Gifts for the Holidays

Yes, it's that time of year again. Can you believe it!? I swear, each year gets faster and faster. At least that's what the adults say, and I'm starting to believe they're right. All the more reason to take time to enjoy the finer things in life -- like a glass of superb wine from TheWineFeed.com. In fact, I'd like to go as far as to say that it is the season to extend this opportunity to slow down and enjoy to those you love too. I promise, almost none have ever received a gift so grand. A gift so thoughtful. A gift that truly keeps on giving. What am I talking about? I'm talking about a subscription of wine as a gift for 3, 6, or if you're really in the giving mood--12 months. This opportunity tells your friends and family that you care about their mental health and overall enjoyment of life. Now, for those friends and family under the legal drinking age of 21 in the US, sharing the gift of "slowing down and smelling the corks" will have to come in a different package. TheWineFeed.com requires that all deliveries of wine be received by an adult of 21 years of age or older. Who do you know that would enjoy such a delicious treat on their doorstep each month???

Scholarship Auctions

The Penland Scholarship auctions occur every other Thursday and as each session concludes they serve as a great way to see what each class has been working on. So far I've been to two and my they are exciting! Emotions and energy levels are high--there's so much activity you can feel the it in the air. Here are some pictures to give you a better idea of the atmosphere of the night and pieces that sold.

Nancy modeling a beautiful Peacock feather hat made in Wayne Wichern's millinery class.

"How small is small" miniature books class taught by Gabrielle Fox.

A display of the evening's items up for auction.

A painting by Tilly Hatcher with whom I worked in Development.

Decorated clay piece by Jane Peiser.

Marvelous glass piece by raising artist Justin Turcotte.

Large-scale mask from the puppetry class.

Fired clay piece.

Blown glass vase by my friend Brad.

Mixed media piece.

Shall made by a student in Vincent Martinez's fashion class.

"Eve"-a collaborative class piece made in Mark Angus' class. I bought this piece along with "Adam"!

We're Back & Running!

I'm very excited to announce that I've started my blog again! Now that I'm living in another exciting place that's worth writing about I'll make an effort to take pictures and share what I'm learning while I'm at Penland School of Crafts in the NC Mountains this summer :)

Nearly a month has past since I left Raleigh and I've settled into the life at Penland with the ease of a summer breeze. Classes for the first summer session started last week and those students will be moving on at the end of this week, making room for a new batch who'll arrive for the second session. So far I've met a lot of artists that are well developed in their craft and either live on campus or are visiting as instructors. Yoga is twice a day, the food is incredible, and I've got a great view of the mountains outside my office window. Things couldn't be better--minus the giant spider(s) living under the floorboards of my room. I've named one Freddy Krueger but I'm thinking about changing it to "Peanut" as I try to embrace this hopefully mutual relationship. Not for the arachnophobic!

Penland sits on Conley Ridge in the Mitchell County mountains and is surrounded by Spruce Pine, Bakersville, Burnsville, and Little Switzerland NC. Most GPS's can't find it, but it's here! Penland has a long history dating back to the early 20th century when Miss Lucy Morgan founded it as a weaving school for the community. Now it has turned into a nationally recognized awesome place for beginning and experienced artists alike to expand upon their craft! How fantastic!

So stick with me the next couple of months and I'll fill you in on all the great things that happen up here where the clouds fly west to east and the weather is unpredictable. Give me a holler if you're able to visit! <3

IAE-AIX Lipdub

Check out this great Lipdup video produced by my school in IAE, in Aix en Provence. Can you find me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=092rrmeGZSQ

Well goodness! It has been a full month since I last wrote. Between now and then I've returned to the US from Aix and have been thrown into the holidays! The first semester of my master's program in France is finished but will always remain in my heart especially after meeting all of the wonderful international people at IAE. My next travel destinations include West Virginia for a New Year's Eve wedding, Boone & Charlotte, NC followed by a hopeful visit to NYC and Boston near St. Patrick's day. After that I'll be gearing up for another visit to Copenhagen for the summer conference with intentions of reconnecting with some folks from Aix! Stay with me now!

More GREEN, Genius!

