We had a snowstorm this week, but we did not have a snow day. *boo*Fat, fluffy flakes fell from the sky.Hayden and I went to the park and watched the snow, catching flakes on our gloves, looking at all of their pretty points. So far, I am not a huge fan of January. It's too cold. Sure, I like the snow, but I need summer's color.I got an awesome sketchbook **thank you** and decided to brighten the day.*Hope you're all staying warm this winter!Have a wonderful weekend, I'll be finishing some paintings and may go sledding. :)xo

a new painting in progress 

that these tiny...fluffy...sugarlike...snow puffs....could produce this mountain of snow!At least snow days make for good art days :)New York may get some more flurries this weekend - which means I may be able to finish this new piece!Have a fantastic weekend all!xo*(all photos taken with iphone)

Oh January, thank you for providing me with a new album by this lovely band!I've been a fan of the Decemberists ever since I heard the Apology song about a stolen bicycle, it was love at first listen | reviewthis album makes me want to be sit in nature, away from light pollution, watching the stars come out, eating s'mores at a campfire and being with friends. hmm...and possibly playing charades. oh summer, get here soon! until then, i may consider building a fort in my shoebox apt. :)

So far, so good...Lots of sparkles...starting with my nails...Visits from faraway friends...Hugs from new friends...trekking in the snow...Hope you all had a fantastic New Years and that this is year is s'marvelous, s'wonderful, bright, and colorful!

look a little closer on flickr...Last year, Mary told us to think of a word that encompassed the year, a word that would bring us back to our goal, our resolutions. Truthfully, I'm not sure I had an actual "resolution" - I was just trying to "figure it out" (aren't we all??) but looking back I see that my reminder word ended up being a major reflection of 2010.My reminder word?listenToo often I've brushed past my own ideas and feelings and gotten lost in the ideas of others. Whenever I'm in an "uncomfortable" place, I express my thoughts immediately hoping to find answers to soothe my ache. I catch their words of comfort and put them in my pocket - not daring to let anyone take them away.When really, all I needed to do was listen to myself...My voice. My gut. My intuition. That nagging feeling of "knowing" has always been strong, but this year I finally let it guide me. In listening to myself I found honesty and started doing things for myself, things that really made me happy.Who knew that finding happiness could be so simple? Just by listening to yourself?I realize this sounds very cliche ~ but if you think about it, "answers" (getting it, life, figuring it out) are quite simple. Although what works for me, may not be what works for others. I get that.In reviewing my photos from the past year, I realized that I was happy. Maybe the happiest I've been since moving to this city. That's exciting and wonderful. Of course I'm scared that this elation will go away for I cannot predict what is going to happen in the future, but I've learned that I can control how I react to my often-oh-so-turbulent-over-reactive-dramatic-emotions and this is a good start to more happy (hopefully) years to come. And it all started with listening to my inner voice.As far as my word for 2011 - that's still to be decided.**Last year I was happy to say good riddance to 2009 - it was a rough year -- but 2010 -- I'm a little sad to see you go!We've had a great year~Getting my camera |:.. making fun valentines |:.. having my childhood best friend visit me and watching him get married |:. visiting mary and georgia in oklahoma |:.. a great birthday |:. being part of a fairy tale wedding and seeing all of my girlies from college including a summer visit from katy |:. many lazy days at the beach |:. midnight train to montauk |:. new york cares day 2010 |:. late night pie making with friends |:. key west |:. dancing pumpkins |:. the open roads of iowa and especially seeing katie mary |:. lots of music and art |:. and making a difference |:. and of course loveAll that said, I'm really excited about this year. I already have things to look forward to:

• a painting class at FIT
• moving in with HT
• i plan to travel more ~ maybe i'll visit some of my faraway friends - or more warm places
• volunteering
• spring flowers
• lazy beach days
• and so much more...

