Last Day for the Reverse Auction

The 2009 Invitational Reverse Auction for Fabulous Artwork benefiting the American Cancer Society is almost over, but not yet.

Please go and check Virginia Spiegel and the FiberArt for a Cause websites where you have all the instructions on how to acquire some beautiful work of art. 100% of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. We all need to help in finding ways to combat this terrible disease.

Next will be Collage Mania starting May 5th where you can help once again. So stay tune, mark your calendars and see how you can help on spreading the words.

Reverse Auction for the American Cancer Society opening tomorrow

This is it! If you want to buy great artwork and feel good about the money you spend on it, you will have the opportunity to do so starting tomorrow. Here is the link:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/ReverseAuctionArtwork2009.html you might also want to peak at Virginia Spiegel's Blog who is featuring today Gerrie Congdon http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/blog/

you might also want to check the making of Sir Winter McDormant
http://roxanestoner.blogspot.com/2009/01/sir-winter-mcdormant.html

I hope that you find something that you can't live without.

Week End BIts

Those were taken yesterday at Sunset. A very cold day it was. So a laid back weekend.
Saturday was spent in Anchorage for a good part with Terry at the "Empty Bowl project" where The Anchorage Clay Arts Guild with the Bean's Cafe organize this fundraiser for our population of homeless. For $18 per ticket you get a nice soup (Chefs from Orso Restaurant come up with two recipes per year) with a piece of corn bread with butter and honey, yey! I had a corn chowder and Terry had a pasta bean very thick and spicy soup) and you get to pick a ceramic bowl of your choice. They have large tables with volunteers that help you select the bowl of your dream. This year's event was so popular that when we got there there were no more tickets to purchase and I had to wait as some people bring in unsold tickets from other areas once in a while so I got lucky at the end. I will take a picture of my bowl to post later. They also have a silent auction in the center of the room with gorgeous pieces from very famous potters (Paul Laverty and Steve Godfrey being my favorites. So nice of them to donate for the event. We listened to live Irish Music organized by Suzie's Woolies, a fun Irish store on G street where you are guaranteed fiddle and drum music on First Friday. So off we were to Blaine's for a big roll of butcher paper I need for my quilt life size design then JoAnn's Fabrics for few DMC thread. Coffee at Jitter's in Eagle River before going home and a nice evening after a full plate of Tortellinis with homemade tomato sausage sauce and spinach pecan cranberry Parmesan salad.

Sunday after a tough yoga session with Mary Ellen (she is the best teacher ever) we had a prime rib roast with broccolini and Yukon gold mashed potatoes. Brownies for dessert... Napping was welcome by most except me who got down to the studio to work off the excess calories. So I played for few hours and it felt wonderful. The sun was present and shinning from the two windows. What a treat it was. I came up with two designs abandoning the two sketches I had for the Fiber Art For a Cause project. The Collage Mania part that is. So anyway here are the rough first steps. (this one is "Rayons de Soleil" perfect day for the title) (here is a detail) and then (Battling With My Demons) again a detail. There are lots to do on both but I am getting to it.

I read a bit from the two books I am currently reading. Arranged Marriage and The Reader. Both are quick read to be savored slowly. More later on this subject.
By the way Paul and Windy have arrived on Tuesday last week and will be living with us for a while. The house doesn't seem so quiet and empty anymore. It is kind of fun to have roommates.

