Keep Calm and Craft On

"Absolutely, anyone can craft. Stick a fistful of pencils into a potato and you've got a pencil holder. Who can't do that?"


Amy Sedaris said that and I think she's nailed it.  Crafting is one of the few pass times in our world that still allows for imperfections- glorifies them even.  There is nothing like running your fingers along a slightly crooked stitch and imagining your grandmother sitting at her sewing machine, natural light pouring in around her, distracted by something outside the window, ending in a slight imperfection that will fuel imaginations for generations.  I love the stories that live in every handmade quilt, window treatment, pillow, or wall hanging.  These are the things we pass on to one another because they mean something, not because they are perfect.


The act of crafting is also wonderful for the creative brain.  The repetitive nature of working with your hands can clear a cluttered mind and inspire you in entirely new ways.  Nothing can compare to molding and transforming different textures, colors and smells into something new and even more beautiful.


This year I've been trying to embrace this tactile side of creation.  I've loved the process, the frustration, and the reward.  To hold something in your hands that you created is empowering and cathartic- especially when you get to give that new creation away to someone you love.


Earlier in the year I started small and made pillows out of some t-shirts for The Joplin Kids in Denver.  I wish I had pictures of them to share.  They were bulgy, a little crooked, and super soft and squishy.  To see these little people I love so much snuggle the pillows during nap time and say "they smell like Sarah" was the most rewarding feeling in the world.  


Most recently I made some gifts for my sure-to-be-beautiful niece, who is due in May.  My wonderful friend Katrina walked me through the process of bobbins, measuring, stitches, and seam rippers with a lot of patience and little cursing (on my part).  But in a couple of days the end product sat in my suitcase bound for Denver, wrapped up in coral fabric, waiting to be placed in my sister's hands.  I fussed over the imperfections when she opened it, of course, but she really really loved it all.  Bibs, wash clothes, and a hooded towel.  I really wanted that soft baby skin to be warm and snug after baths, so I splurged a little on extra soft terry cloth and ridiculously cute fabric.  It seems this little girl has me wrapped around her finger, even from the womb. 

For everyone reading this, thinking to themselves, "I'm not crafty," I have news for you- You Are.  If I can create things like this- and let go of the inner critic that tells me everything that come out of me must be perfect- anyone can do it.  I'll let Amy Sedaris leave you with one last bit of encouragement: "If you craft, and you should, craft with abandon and don’t judge your work. It’s the process that’s important, not the final product. Remember, for every person who deems your project crap, there is another person who hasn’t seen it. The only person you have to please is yourself, and what do you know about art?"

What's a Mulligan, and Here's What I Thought of Emma

Some of you may have noticed that March 1st has come and gone and Jackie and I have not posted our end-of-year wrap up posts.  Congratulations to Genevieve who seems to be the only one of us that has her business together.  I can't wait to read the second half of all her accomplishments!  As for Jackie and I, we're in need of a bit of an extension.  Just a couple of weeks, we promise.  We discussed it and decided there are times when it's best to set goals and a timeline and, at the end, take a step back and evaluate what you achieved and what you didn't.  But there are other times when you just need to feel good about what you've accomplished, even if it means taking a bit more time than you anticipated.  So, we're asking for a Mulligan.  Maybe?  I'm not very good at golf.


That being said, I'll jump right into my post about Emma, which I finished a few weeks ago.

It's common knowledge that, for a story to be worth reading- to be a story at all- there has to be change, character transformation.  And I believe the stories we write and read are derived from the universal way our lives are lead.  "If story is just condensed versions of life, then life itself may be designed to change us so that we evolve from one kind of person to another."  Donald Miller said that and, fair warning, there's going to be just as much talk about him in this post as there is of Jane Austen.

What we can take away from that quote by Donald is that we change because life is happening to us, which I won't argue with.  But what if we look at Emma.  Emma certainly goes through a character transformation, but the change came from the choices she made and the acceptance and consequences she had to choose to learn from.  Emma was a bad friend to people.  She let her entitlement and boredom cloud her judgement into treating other as less than herself and pawns she found pleasure in moving about and watching collide.  Only the approbation of a trusted and respected friend opened her eyes to her indecency and, at times, cruelty.

