I woke up with a headache, which is never a good start to a morning.
I have drank far too much wine and coffee this week, not enough water, and have slept very little. A 6am start every day; much easier in the spring/summer when the sun is on your side. I have been merchandising at Anthro this week. This equals job satisfaction. It's a bit like tetris: you must place all the pieces together just right. Sometimes things disappear and a new tile starts to fall. Your task? react quickly.

I am getting ready to make my way to the gym, where I routinely find my feet moving on the same elliptical machine and silently competing with those endorphine'd gym folk who surround me. It is fascinating to watch people beat their body into submission. I catch my reflection in the mirror and see my sweaty pink face stare back as I too am struggling against myself trying to improve and running in place. I like to feel my body's ability to lift heavy things, to feel the muscles pull and push and my limbs move freely and wildly at times. The body: something we can praise and celebrate and something we can also despise. Fascinating.

I will be making my way up north later today, to a series of small lakes. There I will lay on a lawn with friends letting the sun sink into my skin and smelling of sunscreen. I will eat vegatables and hummus and think of you all and our reunion in the golden state.

The Pacific Northwest has been graced with five days of temperate weather. It may even tap out at 74 this week.

OK then Lauren...Jamie...

6 of May: Late afternoon in the park. The children piling upon one another and rolling down the hill in a giggling, wrestling, tumbling glory. Cigarette butts and a used condom mark the passage of after school teenage occupation and make me sick. I hold Fabian up by the arms while he goes to the bathroom, defecates, in the flowery brush. The girls watch and laugh, covering their mouths and I see them in their twenties.

Yesterday: A man in a bright yellow sweater. Cadmium yellow medium, a bit of yellow ochre and pale green light. Someone smells like candy and I am looking for a job. Tried on a green cotton/linen dress, liked it.

Lauren wanted to hear more about our every day lives. Here it goes...

The everyday tales of what I should have done: 18 May 2009

Jacob used to be a boy-scout but he never made it to Eagle. He works at the pharmacy, and every week when I go in to pick up my boss's prescription he never looks at me. Jacob is a German- Japanese mutt with the cloudy voice of a nun, and today I have decided to end our weekly non-interactions. He asked me to "please sign the pin pad," and I stabbed the sleeve of his blue smock, tent- staking his arm to the counter, and plunged my face in his direction. I misjudged my leap and landed with the tip of my nose in his ear hole; the inside of his head reeked of musk and fabric softener. He squawked and with that I slid off the counter and stood before him. I apologized and explained that I was aiming for his neck, I told him that my intention was to glide up to the space between the L of his jaw and his clavicle, lick my lips, and kiss him. Kiss him - right there on the neck; but, I missed and landed with the tip of my nose in his ear.

i do not know how to crop.

Have fun!!! but remember that you are 5, not 4. Un-whole, incomplete, half baked...

Book Art Photography

Three things? Or one thing? One thing!

Check out my post on Thomas Allen's work, where you'll find a link to additional intriguing pictures.

Also, I have a new blog. Yay me.