Thankful Thursday V.9

If you haven't read the book, Last Child in the Woods I seriously recommend that you pick it up. I am currently nose deep in Louv's writing and while I already agree with a lot of what he is saying, it is helpful to really sit back and think about the reality of my student's day in relation to nature. This book is about the current prevailing lack of direct exposure to nature. Louv argues that being in nature often is essential for healthy childhood development, not to mention the health of adults.

As someone with Seasonal Affective Disorder (and boy do I have it bad), I see a definite connection between being in the natural world and my wellness. Last year, when I was working in Rhode Island in a school set in the suburbs it was very easy for me to take my students outside and work out there. I student taught in both North Kingstown and Portsmouth, suburban schools with a wealth of green surrounding their campus. My cooperating teacher at Portsmouth even designed and implemented a Plein Air Studio outside of her classroom! I was so lucky to teach out in this area, and soak in the sun with my student's as they fervently drew/collaged and painted, took photographs of their work, drew from a live model and closely observed and illustrated flowers that they hand planted the year prior.

This week we had a chance to take various students outside and walk down the Central Park and soak in the sun, be in nature, and most importantly: PLAY! This outside time did wonders for the student's wellbeing, attitudes and health. As part of Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, the first wife has been spreading the word about how important activity and movement is in the health of our nation's children.

I am thankful that my school realizes how important Dance, Recess, Sports and trips out of the building are to our students, especially in the concrete jungle of NYC! (And yes of course I am thankful that my school realizes how important Art is as well, but let's stay focused!)

And look how happy being outside made my fellow teachers!

One of my fondest memories of Elementary school was making sit-a-pons and then bringing them outside to a little cove for a read aloud. I liked trudging out of the classroom, sit-a-pon in tiny hand, and believing I was in a secret forest or fort with the rest of my classmates while our teacher read to us.

If I could teach in an outdoor classroom for even part of the year, I would jump at that opportunity in a heartbeat. Perhaps I should start writing up a grant. An outdoor classroom in the city...hmmm. MAYBE!

Does anyone else feel this way?

the little things (pet spotlight)

Having animals in my life is such a wonderful thing. For those of you who have pets, I am sure it's no surprise that I would say my animals truly have a special place in my heart. I love them so much and I can't imagine my morning without hearing Ganoushie's little meow asking for food, Claudia running up and jumping onto the sink to get water, and Malomar's ears perking up because he knows we are going outside as soon as I get dressed!

When I was looking back at the timestamps on my old twitpics, I realized that I have had Malomar for a while now! We have lived in 3 different apartments now. (4 places for Malomar if you count his vacation in Lancaster with my mom). We have gone on multiple trips up and down the east coast from New Hampshire to Maryland and everything in between. We have gone on long hikes, he has been forced to go swimming (HATES IT) been through broken bones, have been to many beaches, and have even gone on a kayak and a canoe! (Malomar actually really enjoys this).

Then I thought about Ganoushie. He has lived with me now for many years. I found him in Taunton Massachusetts at the Silver City Skate Rink when I was there for Roller Derby practice. He was outside hanging out with some other gangsta cats and was pretty skinny. He had a cut on his nose, and let me pick him up without too much resistance. He looked hungry so I fed him vegan banana bread...and I told him that if he was there when I came out of practice I would take him home.

The whole time I was inside skating I was thinking about him. Let's be honest, if he wasn't there I would have probably gone looking for him...but what do you know...Ganoushie was lounging out on a car hood when I came out of practice hours later!

After begging Dolly to let me take Ganoushie home...the rest is history. He was a terror when I first got him, and even still he is a *star* patient at the vet (read as: they are prepared with extra people for when he comes in, full protection with gloves up to their elbows and my poor baby gets a shot to make him asleep EVERY time he goes to the vet...for anything!

Yeah he is pretty badass.

I love him so much!

Do you have any pets?

Art Happenings: NYC Thursday May 5, 2011

I was SO excited to get this email and I wanted to share it with all of you, especially those of you in the NYC area!
~~~
Hello!

We are excited to reach the final stage of our project called Looking for a Home, which is a lounge area created solely with furniture found in garbage on the streets of New York collected over a period of one month.
Please join us for the Reception and Artists' talk which will include also other projects of the EXPRESS +LOCAL: NYC Aesthetic

This Thursday, May 5 from 5 – 8pm at the Queens College Art Center, CUNY

Looking forward to see you !

Kristyna and Marek Milde

www.mildeart.com

Address:
Queens College Art Center
Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, Level Six
Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367-1597

Our installation is on the 3rd floor (ground floor), right behind the main entrance and the gallery is on the 6th Floor

CLICK HERE for DIRECTIONS

LOOKING FOR A HOME

Kristyna and Marek Milde

Looking for a Home is an installation concerning the themes of consumerism and the culture of disposal. The public space is populated with furniture and domestic objects dumped on the streets of the New York metropolitan area, which the artists found during their one month residency. The objects are cleaned, repaired and categorized; the progress is monitored and documented. The resulting piece is fully equipped living environment, which the public is encouraged to use as a private working area.

The objects, which assumingly have been replaced by new commodities, are, in Looking for a Home, kept relevant by the artists’ discovery. This site-specific environment reflects the state of abundance and rejection and recalls environmental awareness in the realm of domesticity. While the sale of anonymously mass-produced household objects is encouraged by the supportive framework of fictional stories around the objects and designers, Looking for a Home focuses on the stories of the objects’ lives and their use, adding an enriching personal layer of a real story connected to specific people and their environment.

Part of the EXPRESS +LOCAL: NYC Aesthetic

By bringing New York-area artists to the Queens College Art Center in Flushing for a month long residency, EXPRESS+LOCAL: NYC AESTHETICS explores the possible effect of locale on their works. Artists (Ellis Avery, Becky Franco, Carl Gambrell, Naomi Grossman, Erin Hanke, Rob Kimmel, Howard Lerner, Kristyna Milde + Marek Milde, Tommy Mintz, April Nett, Antonia Perez, Anne Sherwood Pundyk, Derek Vadala + Jon Wohl) from diverse disciplines and divided into three groups, will share gallery space for one month at a time (Jan. 28-Feb. 28; March 1-31; and April 1-29). The public will have the opportunity to view the works-in-progress and talk with all the participants during an Open Studio one night each month and at varied times during their residency. A free culminating exhibition (May 5-June 30) will showcase pieces created during their time in Queens and feature artists’ talks with the curator, Tara Mathison.

Depending on their chosen residency, the visual artists, writers, musicians, and curators will work separately or together within the gallery space to respond to the idea of place. EXPRESS+LOCAL aims to offer insight into the varied studio practices documenting their creative response to New York and specifically, the borough of Queens. While some of the artists are very familiar with Queens and Queens College, others have had no direct experience before the residency; EXPRESS+LOCAL may lead each artist to forge a new sense of place.
~~~
If you aren't in the area or cannot attend, you should still check out their website here! You will be glad you did!

