Such a long time such a long time such a long lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time...

Well, it hasn't really been a lonely time, I just like that song.

But it HAS been a long time since I posted my last blog. EEK! I blame it all on Facebook.

Okay, so here's what I've been doing for the past 5 months:

1. Drawing!! I switched figure drawing classes a couple months ago, and am now studying with Michael Markowitz, an artist at the 23rd Street Art Gallery in Noe Valley. Here's my link to the Flickr page with some favorite pieces from both his class, and my previous class with Linda Corbett at Palo Alto's Pacific Art League: My Figure Drawing Set on Flickr

And here are my big faves:



9/23/08, 23rd St. Gallery, 1-hr pose; conté crayon, pastel, charcoal



10/06/08, 23rd St. Gallery, 2-min gesture; charcoal



10/06/08, 23rd St. Gallery, 7-min pose; charcoal



10/06/08, 23rd St. Gallery, 1-hr pose; pastel, conté crayon, charcoal


2. Reading: Mostly thanks to Caltrain, I've had my nose stuck in some pretty great books lately. My most recent amazing read is The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood. This book was my introduction to Atwood, and I am completely hooked. As soon as I was finished with Assassin, I went out and bought another Atwood novel, Alias Grace. After a somewhat slower start than Assassin, this one is proving to be just as engaging. Also on the "Recently Read" shelf: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Absolutely LOVED it. On the nonfiction side: Don't Get Too Comfortable, by David Rakoff and When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris. Both were very funny books from reliably hysterical writers.

3. Biking! Recently my boss at WPI set up a ride from Mill Valley to Mount Tam with the Obama-centric theme of "YES WE TAM!" This is the JPG of the email invitation he sent out to announce the ride:



Here's the album with pics from the ride on my Facebook Page: Yes we TAM! Bike Ride

By the way, while we're on the subject of Obama, let's all vote on Tuesday, mmkay?


4. Visiting my Family: James and I went to visit my sister this past weekend in Colorado Springs, and then took them all down for a roadtrip to celebrate my Grandpa Tom's 80th birthday in Albuquerque. Charity has the most adorable kids I've ever seen, and deserves a medal for raising them so well while her husband's been away for most of the last 5 years in Iraq. Here are Gibson, almost 9; Jonathan, 7; Conner, 4; and baby girl Sydney, 8 mo:

My Sister's Great Kids

That's about it. Also on this list would be: moving with James to a cute place in Belmont, listening to and watching the debates, becoming addicted to This American Life podcasts, getting deeply involved in the political goings-on of Getting More Bike Capacity on Caltrain, and, most recently, pumpkin carving:



I hope everyone else has been just swell. I promise I'll be back soon!