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even the chairs get tagged around here,Canon Digital Rebel

Off on a little adventure for the weekend. See you next week!

Cabinet National Library

the front of the Cabinet National Library, by Matt Passmore, Jud Holt, Jed Olson and John Bela, Deming, New Mexico

My husband is creative. My husband is a little eccentric. My husband builds libraries in the desert in New Mexico. For fun. Really.

This story began when Matt's favorite art magazine, Cabinet came out with its Spring 2003 issue on the theme of "Property". As a ridiculous conceptual art piece (and I use the word ridiculous with full reverence) Cabinet purchased an acre of uninhabitable scrubland in the middle of New Mexico. They purchased it on Ebay for 100 bucks and began to parcel off magazine-size plots of the land to their readers for a mere penny.

They also mentioned, a bit tongue in cheek, that there was still room for art installations. Matt took this comment as a call for proposals and thought of the silliest thing he could- a library out on the land, just for their magazine, complete with a card catalog and back issues of their publication. It would be housed in a vintage file cabinet (of course) that looked like it sprang from the loins of the earth itself. The Cabinet National Library.

The editors were so amused by the idea that they featured Matt's original email and drawing in the magazine and website. They were incredulous however when, several months later, Matt called them up and said, "I think I'm going to go out there and build it."

With the help of Matt's dear friends {Jud Holt (pictured in previous post), Jed Olson and John Bela} they completed the project last summer. The library is featured in this month's issue of Cabinet. It is a beautiful magazine and beautiful article. You will love it. Congratulations Matt, Jed, Jud, and John!

Matt Passmore, Deming, New Mexico

What do they say? "Build it and they shall come."
or "If you have a crazy idea, dream it, begin it."

or maybe,
"We need men who can dream of things that never were."
John F. Kennedy

Crush contest

Jud and Sarah, majorly crushed out on each other,Canon Digital Rebel

Some Valentine's Day announcements:
1. Free shipping on all orders through Valentine's Day! Time to gift yourself or your favorite crush with superhero ware.
2. Passion is back for all of you lovers of red and pink!
3. It's time for the 2nd Annual Superhero Valentine's Day contest! The theme this year is THE CRUSH.

Contest Details
Email me at andrea@superherodesigns.com with a short story about a wild crush in your life. Childhood crushes, celebrity crushes, stories of the crazy things we do for the crush. We want your crush stories!

Entries must be received by Tuesday, February 8th.

Three of our favorite stories will be selected to receive Superhero Gift Certificates of $25 each. Woo hoo! Favorites will also be published on the site so we can all be inspired by your crush stories. Fame and fortune will be yours!

Celebrity Judges will be:
SARK-best-selling author, artist, most inspiring person

Laurie Wagner- writer, teacher, word-wrangler extraordinaire

Matthew Passmore- artist, builder of libraries in the desert, dear husband of mine
Story about desert library to come this week on the Superhero Journal.

and Maya Stein- writer, maker of dioramas, and cutter of hair
...........

And a crush story from yours truly:
When I first moved to San Francisco 10 years ago, I had a crush on a boy who worked at Noah's Bagels. I passed by there every morning and looked for him, but was too shy to even ask his name. To my friends, he was affectionately referred to as "bagel boy."

One night, in a moment of inspiration, I remembered the old bagel that was drying out in my fridge. I leapt out of bed, grabbed the nearest Sharpie, and wrote my name and phone number on the smooth side of the bagel. I grinned, amused at my bold plan, and went back to sleep.

The next morning, my heart beat frantically in my chest as I rode the bus to Fillmore Street. When I got to the front of the line, he smiled and asked the usual, "What can I get for you?"
I replied, "Actually, I have something for you today."
And set down the small paper sack on the counter.
Then I sprinted out of the store.

He called the next day.

What are your crush stories?

scrappin'

vintage photo, unknown photographer

I have been poring over my vintage photo collection recently after a trip to the Berkeley Center for Creative Reuse. I bought several color slides there of a family's Christmas celebration, days out with their horses, and eventually their birthdays and weddings. I was mesmerized by this life that I knew nothing about yet I was witnessing so many of their most intimate moments. It was an odd feeling, but it felt right to see them, to dream of new ways to use these images, to even take some of them home, as opposed to leaving them there in that dusty old box on San Pablo Avenue.

If you live in SF, there is a similarly wonderful place called SCRAP (Scroungers' Center for Reusable Art Parts)

2 Do

pink, Canon Digital Rebel

I just found a fantastic site this morning called 2 Do Before I Die. It is a place where people record their lists of things they want to do before they die and true stories from people who have done things on their lists.

This story about Benjamin Wagner meeting Mr. Rogers is my current favorite.

