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Munchkin Pumpkin

It's PUMPKIN time! Which means it's time for creating pumpkin carvings, pumpkin bread, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pancakes, and other lovely fall creations. Fall is so inspiring for me; I just wanna create all day and definitely not go to work. Fall also comes at a lovely time in my life when direction for me has become clear.... finally.

I have gotten a receptionist job downtown at a law firm so i can pay off my massive student loan debt. On the weekends I plan to start bunches of creative projects that involve salvaging furniture, making chandeliers, and other knick knack cute things that I can sell on etsy. Photography, though not clearly out of my mind, is on the back burner. The idea of starting my own business is scary yet exciting! I have gained much encouragement and insight from a lovely little website Design Sponge*. I'll post here updates of my processes. I've already scored a sweet table in the alley way near work! Huzzah!

Now go out and pumpkinfy everything!

- e l i s e -

coming soon

...coming ,....

....soon.....

i have somewhat narrowed into a subject as to what my creations are about! huzzah! finally something i'm comfortable with!

My Own Private Adoration

Despite life's trials that try to bring you down, right now, amidst my mother's tribulations, I feel the strongest i have been in a really long time. Some of this comes from previous experience of sorting through life's tough times and coming out knowing how to deal with the lemons; most of this come from knowing, receiving, and living love, though. Being in the right relationship at the right time with the right person can make anyone capable of doing anything. It's actually amazing how much love can radiate through a person when both giving and receiving hearts between two people and also loving everyone. I feel so blessed to have the person that showed me how to love humanity, as my own private adoration. Now THAT will make you strong. Love can conquer anything.

love,
with all my heart,

- e l i s e -

ps - i just realized that my friend SLU just updated her website with the project in which I modeled. Check'em out, they turned out truly beautiful!

Been a While

It's been a while for lots of things, including this blog. But the absence has made good use of its time. I'm in cohorts with my brain on a new blog, a new crowsfeet, and a new life...all still in chicago, surprisingly. More to come. Thanks for paying attention.

love,
elise

POSTal

So I just found a great website and I'm super excited! Thanks Ben Speckmann for getting fellow facebookers involved via Proximity Magazine, which launches its live site tonight at midnight. The website is The Post Family which is a collective art magazine, blog, gallery, store, and website based in Chicago.



In other news, I will be interning for Tony Wight Gallery starting December 31st which I am uber excited about. Tony seems pretty open for ambition, so I have a feeling I'll learn a great deal and get to push my ideas more as an intern here at Tony's than in most galleries or institutions.

That's all for now.

Tied Knots

Los Angeles was more amazing than I expected it to be. In fact, I didn't actually take that many pictures and certainly not any serious ones. I know I love a place when I don't feel like I have to capture every moment with a camera; i want to just enjoy the moment without a lense between my eye and the world. There were many awakenings while in the city of angels, and angels i did find.

What LA experience could be complete without a trip to the movies? I went twice to this highly executive-feel and highly executive-priced movie theater in hollywood where i guess all those hollywood openings take place. The day I arrived my friends Eric and Jason picked me up from the airport and after briefly planning our day together it was torn to shreds after Jason convinced us that nothing could surpass going to see a matinee of Rachel Getting Married. And boy was he right.



Anne Hathaway stars in this beautiful film about a recovering addict who attends her sister's weekend wedding that feels so real it's remarkable. No film has completely absorbed me like this one; the performances are all outstanding and make the viewer feel as if not only they were apart of the wedding party but a part of this family. Director Jonathan Demme captured human drama so well that even viewer's deepest unrelated feelings will become unearthed and somehow parallel the film's drama. By far the best film of the year and by far worth throwing our day's plans away for. All three of us sobbed like babies. Here's the trailer:


If ever I get married, this will be the way! What a beautiful, spiritual, and REAL way to get married. And speaking of marriage, congratulations to my best friend Freya Jess D'Amico and her boyfriend, Keith Potempa for their recent engagement! They also traveled to LA for T'giving and it was wonderful having them and their love around us as well.

And speaking of spiritual. Quite unexpectedly while driving in a cramped car with four other people from Hollywood to Beverly Hills with the windows rolled down, the sun setting, and a soundtrack of Nick Cave, I had a spiritual experience and revelation. Not in a long time have I felt such peace and love. In that moment I understood love of humanity. I was surrounded by the greatest loves of my life to which nothing could harm me. With their unconditional love and truly understanding of me, my faults, my praises, and likewise, it allowed me love everyone. This is my God. I understand that God is love now. It's not some bearded white man in a scene of pink and purest white clouds. God, and as cliche as this sounds, really does exist in us, if we allow it. It's not hippie or new age bullshit; it's real, and if you're in the right place at the right time with the right people, I hope you feel it too.

Buddha of the Mountains
Originally uploaded by nkimadams

Needless to say Los Angeles was a revealing trip and also in the art world. I met with DNJ GALLERY which was extremely helpful. I have an interview with Tony Wight Gallery tomorrow about a possible internship with them that would greatly increase my chances of getting a paid gallery job when i move to LA.

Coming back to Chicago was not a great thrill and after spending a week in my friend's LA neighborhood, Echo Park, it makes Chicago's concrete landscape look quite dull. I had only one loose end to tie and now that it is done and settled I am sitting on the knot waiting for March 31st, the day my lease expires and I will move back home for a couple of months before trekking my goals to LA. It is strange to be presently in Chicago, knowing now that it only represents my past.

meditation on time
Originally uploaded by conceptvessel

more on that later....