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September 25, 2008
Face lift!!
Blog face lift!!! I neglect my blog's design. I'm sorry baby. Also, no longer named "Star Crafty", it now reflects the direction I am taking with my business of sorts. I must focus on my photography at the moment, while I gather enough momentum and funds to complement it with my crafts. In the next few weeks I will also activate my Wordpress blog under amynieto.com, once I figure out CSS! Next week, i will move into a new place (with a huuuuge basement) so you know I will still sneak some bags and pretty things here and there (especially since I am doing Crafty Wonderland in October). eeek!
Look at these upholstery fabric samples I snatched at SCRAP!
SCRAP is a "non-profit and our mission is to inspire creative reuse and environmentally sustainable behavior by providing educational programs and affordable materials to the community". I LOVE this place. They have two bins of all these samples and you can fill up a whole plastic bag for $4. They have loads and loads of different types of paper, mat pieces, frames, greeting cards, yarn, random things. I love Portland. For reals.
I also don't know how I've managed to not go completely bankrupt in this town with a BILLION awesome shops. Really. That's some crazy self-control.
IT MUST STOP.
I MUST SHOP!!!
Posted by starmagn at 03:46 AM | Comments (3)
"uppie!"
What parenting is like and what love is like. It was very early on Monday, after a very odd weekend wherein I couldn't explain why I felt the way I did, that I photographed Anne and her two little girls. This home is FULL OF LOVE. The six month old cutie pie was on the floor, surrounded by toys with a genuine look of wonderment on her face. Her older sister pretended to be shy, as many kids do. But she warmed up, a love brighter and warmer than her soft red hair. I shot over 8 gigs, and stayed more than the scheduled hour.
It's great to know families like this (papa was at work) exist. I know the girls will grow up to be amazing human beings.
love!!!
Posted by starmagn at 03:40 AM | Comments (1)
September 21, 2008
Why, yes I do.
Upon meeting little Liam today at our photoshoot, he asked me in his 4 year old voice, Do you like Red Robbins? That's all it took to clear my head of all the worries and sadness that permeated throughout the day. I truly love doing this.
Posted by starmagn at 12:46 AM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2008
Airborne Toxic Event
To be honest, my greatest passion in life is not photography. It is not yards and yards of silk dupioni or linen. Neither is filmmaking. It is MUSIC. I can't play it or sing it, but I feel it, feel it more than any soul on this Earth. A guitar makes me feel at home, a violin reminds me of rivers, cellos remind me of looking through dusty window panes at the overcast day outside. Drums beat my heart senseless, feeding my life with emotions I need and plenty I don't need. And the singer... a great singer reminds me who I am.
About two weeks ago, the DJ on the local alternative station 94.7 (the best I've heard my entire life) introduced the next song, a band from LA generating quite a hype in the indie music circuit. Called Airborne Toxic Event, the single is Sometime Around Midnight and I had to repeat to myself their name over and over again for 20 minutes while driving back home. Did not want to forget what I had just heard. Youtubed them and needless to say, I think they're the best act of 2008 (though I've been out of the loop as of late).
This song is everything us lonelyhearts live through (and secretly hold on to) on a daily basis, ...and the piano is this melancholy soundtrack to her smile. It breaks your heart, throws it, picks it up and reminds you need this organ to continue on. It's desperation, it's a smoky bar, it's feeling hopeless, it's feeling hopeful, it's Siegfried as he moved on, as I could not move on past my teenage crush for more than three years, it's Johnny Kallis as he sat across me in History course with his baby blue Wu Tang shirt and kakhi cargo pants and he barely ever said a word to me the skinny girl who sat across him in History course. It's me trying to be a grownup and attempting a friendship after my first official relationship ended on that final day of our first transfer year, when we all had to move out of our dorms, and my train left at 9 am so I really couldn't drag this goodbye any longer. It's me mistreating Rafa, it's him not telling me he didn't love me anymore, it's him and me no more, it's me throwing out his greeting cards during finals, maybe due to stress, mostly due to anger at the fact that *I* did him wrong first. It's two years I spent pretending to be a strong, independent woman who didn't need a hug, who didn't need anybody. It's Tyler... it's Tyler audaciously engaging in conversation with me at Forsyth and it's Tyler lying on my chest as I sleepily play with his hair and to this day I still want that to happen forever but it won't. It's Koonds and how my fingers sorta lingered for a mili-second as he handed me a drink for a customer and I laughed at the silliness of my stupid feelings.
Airborne Toxic Event is nights like this when a friend calls sometime around midnight and I don't know what to say, when I fear for my Siegfried, and I don't know what to do.
But Airborne Toxic Event is also waking up tomorrow, perhaps with a lingering Bourbon breath, hopeful with a steady walk, steady mind knowing we all need a soundtrack to our lives.
I swear they have more upbeat songs, lol. No, for reals, check them out. Great band. Hot singer and a cool girl on violin. Great melodies. What more can you ask.
"so you can smell her perfume, you can see her lying naked in your arms"
Posted by starmagn at 03:51 AM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2008
ETSY SHOP! OMGZZZZ
OMGZ ETSY SHOP!!!!!!! After years and years I finally have opened an Etsy shop. I simply cannot believe it. Though my craft ware will not be featured in this shop, my photography will. And I'm pretty excited :)
OMGZ!!! <--- evidence that I'm flippin out.
:) :) :) :)
Posted by starmagn at 09:06 PM | Comments (1)
September 12, 2008
I promise , I promise
I swear I will blog one of these days all about my adventures in Portland. I swear. For now this picture is from my booth at Belmont Street Fair on Sept 6. It was quite rad.
I am doing awesome and Portland is just plain fantastic, I love it. I also love how broke I am. But that's part of being an artist. Right.
Okay, I'm off to bed. Two more fairs this weekend. Yikes.
Love you all!!!
Posted by starmagn at 02:51 AM | Comments (1)