I heart multitasking

Dearest K,

Thanks for the love.. much needed and felt. Back at ya, sister.

Love your dance photos and stage mock up drawings! Traveling truck show is going to be such a success, I know it!

I've been pumping out the design projects the last few weeks also. Here are the projects I have just completed.

1. Etsy Banner Design for the lovely Elise. She has great jewelry, check it out!

2. Package Design for new local snack food: I got a Wacom drawing tablet and it has literally changed my drawing/design life! You would love it.

3. Starting K Street Projects (in the works!! FINALLY. Stay tuned for listed items) After years of both of us talking about this, I'm finally starting it. Now to start binding books with my new materials.

I'm finishing summer classes and off to Brother Canoe Camping in New England. Can't wait to be in the cool breeze of the trees.. its hot, hot, hot here! And I desperately need a vacation.

Will report back with canoe photos when I return.

Lots of love, K

love from Chicago

My dearest K! Love and good thoughts are beaming out from Chicago to you!

Totally thought of your and S's sweet moves last Sunday when N and I went to this thing called Summer Dance. For 15 years now, Chicago has hosted this amazing project, open to the public, featuring great live music, and free! From Thursday -Sunday (every week in the summer), you can take a dance lesson and then dance the night away--each night provides a different kind of style or genre, from Balkan dances to Ballroom, Bollywood to Polka. It was adorable to see so many people of all ages dancing together outside in the garden of Grant Park to the music of a Big Band. Next time you come visit, let's dance!

Like I said today on our phone chat, I'm still catching up with everything after having visitors. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you the project I'm looking most forward to working on. I wish I could simply quit everything to focus on this, but thus is life. We will multi-task forever, won't we? Anyway, our traveling truck show proposal is well underway, and I'm obsessing over the possibilities. The collaboration team (there are 8 of us) started a blog to share info/links/photos/inspirations with each other while we're in the planning process. I put up a mini version of Mabel's Wayback Machine there. Check it out:
http://travelingtruckshow.tumblr.com/

I like your dreamy hot summer pics. And FISH--yay! Pets always make home more fun.
I love you sooooo much! Thinking of you lots!
k

The colors of summer

Dear K,

Love those botanical gardens photos! That "living stone" looks so prehistoric. Glad you had fun with the fam.

Well.. pretty quiet around here. Laying low. Trying to stay cool. Usual summer stuff. Above are two fun color studies from recent weeks of adventures. One from a fun night out on the town with friends, the other from a quiet beach drive in the mist.

Also.. we got some fish! Meet "Oscar, Levi and the Whalers" ;) They have livened up our living room and the Mr. sings to them in the morning. It's hysterical.

The above photo is the first of what I would expect many bookbinding adventures. Paper has been organized and now its time for binding. Felt pretty fun, since its been awhile to sew and stitch signatures together. Wrapping classes up in about a week and looking forward to my trip to see my brother. Expect northern pics for next post!

Love, K.

adventures with the folks

K,
Well...although moving a little slower this time around, we really did quite a lot last weekend--a Cubs game, the Shedd Aquarium, duck dinner at Sun Wah, saw organist Chris Foreman at the Green Mill, the Chicago Botanic Gardens, dinner at B + K's house, Sunday farmer's market, the Caldwell Lily Pond, Algerian crepes at Icosium, a play about dentists at Theatre on the Lake, a walking tour of Old Town, the Chicago History Museum, and finally a July 4th BBQ in the backyard. It was super fun!

A few highlights in pictures
At top: The sky was crazy on our way to the Shedd. The kind of sky before a tornado. The night before, we had a terrible hail storm---I've never experienced anything like it. The news said golfball-sized hail. It was LOUD, and terrifying. The next morning, leaves and branches completely covered the ground, and cars all had little polka-dotted dents on their roofs. Above: The Chicago Botanic Gardens were beautiful. My faves were the Weeping willows in the Japanese gardens, and, of course, the Desert Room.

Below: The neighborhood explodes around the 4th---with people firing off major scale (totally illegal) fireworks out of alleys on every block. We awoke to loud booms and their resulting car alarm set-offs at like 3 am almost every night. For our celebration, however, we stuck to the simple ol' dragon snaps and sparklers.
And this (below) is the lovely little plant my folks left on my ledge before leaving town. We saw some of these at the Botantic Gardens and I thought they were so weird...and cool! They're called Lithops, or "living stones." Native to South Africa, they disguise themselves as rocks, so animals don't eat them. Lithops grow in all sorts of colors and textures, and they even flower. Strangest plant I've come across yet. I'll post soon about art stuff...getting caught up with everything else.
Love,
k

This type of summer

Hey K,

Been busy down here.. up to my ears in books and bookmaking. I LOVED your "Pop Song". Super sweet and layered in love. Made me think of "K Booty Shake" ;) which I still think about and laugh out loud.

Lots of things since I last wrote. Finished my I-Invasions... all four of them

have an opening tonight. Hope I get some good feedback. Also received a generous donation of bookbinding stuff from a friend. Sorting through all of the drawers and boxes. I will probably keep 1/4 of the stuff, even this means I will never have to buy paper again! Book cloth, book board, guillotine, paper cutters, nipping press, and funky old tables.. we even have a round backer in our driveway. Yikes.

Want a roll of book cloth? Let me know what color and I'll save one for you. Otherwise, most of

it is going to the Jaffe Center at FAU. I couldn't possibly use all of it in a lifetime!

Also, finished E + S's wedding invitation and picked up a new freelance design job. And I thought in the summer things would slow down ;)

Hope you have a great time with your family! It's been super rainy here, so I'm taking this long weekend to slow down, putz around the house and organize all of my new paper. Call once the fam is off your couch!

Love, K.