happy new year!

wishing i could be in new york to be a part of the times square celebrations, i was happy to find this gem of a photo. and then! a fun video chronicling the festivities since the '70's.

it's funny how new year's makes me tear up every time, when it's really just one more day. i guess it's the symbol of something new, fresh beginnings, a clean slate, and maybe a second chance. we probably all need those things more than we realize, so when that big day rolls around once a year, it is full of all of the anticipation and desires of the entire previous year.

happy new year!

love,

j

1,2,3,4.

let's talk resolutions.

i have a few of them, and because i usually think long and hard before i commit to making them, i tend to keep them. so here goes:

1. lose 15 pounds.

2. finally address some of the skeletons in my closet.

3. figure out a way to get a dog.

4. get a dog.

5. exercise to keep the bitchiness away.

6. paint. often. or at least once a month.

7. memorize a new chopin waltz.

8. write real letters more.

9. start planning my trucker documentary.

10. be kind to everyone. empathy. love. patience.

eee. simultaneously terrifying and exciting to actually write them down...

love,

j

naughty list

despite my resolution to post just one thing every day, it seems that during the christmas madness when i really ought to be nicest, i just haven't been very good at it. i'm going to try to catch up a little today, although i'm not sure exactly how many beautiful things will equate to the days i've missed... this is going to be quite the smorgasbord (mm, smorgasbord).

first, and foremost, while i do not now (nor ever will) take terrorism lightly, i am inspired by the idea of sewing things into my underwear. and fireworks.

whenever i said "so?" as a kid, which wasn't too often, i promise, my mum always said, "sew buttons on your underwear!" fantastic.

next, the prettiest new lamp i ever did get! it's living on the moustache chair until i buy (or find) a side table, but it seems happy enough.

and lastly, my drive home from columbia city tonight. because some days being stuck in traffic really isn't all that bad. there are, in fact, days like this when the sun shines at just the right light and i'm all for putting away my running shoes and calling this city a keeper.

hope this gets me back on the nice list.

love,

j

penguinsoul

this is my darling girl ana's favorite e.e. cummings poem, and it seems appropriate for the day:

if a cheerfulest Elephantangelchild should sit

(holding a red candle over his head
by a finger of trunk,and singing out of a red

book)on a proud round cloud in a white high night

where his heartlike ears have flown adorable him
self tail and all(and his tail's red christmas bow)
-and if,when we meet again,little he(having flown
even higher)is sunning his penguinsoul in the glow

of a joy which wasn't and isn't and won't be words

while possibly not(at a guess)quite half way down
to the earth are leapandswooping tinily birds
whose magical gaiety makes your beautiful name-

i feel that(false and true are merely to know)
Love only has ever been,is,and will ever be,So



merry christmas! (god jul).
love,
j

pomander

one of the things about christmas i always forget is how busy i am towards the end... last minute gifts, stocking stuffers, food, errands- today i couldn't stop rushing, and finally took a break to run down and grab the package that had arrived for me. i thought it was presents i'd ordered, and was pleased as pike's peach when she handed it over.

a gift from miss e, all the way from the heart of oakland. what a perfect moment, opening it... first, a card, with a painting by klimt, in fact, one of my favorite paintings of all time: the kiss. then a box of seaglass (she wrote about it on her blog). my grandmother and i used to collect seaglass and put it in bell jars in the windows so the light could shine through. and the pieces from e are beautiful, some turquoise, some almost a pink blush. then some excellent cookies that you can drink tea through like a straw, and finally...

i had never seen one of these before:



it smells amazing. like somebody gathered up all the things i love about this time of year and put them in an orange and mailed them to me (i suppose there's an element of truth to that). and after googling them, i found out they're called pomanders and have actually been around for quite a long time. anyway, i like how they look, and i love how they smell and i adore that they're called pomanders because it sounds a little like poindexter, and i sure do think that's an excellent name.

miss e. thank you for my wonderful gift. it brightened up my whole life.

love,
j

city of light

beautiful day today. cloud city coffee (peppermint mocha), fred meyer's (we have a love affair), painting (i'd forgotten how it smells and feels and sucks me in, it'd been so long), and soon heading over to my folks' for a nice graduation party complete with champagne, delicious food, and the people i love.

BUT. i've got an exquisitely beautiful thing for you today. i found this picture of seattle while working on my mum's christmas gift:



(amazing). this city is so fantastic.
elena said to me the other day (in a letter, but it felt like she was there), "i do love the bay area. and i think it loves me too."

today i feel exactly the same way. i'm pretty sure my love for this pretty little one-horse-town is most definitely being reciprocated. (maybe even echoing?)

love,
j

synchronicity

"the experience of two or more events that are causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner. to count as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance."

(thanks, wikipedia).

love,
j

centifolia

my grandmother bought me this dress today, which was pretty much the highlight of my week.
it's called "centifolia corset dress."

centifolia, in case you didn't know (i didn't, and i garden) is a type of rose. it looks something like this:



beautiful.

love,
j

ps. happy happy happy birthday miss e. i am sending you love and kisses and cake and centifolias.

addendum

regarding my last post, that's my grandmother's favorite version.

my grandfather's favorite, though was this:



when hunting for these online, i came across a village people cover of the song. i'd skip it, if i were you.

love,
j

gigolo

as of today, i am officially finished with college!

yes ma'am or sir, after some detours and roadblocks, i did indeed make my way back into school and stay in it long enough to get one of those handy diplomas.

my grandpa died in july, and i wish more than anything that he could be around for this. so in an homage to one of my favorite people on earth, here's the song he could remember all the words to until the very end:



