151/365

today:

a short road trip

a little adventure

a major work project

I feel alive.

150/365

things that hang on my wall:

ava's painted sun, circa 2004
small embroidered daisies, bought for a dollar at salvation army last month
nina simone's album here comes the sun, bought for a quarter at salvation army twenty years ago
a painting ezra made of a polaroid I took while standing at the top of black rock mountain
stay gold printed in gold ink, on black paper
an old photograph of my mom and dad holding me and my little brother
an embroidered piece of a photo I took of ava made for me by the inimitable shana 
a small card, hand painted by the inimitable annie of three fish studios
a record album cover ward designed for me for our twentieth wedding anniversary
abstract geometrics, in the softest of ice cream colors
a polaroid I took of ava in palm springs while traveling across the country back in 2014, perhaps my most favorite polaroid I have ever taken, of one of my most treasured memories, ever

149/365

things I'm tired of doing:

eating soft foods
cleaning all the things
investing in friendships that are clearly dead
worrying about things I can't control
and, if I'm being completely honest, making lists

spring polaroid week

I've been participating in polaroid week for eleven years now. eleven years. which I find quite hard to believe. forever grateful for the inspiration and encouragement this community has provided over the years and will now say what I always say: polaroid week over on flickr feels like the last true bastion of authentic internet community. 

(above polaroids were some of my offerings to the group this past week)

148/365

things that helped me survive this week:

the beginning of a small raised bed garden
spring polaroid week
cardinal sightings

147/365

things I survived this week:

the painting of the bathroom
a tooth extraction
the internet

146/365

things that can always be found in my refrigerator:

almond milk
maraschino cherries
cheese
like, a lot of cheese
oranges
so many oranges
an assortment of jams 
the magical box of magical condiment packets, fully organized
film

145/365

currently inspired by:

serious prismatics
a library on a bicycle
zadie smith on alvin ailey
old fashioned street photography
old family photographs painted as large scale murals
polaroid week favorites
easter sunday joy

144/365

things you hear in a modern dance class, part one:

your pelvis is a bowl
broaden your scapula
let the top of your head float
move in full sentences
let your weight take you
carve out space 
unfurl your spine

(maaaaaaan I miss it)

143/365

it's spring polaroid week and so far, I've got three favorites:

these hands
these colors
this self-portrait 

142/365

messages put in the plastic eggs today for the easter egg hunt:

"this is a magic egg, I'm serious"
"redeem this slip of paper for a magical penny from the magical jar of magical pennies"
"redeem this slip of paper for a magical condiment packet from the magical box of magical condiment packets"
"you are hereby required to give all your orange jelly beans to mom aka aunt andrea"
"hop like a bunny or forfeit your easter candy"
"if you are reading this slip of paper that means you are alive and that should be prize enough"
"for real though I will take you to sonic"

141/365

things I cannot live without, part two:

ezra's laugh
oranges
God

140/365

today:

watched it rain for hours
sat and talked with my dad
watched old video footage of my kids as children and it broke me

139/365

small pleasures, part seven:

bicycle bells
whistling tea kettles
bundles of ranunculus
the moment the photobooth spits out your strip
tiny paper umbrellas
the last doughnut
blue hour

138/365

things I miss, part two:

reading to my kids at bedtime
driving down the 101
summers at ADF
life before iphones
card catalogs

137/365

things I'm doing this week:

painting walls white
cutting dogwood branches to bring inside
shooting for polaroid week
working on a new piece for uppercase
making cascarones for easter
hoarding orange jelly beans
opening all the windows, all the livelong day

136/365

things I told myself today:

it's a gift to have laundry to do
it's a gift to have a body able to do the work laundry requires 
it's a gift to have access to a laundromat where clothes can by washed and dried
it's a gift to have a car that will take me to said laundromat and then back home again
it's a gift 
it's a gift
it's a gift

(I do believe this)
(even if it sounds like I don't)

march in photographs

135/365

running lists I keep as the year unfolds:

art seen
films seen
books read
places stood
places traveled
foods eaten
words learned
things learned
small victories
moments I want to remember

134/365

record stores I have loved:

criminal records (atlanta)
wax-n-facts (atlanta)
mississippi records (portland)
jackpot (portland)
everybody's records (cincinnati)
peaches records (new orleans)
wuxtry (athens)
wuxtry (atlanta)

(spent some time at wuxtry today)
(happy record store day, y'all)

133/365

things worth celebrating this glorious friday:

level seventeen reached in french
solid foods now properly digestible
ava's art scholarship

(AVA'S ART SCHOLARSHIP!)

132/365

things I am profoundly grateful for today:

ginger ale
soda crackers
library books
cool washcloths
ice chips
open windows
netflix

(I cannot remember the last time I was this sick)

131/365

brushes with celebrity (the order in which they occurred):

evander holyfield, in the stairwell at an ailey show 
digable planets (sans ladybug mecca), on a brooklyn street corner, right after their first album came out 
kriss kross, at an atlanta movie theatre concession stand, whom I inexplicably felt compelled to tell just "how great I thought cherry slushies were"
sigourney weaver, at the moma gift shop, towering over the art books
lauren graham, at a los angeles antique shop, bored 
isaac mizrahi, in the village, walking a teeny tiny toy dog 
andre 3000, at an atlanta movie theatre, wearing a periwinkle silk turban
I REPEAT, ANDRE 3000 AT A MOVIE THEATRE, WEARING A PERIWINKLE SILK TURBAN
carrie brownstein, at my target in portland, looking at the same cheapo clothes I was
natalie portman, shopping for vintage on the lodekka bus while I was working there, wearing a trench coat and sunglasses and bejeweled flip flops in the middle of summer
maggie gyllenhaal and peter sarsgaard, in park slope, magical land of magical brownstones, yoga mats in tow

130/365

streets I'd walk down right now, if I could, part one:

doyer street (new york)
burnside ave (portland)
royal street (new orleans)

129/365

words I had to stop and look up in the dictionary in march:

truculent
querulous
propinquity
untinctured
impecunious
connubial
panegyric

128/365

things I cannot live without, part one:

the library
the ocean

127/365

things seen on the drive home today:

rotted barns
tiny towns
uprooted trees
barbeque shacks
yard sales
ominous clouds
confederate flags

126/365

things we stopped the car for today:

boiled peanuts
a road lined with live oak trees
a hand painted PEACHES sign 
googie architecture
a coke from mcdonalds
a favorite book store
pimento cheese
coffee
coffee
coffee

125/365

things found today:

a jellyfish, beached
unusual calling cards
a pen shell, nearly completely intact
a hidden spiral staircase
the village lip lickers lip balm from my childhood
a coppery colored olive
small pieces of driftwood
an old photograph of five women standing at the stern of a boat
a teeny tiny eastern auger
soft air

124/365

portraits I desperately wanted to make today:

of the woman in the calico bonnet, sitting next to the fountain

of the girl wearing the peach-colored prom gown on a tuesday afternoon

of the guy scream singing rock the casbah, cigarette dangling

123/365

books I read in march:

how art can make you happy (bridget watson payne)

the complete stories (zora neale hurston)

pride and prejudice (jane austen)

122/365

on this first day of april:

jokes, played
donuts, devoured
nails, painted
suitcases, packed
spring break, sprung