wynzian

Tunesday with Walk Off the Earth - Somebody That I Used To Know

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Along with apparently 30,000,000 other folks, I can't get enough of this song by Walk Off the Earth. This amazingly talented Burlington, Ontario band (joined by fellow singer/songwriter extraordinaire Sarah Blackwood) have recorded over 100 videos between them and posted on YouTube. It seems that their fan base has grown largely from covering songs as requested by their internet audience. What makes them so fun to watch is that they put their own unique twist to each song.

Somebody That I Used to Know by Australian artist Gotye is one of these songs...it is sweet, sad, beautiful, and is played by 5 people and just 1 guitar. After loving this song, be sure to check out their original work as well as other fabulous covers. Adele's Someone Like You is another favorite at our house. Enjoy.

Celebrating MLK Day with Random Acts of Kindness

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:09:00 +0000

I've been working hard to help my kiddoes get out of their little egocentric worlds a bit. On a recent visit to Washington DC I was thrilled to realize that now when we visit one of the many memorials that are scattered throughout the city...well, they "get it." We can stand together on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and imagine ourselves being there with Martin Luther King, Jr. for the March on Washington. At the MLK memorial, we can talk about the Civil Rights Movement and find meaning in his words that have been carved into the stone.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." (MLK, 1963) This is now my daughter's favorite quote.

When MLK Day arrived, we decided to devote the day to Random Acts of Kindness. (I suppose "planned" or "purposeful" would be more appropriate, but they just don't trip from the tongue quite as well...)

I was completely inspired by this post on the What a Ride blog. Our morning was spent creating and collecting our supplies, and then we were off...spreading a bit of joy in our neighborhood:

delivering brownies and watercolor pictures to neighbors who don't have little people
leaving a thank you note and more brownies to our local firefighters
gifting pretty drawings to some of the folks living at the senior care center
taping a baggie of quarters to the vending machine at the gym
smiling and saying "Hi!" to everyone we saw
preparing baggies of candy to give to folks who are homeless
finally, the favorite kindly act of the day...

hiding dollars at the Dollar Store!

I think that my favorite part of the day was hearing, "This is fun!" as they put together the pieces of this day out of their own stash of goods.

I'm still smiling.

Tunesday with First Aid Kit - Ghost Town

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 19:34:00 +0000

Sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg (aka First Aid Kit of Sweden) make beautiful music. Hauntingly lovely.

Easter Egg Dyeing with Silk Ties: A Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:16:00 +0000

I have born and bred some crafty little people. (My hunch is that we all start out that way, and tend to lose a bit of our uninhibited creativity somewhere along the way.) It is so fun to see their eyes light up at the suggestion of a new craft to create, especially if the words "Martha" and "Stewart" are used. You see, my oldest has her eyes set on taking over Martha's job.

So, last year, we took Ms. Stewart's suggestion and used silk ties to create colorful patterns on our Easter eggs. They were really easy to do, and though the colors were not as vivid as they girls would have liked, they did adore the patterns.

Supplies:

-Raw eggs

-Cooking pot (not metal...we used our lovely Le Creuset enamel pot)

-Pieces of silk approximately 4" x 4" (you might trim them later to better fit your eggs)

-White cotton fabric scraps approximately 5" x 5" (bigger than the silk)...we used an old sheet

-Wired twist ties to hold white fabric in place

-3 T. white vinegar

-White (enough to cover the eggs in the pot)

-1 T. vegetable oil (to shine up the eggs once finished)

-Tongs

-Wire rack (for cooling the eggs)

First, play with your fun ties for a while.

Then, cut into approximately 4" x 4" sizes, or whatever works to fit around your eggs. (It definitely doesn't need to be perfect, and actually doesn't even need to completely wrap around your raw eggs.)

Make sure the brighter printed side of the silk fabric is facing the egg.

Take a square of your white cotton fabric and wrap around the raw egg and the silk fabric. It should be snug but not crazy tight.

Wrap a twist tie around the white fabric to hold it all together.

