on reading simone de beauvoir's les belles images

things are not beautiful or things or not all beautiful. life is not
beautiful or at least not always beautiful and maybe not beautiful
at all. and to live life one must not try to make life beautiful. to
really live life one must not attempt the unpretty pretty. to
have an upsetting reaction to the discovery of life's unprettiness
is normal and to attempt to repress this reaction is to maim. is to
make abnormal. to be normal, to be natural, is to be upset at the
uncovering of life's ugliness. to be abnormal is to force a view of
beautiful life. beautiful images. false pretenses. to cover and
pretend. to assuage. to mollify. these are to maim. to turn an eye,
to seek and accept beauty as the only, is to deaden the heart.

happy mardi gras!

photos mostly from here & here.

etsy <3 - a4ds

etsy shop a4ds (art for a democratic society) for
political and art zines, buttons, etc.






iraq war activity book








write on zine
description: To publicize the October 27, 2007 Anti-
War protest, we created black and white posters
featuring George W. Bush, Harry Reid and Nancy
Pelosi, or Hillary Clinton. At our monthly Street Salon
event we asked passers-by to deface the images. We
scanned the images and then posted them in the Bay
Area. The zine is a compilation of all of the defaced
posters, in full color. There are also black and white
images of the posters after we posted them and a
short description of the project.

blue light

m and i were at kmart day before
yesterday to look at digital tv
converters, but got sidetracked
instead. he found a pair of black
shoes and i tried on tops in their
messy dressing rooms. i came home
with the green above.

a few others:














i like crisp woven cotton shirts for spring.

plans

sold two of the three handmade dresses in
the shop, so more sewing this weekend. m
and i went all over town today and ended
up with new fabrics and yarn and a belly
full of thai. vintage fabric purchases
from etsy to play with, too.

more vintage coming tomorrow. preview on
flickr!

giveaway!

teaming up with the oh! how lovely!
blog for a softspoken giveaway. go
here for your chance to win either
a softspoken handmade dress OR a
beret/cowl combo. also a little
interview where you can find
three of my favorite etsy shops
and give them some <3, too.

in shop now - new vintage items

worn - february 9, 2009

today's the 2nd anniversary of the first
time m and i ate lunch together. we went
back today and sat in the same booth.
only this time we held hands.

dress - made by me from a vintage pattern.
necklaces - goody's
bracelets - target
shades - uo
sandals (unseen) - gift from mom

read - when you are engulfed in flames

The List:

Books Read In 2009
-When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris

Books Read In 2008
-Baby Precious Always Shines: Selected Love Notes Between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas edited by Kay Turner
-9 Stories by J.D. Salinger
-Fat Girl: A True Story by Judith Moore
-Skim words by Mariko Tamaki, drawings by Jilian Tamaki
-Blood and Soap: Stories by Linh Dinh
-A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
-Three Lives by Gertrude Stein
-Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me by Richard Farina
-Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson
-The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
-The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman


Books Read In 2007
-Grab On to Me Tightly as if I Knew the Way: A Novel by Bryan Charles
-The Road by Cormac McCarthy
-The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake
-A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
-You Can't Catch Death by Ianthe Brautigan
-Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denimby David Sedaris^
-Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proux-
-Dude, Where's My Country by Michael Moore^
-Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
-My French Whore: A Love Story by Gene Wilder
-Pryor Convictions by Richard Pryor
-Noone Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
-The Day to Day Life of Albert Hastings by Kaylynn Deveney and Albert Hastings


Books Read In 2006
-Drugs Are Nice: A Post-Punk Memoir by Lisa Crystal Carver
-Trout Fishing In America by Richard Brautigan
-Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
-Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
-Winning Ways by Dick Lyles
-The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
-Willard and His Bowling Trophies by Richard Brautigan
-The Edna Webster Collection of Undiscovered Writing by Richard Brautigan
-Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
-So The Wind Won't Blow It All Away by Richard Brautigan
-Ida by Gertrude Stein
-The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
-Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love
-Ask the Dust by John Fante
-The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
-The Stranger by Albert Camus

Books Read In 2005
-The Abortion by Richard Brautigan
-Fluke Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore
-In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan
-Studio A: The Bob Dylan Reader
-Women by Charles Bukowski
-A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
-Living On Luck: Selected Letters 1960s-1970s Volume 2 by Charles Bukowski
-The Eden Express by Mark Vonnegut
-Ash Wednesday by Ethan Hawke
-The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin
-You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers
-Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
-A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
-Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña by David Hadju
-A Confederate General from Big Sur by Richard Brautigan
-Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris
-Dreaming of Babylon by Richard Brautigan
-The Hawkline Monster by Richard Brautigan

Books Read In 2004
-A Widow for One Year by John Irving
-Patchwork Girl by Shelley Jackson*
-Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
-Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
-Visions of Gerard by Jack Kerouac
-Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
-Love Is a Dog From Hell by Charles Bukowski
-Orpheus Emerged by Jack Kerouac
-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
-Journals by Kurt Cobain*
-Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction by Luke Davies
-Modigliani: Portraits by Fernand Hazan
-Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
-Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
-Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Anne Brashares
-Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins
-Tarantula by Bob Dylan
-Satori in Paris by Jack Kerouac
-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
-The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath*
-Life of Pi by Yann Martel
-Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger*
-Sarah by J.T. Leroy
-The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
-The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things by J.T. Leroy
-Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters, 1957-1958 by Jack Kerouac and Joyce Johnson
-Sloppy Firsts by Megan Mccafferty
-Diary of a Genius by Salvador Dali
-Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
-Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy
-Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss
-Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
-Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
-Scattered Poems by Jack Kerouac
-Hell's Angels by Hunter Thompson
-Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway
-The Yage Letters by William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg
-The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery*
-Bring Me Your Love by Charles Bukowski
-The Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac
-Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
-The Spoken Word Revolution (slam, hip hop & the poetry of a new generation) ed. by Mark Eleveld
-Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
-Junky by William S. Burroughs
-Book of Dreams by Jack Kerouac
-The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
-One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry
-A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
-High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
-An Unfortunate Woman by Richard Brautigan
-The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle

^ audiobook* reread

worn - february 6, 2009

today i went to planned parenthood past an old man with a sign saying 'repent sinners'.

black cardi - goody's
shirt - f21
belt - ?
skirt - aa
tights - gift from mom
boots - etsy

don't forget!

softspoken.etsy.com

new line of work

been away for much too long
but in the meantime have
made seven dresses (only 5
for the shop - two as practice
which will be for me). also
found a book of crochet
stitches and have been learning
those to incorporate into new
designs and patterns. for
now, though, there will probably
be a few scarves to help me get them
under my fingers.