Nonna Italiana

I met a woman on the bus from Rome to Martina Franca who couldn't have been less than 80 years old and was so enamored with my embroidery that it prompted her to chatter non-stop for hours in Italian to me knowing that I could only understand about a tenth of what she was saying. She told jokes which had punchlines I couldn't translate, held my hands emphatically, and grasped my face while saying "bella, bella" over and over. After losing two grandmother figures in the last month, this love found in the most unexpected place was nothing short of miraculous.

sneak-peek Ladycrush : Bessie Anderson of B.IMPRESSED

(Full Post on B. upcoming as soon as I get my film developed!)

Mechanicsburg / PA :: 4x5" Graflex

Sneak Peek inside our Home :: L & R

So my Love and I moved into this sweet little Boston apartment back in January, but frankly, we've just been too damn busy to have anyone over to warm our house, share any pictures with friends or family, or really get all the rooms squared away at once. Now that Ryan's going on tour for a few weeks, I feel like I have finally gotten our space to a more relaxed and lived in level of tidy. We are both explosive when we work, so there's always some sort of pile of instruments or art supplies in the way of something else.. {truth be told, I am probably more guilty of leaving my toys out than R is..} Please excuse the wonky exposures, I tried to shoot each room when it had the best light, so at different parts of the day.

The creepy doll was my Aunt Jean's doll. I think her name is Colette. The Pentax on the table was my Uncle Brian's. He has been shooting with that thing since the 70's.. and some of the old family prints {yet to post} I have been scanning in lately are from this camera. {it's a Asahi Pentax K1000 with a 55mm 1:1.8. I haven't developed any film from it yet as I'm still finishing out the first roll.. it's a beautiful camera.}

R got that sweet, tiny round box for me in Australia, the jar contains dried flowers from our trip to LA, there's a hunk of NC Kyanite I found, and an enlargement of the 4x5" image I made of R's Rhodes.

R's got the best area of the house! The three windows get great sun all through the day and into the evening, so there's almost always a nice glow in there. We created a nook within a room by using a large shelf as a room divider: storage on both sides and the benefit of separate but open work/play areas.

My side of the bed: Trumpet Jade from Kate & Evan, Samsonite from Mom, Vanity from R's Grandmother, clock from BB, Alabaster Owls from Leslie Branham Roberts {http://www.thegivingtreethriftstore.com/ & http://www.joshrobertsandthehinges.com/}, glass globe with owl feather from Heather, dreamcatcher from before I can remember.

From When I Lived Alone :: May 2009 mix {from the Cumberland Ave apt. #2}

After my hard drive crashed last year, I lost a bunch of my favorite monthly mixes. I was able to recover a few by having hard copies laying about, but also by tracing the archives of my old blog and email records. If you have any of my old mixes laying about your place {ahem, always June... perhaps, Juniper?} please send me the tracklisting so I may continue my recovery of these lost mixes. This one comes from May 2009, when I was living at the second Cumberland Ave apartment. The one with the side balcony and the breakfast nook. I don't have nearly enough pictures of that apartment. [8tracks width="400" height="400" playops="" url="http://8tracks.com/mixes/925915"]

as always, if you want a hard-copy of the mix, just holler.

xols