Place all of your completely wrapped and twist-tied eggs into the enamel pot. (Remember, NOT metal pot...the chemical reaction won't work with metal.) Add water to cover the eggs. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for about 20 minutes.

After simmering for 20 minutes, remove the wrapped eggs from the pot with your tongs and put on cooling rack. (Hot water...be careful!) Once cool, carefully unwrapped the layers of fabric. Prepare to "ooh" and "aah" because it's pretty cool. You can shine them up a bit by rubbing a little bit of vegetable oil on them with a paper towel or scrap of fabric.

Well, that was last year. I had big plans to use vegetable dyes for this year's eggs. Alas, the marketing geniuses at the grocery store put the Paas dyes in plain sight of my eager little creative people.

They did have fun double- and triple-dipping the colors.

The included wax crayon was fun, too.

I think that Martha would be proud.

Tunesday with Snow Patrol + Martha Wainwright

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:14:00 +0000

I made my pilgrimage to Abbey Road Studio back in the 80's with my good friend, Carolyn. We were both a bit obsessed with Paul McCartney at the time. Someday I'll dig up the old slides that I took of us at the crosswalk made famous by Sir Paul and his friends. Fun memory.

I love the Live from Abbey Road song sessions on the Sundance channel. One of my favorites is this rendition by Snow Patrol of their song Set Fire to the Third Bar. Inviting Martha Wainwright (sister of Rufus and daughter of Loudon III) to join them was genius. I find it hauntingly lovely. Enjoy.

Fun with Pinterest

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:52:00 +0000

I'm a hardcore visual person. I do so love to look at pretty things. This turns out to be both a blessing and a curse in the age of instant gratification, find darn near anything you wish with a few taps on the keyboard, visual/information overloaded way of life we now live. Let's just say that some days I don't sleep much.

Pinterest is a place to catalog the things you love.

That's what they say.

Pinterest is my new-found love. Even quicker than Tumblr (which is also quite fun), I can quickly "pin" photos that I want to remember or share, place them in their appropriately-designated pinboard (think techy inspiration board or file folder of magazine clippings), and look at them with ease any time I need to be inspired. It's also crazy easy to see what others have deemed worthy of pinning. I tell you, it's better than Pepsi (my previous addiction)!

I also love the fact that your source is automatically credited. ("Yay" for giving credit where it is due!)

Here are a few of my pins. Enjoy the visual journey.

Source: designlovefest.com via wynzia on Pinterest

Source: google.com via wynzia on Pinterest

Source: puregreendesign.blogspot.com via wynzia on Pinterest

Source: papier-mache.com.au via wynzia on Pinterest

Source: brabournefarm.blogspot.com via wynzia on Pinterest

Source: jakandjil.com via wynzia on Pinterest

Tunesday with The Okee Dokee Brothers - Lucy and Tighty

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:04:00 +0000

We dance in the kitchen...a lot. My little gals can tap their toes and belt out the lyrics to everything from showtunes to pop to alt country to opera to bluegrass...and lots of other goodness. But sometimes grown up songs have grown up lyrics...and so we talk about these things, and it takes away a bit from the spontaneity of just dancing and singing.

So, a little fix of the Okee Dokee Brothers is perfect. The lyrics are kid friendly, but they also make me giggle. And the music...oh, the music. Talk about toe tapping...

Tunesday with Lenka

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 19:23:00 +0000

I kind of dig stop-motion videos. This affection is probably derived from hours of drawing ants moving along the edges of my 12-year-old-self's notebook, or watching numerous episodes of Gumby in my even younger years. Maybe someday I'll teach myself to create a little film of my own. (I'll just add it to the very, very long list of things to do in my lifetime.)

In the meantime, lots of them to love out there. I think that this one from the Australian singer, Lenka, does a good job of not taking you to the place of sensory overload. (It's a fine line with this medium, in my opinion.)

I present to you "Roll with the Punches" by Lenka.

