A New Coat

I love living in San Francisco: the easily accessible outdoor activities, the architecture, the culture, the museums, the fact that you can explore the entire city in a day. The list goes on and on. The only problem that I have is that in the dead of summer, I freeze my butt off. There are the occasional days, usually in October, that one can walk outside and be comfortable without a jacket for a few hours. But it’s rare.

Although we don’t get to enjoy warm summer nights, sitting outside sipping cocktails and watching the stars come out, there is one excellent advantage to living in this climate; I get to shop for jackets year round. I’ve put together a collage of some of my favorites on my buylist from all different stores and price ranges. You can check the rest of my great finds: San Francisco Summer Jackets.

I'm Back...

Tonight after work I came home and decided that I would just 

r-e-l-a-x.  It's the first night that I can remember in a looooong time that I've been able to just allow myself to hang out without letting the ubiquitous, nagging list of "Things to Do" bother me. Last weekend Rob and I hosted our friends' baby shower and it was a blast. That was actually the very first shower that I've ever been to; it seems strange that I have a handful of close girlfriends with babies, but Shannan and Mark are the first that actually live in San Francisco. I cannot wait to become Auntie Erin- in less than 2 months!

The new studio is amazing and I LOVE my studio mates.  We had our first official studio meeting last week and everything just felt so right.  On another note in the world of my art career, I'm waiting patiently this week to see if I've been chosen for this huge and amazing project that, if I am chosen, I plan to document its' progress here with pictures. I'll keep you posted...

The SF marathon is less than two weeks away and I'm really excited. I'm most excited for all of the trainees that I've been so lucky to help along the way with training. I'm going to miss those guys. Running a marathon is such a huge accomplishment, I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. 

Into the swing of things

I finally feel like I'm settling into life after school. As much as I've avoided it most of my life, I'm totally excited about the routine of working one job, 5 days a week; it makes the weekends that much more enjoyable.
I'm in the middle of making a decision about whether or not to take a studio with three other people from school. So far, all signs have pointed to "yes": the two girls are some of my favorite people to be around, and the space is huge and beautiful. Even down to the fact that the studio's former resident was one of my favorite professors and I heard that he's planning on leaving an amazing couch. One that I can easily picture myself lounging on while working on my embroidery projects...

I other news...
Marathon training- last Saturday I ran 16 miles and felt really good. I find out in a few weeks if I get into the NYC marathon. So exciting!

And.....finished.

It hasn't quite sunken in that I'm finished with school. I'm starting full time work on Tuesday, so my plans to take a few days off to get into the studio didn't pan out like I thought it would, but I'm actually excited to just have two jobs, no school instead of two jobs and school, which is like a job and a half in itself. I'm looking forward to my free time that can now be used as time for my own projects.
Here is a screen print that I finished the last week of school:

The Final Final

I'm getting incredibly excited to be done with school. I hate to have to reference a certain Pointer Sister's song from the 70's, having never been a fan, but I can relate to them.
My website is really coming together and I'm looking forward to it's big debut. It has gone through more than a few phases, but I'm happy with what I've done to it recently; it just took a whole lot of practice and a little tweaking of design issues. I'll be sure to list it here when it goes live!

Good Weekend Fun

This weekend I got a ton of time in the studio. I've almost finished the painting that I've been working on since February, and started another new project. Even though my studio space also doubles as my dining room, it's a really sunny, comfortable place to work. It also looks out into our garden that we've been diligently working on for the past few weeks.
Last week, I bought enough lumber to keep myself busy with panel building. I can't believe that we only have 3 weeks left of school. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it...

Artist's Website VII

Last Friday, I got to work on a project of the local artist, Tucker Nichols. When I say work, I mean package and label for shipping, so not actually work on the project, but it was fun. I can't say much about it, because the project is a secret, but I'll remember to unveil the secret when the time is right!
I was first introduced to Tucker when I went to a visiting artist lecture about 6 months ago. The lecturer was the owner of Lincart, a gallery on Market. Tucker seems to be a gallery favorite so he was in the video that the artist/gallery owner had shown.
His work is great and his website really reflects it.