Randomly Run4istRun

Save the Frogs!

2009-04-05T22:11:00.001-04:00

Visit the Save The Frogs site to learn more about the first annual Save The Frogs Day and what you can do to help. And, if you have a chance to watch the Animal Planet special The Vanishing Frog, don't miss it. A world without Kermit just wouldn't be the same!

Happy Birthday Bonnie!

2009-03-09T07:42:00.005-04:00

Happy, Happy Birthday to my dear sister. XO

[image © fraley_tera]

Change

2009-03-04T20:32:00.009-05:00

Change is never more visible than when you're unable to find it. I'm not sure if I'm quoting this from memory or if I'm still capable of original thought, but I'm definitely searching ... and part of what it will include when I find it is making my way back here. ☺

[image The Broken Juice Glass © Roy McMakin]

Thankful

2008-12-23T22:23:00.006-05:00

Diana published this post last week about digging out old Christmas photos. In my process of doing so, I found this old picture of my sister and I from December of (are you ready?) 1969. I wonder what I was thinking? She looks so cute and smiley, whereas I've got a somewhat awkward and forced grin planted upon my face. I don't remember this day at all, but regardless am glad my sister was there with me.

I went through my photo album and pulled out some of the other pictures taken of the two of us, me and my big sister.

I don't know how she managed to escape it, but somehow my Mother let her grow her hair long, while in almost every childhood photo I have my hair is . . . short. Even to this day she has long beautiful hair whereas mine can only reach below my shoulders before it just seems to stop.

And although you wouldn't think it from any of these photos (of course our stellar sense of fashion is obvious ☺), I really did end up with the longer legs!

Even though I struggle with the packaging sometimes, I really am thankful for so many things in my life, very much including my sister. She has done a lot for me over the years, even when I didn't deserve it, and I'm hoping she knows how much she means to me.

Hers was the first number I called last weekend when I was busy getting ready to host my annual holiday party and essentially had a quiet meltdown. I started going down the mental checklist of all I still had left to do before guests started to arrive and felt immensely overwhelmed. "I think I'm having an anxiety attack," I told her. "Should I take a valium?!" She was my instant voice of reason, telling me to take a 15 minute break, prioritize what I had to do and not worry about what I couldn't. I did take that break and was able to regroup, forge ahead, and even though there were still items not crossed off the list by the time the doorbell first rang, I don't think they were things anyone (I hope) but me even noticed. Once again my big sister was looking out for me, propping me up just when I needed the support. Thank you, Bon!

And speaking of thankful ... if you're reading this it means you haven't completely given up on my poor blog, a casualty of the blur which has been the last three months, so thank you for still being here! I cannot believe we've reached the 23rd day of December, or that the New Year is just over a week away. I feel like I'm just kind of going through the motions right now, totally bypassing the customary glow of the holidays and ready for the New Year to start so this one can be over. Is that horrible?!

However you may be spending the holidays, I'm sending all good wishes (and thanks) your way.

Happy Birthday Krissy!

2008-12-17T00:00:00.002-05:00

Happy, happy birthday to dear sweet wonderful Krissy. XO

[image © miszpinay]

* Etsy Edition * Artifact Bingo *

2008-12-07T23:01:00.000-05:00

I'm back (hopefully) ... and to start things off again thought I'd share a new Etsy favorite, the shop of Artifact Bingo. I'm especially loving the Out of Context series, including the 'Alice. Getting Up.' image above, further described by the artist:

From the shoes’ point of view:
When you get up and move around, you have to be careful where you tread. If you are not watchful, you could ruin something fragile and new.

From the seedlings point of view:
All the work expended in getting up and breaking through can be cut short by forces beyond your control.

Don't we all know a little something about being careful where we tread, and those forces beyond our control?

Another piece, 'Alice. Nothing Suits.,' also adding new meaning to another page out of Alice in Wonderland.

And 'Crusoe. Strongest Building.' from Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe.”