Be Amazed and Smile

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 02:43:00 +0000

This little guy absolutely makes my heart smile. The cadence and intonation of his voice as he recites this lovely little poem...well, it's something special. Have a listen.

(Word on the street is that he is but three years of age. So sweet.)

The poem is "Litany" by Billy Collins, Poet Laureate of the US 2001-2003.

Happy 50th, Peace Corps

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 02:07:00 +0000

Living in another land is life changing. The beautiful people of Doramba, Nepal welcomed me into their village, their homes, their lives. And I have never been the same. Thank you, Peace Corps, for providing me that opportunity. And thank you to the many other volunteers, current and returned, who are trying to make a difference.

As my friend Kate says, "I'm proud to be a veteran of foreign peace."

Snow Sculptures in a Winter Wonderland

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:18:00 +0000

The deep freeze has ended, and the entire town has exhaled. Everyone seemed to be outside this weekend...folks that I haven't seen in weeks are going out of their doors and embracing the beauty.

And popping up everywhere...snow creations. Ever wonder what a group of creative folks in a small town, having had their fill of cabin fever, can put together with a few simple tools and a whole bunch of snow?

This colorful guy appeared in my front yard, created by two sets of little hands.

A Hansel and Gretel clock tower. The girls' personal favorite.

A ragtag group of amazing women and their offspring dubbed themselves The Sweedies (it is Minnesota, after all) as they sculpted and colored this masterpiece.

"Flames" by artist Craig Campbell. This one was created in the parking lot of one of our local drinking establishments, The Flame.

"Lotta Wata" by Kevin McCalib. The chosen locale for this was the water softener small local business.
The coolest diner this side of the Mississippi is the landing place for this knight in shining armor.

Pretty amazing, yes?

A Little Minneapolis Love

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:19:00 +0000

It is a crazy place to live, this place. There is lots and lots of winter.

So maybe that's why this video by Seven and Sixty Productions was fun to watch for me. Reminds me the of good stuff. For there is much of that. And even winter, bless its heart, is embraceable most of the time.

(Note the fun musical score by John Munson of Trip Shakespeare and a myriad of other cool local Minneapolis bands.)

Why We're Here: Twin Cities from Seven and Sixty Productions on Vimeo.

Walking with the moon shadows

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 19:01:00 +0000

The moon last night...you saw it, yes? So lovely. The sun makes me happy, but the moon is magical. Gazing at it can fill me with calm and wonder. My little people seem to get it, too.

To celebrate last night's full moon, we bundled up in all of our winter finery and took a stroll. The snow crunched under our boots, the breeze made our cheeks feel alive, and the nostril hairs froze just a wee bit (such an interesting sensation.) And the moon...amazing. Long moon shadows covered the grounds. It was a glorious way to end the day.

Someday, I will learn to take a proper photo of said moon.

Embracing Winter

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:10:00 +0000

I live in the tundra (aka Minnesota). It is cold here. It snows here. A lot. Today the low temp is supposed to reach -23F. Sigh.

But I've learned that when I stop fighting winter, and just embrace this wonderland that it is, all is well. And fun.

The little people love it. They often say that they feel badly for their cousins who live in more temperate climates who can't tumble out of their back doors and roll down a snow-covered hill. Or build snow caves big enough to hide their entire bodies. Or examine the beauty of a snowflake. Their love of the snow is contagious.

As my Pops always says, "It's not about the weather, it's about the gear." And believe me, we have the winter gear.

I am entering my first photo contest over at I Heart Faces. This week's theme is "Winter Wonderland." How perfect.

The Creative Connection Event...I was there!

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:47:00 +0000

An amazing, first-of-its-kind event happened here in Minneapolis last week. Almost a year ago, I was contacted by an organizer with The Creative Connection Event to see if I'd be interested in having a booth at the Handmade Market. (It always feels good being invited to the party, doesn't it?) I talked fellow Etsian (aka seller on Etsy.com) into joining me, and so began what is proving to be a grand adventure.

