the next time i blog i’ll be in montevideo, halfway between staying at a hotel and searching for a place to call home.

i wish i could say something like…if the butterflies in my stomach were cows, i’d be able to start a dairy farm…but it’s T-MINUS two days till we drive to miami and hop on a chilean airline and i haven’t felt more calm in my life. it’s my second to last day in the states. i think it will hit me when i wake up one morning next week and it’s springtime in november and halloween didn’t happen and i have my first dream in spanish. part of me is curious if i will forget things from home while we are gone. but that’s what you’re for.

and i simply haven’t stopped thinking of that pasta place we ate at in carrasco that i plan to be a weekly haunt. where the handmade empanadas with various stuffings were neatly lined up next to every type of pasta you could ever crave under a tempting glass case. and when we ordered one of each hot stuffed packet we couldn’t resist to get a tub of steaming hot gnocchis in a creamy tomato sauce. yes, gnocchis and empanadas, in one place. just one excellent example of the delicious blending of italian descent at play in montevideo’s cuisine. my mouth is watering thinking of it.

i leave you with my “must wanderlust” playlist brought to you by yours truly. because every occasion needs a soundtrack. the first song was a must because of that line “water spirals the wrong way out the sink…”

ana ng // they might be giants
sell all my things // rosie thomas
transatlanticism // death cab for cutie
wandering // ben folds
corcovado // everything but the girl
la del ruso // gotan project
the middle // jimmy eat world
there goes the fear // doves
somewhere only we know // keane
displaced // azure ray
international // apples in stereo
if you have to go // geneva
that was another country // innocence mission

ps. i noticed as i twisted open my RIMMEL LONDON mascara this morning: made in brasil. hmm.

pps. please cross your fingers and send the sky special wishes that our luggage doesn’t get lost. i fly with a carry-on only, but this time i have a little more.

oh, if everyday was my birthday! then i would buy this, new from valerie’s fall line. it’s even reversible and with bright stunning colors i can just see it being worn with some deep red lipstick under a wide umbrella on the way to a bookstore. {if we weren’t moving to another country, i would have driven to DC in a heartbeat to model your new line valerie…what a treat!}

jessica has opened up a reopened shop at her paperheart, her book maybe you’re right is already sold out! but take heart, there are still some poketo wallets left.

and there’s something about photographers from lithuania. are they all just born with a natural ability to take beautiful pictures? take cue from bang, ruzavizefyrai, and some other.

and i need to confess my long time crush with genevieve’s woodburning art, really wonderful childlike worlds and intelligent linework! i love the intense details.

(this photo i took today really reminds of the giving tree.)

looking at photobooth.net & also admiring andrea’s fascinating collection of 35 photobooth years. this one is absolutely perfect, and this one reaffirms happily ever after truly exists (i will always believe that.)

have you found new blogs lately? tell me about them. i cut back reading on a lot a little while ago, trying to just keep up with friends is all the time that i can afford. but i recently found strandgut. simply beautiful photos and calming feeling there. also, i switched from organizing all the ones i read from bloglines to google reader, i love it when i hit “next” and when there are no updated feeds the monitor tells me that i have now reached the end of the internet and to go read a book.

i love the soft texture and leather smell of my new journal, untouched waiting to be filled with foreign stories. (two pages, written. i went to a beautiful park and felt the breeze and rhythm of the pen while the pine needles plummeted fast to the ground all around me.)

ps. montevideo, of all places (in the whole entire world!) was in the new york times travel section of sunday’s paper. remarkable. there was mention of the neighborhood we plan to live in, and a few other places i am already familiar with. i can’t wait to get down there…

she traced the narrow blue line with her finger…it twisted crazily across the paper, as random as a fingerprint. it was going to take longer than she had planned. she smiled and folded the map back up. {seen somewhere…a car ad i think? anyway, it’s fitting. the she is me.}

he brings me the sun (& i provide the rain} we’re a smashing team. well, the evening has come. i’m off to window shop, maybe find something pretty to wear and scrumptious to eat. we’ll hold hands and stay out late.

one afternoon last april, i was sitting on the floor in my studio, with all my old film cameras surrounding me…but with digital in hand. the sunlight was pouring in through all the windows, and i just remember not wanting to move because it felt so warm. i was in the mood to enjoy some polaroid instant gratification. but alas, all of them were without film. and they they were. just staring at me with their different personalities begging to play. so one thing led to another and i pointed my digital through my square shooter viewfinder, max just happened to be crouching nearby to be my subject.

then i started to see some comments on my photos over at flickr about “ttv.” it turns out that there was an entire group of photographers doing what i was, but through some impressive old cameras. i was smitten. i stuck to focusing through my trusty square shooter and also through another dual lens camera that was in a $ bin at the thrift store. but i just couldn’t resist the look of that beautiful duaflex viewfinder, with it’s dusty flecks uncleaned on the glass…

and so, in a frantic realization that i might not be able to pick up such a camera in south america, i put in my bid first thing earlier this week at ebay. not only did it arrive today, it came with another old brownie.

