I’m not sure if this happens to anyone else, maybe I’m just close-minded, but sometimes I go through periods of not being able to find any exhibitions that I particularly want to see in Boston. It might also have to do with motivation due to my work schedule (or lack thereof). (Can I just get a night shift job again please? Monday through Friday? I’ll work nearly every holiday because I hate them!)

I can usually count on Samson in the South End to have something interesting. They are showing Lisa Sigal Shifting Horizon until May 25th, a series of urban landscape paintings that spout architecture. Literally. I was curious to see which refers to the LA River– from my experience (which may or may not include a drunken treck though the breathtakingly polluted river), I expected it to be the grey-on-grey-on-grey-on-grey diptych pictured here, but I was wrong. It’s here, unmistakably Los Angeles concrete. It doesn’t look like they’ll be showing that one, but I don’t mind, it’s not my favorite.

The last line of the Boston Globe review nails it:

“The way Sigal constructs her works compels us to look at sites we habitually ignore. She renews abandoned places, ignored and ugly places. She does not make them beautiful. She simply makes us see.” – Cate McQuaid, Correspondent, Boston Globe

The gallery’s website is a bit confusing– the “future” page lists both 2013 and 2012 exhibitions and some without years at all, but if the summer group exhibition is accurate, it’s all forgiven. Mark Cooper, Summer Wheat, Nicole Cherubini and eight more artists will be dragging my proverbial ass out of my air conditioned office and into the South End this summer. I would post some images of their work, but none have anything up for 2013! Artists. (Says the girl who hasn’t updated hers since 2010.)

Tangent: I tend to use my Pinterest art board as a sort of visual bookmarks folder, in case you’re feeling curious. It didn’t make sense to me to have hundreds of artists websites bookmarked in chrome where it shows only the name and URL, most of which I won’t remember. Visual memories are different, so “that artist that painted the sides of record albums”, with a quick reference to my pinterest board, becomes Jon Widman. (There are two links there because HE DOESN’T HAVE A WEBSITE and the gallery doesn’t show my favorites, but The Jealous Curator does.)

I’m loving blogs about vintage right now, especially where people have really done their research about what they find so that we can scour the internet for our own. This post interests me especially because I’m always looking for Icelandic vintage on etsy and it’s hard to come by. I have a few things from my family, but I want more, more, more.

Source: kitka.

The vase they found at Friða Frænka was made by sculptor Ragnar Kjartansson’s studio, Glit, in 1958. Sadly, they don’t seem to be around any more but you can find some on etsy here, here, and here and a whole bunch more on ebay.

They also posted about Hopea, an online vintage Scandinavian jewelry shop. I’ve never been so into jewelry over the $100 mark and now I am contemplating how many extra hours I would need to work for a Bjorn Weckstrom.

Source: Hopea.

Source: Hopea.

There’s more scandinavian modern jewelry on Etsy than I could even begin to tell you about so go ahead and search and say goodbye to the next hour of your life (and all your tears when you see some of the prices).

I love breaking rules. I love shooting towards the sun and getting that nice halo of light around hair and subtle silhouette. I like putting furniture on top of each other or in strange places. It’s more about utility than whimsy. I’d love a row of tall bookcases behind a couch, mainly so that I could grab a book without getting my ass off the couch, but also probably because I saw it somewhere and liked it.

Those dressers have hit the curb, replaced by a Jan Van Koert Profile Series for Drexel Tall Walnut Chest (!) that I scored for $25 and restored. (Ok, so maybe I’m still working on the knobs and pulls, maybe they are tentatively being used with leather cord pulls.)

I think the above sewing cabinet will end up in my defunct fireplace, if it will fit. I can’t stand to put books in there, I love them too much and they are too fragile. The sewing cabinet is a family piece and really interesting; it doesn’t open by doors as it appears, but on a swivel type mechanic by pushing on one side. I’ll have to post more pictures once I set it up again!

Click on the images to go to the item.

Bad Girls Throughout History by Ann Shen – Etsy – Website – Blog

12 Mini “You’re Disgusting” Calling Cards – Etsy – Tumblr

These calling cards are made by my friend Sara M. Lyons. She’s an illustrator based out of Long Beach, CA. She also co-writes a zine Library Sciences with Jennie Cotterill and plays in Cock Sparrer cover band Cunt Sparrer. Check out her shop for temporary tattoos and nail decals too. (I promise they look better in real life than they do on my instagram!) Expect to see more of this lady.

Feminism is Cool Banner Sticker by Midge Blitz – Etsy – Tumblr

I have and love this sticker and some other stuff from Modern Girl Blitz/ Midge Blitz. It has two meanings to me: the literal meaning, but also the tongue-in-cheek meaning about this discussion (issue?) right now that feminism is trendy (see my previous words about buying pretty feminist loot). Is that really bad? I don’t think it is. Yes, feminism is imperfect. There are a lot of issues with feminists excluding WOC and the trans community. I am trying to learn more about this. Everyone should be. I’m not going to stop calling myself a feminist because of this, because this isn’t what feminism means to me. Fuck those that are exclusionary of race and gender issues and the people that need them addressed. I get that people don’t want to call themselves feminists and become associated with that, but society and language are working against us. Prove you aren’t associated by standing up for them, spreading the word, and making feminism a place for them as well. As far as the trend, I don’t know about you but I love that there are more articles to read and more people to connect with in support of women.

On that note, check out GQTales Etsy Shop for a great selection of transgender zines (for trans and CIS reading) and you can help the Spokane Trans* People Support Group create more educational materials by shopping at their etsy.

Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine has been a great read so far as well. If you want some previews in the form of quotes, there are a bunch on tumblr.

