desert song

a very very last minute and amazing desert road trip.

due to recent heavy rainfall,

blooming wildflowers were everywhere!

leaded glass

i've never done anything quite like this before or

worked with a material like glass, a semiliquid solid.

 through the blood, tears, and frustration of this
lengthy artistic endeavor, i'm slowly falling in

love with the technique/process/science/

how light affects color + form in the most

unpredictable and magical way.

thank you to my instructor for her mastery, patience,

anecdotes & genuine teaching. and also much thanks to 

my wonderfully hilarious companion/only other classmate.

onwards with our artichokes and trees!

i am determined to make my work lunch breaks

pleasant, beautiful, and peaceful.

"you live in those lights!"

when the sun set, marie, elizabeth & i stood

by the water and gazed at the city's twinkling lights.

so, i recently started a book club at work.

now, i'm the only person who hasn't finished

reading the book...

after 1 hectic week, i will always make time to

stop and smell the flowers

i feel very amused by the universe right now

~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"Would you like to be Frida-ed?"

I walked around with a unibrow for a night and 

loved it. I also never realized having connected eyebrows

could draw that much attention in a public space,

including 1 marriage proposal from a drunken(?) stranger.

I got to hear Rupi Kaur do a reading

of her poetry @ the Booksmith!

She is so humble and humorous.

She began with a introduction monologue about

being the daughter of immigrants,

and I could not stop crying.

so afterwards when it was my turn to talk to her,
I told her "Rupi, during your introduction monologue

about being the daughter of immigrants,

I could not stop crying."

"thank you" she said, then she signed

a poem of her's I printed from FedEx after work.

"travel light,

live light,

spread the light,

be the light."

~the quote on my lavender tea bag this morning

the greatest moment of my day:

"Hi Emma! Remember me? My name is LIN-DA. LINDA.
CAN YOU SAY LINDA?"

"Win-na."
"YES!"

*3 hours later*

"What's my name, Emma?"

Emma thinks intensely for 10 seconds, frowns,

then her face brightens and she whispers "Win-na!"

Then she puts her face super close to

mine and gives the most radiant

smile with the pure joy of a 2 year old.

cheers to our wonderful artichoke dreams,

from 7,387 miles away :) 

this was spotted yesterday by R in Tel Aviv:
(how dare this closed market steal our future logo...)

EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM.

we woke up at 6:15 and every single

minute was worth it. happy 12 years

of friendship, my friend! thanks for a 

lovely lovely lovely morning.

after  i drew this Maori inspired boy,

it became the doodle epicenter~*~*~
and other people's creations emanated from him.

my newest customer service approach is to
"kill them with kindness"
and strive to have a positive
interaction with every single person i meet.

i work in a beautiful place.

i spend time with amazing people.

i get to breathe the bay air and have

befriended nannies from south africa

and the netherlands, and thus, will have a place to

stay when i visit those places.

 

what can i say,
life is good.

sunny days with rodin and bonnard

also, i have drawn SO many versions of artichokes,
in attempts to align one design

with the technicalities of the world of
glass cutting. then after being told each one
was not possible, i gave up (for a while)
and colored:  

went to hear lianne last night at the swedish.

her voice is like a dream/out of this world.

rosé
if something is made of glass & has pretty packaging,

there's an 80% chance i'll end up buying it..

one of those nights where you are so

incredibly delirious, but you still bus it to

your art class and sit in a dark room with strangers

to view a 2 hour slideshow presentation from the 90s

narrated by your unintentionally hilarious instructor

who only wears purple sweaters.

my current state of car-less-ness has

caused me to witness several beautiful sunsets

this is me now.

i've become a morning person:

 now, i design and create glass windows,

practice vinyasa yoga, strum on a ukulele,

and empower children to be

creative problem solvers of the world
(whilst growing my powers as a child whisperer)

~*~*~*~

 the many unexpected occurrences

that happened throughout the day 

guided me to take the most glorious

walk through different neighborhoods

and i stared at buildings and their windows

for a very long time, in awe.

today, allyson and i watched 3 different types

of lemurs lounge in the sunday sunshine.
they stretched out on the grass and reached
their arms towards the sky in
#bliss

i used to dissect birds,

but now i liberate them

(from barn ceilings).

after 8 hours of work + 2 hours of PD,

i walked to my favorite ice cream store and...

stared at the "we are closed early" sign

taped to the door.

so, i did the most sensible thing:

picked flowers from a neighbor & baked a cake at 10pm.

i was late this morning because of my taking

a thousand pictures of the amazing GLOWING sunrise

and all the frosting/garnishing that had to be done.

but it was okay, because i brought a cake to work.

we ate brunch, then lunch
(shortly afterwards).

**poached eggs w/ crab,scallions,hollandaise + lettuce

**beef pho w/ herbs

today, thea and i watched cuttlefish +

itty bitty puffer-fish hover around and went to a

crystal + gem fair where we ended up purchasing

more rocks than we both initially anticipated..

"pick the one that calls to you"

we overheard a middle-aged woman say,

so we did.

~russian tea cookies~*

i spent a very long time hand-chopping pecans,

but it was worth it!

today, i found this amazing ukrainian cookbook

on mega sale; i can't wait to make

fermented & stuffed things!

i successfully bargained for an even greater discount

because 2 corners are slightly dented 
(thanks to my selective-consumerism OCD issue...)

on my day off, i made

blueberry banana cinnamon buckwheat pancakes!

the world breathes inspiration

>>window designed by Frank Lloyd Wright<<

>Feather Cape of Queen Lili'uokalani<

today, i restored native plants (coastal sagewort)

and weeded some invasive species (ice plant)

i planted each one with meticulous care, then stood back

to admire the landscape of all our efforts

first time i've picked up a stringed instrument

since elementary school. i can now play a song that
is starting to melodically resemble skinny love.

alot of wonderful people have
touched/played my ukulele, so it
is now covered in positive energy.

i named it "Liliuo" after Queen Lili'uokalani,
the last queen of the sovereign Hawaiian monarchy.

HOW WE ARE HUNGRY

i got to meet dave eggers today!!

he is soft spoken and has a gentle humor,

just like his books.

thank you for all the lovely handmade cards
throughout the years. this one took a journey
of it's own, but alas,
it has reached it's destination :)

~*~*~*~

this week has been filled with ambulances,
fainting coworkers, and a few sad and sudden departures.

but also ukuleles, teamwork, flow,

and hilarious interactions with tiny humans. 

~ 
before she left, G left us with some kind words:
"you all do such inspiring work and the staff has a
real energy and wonderful collaborative culture"

 TGIS(Saturday).

 i have been alive for 1/4 of a century!

"it looks like i don't

know how to use utensils"

-marie

wherever we go, kala and I always find

a way to rendezvous:

mini trip home for the holidays

highlights:

1. bought an excessive amount of xmas decor/lights

2. gave dog a 3 hour bath/haircut

3. ate kumquats from the yard

it drizzled & poured all day, so after work,
i ate pastries at a cute bakery
and did some resume updating,
(and by "some", i mean i rephrased one
bullet line, called it a day, and then walked home)
~*~*~*~*~

"do something each day that scares you."

some of the best things that i have made happen,

is due to following through with this quote^

"be accessible, be easily reachable, be welcoming.

keep the door to your life open so new breezes

bringing new ideas and new people

can enter and enrich it."

holiday work par~tay
i feel happy and fortunate to have

very wonderful, down-to-earth coworkers.

i feed them blueberries;

they give me endives + doughnuts.

we find ways to enjoy rat-infested breakroom

lunches together and sometimes watch the

ocean sunset together while sipping wine.

"remember why you started."