Currently...

1. At our newborn care class.  I think I know how to hold this baby now  2. Bradley's steam punk accessory explosion  3. Bradley has the hang of it too  4. Making burp cloths   5. First snow!  6. I got my official mail in ballot. Voting is exciting!   7. Chenille explosion   8. Mitt Romney killing a small forrest in my mailbox   9. I love fall.

Loving: The weather! Who doesn't love fall? This summer was so hot and miserable that I will gladly take 60 and 70 degree weather.  I still have my own personal furnace going on so I haven't really pulled out too many socks or cozy blankets but it has been nice to pull out all my cardigans.

Reading: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  I picked up this book this summer but just never got to reading it.  It is a big book at over 800 pages but I think it is really good historical story of the building of a cathedral in the 12th century and the character development is really well done.  I dig it.

Watching: Fall shows are finally here! I just finished watching the season finale of Project Runway today (not sure how I feel about the outcome) and I am excited for the next all stars season.  I have also been watching Boardwalk Empire, Survivor, New Girl, and Bradley makes me watch the Walking Dead every week.

Thinking About: Christmas. Ya I said it.  I am excited and terrified of it this year.  I just don't know what it is going to look like with a tiny baby and I am wondering how in the world we are going to pull off Christmas shopping.  I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be getting gift cards or gifts ordered directly from Amazon.  It is also blowing my mind that I am going to have a child to christmas shop for! It is a weird thought.  Not that she is even going to know what is going on but it is just so unfathomable that I am going to have a baby to enjoy the holidays with!

Anticipating: This is a really easy answer.  I'm just going to do with the birth of my first baby.  This might sound terrible but I have no birth plan.  I have an idea of my preferences like I know I want my own pillow and music but that is about it.  Otherwise epidural...no epidural...c-section...I don't know.  I am just going to go with the flow at the time.  Our good friend is going to be our doula so I figure she will be able to help when the time comes.

Listening: I know I have said this before but I will get a song or two stuck in my head and then listen to it till it is dead in the ground.  Last week it was Sufjan Steven's Casimir Pulaski Day and the past few days I have been listening to Peter Bjorn and John's Tomorrow Has to Wait

Working On: This is just downright sad to admit but I am in between projects right now. I just finished up making a few more burp cloths for little lady.  Sadly I just don't have a whole lot of energy right now to do a lot.  Tomorrow we are picking up 30lbs of apples for a school fundraiser.  I have a lot of juicing ahead of me since I am going to turn the majority of it into hard cider.  Nothing more classy than a 9 month pregnant lady making hooch!

Wishing: I didn't live in a political swing state right now. The political adds on TV and mail have become really bad.  I dread going to the mailbox to see how many pieces of paper either candidate has decided to shove in my mailbox to see if it will change my mind about them.  Some are sooo incredibly ridiculous too.  My favorite so far was yesterday we got an anti Obama flyer with a picture of Obama next to the soviet hammer and sickle.  Are people really influenced by this stuff?

New (to me) Music

Its seems that there is a calm in the storm so some regular activities like resting, reading something beside an art book, and listening to music ( I usually have NPR on in the car and I am not countng the crappy pop music I let the kids listen to in class as music) have resumed.  I went digging for some new music today and found a few bands I am really enjoying.
Body by Thao with the Get Down Stay Down

Feel it all Around by Washed Out

First Aid Kit These two just make me wish I had a sister to sing in the woods with.

Weekend Update

  
  

Fabric for Halloween costumes.  I guess that means I need to start sewing** Not sure if I should be offended by Art Teacher Barbie or not. Apparently all we like to do is paint pictures of flowers and cats** My good friends Allison wearing my new birdcage veil** Charcoal drawing is messy.  Currently grad school is kicking my ass** Early morning drawing time outside with my drawing class** Super adorable Rachel and Aubrey 


Every time I am pretty sure that life can't get any busier it does. I don't think anyone told me when I was a kid how fast life is going to speed up when you become an adult.  This morning I spent some extra time laying in bed gazing out the window and enjoying the stillness of the early morning.  Today I have to finish a drawing, start another one, go back and pick up the thread I forgot at the fabric store yesterday, go to the grocery store and if the weather clears we were talking about going to the pumpkin patch.  The house cleaning is just going to be ignored and I am perfectly okay with that.  I have been making sure to take a few minutes here and there to just sit and I have been spending some time just listening to music which I probably haven't done since I was a teenager.  Here are some songs from my fall playlist


Loving this song and video for Cruel by St. Vincent.  I think she might be my new favorite artist.

Mmmm... Music

I thought I would share some music that I have really been enjoying lately or that I have recently discovered.  Although I have my favorites I am always trying to find new music.  There is so much out there anymore!  I have talked about this before but I used to get new music from MTV back in the day but anymore I have to rely on friends and I have also found some really good stuff on my Pandora too.


La Roux Bulletproof  This song has been turned up on full blast and is usually joined by me dancing around the house like a crazy person.

On my less energetic days I have been listening to a lot of Belle and Sebastain. 



I think I am behind on discovering Florence and the Machine but nerver the less they are good

This is my "its January and I hate winter song" by Jeff Hanson

Sufjan Stevens  Jackson. Anyone that can incorporate strings and horns like this is okay in my book.

New Music? Yes, Please!

When I was a kid it seemed really easy to find good new music to listen too.  Every Sunday I would tape 120 minutes on MTV, watch it the next day and then run out to the cd store and buy whatever new band I found that tickled my fancy.  Anymore it is hard to find new music.  I feel like I have to sift through bands to just find something really interesting.  So when I do find something amazing I feel inclined to share it.   I sound like a grumbly old man but being a teen in the 90s and MTV actually playing videos at that point in time it was sooo much easier to find good music.   Working with high school kids I will get the occasional student with outstanding music taste that will introduce me to really good current bands but that seems to be rare anymore.  I get annoyed when they don't even know who David Bowie is.  Oh well.  I guess that is why we have David Bowie Fridays in my classroom.

On to my new and exciting music!

Grizzly Bear.  My husband introduced me to this band.  I can't get enough of them.  They really grow on you and are perfect for the mellow sleepy fall weather.


Ida Maria.  A good friend of our played this for us the other night.  I was surprised because usually he listens to hard core screamfest music. I also can't help but love her awkward accent and raspy voice.


Fleet Foxes.  A student played this band for me at the end of last school year.  It is dreamy and nostalgic.