This is really embarrassing, being from the Boston area. Here’s an article on Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade excluding LGBT groups– anyone in Boston want to start a LGBTQ + friendly St. Patrick’s Day parade?

Meet Sukki, the love of my life. I adopted her last August from a shelter that sent her up from Tennessee, where she had been abandoned. She was described as a pug and feist mix. The pug is mostly in her big eyes. I wasn’t sure what a feist was (other than Leslie Feist) at first. It turns out it’s a general term for a crossbreeding of different types of small hunting dogs, mainly terriers (rat, jack russell). The terrier thing makes sense, this dog is W I L D. I’m still trying to capture her pounce, but she’s so fast! I’ve yet to find anything similar on YouTube. She gets on her back legs, extends her front legs, and hesitates for a second before pouncing. It’s one of my favorite things, along with her Tokyo Drift (sideways running) move.

This is all cute and fun and great, except for when it’s 1am and I need to sleep so I can function at work the next morning. Sukki and I are still working hard on training, but it’s not instantaneous. In December, I bought Doolittle & Pup’s dog aromatherapy essential oil blend for calming her, and honestly my expectations for dog aromatherapy were very low. It took me a while to try it– I didn’t want to use it if I didn’t need to and we were doing pretty good with exercise until the storms hit. I started using it occasionally at night, a drop or two under her collar and then I rub it in. I only use it once or twice a week max, but HOLY CRAP IT WORKS. She can be very anxious at times too, but I have yet to use it for that– we’ll be working with a trainer on that first.

Check out their shop, they have a couple other products too.

Oh, and if you were wondering about her name, it’s pronounced sue-ki. (Not like Sookie from True Blood. And not “suck-i” as my nephews insist.) Súkkulaði was the name of my aunt Helga’s first dog, named for the Icelandic word for chocolate. My Dad taught my sister and I to say “Súkkulaði, súkkulaði, súk súk súk!” in a sing-song voice when demanding chocolate when we were small. This may or may not be a large percentage of the Icelandic that I speak.

Source: LA Times

Happy Winter. This blog post from the LA Times with 50 animated snow globes is a couple years old, but I’ll never tire of it. I dream of acquiring more tacky plastic snow globes for my collection, no joke.

My lists for this year are full of embarrassing things, like start writing again because I haven’t since I graduated in 2010, and finally learn to play more than a few chords on the guitar that I’ve had for 9 years, or secretly record myself singing– is it really THAT bad? (That note is on the list, yes.)

I’m looking forward to working with my puppy (she’s so close to perfect), Iceland Airwaves in October, and doing the hard work to make my life what I want it to be.

My real lists are insane, and you would scroll forever, but just maybe I’ll share as I go. I’m going to begin with writing, starting by rereading some old work and making yet more lists of ideas, reading through the AGNI archives, and maybe pick up a copy of Book Forum. I hope it’s better than Art Forum. Any other suggestions?

A year ago, one of my closest friends moved to Strasbourg and met a man named Johan. Molli and Johan got engaged recently, and they asked me to take some photographs for their Christmas card on their one year anniversary. They are so sickeningly adorable, they made my job really easy.

Molli had final say on the tree.

Molli, it seems that not long ago we were getting drunk at roller derby and dancing to a Ramones cover band when you visited me in LA. I love you and I am incredibly happy for you. (Please allow this sucking-up to convince you to take me with you when you two go back to France.)

PS: How awesome is this car that we found at the tree farm?

Follow me on instagram! @kristineasta

My summer on the island has been great, and I’m sadly approaching my last week here. I’ve picniced and drank wine from jars by the water at the park, dove into unusually large waves at the beach, eaten pizza with salty hair and soaked clothing, and experienced Fiesta and July Fourth as a Gloucester resident.

I’m going to get real here. My life has changed greatly over the past few months. Most of the blogs I read gloss over this kind of thing, and as much as I would like to (it would certainly be easier), I have a need for honesty from myself and from others. So, here goes.

Tim and I broke up a few months ago. For his privacy, I won’t get into the details. It hurt like hell at first but now I’m feeling better than ever. Thanks to my sister, my best friends, whiskey, generous old men in bars, Daniel Craig’s shirtless bod, et cetera, I have survived and come out wiser, happier. Being in love, being in a relationship, is great, but for the first time I’ve been able to experience being a single, independent adult.

I lived alone for months, something I never thought I would be able to do. I kept my apartment (reasonably) clean, killed bugs, did yardwork, and finally stopped checking under my bed at night just kidding, I sometimes still check if I’ve watched a scary movie before bed. I’m adopting a dog on Friday, a pug & feist mix little girl who I intend to love with every ounce of my being. I got BLS (basic life support) certified and I am looking into other classes I can take at work before going back to school to finish some prerequisites for nursing. That’s not to say I’ve abandoned all creative endeavors, not in the least! My dad and I are drafting up a family photography business. My sister’s etsy is doing quite well and we have been bonding over our crafting.

I’ve spent more time with friends in the past few months than I have in a long time and I intend to put more effort into maintaining them as future relationships come and go. I’ve made new friends and reconnected with old ones.

I’m learning, growing, and genuinely excited about life again. I haven’t felt this way in a long time. I feel motivated and determined to make my life what I want it to be.

It’s my last week in Gloucester and I will be spending most of my time packing and moving and preparing for my new dog. I’ll be moving to Beverly for a while to save up as I hope to move to Somerville? East Boston? Chelsea? with some friends as soon as I can manage to do so comfortably! (I am trying to be more responsible and pay for school out of pocket, lets see how that goes.)

Summer officially begins tomorrow!

- nutella s’mores (on the stovetop if it’s rainy)
- read (at least) Satantango & My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me
- ride on a motorcycle
- escape the heat by seeing a movie alone
- at least one new tattoo
- go camping by a body of water