Here's to a new week of getting up, even though nothing suits, and still overturning the strongest of buildings. ☺

[images © Artifact Bingo]

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T06:31:00.000-05:00

Sending all good wishes your way for the holiday. However you'll be spending your day, hope you'll have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

[image © Erin Mazzei]

Tableau Vivant

2008-11-15T17:29:00.014-05:00

Friday night I attended my first ever Tableau Vivant party, hosted by my friend Dorothy. She's an amazingly talented photographer here in Atlanta and I've previously posted about her here on the blog (remember the photograph from which my header image was created?). I’ve read about and seen photographs of such performances, but had never been to one in person. If I used the word ‘incredible’ to describe this one, I’d be making a gross understatement, but it really was incredible, and then some.

If you’re not familiar with the phrase Tableau Vivant, it’s French for ‘living picture.’ To quote Wikipedia, “The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. Throughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move. The approach thus marries the art forms of the stage with those of painting/photography, and as such it has been of interest to modern photographers. The most recent hey-day of the tableau vivant was the 19th century with virtually nude tableau vivants or "poses plastiques" providing a form of erotic entertainment.”

This is a very poor picture taken with my camera phone, but at least you’ll be able to get some idea of the visual treat with which all the guests were presented as we stood in the doorway of Dorothy's studio during the twenty minute performance. I felt as if I was looking into a storybook, which suddenly came alive, or that I'd stumbled upon some secret spot in the forest and all I could do was quietly gaze upon what I'd found. The model remained perfectly still until quickly changing from one pose to another, despite all of us standing right there and chatting away, snapping shots with our cameras and camera phones.

All I know is the next time I throw a party, unless I can pull off something similar for entertainment, I'm really going to feel like a lackluster hostess! The evening really was perfect.

I'm so glad I went, and gave myself a dose of something I've been doing without lately: fun. I've slumped back in to the very bad habit of all work and no play; going in early, working late, and spending my weekends at the office. I know better, but lately I also don't know how to tackle all that needs to be done other than putting in the hours. What's that quote, "No one on their deathbed ever said, 'I wish I spent more time at work," or "Work to live, not live to work?" Touché! If anyone knows of a good self-help book I should be reading . . . ☺

[top image © Wikipedia]

Are You There Blog? It's Me, Jude.

2008-11-09T21:01:00.000-05:00

I think I've forgotten how to blog. What is it like to read and comment on posts, or to actually compose and publish something? I've definitely been out of practice, so hope it will be like like riding a bicycle or driving stick shift; just one of those things that come back to you as soon as you start doing it again.

My office move is finally over and things are starting to settle down a bit (I hope typing that doesn't jinx it), so I'm hoping to get back on track soon. How is everyone?

[image © MeganOnTheTrain]

Butterflies in the Bedroom

2008-10-28T22:04:00.002-04:00

I posted earlier this month about the Showtime House in NYC, and the weekend before last Jen was lucky enough to be able to tour it in person (so jealous!). She took a lot of pictures, many of which show more elements in each room than the official web site, so I thought I'd share her photo gallery right here.

Jen will be moving soon, and for her new abode she's asked me to help her recreate one element from the Showtime House, namely the silk headboard complete with butterflies from the United States of Tara bedroom. The site describes it further: "Dreams take flight with Tara’s upholstered headboard by Tori Golub. It is upholstered in Dedar silk, with nail-affixed silk butterflies (which represent Tara’s metamorphosis into multiple personalities) that fly upward onto a blank Benjamin Moore painted wall."

I've got my thinking cap on and hope to help her create an equally dramatic space. We'll be on a budget much more limited than that available to the Showtime House designers, but that will be the challenge (and the fun). I think the timing will most likely be after the first of the year, but as her room (as inspired by the original) goes through its own metamorphosis, I'll be sure to share the progress. In the meantime, if any of you creative geniuses have any suggestions, please feel free to share!

