Getting Things Done!

1) Thesis I = FINISHED! Challenging, rewarding, hugely enjoyable to create. I am so proud of what was accomplished, but sad to see the summer go. This schedule featured lots of free evenings (an absolute luxury) and spending all that time alone with my poetry was revelatory and useful.

Surprising to me is the huge turn my work has taken. There is a lot more experimentation going on and I have relinquished my panicked sleuthing to discover MY UNIQUE VOICE! Letting go of this self-imposed deadline to have myself completely figured out felt like a million bucks.

2) In conjunction with finishing Thesis I, I made my first ever Granny Square Afghan! This was one of my New Year's resolutions. (I have a particularly difficult time finishing crafting projects, especially BIG ones.) I started on this a month before my sister's birthday, and finished just in time.

In the middle of attaching the blocks:



All done and at the birthday girl's house:






3) I met my favorite blogger and crafter, Elsie (A Beautiful Mess) at Renegade Craft Fair here in lovely San Francisco! She was SO sweet and it was amazing to chat with her in person. So glad she made the road trip out to visit!


And who can resist doing some serious shopping at Renegade? I LOVED the handmade, vinyl accessories by Miss Allison. She helped me sift through her HUGE selection to find the perfect wristlet and sparkly wallet, which I love!


Another of my all-time favorite bloggers, Emily Martin of Inside A Black Apple made it to SF this year! I was thrilled to make off with a print of one of her fantastic paintings:



The second I had this framed and hanging on the wall of my studio, I felt the whole place come together. I love, love, love finding little treasures like this to make my space cozy and happy.


4) Back to school!!! One week from tonight, Fall Semester starts a.k.a "Hectic O'Clock." Something about this crazy schedule is comforting, though. Life has had some dastardly tricks up its sleeve lately, so the regularity (even if it IS sixteen flavors of exhausting) will be charmingly reliable. Also, I'm really looking forward to meeting all of the new first year grad students and working with boat-loads of talented new poets.



Bon soir, mes amis!

Excerpt from a Thesis Piece

Attempt To Trace A Small Thing As It's Turning

Part III.

Loneliness is a hungry machine & she cooks. Her crooked seams have held my attention:

Who is it that I remind you of? Say, “Oh my stars,” and it’s your dead mother’s mother. Wake up beside you and the way you watch my nose as if it’s your own. The one you’ve always told me was so hateful.

I don’t have an eye for color, can’t feel the selvedge edges intersect before unbolted. The log cabin has a basement and in it she is listening.

I Watch the Clock

Summer. It's going by way too fast. Normally, I would be indifferent to this rapid passage of time but this particular summer, I have to turn in a book at the end. (Read: MAJOR PROJECT due for grad school.)

So, in order to think about something other than the poetry I should be writing RIGHT NOW, I'm going to take a breather and focus on things that have made me smile recently.

1) Late birthday presents! Two albums on vinyl:



2) I won two VIP tickets to the DeYoung, thanks to the awesome organization where I volunteer (Streetside Stories.)



3) Alex came to visit! I haven't seen him in SEVEN years. Highlights included breakfast at Jim's (my favorite diner), walking around "Sunday Streets" in my neighborhood, listening to 'Girls' and helping return lost four year old skaters to their parents.


4) Finished reading "Invisible Bride" by Tony Tost. This guy's poetry is off the chain. Highly recommended.

5) Mark sent me his new album (which is totally rad!) Finding this in my mailbox with accompanying note on Saturday was The Best.

6) NPR's "Tiny Desk Concerts." Seriously, check this link out. I've been blazing through all of these on my iPad - can't stop watching. Lightning Dust is particularly impressive.


7) I started a top-secret new crafting project that is turning out really well. I know, I know... not the right time to dive into a DIY-fest. But working on this (while watching Season 1 of True Blood - don't judge!) has provided some relaxing interludes. Pictures coming soon...

KB

Ten Things I Love Friday

Per the request of the lovely Meg-Murph, we're going ROUND TWO on this puppy.

1) Afternoon tea at Neiman Marcus. Four of us got mega dolled up and Great Gatsby-ed our Sunday afternoon away. Everyone (except me) revealed that they are leaving San Francisco in the very near future. (Germany, New York City, and a national tour have pulled this posse in some very different directions.) Next outing before we effervesce: Crepes in Rockridge.




2) Homemade enchiladas! These bad boys were nothing short of lip-smacking bliss. Despite what you might think, two people CAN actually eat this entire pan of food by themselves... Oh dear.



3) So originally, this entry was just going to be "Scrabble." But look how many glorious things there are in this Saturday morning (e)pic? Coffee. Odwalla. PlayStation. (This particular match saw me use up all of my tiles to spell the word, "BROTHEL." That doesn't suck at all.)



4) I couldn't decide between two songs this week, so they're both going in. "Lola" by The Kinks and "Equalizer" by Clinic.





5) Dive-bar karaoke on school-nights. The Knockout's Monday night hipster-fest has the best catalogue I've seen yet. More Morphine than you can shake a stick at!


6) The only thing that keeps me from being terrified is that the driver has a PhD. That's got to count for something, right? "Doctors with Ducatis: A Memoir of Life in the Mission."



7) "Grapefruit" by Yoko Ono. This is really a lovely little book. Pocket-sized and to the point. (Drill a hole in this book. It's what she would want.)



8) "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" - Some things show up just in time.



9) Making super-wild granny square afghans for my friends. How can you look at this and be sad? HOW? (Goal: Make the one pictured below.)



10) Gracias Madre! This great new vegan restaurant just popped up in my hood, and I've been swooning over the butternut squash quesadillas for days now. (Oh. And the mojitos? Crucial.)



Lots of LONG-WEEKEND love. This is going to be a good one...

KB

A Simple, Beautiful Thing

This stanza, from a poem by Tracy K. Smith, arrests me. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it:

"If certain rooms smell of hyacinth
She has just been
Or will be
There. Like rain,
Arriving first in the mind."

Ten Things I Love Friday

1) The New York Times (Especially the crossword.)



2) "500 Days of Summer" - This movie is just beautiful. Cinematography, soundtrack, story-line... I'm completely in love.




3) The Pixies! (Today, I can't stop listening to "Here Comes Your Man." Perhaps related to item #2 above.)



4) Karen O. in this music video ("Zero.") My "locomoting through the Mission" inspiration. Get your leather on!



5) Robin's egg blue nails. It's summer, ya'll.



6) Giant headphones. Insta-soundtrack wherever you are.



7) Steampunk paperbacks! Gail Carriger's trilogy is such a nice respite from thesis-writing. Brass parasols and aviator goggles included :)



8) Pin-up couture.



9) Tuning up the cruiser in time for good weather! Gotta get on this. It's been suffering away in a scary basement.



10) Roller derby! No throwing elbows. GOT IT?




And now, as it is my lunch break, I leave you to celebrate a combination of these things.

Happy Pride Weekend, San Francisco! Party time in .... 3, 2, 1!

Karen

End Awful Week with Awesome Song

Sweetheart, mediocre people do exceptional things all the time.