You'll see me pinning...you'll see me pinning.... :D

Yay! I'm so excited I finally got a Pinterest account (thanks to my coworker for the invite!).

You can check out all my fun pins --- you know you want to!

Pinterst, please give me an account

For those of you who have visited Pinterest.com, you know how addicting it can be. It is the only place I have been that makes you want to exercise every minute, eat everything in sight and build a castle all on the same page. Pretty amazing, indeed. Now the fact that I can't seem to get an account makes me feel like I am trying to get into the popular clique in a typical 90s high school movie....and, nobody wants that.

I don't know what the deal is. I mean, I can find some cool pictures online just like all those pinsters! To show just a taste of said cool pictures I can find, I decided to put a board together for this post, maybe it will bump me up in the wait list.......please?

from edfrocmt.wordpress.com

Clearly this panda dog via this blog, is a little too cute.

The Post Punk Kitchen, yum!

This wonderful recipe from my favorite vegan baking website, The Post Punk Kitchen, it most drool worthy. I think I'm going to try these out tonight!

Free building plan at ana-white.com

I just moved into a new house, and my art supplies are strewn about and I desperately need to make this. It is the perfect size, but I'm going to stain it dark, dark brown! Gotta love ana-white.com!

Musewear flipflops

So, I need new flips pretty badly. I actually had to (finally) throw away my beloved Birkenstocks during this last move. I purchased them when I lived in Italy, which was...oh, about 4.5 years ago! They had walked all over Europe with me, and a good part of the US as well. Needless to say, ew. I stumbled upon this awesome brand, Musewear, during my search. This brand is very friendly to all kinds of causes, like the environment, fair work and all that. :) They have several different lines, but this dog one is totally my favorite!  

You see, Pinterest, if you let me in your super secret club, I will post cool stuff like this all the time. I promise, you wont regret it.

Thanks for your consideration,

Celia 

Whoa! A new post and....word!

So, needless to say it's bee a WHILE since I last posted. Phew. I've been pretty busy with the non-web based media (i.e. reading a ton of books). But I have decided to break back into it, and what better than to bring back Wednesday's word?

Today, while reading one of the new books, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, I purchased yesterday at Queen Anne Books (Love that place!), I found several words I didn't know. Now, generally I feel that I'm a fairly loquacious person. However, I have been reading more than my fair share of young adult books lately, and they don't require a lot of overt literary knowledge. As fun as they may be, and boy, do I love them! One word I found particularly interesting was "incunabulum." It was a word I had never heard until I stumbled through its over abundance of vowels on the page. What did it mean, I wondered? Needless to say, I was very happy with the definition I found.

According to the web, Incunabulum is actually a plural version of incunable. It means: a printed work, usually hand written, printed before 1501. It can also refer to old art of that period. Its derivative is Latin, and oddly, the Latin word does not refer to a book...


I felt pretty silly to not know this word, given the amount of attention I give to old books and the like. I most certainly, however, have not been lucky enough to get an incunable in my hands, but it will most definitely be my next book endeavor. I am curious to know how many are out there? I can't imagine there are many books still in solid condition floating around that were printed before 1501. Can you imagine how long it would take to print books by hand, pre printing press?! It's daunting just to think about. How many of you have seen a book this old in the flesh?

Until next time,
C

image from 32rarebooks.com

Ups and downs

I recently applied to grad school for Creative Writing. While I have not received entirely negative feedback, I have not gotten in to many of the schools that I was interested in. boo. So, do I allow the board of 'professionals' to tell me that I can't? I will not.

If only life came with a permanent pro/con list, it would make things a lot easier, but it doesn't.

So, I have decided to dedicate this post to those things that inspire me to create, be creative, and see all that is beautiful in life.


1. My dog: Monkey - She is the single happiest creature I have ever had the pleasure of encountering. I think life would be a lot better if we all lived more like a dog.
2. Seattle - through the rain and, well, more rain, you are a beautiful city with beautiful people that never cease to amaze me. I love this city, down to every last raindrop


3. Art/Artists/Authors - all of the people the create and the things they create keep me going and make me realize that it is possible to live the dream and do what you love. Thank you.
4. My friends and family (who I won't name for their happiness) - I am surrounded my a wonderful group of people who make everyday better and who always encourage me to follow my dreams.

Somedays, ya' just need a little inspiration.

Wednesday's Word: Candle

I just got the best new lilac-scented candle, and I got to thinking about where that word came from. It doesn't seem to have any relation to light, or fire (at least that my plain, English eye can spot) -- so I thought I would do a little poking around and find out where the word candle comes from. Here's what I found:

Definition: can·dle (kndl) n.

1.

a. A solid, usually cylindrical mass of tallow, wax, or other fatty substance with an axially embedded wick that is burned to provide light.

b. Something resembling this object in shape or use.

2. Physics

a. Abbr. c An obsolete unit of luminous intensity, originally defined in terms of a wax candle with standard composition and equal to 1.02 candelas. Also called international candle.

