Things that go bump in the night!!

It's been snowing in Maine, which is downright lovely. Scuffing around in the fluffy stuff has made my vacation swell.

Last season I made a screensaver out of all these microscopic snowflake images and had forgotten all about it until now. I know everybody knows this, but I think it's totally amazing how no two snowflakes are ever the same. (I suppose it's possible that it could happen, but then, how would we know??) I also love knowing that each snowflake forms around a tiny dust particle...from who knows where or when. Do you think it's possible that when it snows minuscule bits of the Middle Ages, outer space, WWI, dinosaurs or even our grannies house are falling all around us?? Wouldn't it be cool to find out??


I think snowflakes will always be an inspiration to me mostly because the form is so pleasing. The complexity of nature baffles me... that it would be "natural" for water vapor to condense outwardly in these branching, lace like shapes.

We look at the finished snowflake and see it's difficulty. Wouldn't it be much easier to just toss down big blobs instead? But the thing is, as I read about how the branches form, the result I see as difficult is actually the easier path for a snow crystal. A small bump on the surface of a growing crystal means the water molecules have a shorter distance to travel. As the bump sticks out more and more it grows faster and faster and then other bumps form on that branch and start to grow faster and man, how it gets to look so pretty is beyond me!
I'm humbled to think that such complexity erupts out of all things, ease. I think about how this relates to our humanity and desire to create. I often get stuck be hind giant walls that make me think I need to know exactly how to do something before I do it, or that I have to plain something out perfectly in order to truly be good at what I do.... not wanting any bumps in the road. But looking at this example from nature, which in my opinion creates some of the most beautiful objects ever, it turns out that the bumps in the road that are the more important part.

So how does one find his or her own ease? How do you leave space in your process to allow these bumps to influence your work?
Do take a moment to admire the snowflake that just landed on your sleeve, but then take a step back and imagine the millions of dust particles just waiting in the wings. We all have ideas, like dust particles, just waiting to be formed.



Oh, and speaking of bumps in the night, here's an image from a snowy night time walk the other evening...
Doesn't the tree look like cauliflower or coral??

Looking like a Mainer

So I took my swanky New York gal herringbone coat to the cleaners today. The local seamstress is going to re-line it for me with a slippery lime fabric I picked out and it's going to be lovely. In the meantime though I'm left scrounging for warm outer garments! I found this little quilted flannel jobby in the basement. I think the paint smear really adds to it's appeal. It's not all that warm, but will do for quick in and outs from the cah.

On Christmas day Mom and I took a trip to L.L. Bean to do some exchanges and late night shopping. For those of you who don't know, L.L. Bean is open 24/7 no matter what so my mom and I often take advantage of that. It's always the last stop on our list since it's open so late, but in this case we were looking for a little Christmas adventure and it was the only place open. I picked up a ham italian (pronouced eye-talion) at the gas station (glamorous I know but this gal needs constant sustenance people!) and we hit the road. The employees were super helpful and full of cheer. I had taken in my old pair of boots to see if they could fix the zipper that is always falling down. But instead of repairing them they just let me return them. It's the Bean way. You can exchange stuff, even really used stuff if it does not live up to the standard. So I was able to get these RAD, knee high boots from my buddy Gregory in the fishing and hunting section. He taught me how to lace my boots so I can pull them really tight, like he learned in the military. I couldn't quite place his accent but we think he might be German. I totally gave him a high ten when I walked away pleased as punch in my new babies!

I was cooking in the kitchen the other day when I noticed this band of visitors. We live right in town but we always have creatures coming to visit. I like how the turkeys keep right in line as they travel. They really reminded me of dinosaurs loping about out there. Every now and then, one leg would sink into the snow and the guy would just pick himself up without missing a step. It was quite comical.

My Favorite Christmas Moment

I love that the wisdom is delivered by the most child like character!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Moose Ears

I was wearing these earrings one day when Eleanor said to me, "I like your moose ears Kimmie!"

A few more reasons I'm loving Maine...

Mom and I play Yahtzee at every meal. I got a Yahtzee on my last roll, woo hoo!

You can right turn on red, but I guess that's true pretty much anywhere but NYC, so maybe it doesn't count.

