happy birthday daddie

Today is my dad's 60th birthday! I don't want to get too mushy*, but my dad really means the world to me and not a day goes by that I don't think to myself how lucky I am to have hit the parent jackpot. We talk constantly and conversations with my dad are never boring. I usually drop by his office to complain about how much I have to do and how I'm never going to get it all done, and then end up hanging around for two hours talking about hypothetical solutions to world issues or the possible consequences of traveling back in time.

This is a man who sat me down in front of the tv when I was barely three years old to watch Nelson Mandela's release from prison, and explained to me the significance of the event. In the car on the way home from elementary school he would use stop lights as an opportunity to demonstrate, with pieces of fruit, the way the solar system worked. Growing up he constantly encouraged me to be intellectually curious, aware of current events, and conscious of history, and to this day I think our conversations are what keep me on my toes. He challenges my opinions even when he agrees with them, not just to play devils advocate but to spark more debate about the topic at hand.

He is thoughtful, kind, generous, big-hearted, incredibly smart, and he has fantastic taste in music, movies and books. He's dealt with some hardship and failures over the years but he remains remarkably optimistic and idealistic. He is a hard worker and, despite major bumps along the road, has managed to own his own business for over 30 years. He never fails to cheer me up when I'm blue, and -- possibly aware of my fragile ego or maybe just blinded by fatherly pride -- I can't remember one instance in which he ever did anything less than gush over anything I painted or drew. And when my world shattered in February when Hypatia passed away, he sat with me night after night helping me to work through my grief. He's the most patient, level-headed and decent person I know, and no matter what happens in my life, one constant will always be having an incredibly amazing father.

Obviously -- if you couldn't tell-- I think my dad is pretty awesome. I am SO thankful that we are such good friends and that he's given me so many amazing memories over the years. Here's to many more :)



*well, that worked well. oops ;p

nepotism and t-shirts

My dad has owned a small mail-order music t-shirt company since the late 1970's, and since times are tough right now I thought I'd try to help him out a bit! If anyone on your Christmas list is a music lover (or movie lover -- he has movie shirts, too!) this is the perfect gift! He has merchandise on literally THOUSANDS of bands, everyone from The Smiths to Adele, from Death Cab for Cutie to The Spice Girls. If you like them, my dad probably sells their shirts. He also has baseball caps, hoodies, stickers, keychains and basically everything music related you could ever possibly want. All those music shirts UO sells for $45? My dad has them for $16. Seriously.

...AND since I'm his daughter, he gave me a coupon code for my blog post! You can get 10% off with code SB10. Make sure you use that coupon code if you order, because I'll be sneaking into his office and throwing free flapper doodle prints into orders placed with the code!! ;D

ps. He started the business in the late 70's and named it after a Brian Eno song, "Burning Airlines Gives You So Much More." It's been excruciatingly awkward since 2001, and honestly I get embarrassed every time I have to explain this, but let's just blame it all on Brian Eno. ;p

DIY: frigku

Hi,

Frigku is the name. It is sort of a hybrid, a little bit refrigerator magnet poetry, a little bit of haiku, and a visual bit added to top things off. The rules are simple. It is a poem:

3 lines
3 words on the first line
3 words on the second line
1 word on the third line
Each word has to have an accompanying image placed above it.

It can be abstract, follow a direct thought or whatever you want , just like haiku or regular poetry.

You can view my example Catku here.

Happy Father's Day

My brother always jokes that I got all of my dad's genes, and he got all of my mom's. I personally think I have a good share of those mom genes, but it's true that I'm a lot like my dad in almost every way possible. Except that I don't like football or ice cream. Oh, and I'm a girl.

We like the same books, music, movies and food (he's the only one in my family who will try my vegetarian concoctions) and we both enjoy discussing the big things like philosophy, global politics, science and history. We both come up with insane business ideas that make everyone else in the family roll their eyes. Perhaps the most obvious way we're similar is in how we interact with other people. We're both painfully shy and socially awkward, and usually leave public conversation up to my mom & brother. At my art show a few weeks ago, my mom had to stay at home so it was just me, my dad and my brother. When my dad & I had to talk to the art show organizers, Kyle stayed back a few feet just to watch us flounder.

My dad also owns his own online business, so it's wonderful being able to commiserate with him about the downsides of customer service and lulls in orders. Since neither of us have any employees or coworkers, I think it's incredibly beneficial to our health (and sanity) that we have each other to complain to when things are rocky with work. We're both having huge dry spells with orders right now, and I know having my dad there to talk to about it helps me in a way that nothing else can.