Friday's Muse Moment in pictures

Just a thought

I was reading one of my favorite Book Blogs "Bookgirl's nightstand". Her last entry was dealing somewhat with the Oprah's Magazine. She enjoys as I do the section "The Reading Room". Then after reading some of the comments that she had gotten from other readers it made me think of how women in general are so anti-Oprah and her Book Club. That made me want to look a bit closer at her list which I glance at once in a while at Titlewave my favorite independent bookstore in Anchorage. Did you know that there are 63 books on the list.... Waou that was a shock to see that! Well I have to confess that of her 63 books there are quite a few that I have read. I have never looked to Oprah's bookclub for reading inspiration although after seeing how many are my all time favorite books I should consider to do so in the future.
When I was a teenager Pearl Buck was a favorite author of mine so when I saw "The Good Earth" on the list it brought me back. My sister will remember that one too as she was the one to read it first (being the oldest you know and me being the little sister following her footsteps). "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett (loved it so much I gave it to many of my friends and family as presents),
"The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver (I own and have read everyone of her books, fictions, short stories, poetry, non fictions),
"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides,
"East of Eden" by John Steinbeck (loved it),
"Fall on your Knees" by Ann-Marie MacDonald,
"A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry (I must have been from India in another life),
"The Corrections" by Johathan Franzen (did not finish, too close to life and didn't like any of the characters, the writing was exceptional but a bit pompous),
"She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb (loved it, couldn't believe it was written by a man), "Where the Heart is" by Billy Letts (loved the story and the characters),
"Stones from the River" by Ursula Hegi,
"Songs in Ordinary Time" by Mary McGarry Morris,
"A Virtuous Woman" by Kaye Gibbons,
"The Reader" by Bernhard Shlink (I am actually reading this one now after seeing the most fantastic movie tie-in last week, I don't think I was prepared to like the story that much, it broke my heart),
"The Deep End of the Ocean" by Jacquelyn Mitchard,
"The Pilot's Wife" by Anita Shreve,
"Here on Earth" by Alice Hoffman, "A Map of the World" by Jane Hamilton.
So about 18 books so a bit less than a third of her list. There are a couple that I have on my list to read like "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle and "Song of Solomon" by Tony Morrison. I have both already. I would like to add "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. So why is it that Oprah has such a bad rep. Is it that her money and success has put a shadow on her image so much that woman don't see the good that this woman has done? Is it jealousy? Envy? or pure snobbism? Who knows...
I have subscribed to her magazine and really liked what I was reading and seeing. Good articles which generally informed and empowered women to be whatever they want to be. Respecting races and sizes, touching subjects from Books to Recipes to Finances to Beauty and Fashion to Psychology. The only two missing items: An Horoscope and a Crossword Puzzle.
So that is all on the subject. By the way I loved that poem so much on Bookgirl's Nightstand by Sandra Cistero from her book Loose Woman that I have to include it on this entry. I hope that it will be OK with everyone. So here it is:

Champagne Poem for La Rosie

The first glass will make you laugh.
The second will have you making others laugh.
The third is for singing operettas.
The fourth to give you wings.
The fifth will have you forget
the things you chose to remember
and remember things you chose to forget.
The sixth is for courage when dialing Him.
The seventh to bring down cuss and concupiscence.
Congratulations. The eighth will drive you to bed or brawl.
Or to brawl in bed. Same difference.

Some of my best friends are Champagne or Wine drinkers and will definitely appreciate this poem. Now I have to get a copy of "Loose Woman" to check out the other poems.

My first meme

Things I’ve done are in bold.
Things I am indifferent towards or actively would like to avoid in italic
Things in normal type face are things I’d like to do.
Comments in parentheses are my addition.
I got this version from Quod She:

Start my own blog
Sleep under the stars
Play in a band
Own a cell phone
Visit Hawaii
Watch a meteor shower
Give more than I can afford to charity
Visit Disneyland / Disneyworld
Climb a mountain
Sing a solo
Bungee jump
Participate in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony
Teach myself an art from scratch
Adopt a child
Purchase real estate
Had food poisoning
Visit Parliament / Capital Hill
Grow my own vegetables
See the Mona Lisa in France
Sleep on an overnight train
Have a pillow fight
Hitchhike
Take a sick day when you’re not ill
Build a snow fort
Hold a lamb
Go skinny dipping
Run a Marathon
Been on television
Ride in a gondola in Venice
See a total eclipse
Watch a sunrise or sunset
Hit a home run
Go on a cruise
See Niagara Falls in person
Visit the birthplace of my ancestors (only my Dad's)
See an Amish community
Teach myself a new language
Have enough money to be truly satisfied
See the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Go rock climbing
See Michelangelo’s David
Sing karaoke (not solo)
See Old Faithful erupt
Buy a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visit Africa (only North Africa)
Walk on a beach by moonlight
Be transported in an ambulance
Have my portrait painted
Be arrested
Go deep sea fishing
See the Sistine Chapel in person
Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Go scuba diving or snorkeling
Kiss in the rain
Play in the mud
Go to a drive-in theatre
Be in a movie (but I've been on a number of sets)
Visit the Great Wall of China
Start a business
Take a martial arts class
Visit Russia
Serve at a soup kitchen
Sell Girl Scout Cookies
Go whale watching
Get flowers for no reason
Donate blood, platelets or plasma
Go sky diving
Visit a Nazi Concentration Camp
Bounce a check
Fly in a helicopter
Save a favorite childhood toy
Visit Quebec City
Eat Caviar
Piece a quilt
Stand in Times Square
Tour the Everglades
Been fired from a job
See the Changing of the Guards in London
Been on a speeding motorcycle
See the Grand Canyon in person
Published a book
Visit the Vatican
Buy a brand new car
Walk in Jerusalem
Have my picture in the newspaper
Read the entire Bible
Visit the White House
Kill and prepared an animal for eating
Had chickenpox
Save someone’s life
Sit on a jury
Meet someone famous
Join a book club
Lose a loved one
Have a baby
See the Alamo in person
Swim in the Great Salt Lake
Been involved in a law suit
Been stung by a bee
Ride an elephant
Totals:
56
35
9