oh nine::{stuff} addictions list

my oh nine {2009} included a massive amount of stuff. stuff needed. stuff wanted. family stuff. work stuff. art stuff. friend stuff. learning stuff. visioning and revising stuff. getting rid of stuff. buying stuff. giving stuff and getting stuff. all kinds of different kinds of stuff encompassed my year. it's funny, stuff, that is. it either represents who you are or who you aren't. or both. we think about stuff and eat stuff. we'll stuff stuff and will use stuff to get more stuff. sometimes we have collections of stuff and other times we're about avoiding stuff. we're made of stuff and stuff comes out of us that we thought we could ignore. stuff turns us into monsters or buys us time. i've not seen it but there's a story about stuff. i think i am thinking about a different kind of stuff, not just the stuff i consume, but the stuff that consumes me. so it maybe ridiculous to some that i'd come up with an oh nine::{stuff} addictions list; meaning the stuff i will admit to being addicted to, let that cat out of the bag, though not completely and not without keeping some secrets.

i thought about creating a list of twenty six things i'm addicted to that each begin with the letter of the alphabet. i'm not going to. although, just out of curiosity i'd love to see what any of you, my meager readers, come up with. i may try it one day but today is just not that day. i am eager to get the list started and finished.

i am addicted to:

really really really pretty cheap paper napkins {as seen above}

flickr

twisting my hair when it is soft

purses to carry important stuff in

making art

cigarettes

afternoon naps

learning something new everyday

reading every night

the power of prayer

potato chips

craft and art paper, tissue paper, pads of paper and paper work

my nieces and nephews

great moments of solitude, though few and far between

writing personal notes or letters

small things

light, oh light. winter, spring, summer and fall light. lamp light and sunlight. moonlight and street light. hot and hazy light. light in color. i love light.

trees

people watching

baking chocolate chip cookies

the snooze button

so that about wraps up this list. i started to write something about love, about being 'addicted to love' and then i thought better. i just didn't feel like that's a subject of addiction i'd like to explore tonight. and not because i don't think love is great. it's just so complicated and addicting. for another time.

goodnight.

::peek::

the first seventeen days of this month and of this new year have spilled out in a force. much like a strong soft motion meandering up the sidewalk i recognized it, had planned for it, saw it coming. when the fox theatre let out last night the street filled rapidly with bobbling umbrellas, blinkers and brake lights in a seemingly chaotic congestion. from above it played out like a great musical composition and brought a smile to my face. a happy contented grin. quite a sufficient way of viewing these last two and a half weeks. i can't help but thinking that in someways it's been the very best beginning of a new year, that i've ever had or can actually recollect. i guess we are all feeling a little more fortunate and little more safe and little more confident that we have survived. that the mundane minutes we pass over are really glimmers of great hope.

the past weekend was no less than a grand adventure, same as the week before and the weekend before. each day has given motion to the next and it feels delightful. like eating, like sleeping and waking, like painting or singing. or it could simply be that i've been invigorated by getting out of town, peeking in on the lives of other people. i saw a city through the eyes of two of my favorite people in the world. together we successfully found new furniture, framed artwork, met new people, got stuck in the mud, escaped the mud, nearly risked our lives while pumping gasoline, saw a childhood neighborhood, ate lunch for breakfast and took time to take photographs. we dropped artwork off and went to the art show, saw more graffiti in one place than we'd ever seen in our lives, saw da vinci's sketches and without really knowing it, saw atlanta through portman's eyes. what a joy it all was.

it all happened so fast these last seventeen days. on january first i spontaneously decided to give myself the assignment of taking a photo a day; i think it's going to really help me remember and sort through all the details, the small glimmering bits and pieces i might otherwise miss. feel free to keep up with my comings and goings throughout two thousand ten, by seeing my year.

to top things off i have indeed created the list to beat all lists; i'm still working on it but it will appear. it is my thirty something things to do before i turn thirty five. i cannot seem to be able to narrow it all down. it will happen, just like tomorrow.

::not you::self portrait show @ mint gallery

i'll be heading down to atlanta again this weekend to see the mint gallery's show ::not you:: a self portrait show that includes work from seventy artists. i'm super excited to have been asked to participate in the show, my very first out of town show. i went down this past weekend to drop off my piece. my sister and i will hit the road together again to spend the day and night down there together. we are planning to hit the high museum of art up too. i'm in need of an art museum fix. need some of that da vinci, weingarten and portman, showing now, it feels, just for me.

the self portrait turned out as well as can be expected. i am super pleased with how it turned out. i have some favorite spots and feel like i won't be pursuing many portraits in the near future. i feel like sticking to my trees. the year has just begun but i'm as busy as ever. i am looking forward to the new year and trying some new stuff. until then, good night.

oh nine::read list

oh ten promises many a list, this list, my oh nine::read list includes all of the books i managed to read in the last year. a good portion of the year i read the book clubs requested reading, regardless of whether or not i could attend the discussion, i read. my reading has never reflected a primary interest or subject although i have become more interested in the biographies. it may be of interest that i reread one of my books this year (can you guess which one?), which i never do. and i cannot remember the last time i read a book sitting up, my reading time is usually before i sleep, underneath blankets, between the hours of eleven and twelve. in no particular order i give you my oh nine::read list;

'the kristin lavransdatter' trilogy written by sigrid undset

'the golden apples' written by eudora welty

'naked' written by david sedaris

'what is the what' by dave eggers

'animal, vegetable, miracle' written by barbara kingsolver

'benjamin franklin' written by walter isaacson

'my stroke of insight' written by jill bolte taylor, PhD

'the yiddish policemen's union' written by michael chabon

'crime and punishment' written by fyodor dostoyevsky

'the odyssey' by homer

'the brothers k' written by david james duncan

'mornings on horseback' written by david mccullough

currently reading 'theodore rex' written by edmund morris

and for added interest; my next, plan to read, 'walking on water - reflections on faith and art' written by madeleine l'engle. my parents gave this book to me for my birthday; inside was this inscription:

dec. 23, 2009

to our dear daughter cathy on her 34th birthday from dad and mom

may your artistic expression bring your soul great joy as you reflect the image of the sovereign artist, jesus christ, from whom all things were created. we love you.

so it's january two of twenty ten; i am excited! there's much to do but that, after all is what a good many lists are for.