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Have you seen the new Space Needle?

Lately there’s been a lot of running in the sprinklers, wading in baby pools, bike rides to our favorite park and always the space needle is ever by my side, right behind my shoulder, peeking around the horizon.  Summer we have had… yet – it is unbelievable to me that it is already August.  I sense summer slipping away even though I still feel like it’s barely begun!  It makes me a little nervous, you know?  It’s that sunday-night-before-school-starts feeling, like I haven’t quite felt the full ripeness of the season yet, though we’ve really done so much.  How to get that feeling to go away?

I’ll join in on Susannah’s August break idea. Cram in as many lazy, hazy picnics with as humanly possible.  Take in more sunrises and sunsets with a friend. Finish that stack of books mounded by my bed, at least one book! (the Seattle library must be making bank on me this year with overdue fines, I just know it!) Lastly, I will get out my favorite pencil and cross pretty lines through all the things I’ve done on my summer to do list and see all that I have left and just all that I have done!  I think that will make that nervous summer slipping away feeling go away, don’t you? :) Happy Weekend, sailors! xo.

Typical to the overexposed, quirky world that sometimes can you uncomfortable, Juergen Teller‘s latest work for Marc Jacobs hit the right note for me again for the fall 2010 campaign.  I’ve been that girl before, still dressed up after a long day and needing to stop somewhere to lie about in the sun.  In fact, I was that girl this weekend.  Any time the photographer shoots with the contrast of the models in Jacobs + great wide open spaces of nature’s dramatic backdrop makes a formula set to get my heart humming…

S/S 09

with sofia coppola

S/S 2010

I’ve lost count of how many hours I’ve spent exploring the Charles W. Cushman photograph collection.  They are all beautifully preserved in vivid color with detailed supporting notes, and his vast archives are all digitized and organized into a keyword-searchable database.  With almost fifteen thousand Kodachrome slides that span from 1938 to his death in 1972, there is always a reason to go dip into the colorful world when I need a dose of inspiration from the legacy he left behind. New favorite searches: Greece > one two three and Mothers & children > one two three four five.

(All images copyright Charles Cushman Collection, Indiana University Archives.)

In recent photobooths, I made use of the following props 1. a giant plush horse head (I had a crush on him) 2. bull horns/ears headband (they were so oddly comfortable) 3. my vintage magimatic camera 4. an oversized shiny apple to (a la temptress Jenny).  Conclusions: I am a silly art director.

My collection is growing and I don’t know what to do with all my pictures but I just keep collecting them and labeling the back with the date and place. Thank you, Brother P-touch!  My favorites are always of my two little boys. No contest.  And since their faces, haircuts and expressions change so much from one month to the next – I can return to my favorite booth and justify the shoot.  Addicts rejoice!

Elias and I this past winter.  And look! He’s sooo widdle!! And has the same look in each frame, HA. Some strips got a little chemical booth voodoo.

I came across this book suitably titled Photobooth and the delightful volume is filled with strips from the author’s own private collection of random strangers from flea markets.  It was fun to get lost in my reading spot for a while and examine the array of lovers and sailors, punks and cowboys, children and lonely boys.  Especially sweet were the babies- they are the best! It’s fascinating to imagine that at one time, this was the way you sent someone your family picture. Walk down the boardwalk. Draw the curtain. * flashbulbs * Wait until dry, scrawl a note on the back and drop it in the mail.

Aren’t these ladies elegant?

Last week, I had one of those miserable 48 hour summer flu things. I had plans to meet up with a friend, but instead, I spent the day inside in my pajamas, sick sick sick. When my son brought in a care package that my friend thoughtfully dropped off at my door with an oversized vogue book and samples of yummy tea, it was these vintage slides attached to her handmade card that brought me into a little adventuring mood – and far away from my sniffles. (Thanks Kristin!) Any moment brought back to the islands is a happy one.

Now all I need is a sweet stereo slide viewer to see these proper… I’ve actually had this steel lightbox on my wishlist for a ridiculous amount of months.  Though my windows usually work in a pinch to look at negatives and such, being a busy Mom during the day, I usually only have time to create at night.  (Don’t you just love that huge bakelite button on the side?)

Playing with Eli, crawling on the sundial at Gasworks park. (photos of us by Marcela)

Max overlooking the pier.

Did you know? Seattleites wear plaid because it’s good camouflage.

The little Stewart street mural that I have a crush on.

Gorgeous abstractions at Olympic Sculpture Park, a favorite place to walk, jog and take pictures. (of Marcela!)