons, and softer harmonies than Laura Marling. I love both of the aforementioned, but The Staves, I think, are set to add their talents to the current string of amazing folk acts to come out of England.

Comprised of sisters Jessica, Emily and Camilla Staveley-Taylor, The Staves seem set to take the indie kids on their next musical journey, and will probably appeal to fans of Emily and the Woods or Daughter. Dead & Born & Grown is to be released tomorrow, November 12, in the UK from Atlantic. No word yet on the US, but as you can imagine, I'm waiting. :)

And of course, so that you're not left wondering whether you'll ever heard it, the album is available to stream in its entirety here, so enjoy it while you can while the US awaits a release! Also, in the meantime, if you're just curious, available on Spotify or iTunes are their two EPs, Mexico (2011) and The Motherlode (2012). 

"Motherlode" from The Motherlode EP:

Happy birthday Mom!

Mom and me, in1987? 1988? Somewhere around there.

It is my beautiful mumsie's birthday today!! She is the best. One of a kind. Absolutely loverly. Creative, bold, talented, patient, strongwilled, supportive, generous, open-minded, and all the wonderful things one could possibly think to say and more, because she's my mom. :) So happy birthday, mom!!! Love you.

Edinburgh, here I come?

Photo by David Monniaux

Ah, Edinburgh. I have never been there. It's funny, really, that I was in Scotland for the first and only time in the spring of 2011 with my family, and I saw neither Glasgow nor Edinburgh, the two places that I am considering for school in less than 10 months.

I just need to pause for a moment while I consider this whole 10-month time span, because we're talking, like, 10 months until classes begin. That means quite a bit shorter than that, really, before I'll have to be ready to go, or in fact, be there, wherever 'there' is.

I've been accepted unconditionally (grad application lingo for "you don't need to submit anymore supporting documents in support of your application") to the Edinburgh College of Art, which became officially a part of the University of Edinburgh in 2011. As I understand, the college historically was like many fine arts schools in the respect that it didn't offer any sort of art historical training, but now, merged with the University, it does, and still maintains its official name of the Edinburgh College of Art. Not to mention it's practically next to that lovely, and very famous, Edinburgh Castle (pictured above).

I haven't chosen which school to attend yet because it's difficult. That's just the bones of the decision process right there: it's hard. There are a lot of factors to consider, and not the least of them, money. Money, money, money. It's huge. I hate it. And I love it. It's good to get it, it can be fun to spend it, sometimes not as fun to spend it, and it makes your gut tie up in knots when you want to invest it. And I say "invest," but what it really feels like when it comes to education is "gamble."

After a few years out of the academic scene, I've come to terms with student loans (mine are about average, perhaps a bit below, but no less substantial and a pain in my rear). I've also come to respect that education is an investment. The turnaround is that you can advance your knowledge and understanding, and if you do it right, can advance your career. And in my case, in terms of a career in art history, advanced education is pretty much a necessity. One might argue that a bare-bones resume for a career as say, an assistant curator at a museum, would include a Masters degree, but a PhD is often preferable. And since I've been out of university for a few years and am now absolutely, positively sure that I want to be an art historian, the decision making falls to where, and how, and how much.

I've mentioned previously that I've plenty of scholarship applications to write -- and now I've got a few more. Edinburgh is arguably more prestigious, and with that comes a jacked-up price tag. Of course it would. In the end, will employers look at my school history and think, Oh, Edinburgh? Or, Really, Glasgow? Well, yes. They will. Grades are important, sure, but the quality of the work and institution speak volumes. I've learned that about UW-Madison. People know the school when they hear it. That means something. And then when they see you got A's there -- well, that's really something.

So anyway. I'm off track. The next few months will mean a lot of work, but I'm prepared to do what I can in order to make an informed decision that will benefit my future -- and future studies, if it comes to that (because let's face it, I want and will probably someday get a PhD). Glasgow and Edinburgh, I hear, are vastly different types of towns. I would love either and both. So now... time and potential (!!!!??? Do you hear me, universities, pleaseeee!!) scholarship money will tell.

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Epic classical listening right here. By about 10:50 my heart is just melting. This is, in my mind, the premiere recording of this composition by Ralph Vaughan Williams, "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis," performed by Sinfonia of London. They recorded this particular version, released by EMI, in a church in London in the middle of the night to decrease any effects of outside extraneous noise. The strings just utterly resound. It's amazing. I know next to nothing about classical music, but I find I'm beginning to grow a fondness for English composers, and this song I credit as the reason I'm even remotely interested in classical music suddenly.

Perfect with a glass of wine and a few minutes of sitting back and just absorbing the sound. And then, if you love it, "Norfolk Rhapsody" is another tune by Vaughan Williams well worth checking out, and not as lengthy.

Ahh, relax.