So folks ~ here's to the New Year, resolutions, and happiness.HAPPY NEW YEAR!photo mosaic made with this awesome free download by andrea mosaic

...and not the Dairy Queen kind!As you've probably heard NYC was hit with a big blizzard!Snowplows in the East Village -- not a typical site!Buried bicycles...Before the storm, I spent the weekend catching up with Sean and McKinze...(Skype is so cool!!!!)and cat sitting some crazy cats!On my way home I stumbled upon these beautiful trees in Columbus Circle...I love sparkles!!!Hope you all had a fantastic weekend and if you were in NYC -- enjoyed the snow day for grown ups! :)xo

It's been snowing for several hours straight...but I have been having a lot of fun in this NYC snow globe and decided to spread some holiday love...Whether you are in Iowa, Germany, Georgia, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Kansas City, Atlanta, Ohio, LA, Chicago, or wherever else you may be.... know that there's lots of love....coming from NYC!May the rest of your year be filled with bright colors!Surprises!Fun!Smiles!And New Year's wishes!xoxop.s. these kitties enjoyed this photo shoot way too much! :)p.p.s. this is a wonderful song by beirut

Last weekend I had a holiday party at Hayden's *thank you!*It was quite fun and festive...*HT made the lovely plaid and I made the snowflakes and swans*We had some delicious treats...*sticky buns, Colombian cheese bread (my favorite), arugula beet salad with candied pecans and goat cheese, sweet potatoes, and a sausage, sun-dried tomato casserole*but. the best part?Charades.At first eveyone was a little hesitant when I made them fill out pieces of paper, telling them to pick fun words for us to act out -- I'm sure I remember some comment about this not being my NY Cares class!But the result? Lots of laughing.And big motionsActing got fun with certain words...And the star made a lovely background...Post party relaxing moment. :)Thanks everyone for coming and for participating in my fun charades game! The best way to play charades -- have everyone write their own words to act out!Happy holidays friends!and Merry Chrisnakuh!xo

...paper snowflakes!Our last Art Explorer's class is on Saturday and I wanted to do something "wintry". I decided we should make some snowflakes. One of my favorite part of doing AE is finding new projects, trying them out, and modifying them for my own. There are so many wonderful art blogs out there and just not enough time to make art!In a perfect world, I'd be making things all of the time all while teaching kids about the environment through art and music. I am getting some nifty ideas for things to do with all of our paper scraps for next semester's Earth Day.Here is my newest love and some photos of the snowflakes we'll make on Saturday:Lots of cutting and glueing...I reused a bunch of my choir envelopes with old addresses...Jumbo snowflake on bright blue paper!So pretty!Hopefully the kids like the project!Either way, I'm looking forward to my long weekend, - I took the day off - so I'll be making lots of art and singing in our concert tomorrow night, and surrounding myself wonderful people.Enjoy the weekend! I hope it's filled with lots of sparkly love...and laughing..lots of it!

...At a holiday gift for you lovelies. :)And a sample of our last Art Explorers project for the season.Can't wait to share the finals of both! :)

Oh the holidays! How I love humming holiday songs throughout the day! Here are few places to find some holiday cheer.I'm quite smitten with the following albums:Great artists, Fanfarlo, Sufjan Stevens, and Florence and Machine to name a few - singing holiday songs. The only annoying thing is you have to click on each song!Hey! It's Christmas is another treat.NPR has a wintry mix of jingle jams with a bunch of classics and goodies.And the Glee Christmas album is also quite charming.**Lastly, for those in the NYC Area ~ come check out our choir concert this Friday!Thanks Julian for the awesome poster design!Happy Holidays Friends!xoxox

...you know what that means!leaving hearts on cars! :)

NYC is constantly sprucing up the neighborhoods with flowers - tulips in the spring and hydrangeas in the summer. But they don't stop there, in the winter you will not go down a street without seeing some purple and green cabbage.This morning, I was distracted by big, fat rain drops on these pretty purple leaves... Who knew cabbage be so pretty?Even though I had a crabby morning, I'm glad I took these pretty photos!

I love birthdays. :) And this is quite possibly the sweetest birthday present I've ever seen.When Sean asked us to all to send in videos for McKinze, I had to do something fun. I'm notorious for making people strangers sing happy birthday - AJ - remember when I got on the intercom at Michael's?This time I wanted a beautiful choral song in four part harmony. My choir did a lovely job, but it didn't record! Of course, I realized this after the fact while on the 1 train home...the result?An impromptu birthday song on the train. And yes, I'm pretty sure everyone thought I was crazy.Last night, I did ask the choir to try again - but my phone stopped after 9 seconds of harmony!Anyway, there you have it. A whole lot of birthday wishes for you!p.s. the sweetest thing is also a great song by Camera Obscura