Ode to Barbara

2008-10-26T21:15:00.003-04:00

If you're a Do Not Leave Unattended! participant, you hopefully received my e-mail last weekend about the new blog design for the project being up and running. If you're not on that mailing list, please take a minute to go here and check it out, along with all the incredible contributions that have come in since the project launch in August.

Thinking of the new design, I wanted to (and have been dilatory in doing so) take a minute to send a huge thank you to Barbara of Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers, the developer extraordinaire responsible for all the technical details of the new blog. I have thanked her multiple times for all her help, but wanted to let everyone in our community here know just how amazing and incredibly helpful she has been. I literally could not have done this without her.

I've had a few technical issues with Run4istRun since the launch of the new design, most of which have probably gone unnoticed by most of you unless you're a Mac user who at times wasn't able to comment. That was just one of the issues, including those related to publishing due to an outstanding bug still not fixed by Blogger. Something which has also recently crept up is the blog being designated as spam, and although I've e-mailed the folks at Blogger multiple times to request a review, so they can confirm a real person is posting here, I'm going on almost three weeks now of having to use word verification every single time I save anything I've typed, or click the publish button (I guess it's actually kind of good I haven't had a lot of extra time for blogging lately!). It's completely annoying, to say the least.

Without going in to all the details, to really fix the problems once and for all the template needs to be rewritten from scratch. Because of all the custom work Ari did when setting up the design, this will be a big project and unfortunately one that will be beyond my technical abilities. When I learned this, especially after all the work that had already been done to set up the new design, I was completely disheartened and honestly gave serious consideration to scrapping the blog altogether (I really was that frustrated). After thinking on it for a couple of days I thought of Barbara, whom I'd previously met here on the blog and with whom I'd exchanged several e-mails, remembering she works in the technology field and also that she'd set up the code for Erin's Mankind Mag widget. I e-mailed her to see if she might be able to help with some of the immediate issues and Hallelujah! She rode in on her virtual white horse and saved the day.

The design work for Unattended! was in process around this time, and Barbara jumped in with her expertise to take all the graphics and get them set up on the new platform. She took care of everything, and without me even asking added little features here and there to make it better. I really cannot thank her enough, but hope this will help to show her how very grateful I am, and always will be, for all she's done. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Big thanks also go to Ari for her work on the design (which I'm completely loving), as well as to Krissy, who shared her talent by adding some of her own touches to the project logo (by the way, she let me take a sneak peek of the holiday cards soon to be available in her Etsy store and I can confirm they are amazing!).

I've met some really great people here in this corner of the blogosphere, which is one of the original reasons why I wanted to start something collaborative with the notebook project. While it's not visible to everyone who visits, from my perspective nowhere is that generous sense of collaboration more apparent than in the Unattended! blog, which came together, and will continue to evolve, from the efforts of everyone involved. Thanks to each and every one of you (and one more big thank you to Barbara)!

[top image © { B a r c a ,,]

Abandoned

2008-10-19T22:40:00.003-04:00

Over a week without posting. Bad, Jude, bad!

I know it did seem as if I pretty much abandoned the blog last week, but in reality I was just succumbing to the choice of one thing over another, namely work. By the time the end of the evening would roll around and I'd open my laptop, I just didn't have enough oomph left over. I also know that when things are quiet over here that's my usual boring reason (unlike me saying "I'm off to Europe for two weeks!") and it probably seems like a lame excuse, but, alas, it's true. I'm hoping it's not the case, but it may get a little worse in the next couple of weeks (although in terms of the blogosphere if you go from no blogging to no blogging, how much worse can it get?) as my office is in the process of getting ready to move and working out all the details is on my plate. So, bear with me (again) as I push through another busy patch.

There's a quote by Lao Tzu which reads: "Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time,' is like saying, 'I don't want to.'" But I do want to! I do!

