Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Magnolia Park

So today is Christmas Eve Eve, and so I was busy wrapping presents all day. By the time I was ready to head out for my daily(ish) hike my dad called and said he was heading to Seattle for some work stuff if I wanted to tag along. So I did, opting to spend time with him in the car instead of going on my hike. I was a little bit sad as today was a gorgeous day, sunny and crisp, and I haven't gone hiking the past two days due to work. Before we headed home we stopped at Magnolia Park, however, which was small but gorgeous and a nice little place to take some pictures, and it satisfied my need for fresh air and nature.


This tree was mammoth, standing next to it and reaching as high as I could I couldn't reach the lowest "u" shape.



The backdrop of the water through the trees was perfect as the sun was setting.



It's a little hard to see but through the trees you can see Mount Rainier behind West Seattle, across Puget Sound.



This tree was very very orange, emphasized by the golden light of the setting sun.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Hiking

I went hiking today. It felt good! It hasn't rained for a few days so it wasn't too muddy, and in the shade things were still frosty. It was beautiful and felt really good. I didn't even notice the cold once my blood got moving. It was just really nice being out in the woods and getting fresh air. I live in a beautiful part of the world.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Crafting

I apologize again for taking such a long break from this blog. I've been distracted, mostly with my long distance relationship with Dave. who by the way is amazing :) Anyway, Journalfest was last week, the first Journalfest of many to come I hope. Though I couldn't stay for the last day due to Dave needing to get to the airport early Sunday morning, it was an amazing event. We took a class from Dan Essig, which was fantastic. It really got me thinking about how much fun it is to make things. When I got home I told my dad I wanted to make more books, which he was very excited to hear as he is an avid bookbinder himself. It's been really fun. I also decided I should start filling up my down time with other crafty things, so I've started crocheting amigurumi again. It feels so good to make things.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

A raised eyebrow, a sigh, and a hand on the chin; she had had an epiphany and the world seemed to fall into place. Her eyes closed and she breathed, taking in all the scents of the city. She smelled sweet flowers, toasted bread and teriyaki, mixed with hints of trash and hot pavement. They filled her with a warmth that only familiar smells can bring. Slowly, with pursed lips she let the air out of her lungs, letting go of all the tension in her body and mind.
With a clear mind she listened to the sounds all around her. She heard cars rush by, a sound she normally found harsh and intrusive, as though the noise was malicious. This time, however, it seemed right. The swoosh of the vehicles, the myriad sounds of a bus stopping and starting, all fit into the complex, perfect existence of that moment. Behind the sounds of the street she could hear some girls discussing a recent party, and a man and a woman arguing about the importance of manned missions into space. She heard the rattle of a dogs leash and the even tapping of high-heels on cement.
With a deep breath she opened her eyes. The sky was a whitish gray, very even and beautiful. Soft light filled the city. It was strangely bright and yet not so bright it hurt the eyes. The city was almost a perfect gray, interrupted by splashes of brightly colored flowers. It was exquisitely gentle. She smiled at the obscure beauty of everything around her and took a step, one single step beginning her life as one who has come to the realization that perfection is a beautiful balance of imperfection.

Friday, June 26, 2009

An update on life

I apologize again for the long absence. My mysterious illness was mono, which made the last two weeks of my undergraduate career quite hectic. In spite of that though, I managed to pass my classes and graduate. Commencement was very long and very hot, but I'm glad I did it. I wasn't involved in my school very much, just the classes, so this felt like a nice closure, to actually endure the ceremony.

After graduation I frantically started packing up my apt to move after five years of living in the same little studio. Without my cousin and friend I don't know what I would have done, they were a huge help, especially my cousin.

Last week I went to Albany, NY to visit my boyfriend Dave, which was a wonderfully relaxing trip once I got there. Both on the way there and the way back, however, my flights were delayed and I had to spend the night in DC. It was really a wonderful little vacation though, I'm so glad I went.

So here I am at Artfiberfest, down at Reed College in Portland, OR. It's been beautiful weather and the campus is great. Really fun! I didn't bring any yarn for vendor night however :/ Life has just been too chaotic lately. I look forward to seeing vendor night tonight though!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

It's 4 am and I can't sleep

I can't sleep and I can't do much of anything else really either. It's such a joy being sick, especially at this time of my life, just weeks before I'm set to graduate from college. One thing I can say, though, is that being sick really makes you appreciate being healthy, and having energy, and being able to sleep, and having the ability to concentrate. I think I take these things for granted usually. Once I get healthier I am going to have so much to do to finish school, and such little time to do it in, it will be an interesting week or two. Not that I'm complaining. The fates saw fit that my last few weeks in school would be interesting, and I'll make it work. Now... off for some more futile efforts at sleep!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was quite fun last weekend. For most of the day we just sat around the table outside my parents house (it was a beautiful day) and mom dad and tiffany all journaled while I made this little guy:

He's made out of this wonderfully soft soy/cotton blend I found. It seems a little prone to pilling, but that's ok. He's only about 3 inches tall, and full of spunky personality! Don't let his pink body and girly eyelashes fool you! This is what I made for mom for mother's day:
It was a nice relaxing day full of creativity!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Amigurumi!

