a collection a day, 2010

local artist lisa congdon is one of my favorites. her project a collection a day, 2010, is so neat: on january 1st this year she began posting 1 collection a day.

some of my favorites are the vintage cardboard price tags, the sea urchins, the clothespins, and the pinecones.

she posted a montage of her first 50 days on her blog -- check it out.

postcarden

so cool!

available here.

quick!

i've not slept more than 5-6 hours a night all week and it's all "the wire's" fault. we're now on season 2. i predict at the same time next week we'll be on season 3. i'll be very tired by then.

tomorrow morning they're going to yank my stitches out. someone told me to ask them for a shot to numb it before they remove them. really?

tomorrow night we're having some neighbors for dinner. we don't know them very well but we sometimes chat on the sidewalk. they have a boy ollie's age. tonight i made giada's marinara

sauce. she's never failed me before. hopefully she won't this time.

oh, pretty. doesn't this site make you want breakfast?

television

i'm obsessed with the wire. gabe and i have been working our way through season one. the other night, we finished episode eight and he went to bed. i stayed up to watch one more. then it turned into two more. even though i knew that ollie would be up in a few hours, i stayed up. if you haven't seen the wire and plan to, ignore the next part: in episode ten, the second one i stayed up to watch, kima gets shot. and oh my god, i was freaking out. my eyes welled with tears. for a few minutes i toyed with the idea of waking gabe up, to tell him the news about kima, but i knew he'd be less than amused so i didn't. i did text my brother and tried to get him to tell me if she dies. (his answer? watch it.) i've still yet to see the next episode. but i did check out the wire website. oh my god, she didn't die! (good news!) and, bubs doesn't get clean. (bad news!)

i've watched very little of the winter olympics. i'm watching them now. (right now we're watching the scottish brother and sister duo skating to lincoln park. i can't stop giggling. i just asked gabe if he'd skate like that with his sister. and he asked me if i'd skate like that with my brother. he's also telling me that they aren't going to do well. the judges aren't going to like this. apparently gabe knows quite a bit about figure skating.) back to the olympics -- i've been way too busy to watch the olympics. what with kell on earth, the wire, real housewives of the oc, big love, and how to make it in america, how could i squeeze in the olympics?

and two more things about figure skating. is it just me or are the outfits worse than ever?

why are all the women skaters blowing kisses at the camera?

elsewhere:

zero to three is so cool. you can pick a toddler's age and then read about their brain development. neat!

rummey bears is a darling blog, with good taste.

faint

before i got married, i went started going to a dermatologist, a very dewy-skinned dermatologist, because i was less than thrilled with my skin.

i didn't really dig her, for a few reasons , the first being she was odd and cold. after the first appointment, i walked out of her office with 5 prescriptions and i was confused about what went with what. or rather what went where, which was frustrating to say the least. and expensive.

anyway, at one of my appointments i asked her about what i thought was a pimple on the side of my nose. she said it was a mole and she wanted to do a biopsy on it, right then. i said okay, but i'd reschedule for that. and i kinda sorta forgot until recently. i was talking to my brother who was talking about a mole on his face that our mom had told him he should have checked and that reminded me of my little mole.

i went and saw my primary care doctor for a physical last week. i showed her my little nose mole. she listed the symptoms/things that are of concern when it comes to moles: two colors, itchy, etc. and she referred me to a dermatologist. she said she wanted me to have it looked at with in 3 months. of course, i started worrying about all sorts of awful, fatal scenarios, all of which i could've avoided had i only let the dewy skinned dermatologist take a little piece of my mole off two or so years ago.

i called the dermatologist she referred me to the very next day. they happened to have a cancellation both monday and tuesday of last week. i was all set to take the monday appointment, until i realized my legs weren't, ummmm, exactly shaved, so i opted for tuesday's appointment.

my new dermatologist's office is at 450 sutter street, downtown. it's a beautiful, old, deco building. the doors to the offices are glass and they make me think of private investigator's offices, like in old movies. the views are gorgeous.

so the doctor came in. he's around my age. super nice. he looked at my nose and told me it was fine. he looked at my scalp and my arms and my legs and by stomach and my butt and told me my moles were great. actually, not great. but GREAT! and FANTASTIC!

