Things I Did During Studio Hour

My Studio Night is being preempted this week by a mixed-media drawing class at Flicker Street Studio (so excited!) so I'm squeezing in some work here and there. Here's what I did tonight:

1. scanned sketches
2. drew a soldier
3. prepped paper for a few tiny paintings
4. took apart a spirograph
   

Early on Studio Night: Some Things on my Drawing Table

1. 3 sketchbooks
2. digital camera with a tiny tripod attached
3. 3 packages of wacky erasers shaped like food
4. 1 barbie in a bikini wearing sunglasses
5. an orange pen
6. a picture of an old man I don't know
7. tiny paintings
8. 4 photographs from my trip to Spain
9. 60 photographs of old neon signs from Las Vegas
10. a cigar box full of Werther's Originals
11. a ruler
12. an Atlas from 2003 of the US, Canada and Mexico
13. scribbled-on and taped-up 3x5 index cards
14. just found another sketchbook
15. a mirror
16. an empty bag of Baked Lays
17. disc 1 of Mad Men season 2 to be returned to Netflix
    

Guestlist: Chloe's Nightly List of Wishes

By Stephanie Chockleyblog

1. I wish we never got sleepy
2. I wish we never had to go to sleep
3. I wish that the stay-home days were school days, and the school days were all stay-home days
4. I wish there was no school or work at all!

Guestlist: Dumb Ways I've Seen February Spelled In Advertising

By Memphisotan

1. Freebruary

2. Februany

3. February

I am a Nerd: Gym Edition

Today at the gym, I:

• stood at the foot of a treadmill, waiting for someone to wipe off their sweat, but no one ever did
• listed to the Amelie soundtrack on my iPod
• read a book while walking on the treadmill - not just a book, but the for-bookclub, academic (to me) Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II

CBS Sunday Morning

One of the many things I love about CBS Sunday Morning is the description of the broadcast. Here's tomorrow's show:

• Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
• new realities of marriage
• actor Jesse Eisenberg
• boom boxes
• musician Herb Alpert

Driving in the Snow

1. The first time I drove in the snow... you won't believe me, but it was in Panama City, Florida. I was 17 and had only been driving a short time, when I drove across the bridge (we lived on the beach side; PC and PC Beach are connected by a bridge) to visit Robin on a day when snow was predicted. My mother said to drive straight home if it started to snow. I was convinced it wouldn't because, come on...that's ridiculous. Then it did and I tried to drive but freaked out and called Mom from a pay phone. She likes to say that I said, "You were right! You're always right!" I spent the night at Robin's. Mom loves that story.

2. ICE STORM! '94! The storm came and our power went out and we heard branches breaking off trees. Then I got ready and went to work, because how the heck was I supposed to know every street in the city was covered in ice?! I drove down our street, around a corner, slid on the ice and my poor little orange 1972 Volkswagon Superbeetle hit the bumper of a parked van. I went and found the owner, and I can't remember exactly what transpired, but I do remember him saying, "I can prove you did this! I have witnesses!" And I was all,"Dude, I'm standing between my dented car and your dented van. Of course I did it! I told you I did it!" But, honestly this was before I would've said "dude" and I was pretty timid, so I probably just apologized. Then I still tried to drive to work! But I eventually gave up and made it home without further incident. Then I sat in a cold, dark apartment all day. The End.

3. Today I drove farther in the snow than I've probably driven since ICE STORM! '94! This is due partly to the fact that this is the farthest from home I've worked in years, and partly because I now work at a place where I have to wait to be told to go home. Honestly, it's kind of nice to have one less decision to make. The drive home was fine, if slow, until I got to Midtown and people were driving with dangerously inflated senses-of-self-importance. But I made it home safely and my house is warm and bright! It's just too bad Robin's not here.

Books I Bought at Bojo's

What? I was going to sketch at Bojo's Antique Mall with Memphis Urban Sketchers without buying anything?

1. Check out this little gem:


















































2. This could be educational!

























Also, it has pictures.



















3. I might not have bought this if I hadn't just finished reading At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. This book was probably quoted in it. Also, I love looking at other people's houses, and as I've said, I like books with pictures.

Reading Begets Reading

Books that reading At Mrs. Lippincote's made me want to read:

1. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
2. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
3. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (again)
4. books by Elizabeth Taylor that I haven't read yet
   

My Favorite Quotes from the Book I Just Read

At Mrs. Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor (the writer not the actress)

• "She realized that now, having no life of her own, all she could hope for would be a bit of Roddy's, what he might have left over and could spare."
• "If an artist painted a sky like that people would say he exaggerated." (I have said that before.)
• "It makes very little difference to me. I am a parasite. I follow my man round like a piece of luggage or part of a traveling harem. He is under contract to provide for me, but where he does so is for him to decide." (She supposedly "kidding" but we all know she's not. Including her husband.)

A Few Things Discussed at Last Night's Bookclub

1. an absence of gallbladders
2. acceptable crying at work
3. green tea
4. how clean we are
5. cat poses
6. gravy boats
7. good hair
8. being board
9. the book, At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson