The Saga of the Mugs (aka JewishGuy is AWESOME)

Once upon a time, JewishGal and JewishGuy went to the Renegade Craft Fair. At the first booth they saw pottery (JewishGal's weakness at craft fairs) and there was this perfect mug. This mug that had a tree with a robin sitting in it: a Robin Mug. This was the perfect mug for JewishGal. She bought it. It was an expensive mug but it was immediately her favorite mug.

This mug was indirectly (or directly?) the inspiration for JewishGal & JewishGuy's wedding. JewishGal's name means "bird" and JewishGuy's name means "tree". The theme for the wedding ended up being birds in trees...


Soon after the wedding, JewishGuy went on a trip to Houston and JewishGal planned an elaborate surprise... she redid the kitchen, unpacked all the wedding pots and pans and reorganized the kitchen. This took a long time and she was very tired so she went to bed late, exhausted.

She woke in the morning. Her eyes bleary and her brain fuzzy, she began to prepare her daily tea. She of course used the robin mug. As she poured the boiling water into the mug, she missed and poured it right onto her hand. Her fingers uncontrollably opened and the mug fell to the floor, smashing to pieces. She cried, not about her burning finger (which she wrapped), but about the mug. She was afraid this was a bad sign. The robin mug was in shards. Sadly, she swept up the pieces and kept them together, not knowing what to do with them but not wanting to throw it away.

Months later, JewishGuy glued the mug together.



The plan now is to hold onto it, perhaps using it as a small pot for a flower or a plant.

But it could no longer be JewishGal's favorite mug. She went to the artist's etsy page but there were no more robin mugs for sale. She went to the Renegade Craft Fair two more times, but Jennie the Potter was not there.

JewishGal was very sad.

..................

Tomorrow is JewishGal & JewishGuy's 7 year anniversary (from when they began officially "dating" ... it's the anniversary of JewishGuy's first visit of many in their 2 1/2 year long-distance relationship before JewishGal moved to Houston). JewishGuy ruined the surprise by saying he had a present. JewishGal couldn't wait until February 1 for the present. So he brought it out...

It was FOUR NEW ROBIN MUGS.



(two pictured here, the other two are already dirty from this morning's coffee & tea. also pictured: kitty chest.)

JewishGuy commissioned them from Jennie the Potter!


They are a symbol of JewishGuy & JewishGal again :)



(and look, there are even little blue eggs - one mug has one egg and another mug has two eggs!)

Wheel Part 1: Flat Things

I won't make every day a part of my series of the wheel but I'm pretty excited about the results of my first day back on the wheel after two years' absence.


The first day of class was a full day of class. We spent the first two hours doing hand exercises with clay and the the last 4 hours at the wheel. Our assignment is by next week to have 6 flat things and 6 other things that are flat or not flat. So here you see three of my flat things and one bowl. Also, one of the flat things is supposed to be at least 7 inches in diameter, so you can see the top right one is my big flat thing.

I like that the assignment is really non-specific. Making "flat things" is easier than making plates or trivets or whatever, since there's no expectation of what it's supposed to look like. It's just supposed to be flat.

I'm going back in tomorrow to finish the assignment.

The Wheel Strikes Again

OKAY EVERYONE.

...

We're giving it another try. That's right: THE WHEEL.

This week I begin my last semester in grad school. I am taking my last studio class and I've decided that class will be "Ceramics: Multi-Level Throw" - ie: on the potter's wheel.

Last time I took a ceramics class there was a lot of frustration. I wrote about the different techniques I used at the wheel, I talked about hours at the wheel trying to make it work, and I showed you the lopsided dishes that came out of my efforts.

I wonder how this semester will go!

The Table

We always set the table after Shabbat starts and I never get a good picture of it. So here it is, our set table! We're having four people over tonight (one person is supposed to spend the night and come with us to shul tomorrow). When we have more than two guests we have to use the table cloth because we don't have enough place mats... it's okay, it's super fancy!

And to all those people who thought we wouldn't use our china... We use it every week! So there.

LEGO man

LEGO is sending me a kit they are developing that I think will be perfect for art therapy. I'm very excited to check it out!

For those who don't know, I'm doing my thesis on using LEGOs in a drop-in milieu to build connections with youth. 1) I'm not outgoing so the milieu is extremely intimidating to me, and 2) what's the point of being an art therapy intern in the milieu if I don't do anything art related?

When I start doing my thesis I will be making LEGO response art that I'll post here :)

The SNOT BUSTER.