then he saw the thing on my arm. the thing on my arm is a cysty type thing that's been there for 4 years? maybe more. it's ugly. for a long time my dad would ask me if it was a mosquito bite. gabe likes to push on it and say "ding dong." or he tells me he's pushing my buttons.

i told him that every doctor who's seen it has told me it's something different. the first doctor, my old primary care doctor told me she could remove it but it looked deep so it would leave a bad scar and it probably wasn't worth it. then, i saw another doctor, who wanted to cut that shit out. she looked at it hungrily and suggested i come back to see her after my wedding. most recently i had another doctor tell me he was sure it was a scar.

the doctor said it was probably something that was normal and nothing to worry about but, since it was so deep and sort of pinched looking, he wanted to biopsy it.

in case you didn't know, i'm the biggest baby.

he was amazing. i didn't feel a thing -- not even the shot he gave me numb it. it hurt less than the flu shot i had last week. and he talked the whole time to distract me.

when he was done, he tells me that i need to come back in ten days so we can remove the stitches. the minute he said that, i started to fade. he looked at me and told me face had no color, and that i shouldn't move. he cracked the window and the nurse brought me some water and i was good to go.

the stitches are gross. they're poking out of my arm like whiskers. they were black for about three days and now they've turned blue. every time i take a shower i look at the stitches and gross out. i have to keep myself from thinking about them too much.

the doctor called on friday and said that everything was fine, it was nothing to worry about.

so now i'm worrying about getting the stitches out. does that hurt?

happiness

watch this little boy sing -- it will make your day.

ketchup

'mmmmmmm milkshake

'mmmmmmm ketchup

tonight ollie enjoyed a milkshake. then he ate some ketchup. with a spoon.

one of my brothers used to do this when he was young, too. he still loves ketchup to this day.

saipua soap

a while back i bought saipua's clary sage with patchouli and dill soap. i put it on the windowsill of my bathroom and it smelled so good. i finally opened it on saturday and oh my god, i'm in love. it smells amazing and it's unlike any other soap i've ever used. it goes on smooth against the skin, but it's not too slick (if that makes sense?). and, it makes my skin smell good and feel soft. the packaging is gorgeous, too.

photos from here.

they have a pretty blog, too.

i bought my saipua soap at curator, a lovely shop owned by the pretty she-bible ladies.

favorites

random

1. it's been raining a fair amount here lately and suddenly my knee has started to get stiff before it rains. it's tight right now and i just checked the weather. yep, i knew it -- rain tomorrow night. does this mean i have arthritis? (and, i'd like to venture a guess that weather.com is wrong and it will rain before tomorrow night. i'm just sayin.')

2. love these ceramic bows

from christine buckton tillman. i love everything she does. check out her flickr. her drawing collection is amazing.

3. this valentine is good

available here.

link from oatmeal and cinnamon, by way of paper crave.

4. i'd like to check this out. save the deli, berkeley edition.

via here.

38 years

happy anniversary to my mom and dad. today they've been married for a whopping 38 years.

dad dated my mom's roommate first. they went out and didn't really hit it off. my dad likes to joke that he asked mom out because she was home on a friday night. (my mom has a degree in child development and she worked at juvenile hall back then. she had to be at work the next morning at 7.)

i'm incredibly lucky to have them as parents and i wouldn't trade them for anything.

here's to 38 more!

pictures i like

by katherine squier, from here

happiness

my brother, the boy and me.

go ahead and judge, it's true: i took my kid to in-n-out. and he liked it.

he was staring at two stoners sitting behind us. i was eavesdropping myself. one was telling the other, "i should do an ad for in-in-out. i can eat, like, 4 burgers, but i'm still skinny. it could be a diet ad." he was also talking about how he went to boarding school in utah. and how his therapist brought him mcdonald's during the holidays. and, he exchanged phone numbers with a girl sitting in the booth next to him. gabe, who was also spying, said she told him he was cute.

when i got home from work today o was going apeshit.

♥♥♥

saturday

today was all about: pancakes, naps, legos, grocery shopping, looking for trucks, phone calls, chores, errands, and a trip to the park.

there's something about this i love

scissor tie clip

available here.

kid related

the babies are coming.

habitat's toys are amazing.

i find this sweet. am i weird? East Bay Couple Offering $1,000 Reward for Two Lost Toy Bears

fun!