გილოცავთ დაბადების დღესThese pretty squiggles are supposed to be "Happy Birthday" in Georgian -- I hope they are right!!McKinze!I hope you have a great birthday. I had my choir sing a song for you twice, but my stupid phone stopped working BOTH times -- so I wrote you a little song tonight. Enjoy!Lyrics~Dear friend, you are far away tonight.In a country where you eat lots of bread and wineSince I can't toast with you todayHere's a song of all the things I'd say anywayI'm thinking about word dojo at Joe's Place and how we'd always winAnd even though the Hawkeyes weren't as good they've beenDo you remember the time I saved the bunny from your catsLola and Winston?And sitting around talking "philosophers of love"So even if you find yourself missing homeRemember there's always bunnies to save.**this is just a silly song that I wrote very late at night :) Hope you enjoy!**For those that want to know what life is like in the Peace Corp -- my friends McKinze and Sean have lots of fun stories!

last year i found this tree in the trash. it made me laugh. today was very cold. when it's cold. i am usually very unmotivated, but tonight i think i'll do some reading and make some snowflakes to get into the holiday spirit.hope you all had a fabulous weekend!xo

A couple of weeks ago, I finished the Key West collages.When I wasn't playing with the kitties....I was playing with paper...And very focused on painting...(thanks Hiz for the funny pics!)The results? Some very colorful collages of photos from Key West!I've heard the owners of this new art are pleased.Great Success!!

Dear friend,I can't believe you got married a week ago! Seriously. And now with your hyphenated-apostrophe-happy name I'll never be able to forget it. I remember when we were childhood friends; chasing cats, dreams, and each other! How much fun did we have? Making up all of those stories? Haunted passage ways in old barns? Kitty birthday parties ("Breathing Problem" was your favorite cat and she loved you!) and weddings! And here we are, a little over a decade later and now YOU'RE married!!?!??!!That's freaking awesome. And wonderful. And s'marvelous!!!!!!**insert super sappy hug here**And I love your man. He's super sweet. Like sweet tea...with lots of sugar. ;)As your witness (I am so honored that I got to sign that paper) and someone that's grown up with you, I am so happy that you have someone so wonderful to grow old with. :) I am so happy for you two!I love you friend! And thanks for making sure I made it back to NYC alright.Here are a few photos from your special day (and the night before, how can we forget the free popcorn I scored) The highlight? Playing Sorry at the coffee house and drinking cheap champagne to celebrate. :)Much love to both of you and your damn hyphen-apostrophe-happy name. :) You know all of the good stuff that I wish for you - love, snuggles, and all that jazz :)xo**I love you friend!!What a wonderful day! And Melanie -- THANK YOU beautiful for taking photos! I can't wait to see what your camera brings! Calee -- it was great seeing you, thanks for stopping by (AJ and Roy, thanks for letting her!).And lastly. Freddy and Abby are such a delight. :)(he almost looks angelic here, like he won't mess with your Christmas tree!)May your love bring you lots and lots of kitty squishes!xop.s. Dear Iowa. Please stay progressive!

The older I get, the sappier I get. I'm sure of this. But I think that's alright. One of my favorite things about being in Iowa is being able to drive. Something about the open road clears my head. It gives me space to think and be. I listen to music, belt show tunes, look around (even after all this time, I know to watch for deer!), and I can't help but notice how beautiful Iowa is. It really is amazing. There's something about a sunset over an open cornfield that is really beautiful.As I was driving home from my thanksgiving with Dandeena, I teared up and thought about how thankful I was for everything:My friends, their quirks, my quirks, my emotions, birds, flowers, the sky and all its color, ditches, cornfields, the ocean, air, New York, Iowa, Oklahoma, Key West, memories, furry things, the Internet and it's ability to keep people connected, words and the way some stitch them together in prose or when quiet people throw out things that bring out a hearty laugh. My camera, music, good food, warmth, my health, this list goes on...But the most important thing I've been thinking about is family, and how thankful I am for the family I have created. I had an interesting childhood, some may call it traumatic, but the one thing I realized today is that I am DAMN lucky for everything I have. I am also thankful for my dad and the new people that surround him. There's a point when you realize that things can be okay and more importantly, that you want them to stay that way. I am here and I'm happy about this. I just want happiness for myself and those in my life.As a little girl, I liked to collect things, I had numerous trinkets and treasures. As an adult, I am still a collector -- less of objects (because there's no room in my tiny apartment) but more of my friends, stories, and all of our memories. So on that note, I am so thankful for all of you.So thank you all. For being wonderful, open, accepting, making me laugh, and constantly reminding me that I am enough, just as I am. And that while I can't change things, I shouldn't try because everything will naturally change on it's own. And it's even better that way.Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!