(definition from The Free Dictionary.)

The word is from the base "candare", which means to shine.

Candle use dates back to as early at the 4th century B.C. (wow!), but use of the modern "wicked" candle seems to be credited to the ancient Romans.

"The earliest people credited with developing the "wicked" candle are the ancient Romans, before 3,000 B.C. They used rolled papyrus and dipped it repeatedly in melted tallow (cattle or sheep fat) or beeswax," according to Devlyn Candles.

Fun fact: birthday candles started as a German tradition.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag (Happy Birthday)!

So now you know! Don't burn the candle at both ends! :)

What is your favorite kind of candle?

David Garrett tomorrow night

If you haven' t heard about this super cute, super talented violinist -- you most certainly need to check. him. out.

He currently holds the record for playing "Flight of the Bumblebees" faster than anyone else has ever played it. In only 1 minute, and 6 seconds, he plays the entire piece -- you barely even notice he's moving.

Seriously.


Aside from the classical training, and obvious talent, he plays a wide variety of popular music on the violin as well. I'm most excited to hear my favorite band, Queen.

He's going to be in Seattle tomorrow night at the Moore Theater, and I am more than ready to put on my 12-year-old fan shoes.

Wednesday's Word: Namaste

(This beautiful garden post comes from Shining Sun Garden Works)

As a casual yoga lover, the words used to describe breath, movement and the sense of being in yoga practice have always been of much interest to me. In class, I often feel that the words represent a person or other living thing. They often carry so much character.

On word in particular has really made me wonder about its origin, Namaste.

It is a word (as anyone who has ever been to a yoga class knows) that you, and your instructor, say at the end of every class. When I first heard the word, I expected it meant something like "Thank You," but I have found out that it is so much more. It is a word that we should use in every practice of every day.

Definition: This Hindu salutation says "the divine in me honors the divine in you." The expression is used on meeting or parting and usually is accompanied by the gesture of holding the palms together in front of the bosom. Pronounced NUM-ah-stay, according to Yoga Movement.
Orijen: Sanskrit

It is an acknowledgment of the others "self," and when I began thinking of it that way, it took on a much greater meaning in my life. We can acknowledge, like this, the life in everything, not just other people. Other animals, possessions, land....It seems the list goes on and on.

So this week, I hope to use this word in my day-to-day life, and honor all of the beautiful life around me. You can practice yoga, and namaste, with this free 20-minute video at Yoga Journal's great website.

What you want to want to honor in your life?

Namaste -
C

I'm Back...and REAAADING! :)

I'm back home, after a lovely trip to Kentucky, and now it's back to the "Real World." I am, however, now a member of a new thing called The Slow Reader's Book Club, which I am very excited about.

With everything that flashes by in the day-to-day, it is a club about really enjoying and thinking about what is read. It's not just about checking it off the list.

Our first book is going to be Half-Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls, another true life story by the same author that gave us the wonderful The Glass Castle, which I read a couple years ago. We will be blogging about the first book on March 4.

Slow Readers Button 4
Originally uploaded by ourcitylights

This book club is the brain child of the awesome blog our.city.lights, which you should totally check-out and get involved in the club!Come on, you know you want to...

Off to Kentucky...

Tomorrow I am heading off to Kentucky to visit my best friend. She is living in Lexington, going to grad school. I have never been anywhere in the South before, so I am a little nervous, but excited. I intend to try a mint julep for sure, and who knows what else (no fried chicken, that's for sure!)?!

In the meantime, I am working on building a bird feeder and my butterfly painting (which hasn't really taken it's wings yet...but it will come. For now a few pictures of noteworthy feeders....


This house has great detail that can't go unnoticed. I wouldn't mind living there myself!

This is an adorable, hand-made bird house that I found on Etsy.com. The seller has a lot of great items that you should check out here.

I also have an Etsy shop, with mostly paintings...but if you feel like taking a gander, you can find it here.

Happy making!

c.

I went to Mars today...

Tomorrow is my birthday (woo!), and so my parents came up to Seattle for the day to play around. We decided to go to the Pacific Science Center and see the new Mars exhibit. First we watched a pretty sweet video about two rovers, that jetted of to Mars to take pictures of rocks. Afterward, we walked through the exhibit (spinning chairs, weightless walking, etc...). All and all, a pretty fun time.

The best part, however, was quite Earthly. The butterfly exhibit is housed in an 80 degree room that smells of fruit and flowers. Immediately upon entrance, you spot hundreds of butterflies, big ones and small, fluttering around the room. A sight to behold. Their beauty is remarkable, and makes me think about how fabulous the little things can be. Each wing has more natural patterns on it than most humans can dream of. Their fragile, but striking form begs the mind to calm and take it all in. They are amazing little creatures, and quite inspirational.

Leaving the exhibit (after 6 different butterflies landed on me!) I have decided to try to immortalize what I saw today in my next painting. I only wish I could have taken one home. So pretty.

Almost another year older - bring it.

c.