JewishGuy got me a present and it is SO CUTE.


This is a DigiDude, he is a Snot Buster. I have to give him a name. Basically, it is an awesome little camera tripod that is on a keychain... so you can always have good pictures! And mine is awesomely topical, considering I have been sick for months now and could really use a snot buster.

DigiDudes are a collaborative design project created through quirky. It's a website where anyone can submit product designs or give their opinions about other designs and then vote on them. The winning designs will be manufactured! It's amazing how quickly things are made. It's almost like Threadless, but for non-Tshirts and more collaborative.

2009 meme

OKAY OKAY ... I am going to do one. I'll do the same one AnotherDavid (aka YoungerJew, my brother) did.

BEST of 2009

1- trip: Austin... it was only a couple of days, but we had a great time and ate some delicious food :D (also it was my only trip this year, I guess except visiting family in either TO or MD/NY). still waiting on a honeymoon...

2- restaurant: Penny's Noodles. I can't even count how many times I have eaten there this year.

3- article: dunno

4- book: Well I read the entire Rashi's Daughters trilogy, which was fun, light reading (yay Jewish romance novels). Otherwise I mostly read for class.

5- night out: I've had some fun nights out, the few nights I've actually gone out... But I think one of the highlights was going to Thanksgiving with my friends in Dallas the weekend before Thanksgiving. That was hilarious and SO much fun.

6- workshop or conference: Well, the only one I've been to this year was the American Art Therapy Association Conference, which was great.

7- blog find of the year: One of my favorite blogs to read is Cake Wrecks, but I can't remember if I found that this year.

8- moment of peace: have I had a moment of peace this year?? haha.

9- challenge: My current internship has been my biggest challenge, I think.

10- album of the year: Regina Spektor's new album, Fall. I have listened to it a BAZILLION times since I downloaded it in July.

11- the best place: home, on the couch, with JewishGuy and the kitty.

12- new food: don't know if I have been so adventurous food-wise this year.

13- change to the place you live: I got a bunch of new plants that are now taking over the windows :)

14- rush: GETTING MARRIED!


15- best packaging: cuties boxes, which I use for storage in the art room.

16- tea of the year: I drink a lot of Tazo ZEN tea.

17- word or phrase: "safe space" hahahaha... therapists.

18- shop: not too much shopping this year, I think. Oh I did have this frenzied shopping experience at the beginning of my internship, when I realized the attire was business casual and I had nothing in my closet that was business casual. YIKES that was exhausting.

19- car ride: coming home from the wedding weekend, looking forward to many nights of partying with friends :)

20- new person: does JewishGuy count..? His status in relation to me is new this year.

21- project: Last winter I did an intense fabric printing workshop... it was hard, it made me cry a lot, but it was really great in the end.

22- startup: don't know...

23- web tool: I'm not sure I really use web tools (?).

24- learning experience: This summer working with the kids in the residential treatment center for children with behavior disorders... I learned, you might not make a major change in someone's life, but that doesn't mean you aren't important to them.

25- gift to myself: art supplies :D

26- insight or aha! Moment: after the big car accident in August

27- social web moment: tagging everyone in my Thanksgiving food picture project on facebook and realizing most of my family is actually on facebook!

28- stationary: I bought robot stationary!! was that this year?

29- laugh: I've had some good ones but I don't know one in particular...

30- ad: I LOVE any ads that have a before and after, where the "before" video is in black and white and someone can't do something simple (like put toothpaste on their toothbrush).

31- resolution you wish you'd stuck with: I don't make resolutions on NYE.

Perfect Egg

Today I made an egg, sunny side up, on a piece of challah toast.



You can kind of see a fish-eye reflection of me and the camera in the egg yolk!



Perfectly runny center with a deliciously fluffy white.

It's taken me a long time to finally get this egg. I've overcooked it so many times it's sad. I probably will continue to overcook my eggs. But for now I am enjoying how pretty and beautiful it was, and how tasty it was.

(This is why I take pictures of my food!)

The challah toast is from a challah that JewishGuy made this week... an art he has perfected over the last few years :)

Lazy days...

I can't help it... when I am home doing nothing and I get to see Lilly during her sleepy time of the day, I have to take lots of extreme close-ups.

Rainy Winter

In stark contrast to last winter, with below 0 temperatures and tons of snow, we have had a relatively mild winter so far with lots of rain. I'm not sure how I feel about all of the rain. Honestly... it feels like we have had more rain in the last 8 months than sun.