From biodegradable super tall plastic trash bags to news & tips on how to be more green, this website is super cool to navigate and quite helpful indeed! Check it out:

theGreenGenius.com

Thanksgiving in France

Thanksgiving actually doesn't exist in France which makes sense considering the holiday commemorates a relationship between pilgrims to the New World and its native inhabitants. Still, we felt it necessary to reenact the celebration that most of us Americans have grown to love, by bringing a Thanksgiving meal to our natives in France!

It was really nice to share this tradition with international students because it was an opportunity to share American culture. I sat with some students from Germany who absolutely loved the food: butter biscuits, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, endless breads and desserts, and a chicken turkey-substitute!

"Oh wow, the US has more than just hamburgers and hotdogs!"

Our Thanksgiving evening's festivities consisted of a school wide bar trip and 'American' influenced beer-pong tournament organized by the student government. What a wonderful way to celebrate American culture :-)

Creative Ways to Go Green!

A friend of mine sent me this fabulous blog that not only connects you to the GreenWorld but also provides you with creative solutions to encourage a GreenLifestyle of your own!

Check it out: Go Green Blog.com

Northern Exposure: Copenhagen, Denmark

Hey there! I had a great time in Copenhagen last week! After a short visit in Lund, Sweden to help my mom prepare an international conference in Lund scheduled for next summer, we crossed the Oresund Bridge to Copenhagen. It was a cold and windy day but we were excited to be there nonetheless. With only two days to explore we didn’t waste time. We covered nearly the entire city on foot and couldn’t find the rental bikes to save our lives! Our itinerary was relatively spontaneous combining recommended tourist sites and the most appealing museums listed in the guidebook.

First on the list was The Little Mermaid – from the imagination of Denmark’s own Hans Christian Anderson. We were told that you can’t go to Copenhagen without seeing her and now when you go, you can also see an artist’s interpretation of the “Survival of the Fattest”…I’m honestly not sure why Copenhagen decided to place the latter next to the Mermaid, but if you’re interested in the concept behind the design read more.

Next, we headed to the Kunst Industry Museet, also known as the Danish Museum of Art & Design. This museum was awesome and highly inspiring with a visual history of poster advertising available for viewing until December, along with the museum’s permanent collection of art and design specific to Denmark, and the evolution of styles including Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and of products of the Industrial Revolution up to the 1960’s & 70’s. The museum also has a wing devoted to the work current Scandinavian artists next to a fantastic café with yummy soups and teas!

Another museum we visited was the Danish Design Center which houses prototypes of innovative product designs and concepts. I was especially excited to see the work of architect Bjarke Ingels who is a key member on the board which is working towards making Copenhagen CO2 free and reduce their carbon footprint woo! They’ve already worked to solve the problem of traffic congestion during rush hour – perhaps LA could look into their plan. In terms of sustainability and global impact consciousness, Denmark is the country to watch and model after right now. They’re presently preparing for the United Nations Climate Change Conference which will be held this December.

And let us not forget the food! Chicken & steak fondue with a ton of specialty sauces and a herring tray as an appetizer! Herring makes for a great Scandinavian treat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

The visit was quite lovely! I'm looking forward to going back for the conference, summer 2010. I'm sure Copenhagen will be even better in the summertime!

How Do You Say...

As I've mentioned before, some of the most important phrases for first time country/language interactions are probably some of the most simple: hello, goodbye, yes, no, please, and thank you! Since I'm in Denmark for the first time, I've been practicing my Danish:

Hello - Hej, "hey"

Goodbye - Farvel, "farvel"

Yes - Ja, "ya"

No - Nej, "ni"

Please - Vaersgo, "vairsgoh"

Thank you - Tak, "tak"

To Copenhagen I Go...

I'm going to Copenhagen, Denmark tomorrow! I will be in Malmo, Sweden for part of the time and Copenhagen for the other part. During my research on transportation between the two countries, I came across this trivia tidbit:

The high bridge part of the Oresund Bridge has the longest cable-stayed main span of all bridges in the world. That goes for both road and rail traffic! And, this Scandinavian tunnel is the world's longest underwater tube tunnel for both road and rail traffic.