So, in this respect, life didn't happen to Emma.  She didn't have to throw her hands in the air, accept a situation she had no control over, and embrace the transformation that was sure to follow.  Emma actively created a bad situation for herself.  She treated Mr.s Bates cruelly.  She convinced Harriet to turn down a proposal from the man she loves based on his lower station.  She flirted openly with a man who turned out to be engaged to really amazing woman.  A woman Emma had known since childhood, made a snap judgement about, and dismissed as boring and unworthy.  All of her pain was self inflicted.

For me, it's so much easier to accept the things I have no control over- to look at them objectively, learn from them, and move on.  But it's the self inflicted pain that's the hardest to get past.  How do you stop focusing on the "how could I let this happen" to get to the deeper meaning, the stuff that leads to character transformation?

I wish I was better this.  I wish I could fill the rest of this space with "this is what happened in my past, this is what I learned, and here's something insightful you can quote to your friends."  But the truth is I'm quite bad at it.  My version of embracing the past is letting enough time go by so I start to forget whatever it was until something or someone comes along to drudge it all up again.

The best I can come up with is that maybe it's a combination of the two- the choices I make, both good and bad, are life happening to me. And the most dangerous thing I can do is tuck them safely away to that dark corner in my mind, the one with the cobwebs and thick layer of untouched dust.  Even though I did have control over those situations I can still throw my hands in the air- not just to accept what life has thrown at me, but to let those choices go, to admit that they happened, to understand why they had to, and to embrace the transformation that will ensue.  Every bit of my past is part of my story, which is still being written and moving toward something much more grand and consequential than any one mistake or bad choice I've made.  And that kind of makes the whole mess a little exciting.

Now, because he is much wiser than I, I'll end on one last insight from Donald Miller: "I want to keep myself fertile for changes, so things keep getting born into me, so things keep dying when it's time for things to die.  I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently."

So go out, embrace your transformation, and live a page-turning life.

This is just the beginning, Genevieve: Part 1

 This image can be found at: http://www.deramphotography.com

 Whenever I hear the haunting piano line that opens Aqualung's Memory Man, my heart stops. It's as if the song unlocks a well of hope and vision deep in my soul. I instantly start to dream. And for some reason, this week I found myself rummaging through stacks of CDs in the front room of my apartment in search of Memory Man. Maybe it's because I distinctly remember blasting through the Nevada desert on my way to LA summer of '07, sitting in shock on an airplane after my grandfather passed away or laying in the dark on my bed with ideas floating in my head, all listening to the same album. There are so many secrets embedded in those songs, but without fail every time I press play the music catalyzes excitement and I see that "tiny glimmer flickering on the horizon".

And personally that's where I'm at... this past year of setting out with purpose has been quite daunting, but completely fulfilling. I have taken risks and failed. I have dreamed and succeeded. But never have I been so content and happy with who I am and where I am headed. I finally took the time to let go of what I thought was expected of me or ultimately what I expected of myself. I just am.

I realize I've been missing on here for several months, but to be honest, I needed to disappear. Falling off the map sometimes is the most necessary step to placing yourself in the right spot the next time around. So, now that I've found my trajectory again, I'll fill you in with where I am and hopefully headed.

Genevieve's Goals 

(I'll be covering half in this entry and half in my final entry) 

Personal Goals:

  2. Get published in Relevant Magazine for a CD review or an online article.

            -This is one goal that I tried to no avail. I submitted a piece on the power of forgiveness back in November, but never heard anything back. I'm totally fine with it and I actually learned a lot from just simply writing the piece. If I ever feel inspired to write a CD review, I'll try that next.

3. Travel to the Pacific Northwest

            - It was so wonderful to discover the little nooks and neighborhoods of Portland and drive to Seattle for the day with Sarah:)

5. Be a good owner to Mr. Keith Moon.

            -The dog training this last fall was very beneficial and I keep instilling that into my little man every day. He truly is a joy and blessing in my life.

Church/ Spiritual Goals:

1.  Lead worship reflective of God’s heart.

            - I've found that worship is what God is calling me to musically right now. I am leading once a month at Corona Presbyterian and once a month at my church, Scum of the Earth. We had an all night of worship at Scum in January that was phenomenal and really pushed some boundaries of mine. I'm currently in the process of planning regular worship nights at varying houses and hopefully creating an interdenominational, multiple church lead services. The first one will be at my house at the end of March.