[image © England]

Smitten with Smock

2008-10-07T23:47:00.000-04:00

I read about Smock in the November issue of Lucky and yes, I am smitten. In fact, if I knew how to run a letterpress (maybe I can talk Krissy into teaching me) or was well-versed with the art of printing in general, I'd probably apply for a job there. Based in Syracuse, New York, Smock offers a wide variety of beautiful letterpress paper goods, all sustainably printed on bamboo paper. The print shop is powered by wind energy, and 1% of the company's sales is donated to environmental causes through 1% for the Planet. Their retail packaging is tree-free, petroleum free and certified biodegradable. I think I'm in Tree Hugger Who Loves Letterpress Heaven!

Who are the people behind Smock? To quote from their web site, "We are idealists. This means we believe in things. We are trying to make the world better right now. This affects everything we do. We read Walt Whitman (he was a letterpress printer too, by the way) (Stuff'd with the stuff that is coarse and stuff'd with the stuff that is fine). We fall head over heels for heavy cast iron presses. We believe in the creation of beautiful things. And we want, like you, to feel good about where our beautiful things come from."

Read more about Smock here, and the next time you're in the market for some letterpress loveliness, be sure to visit their site and add an item or two to your shopping cart (and feel great about doing so!).

[images © Smock]

The Showtime House

2008-10-01T22:46:00.002-04:00

Even if you're not a subscriber to Showtime, you've got to love the rooms within this 19th century Gramercy Park townhouse, inspired by six Showtime original series. This collaboration between Metropolitan Home and Showtime brought the design world's top stars into the spaces of this $20 plus million dollar property (maybe if I ever win the lottery . . .)

The first space is The Tudors Living Room designed by Laura Kirar.

Californication Writer's Study and Spa by Jamie Drake

The L Word Boudouir by Vicente Wolfe

United States of Tara Master Bedroom by Tori Golub

Weeds Lounge by White Webb

Dexter Dining Room by Amy Lau and Kitchen by Johnny Grey

Media Room by Luca Andrisani

The Showtime Lounge by Kirsten Brant

and finally . . . the Showtime Garden by Enea Garden Design.

You can take the complete house tour here, or watch the Showtime video about the project here.

I'm a big fan of Dexter, and love how Amy Lau expertly incorporated some strategically placed blood spatter into the Dining Room. I can just see Dexter's character sitting down to dinner in that space, admiring the touches of red throughout the room.

I hadn't heard about the project until I received the October Highlights e-mail from Showtime today (as usual, I'm out of the loop), and hope these gorgeous spaces will be something new for some of you, too. Enjoy!

[images © Metropolitan Home]

Thinking of You, Mom

2008-09-30T23:48:00.008-04:00

The back of this photo reads Mommie & Judy - 5 March 1970. She would always write dates and details on the back of photos, and in later years typed up little labels to stick to the backs, recording as much information as she could. Just one of the little things I'm missing today. Miss you, Mom!

Semi-Silent Post

2008-09-28T22:01:00.021-04:00

Is a somewhat silent post better than no post at all?

I know I was close to completely MIA here on the blog last week, as well as over at my usual reads, but I promise to do a better job this week of making my presence known. There's more craziness going on at work and I guess I just can't change gears as quickly as I used to, can't multi-multi-multi-task with the skill I used to possess. Something has to give and last week it was the blog.

The good news is that Fall really is in the air, and even though we're short on gasoline here in the ATL (lines are long and tempers are short), biodiesel and diesel is in plentiful supply (if I was ever thankful for my little BioBug, now is the time!).

