01.31.10

1. No trouble falling asleep last night!
2. Max rolling around on my chest in a very sweet way to try to wake me up.
3. A massage from Bernadette.
4. Walking on the treadmill at the Y while reading "Seven Days in the Art World" for an hour.
5. Ginger ale.
6. A nice phone call with Rich, especially because he reminded me to stop second guessing myself (my words, not his) about my ideas for my embroidered graffiti.
7. The result: I called the framer and told him my change of heart. He will help me get a nice ornate molding for "Pupped" in time for the Foot in the Door show.
8. I was sort of able to eat dinner, so maybe my digestive distress will be over soon.
9. Actually speaking to Eliot on the phone for the first time in ages.
10. A long hot bath.

01.30.10

1. Not feeling tired when I woke up.
2. Running into Melissa at the BXB drop off.
3. Catching up briefly with Phoebe at Danish Teak.
4. A nice visit with David Sollie which involved figuring out a better way to present "Pupped" and a discussion of cheap motel rooms.
5. Powderhorn Art Sleds. Such an amusing phenomenon.
6. Hot chocolate, potato chips and good conversation with Alex, Morgan, JoAnn and Faith after the sleds.
7. Meeting Sam Hoolihan at the 1419 Washington event, whose Polaroids I saw on Friday. He had a charming piece at this show.
8. Shooting at glass Christmas ornaments with a BB gun, which was a surprisingly satisfying sensation (as well as a piece at the show).
9. Watching "The Memories of Angels" with JoAnn and Morgan.
10. Chatting with them for far too long as I made my way out the door at 1 AM about Walter Benjamin and Walker Percy and Jonathan Raban.

01.29.10

1. The shadow of a tree on the old firehouse building at 35th and Chicago.
2. Another bagel for breakfast.
3. What felt like a smooth, easy transition in giving one of my clients to Troy (I get one in a more convenient location and better day instead).
4. The full moon in the midday sky--and the night sky, too, for that matter.
5. The frame I got at IKEA for "Snowy Egret" worked and was very inexpensive.
6. A nice little show of Polaroids at Hang It.
7. Running into Tim Hoekstra there, who used to work on my little Honda.
8. Megan Vossler's gorgeous drawings at Franklin Artworks.
9. Falling asleep watching "Curb."
10. A good, long night of sleep.

01.28.10

1. Today I learned how to stretch a canvas. Well, an embroidered piece. A first! It made me think of a bunch of other things I know how to make and do that might be slightly unusual.
2. Auto body work. Well, the Bondo part, at least.
3. Repair a screen (OK, a sign on a hardware store for this service probably actually prompted this list).
4. Make a platinum-palladium print.
5. Install a deadbolt lock.
6. Install an electric outlet.
7. Or a light switch.
8. Speak Spanish with Spaniards, Mexicans, Cubans, Argentinians, and know the difference in how they sound.
9. Ride a motorcycle.
10. Swim butterfly.

01.27.10

1. Having a laptop.
2. A pumpernickel bagel for breakfast--I remembered that Wednesday is cheap dozen day at Bruegger's.
3. Podcasts of "All Songs Considered."
4. Lots of sunlight.
5. Apple Zotz.
6. Figuring out how to present "Snowy Egret" for BxB.
7. Finding a cheap stretcher for it at Wet Paint ten minutes before they closed.
8. French fries and tea and good conversation with my DBT-mates at the St. Clair Broiler.
9. The bra episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." I love it when I laugh out loud at that show.
10. Four uninterrupted hours of sleep and a fairly calm, dozy "night watch."

01.26.10

1. An amusing idea for a list inspired by JoAnn, who said I "know so many famous people." It is certainly interesting to have a personal acquaintance with people one reads about in the news or in art books or hears on the radio.
2. John Powers: the person who occasioned the above remark.
3. Joe Lally.
4. Alec Soth.
5. Katie Curran O'Malley.
6. Paul Ha.
7. Jock Reynolds.
8. Skizz Cyzck.
9. Paul Shambroom.
10. Lawrence Weiner.