 Musical Goals:

1. Play our first show and hopefully have many to follow!!

            - This obviously looks a bit different than I initially intended it last year. Last year around this time I was in the beginnings of a band with several guys I grew up with. It fell through after a career change, people moving etc. BUT despite that, I have been playing shows and I love it:) Performing is definitely something that makes me tick and it has been delightful. I did two CD release shows as a part of my lovely friend's, Ms. Leslie Brown's (www.theoriginallesliebrown.com) backing band. I also played a set of original music and some covers for a benefit show at the beginning of this month.

Career Goals:

1. Push myself at my current job and ultimately learn deeper facets of the industry.

            -Over the past 6 months my job has done a complete 180. After a summer of grueling production hours and great frustration with my boss, I sat him down for a talk. We came to some understandings and he has handed me more creative control and ultimately more respect. I started the Discovery Artists Series every Thursday night in our Cafe to cultivate up and coming artists in the Denver folk scene. I book for our Tuft Theater more and am in charge of our Four Mile Park summer series. I'm making deals, working with a budget and have learned the ins and outs of booking. The company also just sent me to the International Folk Alliance last weekend to scout bands and I will be heading to Austin for SXSW in a few weeks as well.

Entrepreneurial Goals:

 2. Put on some benefit concerts and a few house shows.

            - Since July my church has been meeting at alternate churches, because of fire code remodeling that we have to get done before we can have large groups in our building again. I miss our building and it has been trying at times, but the congregation has really come together to raise the funds we need to get our building back. Another worship leader and I headed up a benefit concert at the beginning of February with Wovenhand and a handful of bands that go to Scum. We were able to raise $3,000 dollars and put on a great show.

             - Anthology Fine Art (http://www.anthologyfineart.com/) asked me to coordinate the music aspect of a recent benefit show they had for the Greenbacks of Colorado. The turn out was great and they were able to raise thousands of dollars for free rivers and lakes in Colorado. This has opened up to planning other shows with them. A local artist and I are currently planning a live screen printing event at the gallery in June. Working with multi-medium art shows has been such a growing experience! 

              - The house shows will come into play with the worship nights that I'm planning:) 

Sarah's Great Affair is to Move

I can happily say I'm crossing off number 5: "Get out of the city once a week, out of the state once a month, out of the country once a year."  Technically, I did not do this to the letter, but I did leave the country for a day and since it's my blog, and I get to cross things off, I'm declaring this goal "achieved."

When I started with Shake the Dust, I thought I'd fulfill the end of this goal by going to Haiti.  That's proof of how much visions can change in just a year.  Unfortunately, Haiti wasn't in the cards for me.  But since British Columbia is now just a short jaunt away,  I packed a bag and begged a roommate to accompany me on a whirl wind trip to Victoria, BC.  

It never occurred to Emily and I that going to Canada for one night would be thought strangely of.  But, time and time again, we were met with the same perplexed look and doubting air whenever we told someone our scheme.  This personified itself when we attempted to cross the border into Canada.  Apparently, we held within our circumstance the perfect storm of suspicion for a Canadian Border Patrol Officer.  He questioned us so intensely that I was beginning to think that I had, in fact, done something horribly wrong.  The exchange went something like this:

"Where do you live?"

"Portland."

"Why do you have Colorado plates?"

"I moved from Colorado in August."

"When in August?"

"Erm... Early-ish."

"Why are you going to Canada?"

"To stay in Victoria."

"For how long?"

"Just the night."

"That's a long way to go for one night."

"... Yup."

"You might be a terrorist.  Drive here, give this to her, and don't ask any questions because we won't answer them."

Luckily we were found innocent of all terrorist-related charges and continued Northward where a ferry boat waited to take us to the beautiful island of Victoria.  The boat ride was taken in the dark, and therefore lead to many Titanic jokes and slightly more serious wonderings of where they keep the life boats (Deck 5).  