Today is my first day off in... a long time. I can't think back that far. I've been working two jobs -- one full time at the bookstore per usual, and then a part-time at The Trout Museum of Art (shameless plug). Things have been cruisin' at both. I know I don't have anything on folks who work 60+ hours a week regularly or anything, but splitting time between two jobs and doing some work from home and trying to get some social time in there, too... it's just hard work!

All is well, however. Yayyy! My younger sister got engaged a couple weeks ago to a very nice bloke, and there is all sorts of wedding planning going on. It's surreal to think that I'll have a brother-in-law, but in a way it's no surprise that this particular sister is the one who'll tie the knot before myself or my youngest sister (partly because she's youngest, and for me, well, I'm in no state to be tied down yet!). I wish them both the best and of course updates on this sickeningly cute wedding will come eventually. I can already tell it's going to be adorable beyond belief, if her Pinterest board is any indication...

I've been so busy that I haven't had a spare moment to sit down and consider scholarship applications. I know, right? I'm so excited to get going on them and then three weeks or a month disappears and I have not a single word written. I'll get there. Eventually. There is an official (!!!) start date for classes of 9 September 2013, and I'll have to probably be in Glasgow a good week beforehand for orientation, or what they like to call induction. I love the variations in English usage, seriously.

Also, one thing I'm SUPER PUMPED about, in a super-nerd prospective-postgraduate student way, is that the University of Glasgow just opened the doors to its very own Gilchrist Postgraduate Club, which includes a bar, coffee shop, and study space. So I'll get to hang out with postgrads and staff in a postgrad-only atmosphere. Holler! It actually looks really nice and modern; I can't wait to grab an espresso and write a paper there. Like I said, nerd.

Obviously the most important part of any college education.

Via The Gilchrist Club on Facebook (and the one above)

It's the little things I look forward to the most, y'know?

Finally, a couple more musical discoveries. One of my coworkers, who is incidentally a very good friend of mine, recently moved back to the area after a year away. Since he's been back, we've been trading musical suggestions and discoveries left and right (kind of like the old times) and my iTunes library has literally grown in size 1000% over the last couple weeks. Artists and albums to check out that I'm totally digging right now, in no particular order:

1. Lord Huron -- Lonesome Dreams, 2012 (IAMSOUND Records)

2. Passenger -- All the Little Lights, 2012 (Black Crow Records)

3. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins -- Diamond Mine Jubilee Edition, 2012 (Domino)

4. The Tallest Man on Earth -- Shallow Grave, 2008 (Gravitation)

5. Amy MacDonald -- Life in a Beautiful Light, 2012 (Melodramatic Records)

A Celtic Tale

I found it! After some digging, a piece of musical nostalgia. And oh, how random and lovely it is too.

Since I got to thinking about what the first music albums were that I ever bought, I remembered a particular Celtic album that I bought when was probably only 12 or 13. I have a vague recollection of finding it at Barnes & Noble when the store had only been in town for a little while. When I was that age, B&N was a quintessentially magical place, and combined with how emotionally invested I could get at that age with any new musical discovery (or book series, or movie, etc.) I have very strong memories and associated feelings with certain music that I listened to then. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Queen's Greatest Hits brings back memories of driving to Minneapolis to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Orpheum. In 1997, I bought Hanson's Middle of Nowhere and became a die-hard fan almost overnight. When I was about 14, I bought Jonny Lang's Wander This World and recall taking a trip to Ann Arbor, MI with my dad for a long art fair.

I love that about music -- the feelings and memories it evokes, every association so different from the rest, yet no less vivid.

But back to the material point of this post, something a little different. I purchased A Celtic Tale: The Legend of Deirdre by Mychael and Jeff Danna sometime in the late 1990s. It came out in 1996, and both guys have gone on to produce numerous soundtracks and other albums for movies such as Girl, Interrupted and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, respectively. So even though I was surprised to find their names on big-budget movie soundtracks, it makes sense that A Celtic Tale sounds like a soundtrack in its own right, simply that of the Legend of Deirde.

Again, back to my impressionable tween self, no other record filled me with such inspiration or promoted my imagination as much as this album. I think I found it around a time that my dad was listening to Loreena McKennitt and Enya quite a bit in his home studio. And I had liked the Celtic sound of Enya and Loreena, so I picked this up, probably very randomly. I sat on the couch in the living room of my parents' house and listened to this on repeat. Pair that with a coffee table book of Ireland and I was a believer. I began to write fictional stories when I listened to this CD. Nothing much, of course, and I don't have anything anymore, but I remember a particular story involving a very mystical, shadowy castle somewhere on the Emerald Isle, tucked away in the mists of time. A sad and tender thing; at 12 or 13, I wonder now how that manifested itself on paper, now that I remember it as an adult. Silly, really. But I listen to it now, and it holds the same fascination. I can draw up the images clear as day.