I was at the bookstore the other day and while I was idly browsing through the crafting section when I came across a book called Crobots! by Nelly Pailloux. What is this? I thought at I pulled it from the shelf. When I saw that it was a book of crocheted robots, I kind of freaked out. How ridiculously cute could a book possibly be? Needless to say I had to have it and a book called Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden, which is full of tiny crocheted horror creatures. Well as soon as I got these books I've been crocheting like a fiend, hardly taking a break, and I'm completely obsessed with this craft known as Amigurumi now. If anyone has any recommendations on techniques and resources please let me know, I just started doing this a few days ago, and I have fairly limited expertise in crocheting in general (I'm a knitter at heart!) I'm also trying to figure out how much yarn I need for projects so I can start spinning and dying my own materials. I'll try and post pictures at some point.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Music... Again...

I think about music a lot, if you hadn't noticed. Today I was thinking about the degree to which people, at least people I know, use music tastes as an indicator of personality, or compatibility. For example, when two people meet and one asks the other what kind of music they listen to, that person forms opinions about the other based on their response. If they like the same music, then often people are surprised and take that to mean they are compatible. If they like different music, then opinions are formed, and that could be used later by either as a reason they are incompatible. Is music really a good measure of personality though? Certainly people have very strong opinions about music, but take for example a common occurance, where the first time a person hears a song they don't like it, but after repeated exposure for whatever reason they end up loving that song. The inverse can also happen, that the first time someone hears a song they love it, and after a while they never want to hear it again. Also, it might happen that a person lists, for example, rock as their favorite type of music, but they haven't been exposed to very many other kinds of music because that is what their family and friends like. These are just random thoughts on my mind.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Artfest 2009


Artfest had some unexpected guests :)


Some of the volunteers hanging out around the beach bonfire


Tiffany and Theo at the start of the journal party at the beach

Sunday, April 12, 2009

I have returned

The past two weeks have been crazy, with Artfest and then a week of hanging out with friends from out of town (who also helped at Artfest!) so the blog got kind of pushed to the side. Artfest was a great success again, and I had the best birthday ever (thanks everyone!) Artfest also made me want to get back into spinnign again so hopefully I'll be posting about that soon. I'll try and get some pictures from artfest up soon!

Friday, March 13, 2009

A Note on Education

Why are kids not being taught a language in schools, starting at kindergarten? Why is it only a requirement for high school students? Studies clearly show that the ability to learn a second language significantly declines with age. Also it would be a tool to introduce more international awareness to kids, by which I mean schools should also emphasize the importance of understanding different cultures and also the importance of international relations. I am having a hard time with words so if that didn't make sense I apologize.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The Honey Hole

Last night I was lying in bed, crocheting a granny square I'll probably never use in anything, about to set it down and fall asleep when I heard a faint ringing sound. So faint, in fact, I thought I was dreaming already. It was my phone, however, my friend wanting me to go out. I said no, hung up, rolled over, and realized what I was doing. I needed to get out. Why not go have an adventure? So I called him back and so began a very fun evening downtown.

We started the night by meeting some people downtown, but as soon as we got there everyone wanted to go to this place called the Honey Hole that I honestly had never heard of. It was up in Capitol Hill, quite a walk, but three of the people were staying at the hostel downtown and therefore we hiked our way up. It was a lovely evening for a walk anyway.

The Honey Hole was, for lack of a better word, totally awesome. The food looked great (I wasn't hungry) the beer was typical Seattle greatness, and the atmosphere was satisfying in a crazy way. The variety of toy fish and figurines hanging from the ceiling were fun without seeming cluttered, the feather boas holding the hanging lights were perfect, and what held it all together was the music which I can only describe as indian mixed with circus mixed with faint hints of hip hop. All in all it was wonderful.

After we left the Honey Hole we stopped at the hostel for a jacket, and then made our way to a bar I didn't catch the name of in Pike Place for one last beer before last call. I had a Maritime Nightwatch I believe it was called, which was quite delicious.