01.25.10

1. I can listen to music or audio books while working.
2. I don't have to sit all day.
3. I get to spend some days in very beautiful houses.
4. Sometimes I get to take silly photos to send to my friends.
5. I can sometimes set my own schedule.
6. There's no boss or supervisor breathing down my neck.
7. I get a workout every day.
8. I can deduct all my art expenses against my income.
9. I am able to go to Cara and DBT which I couldn't do with an 8-5 job.
10. I am getting motivated to look for stylist work again.

01.24.10

1. Sleeping in my own bed again.
2. Getting the house somewhat back to normal after the floor sanding disruption.
3. Not spending too much time on--or getting too OCDish about--the above.
3. A good rub for my sore back.
4. Potato leek soup and other yummy things for lunch with Rich.
5. An old Unrest album I played over lunch.
6. Several really interesting old podcasts of "Fresh Air."
7. I am getting close to finishing "Snowy Egret," my donated piece for BirdXBird.
8. Black beans and rice and hardboiled eggs and goat cheese.
9. A long hot bath with sesame oil and the delicious scent of Zum lavender-anise soap.
10. Falling asleep watching "Curb."

01.23.10

1. Dust spots in the kitchen floor polyurethane.
2. The upside down bath mat.
3. A fallen bulletin board.
4. Very dirty sheets on my bed.
5. Dust all over the house.
6. A huge pile of unopened mail.
7. The items from my kitchen that are still in the living and dining rooms.
8. Flawed stitches on "Snowy Egret."
9. A disarray of embroidery floss and tools.
10. My awareness that all I didn't need to fix all of these imperfections, at least not right away, and didn't want to let them bother me.

01.22.10

1. A quiet cup of tea at Morgan's apartment.
2. My kitchen floor is finished!
3. And beautiful.
4. And paid for.
5. A day off to work on art and on ordering a bit of the chaos caused by the floor work, in that order.
6. A good crack at the chiropractor.
7. Twice in a week: a slice and a pint at Pizza Luce.
8. Seeing art and friends at several openings.
9. The company of Sean, Rachel, Heather, Jesse and Rich at the Winzer Stube in Hudson after Sean's opening.
10. A nice night with Rich.

01.21.10

1. Waking up with no backache.
2. The morning light and view of trees from Morgan's bedroom.
3. Listening to "The Real Ramona" at work.
4. Scott liked my piece for the Sandwich Bar permanent collection and had a fun idea about my signature on it.
5. A good meeting with David Sollie about framing "Pupped" for the MIA show.
6. Catching up unexpectedly with Lars Hansen.
7. A yummy dinner at Baja Tortilla Grill.
8. 7th Generation on clearance at Target (not a good thing in long run, I suppose).
9. Tingly new shampoo.
10. Reading Morgan's book "The Spaces between Buildings" before bed.

01.20.10

1. Hot sweet Yorkshire tea.
2. Brown Cow cream top yogurt.
3. Amplified music at my first client's house (better than ear buds!).
4. Potato leek soup.
5. Dots. Yes, the sticky sweet candy; I ate a whole movie theater box of it.
6. Millie's cat's soft head.
7. 4 PM sunlight.
8. How smooth and sleek my hair feels after I put it in pigtails when it's wet.
9. The salty taste of cashews.
10. Morgan's comfy mattress.

01.19.10

1. Finally getting an idea of how to do my BirdXBird piece.
2. Having time in the morning to go get the supplies I'll need to do it.
3. Roller girl Tara is great to work for.
4. Figuring out how to get from Tara's to Eve's quickly.
5. Actually, all my driving was fast yesterday, for a change.
6. Mojo bars.
7. The kitchen floors looks even better today with a coat of poly on it!!!
8. The Y... the whirlpool.
9. A Wendy's baked potato.
10. Being able to use Neal's bed while he's away. It's less stinky upstairs.

