i was so delighted to be interviewed by ruthanne johnson on how to integrate patterns into your home decor for her article “patterns, patterns everywhere” featured in the summer 2020 edition of boulder county home + garden. MANY THANKS to heather knierim of HBK photography for the beautiful photos and to my lovely clients for allowing me to share their spaces… also so exciting to see the beautiful work of sarah kinn that we commissioned for this entry in print.
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pre corona my day ended by 2:55 pm for school pick up (actually 2:40ish because i had to get there.) from that point on i was making snacks, helping with homework, schlepping kids (my own and other peoples’) to soccer or hip hop or tennis or trumpet, prepping dinner, and schlepping back to pick said children up from soccer or hip hop or tennis or trumpet, squeezing in trips to the safeway or the UPS or the walgreens and trying to send out work emails or texts in the odd ten minute windows that were available. by the time we got through dinner (and all the nagging and threats around eating “five more bites” or no dessert or no phone or whatever else i could think of, i was exhausted. and i would put us all to bed very early because i had no “cheese” left.
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lisa hunt’s journey to becoming an artist was full of serendipity and bravery. she was brought up in a family flush with creatives… her mother was from roxbury, massachusetts, just outside of boston and lisa’s grandparents and great aunts and uncles all resided on different floors of the same brownstone. when visiting, lisa and her sisters would go from the flat of her grandfather and his second wife, affectionately called aunt muriel, who were frequently listening to calypso music up to the flat of her great aunt edna, a commercial artist - each room of edna’s apartment was painted a different jewel toned color - the art studio, which housed a large drafting table and myriad jars of colored pencils, was a deep blue. finally, the girls might end up in the flat of her adored aunt kaye for a big family dinner. lisa’s mother, asha, having spent many years of her childhood in the brownstone where there was so much appreciation for beauty and the arts, was inherently creative and included lisa in her painting, drawing, sewing and crochet projects.
Read Morefor as long as i can remember, my father has said this to me… when he was putting me to bed, when he was saying good-bye, or sometimes just because he was passing by. i always imagined a vast, navy blue sky sparkling with stars reaching down to a deep purple ocean filled with colorful, friendly fish. (somehow even after i saw jaws WAY too young, that imagery never penetrated this phrase.) the enormity of all of that love surrounding me and protecting me made feel so safe, like i moved through the world in my own special cocoon. so on the tougher days like when i wasn’t invited to the sleepover or i got a really bad hair cut (fall of 8th grade and again in 10th) or some boy didn’t like me back or we didn’t win the spirit cup senior year like EVERY other class or i didn’t get into the college i wanted (my father actually called some schools and asked for my hand printed applications back) or i didn’t get the job i interviewed for (i am colossally poor in job interviews) or the boyfriend whose eyes are too close together cheated on me (i should have known when my father pointed out his flawed eye configuration) or i forgot to put the parking brake on and my big, two-ton sedan rolled down a hill right into the side of another car whose owner was at the same party i was going to or i got laid off or i couldn’t get pregnant or i had to move from amsterdam to a hot, dusty mountain town or my marriage fell apart or i missed my children so much i remained paralyzed on the sofa binge watching "girlfriend’s guide to divorce” and eating pirate booty until the roof of my mouth was shredded or even last week when i couldn’t remember where i parked after a lunch date and looked for my car (with my date) for FORTY-FIVE minutes in unbelievable heat only to find it right in front of the restaurant (i know - it’s amazing - i did NOT hear from him again!) … on all of those days, and every other, i knew my father loved me. that’s no small thing.
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last week my daughter had a piano recital on zoom along with two dozen other students. it was great to see her perform (she did a TIP TOP job), but the best part was getting a look into everyone else’s homes. my favorite was the one with the little sister laying on her belly across the top of the sofa with her feet in the air and her chin in her hands. runner up was the cat in the window seat behind the piano napping.
