Photos are for....

So I think everyone that knows me personally knows I've had a tough time being a mother. Not just being a mother, but being a good mother, happy, patient, willing to spend time with my children. I love my children to death. I'd rather die than not have them, I spoil them, I kiss them and hug them and tell them I love them all the time. But, it's has been a great struggle for me, not having my career. The last 18 months have been the hardest time of my life, and a lot had to do with my internal struggle of having stopped working. But that's a whole other blog post.

As an artist, I mean, a creative person. I like to really keep that term to painters and sculptors, I've been worried that my children won't have a chance to be creative because the educational system we all grow up in, is not conducive to art. That's also another blog post and it is coming. So I get worried, and I want them to draw and color and express themselves as much as possible. I feel that way because I didn't get to do that until I was in college. Isn't that sad?! I mean I took pottery and photography in high school, but really, those classes don't help you express yourself.

So today as I got back from working out and was getting ready to start today's rounds of cleaning up the house (I have a thing with clutter, I can't stand it), I noticed this:




This obviously was not done by Mike, or Bella. So it had to have been Isaac. Previously I have posted pictures of some of Isaac's works of art, mainly on himself as he drew with a highlighter all over his face. I have failed however, to truly document these findings. I had to laugh when I saw this because to me this is his work of art, his creation, his way of expressing himself and his creativity. I have to clean it up now. I put the salt grinder back on the counter by the pepper grinder and there's was a bit more mess with the peppers which I also have to clean.

But this was Beautiful! An inspired thought came to me when I saw it, and it was that I need to document my own children's lives. Here I am, having started a photography business to document other people's kids, and although I take a lot of cute pictures of my own kids, I'm not documenting these priceless events that occur everyday. Consequently I feel the guilt of "wasting" my time at home when I could be feeding my ego by continuing my career.




Trust me, I still have a long ways to go, my inner struggle is grand. But I loved my new idea and I love that my son is showing his creativity, even if it is on our kitchen table. I thought the composition turned out really good. Oh, and note that he even put some salt inside the vase......

More to come as he grows...

Design Inspiration.

So I don't know why but I never really talked "design" here. I think it's because I was building, selling, designing and it was just too much to keep going when I got home. Now that I find myself never doing it(aside from moving an accessory to the other side of the room, because I'm bored with its current place), I find myself a little inspired to talk a bit about design. Grab your pens and notebooks, ready?

When I was in college, educating myself in art and all aspects of design(how I miss those days) I started to gravitate to the 'modern' team. I kept remembering my house back in Brazil and how my mom had everything in its place, very minimal and functional. So when I first heard "Form Follows Function", those words felt inherently mine. I vividly remember the first time I saw a slide of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye,(click left to see a 3D video) I immediately began my admiration and idolization of him.




My first Design year was comprised of only "core classes" which consisted of figure and spatial drawing classes, art history, principles and elements of design, color theory, color application, sculpture and so on. My favorite class of all was Color Theory. We had to buy this box of 1000 hues paper that looked like it had been machine coated with paint. I still can smell the fresh coat of paint. Our professor Joe Ostraff(painter) made me think more than any other professor I had that year. With the millions papers in every hue and tint we had, he instructed us to make a book(which I regretfully no longer have)which showed a main color contrasted against two different colors in order to show the main color as completely different. Then he also made us find two different colors which contrasted against other colors, looked exactly the same. I remember my friend Cat and I spending hours working on that project. I swear that was the only project we had the whole semester. It was an amazing experience about the relationship and influence that colors have on each other.

Joe took us to the Folio section of the BYU library where we got to see original Joseph Albers color relationships and again I fell in love with another artist. That is when I realized, that if I mixed the international style of Le Corbusier with the color theory and application of Albers and Kandinsky, I could come up with my personal perfect style. Since then I've been trying really hard to realize my dream.

So here I sit. I have an almost blank canvas in front of me, that will be easily cleaned up. Because of these men, I have inspiration. This house, will be the one we'll grow old in(hopefully, I said that about the last couple),and I'd like it to be a sort of "warm" museum. Clean, minimalistic, bold, intriguing, welcoming. Let the remodeling begin.

Let the remodeling begin....

OK so...It has officially started. The mother of all projects is under way. First up: the kid's bath. We didn't realize until we moved in that the kid's bath is... well, it sucks. The toilet tank wouldn't fill up all the way, which meant that the toilet wouldn't flush things down. The paint on the fiberglass tub is cracking and the drain stop doesn't work either which means that it was a pain bathing the kids. I came up with a few temporary solutions for the problem, but we decided that that bathroom is definitely Project #1. So since we're working on a bathroom, we may as well work on the half bath. That one (we lucked out) only needs to be updated.

