You blog like a girl

Letterpress exhibit call for entries

Nina — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:06:45 +0000

There is one career regret I have. I wish I had been born a man in 1900 so that I could grow up to be a typographer and printer in a letterpress shop. Alas, I was not. I learned the art of fine printing and bookmaking from John Risseeuw of Pyracantha Press. This experience gave me a deep and rich insight into typography and its history, and where an artform like this can be taken in to the future.
On April 2, there will be an exhibit highlighting the Phoenix letterpress printing community at Fractal in Phoenix. If you are or have been a letterpress printer in Phoenix, we would like you to submit your work. We are looking to exhibit the full range of letterpress being produced in the Phoenix area; design work, invitations, business systems, broadsides, poetry, prints, experimental typography, and more. This time, we are only showing 2-dimensional work that can be mounted on the wall. Submissions are due March 18. Download the entry form and submit already. I look forward to this, as does the ghost of my past life wishes.

MADPHX is up!

Nina — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:39:16 +0000

Over the last year I have met more people here in Phoenix than I have maybe in my entire life. Once I started to understand all the energy and creativity in the Greater Phoenix area, I started to get really excited again about being a part of it. A few of us got together and recorded a conversation about the creative class and what we are doing in Phoenix to make our community better. Check it out, leave comments, subscribe on iTunes! http://www.madphx.com/

Cutting back: Step One

Nina — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:22:16 +0000

Over the last year and a half I have gone through a lot of my emotional clutter in my head and heart, but I haven’t been able to conquer the physical clutter around me. I am pretty charged up about doing it this year. I have set up a support system which has motivated me in small ways before, but I knew I had to motivate myself to actually get this done in a big way. So the first thing on my list is my closet.
I have a CRAP LOAD of clothes.
Why? I love fabric. I love feeling pretty. In the past when I was feeling sad and overwhelmed by my emotional clutter, shopping and the mini-adrenaline rush that came as a result of it was a coping mechanism.
But after years of doing this, I have more clothes than I want to store and care for. Digging around on the web I have found tons of advice about how to weed out the things you don’t want or don’t like. That hasn’t been enough for me to truly pair down. I tend to purge clothes in sizes that I’m not anymore. I am getting down to things I like a lot or love at this point. There has to be a next, more drastic level of purging tactics.
I’ve come up with a process. It is in motion.
1. WASH ALL OF IT
I procrastinate laundry until the entire closet is empty and I have more loads to wash then an army of toddlers. And then I might only do half that pile at a time. There is no point in recent history that every piece of clothing I own has been clean. As I am washing it, I am getting donating any stray clothes I’ve miswsed in my last purge that I don’t love or don’t fit me in a way I feel great in.
2. INVENTORY
Since it is never all clean at the same time, I really don’t even know what I have. I am making a spreadsheet so I can count how many plain tshirts, skirts, dress pants, etc. that I have sitting in my closet.
3. ANALYZE MY LIFESTYLE
How many goofy tshirts do I really need since I work 40-60 hours a week in a professional environment? Well, I need a few. I also perform comedy. Not that wackly tshirts are required, but I do enjoy having a few around. Thinking about the activities I participate in every week and what I’m required to have for those will determine how much cutting back I will do. Once I have a full inventory, I think it will be obvious that I have neglected some areas of my life wardrobe wise in favor of other areas that I am naturally more drawn too (PREDICTION: goofy tshirts).
4. CUT IT OUT
Once I determine how many wacky tshirts I can have hanging around in good conscience, it is time to start being ruthless and mean. Finding any little flaw with the things I fell in love with in the store and accepting that I have an excess of any given category, keeping only the most versatile and basic items. Time to pare it down to a set number of items.
5. MAINTENANCE
I will do laundry regularly. I will. I will. Moving into an apartment after living in a house for 7 years added to the chaos of laundry time. But now I have found quite a few laundry options varying in convenience and fun. Friends have offered to have coffee with me while I borrow their machine. Dog sitting or babysitting is a great way to barter for washing machine access. The laundromat up the street has giant machines and great people watching. And my apartment complex has some small machines and easy access from my couch. It is simply a habit I will need to retrain myself in now that I can’t do it in my own home.
6. DILIGENCE
Through years of hurt and confusion, I’ve built up a large collection of band aids. I still feel myself drawn towards impulse buying when I’m stressed or worried. But I will explore other ways to deal with those feelings, and save shopping for when items need to be replaced or I find I need to fill a gap in my wardrobe as my life continues to morph. Also, when I buy things now, I hope to make a better investment in quality and versatility.
This is not the first step in a long process of morphing my life into a happy and manageable one, it is just the easiest one to write about. I think figuring out why people collect clutter (Have you seen the show Hoarders? Oh, man.) is the most important step. Dealing with it is tedious, so tracking down the emotional reason for it, for me, was the biggest revealation. Now I just have to get to work.