01.18.10

1. Rada started working on my kitchen floors!
2. He convinced me to strip the remaining crap off the weird counter in the pantry so he could sand it, too. Little by little I'm removing things people have adhered to surfaces in that room!
3. Zip Strip. Fast. Works. (Stinks).
4. A variety of strange items at my new clients' house that I enjoyed photographing and sending to Eliot.
5. Lots of good songs on iPod shuffle.
6. Another warm day in January.
7. Coming home and seeing how good the floors look. Pretty amazing what was underneath that hideous old tile.
8. A lovely dinner with Lynette at the Birchwood.
9. Running into Kristof and Flora there. They are so damned cute.

01.17.10

1. Seeing and snapping pix of my crazy neighbor Steven's ice sculpture.
2. The Y was almost deserted because of a football game.
3. The steamroom. It's good for your sinuses and skin.
4. I recognized, and had the nerve to introduce myself, to James Sewell when I saw him with his son in the whirlpool--and he told he that my old housemate Christian Burns will be in town to perform with the ballet next month. I think I should go see them.
5. Cub Foods was pretty empty too.
6. Thin puffy clouds high in the sky.
7. The 60X button on the DVD remote: I watched all of "The Librarian" disk in about ten minutes. Sadly, my scene did not make the cut.
8. My potato leek soup came out great.
9. Watching "Curb" and laughing out loud a lot with Alex.
10. "Amarillo by Morning," a strange and fascinating documentary on the Spike Jonze DVD about a bunch of Houston kids who want to be rodeo stars: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6470673178974656085#

01.16.10

1. Finally getting to the Bethel Gallery after all these months of meaning to. Susannah Bielak's carved Formica table was lovely.
2. Art Shanties! Too many good things to list all of them here.
3. Having the good sense to squeeze in a half-hour walking workout at the Y that pulled me out of my post-Shoebox-show blues.
4. Lift Bridge's Farm Girl Saison is on tap at Pizza Luce. $5 for a pint plus an excellent pepperoni and olive slice for dinner. And pleasant company from Mike T.
5. Ginger ale instead of beer the rest of the evening.
6. Lots of nice conversations at Fox Tax, especially a funny "you're not from here!" one with Lauren.
7. A nice chat with David Hamlow at F+C.
8. A better show and better time than I expected at the Umber opening.
9. Possible employment connections there, too.
10. A warm cozy bedroom when I got home at 11:30... oops, left the heater on all day but I'm not fretting about the bill: a good thing.

01.15.10

1. Pat Beth Florence
2. Erica and her friend
3. Laura and her students
4. Terry Bow Lynette Tom
5. Tim Laylah Eric Dan Brad
6. Tina Xavier Morgan Joann
7. Cara Michael Drew Chip Trish
8. Jesse Heather Christian Alex
9. Rich Karen Mark Kristeen
10. Heather Greg Rachel Sean

01.14.10

1. Lots of nice email and Facebook replies from friends about my show.
2. Finishing all three clients a teeny bit early so that I had
3. Time to sit down for lunch and to do
4. A quick stretch between the last two.
5. My replacement banner was ready early--one less car trip to 50th and Xerxes.
6. A really good acupuncture session. We are going to work on my "stagnated chi" again next time.
7. Ginger chews.
8. Take Acre and Brute Heart at the Entry.
9. Talking with Jon and Veronica there.
10. Sleeping six hours straight.

01.13.10

1. A currant scone from May Day for breakfast.
2. Finally getting my sister's belated birthday gift in the mail.
3. The snow is melting on the streets and on top of my car (no more sno-hawk).
4. Granny Smith apples on my turkey sandwich for a change. Yummy!
5. Putting up the "static cling" sign at Shoebox. A fun process.
6. A good laugh when Sean told me he had just returned the library book I got on hold yesterday.
7. Cheap opening beer from Zipps.
8. Figuring out a fairly easy way to have a "portfolio" at the opening.
9. My nightly bath.
10. Enjoying a pierogi, A Sierra Nevada and a chat with Alex before bed. I have such a nice roommate.

01.12.10

1. Dan got my kitchen radiator hoisted up so the floors can be refinished next week, with little trouble (just a lot of stinky sawdust!).
2. The printer is going to redo the banner that was trimmed too closely for no charge.
3. Sean's assistance hanging the banners.
4. The awesome music playing at Robert's while we worked.
5. Sweet corn and chicken mole tamales from La Loma for a late lunch.
6. Hosmer Library.
7. A good, lazy walk at the Y.
8. A hot bath with lavender.
9. Dumping 200 old Gmail messages during an hour of insomnia.
10. Getting an email from Marielle in the middle of the night and reading it when I couldn't sleep.

