a couple days at the Walker

It’s been a little while…June. We’ve been busy. A new baby on the way, weddings, trips, you name it. And this fun thing. A couple weekends ago we had the “local artisan market” at the Walker Art Center. It was a great show — such a cool thing to be an “exhibit” in the Walker in one of their lovely galleries. I have a few phots. You have to really search to see the back of my head or Brent in the background, but it gives you a good idea of what it looked like. I would certainly do it again!!

to air condition or not.

That is the question. We’re getting the quotes in. Now here’s the frustrating part. They said “what year is your furnace?” I have no idea. They say it’s original, around 1955. Now, for some reason, the man doing our initial inspection didn’t think it was original. Well, it is. The little ticket on the furnace says 1955. Oh well.

So now, in order to get an air conditioner, we need a new furnace. Do we just handle the two weeks or so out of the year that are unbearably hot, or do we suck it up, get a new furnace (that will be much more efficient than our current model), and then enable ourselves to welcome a new air conditioner into the family?

The jury is still out.

chloe the dog

I thought it was about time to introduce the world to Chloe the dog. As much as I would like to believe she’s perfect, I know better. We woke up on Saturday morning to her chewing my shoes. With a face like hers, it’s hard to be mad, but eating my shoes wasn’t a very good move.

We have all sorts of names for her that really depend on our mood…mostly, I call her Chlo-dog, or some other random smattering of a name involving the letters C, H, L, O, or E. She likes to eat bananas, fish, chocolate (yes, I know it’s really bad for her, but she LOVES the smell) and peanut butter. Peanut butter is her favorite. She can become the most docile animal with the smell of peanut butter close by.

Yeah…I think she’s pretty cute.

new stuff

Yeah, it’s June 1. I just finished with a busy month of work stuff and life stuff, but now, it’s officially summer. And that means that, well at least hopefully, things will slow down a little bit. I’ve also been working on some new artsy stuff.

We’re heading off to Holland in June to visit my brother-in-law and his new fiancee….I’m so very excited. I’ve had layovers in Amsterdam several times, but never really taken the time to explore the country. I’m looking forward to it and looking forward to a break. IF anyone has any ideas of things that have to be seen in Holland, let me know.

That coupled with several weddings this summer makes what WAS going to be a laid back summer seem pretty hectic. That’s the way it goes!

Happy January

It’s been a cold Minnesota winter so far. I almost feel that I should stop there….that’s kind of been all encompassing. I didn’t take this picture, but it kind of sums up how I’m feeling.

We got a new dog. Chloe is a bluetick coonhound. This isn’t her in the picture, but it looks kind of like her. I’ve been pretty lazy with the camera. She escaped from me less than 24 hours after having her in our home. That was GREAT. I was absolutely beside myself. She’s a pretty sweet dog….some times. Pretty sure she’s twisted around my husband’s finger though….he came home the other day and asked her how her day was….this was before asking how my day was…yeah, he likes her.

I didn’t take this picture either, but this is what I wish the weather were like. That’s all I have right now….

Busy December

It’s been a busy December.

1. The Green Squirrel was featured in Metro Magazine (a local Twin Cities magazine) with one of my pendants in the December printed issue as well as on their blog. You can see it here: http://www.metromag.com/pages/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=182&ARTICLE_ID=2436.

2. The Green Squirrel was featured in the Star Tribune! It was crazy. I was told one of my pieces might be in there, but there it was, big and bright on the back page one Friday morning (and in color!). There are no photos, but you can read the article here (yes…I am a rebel crafter): http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/35476614.html?elr=KArksUUUU.

3. I participated in my second, and to date, best craft show ever! I shared a booth with another artisan I recently met (www.cayennepeppy.etsy.com) and we had a blast. The first show was Friday and Saturday, the Midtown Global Market’s No Coast Craft-O-Rama (tons of fun if you’ve never been — suggest going in 2009: http://nocoastcraft.com/). Sunday was on my own at Craftmas (http://the-handmaidens.blogspot.com/), another fabulous show.

4. In late November, Brent and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary, so this past weekend, we headed up to a wonderful (and free!) weekend at a Northern MN resort where it snowed ALL DAY LONG, but good times.

5. We also purchased tickets to Denver, our Christmas present to each other, for 2009. I haven’t been back in over two years and it’s about time.

So…lots going on, but it’s been tons of fun. Merry Christmas everyone!

Etsy commercial

You might not think it’s cute, but I thought it was cute. This is kind of what Etsy is all about…contemplate it when you start to think about Christmas gifts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2g31xjdfhQ

More new stuff!

I started doing some sewing recently and realize that I just get more domestic as the months go on (I made about 15 jars of strawberry jam a couple weeks ago….JAM!!!). Anywho, I started a new little shop on Etsy (www.graysquirrels.etsy.com) go along with my sewing…I’m just getting started, but, as my husband can attest, I’ve been cutting A LOT of fabric lately. Check it out. These bags make lovely gifts

 

By the way. I’ve determined that I have a rather irrational fear of squirrels. Every time I go for a run, I envision them dropping from the trees and landing on my head. It hasn’t happened yet, but they are EVERYWHERE and I have no doubt that they are in cahoots with the bunnies. It’s almost as if you can see them coniving.

Thanks Kari!

I had a fabulous time with my good friend Kari travelling to the wonderful country of Norway. We have been talking about it for a long time (since college) and it was finally able to become reality in 2008. We were there in the summer with the midnight sun — truly, some evenings, it didn’t get dark until 12:30 AM. We had a great time! We visited Oslo, Bergen, and Voss as well as a couple other locations…we truly had a blast. Thanks friend…and thanks to my husband for letting me take off for 2 weeks without him

(in Moss where I went to school — did you know Helly Hansen was founded here?!)

(in Bergen…yes, it’s really 11:30 PM)

(one of the fjords…I forget the name!)

(at a fabulous gorge outside of Voss, Norway)

Walker — the other 90%

Brent was telling me last weekend about this show at the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis. Read on…..

Of the world’s 6.5 billion people, 90 percent have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted. In fact, nearly half do not have reliable access to food, clean water, healthcare, education, affordable transportation, or shelter. The exhibition Design for the Other 90% features more than 30 projects that reflect a growing movement among designers, engineers, and social entrepreneurs to create low-cost solutions for everyday problems. Through local and global partnerships, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor.

Design for the Other 90% showcases designs that use conventional and unorthodox methods, new and traditional materials, and ancient and innovative technologies to solve myriad problems—from cleaner-burning sugarcane charcoal to a solar-rechargeable battery for a hearing aid, from a portable instant water-purification straw to a $100 laptop. By understanding the available resources and tools as well as the lives and needs of their potential users, these designers create simple, pragmatic objects and ingenious, adaptive systems that can help transform lives and communities.

Situated in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and free to the public, the objects on view are housed in a collection of Global Village Shelters created by Ferrara Design, Inc., which provide a lightweight, prefabricated alternative for emergency housing.

You can see pictures of some of the things they’ve designed here http://design.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=4376&title=&style=images