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I once knew a fabulous girl named Eriko. She taught me how to screenprint while she was getting her MFA at UNL. This morning I remembered her and googled her name, and there I was on her home page.

One day during class she invited all of us one by one downstairs to her tiny private studio where she laid us on her work table, stuck magnolias in our mouths, and took photographs. It was my last week of college and I had been up for 48 hours, trying to finish my final projects, so I look a little tired, haha.

You should go look at Eriko's prints and photographs. She's so talented. I like to think that she is somewhere out there selling tons of work and sitting on a big pile of cold hard cash.

99 Problems and a Beach Ain't One

Ha ha, I'm so clever.

The theme this weekend was "Gym Tan Laundry":
Gym = run around outside like a crazy person
Tan = get incredibly sunburnt because your sunscreen was expired
Laundry = what laundry?We went camping at Branched Oak. The water was nice and warm and full of seaweed. We pitched our tents right next to the water and went on a midnight canoe ride across the lake. It was creepy and beautiful. It's a nice thing, waking up outside. We sat here and ate smores, carrot sticks, and improvised pancake-balls for breakfast.Then I drove an hour east to meet my family at another state park. They had a different kind of beach. No fish but plenty of weirdos.

Gholam and Salmaz

I really love this picture. The composition is almost perfect. I always wonder what happened to everyone on My Parents Were Awesome.

Northern Harmonies

Here's a sneak peak of the playlist for next week's Swedish Party. Mad props to Mixmaster Jeff for the recommendations.

The Knife - Silent Shout
ABBA - Dancing Queen
Ace of Base - The Sign
Nik og Jay - Love Ya (Nik and Jay are actually Danish, but this song is too good)
Pelle Carlberg - I Love You, You Imbecile
Fever Ray - Seven ("We talk about loooove/We talk about dishwasher tablets")
Annie - Don't Stop (Annie! Where have you been all my life?!)
The Hives - I Hate to Say I Told You So
Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone (Old Navy used to play this at least ten times a shift when I worked there, ugh)
The Cardigans - Lovefool (Holy nostalgia, Batman!)
Detekivbyran - Hemvagen (weird little men playing synth instruments)
ABBA - Gimme Gimme Gimme
Ace of Base - Don't Turn Around
Royksopp - What Else Is There? (Royksopp is Norwegian, but this song features Karin Dreijer Andersson of the Knife...if you couldn't tell)
Kings of Convenience - I'd Rather Dance with You (also Norwegian)
Studio - No Comply
ABBA - Mama Mia
The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health
I'm from Barcelona - Treehouse (not from Barcelona)
Sally Shapiro - Hold Me So Tight
Ace of Base - Beautiful Life
Europe - The Final Countdown (I peed my pants laughing once, watching my chubby cousin play air-synth to this)
JJ - Things Will Never Be the Same Again
Bjork - All Is Full of Love (Icelandic)

You can listen to all of these through my youtube account, if you like.

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My parents found this little window on sale at Menards for $17.99. They bought some newel posts, too, and my dad is going to use them to make a coffee table for me. Here is Pop's workshop. Mitre saw, scroll saw, drill press, and a handy array of tools and measuring implements. The poster hanging on the wall in the back is a photograph of this toolbox. The shelf above houses our ne'er-used camping equipment and is still my parents' most successful Christmas present hiding place. They know full well that I am too lazy to get on a ladder and climb up there to look.

Deaf Banana

There was a secret basement speakeasy last night. I think it was actually more of a blind tiger... "Nothin' illegal goin' on here, officers..."

Most people dressed up like flappers or 1920s dandy-men. No one wore suspenders, much to my dismay.

There was homemade faux-moonshine ice cream, floating in more faux-moonshine. Renee is full of joy. She was our hostess with the mostess,along with Britt-Marie.We listened to Blind Lemon, took photos, and hooched it up.Hats were abundant......as was Renee.

(Can you spot the creeper in this photo?)

Next up: Swedish party!

Cretaceous Style

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My favorite pair of jean shorts is starting to wear out, so I made a copy of them with some added details (excuse the wrinkles). These are stretch cotton poplin with piping around the legs, pockets, and waistband. Scallop hems are pretty 'in' right now, but they feel a bit too granny-esque for me - impossible, right?! (although this is cute). So I tried zigzags, which alternately feel very dinosaur-esque. Now I can look 65 million years old instead of just 65...

Uno

This weekend...I went to a World Cup dance partay to watch my old friend Junior a.k.a. J-Boogie a.k.a. DJ Encuesta work those turntables. He lent me his German jersey (Mannschaft, woo!) and I met a nice German boy who was so happy that I was cheering for his team, haha. Saturday was the farmer's market. I got a cheddar loaf, a succulent, and a delicious, juicy tomato.I got on my bike and rode around downtown taking pictures of murals. These are next to La Illucion......Lincoln Literary Council... ....and Everett Elementary.

They recently replaced all of the bus stops in the city and I found all of the old ones down in the South Bottoms/Bus Stop Graveyard.Then it was off to Pioneers Park! It's nice riding alone because then you notice things that you wouldn't if you were busy talking with someone. Also, you won't annoy anyone when you stop frequently to take pictures of horses...and graffiti...and muddy creeks. I stopped and tromped around in this dried up old creek bed. My legs were really itchy after that.

Sat by the lake for a while and ate a carrot. It seems like that is a great way to weird people out, eating vegetables by a lake. Fruit is ok, but vegetables! Oh lord, no.
Down the street a ways is Lee's Chicken with this wonderful giant chicken-on-a-pole.

On the way home there was this hipster garage sale! Vintage clothing, quirky knick knacks, antique furniture, and ...
OH MYLANTA A GOLD LAMÉ DICKIE! I didn't buy it because I have the best self-control in the history of the world(not), but it was really, really tempting.

Tomorrow I'll post a picture of the Barney-the-Purple-Camel-Toed-Dinosaur-themed shorts that I've been sewing - SO EXCITING, RIGHT? The camel toe part was obviously unintentional, as was the Barney the Dinosaur part, actually. Sometimes I like to...uh...let my ideas work themselves out organically, except that when I do that, my clothing just happens to look like it was designed by Steve on Blue's Clues. Unfortunately.

Dos

Two good people had their birthday yesterday.

Fisha just moved to Europe for her job and hopefully spent her 24th sipping fine German ale.
Clinty turned 25 and hosted a smokin' party. Here he is, looking tired and happy and handsome at the end of the night. Last weekend he asked me to go see the movie Splice with him. I declined because I thought it sounded kind of ucky, but to make up for it I baked him this Splice-themed birthday cake. Part chicken, part fish, part baby Jesus, with a pea for the eye since I couldn't think of anything else. The sprinkles represent *the magic of science*, haha. And here, friends, is what happens when you drive a car with a cake in your lap and slam on the brakes because the car in front of you stops suddenly and you were too busy waving at your friends on the motorcycle next to you to pay attention to the road. Coughcough. Oh well. Taste before beauty, right?

Happy Birthday, Loves!