Fractal Phoenix Preview Tonight

Nina — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:35:27 +0000

Fractal Phoenix Poster, originally uploaded by Nin(j)a.

My friends are celebrating the beginning of a great idea in downtown Phoenix, www.fractalphx.com. I am terribly excited about it.
6-10pm, 1301 N.W. Grand Avenue in the Bragg’s Pie Factory.

Documentary about TED Conference

Nina — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:08:38 +0000

TED is an amazing movement. It has changed my life and how I think, and I think this documentary covers why:

Pie recipe

Nina — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:28:51 +0000

With everyone focused on traditional Thanksgiving traditions tomorrow, I thought I would propose a new recipe for a traditional dish for the future, which is now:

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 1/3 cups frozen peas and carrots
2/3 cup frozen corn kernels
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon crumbled dried thyme, or to taste
2 cups diced ~~cooked chicken~~ << HOT DOGS
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Use a pizza cutter to slice the puff pastry into 8 equal-sized strips. Weave the strips into a square lattice and place on a greased baking sheet.
3. Bake in preheated oven until it just starts to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
4. Place the frozen peas, carrots, and corn in a microwave-safe bowl and cook in the microwave until cooked but still firm, 5 to 10 minutes.
5. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the milk and stir while cooking until the mixture is smooth. Add the thyme and continue to cook and stir until the mixture thickens. Stir in the cooked vegetables and the ~~chicken~~<< HOT DOGS. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until heated through, stirring frequently, 5 to 7 minutes.
6. Pour the chicken mixture into a 2-quart baking dish. Lay the pastry lattice on top. Bake in the preheated oven until the crust is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

I call it Hot Dog Pie, maybe one of the sexiest pies invented. Recipe adapted. Happy Thanksgiving.

Phoenix Design Week is coming

Nina — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:49:11 +0000

phxdw_blogblitz8, originally uploaded by Somebody’sOatmeal.

If you are a designer or want to be one or know one or just like things that you can read well and look awesome, then Phoenix Design Week is a great way to connect with the community. Great local people are putting this together, and great national and international designers are coming in town to join us in thinking and discussing what local Phoenix design is about. Get unstuck, don’t settle, this event is set to inspire more from all of us.Check it out, http://www.phxdw.com.

This video sums up the last two weeks

Nina — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:34:28 +0000

Beautiful simplicity:

#rtrtour ^5 in wendy’s in tennessee on 12seconds.tv

For more on the trip, go to twitter, flickr and vimeo. #rtrtour=raise the roof tour!

links for 2009-06-22

Nina — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:30:24 +0000

A Primer For Hacking Twitter

(tags: twitter tools social)
Phoenix Art Museum

(tags: inspiration torchtheatre)
What's Happening | Guthrie Theater

(tags: inspiration torchtheatre)
Walker Art Center

to motiony though

(tags: inspiration torchtheatre)
Lincoln Center Theater

(tags: inspiration torchtheatre)
Welcome to the Public Theater

(tags: inspiration torchtheatre)
Goodman Theatre : Home

(tags: inspiration torchtheatre)

links for 2009-06-21

Nina — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:30:17 +0000

Reuben Margolin's kinetic wave sculptures – Boing Boing

(tags: art sculpture math)
Phoenix – Chow Bella – Death to Chocolate in Phoenix?

I find a small piece of justice in this, I really didn't like working in that store. Plus it was really sunny, and they melted a lot of chocolate. It was the first Godiva opened in Phoenix, design and research fail.

(tags: chocolate)