We finally reached land about 90 minutes later.  With mildly shaky knees and bellies full of french fries and gravy (do as the Canadians do!), we boarded a bus to our hostel.  As is the case in most traveling stories, we walked the wrong direction from the bust stop for about 5 blocks before we realized what direction we were going.  But, we got to see a bit of Victoria's China Town, which was beautiful.  Red lanterns hung from street post to street post, and decorative arch ways welcomed in those lured by the smells of fresh herbs and teas illuminated in shop windows.  

Our hostel was finally found around 8 pm, and we were greeted by a lovely young lady in novelty sized, dark rimmed glasses, manning the desk of a brightly painted vessel for young and care free travelers.  Our desires for tea and crumpets and dresses and hats were soon abandoned and replaced with wishes for some comfortable jeans and a micro brew.  Nevertheless, we settled into our room and headed out in search of dinner.  This turned into a walking tour of night time Victoria, which is entirely navigable by foot.  We finally decided on a thai street food restaurant and had an odd conversation with an older man about his nephew who plays soccer for OU.  The conversation dragged on a little longer than was wanted, I think because I flattered him too much based on his nephew's good looks (he made me google him on my phone).  At any rate, he gave me some good "older person travel advice."  Things like, "when you take the ferry back, get the buffet, not the cafeteria" and "Next time just fly here, it's cheaper."

We tried to find a nice Canadian bar to settle into, but this turned into another session of us wandering about in the dark, peering into bars playing the UFC fight and boldly trudging onward.  We finally decided to head back to the bar at the hostel, which turned out to be perfect- they had a band playing, the beer was cheap, and a rather cute Englishman shared a table with us.  After a long and serious talk (sans Englishman), as Emily and I are prone to do in unlikely surroundings (mostly bars), we slowly walked upstairs to our room, giggling as we went, because we couldn't believe we had actually made it to Canada and we were actually  only staying for one night.

The next day, we were both excited to see Victoria by day.  We stopped at Lady Marmalade and had a shockingly fresh breakfast (who knew salad could be that good before 10 am).  After a bit of shopping and some more adventuring around the city, we settled into a coffee shop (where everything was made of drift wood) and hid out from the rain.  We were met by a man with a penchant for staring, however, and had to move on.  

Much to an traveler's delight, we then stumbled upon a Chinese New Year parade and got to see the tail end of it (literally- there were dragons).  We were greeted again by the smells of the night before and the sights of Chinese street markets and sounds of firecrackers and traditional music.  Our time was growing short, though, so we popped into a nearby cafe to pickup food for the ferry ride home.  

We found ourselves in a long, warm room with high ceilings and venerable brick walls.  There were some children sprawled across the floor, quietly playing; young adults with fancy headphones, tapping away on macs; and generations upwards enjoying each other's company, reading newspapers, and turning pages of books.  The food was all whole and organic, the staff all beautiful (of course), and Emily both agreed if we could spend the rest of our days in that one little shop, we would both be perfectly happy.  But, since we both had jobs to return to and, more immediately, a ferry to catch, we carried our wrapped up treats and headed back to the hostel.

Thank Brownie Troupe!

Emily and I both agreed we travel very well together- we are both laid back, open to new experiences, and welcome meeting new people.  There is, however, a trait we share that proved to make traveling rather difficult.  Neither of us listen particularly well to detailed instructions.  This proved almost itself when, after receiving very distinct directions on how to get to our bus stop, we both stood waiting at the wrong corner for 20 minutes.  When we spotted our bus on the other side of the street, a good distance away, we had to run for it- heeled boots, luggage, and all- and made it just in time- laughing uncontrollably, and thanking our stars for the slow-legged Brownie Troupe that was boarding as we rushed up.  

Was it the most eventful trip?  Was it life changing or of grand proportions?  Perhaps not.  But it did remind me of the excitement traveling induces, and awoke that Wanderlust that lay dormant for so long.  And we came away from it with so much laughter and genuine, quality experiences, that I can't help but want to go back next weekend and the weekend after that.  Perhaps even call Victoria home for a while.  Who knows!

And to those, especially that border patrol officer, who thought it odd we'd go so far for such a short amount of time, I leave you with the wisdom of Robert Lewis Stevenson- "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travel's sake.  The great affair is to move."

And cheers to great affairs!