(my grandfather, incidentally, is the man who taught me how to dance).

love,
j

the greek and his italian girl

maybe one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen:



(bbc has a really great little clip of it in sacremento that we found yesterday, but it lacked a roman lightpost).

today on the bus, i watched a couple having an argument in sign language, and it was fascinating. when i get mad, i tend to make a lot of noise, and here was this supremely silent fight, lacking none of the intensity that mine always possess. whenever the woman didn't want to know what he was saying, she just shut her eyes, which (of course) drove him crazy. and i wondered, when your disagreements are expressed through your hands, do you choose your words more carefully? is there something about tangibly and physically forming insults and terse phrases that reminds you not to be rash? or do you still have that day-after, 'i wish i hadn't said that' moment? i guess i've never thought about the danger of silently signing things you will later regret.

by the end of my ride, they were smiling, and if you hadn't been paying attention, you might not have ever noticed that a near-crisis had been averted...

love,
j

photo of the day

(14 december, slowly creeping into the 15th).

for anyone who loves seattle (touch your nose!) i stumbled upon a lovely treasure this morning... yes, it's another blog, but it's beautiful and quirky and unexpected in that way only the northwest can be...

http://seattle-daily-photo.blogspot.com/

tonight was beautiful in general, actually. i made roasted chicken breasts stuffed with chevre, garlic, artichoke hearts, and sundried tomatoes. delicious. and then we walked around downtown, looking at the lights and window displays and the christmas tree. i was a little underwhelmed by the size of the tree, and swore that the portland tree was bigger (although, i admittedly haven't seen the portland tree lighting since i was about seven). upon further research, the portland tree is 52 feet tall and the seattle tree refuses to disclose its height (probably has branch envy... bad joke), but does boast 25,000 LED lights upon its boughs. portland remains a contender by offering a chanukah menorah lighting.

love,

j

(late gift).

ok. i need to make sure every day means every day, not two things every other day.

to be fair, yesterday was the gre, and then i made dinosaur christmas (and a couple jewish) cookies, which will constitute my second beautiful thing, and today would have been my grandpa's birthday, so i spent all day with my family.

ah, excuses, excuses.

beauty neither stops nor waits for the world to catch up.

so, my first beautiful thing is actually another blog. inspired by my lovely friend slash penpal slash soul-friend elena, i've been looking at everything in a new light. and when i let her know about my blog, she started her own! and it, much like she, is absolutely stunning. so here it is:

lategift.wordpress.com

i love it. i love her. and tomorrow i am going to entirely secretly buy a stranger something, even if it is small. (elena, i will probably be sending you something very soon as well). by the way, elena (creatureface) is having a birthday in four days.

that definitely calls for sweets. which brings me to my second beautiful thing, which is dinosaur christmas cookies. my cousin kelly anne (fully aware of my love for dinos) bought me a williams-sonoma set of dinosaur cookie cutters from goodwill, and everyone knows stegosauri are definitely the most spirited members of the animal kingdom when it comes to christmas...

ps. if you and i are anything alike, you really ought to listen to christmas in hollis. now.

in fact, here's a freebie:

(how about that, THREE beautiful things? amazing).

love,

j

2-fer

oops. got busy yesterday and didn't post, so here's two things today:

first, langston hughes' jukebox lovesong:

I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem's heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day--
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.

and then the boss:

i am finding the exercise of searching out and recognizing beauty in the world one for which i am increasingly grateful, particularly on days like today, when i am tired and stressed and feel as though i have a million things running through my head. a little springsteen never hurts, either.

love,

j

julehjerter

(christmas hearts).

how lucky that when i was looking for how to make those lovely paper baskets the danes put little candies in and hang on their christmas trees, i stumbled across these exceptionally translated instructions:

You du have needs of thinly shiny Paper, by two colours.

You do fold they and do outline a square and a halv semicircle, on them.

Do Cut it (square + semicircle) out by a DOUBLE layer of paper. By the semicircle opposite to the fold.

1. Do cut strip in the square, but little in the semicircle.

Do not to many strips, and the strips have needs to been little longer as the square.

2. 3. Do woven the strops inside and on the outside each other

(not up, not down)

4. Do glue the handle on.

Symbol by templet:

Small arrow saying: "Please, do start here"

2. and 1. saying: "Please, do start by os together"

(i love them).

god jul!

jess

courtesy of haabet.dk

a keen city in the sky

(photo by my jacob).

3 things i love about this city:

how when you step off of a plane, you can smell that hint of the sea.

blackberries everywhere in august, and all the pies i can and do and will make as a result.

hydrangeas.

oh, seattle, how i adore you.

love,

jess

i like my body when it is with your

(by e.e. cummings).

i like my body when it is with your

body. It is so quite a new thing.

Muscles better and nerves more.

i like your body. i like what it does,

i like its hows. i like to feel the spine

of your body and its bones, and the trembling

-firm-smooth ness and which i will

again and again and again

kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,

i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz

of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes

over parting flesh ... And eyes big love-crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you so quite new

tamara

(de lempicka).

one of my absolute favorite artists... captured all the beauty and glamour and darkness, positive and negative space, that is life.

i've been missing los angeles lately. not enough to ever move back, but enough to miss some of that dark glamour. lush life. the contrast between softness and harsh light, the city and its dirt, and the flowers that grow there. and the sound of palm trees in the wind.

here comes christmas! today i bought the most exquisite tree, but it was very expensive, so unfortunately i will be unable to purchase any presents this year.

love,

j