Providence Flashback via Twitter (SUPER Image Heavy)

Oh man. One reason that I kind of love the internet, is the fact that you can go back and look at so many photos stored from over the years in this great accessible digital archive.

A camera is an unreasonable place to store photos...especially if you take as many photographs as I do. We all know that computers crash, and even external hard drives can be grumpy sometimes. Let's see, your phone...well, if you are someone like me...who knows when you will drop that piece in the toilet or something and POOF all photos taken on it are gone! That is why I like uploading things to the internet, where they are safe and sound, and I can look back on them!

Here is a collection of phone photos from Providence, starting with the first photo I ever tweeted and ending in my car on the way to NYC. Don't worry, I spared you a few million.

It is nice to look back at old chapters this way, with beautiful memories and snapshots of daily life.

And now to continue on my new chapter of life here in NYC...

Do you have any old photos on twitpic that you love?

when wedding dress shopping...

It is absolutely imperative that you put your best friend in a dress that is just SO SO wrong...try to find something she would rather puke on than put on and you will get this type of smile during your (sometimes stressful) search for the perfect dress!

Sparkles...lots and lots of sparkles, and enough toile to costume a production of The Nutcracker.

I wish I took a close up so you could see how many sequins this baby had.

Missy and I actually got in trouble once for trying on some of the most hideous bridesmaids dresses ever just for fun. We got kicked out of the store...whatever...so worth it!

I can't wait until August, I am so excited for her!!!

the little things...mindfulness

I make sure that I am not watching a netflix or hulu shows or reading blogs when I eat...I take that time to really be mindful of the tastes, feel and smells of the food I am enjoying.

Dinner time is one of my favorite times to spend making food with family or friends, and I can't get enough of breakfast or brunch and conversation with friends or that special someone. I really like how food can bring us together to create fun dishes, laugh over mishaps, and nourish our bodies with fresh and tasty foods.

I am a little obsessed with clementines as of late. I go through so many clementines in a week that it is borderline embarrassing. I can polish off one of those bags-o-clementines by myself no problem!

As I peel back the skin I get a wonderful whiff of freshness and I love how all of the parts stay together when it is peeled. I love the taste of citrus but I find myself unable to eat a lot of oranges because they are just so damn messy and sticky. The clementine's peel opens to reveal the neatest of all citrus fruit in my opinion, all tucked away in little wedges that safely store the juicy goodness until they are in your mouth (and not all over your hands!)

I cannot state this enough. There is absolutely no processed candy bar in the world that can give me an immediate pick-me-up the way a clementine can. It brightens my mood, tastes just amazing, and leaves me feeling refreshed and satiated, not bogged down and full.

yum!

8 weeks to a better me: Week One (from Sometimes Sweet)

I have been known to make a to do list that involves such items as "drink coffee" or "feed pets"...things that I always do anyway, but boy does it feel nice to put an X in the box...so when I saw Danielle's post over at Sometimes Sweet about setting small attainable weekly goals, I decided to participate as well, and feel the rush of checking off items on a weekly to do!

This week's theme is...

Go and check out her post, and open your eyes to some other bloggers as well. This week Danielle had guests posts from both Don and Rachel, a lovely couple who both blog and set their three goals for blogging. Check out what they have to say about why people blog, and their focus on supporting their local community. Just seeing this post made me so happy to see other like minded people sharing away on the web.

Since I am relatively new to blogging, I am excited that the first goals are about our little corners of the internet.

Goal 1: Since I have moved into NYC I have been so busy with work that perhaps I haven't gotten enough time out to notice my hood...so I will create a weekly post regarding Brooklyn. Not only will it be fun to share the cool things I have already found in my new home base, but it will force me to get out and explore even more! This Sunday I happened into the Cobble Hill area and immediately fell in love. It honestly made my Sunday amazing to find this new little area of town and explore. This goal will get me out and about with purpose, and I will really be prompted to take the time to notice all of the cool things my new city has to offer!

Goal 2: Share a recipe that I use often. Food is something I am very mindful of. I would say after rent, it is what I spend the most money on (voting with my wallet). I also spend a lot of time preparing and enjoying all different kinds of food and I would like to share!

Goal 3: Connect more with other bloggers. I have started to really enjoy coming online and checking out my daily reads and I should definitely tell some of these people how great they are!

Three cheers for small attainable goals!