Yakima, WA. Summer 2017

Photos from our trip to Washington and Oregon over Christmas. We stopped by Multnomah Falls after picking up our rental car. It’s a special place for us both. My first time here was around 5th grade, when I was visiting my mom’s side. I think it may have been the first time I’d ever seen a waterfall. And for BJ, it was a stop on the way to California or Oregon to see relatives. He also is a huge fan of their hot chocolate, but the cafe was closed Christmas day. I wonder if our younger selves crossed paths.

For my second test of these tiny pieces (still unnamed) I used a rougher textured clay. Dreaming of a wall covered with these?

from Robert Ebert & Martin Scorsese: Best Films of the 1990s

ROGER: To me the greatest value of film is that it helps us break out of our boxes of time and space, and empathize with other people — it lets us walk in someone else’s shoes. “Hoop Dreams,” made by Steve James, Frederick Marx and Peter Gilbert, gave me that gift.

MARTIN: Well, I think it’s a extraordinary film. I mean, you have real people becoming dramatic characters. You follow their lives like everyone’s life I think is a drama in a way. And the dedication of the filmmakers was remarkable. It reminds me Goes back to Flaherty where they live with the people and stay with them for years. Again, this is a new way, a new interesting look at story telling. And what’s great too is you begin to see the relationships in the family and how they change, the boy and his father.

ROGER: When we reviewed the movie on this show Gene Siskel said that the best scene for him was where the mother turns out to have been attending nursing school —

MARTIN: Oh, that was a great scene!

ROGER: — and she has her graduation. And he says, “That’s where the crowd should have been, not at the basketball game.”

MARTIN: Just catches you, that scene.

Paul D’amato’s Here Still Now series includes photos documenting the decline and demolishment of Chicago’s notorious housing project, Cabrini-Green, which is where William Gates, one of the main subjects of Hoop Dreams, also resided. The other photos in the series are equally touching, beautiful, and sincere.

Every year, BJ makes end of the year lists for his favorite, movies, books, songs, albums, etc . He loves it and spends so much time on it. I give him a hard time though because he’s still working on the list way into the next year. This time around, he’s finally sharing his favorite longreads from 2012. I’m going to try and read one a day. Enjoy!

Some of my favorite toppings.  We’ve been on a taco kick lately. (Mats from Anthropologie and the plate is from Angel.)

I’ve been watching the Inauguration all day while I work and catch up on emails. Later, BJ and I are going to Pass & Provisions with some new friends for dinner. A pretty good day so far. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Over the weekend, we went for a short trip to NYC for the store. I need to do a better job at taking photos – after all, this camera is pretty heavy to lug around. We managed to make the most of the little free time we had. Highlights include seeing Jeff, eating brunch at Diner with Fay, Anne, and Jennifer, meeting Megan for the first time, watching The Master, stopping by Beautiful Dreamers and Mociun, catching the ferry from Brooklyn to Manhattan while passengers took turns reading Walk Whitman’s “Crossing the Brooklyn Ferry”, and walking everywhere. On the last day, Beth wasn’t feeling too well so I assisted her while she shot street style photos for Travel and Leisure aka I awkwardly chased down people. We got a couple of nos, but it was a little nice to get out of my comfort zone.

Dreaming of making out making it out to Big Bend Texas.

photos from Texas Parks & Wildlife

Hi! I miss posting in this space, but hopefully that will change soon.

In the midst of trying to find a new place, we’ve been purging. But when I saw this Yayoi Kusama tribute mobile by Kim Baise at the Menil Bookstore, I caved and rushed over to buy it. I’ve been a huge fan of her work, and her artist tribute mobiles at the Menil are so whimsical. Here‘s a little about the inspiration behind this piece. Now I’m a little addicted, and I want to gift these to all my friends. You can get custom mobile from her etsy site. Trang is thinking of getting a custom one about Igby.

In school news, I can’t believe this is my 5th year. I’m throwing a big party at the end of the school year if I complete this milestone and everyone’s invited :) I have a good group of kids this year even though the class sizes have grown significantly. Good luck to all you teachers out there.