These two hamming it up in the driveway for me. Christmas time is always fun for these type of moments. I love them.
My Uncle Tim came up to shovel off our roof and I got to see his new truck which I hadn't seen yet.

People always ask him how he got such a low license plate number like 841. Well, he got it from my grandpa when he passed who got it from Jerry when he passed who was able to get it from this other guy who passed who must have got it back when there weren't too many cars on the road in Maine. If you write to the state with a good case, they'll let you keep the number, so I'm hoping that we can keep it in our family for some time.


Did youknow that keeping your shovel outside makes it so the snow slips right off when you shovel. If you keep it inside, it's warm when you go out and the snow melts a little and gets stuck. Heavy shovels are no fun.

Watching these guys win win win! Go Patriots!!

Virtual Shopping...

I took a trip yesterday to my favorite flea market to take a gander at the goods. Here are the things that caught my eye...

little chicken

huh??

apparently birds are my friends

hound doggie

I've seen this a couple of times going home... I think a whole pink desk theme would be rad.

I thought this would be cute in the bathroom holding toothbrushes

I love you lobster salt & pepper shaker!

These salt an pepper shakers LOVE each other!

Wouldn't these lamps be great with new modern shades?

Why I love Maine so far

The snow

These guys on the window... my mom just got them

The new bed is small, but real (not filled with air) and has Garnet Hill bandanna sheets

This gum is great, right? I found it at the restaurant where I had my New England Boiled Supper. I haven't had it in a long time.

My mom is super cute and has a basket for everything...

and the vegetable drawer is full of Capri Suns

which makes it almost bearable to have these guys in my room.
(No pun intended)

Also, there are tissues in every room!

Sweeping

So what items do you deem worthy of saving from the dustpan??

Me:

• Coins
  
• An earring
• A ladybug
• Bone, shell, celluloid or other type of vintage button. (A cheaper one totally gets kicked to the curb)
• Thumbtacks
• Hair ties (depending on how desperate I am though)
• Postage stamp

Those that have given their lives:

• Bugs
• Paper clips
• Bobbi pins
• Needles
• Jump rings (for jewelry making)
• Beads
• Sequins
• Stitch markers
  

Sometimes it's just not worth the dusty fingers, right?? Plus, in a very, very small way it does lighten my collection. I do really hate being wasteful though, so I promise to not do it too often! How about you guys??

Time to meet...

And now my room looks like this

We're all friends here...

I'm a little bit dizzy
My car ride home from the craft fair was a tad, shall we say... nauseating
One braid has fallen out of my Swiss Miss Girl/Fraulein updo
My hands smell like a combination of Clementine and the falafel that Cal gave me (because I hadn't had any food all day and she's nice. Thanks Cal! And Calle for the Clementine!)
Currently my room looks like this....
I might be coming down with something... I feel a sniffle
This morning the house was very cold and there was no hot water.
I'm very excited to take my shower now!
I called a car service to deliver me... but when I got there, realized I didn't pack my wallet.
(Thank you car service guy for being nice and letting me go...IOU... other crafty friends for lending me mooola and sharing your coffee and snacks!)
About an hour before the craft fair ended I realized I had had my wallet all along!
Total Flake!
I'm ready for vacation dudes.
LEt it snow in Maine please!
I want to go sledding!
I'll see you soon pine trees!

Oh yeah, here's my view of the craft fair:

Maps & Dreams

This is my 200th post!
Yeah!

I've been waiting for this to come up and wanted to prepare something special... but wasn't really sure what. In the spirit of Inspired Living, things just sort of came together at the last moment. I sit here typing seconds away from when I should be leaving for my next gig, as usual. Here's how it goes.
I recently I listened to an episode of This American life called Mapping. You should really listen to it because it's quite nice, especially the parts about sound. I got me to thinking about how my blog is a kind of map of my thoughts... a part of this whole gigantic map of many masterminds called simply "the internet." Crazy.

Then last night, as I sat preparing a few more bits of jewelry for the craft fair tomorrow... I came across an old map that inspired a tiny new jewelry collection for me. I hadn't sat down to make things in this way for a while... with sweaty palms, racing heart and pure excitement over an idea. Inspired Living last night for sure.

So here it is, the result of my life's map over the past week which is now a part of the bigger 'map' somehow.