It was so fun working with Suzanne of Suz and Roo in creating our booth. She's amazingly creative, and her jewelry is stunning. (I'm the proud owner of five pieces. Think Sundance catalog style with a more realistic price tag.)

One of the absolute best outcomes of being a part of this incredible show was meeting so many talented women. They made me giggle a lot (so, of course, now we're friends for life!), but they were also so very generous with their spirit, wisdom, creativity, insight, experience, and overall goodness.

The so very sweet Debbie Egizio of The Beat of My Art brought her lovely creations from Chicago. This seriously creative painter and mixed media artist absolutely inspired me. Is there anything this woman cannot do??

Lisa Leonard of Lisa Leonard Designs in California creates beautiful, delicate sterling silver jewelry. She's also incredibly generous...she gifted me one of her lovely necklaces to commemorate the event. Thanks, Lisa!

Much of the laughter heard in the vicinity of our booth was due to these talented and FUNNY women. Linda Land is a painter and mixed media genius from Oklahoma City. Her dear friend, Cherry, is a riot. I learned more from them than they probably realize.

I adore this woman! The funky Lisa Souers creates found object art and jewelry in her Washington state studio. She generously shared one of her "Giggle" dictionary pendants with me...so perfect, since laughing with her happened often.

A little trading going on with Emmy of Much Ado About You and Megan of Spunk and Love. Emmy, wearing one of my wool felt headbands, generously created a personalized calendar for wynzia, and Megan, holding one of my fabric + paper cards, gifted me a cute bookmark to give to my newly-reading little girl. I adore these women...wise beyond their years.

Oh my...the fun that happens when all of these creative women bond.

Debbie, Lisa, Cheri, Suzanne, Linda, and Christine. Amazing, amazing. (Have I said that enough?)
And all of this happened due to the vision that Jo Packham (Where Women Create) and Nancy Soriano (Country Living magazine) had. They are truly inspiring. And it worked...we all creatively connected.

I learned more over the course of these 4 days than I ever could have imagined, and forged friendships with talented women whose paths I perhaps never would have crossed. I'm looking forward to seeing how wynzia evolves over the next few months, all due to the wisdom and experience gleaned from so many incredible artists and business people. I am so loving this journey. Thanks for joining me!

Personalize that Engineer's Hat from Target -- A Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:24:00 +0000

I am a hat person. (Not a cat person...a hat person.) I love them. Come winter, I wear them everyday, all day. I even plan to make myself a nightcap for sleeping in next winter. Adjusting to a bare head in the spring time is always such an adjustment...I feel so naked. I have a few brimmed hats that I adore...but alas, they are somewhat snug for my big ol' noggin. So, while picking up some household staples, I accidentally wandered into the hat section at my local Target store. (Oh Target, I wish I knew how to quit you.) And there I found...a black hat. Yay! And it fit! I almost did a herkie jump right there in the store. A closer inspection showed that the matte silver buttons adorning it were...well, rather blah. Who better to buy such a hat than the gal with the largest button collection this side of the Mississippi?? No worries...an easy problem to solve.

I found a few gems after rummaging through a small selection of said large collection.

The old boring buttons...(BEFORE)

...have been replaced by lovely vintage buttons. (AFTER)

Sigh. My head is happy.

To Sleep or Not to Sleep...

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:28:00 +0000

As I multi-task at this late hour, I'm asking myself what I would do with a few more hours in the day. Would I sleep a bit more? Or would I treat those hours like the proverbial purse and just try to cram them to overflowing?

I'm guessing the latter.

For a gal who was nicknamed Sleeping Beauty in her youth due to her ability to fall into slumber anytime, anywhere, for sometimes an amazing length of time...well, there seems to be no hint of this girl in her present carnation. The night time is my time, and I cling to it. I need it...not just so that I can sew another flower or write another blog posting, but for it's emotional benefits, too.

A quiet house is a beautiful thing.

