Dear Friday

It's been a tough week,

but Friday,

I'm here, and you're here,

and I love you.

Friday, you saved me

(although I must admit,

I am leaving you shortly

for Saturday).

Maybe.

Uno Mas

Today's a cleaning day

(supposedly)

although there are no signs of that yet.

So before I start blasting the iTunes

and scrubbingsweepingfoldingwashingwhining,

or what I like to refer to as de-funkalizing,

here's a quick share:

Happy Monday!

Framework

"If the world could remain

within a frame

like a painting on the wall

I think we'd see the beauty then

and stand

staring in awe."

-- Conor Oberst

Describing my style has always been a challenge for me.

Recently, though, I think I've found a word

that works for me: convergence.

In the Create Well, Create Often feature a few weeks ago,

I was asked to describe my style,

and "convergence" is the term that came to mind

(likely because I was teaching about plate tectonics that week -- ha):

My pages tend to be thematic -- there’s always a message or a central emotion that I am trying to capture. I don’t really plan my pages in some kind of scholarly fashion, designing them to have some kind of symbolic resonance, but they usually end up working out that way. Maybe as an English teacher, I’m just programmed to think in layers of meaning. To that end, I find that I can’t just grab a product and use it -- there needs to be a purpose for it, a reason for including it on that particular page. I suppose my style can best be described as a form of convergence, pulling together “telling” bits and pieces until they click for me, until they all say what I want them to say.

The page above is an example of this, I suppose.

It began with a photo of Z at the Academy of Arts

with this beautiful wall "framing" her just so

(and making me question

that opening line of Frost's "Mending Wall":

"something there is that does not love a wall").

As I sat down at my desk

and held the mirror/frame stamp

from Scrapping Bella in my hand,

something clicked:

frames...framing...what do frames enclose?

Conor Oberst clearly had the answer.

I don't often use quotes on my pages,

but these words were just right.

I used the patterns and trim

to create another kind of "frame",

and although the final result isn't perfect,

it wasn't perfection that I was after --

just the click, the convergence, the coming together,

working within a frame.

Five "-Ings" Friday: I Have Been...

...scrapping:
...reading:

looking at/thinking about/needing to see again:

Honolulu Academy of Arts

I walked through the gallery with staggering steps at times, an uncertain dancer, two careful steps forward, one tentative step back, head tilted, eyes questioning. I wanted to take it all in, take it all with me. There are two prints/sketches by Le Corbusier ("Abstraction") and Edgar Degas ("Waiting in the Wings") that I can't get out of my head, and I can't find copies of them anywhere. These images -- so powerful, so present, yet so intangible. It was amazing seeing Kollwitz, Neel, Bearden, Klee up close -- and sharing it all with Z. Having the Kostova book on the brain made the experience especially haunting.

laughing at:

loving:

Good Friday

playing with colorful papery bits

scrapping by daylight

eating sushi with Z

watching Girl with a Pearl Earring

(loving the light and colors, bored by the film itself)

making the dog tap dance by rubbing her back

doing load after load of laundry

(and feeling good about kicking that out)

making plans to see Clash of the Titans

napping on the couch in the middle of the day

preparing for Easter Sunday

thinking about what's ahead

and feeling hopeful.

Friday.

So far, so good.

FINALMENTE!

At long last, Spring Break is here.

No fooling.

I slept in until 9:15 this morning,

and woke to a rain-blessed world,

sweetly chirping birds,

and no p r e s s u r e,

no ticktickticktimebomb feeling.

Today I'm planning on hurling myself

into my scrap stash

and maybe cleaning just a little bit,

not for kicks, but to promote some kind of

spatial and mental clarity .

The detritus of daily life tends to build up pretty rapidly.

If you've got the time today,

and can find your way to your desktop,

I'd love it if you would check out

a few linky links:

First up,

Lily Bee is having a LOVELY contest this month.

Each week in April, you have a chance to win

every perfect piece of the Lovely collection,

and all that you have to do to increase the odds of

bringing a little more Lovely into your world

is to post the Lily Bee blinkie on your blog

and link it to the original post.

Another post that I'd like to share with you

is from Jennifer Evans's Create Well, Create Often blog.

This week she featured this really crazy chick on her blog.

Check it out here.

I'm off to go put the spring in my break.

Have a great day!