abby try again

indian summer...

woke up to the sound of heavy raindrops this morning-it scared me.
It's been rather warm around here-real nice and perfect for lazy evening on the porch with friends.
I will be so sad when summer is gone, but for now I heard this weekend will be nice and that is all i want to think about.
I have emails and comments to answer-like usual you must excuse my delay. Work's busy-boss on vacation which means as soon as I get home it is fun times and rest to try and make me forget about my 40 hours as a useless worker bee...

this camera was $2.99 on ebay!
hopefully I can snag some film for it-I am excited at the prospect.

We've devoted spare tv time to watching classics. I love netflix-it makes it all so easy. Tonight it was this

Harold and Maude.

so good!

I cannot believe I had never seen it.

Also wasting days listening to records turned up loud with the windows open as we do our housework-
latest obsession-the song "kodachrome" by Paul Simon.

I promise-a real post soon!

Yellow

   I am loving yellow right now!
   I am a bit late, aren't I?
Summer is almost gone but-oh-dear yellow....I love you!
Have you seen Rosemary's Baby? All I could think about was the awesome yellow and white color scheme of the apartment and her great yellow and white dress. SIGH>>>
SO nice!
   Maybe I miss yellow because it was such a huge part of the landscape of my home.
----
We just went on this awesome bike ride and I am feeling so very invigorated from it. Dear, dear summer-I will miss you-
more yellow:

check out that bee!!
Here is a beautiful park we rode to-I actually like the yellow grass!

Oh-and check out this awesome bag from Blair. SO cute!

Have you heard of the horse project?

This one is in my neighborhood:

What color are you loving?

A new direction...well,sort of

     So to those of you that have been around you'll notice that I totally flaked out on a second newsletter. You know of course, I have the best of intentions but I kind of felt like I was just spamming you all with one huge giant advertisement  for my etsy shop. So well, it is kind of back to the drawing board with that one. I guess all I can say is "maybe I will, maybe I won't" which is not good but the truth.
   The above cards are what I've been "into" lately. They are "Special" because I printed only one, three, or five of each and numbered them. After I sell them I will print no more. I think that may be the new direction I will be taking. I may just start producing special, very limited designs so that I don't get completely burnt out and bored. All of my cards from now on are printed on 100% post consumer waste cardstock. Hopefully that will make me be able to sleep better at night....
   I am knitting again.
  WHAT?!!
Yeah, just some washcloths for my face and James' face, but it is nice to be back. It is "zen". Okay-I am so 1990's for saying "zen"-but you get it, right?
    James got a rad bike so we've been cruising around the neighborhood. BOY-I slimmed down a bit lately but let me tell you what-I am sooo out of shape.
    We are going to watch Rosemary's Baby now----thanks for not hating me and my piles-have a lovely Sunday!

embarassing piles

Lisa and Shari have posted some piles-and well-I cave in to peer pressure :)
Here are my most embarrassing piles, my piles of magazines.
  Yes, I realize that this is not cute, crafty, organized etc. but i want to show you why I need to clean out my junk. This is bad-some of the piles are give away piles, but still-ah!!
This is my motivation -I want to post cute, clean, beautiful photos of what I do with these spaces once this junk is gone. Well, I am not getting rid of any Martha Mags-but still. AH- okay more for ya-

Cooking mags on top-knitting mags on bottom...

give away pile of "Lucky"s and "Elle"s...

hidden under my desk...

my Martha mags...
********************************
Thanks for all your lovely comments! I am trying to slowly answer as many as I can-but I really do appreciate you all.  Also-thanks to those of you checking out my ebay stuff. Tomorrow I will be listing knitting magazines and patterns.

Ah...who knew getting rid of junk was so exhausting?

Well, once again-you guys have some great comments. I really am loving this conversation. I must say, though-Saturday I was surprised by a friend and a free ticket to the farewell Sleater-Kinney concert so I have not got as far on the getting rid off stuff as I would have liked. This is a photo of them rocking out-it was AMAZING.......................................................
  SO
I started listing stuff on ebay-dang it is hard! Who knew getting rid of junk was so time consuming! I will be so glad when it is done. I have tons of stuff to list-so I figure if I do a handful a day I should be dome in a couple of weeks. Tomorrow it is buttons. I have so many cool old buttons-that I will never use!
   I made the tough decision to pare down my knitting book and Japanese book collection. Please-do not hurt me-I just can not see myself using them, and I have many that are similar. Also-I've got sooo much fabric that needs to go.If you are interested-my ebay name is abbytrysagain and you can see the junk here.

   Ah-glad that is done. In other news-my Brother and his wife are having a baby boy!!!!Yahoo!