I'm going to try to get a few more things done yet tonight, so I'll simply leave you with images of some current wynzia items. A couple of these will be part of a silent auction package I pulled together for my little one's preschool carnival this weekend. Others will find their way to my Etsy shop in the next few days.

Music by The Weepies

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:00:00 +0000

I have a song stuck in my head. I love this song. It makes my heart hurt a bit, but that's sometimes a criteria for me in choosing my music. So glad that I'm at such a happy place in my life, or this song would be on replay for all of the wrong reasons. The Weepies...you are so appropriately named.

So then I found this silly video of The World Spins Madly On. It's cute. My little people adore it. FYI that they also love the smiles in Nobody Knows Me At All and the giant muppets of Can't Go Back Now. (What can I say? They have good taste in music. I'm a proud mama.)

These claymation characters have the most expressive faces. Oh, the heartbreak. But then, the joy. Are you feeling it??

A Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:15:00 +0000

I am a small-business owner, looking to make my little mark in the world. It is SO helpful to connect with others doing similar things. They help me grow as an artist and as a business. A wonderful group of folks I have found are those in the HandmadeMN group. We all are Minnesota artists (and a few Hudson, WI folks), and we all have a shop on Etsy.

Well, every month on our blog, we host a giveaway. And this month, wynzia is the featured seller! The contest ends February 6. Check out the details on how to be entered to win these three lovely satin flower bobby pins.

Yesterday I was singing the praises of the amazing winter sun. 'Tis true that I love it so, but truth be told, I'm a warm-weather lovin', beachy kind of gal. Just looking at these little pretty things brings thoughts of summer. Sigh.

Happy day to you all. And enter this giveaway!!

Melting Crayons for Valentine's Day Favors--a Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:10:00 +0000

Valentine's Day. For my little people, that means gifts of sweets and plastic doodads given to them in their classrooms. My poor daughters...they have a mama with so many issues about excessive sugar and silly plastic objects from sweatshops on the other side of the globe.

But I digress (once again.)

To counter some of that, we did the very fun and cool craft project of melting crayons into shapes. Since it was for the Day of Love, we used some heart molds that we had scored at a garage sale that summer. We are prolific crayons artists, so we had lots and lots of crayon bits. My then-Pepsi addiction (but recently kicked...yay!) provided us lots of aluminum cans for our makeshift Dutch oven for the melting process.

SUPPLIES:

*crayon bits (the higher quality, the better. We seemed to have lots of Crayola. The cheaper brands just don't seem to melt well, if at all.)

*silicone mold with shape of choice (these seem to be everywhere these days. IKEA, Target, thrift stores, etc. etc.)

*aluminum cans (one for each of the different colors you'll be making)

*cooking pot (we used a soup pot...nice and big)

*water (about 1" seemed to be enough)

*stovetop (though you could probably do this over a campfire...now that'd be fun!)

*stirring stick (I used wooden kebab skewers...they were handy, nice and long...)

This is so cool. Here we go...

1. Gather your crayons and peel off the wrappers. Remember, good quality crayons. (I ignored advice and tried the cheaper kinds, and ended up retrieving them from the hot, soupy mess.)

2. Sort the crayons into color groups. I ended up needing more bits than expected per finished crayon. Err on the side of too much.

3. Carefully cut off tops of aluminum cans. (These are obviously sharp, so really truly, be careful with this step. Don't let yourself get distracted! And it's definitely a job for the grown ups.) Designate one can per color. Add the crayon groups to their respective cans.

4. Add about 1" of water to your pot and place on stovetop. I didn't want to get my Caphalon pot full of greasy crayon remains, so I was really careful about not letting any drippings get into the water, sides of cans, or pot itself. I found that the more cans I put into the pot, the more upright they stayed instead of floating to their sides. (Ah, the laws of bouyancy...you can incorporate all kinds of science lessons during this project.)

5. Watch the crayons...don't multi-task too much during this process. My kiddoes loved watching the crayons melt before their very eyes. I'd occasionally stir them with my kebab skewers, as well as remove the cheap crayons that didn't melt.

