a cool stream of water

Sometimes, on a 90° day spent walking around the farmer’s marketyou just need to kick off your flip-flopsand wade ankle deep in a cool stream of water.{A special thanks to my stepmom for grabbing our camera to capture this!}

Christian Rex van Minnen Website Update..

Christian Rex van Minnen updated his website this weekend with three new pieces. Man, his painting is so intense and real! He makes meaty, guts and bulbous, tumors look almost beautiful with the warm light he captures so effortlessly, yet his work still manages to have a macabre edge. They almost glisten sinisterly. I find the pretty, white moths dancing around to be a nice, soft touch. You know, to take the edge off some dis-embowled guts found on the forest floor. I love Christian's juxtaposition of the gory with the beautiful. He does it so well. You can read a Q&A I did with Christian last year here.

Splinter Cell Blacklist rinviato, trailer e nuova data di uscita

Ubisoft ha annunciato un importante cambiamento nei piani di commercializzazione di Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Il nuovo capitolo della serie era infatti originariamente previsto per il mese di marzo, ma ieri è stato pubblicato un trailer inedito che alla fine conferma il rinvio del gioco addirittura al 20 agosto. Bisognerà attendere dunque l’estate inoltrata prima di poter vivere in prima persona la nuova avventura di Sam Fisher. Perlomeno però possiamo consolarci con il trailer disponibile in calce a questa notizia.

Il filmato mostra spezzoni dei giuramenti di vari presidenti degli Stati Uniti d’America, compresi i più recenti Bush e Obama. Poi si passa all’azione, e posso dire di essere piacevolmente sorpreso di vedere sessioni di gioco che sembrano essere tratte dai primissimi capitoli della serie, mettendo da parte quanto era stato fatto con Convinction, per fortuna per quel che mi riguarda. Bisogna però ammettere che Splinter Cell: Blacklist non abbandonerà completamente i toni dell’ultimo episodio, ma ne mischierà alcuni elementi (si spera, i migliori) con ciò che era stata la serie fino a Double Agent. 

because Ive had the same hair style for 8 years and Im bored.

I have a hair appointment for today at 5:00pm. When I called and made it (with a groupon, whoop whoop!) I ordered the usual – a full foil and a haircut. I pictured myself walking in and having the same discussion I’ve had for almost 10 years about blond color tones and long layers and Jennifer Aniston. But then I got to thinking.What if I cut bangs?I know, I’m a good 2 years behind on this trend (which is about right for when I jump on board; see: skinny jeans) but I think I might be feeling it. As with any major life decisions (yea, you heard me) I am bringing it to you friends and readers (who are friends I just haven’t met yet), and the entirety of the interwebs.So, what say ye? When I waltz in that salon at 5 o’clock today, am I getting bangs or no?And like a good girlfriend chatting with you over a cup of iced chai, give it to me honest.(DanO would like me to add at this juncture that he’s not exactly, how do you say? thrilled with the idea. But that’s neither here nor there, obviously.)

needles pens celebrates 5 years! happy birthday!.

awww, my very favorite shop needles & pens in san francisco is five today! they have a great show planned. if you are in sf it is definitely the place to be tonight. many, many wonderful, awesome and creative peeps will be showing there tonight and i'm sure be there as well. totes not to be missed! i'm a tad bit jel i'm not there, ok, i'm just downright bummed...but this post is about how awesome needles & pens are, not what a crybaby i am. here are some of our (that's me and you!)very favs that will be showing tonight:

Andrew Schoultz, Andrew Scott, Brion Nuda Rosch, Caroline Hwang, Chris Duncan, Chris Pew, David Benzler,Jeff Canham, Jen Smith, Jenny Hart, Jeremy Fish, Jeremy Taylor, Jessica Cusik, John Dwyer, John Trippe, Jovi Schnell, Julianna Bright, Kyle Ranson, Lena Wolf, Maria Forde, Mark Todd, Mary Joy Scott, Matt Furie, Maxwell Loren Holyoke Hirsch, Maya Hayuk, Monica Canilao, Nigel Peake, Nikki McClure, Paul Urich, Paul Wackers, Rachell Sumpter/Jacob Magraw, Randy Lee Sutherland, Ryan Jacob Smith, Tara Jane Oneil, Tara Lisa Foley, Tauba Auerbach, Zefrey Throwell

it's going to be an amazing, knee slapping, hoot hollering good time!