20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

"On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall - a physical and symbolic boundary between communist East Germany and democratic West Germany - began to come down, ending decades of separation and marking a turning point of the Cold War. Widely regarded as one of the most influential events of the 20th century, we felt it important to recognize this historic moment". Find out More

Need some Travel Inspirations??

Need some travel inspirations to get you motivated about planning your next trip? Check out the gorgeous travel pics I found at Black Tomato.

A View from Above...

We're quite lucky to have a beautiful view from our

rooftop apartment overlooking some of the old city in Aix.

Botany of Desire, PBS Special

PBS just aired Botany of Desire, a documentary taken from the book by Michael Pollen. I'm not just promoting this because my mom is interviewed in it... In fact, you can actually learn a lot about your relationship with some very interesting plants and their impact on the lives of people.

Voila! Homemade Crêpes

Do you love crêpes as much as I do? For brunch I made crêpes for the first time and went all out with two different types and they were dee-lish! Its actually quite simple...

In a large bowl, mix:

2 eggs + 2 tablespoons of butter (melted) + 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water.

Then, add your dry ingredients while stirring in:

1 cup fine flour + 1 teaspoon salt.

Your mix should have the consistency of runny tomato soup (and not thicker!)

Then, scoop out a cup and pour it into a low heated pan. The first crêpe will turn out terrible, but don't be discouraged. Just try again!

In the Mean Time...

Read: L'Etranger, by Albert Camus (recommended by Christine);

Listen: Bjark Ingels, Architecture Tales (thank you TED Talks);

Watch: L'enfant (inspired by Mary);

Give: Random acts of kindness.

Daylight Saving Time

Live in France? Change your clock because we're one hour behind now. Today, October 25, 2009 is the official Fall Daylight Saving Time day in France! Its always nice to wake up on a Sunday morning and realize that you have one extra hour to use as you wish.

USA folks, get ready. You get to sleep in next Sunday!

Want to learn more about DTS? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time

Halloween Destinations!

Too old for trick-or-treating? Never! But perhaps you could use a change of scenery for your usual Halloween experience. October 31st happens to fall on a Saturday this year so rather than staying at home waiting for sugar-seeking children to ring your doorbell, head out of town and make it a weekend of spook! STAtravel offers a few frightening destinations...

Check out this scary Vampire Tour in New Orleans

Travel back to the Salem Witch trials in Boston, Mass.

Or Visit the crime scenes of Jack the Ripper in London

Posing Naked to Save French Organic Wines

A friend of mine sent me this article which I found pretty

amusing / interesting so I'm sharing it with you!

This past weekend 713 hardy French men and women stripped down to send a message about climate change. They posed nude in French vineyards to warn the world about the impact of global warming on the French wine industry.

In Burgundy, the heart of the French vineyards, on a sunny day (luckily), Spencer Tunick posed the happy participants in four different poses; one with women alone, one with men alone and two more in different vineyards. Organised with Greenpeace, it's all part of the campaign to urge political leaders to take action in the lead up to theU.N.'s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.

Tunick has been organising these mass nude art pieces for more than 15 years and all over the world. In 2007 he worked with Greenpeace to do one in -10 degree weather, with six hundred dedicated Swiss posing nude on a melting glacier (the Aletsch) in Switzerland. This was done to draw attention to global warming and the shrinking glaciers, which are predicted to disappear by 2080.

The recent French "sit-in" is meant to highlight the impact of climate change on French wine. The climate in the wine-growing regions is changing. Warmer temperatures mean that the harvest is taking place earlier. According to a recent Greenpeace report, "Wines end up having higher sugar levels and alcohol content while retaining less acids - which means they are unbalanced with an overripe flavour and heavier texture."

These changes put France's wine producing reputation at risk. Great wines get their taste and body from their terroir. This, combined with age-old skills produces amazing wine. Given current emission levels, an increase in temperatures of 4 to 6°C between now and 2100 is predicted. Such changes in the climate would leave the vineyards increasingly vulnerable.

In an open letter to President Obama, President Merkel and other heads of state, Greenpeace writes:

"We're not asking you to take your clothes off in Copenhagen - but we do expect you to be there - to sign a fair, ambitious and binding deal to save the future of our planet. A half-decent climate treaty simply won't do."