6. Carefully, carefully remove the aluminum cans, one by one, and pour the melted crayons into the molds. You want them to be hot when you pour, so leave the cans in the pot until ready to pour. In other words, don't take them all out of the pot at once. If you keep you heat on low, the melted mixture should be fine.)

7. The empty cans look so lovely, don't they?

8. Let the crayons cool COMPLETELY in their molds. We even put ours into the freezer for awhile because we were impatient and excited. When absolutely cool to the touch, carefully remove them from the molds. (The freezer seemed to make them come out of the mold easier, but they seemed to be somewhat fragile, and I ended up breaking a few of them.)

9. Put one or two lovely heart crayons in a little bag for your kiddoes to give to their buddies. We created little notes to include in the organza gift bags we used, just to be sure that it was noted these were crayons to use and not candy to eat. (A friend told me her daughter snuck into her candy stash and took a bite out of her lovely pink heart-shaped crayon. Not a pleasant experience, but it did stop her from taking candy without first asking.)

Now we need to figure out our project for this year. Time is ticking...any suggestions??

Winter Sun

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:31:00 +0000

There are some things about winter that I love. The sound of snow crunching under my feet. The sight of tree branches heavily-laden with the whitest of snow. Even the sensation of frozen nostril hairs...that one absolutely amuses me, and my brother-in-law from the south just shakes his head in wonder that people live in such a place where this phenomenon occurs.

But I digress.

Most of all, I love the long shadows cast by the winter sun. On this cold January day, everything is crisp and clear above, and crazily distorted on the ground. It makes for a lovely walk of the grounds.

I'll take the cold as long as I also get this amazing sunshine. Of course, my smile might not be as big as usual since the frozen air does indeed make my teeth hurt.

Easy Peasy Chair Recovering Project--a Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:40:00 +0000

Through the wonder of technology, a very nice contributing editor from Apartment Therapy contacted me. She'd noticed some photos I'd posted on my Flickr photostream of a DIY project I'd done with our kitchen chairs, and wanted to write a feature about this project on their website. After a little happy dancing, we corresponded a few times, and the next day, there were my photos and a little article about my Saarinen-ish chairs. Yay! And the fun continued when they appeared in de cor8 and TrendHunter as well.

In case such a project seems daunting to you, rest assured, it can be done rather simply. Really.

I am a thrifter, garage saler, Craiglist lover. It does make another grown up in this house a bit weary, but I love to find castoffs and make them pretty. My table and chairs were just such a find. They were so pitiful looking in their, as TrendHunter put it, "baby puke colored upholstery," but I knew that would be easy to remedy.

For a simple seat recovering job such as this one, you'll need:

SUPPLIES

*Screwdriver

*Heavy-duty stapler

*Fabric of choice (I have little people, so went with some oilcloth that I found online at Denver Fabrics

*Time (this took me about 1.5 hours to cover 4 chairs...but I'm kind of putzy)

Here we go...

1. Remove the upholstered part of the chair seat. This particular chair has a few screws underneath the seat. (I didn't take photos of this part with the old covering, but this is what it all looks like when the seat has been removed.)

2. Using the removed chair seat as my pattern, I first figured out my pattern placement. Then, I cut around the seat but added approximately 2" extra; this allowed me to have enough fabric to wrap around and staple to the back of the seat.

3. Use the heavy-duty stapler for the task of attaching the fabric, pulling the oilcloth snugly, but watching to ensure that the pattern stays centered. Don't be shy with the staples...you want the fabric to stay put, and be as smooth as possible.

4. Finally, reattach with the screws on the underside of the chair, and stand back to admire your handiwork. If I were to do mine again, I would add some additional batting to the seat (you can find that at any fabric store) since the foam in these are probably originally from the 1970s, and could use a little plumping.

If you have any more questions, please ask. And I'd love to hear about your own DIY projects.

Stones and Icebergs

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:37:00 +0000

During a moment of distraction today, stumbled upon a new lovely blog, resurrection fern...her photography is breathtaking, and her artistry amazes.