SO-on the intentional front, I think I may start a week long photograph everything I eat flickr group. This will make me INTENTIONALLY try to stay away from junk. Anyone in?

more on intentions

Wow! I am overwhelmed and touched by all of your comments! I have read and reread them, gleaning inspiration and support along the way. Thank you for being part of this discussion and I hope that you will read and respond to them with me!
   I have to give a shout out to mav-and this post where she mentions the book that sparked this conversation so many months ago. Also-check out these two amazing photo sets of her's for more "simple" inspiration.
   So I've done some googling about living an intentional life and came across this page (take one minute and read it).  I love three key points mentioned; " awareness, choice, and energy".
   I am a huge believer of the notion that we may not be able to change a situation-but we can change our attitude toward it. I have to constantly remind myself of this as I tend to be overly emotional about many things. I often allow myself to be affected by the attitude of others. This has been a problem for me right now at work. Not to get too specific-there is a person who is constantly negative and hateful towards my coworkers. The person is actually fairly decent to me-but it is horrible listening to the gossip and mean words. I let myself feel really down about this-but recently have decided to put a stop to this. I decided to change the subject anytime gossip starts and to not let this person change my attitude. It's been hard-but the past couple of weeks have been so, so much better. I've noticed that this person has a lot of personal problems right now-which probably doesn't help their work life. I really hope I can help make all of my coworkers' days a little more pleasant.
   What similar challenges do you face? What helps you stay positive and make good choices? What motivates you to reach for happiness?

prioritizing your goods...

    Thanks for the great comments guys (ladies :) ) ! I love hearing your personal thoughts/struggles with this idea, hope to hear more!
   So, continuing with the "living intentionally" subject...I just cleaned out my bathroom the other day. I mean, I REALLY cleaned it. I went through all drawers, pouches, weird overnight bags etc. and found all of these combs! Sick, huh? Sick considering the fact that I really don't even use them and neither does James...
   Which brings me to the offshoot of this discussion-wanting what I own and owning what I need.
    I remember reading a magazine article about how to give your possessions to charity and/or toss the ones you don't need. This seems like something that an adult should be able to do-but I guess there are a lot of people out there who cannot and we are in need of that article!
   These three questions stuck in my mind:
-Does the object in question get used on a regular basis?
-Does the object somehow make you happy?
-Does the object hold sentimental value?
If I were to put about 50% of the junk in my house up to this test-the objects would fail!  So why has it been so hard for me to get rid of junk!?
   I know for myself this is something I've struggled with most of my life-no joke. I think some of it stems from being one of nine kids and just treasuring the little bit I had that was MY OWN. I think that it almost made me greedy in a lot of ways-always having to share-it made me fear that I would never have enough of my own.
   I also think that I've battled bouts of depression and during those times it was really hard for me to get rid of stuff-or evaluate my life in any way. Since I've come to realize some self destructive actions and thoughts-and trying to change them-the idea of simplifying sounds better and better.
   SO this is it-I am setting a goal-don't know if I will make it-but I will try. From now on I want to want what I own and own what I need. I am going to go through the junk-and LET GO! How freeing that sounds!!! I need this...but I admit that I am scared. Why am I so scared?
   I want to put my junk and ebay and put the money towards a far off trip to France. Doesn't that sound lovely? Next week marks the eighth anniversary since I left to go live there for one year. Makes me feel old...makes me want to go back!
   So-
This is my goal-get rid of my junk on ebay or in the dumpster-wish me luck!
   I am repeating-"this is good, this is good"...

thoughts on living an intentional life

I received a wonderful package from my vintage button swap partner last week . Big kudos to Sally for organizing such a fun swap. Here are the stunning buttons, I really love the black ones still on their card. I think they would look great in a shadowbox. They are from a talented knitter, Cat-whose adventures you can follow by visiting her blog here. Thank so much!
*****
    So during my break, and basically since my move to Oregon over a year ago-I've been thinking a lot about what "life" is to me. I guess I should explain myself more.
    Being far from family, friends, old places and habits has actually allowed me a great freedom. I have become the person I wanted to be-no one had pre-judgments or ideas about who I was or where I came from. I've released an inner artist, a novice photographer and terrible but headstrong seamstress. This move allowed me to start fresh-new home, new friends, new job...
   Well, I've always loved books and magazines-I love reading anything about domestic life-cooking, decorating, carpentry, crafting, etc.  I feel as though I've learned so much, especially from this blogging community.
   I already mentioned this book, and Shari told me to check out the website. You should take some time to peruse it-it is so simple and beautiful.
   I really like this book because it is helping me realize that I really can simplify my life-something which always seemed very daunting to me. Through simple tips and gorgeous photos it illustrates some great pointers and tips. The author writes of enjoying simple pleasures; something I am sure all of us would like to do more of.
  I am intrigued by the idea of trying to live intentionally...more on this soon-how about you all?
I'll leave you with some shots from more of my alley walks:

rotting pears

beautiful window+roses

gorgeous color!

Back, but more confused than ever

Well, here I am-back to blogging. I wanted a break to try and spend some time evaluating myself, my art, my priorities, my time, my friends-my life I guess. Now it seems as though I am more confused than ever! That's okay, I guess...
  I have so much to show, everything and nothing-you know?
Here is some long overdue mail bragging-I have more-but for now a bit of an awesome package from Marieke:

Thank you, Marieke. I love everything and it was so fun to get such a beautiful package-it made me so happy!

*******

I am obsessed with this book. I got it at the library and I just want to keep it! Great tips for living in a more simple, beautiful way. It is realistic and inspiring and I love it. I highly recommend it!

******

James' band has been busy playing shows-you can listen to them here. (my fave song is "que falta hace..")

*****

I made a ton of cards for an artwalk that I ended up leaving because the wind was blowing over my display. They are on sale-and even available for free shipping-check out my shop here.