The moral of this rather long-winded description of my evening is that if I hadn't mentally slapped myself and gone out, I never would have met three world travellers (two from England and one from Eastern Canada), and I would never have experienced the wonders of the Honey Hole.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

A Note on Language

Languages are dying at an alarming rate. The tragedy of this is I think is not apparent to people in general. The death of a language seems akin to the death of a culture. Cultural groups are often defined by the language they speak. When a language dies, the oral traditions are forgotten. Folklore is lost, history fades. It is a sad thing.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Cool Finnish Artist


I'm studying Finnish right now and my teacher just showed me her friend Anna's blog http://luumupuussa.blogspot.com/. She is from Oulu, Finland and her blog is in Finnish, but it's definitely worth checking out, her art is very fun.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Dancing

Thanks everyone for your comments on my post, I started this thinking no one would probably even read it :) In response to the random comments on my last blog I thought I'd say a little bit about dancing. I've been dancing my whole life. One of my earliest memories is dancing around the house till I was sweaty and dehydrated before I even started kindergarten. I just moved to the music. My parents enrolled me in ballet classes when I was 4 but apparently I didn't deal well with the structure so that didn't last too long. My grandma taught me line dancing and some ballroom starting very young, and around the 6th grade I started belly dancing. I've taken a few jazz classes but for reasons I can't remember I dropped out. Nowadays I dance like crazy in my apartment and I've been out to clubs in seattle only a few times, but loved every minute of it. I love belly dancing because I can do it solo, but I love all forms of dance. I believe humans were meant to dance and we should all do it more often and more publicly.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Haircut

If you don't know me, I've had long hair my entire life. Last week it was about 24 inches long. With some encouragement from family and friends, and a sudden desire for a big change I got it cut very short. I was also able to donate my hair which was cool. It's amazing how much something as simple as a haircut can make you feel. Maybe it's the extra time in the morning since I don't have to spend hours washing and drying my hair, maybe it's simply the change in my appearance. Whatever it is, I feel good! So thanks everyone who pushed me into this :)

Friday, January 30, 2009

Music

Sound waves hit my body. Real or imaginary, they affect me. Psychologically, physically, emotionally, in ways I can't describe it moves me. It inspires me to write, to dance, to think. I can't help but move, and hum. Tears of neither sadness nor joy, simply emotion, threaten to well up in my eyes. One of the worlds greatest mysteries is how something as simple as sound waves can affect every cell in my body. It is as essential to life as oxygen, food and water.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Energy

Another lazy day has gone by without much accomplished. I've had a cold for a little over a week now. It's not a terribly bad cold, my sinuses are a little stuffy and every now and then I have a passing headache. What bothers me is the lack of energy. I haven't had the energy to do anything lately, and it is making me miss accomplishing things other than homework. It seems like another one of those things that you don't even think about until it's gone. So this is a tribute to energy, in appreciation of all it allows us to do.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Politics

Four years ago, during the last election, I had newly turned eighteen and I was starting my first year in college. I was very excited about getting involved in my country and making my voice heard. It was, however, a very disappointing first experience as a voter. I suddenly understood why so many people didn't care about politics. So I'd just like to say how exciting it is that our new president is inspiring so many people to become involved, whether they are a democrat or republican.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Taking Time

Every morning, either before or after I take a shower, I sit on my bed and think. I just noticed this the other day. I'm not meditating, or planning my day. I don't have an agenda; I just let miscellaneous thoughts float around in my brain for a few minutes. It's difficult to start a day without these few moments taken out just for myself. I don't have any reasoning for why, I just know from my own experience that taking a few minutes for one's self is daily medicine for the psyche.

Friday, January 16, 2009

From whence I came

I would like to note that the inspiration behind this blog, as is the case with most things I do, comes from my parents: Teesha and Tracy Moore. They are both amazing artists and incredibly inspiring in all aspects of life! My dad made me my journal:

Cafe Racer

Is it a cafe? Is it a bar? Does it matter? Cafe Racer is a gem of Seattle. I remember the first time my dad told me about this place he found, I thought it would just be another little cafe: nice to hang out in but ultimately just like the millions of other independent cafes in the city. After visiting it, however, I realized how truely unique it is. From the seemingly random decor to the mismatched clientele, not to mention the live music, Cafe Racer offers both a relaxing place to grab a beer with old friends and a great environment to make new friends.

And now I enter the world of blogging

City light filters through my windows, softly illuminating my desk as I idly browse the web. The laziness of an uneventful Friday night gets the better of me and while I'm reading the blogs of my family I think to myself, why not? So here we are, at the beginning of a web log reflecting on those things in my life that are potentially interesting. Welcome to my musings.