First day of school!

Here are my babies on the first day of school. Tangereen really likes to wear orange, I wonder why that is. Aren't they cute? I can't believe I have an 8th grader and a 10th grader.

Speaking of back-to-school - do your kids have any art classes this year? If not, consider starting a parent-led art program. Read all about how to do this in the articles I wrote for Etsy's blog last year:

Parents Teach Art - A DIY Approach to Elementary School Art Education
Parents Teach Art Part Two - Making it Happen

Tangereen's 15th birthday

Our daughter Tangereen Velveteen turned 15 on Sunday! We drove downtown. We went to Powell's. She got a Calculus textbook.

We went to Sushi Land. Chuck and Tangereen are crazy about sushi. I'm not too crazy about it, and I feel self-conscious because I have never bothered to learn how to use chopsticks. Isn't that stupid? I'm sure my friend Phoebe, who is currently in Seoul, would have something to say about that! Well, sorry. I've just gone through life using a fork. However, Sushi Land was fun anyway. I like how the dishes go around on a conveyor belt and you can select whatever you want. I guess Tangereen had a chopstick epiphany that day, but it slipped past me. I tried to grab things that looked like acceptable finger food. Chuck said not to worry. "This is Portland," he said.

Here we are on the MAX. We rode it and the Portland Streetcar to the cinemas on the very top floor of Pioneer Place. We saw the new Harry Potter movie! It was great. I loved it.

When we got home we had some delightful cupcakes topped with huge thick roses made of pure sweet frosting. Tangereen got the orange one.

I mean, these were huge cupcakes. None of us could finish ours.

(Tangereen got some on her nose.)

I got her that Rolling Stones shirt in New York!

I can't believe my baby girl is 15! Happy birthday, Tangereen!

Our Summer Vacation

We took a fabulous family yurt-camping vacation at the Oregon Coast for the Fourth of July. Here are some selected photos of our adventures! Above is the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We took the tour and climbed to the top!

Julius celebrated his 13th birthday on our first night there. We picked up a chocolate cake and he enjoyed it with his squirrel collection. So, now I can say, "I have two teenagers."

Camp breakfasts are the best with Chuck around!

Our friends Chad and Anna (Chad being the bass player for Dartgun) came down and camped for two nights with their two cute little puppies. Here's Julius petting them:

And here's Chadwick:
We walked a lot - there are lovely trails in the woods all around the campground, and long walks through the dunes to get to the beach.









Our favorite spot was this bench that sits on top of a hill overlooking the park:









On the Glorious Fourth, we hung out with some of Chuck's old friends from high school, one of whom lives in a private beach community just down the road from the campground. We also watched fireworks on the beach that night.



These pictures are from the private beach. It was a very misty, moisty day.

Our friend Mark and his son Traver, after reeling in the kite:

View from Chris's beach house:

Chris and Mark barbecuing while Chuck grins insanely:



I hope people in the neighborhood liked our groovy car!











We had a wonderful time!

Check out my pictures from last year's summer yurt adventure if you like - click here.

Juke's room

I gave Julius my camera and told him to have fun. Here are some pictures he took of his room!

Juke's Self Portrait

Our seventh grade son, Julius, entered his self portrait in the Master Arts Showcase at his school, da Vinci. It didn't win any big awards but it is still pretty cool!

Because he is obsessed with Pokemon, there are lots of Pokemon creatures floating around in the background. Julius insisted I get pictures of them, so here they are!



Da Vinci is a pretty awesome middle school with cool electives like theater, dance, music, and a wide variety of visual arts. Julius is happy there!

Wrapping up the summer

Well, my silly kids are back to school and how weird it is to have a daughter in high school! Julius is now in 7th grade and I'm pretty excited about the awesome visual arts classes he is taking at his arts-magnet middle school. But we're all still pretty bummed that summer is over already.

We had a fairly quiet, uneventful Labor Day weekend. My parents bought new mattresses for our kids, and that spawned a big day of cleaning and rearranging our entire house.

Chuck played a show with Advisory. It was at Audio Cinema during their annual art collective show. I had never been there before, and while it seemed pretty cool, I can see why it would not be the best venue for a craft show. But it was fine for a rock show, art show, and fashion show! Here are some of the tattooed bathing beauties who pranced around in fancy hipster swimsuits, parasols, and go-go boots:

The art was great, and what better place to pose than in front of the Habermans (I swear that guy is everywhere) - here's Justin and Chuck, aren't they sweet?
They played up in the balcony - can you see them up there?
Here's a view from above, before I got kicked out of the balcony:
In other news, I am waiting to receive the order from Viva Terra. They liked the Muted Green bowl (this one):

...but they also requested to see it with the colors in reverse, so I sent them this one:
I have joined PDX Indie, the new co-op that spun out of the PDX Etsy team - check out the new website, it's quite nice: www.pdxindie.com. I am also in the process of joining the new Portland Craft Mafia.

I'm trying to decide whether to apply for the big Crafty Wonderland holiday show. It's at the Convention Center this year - wow! If I do, it will probably be the only holiday show I do this year - well, I might do more, I just don't know. I am trying to be conservative, knowing that I am most likely going to be getting a big wholesale order which will be due in December.

It would be a dream to not have the stress of doing one or two shows every weekend throughout November and December - I can just stay home, work on my green-and-cream bowls, and maybe even make cookies! It would be great, BUT I also worry about all the missed sales and opportunities that could come from NOT doing all the shows...oh well, we'll see what happens if and when I get the order, right?

I love my friends. Here's a picture of Suzie, me, and Melle from the last Dartgun show:

And finally, here's what I'll be doing next week (teaching another art camp at Buckman for the DIY Lounge):
Eye Pop Art has recently been featured on Eco Craftiness, Simply Sentimental, KB Squared, Etsy Trashion, Outsapop, The Coma Girl, and Packrat Mag's "Catch the Green Fever" issue.

...and that's the news! See you next time!