One of my favorite parts of the day is when we go for a walk late at night. My dad works a late shift at his part time job and doesn't home until around 11pm each night. When he gets home, we go for a short stroll around the neighborhood. It's dark and quiet, and we get to talk about our day, what's going on in the world or he'll come up with insanely hard to answer questions like "who do you think was the most important person in all of civilization?" that keep me thinking for days.

I had a hard time with that particular question, but if it had been changed from "in all of civilization" to "in your life" the answer would have been incredibly simple.

back where it all began

dress - 60s vintage

cardigan - f21

tights - h&m

shoes - h&m

bag - h&m

sunglasses - fred flare

On Saturday we spent the day in Princeton to celebrate my dad's 58th birthday! Every year at the end of April the university has a festival called Communiversity, and this was our first year going as visitors instead of vendors. From 2004-2010 I was selling my artwork, but since I gave up doing outdoor shows last year we were finally able to experience the festival and take our time strolling around. My favorite part are the tables on campus where International students represent their countries with information, food and souvenirs. After we were done walking around, we just wandered around the campus, ending up at a beautiful garden near the art museum. I put together this little video using the 8mm app on my iphone (soooo glad Diana blogged about this, it's now my favorite app!) The song is Little Bird by Goldfrapp.

My dad's mother, my dad, me and my brother were all born in Princeton so it's always nice when one of us decides to spend our birthday there.. to be back at the beginning, everything feels right.

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

You have an unlimited budget for your next birthday celebration. How do you spend it?

35 years

Today is my parents' 35th wedding anniversary! I might be a bit biased, but they're seriously the best people I've ever known. They have the biggest hearts on the planet, and they're just so sweet... they are a perfect match, and I feel so lucky that they found each other. Me and my brother always feel like their anniversary is really something WE should be celebrating, since their marriage has given us the best parents any children could ever hope for.

a trip down music memory lane

I think my parents are pretty awesome. There's a hundred reasons why, but one of the biggies is the music they introduced me to as a kid. My dad owned a record shop for the 1st decade or so my parents were married, then they opened a music t-shirt/poster mail order business around the time I was born. Music is super important to both of them, and they made sure it would be to me, too. I could probably buy one record a day for my entire life, and wouldn't come close to matching my dad's collection.

I remember when I was around 8 or 9 I was singing along to a Peter Murphy song (the lyrics of which I only understand now, as a grown up) and my mom apologized to me in advance for exposing me to that kind of stuff. "When you're an adult, you are going to hate us," she said. That might have been true if they hadn't also been busy making me into a progressive open-minded person who'd totally play the same music for her own kids.

When I was about 13 I became interested in older music (Sinatra, Crosby, etc.) and never really listened to the songs I'd loved as a kid, except on road trips when my parents would make mix-tapes for the car. It was only recently, within the last six months or so, that I finally started listening and appreciating their tastes in music again. Not only are the songs little trips down memory lane, but I'm really enjoying exchanging youtube links with my dad, who, needless to say, is beyond thrilled that I'm listening to his favorite music again (except T-Rex. I just can't get into them..) and keeps sending me songs I might like! :)

When I have kids, they're going to be little music aficionados who sing inappropriate lyrics and hopefully they won't grow up to hate me for it ;-D

a taste of nostalgia

When I was a kid, my parents took me to work with them every day. They owned a mail order t-shirt business, and every once in a while my dad would take me with him to the post office down the street. Next door was a little Italian bakery that sold the most delicious brownies I've ever tasted in my life. My dad treating me to those brownies on our post office adventures is one of the really special memories that I've cherished for as long as I can remember.

When I was about eight, the bakery closed and I never got to have the brownies again. But I think about them from time to time, remembering not just how delicious they were but how special I felt when my dad would buy one for me.

For the last week or so I've been craving these sandwich butter cookies that look like leaves with chocolate spread in between them. So today my mom took me out to a local bakery to buy some -- but they didn't have any. We then proceeded to the post office so that I could mail my Flapper Doodle packages. While in the parking lot, we noticed a bakery that we'd never been to before, so we decided we'd try them for the cookies.

In the most beautiful twist of fate EVER, it turns out that it's the same bakery from my childhood!! They just moved!!! We always thought they had closed, but there they were, right across from the new post office that I've been going to for months. And they had the brownies. THEY HAD THE BROWNIES.

It's amazing how certain sights, tastes and scents can trigger really deep memories that you never would have thought about on your own. Right now, I'm just floating on a little cloud of nostalgia and childhood, enjoying all of the memories that came swirling back to me at the mere sight of this brownie.

Happy Father's Day!