sweet gift

A sweet little gift from my locker neighbor at the Y.

Today my body went to yoga but my mind went elsewhere. After my body realized my mind wasn't doing yoga, my body didn't want to do yoga either. It became this frustrating battle of trying to engage physically and mentally until I realized, "I do not want to do this. This doesn't feel right for my body right now, and that's okay." So halfway through the class, I rolled up my mat and left.

To be honest, I felt embarrassed, weak and lazy. I hurried out of the room as fast as I could and tried to tell myself that I did the right thing, that it's okay to listen to myself and say "This isn't working for me today." As I was lost in thoughts of my shameful yoga "practice" I rounded a corner in the womens locker room and bumped right into my locker neighbor! She is a sweet sixty-something Vietnamese woman who speaks broken English but makes me laugh and smile every time I see her. 

We always run into each other. There could be no one else in the entire locker room, and we will inevitably be there, standing 4 inches apart, opening our lockers. 

And that's how we met. 

It just kept happening every day and now I look forward to seeing her. On the rare occasion that I don't see her, I write her a little note and stick it to her locker, even though I'm not entirely sure if she can read it. Neither of us really speak the other's language (at least she speaks some English, I have no idea how to speak hers!) We're an unlikely pair of buddies, but it works. 

Today, when I bumped into her, both of our faces lit up and we started laughing and saying the little phrases of English that she understands. She told me to follow her back to our lockers and pulled out a little package of cucumber makeup remover facial cloths and handed it to me. "I love you," she said. "You good lady." We hugged and my little Vietnamese buddy went off to "punch, punch" in her Hip-Hop class. 

I felt touched on two levels. First, that this woman would bring me a gift and tell me she loves me, even though neither of us even knows the others name. Second, I'm grateful that I listened to my body today and bowed out of my yoga practice. If I hadn't, I'd be suffering through an unproductive time of rote exercise, and I would've missed the special time with my locker buddy. 

family resemblance

My younger brother, Drew.

For my younger brother's birthday this year, he asked me to make a print of him. I was thrilled! Not only is it awesome to have a model besides myself, it's flattering to think that someone else would actually want me to make a print for them! (Granted, he's related to me... but he didn't ask me to knit him an afghan, so I assume he actually likes my prints!)

We tried a bunch of different poses, but my aviators came into play simply because I'm not the greatest with eyes yet. They look like eyes, true, but I think our eyes capture so much of who we are... and I'm not quite good enough to carve that soul into a block print. 

I will always love my aviators, but I'm looking forward to my skills progressing to the point where I don't need to use them as a crutch. My next line up of prints include some more chairs, as well as some human poses - but sans les  lunettes de soleil.

Thanks for being an awesome model, Drew!

pillow

Having a little fun combining two things I love: printing and sewing!

I've been working on my curtains for a while now... and they're still not nearly done. In fact, to the untrained eye, they may look like a pile of fabric. Okay, they are a pile of fabric right now... because I've been working on designing and carving the print to make my curtains unique. Haven't quite gotten to the actual "curtain" part, per se, but the print is almost complete... and I have the callouses on my hands to prove it!

All that to say, I needed a quick little project to tide me over while I wait for this time-consuming one to materialize. (Hey! A pun!) So... I whipped up this little pillow that I printed with my tiny blueberry design. Simple, quick and cute. I'll need to remember those three words next time I decide to design, print and sew my own curtains. Though I suppose it could be worse - I could be weaving my own fabric!

Now, to find a loom... just kidding!

lotus print yoga bag

Namaste!

My absence from blogging hasn't been time wasted, although I'm always sad when I let it slip into hibernation. Sometimes life just gets in the way, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

One of the things I've been doing with my time is practicing yoga. I've always enjoyed it, but decided last month to make it a part of my daily life rather than an occasional stab at wellness. Naturally, I couldn't carry my mat around in my drab old yoga tote, so I decided to make a fresh new one!

I used the lotus print that I made for my friend Jillian (an amazing yoga instructor!) and printed on some deep salmon-colored fabric I had laying around. After the printing was finished, I set to work sewing my bag, including adding a little extra detail to the pocket, even though no one will really see it besides me. Sometimes the little things you do just for you are the ones that can make you realize you're worth the bigger things, too.