01.11.10

1. Reading emails on my laptop in my nice warm bed in the morning.
2. 20 degrees and sunny.
3. Feeling efficient at work.
4. Remembering, and having time to, sit down and eat my lunch.
5. An interesting chat with my new client Steve.
6. Markell and Tyson's smiley little boy.
7. A happy hour beer and bar nuts at Blackbird. Good motivation/reward for getting my scheduling done.
8. A really sweet email from Rich about this blog.
9. A nice hot shower.
10. Another funny episode of "Curb."

01.10.10

1. A fresh new box of Yorkshire tea.
2. A quiet day to catch up on things.
3. Scrambled eggs.
4. Cashews.
5. Ice skating at Powderhorn Park.
6. A gorgeous, neon pink and orange winter sunset over the white and gray houses on the west side of my block.
7. Brussels sprouts.
8. Two hours of Curb Your Enthusiasm, season 4.
9. Valerian.
10. Somehow being aware even as I dreamed it that an anxiety dream was not real.

01.09.10

1. A really good night's sleep.
2. The chiropractor.
3. A $35 massage from Bernadette.
4. An excellent Y workout.
5. Reading Dave Hickey on Susan Sontag in Harper's while I was on the treadmill.
6. Chatting with Tom, Jonathan and Michelle at the One-on-One Bicycle studio opening.
7. A taste of Lift Bridge's Farm Girl Saison.
8. The Shins cover of "We Will Become Silhouettes" on the iPod in the car.
8. A lovely dinner with Morgan and JoAnn.
9. Shrimp with black eyed peas and collard greens.
10. The way snow crunches under your feet when it's really cold out.

01.08.10

Photography folks I talked to at the MPC portraits show. I have known some of the people on this list since the old pARTs days, when it was above Hagen's Auto Body, ca 1994!
1. Chris Faust.
2. Dan Dennehey.
3. Vance Gellert.
4. Christian Peterson.
5. Michelle Westmark.
6. Ellen Rutchick.
7. Tom Arndt.
8. Nancy Anne.
9. Katie Holm.
10. And a special nod to Joel Lueders, looking dapper as usual in a portrait but not present at the opening.

01.07.10

1. Getting my humungous blank signs file off to the printer.
2. Surviving yet another tiring and stressful "first clean." It can only get easier.
3. Lovely chat with a convenience store owner on West Broadway who was familiar with Shoebox and Sean Smuda's "Mosaic" work.
4. Getting used to cleaning Tara's.
5. Gabbing with her about nonsense, stuff and crap. She's a cool chick.
6. A turkey avocado havarti red pepper pesto sandwich. Back on that track.
7. More new clients from Anna.
8. Realizing I was too wiped out to work out; staying home.
9. One of my roommates shoveled.
10. Using my insomnia productively.

01.06.10

These are all places I took blank sign photos that will be in my show:
1. Hatteras, North Carolina
2. Chalmette, Louisiana
3. Duluth, Minnesota
4. Ocean City, Maryland
5. Iowa City, Iowa
6. Atlanta, Georgia
7. Somewhere in the Florida Keys
8. St. Paul, Minnesota
9. Superior, Wisconsin
10. Mandeville, Louisiana

01.05.10

1. It's not just the AWD I love: there's a fantastic heater in my old car.
2. My favorite clients' house. Pretty easy--well, straightforward and satisfying--work.
3. Listening to MPR on their radio.
4. Leftover risotto for a quick, tasty lunch.
5. A good review with Jes.
6. Chilling with an episode of "Curb" before going to Mike's to work on my Shoebox piece.
7. Setting up the InDesign template for my the banners. There's no way it would have worked as nicely without Mike's help.
8. Pizza Luce delivery.
9. Half a Surly Furious.
10. Finishing one of my three banners.