amanda hughen's geometric swarms of gorgeousness..

detail of palstplasm.

is it too soon for me to start thinking about spring? maybe it's all the love in the air today, but i am jonesing for some warm spring air...w/ a nice yummy ice coffee from dunkies. ok, that may be pushing it, but a girl can dream. amanda hughen's sunny geometric paintings are helping me beat the winter blues and pine for spring's lovely warm ways. amanda get's her unique technique by drawing and painting on both sides of translucent mylar repeating patterns until she gets her desired effect. i think her artist's statement sums it up nicely:

"in my work, i layer geometric shapes until the forms reach a criticalmass, creating a release of energy, or an uncontrolled viral growth,like a scientific experiment gone awry. single geometric shapes arerepeated until they mutate into exploding swarms. the resulting form isambiguous: is it an aberrant island viewed from above, a blossomingvirus, a microscopic map of the brain, or a flower from somescience-fiction realm?"

if you want a sunny dose of amanda's work check out her website, where you can see details of her pieces. they're not to be missed, i promise. amanda has a few shows coming up, the first is this fall at sf electric works.

plastiplasm.

feastory.

detail of feastory.

engorget.

untitled.

sepidemic.

little one, you are so loved.

Little one,I wish you could have seen your oldest brother’s face when we told him about you.“There’s a baby in Mommy’s tummy,” we said.He beamed. His face positively lit up. We had been talking about it as a family for a while. Oboy, who will be four when you meet him, asked about you regularly. He was the most verbal advocate for your creation, even petitioning God in his prayers before bed to give you to us. His face when we told him God had put you in my tummy to start growing and be ready to come out? Pure joy. But I’m sure it does not begin to compare with how happy he will be when he holds you for the first time.O, the holding. Baby, there will be so much holding when you arrive in October, you won’t even know what to do with yourself. OBrother, who will be two and half when you are born, will want in on the action too. (Don’t worry, we will always be there to help him.) OBrother doesn’t have quite the understanding that the oldest does, but he seems to think about you often. Every time he points to my stomach and says “beebee” my heart melts, and I’m sure yours would too if you could hear him. He also has a strange fascination with pulling up my shirt and rubbing my tummy, which is awkward but adorable. I have a feeling you two will be fast friends.And Daddy. Daddy is already your biggest fan. Funny story, he knew about you before I did. And not in the intuitive “I think you’re pregnant” kind of way, but quite literally. I didn’t wait long enough to check the pregnancy test before another child was urgently calling me (this might be something you should get used to.) so there it sat on the master bathroom counter quietly with its two pink lines until Daddy came in and noticed. That was a funny conversation.“When were you going to tell me?” He asked. And so it was on a Friday afternoon in early February that Daddy informed me I was pregnant with you.Today the two of us – you and I – are flying to Texas for a blogging conference and can I just tell you? I am so excited to have you along with me! This Sunday, if we feel up to it, we are going to run a half marathon around the city of Dallas, but trust me. I will listen to you and my body and we will do what we can. Training runs have quadrupled in difficulty since you joined me. I’m not complaining, promise. I understand that my body’s primary allegiance is to you and not to the 13 miles I am going to try to run. Although? Can I complain really quick, sweet little one? The throwing up thing is getting really, really old. I mean, I know you need All of The Hormones for your growing and things, but mercy. The list of public places I have had to lean over an puke in is getting a little ridiculous. I know they say that this is a first trimester thing so we are almost out of the woods (we are 10.5wk now) but if my memory serves, there is no magic corner that I turn at 12 weeks. It tends to fade away around 15 weeks.You are sure making your presence known – which is uncomfortable but also good, because there was a strange month there in December of 2012 where, for the first time in four and a half years, I was neither pregnant nor nursing anyone and my body was all “Huh? What do I even do with this independence?” Barfing or not, I’m so glad you’re here with me, cooking along and getting ready to meet your loud crazy exciting loving family.Now let’s go take a nap, baby. I’m freakin exhausted.Love,Mommy