brought to you by the letter A

DSC_0015, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Here are a few shots of Nick installing the ceiling in our room this week. The ceiling is made from cherry wood that we bought in Arlington, WA, in the Skagit Valley.

The dog is less than enthusiastic about our project. Luckily, the stress hasn't disturbed his sleep habits. Note that his hind paws are tucked under his chin.

Earliest Spring Sprouts

earliest spring sprouts 1/27/10, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Last fall I planted our entire container garden with spring bulbs, so that when the baby is born this spring we'll have a garden full of tulips and daffodils. For early spring, I planted fritillaria and crocuses. Yesterday I looked outside and saw these two tiny blooms, much earlier than I expected them!

Nick and I are working hard on our construction project, creating a new bedroom in our warehouse home. I've taken a break from the blog for most of the past year, but now that we have so many exciting projects going on, I will try to better document them. Here are two quick portraits of the parents to be, enjoying the late winter sunshine in our driveway garden. This is also the official start of week 29. Only about 10 weeks to go! Happy 2010!

LA sunset: perpetual twilight

Twilight at the Getty Center, perched above the city and the ocean.

I just spent five days in LA, scurrying from museum to museum, soaking up as much art and sunshine as possible. I had two great traveling companions, my mom and my Aunt T. We visited the Getty Center and Getty Villa; LACMA and the LaBrea tar pits by moonlight; the Huntington Library and an odd little place with a long name: The Museum of Jurassic Technology. And we saw Mick Jagger, fellow art lover! (Just last week I was at the Met in New York on the same day as Mick -- the usually grim guards were apopleptic!)




Who knew LA was so green? We arrived after a winter of heavy rains, and were rewarded with abundant plant life on every hill and overpass. LA is louder, brighter, more sun-bleached than reality. It's like a movie.

new york sunset: city of angles

new york sunset: city of angles, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

We spent the last week in New York, celebrating a wedding, some babies, a few toddlers, and one new pregnancy. It was a full week! My mom and I joked that the whole trip was a family planning pitch directed at the visiting young couple.
Nick was very sick for the first half of the trip, and as soon as he felt better he hurt his shoulder, so that was kind of rough. But we managed to have a pretty wonderful trip. Thank you everyone.

hothouse colors

tulips on my work table

I LEGO NY

As part of what we like to call the Lego Generation, we will always have a soft spot for those hard, sharp little building blocks. That being said, Legos don't usually make us cry unless we step on one, transforming that soft spot from a nostalgic emotion into a very real and tender pad of your foot.

This week amazing illustrator Christoph Niemann delighted the ex- Legoists and ex-New Yorkers here in our house, when the NY Times published the latest installment of his Abstract City Blog.

An exercise in contrasting materials

DSC_0006.JPG, originally uploaded by isabelle gr.

Soft and sharp, cool and warm. Let the new year be full of exciting new experiences.