Read Morei am so honored to be included in voyage denver magazine’s most inspiring stories! THANK YOU sarah miller and voyage denver for giving me the opportunity to share my story! x0x0xx
here is the full article
as if a global pandemic and quarantine and the whole country feeling like the apocalypse isn’t stressful enough, today i made my children pose for the holiday card… (our poppies are in FULL bloom and i couldn’t help myself.) they always look so forward to this photo shoot and were absolutely GRATEFUL that i suggested it (i’m a thoughtful, FUN mama like that.) i DID have to use the full force of my diminishing strength (since i can’t go to my bar method classes) to pull my son off the sofa and detach him from the Xbox and i didn’t even try to get him to change out of his corona comfort clothes (no one really knows how many days he’s been in them) - i just matched lucy’s outfit to his - but i could tell by the warm snarl on his face that he was thrilled. i ALSO had to promise them dunkin’ donuts AND frozen custard from the good times drive thru which is a much richer offer than i usually extend, but i really didn’t want to miss the poppies.
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(a road trip to my grandparents’ house circa 1974)
i am not sure what week of corona it is anymore, but here in boulder it is now summer. last week my son virtually “graduated” from middle school with a youtube video sharing their 8th grade yearbook photos and some candids and my daughter’s fourth grade year was capped off with a parade of her teachers on bikes and decorated cars. both of these ceremonies made me teary and stand in shock at what has happened the last couple of months. the transition to online school was so swift and difficult to manage, but now we are all wondering WHAT THE HELL we are going to do with our kids until it starts up again?
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i first discovered erica green’s work at her “passages” show at the AKA gallery in boulder last year. the viewer was invited to walk between the “walls” of knotted fibers green created that changed from portions so thick with yarn you could not see through them to sparser lengths that allowed you to peek into the next turn. it was an interactive installation meant to engage the viewer both in traveling along the maze-like route and by contributing knots or braids or tears in the fibers at the end of the journey, thereby participating in the art piece and sharing in a collective experience.
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now that we are all spending so much time together, we’ve had to negotiate how to share space, energy, attention and generosity of spirit. it’s become more and more clear that we all have different needs at various times throughout the day and they often don’t coincide.
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hank has had it with corona. he REFUSES to go on walks now. i can hardly get two blocks with him, let alone all the way to the lake that it took so much effort for me to learn how to find. when i put his leash on he’ll maybe get to the corner and then just lay down all spread out so he’s completely planted. even with his svelte new figure, he is far too heavy for me to carry (i am lazy too!) so i have to stand there and coax him with ice cubes (it’s already blazing here in boulder, even though we had loads of snow just weeks ago.) and this goes on… walking half a block, him laying down, me waiting and begging, walking another half block, him laying down and me waiting and begging and then finally me saying, “all right, do you want to go home?” at which point he pops up and RUNS at a clip all the way there. i know now that he speaks perfect english, as well as his native french. so i have to go on dog walks without my dog… and when i pass people they all ask after him (he is quite well known in our neighborhood) and they are clearly disappointed that it is only me.
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kristin colombano of fog & fury has always been an artist, but the journey that led her to felt making was circuitous and full of serendipity. born and raised in the bay area, kristin studied painting and photography at the san francisco art institute. she began her career working as a graphic designer and photographer. while on a photo assignment for the asia foundation in mongolia, kristin was completely taken by the felt covered yurts - the traditional dwellings of the nomadic people who have been following herds of sheep and yak for thousands of years on the steppes of central asia - dotting the countryside. the yurts are collapsible and are reassembled again and again as the families travel throughout the plains. felt is employed as the cover because it is light weight for easy travel, insulating, durable and fire resistant.