01.04.10

1. Max curling up and purring on my chest right after I woke up.
2. Oatmeal with dried apricots and walnuts.
3. Long underwear (OK, they're technically leggings, but they work!).
4. My Bettys client rescheduled for next Monday, which is perfect for my schedule long-term and allowed me to get more work done on photos short-term.
5. The test strip for my Shoebox banner looks great.
6. The Produce Exchange at Midtown Global Market.
7. A lovely evening with Rich.
8. Learning how to make risotto from scratch.
9. "Automate batch" in Photoshop.
10. My housemate Alex, who has a quick and sharp sense of humor, among his other great qualities. A nice laugh, too.

01.03.10

1. Somehow I got on a plane at BWI despite having lost my driver's license somewhere in the airport. Thank you, kind and efficient TSA employees!
2. Sitting next to a nice young woman who's a sophomore photo student at MCAD. We had a nice talk about Uncle Rik and Paul and Stevie and Katherine and what fun art school is.
3. Finding a couple well-hidden files of digital pix from 2003-04 that contain many blank signs.
4. A ride home from the airport from Morgan and JoAnn.
5. Getting home.
6. St. Agnes sourdough bread.
7. A good workout at the Y. My back felt better almost immediately.
8. The hot tub.
9. Seward Coop.
10. A long day that made me tired enough to go to bed at 10 pm!

01.02.10

1. Brunch with Jason, Mark, Curt and Maurice.
2. Laughing with them about whether the Lindt Christmas reindeer was really a re-purposed Easter Bunny. We decided the top was suspiciously similar but the legs are too long.
3. Maurice absolutely adored his birthday gift.
4. Taking my 14 year-old cousin Michelle to the Hirschhorn.
5. A few favorites there: Hopper, Miro, Ruscha, and the Gabriel Orozco book I bought in the shop. Not as keen on the Anne Truitt retrospective, but glad I saw it.
6. Looking at old planes at Air and Space after a break for drinks and fries there.
7. A wonderful dinner and, as always, fascinating conversation, with Mike, Marita, Don and Michelle.
8. The "Caribbeana" music show on a Washington DC station on my drive back up to Balto. I eventually lost the signal and made do with classic rock.
9. The almost-full moon that I could see during most of my drive on a cold, clear windy night.
10. Staying calm about discovering around 11:15 PM that my website and one email address are offline AGAIN. It simply can't be fixed till Monday, so why fret?

01.01.10

1. Sleeping almost late enough to get rid of that New Year's Eve hangover.
2. Two chocolate chip cookies for breakfast.
3. The strange names of the villages in Columbia, MD: King's Contrivance, Owen Brown, Dasher Green. I think most come from names of 18th-century estates in Howard County.
4. Meeting up with my best friend circa 1976 and meeting her husband and kids.
5. A bonus: her dad came by with her nephew. I always thought Dr. Hardy, who was an education professor at Maryland, was especially amusing.
6. A Happy New Year's phone call from Lynette.
7. Eating my black eyed peas and collard greens, for good luck and prosperity in the coming year, at Katie's neighbor Gretchen's open house.
8. An email update on Basement Kitty in my Gmail when I got home.
9. Watching "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" with my dad.
10. Falling asleep remarkably quickly despite my late rising in the morning.

12.31.09

1. A really good Gmail chat with Rich.
2. The bowl of 5-cent antique buttons at Mina's boutique on The Avenue.
3. The crazy man with a speech impediment who came up to me at the 7-11 and said (I think) "Happy New Year. Obama. The Bible. Men."
4. Not really caring that I was so floored by the crazy man that I left my soda on the counter (I think) and had to go to the Farm Store for another one twenty minutes later.
5. Finding a perfect birthday gift for Maurice plus a thank you gift for Mike at Avenue Antiques.
6. A dinner of steamed shrimp, really yummy pesto and salad with Dad.
7. Trying a new brand of cava.
8. Talking with Dave and Tina about "yacht rock" at Katie's party. (Click on the date above for more).
9. Silly white trashy firecrackers on the porch at midnight.
10. Grabbing a few sprigs from the enormous rosemary bush near Katie's house on my walk home.