And then, as so often happens, she led me to Jenn Hart's "You'll Go Far." My heart hurts from its beauty, and I wish to get lost in the stillness.

Tag...I'm it

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:11:00 +0000

I must start by saying that I am in awe of folks who regularly blog...who make the time to maintain the practice of blogging. It takes a whole big bunch of discipline. Let's just say that I'm working on that...

To help me get back in the swing of it, I'm taking advantage of being tagged by an amazing photographer and friend, Vahneesa Norberg, at Black Dog's Photographer. Still feels strange to share so much about myself to the world at large, but I'm the one who decided to blog...big breath....

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. completing much too much paperwork

2. traveling to and from North Carolina to see my then- beau/now-husband

3. swing dancing and contra dancing at least once a week

4. taking yoga with Lisa Belfiori...best instructor ever!

5. reading novels, attending concerts and plays, eating at restaurants, seeing films, gardening into the night, attending pottery classes, and taking time for granted...things one can easily do without young children

5 things on my to-do list today:

1. coordinate kiddoes playdates

2. finish custom order for wynzia

3. organize studio

4. get on with life after euphoria of the President Obama inauguration

5. start second book in Stephenie Meyers' 'Trilogy' series

5 snacks that I like:

1. whole grain Goldfish (paired with a Summit Pale Ale...favorite night time combo...so pitiful)

2. Honeycrisp apples

3. carrots and hummus

4. chocolate anything and everything

5. cherry tomatoes straight from the garden

5 things that I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. help family and friends get back on track financially after losing their jobs in this crazy economy

2. help husband start his own business

3. give to Heifer.org, Nature Conservancy, God's Plumbline, and our local food shelf

4. move family to Africa or India for a few years

5. visit my Top 10 places to visit, starting with New Zealand

5 places that I have lived (for any length of time):

1. out of a backpack in Peru

2. on a boat in Amsterdam

3. oceanside in Mexico

4. the northside and the southside of Minneapolis

5. in a wigwam in Wisconsin

5 jobs that I have had:

1. Touch Key Professional (aka cashier...pre-scanners) at Target

2. child-care worker at live-in shelter for abused children

3. teacher with Peace Corps-Nepal

4. junior high teacher

5. learning specialist at University of Minnesota

I'm supposed to tag 5 additional folks...I'll get back to you on that.

Music by Hem

noreply@blogger.com (wynzia) — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:42:00 +0000

Every once in awhile I find a new band to adore. This doesn't happen as often as it did in the days of old (aka before kiddos), so when it does, it's such a treat. I reconnected with an old college friend recently...my "Let's go see so-and-so play at 7th St Entry tonight" friend. We used to go hear local bands of the late 80s such as Trip Shakespeare, the Widgets, Stickman, and Tina and the B-Side Movement, as well as Billy Bragg, Chris Isaak, and U2. A lifetime ago, it seems. So fast-forward a bunch of years, and through the magic of technology, I can see what music my friend is now calling his favorites. I was so thrilled to discover a new band for me by the name of Hem. Beautiful...the stuff that makes my heart hurt, but in a good way. Have a listen...

It amuses me to see which songs from my iTunes play list make my daughters' toes tap. For awhile, my eldest was continually singing "Yes, We Can"...the moving song created by will.i.am from Barack Obama's New Hampshire speech. Currently, both of my girls are requesting Kacey Chambers' "Not Pretty Enough." Now, it's a bit odd...even disconcerting...to watch their innocent little selves belting out the lines of a song about a woman's insecurities in the face of a failed relationship. But I like how KC used a different message in her video so that it can also be about not discounting anyone, nor making judgments, based on appearance, sense of humor, or idiosyncrasies. I can now say that I have no reservations about cranking the volume and singing my heart out right along with them.

Music and dancing on the brain this week. Here are some fun little doo-dads in my Etsy shop which have music written all over them. (ba-da-bum)