Here's to cooler weather, alternative fuels, and being able to do and have it all. ☺

[image © Irene Suchocki]

Behind

2008-09-18T23:18:00.001-04:00

I am behind, on just about everything. I need to return phone calls, send long overdue replies to e-mails, write thank-yous, clean up the yard, my house, my car, take recycling (and lots of it) to the recycling center, just to name one or two (or seven out of at least a hundred on the list). Is it really ever possible to get it all done? And if I'm behind isn't that kind of a good thing, because it means I'm always be working to catch up? Or is it a bad thing, because it means I'm someone who can never quite get it all together? Let's hope it's the former. ☺

[image © tybcat_64]

Bookmark Update

2008-09-15T20:49:00.003-04:00

As of next week I'll be publishing the blog to the run4istrun.com domain, so please update your Bookmarks and Favorites to http://run4istrun.com. I'll continue to publish to both blogspot and the domain through the end of the week, but as of Monday all future posts will be housed over at the domain. I've been having problems with the auto-redirect and don't want to miss any of you, so appreciate you making the change. ☺

[image © Mariposa Indigo]

September

2008-09-14T22:03:00.003-04:00

I really can’t believe we’re already in the throes of September. I know that seems like a tired old sentiment, but it really is true. Weren’t we just celebrating the New Year?! I suppose it’s a mark of maturity, or maybe just old age setting in, when the days, weeks and months between January and December seem to become shorter and shorter. Will the process reverse as I get older, just as it seemed to be the opposite when I was a child, bursting to get out into the world and be whoever and whatever I was supposed to be? When you make that transition from a dependent child to a self-supporting adult, does some sort of instant osmosis occur that makes the warp speed of time set in?

September has come to mean so many things for me. First, the approach of autumn is here and with it comes a welcome respite from the burdensome heat of summer (don't you just feel lighter when the weather's cooler?). It’s the demarcation point for the seasons; a time of year I really do love, signaling just a bit more to go before the holidays will be upon us. Of course it’s also become the anniversary month for the event forever etched in our memories as ‘9/11.’ I read so many great posts and comments on this last week, each taking that moment out to remember and all reminding me to see the big picture. I sometimes look beyond this when I’m lost in the minutiae of the day-to-day, but tell myself if I still have the ability to sit back and see that panoramic instead of just my own close up; if it’s not completely wiped from my view, no matter what might be going on that may seem overwhelming at the time, I’m still okay.

I think up to this point of my life the most important part of September for me is that it’s the month during which I lost my Mom, three years ago on the 30th. I’ve been thinking a lot about her lately, trying to keep my mind completely open so she can send me a sign, a message, something, but nothing comes. I’ve thought about maybe covering my head with aluminum foil to increase the vibes (Does that work? Or is that only for communicating with aliens?), but haven’t tried it yet. My Aunt, her sister, often tells me she talks to her. I guess I do too, and while it’s mostly in my thoughts it’s also sometimes out loud, but I don’t ever expect, or hear, any response. It’s during these times I wish I was clairvoyant, or possessive of a sixth sense, but it’s just not there.

The Sunday before last my friend Liz called me in the morning, the first time I’d spoken to her in months. The first question I asked her, because I knew she hadn’t been well, was “How is your Mom?” There was a silence from her I knew could only mean one thing, and when she finally replied with, “You don’t know?” I immediately felt a sinking feeling in my stomach and couldn’t help but start to cry. Her Mother, someone I’d been privileged to know since my childhood, had passed away in late July, and I hadn’t known. Liz thought I would have heard and as she hadn’t really been up to talking with anyone, had not called me. I hadn’t heard, didn’t know, and felt that much worse for not being there for Liz, who’d lost her Mom, and her niece and my friend Amy, who’d lost her grandmother. She assured me they’d had a very small private service for family only, but I was still left with this horrible feeling for not knowing. Shouldn’t I have sensed something? Shouldn’t I have just known? It struck me how the delicate balance of life really isn’t so delicate after all, as not even the end of a life will stop the inevitable movement of the everyday. While those of us who were part of that life do stop to a certain extent, and change our courses accordingly, everyone else just keeps going.