And on a similar subject, I've heard great things about this book: A Year to Live by Stephen Levine. Has anyone read it? Some friends of mine used to meet up regularly to work on it together. I think the title always scared me but I am drawn to this book just the same.

quotes that kick you in the ass

graffiti on Shotwell St., Canon Digital Rebel

"If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches."
-Rainer Maria Rilke

Photo Friday: Signs

I love your mom, Canon Digital Rebel

Photo Friday's theme this week is "Signs."

women in photography

more clouds, Sarasota, Florida Canon Digital Rebel

Women in photography:
Ladyfest East {via Heather} I spent hours looking at the photos in this collection.

For those of you in NYC, my friend Elena Dorfman will be opening her show called "Still Lovers" at the Houk Gallery tonight.

The press release says: “Still Lovers" is a series of documentary photographs exploring the relationship between silicone sex dolls and their owners. The project that began as an investigation into the world of hyper-realistic sex dolls, soon unveiled more complex and unexpected associations.

You can read more about it on the site. It is a fascinating project and she is a brilliant photographer.

...
In other news, the premiere issue of JPG magazine is out!
and I am honored that one of my photos was chosen to be a part of it.
Go get yer copy!

knowledge is power

clouds, Sarasota, Florida Canon Digital Rebel

I have my first Quickbooks class tonight. After five years of running a company and having virtually no accounting system {I have been using word documents, a handwritten log, and a handheld calculator} I am taking the plunge and learning the program I have been dreading for so long.

It got me thinking that often, we as women are afraid to do left brained tasks like accounting and finance. Maybe we were brainwashed into thinking we aren't good with numbers or maybe we think it's easier to let our partner take care of things.

I was surprised when my friend Jason told me that he has always been inspired by my willingness to learn what I don't know. Need a website? learn how to build one. Run a business? figure it out as you go. I find that I am most inspired to learn when there is a need. Unlike so many things we learned in school, there is nothing like learning a new language when you are actually traveling to a new country!

If any of you out there have been wanting to start a business but don't know how, would like to learn more about your financial life or investing, and how the hell do you buy a house anyway? there are resources for you, for us.

And guess what? Many of them are free! or close to it.

In San Francisco there is a place called The Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center for Women. They have full programs in how to begin and run a small business and lots of smaller workshops in bookkeeping, Excel, marketing, etc.

The Small Business Administration also offers free classes in your city or online. I looked up the local San Francisco office and found a full calendar of enticing classes for very little money. And finally, the best resource I found when I started my business was the small business startup guide.

Knowledge is power baby!

through the beach's eyes

siesta key, Sarasota, Florida Canon Digital Rebel

Photo adventure:
1. place the camera on the ground at your feet.
2. shoot.

My friend Sara just told me that her incredible zen teacher Norman Fischer has started a blog. This makes me very happy.

An excerpt:
"Compassion has a warm fuzzy flavor as its usually understood, but if you actually look into it, its chief characteristic is sorrow and sadness at the plight of another, whose fate is also exactly one’s own. So mostly we don’t want to feel real compassion- naturally we either ignore someone’s troubles, or we want to fix them immediately, so we don’t have to feel so badly. Yet, though it is difficult, compassion is the gateway to self transcendence, for it is compassion that opens wide the doors of the enclosed self, our personal prison. As usual with spiritual practice, things are not so simple as they seem at first, and something difficult and seemingly obviously to be avoided turns out to be something precious and beautiful. Compassion. In Zen we say there’s nothing but compassion. The sun right now shining through the window as I write these words: perfect compassion. Painful, powerful, bright, and warm."

...
Always a fan of Blue Eyes Magazine. The new issue is out.

look where you want to go

birds, Sarasota, Florida Canon Digital Rebel

As I enter the new year, I see that I have so many desires! and I have been noticing how my wishing and wanting can really get in the way of me appreciating the now. It is tempting to believe that when we make more money or find our soulmate or have child or a bigger house, we will finally be happy. But I am continually reminded {by wise, wonderful people I know} that the only place to find happiness is in the moment. It's never based on exterior forces.

In this culture, we are taught to desire more and more, to want to succeed in bigger and better and sexier ways. We call it ambition and drive and working hard, but we never learn to fully embrace and celebrate what we have now. Don't we need both to be happy?

So how do we do it? How do we hold onto our dreams and recognize that everything is perfect as it is? I think I've mentioned this quote before, but someone once told me, "If you're bored, you're not paying attention." So maybe if we're not in touch with the beauty in our lives, the same goes for that. We're not paying attention. Or we're only paying attention to what's not working!

My dear friend learned how to ride a bike as a 28 year old and I had the pleasure of helping her on her maiden voyage. She did really well and rolled back all flushed and excited. She said something I love, "The trick is just to look where you want to go. Then the bike follows."

In 2005, I vow to look where I want to go. I vow to look at the abundance of friends and joys and beauty as much as what I want to create. Instead of focusing on what I don't have, what's not working and what could be better, I'm going to focus on where I want to go. And if the theory holds up, the bike will follow.

...

These are incredibly powerful images from the NY Times. Nothing like a great tsunami to get you in touch with what's important.