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this week i definitely hit a wall with the quarantine. like most people i’ve been cleaning and cooking and cleaning and cooking and feeling like i am running underwater and not getting anywhere. last week i was distracted by passover and easter and lucy’s tenth birthday (she said it was her BEST birthday ever, which has really made me rethink these elaborate, themed parties i threw pre-corona: a dutch one in honor of her birth country with wooden shoes to paint and pannekoken [pancakes] and loads of dutch candy to eat and vases of tulips everywhere; a fairy one where i made glittery tulle fairy skirts and wands and a bazillion tissue paper flowers and decorated every tree in the backyard; a farm one that we had to move to the front driveway because we had a BLIZZARD and the snow didn’t stick to the cement, but it DID to the grass - the pig wouldn’t come out of his pen into the snow so he just stayed put on the drive. they were super fun, but maybe a little over the top… CLEARLY i needed to throw my extra energy into something and probably should have gone back to work sooner. anyway, this year we just had a long, lazy breakfast, zoom calls with family and friends, a neighborhood walk, a long, lazy dinner and finally cupcake baking… so much simpler and she LOVED it… something to ponder.)
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one of my sweetest, most poignant learnings from living in the netherlands for nearly six years is the idea of “gezellig,” the dutch word for coziness. gezellig applies to social concepts like inviting or friendly people, parties, situations and meals, but what i have been really thinking about lately as we all “shelter in place” is how the dutch instilled gezellig in their homes. in a land where it rains at least a portion of most days, our amsterdam neighbors knew how to create welcoming spaces to retreat within and enjoy their families, while the rain drummed outside. corona is pushing us all inside now and we can learn from the comforting, warm interiors of the dutch.
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there are some things i have enjoyed about the quarantine… i like not having to drag my kids out of bed by seven so we can leave for school at eight. they really prefer to sleep in until somewhere between eight thirty and nine and are generally more pleasant when they wake naturally.
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in this time of "social distancing" and "shelter at home" when we are meant to remain within the confines of our houses we probably have a bit more time. it is the PERFECT opportunity for interior improvement projects. channel your boredom and extra energy by reorganizing your bookshelves to maximize their visual impact. thoughtfully arranged bookshelves add life, color, warmth and intimacy to a room. bookshelves can provide amazing insight into your loves, interests, travel, collections and favorite authors, personalizing a home and making it unique. following are tips for turning what is often only a functional aspect of a room into something that enhances, informs and brightens the space.
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for some reason it was not easy for me to get pregnant. we tried all kinds of things (besides the obvious) before finally ending up seeing the amazing dr. cedars of UCSF’s center for reproductive health. dr. cedars guided us through the whole IVF process and we ended up with ten embryos. two of those we used to get theo and we froze the rest. then we moved from san francisco to amsterdam.
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seder means “order.” there is an order to every aspect of the passover celebration from the way the seder plate is prepared to which course is served first and second and third to what prayer is said, what song is sung, what question is asked and when. even though i am not jewish, i have been hosting passover dinners for nearly twenty years. inevitably i mix up at least one aspect of the order. sometimes i even schedule the seder for the wrong evening - the jewish calendar is confusing and i am not always sure if “begins at sundown” means the dinner should take place that night or the next. i give myself a pass on this as a shiksa mama raising jewish children. i have enough trouble with simple time telling (my mom thinks that’s because i had the chicken pox the week i was meant to learn it in first grade) and adjusting to different time zones and daylight savings.
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my whole life there have been two essential easter recipes served at our brunch: my mother’s mushroom crust quiche and her easter buns. they are both a little trashy… the quiche has smashed up saltines in the crust and the buns are made with the dough that comes in a can you bang on the counter to pop open. but they are both delicious. the quiche (or KWEE-CHEE as theo used to call it) LOOKS a little more elegant, but the buns are never pretty. the filling always squirts out and the jam slides around so they are just a mess. i have tried and tried to clean them up to no avail. when new people come for easter, they usually bypass them on the buffet and i have to force them to try one… no one has ever been disappointed. AND they are both still yummy, cold, the next morning as leftovers. happy, happy easter all! x0xx
Read Morehandsome hank was just featured in a houzz story… he was photographed in our playroom by the amazing heather knierim of HBK photography. CONGRATULATIONS sweet boy! x0x