Liz was one of the first people I called the morning my own Mother passed away. She knew my Mom had been sick and after my brother phoned to let me know she was gone, I picked up the phone, not really knowing who I wanted to talk to, but dialing Liz on instinct. It was very early, but I knew she’d be up getting ready for work. I called, but then really couldn’t make any words come out of my mouth. I was sitting on my bed, trying to steady myself for that first wave of grief I knew was about to hit and while I didn’t say anything for a few minutes, she knew. “Is it your Mom?” she’d asked me. I eventually regained enough of my composure to form a sentence or two and while I don’t remember exactly what we ended up talking about, maybe the details of when she had passed and when the funeral would be, it will always been a conversation, or lack thereof, I’ll remember.

I think this is what hit me so hard when I learned her Mother had passed; not only because she was a great lady, someone I’ll miss and of whom I have fond childhood and adult memories after knowing the family for so long, but because in that one instant it brought back everything I'd felt that morning my Mom had gone, when it was me calling Liz. And even though all of us experience loss in a very singular way, just as my brother, sister and I have probably felt the loss of our Mother in different ways, I really did understand what she must have felt.

So now almost three Septembers have passed and it has gotten easier. Maybe easier isn't the correct word; I think different is probably more accurate. It's not as sharp, it's not as close, not as mournful, but it's still, and always will be, there. Right alongside the surprising resiliency of the mind, and the heart.

I am keeping a list of questions for my Mom, things I should have asked her while she was here, but maybe they'll just have to remain unanswered until I see her again. Or maybe I'll try the aluminum foil on my head and with Divine Intervention will adjust the cap just so and hit the right channel at the right time . . .

[image © ViaCreativa]

Guest Gig

2008-09-10T06:00:00.003-04:00

I ♥ Ambien

2008-09-08T23:09:00.002-04:00

Oh Ambien, you who sings a lullaby to my brain cells as you cover them with a blanket and tuck them in, if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right!

Actually, it's not that I love Ambien so much (although I kind of do), it's more that I absolutely do not love the inability to sleep, something with which I've been plagued for a week plus now. I just can't function properly without at least a solid six hours of slumber, and the deficit is starting to take its toll. So, God bless my Liberal With The Prescription Pad doctor for the relief I'll be getting tonight. ☺

I always have very animated dreams during an Ambien-induced sleep. Maybe tonight it will be an amplified version of the seat belt ding going off in my car (ding! ding!), because the stack of recyclables (magazines, newspaper, and a box of superseded law books) in the passenger seat is so high the sensors think it's an unbelted person sitting there. Maybe it will be about my cat, who's scheduled for a shaving tomorrow. I wonder what he's going to look like without any hair? Or maybe I'll just dream about something random that will seem so completely real in the middle of it, but which I probably won't remember in the morning. Either way, at least my dreams, or lack thereof, will be part of a good night's sleep. Some good solid sleep. The pillow is calling my name . . .

[image © BidWiya]

Happy Birthday Jen!

2008-09-07T01:00:00.006-04:00

Update - Do Not Leave Unattended!

2008-09-01T22:15:00.003-04:00

The temporary blog for Unattended! is up and running, so be sure to check it out right here. A more custom site will be up in a couple of weeks, but for now it's the go-to spot for new contributions and a list of upcoming contributors and future participants.

When Kylie sent me her contribution on Friday, I told her how lucky I was to be able to see everyone's submissions before sharing them, and it really is true. For each one that has been published to date, when that e-mail with attachment has made its way to my Inbox, I've been privileged in that moment to open something really special. From the fantastic first contribution by Krissy, to that of her grandmother Anne, to Kylie's and the most recent by Kirsty, if these are the signs of things to come, we've got a lot of great stuff coming our way.

Thanks, again, to all of you who have and will help to make this project a great success. ☺

[image © rutabegabunny]

Kirsty - Australia

2008-08-31T17:38:00.007-04:00

More goodness all the way from Australia! Special thanks to Kirsty for being our first international participant.

Kylie - Houston, Texas

2008-08-31T17:30:00.005-04:00

I'm still working on a temporary blog for Unattended!, but didn't want to wait to share the contribution of the very lovely Kylie. Enjoy!
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