So at last, pictures of our house(The Befores)

Our house is built in the Territorial style with the brick trim on the parapet and top of walls. We're planning on keeping it true to it's architectural style on the outside, but on the inside... well things will get a Renatha touch. Ps: Mike's too. ;) The floor plan lends itself to modern living, and since we're all about that it worked out great for us. All bedrooms are on one side, and the entertaining on the other. There's a big sun room which was an addition, that has become the mess/toy room, the family room is pretty big too and off the kitchen. We're going to open up the two rooms to each other as much as possible, I think. I'm still not 100% sure about that, because right now, it's really convenient to close everything up and watch a movie without any sound leaving the room. The living room and dining are open to each other and adjacent to the kitchen, which at this time still has a dining nook.

We bought our house for two main reasons: 1. Location, location, location. 2. # of bedrooms. It's really hard to find a house as big as 3100 square feet in Santa Fe that HAS four bedrooms. I mean, those of you who have lived, tried to rent or buy a house in SF know that the size is not necessarily the problem, the problem is getting a decently priced home with that kind of square footage AND the number of bedrooms. In terms of location, we couldn't have asked for better. We are located a stone's throw from the hospital(one of our friends that works there, can see our house from where he works), we're maybe 1.5 miles to Trader Joe's, Wild Oats and Whole Foods, BODY(my new favorite hang out) and Mandrill's Gym (Mike's new hangout). It takes me 7 minutes with the lights to get downtown to take Isaac to preschool. In another 2 years, he'll get to cross the street to start Kindergarten. The elementary is literally across the street from our house. Our lot is over half an acre, which gives us a lot of room to play in(we're even considering keeping the dog run for Isaac to run some of his energy). And another plus to our lot is the foliage, we've got a lot of mature trees!

So as sure as the sun comes up every morning, this won't be the last time someone calls me crazy. I'm planning on being very active in the remodeling, not only in the design phase, but also when it comes to the grunt work. Mike has tried to convince me otherwise, but I have to do this to prove to everyone that I can, or to prove to myself that I cannot. Although he's still completely against it, Mike is supporting my decision to work on this bathroom on my own and has agreed not to say "I told you so" when I give up and hire someone to do the remodel.

How bad can one bathroom be? Today I easily took out the kids toilet, which was not a problem at all. I have kept the door shut to that bathroom until today, but unfortunately for me, Isaac still has managed to sneak in once in a while to relieve himself, which means I get to fix the problem. I have hated it! Now the problem is temporarily solved: no toilet. The only issue now is figuring out where to pile up my demo trash. I think I have a couple of options for a demo compost, LOL!

Book of the Week.

One of my new year's goals is to read more. I've been wasting too much precious time. So I'm on book 3 for the year. Last night I was reading in Stand For Something, by Gordon B. Hinckley and the whole chapter really hit me like a ton of bricks. I love when I'm reading something, and it completely validates my personal opinions.

Seriously though, I will tell you this: If you are one of those people who think that because you graduated from college, have a masters, doctorate, or because you are a woman who chooses to stay at home, or you are too old, or your continuing education means learning another language, or you just feel like you know enough, WHATEVER IT MAY BE. Think again, this is for you:

"Reduced to its simplest definition, education is the training of the mind and the body. Education is the great conversion process under which abstract knowledge becomes useful and productive activity. It is something that need never stop....I grew up believing that it was desirable to be informed, to be educated, to increase one's understanding about the world and its peoples....The learning process is endless. We must read, we must observe, we must assimilate, and we must ponder that to which we expose our minds. I believe in the evolution of the mind, heart, and the soul of humanity. I believe in improvement. I believe in growth...

For such reasons, and because the pace and complexity of life demand it, we cannot afford to stop learning and growing and progressing. We must not rest in our personal development--development that is emotional and spiritual as well as mental. There's so much to learn and so little time in which to learn it. I confess that I'm constantly appalled by the scarcity of my knowledge...Nonetheless, each of us, whether we are thirty or ninety, can keep growing. Each of us, regardless of our constraints or circumstances, can find a way to study and grow.

None of us can assume that we have learned enough. I have lived long enough now to say with certainty that as the door closes on one phase of life, it opens another. It therefore behooves us, and is our charge, to grow constantly toward eternity in what must be a ceaseless quest for truth. As as we search for truth, let us look for the good, the beautiful, and the positive."

Thank you Mr. Hinckley.