And it's also clear I'm at risk of falling off my rocker entirely here, so...

I can be fairly certain that it kicked off my enduring interest in my Irish background, always bolstered by a niggling mystical feeling. Something about this album is just so lovely in that respect -- it's serene and yet epic without being corny like so many Celtic mood collections are. I suggest that anyone who has even a passing interest in Celtic tunes should take a listen. Of course I can't pass on my singular memories, which are probably most of the reason I find this album so lovely. But still, it's worth a mention. I'm so happy to have been able to find it again.

Free Digital Download with Vinyl Purchase

These have to be the best idea ever. I buy vinyl records more recklessly than anything else. I walk into the local independent record store (or my own used bookstore, for that matter, which sometimes gets a hoard of goodies), and leave with an armload of vinyl that feels deliciously wrong, what with the amount of cash I just forked over. But it takes about four seconds to get over that feeling, because what I hold in my arms is real treasure.

My argument for vinyl records is this: not only have they made a comeback in certain circles (indie, jazz), but they have withstood the test of time. It's hard to find a turntable -- you really have to want one in order to find a good one, but they're out there. I already went into my undying love with record stores when I expounded on my recent trip to/discovery of Jerry's Records in Pittsburgh. But actually getting home and playing the records is the real treat.

It's like when I was young and CDs were new (I know, right?) -- and opening the plastic packaging and reading through all the liner notes, and reading the lyrics in the car on the way home. It was the most exciting thing! And then, amped way up by all that, putting in the disc was just heaven. And of course, we're talking Des'ree and Counting Crows, but I should make a point to say that my very first album ever purchased with my own money was Queen's Greatest Hits on cassette. My love for it hasn't died. I now have it on vinyl as well as CD.

But anyway. I love vinyl records. We'll just leave it at that. Purchasing physical media is still something of a love affair for me. As much as I use the internet and have previously downloaded music from iTunes or transfered albums from computer to computer with friends -- or even now listened to just about everything on Spotify without actually purchasing anything... what about the things that I want to take with me in the car? I'd still have to pay for a monthly subscription somewhere, or pirate the music, which usually leaves me with a burnt CD of terrible sound quality anyway.

So back to vinyl. Because the clincher (and not all record labels are onto this yet, but many are, and they all should be, because it's genius) is that new records often come with free digital downloads. They tuck a little slip or a card in the sleeve and when you open it up, voila! You get a code that sends you to a website so that you can download the music legally, as a gift of sorts, for buying the record. And THEN you can burn it to a CD or put it on your iPod and it is all perfectly lovely in the case of quality, and for the conscience.

So this is my official plea to the rest of the record companies/artists who think this is a waste: do it anyway. I will be more likely to purchase a vinyl record in the future from a particular artist or record label if I know there is a digital copy included. Or, could be like the Black Keys in one instance, and a few other bands I've noticed, and just include a copy of the CD with it. Brilliant!

Kind of Blue Morning

I gathered up an A+ stack of music last night to listen to -- some of which I knew already, some of which I had yet to hear. This morning has been a Miles Davis' Kind of Blue sort of morning. 

I've been listening to jazz and classical a lot more during the day -- mostly at work, but also at home when I am writing, because it provides some sort of music background without being distracting. I've never been much of a jazz enthusiast (or classical, for that matter, until I discovered some English composers such as Elgar and Vaughan-Williams), but not for lack of wanting to be. Interestingly, since I work in a bookstore, it has always been bookstores that I associate with jazz. When I was about 14 or so, I was staying north of Milwaukee with my dad, helping him out with an air fair during a summer weekend. In the evening, we stopped into an independent bookstore in some anonymous upper-crust shopping center, and the adjoining coffee shop had a live jazz pianist, whose tunes wafted through the dark-shelved and cozy bookstore and forever impressed upon me the association between bookstores and jazz. Alas.

So now, whenever I have the chance at the bookstore I work at, I put in jazz, because it reminds me where I am. I love it. Yesterday I grabbed a few jazz titles along with some other alternative titles that I knew, but hadn't heard yet, save The Duke Spirit, which I have already and wanted to play in the car on the way home. ;) The 2009 Editors release, In This Light and On This Morning, is really great, and worth a couple listens.

1. Gene Ammons & Sonny Stitt - God Bless Jug and Sonny (Live at the Left Bank), Prestige

2. Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie - Bird & Diz, Verve

3. Editors - In This Light and On This Evening, Faderlabel

4. My Morning Jacket - Chocolate and Ice EP, Badman

5. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, Columbia

6. Miles Davis - Cool Blues, NewSound

7. The Duke Spirit - The Duke Spirit, Shangri-La

8. The Walkmen - Bows & Arrows, Record Collection

9. Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers - A Night in Tunisia, Bluebird

10. Elgar - Symphony No. 2, EMI

Not Shown: Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt - Boss Tenors, Verve