this is my first shot. thank goodness that one thing about creativity is that there isn’t a limited amount to go around. so far julia from spain, annie from brooklyn, viv from seattle, and lisa from california have all been inspired. {just click on their names to see their shots!} hope you play along too.

the emails for tag sale tales are pouring in, thank you to everyone who is interested! if i haven’t written you back yet, fear not, there are a lot to consider and i will let you know either way.

if you are just tuning in, read more here. submissions were going to close at the end of this week, but due to the number of possible writers coming out of the woodwork, i am extending my final decision a little bit longer!

(this morning’s requested kid art- max wanted me to paint him a rocket, an airplane, an olivia and a kitty. sometimes crappy plastic paint brush tips are fun.)

i hate finishing some stories. because in a way, it’s a goodbye each time. some goodbyes are a breeze, you had the experience with it and you can move on, and you’re just naturally done with that chapter in your life. but other ones can break your heart. give you a longing to be together before you have truly realized that you are really going to be apart. and when the writing is really good and the story dazzles me, it makes me hurt in that i-hate-saying-goodbye horrible way. i can’t reread it, it’s already gone.

you know the feeling. but for me, my eyes lay finally shut with said book resting on my chest; closed; then fingers tracing the cover art i have become familiar with as it all sinks in. then all the thinking comes, absorbing it all. lingering in the memories, the orchestra of words and thoughts and the brilliant places i went to. and i realize that i haven’t even left.

so last night i went to the bookstore. sometimes i want to live in one. (and i’m so psyched to have time to read lately.)

i’m obsessed with yellow ochre, i gravitate towards the color in old book covers, new sweaters, shoes perfect for walking in a new city, my surroundings, my sketchbook.

but lately polaroids have found hues of yellow too. once you focus on something, it is everywhere.

natalie has always loved the color as well, just look at the new prints in her shop. and i’m so into her recent fashion findings for autumn here. (those shoes!)

i think i’ll draw tonight. (time is on my side till our flight leaves you know.)

p.s. i’m thinking of reviving of tag sale tales, if you would like to be a contributor, or know someone who would, please let me know! open call…

yesterday was a well-deserved nice and lazy one, i spent part of the afternoon reading by the pool in nana’s backyard, where the purple flowers drip over her fence. everyone else was taking naps.

we went from being able to play hide and seek among the cardboard boxes in our house to being at stay (homeless!) with m’s family…all within a day. all the packing, the closing on our beautiful little dollhouse, saying goodbye…the entire process has been so easy, too easy. and that just confirms that such a seemingly risky decision is just so right. at different times of the day, marcus and i were both thinking how we made a good packing team & later we found out that the thought occurred to us at the same time.

and now we’re in wait for a flight to south america and it’s a relief to not to be so busy for a few days. in the company of friendly folk, in the perfect sunny “fall” weather of florida.

so what are the things that an norte americana will want to pack for life in uruguay? or what should she fill her few days with before leaving the country for a while? and where will she end up next…yes, i’m already thinking about that. this is a fun way to decide. (grin)

& some time to browse ::

ps. is it sick that i have almost 5,000 photos in my flickr favorites?

oh! and thank you to jeffrey yamaguchi (of 52 projects) for his mention of my blog in a recent typepad interview. so nice!

and check out my friend lydia from brooklyn who’s just opened her own jewelry shop called cootiegarage on etsy. (& about her name) she reminds me i’m anxious to get back into making new things, packing wasn’t a bother, but it was a little mind-numbing.

there’s nothing like meeting blogging friends and fellow artists in real life, and recently camilla, claire, abigail and karin all met-up in london, i’m so so jealous!

finally checking in, hello blog. i’m sitting here in pajamas, wet hair wrapped in a messy bun after the last shower at my house. i’m writing from a cozy spot on my bare mattress in the middle of my empty (but oh so great for echoes) family room. it’s dark out, all i can hear is marcus talking with his best friend on his cell and the crickets in the basement. the ink is just drying on a little note to the new owners about where the tulips were planted, i left it on the breakfast nook table we’re leaving for them. my studio has gone portable and is enveloped deep inside my suitcase, i think this will be perfect for some artistic focus after we fly down south.  a giant moving truck is hogging our front lawn, filled to the brim and ready to take off first thing. tomorrow we head to florida to safe keep the stuff till our wanderlust is satisfied. and i can hardly contain my excitement.

p.s. i’ve had keane’s “this is the last time” lyrics in my mind like a soundtrack all day.

p.p.s. i promise to get to your emails, notes, love, soon soon! send us good vibes, wishes, prayers, belly rubs, and air kisses that we make the journey safe…