I am really happy with the way it turned out, and excited to start on my next fabric printing endeavor: curtains! Stay tuned for more on that... and how printing 15 yards of fabric by hand can really test one's stamina and mental health! :) 

The finished fabric, prior to becoming a yoga tote.

The little pocket detail - a lotus bloom outlined in pink thread.

ode to edamame

Oh soybeans, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
- - -

Oh edamame- you fun tasty snack

You're always near by when the munchies attack

You're chock-full o' fiber and omega 3's

And for meat-heads your protein is sure to appease!

You're not pronounced how you're spelled

(it's  /ěd'ə-mä'mā/)

But still most people say

Edamayme, edam or eda-bombay.

That first one is common,

an understandable mistake

it's a Japanese word

so we'll cut Anglos a break

The second one's a cheese

that's always made backward

how they confuse it with you

is quite frankly absurd

I don't know about that last one

but I've heard it, it's true

they must love the letter B

and add it, superfluously, to you

All tongue-twisters aside

you're a great way to munch

be it snack-time or dinner

or breakfast or lunch

I'll keep you close at hand

when my tastebuds want to play

or when a friend comes to visit

and asks for eda-bombay.

inspiration

Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes; often it's subtle and small.

Although I'm not exactly an avid blogger (note: trying to be better. Or trying to try to be better. I'm not big on lying.) I think you can probably sense a theme to ennaneve.

If you can't, I should probably work on my communication skills. Anyway, I'll just tell you... it's creativity.

There's something that just thrills me about creating something new, refinishing something old, or just exercising my inner child and letting all the colors and scribbles spill out into the world.

My entire studio apartment is full of unique creations that I've made, found or restored, and I'm going to try to be better about sharing some of these things... since art is not meant to be a selfish venture.

One of my walls is completely covered with pictures, prints, poems, color swatches and cards that inspire me. I think it's important to collect little things that we enjoy, not only to help us find our niche (usually a theme will emerge; like my older sister enjoys mixing urban design with influences from nature) but so that we will have something to help ignite our desire to create.

When you see a leaf that strikes your fancy, or love the color of ribbon tied around a gift... hang on to it. These tiny clues to our inner muse may just be the spark that ignites our next artistic endeavor.

creative tree

My Creative Tree takes after me: not very photogenic.

Nature is a big influence in my life and my art. From an early age, I remember being inspired by trees; from the roots to the branches and leaves. My older sister and I used to talk about a certain forest near our home in Maryland that we called the Cathedral Woods because when the sun shone through the leafy canopy overhead, the light trickled down in little green patterns like stained glass in an ethereal Cathedral.

I love every aspect of trees: the different shades and textures of the bark; the birds that nest in their boughs; the different shapes, colors and sizes of their leaves; and the fact that they give us air to breathe and shade to sit in. I think I would've made an excellent addition to the Swiss Family Robinson (living in a tree and throwing coconut bombs at pirates?! Sign me up!!)

You get the point. I like trees. So, naturally, I had to have one in my minuscule studio apartment. Meet my Creative Tree: it's a source of inspiration with a really boring, obvious name. Never mind that.

The cool thing about my tree is that I don't have to wait for Christmas each year to decorate it! I've used all different types of themes, from jar lanterns to little fabric birds. Any time I feel the urge, I just take down the current decor and try something new... very important for an impatient person like myself.

My current theme is words (which I am also a huge fan of... can you tell?) I made a paper chain out of several types of old paper I found in some vintage notebooks, as well as sheets of creative writing I typed out on my old typewriter. It was a fun, and time consuming, project.

Next, I took some old blank gift tags and decided to type random, incomplete sentences on them and do my own "mad libs". They turned out being silly, naturally, but they were a nice way to let my brain play.

Here are a few, for your amusement:

I may have to use this in an actual conversation sometime...

I made twenty-four of these... which began to make less and less sense.

Ha! A Freudian slip indeed!

While some people may think it's silly to have a tree (aka a very large branch that takes up a lot of room) in a tiny apartment... I love it. I'm always thinking of new ideas to try on my tree and it, in turn, is always there to shade me when I read.