Desiderata

The Beach Boys just make me smile. That's all for now. Image via wit and delight .

Hello, semi-faithful blog readers. I was posting pretty consistently for a while there, then I just fell off the grid. Where did I go? Honestly, I don't know. But I'm back and feeling like I'm gonna be spending a little more quality time here again. I've got that writing and reflecting bug. I hear it's going around... I like hangovers. I know, I know, I know...you probably think I'm insane, but let me explain. I don't like those gnarly hangovers (the pukey, headachey, wobbly, I-think-I'm-still-drunk kind of hangovers), but I like the mellow ones. The ones where you feel just icky enough to not want to drink again for a while. I like these baby hangovers because they serve as a reminder and act as an incentive to re-evaluate some of my not-so-great habits. For instance, feeling slight shitty today made me think about my general health. It's sufficient, but I could be taking WAY better care of myself. Then I was like, okay, I haven't been to t...

Do you ever look at your inbox and think that Japanese people's inboxes must look so insane with all those characters?

This is the beginning of a post I wrote about two months ago. Just thought I'd share. I'm sitting here at the beach watching this girl cry. It's not just a whimper but a full on why-the-fuck-is-this-happening sob and it's completely real. It's that deep, private pain that hurts in places you didn't know existed and it hits you unexpectedly--even when the beach is full of happy families and brawny lifeguards. There she sits, weeping from some true, unfathomable pain. And I feel for her. Because I've been her. I've sat at the beach looking out into its infinitely wise waves, wishing-hoping-desperately praying for some sort of answer. Eventually you're empty of wet and you brush off the sand from your jeans and wipe your swollen eyes. You take in a deep breath and breathe out I love you, Ocean . And you do. You really do. There's nothing like the salty smell, the colossal expanse, the repetition and mystery. It's a wonder we don't all ...

Food for thought on Cup of Jo today; I just want a way to revisit it again, so I'm posting it here: "I actually attack the concept of happiness. The idea that—I don't mind people being happy—but the idea that everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems to me a really dangerous idea and has led to a contemporary disease in Western society, which is fear of sadness. It's a really odd thing that we're now seeing people saying "write down three things that made you happy today before you go to sleep" and "cheer up" and "happiness is our birthright" and so on. We're kind of teaching our kids that happiness is the default position. It's rubbish. Wholeness is what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment, frustration, failure; all of those things which make us who we are. Happiness and victory and fulfillment are nice little things that also happen to us, but they don't teach us ...

Hi all, there's a new post on what is now called: Los Francisco San Austin . Sofia (based in SF), Nora (based in Austin) and I have decided to team up and write about what we do in our respective cities. We haven't solidified a rhyme or reason behind what we'll post, so it may seem scattered at first--bear with us. We also kept some older posts (from the pre-Nora era) and so you can browse through those if you like.

Just discovered Calm.com . It's pretty great. If you need some simple guided meditation, you will love this site. You can do increments of 2 min, 5 min and even up to 20 min meditations. Beautiful soundscapes and nature images are provided. Try it out, tell me what you think. Image via Kylie Johnston Photography .

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I was talking to Shane last night about what it's like working at Bergamot Station (the arts complex where my gallery is located) and the topic of potential new friends came up. There are about nine people I can think of off the top of my head that I would like to be friends with that work in the other galleries. I've been working at this location for almost 5 months and in that span I've started to say hello to these people by name, casually chat them up at the cafe, walk with them to get the mail or go to the bathroom and other common workplace niceties. It might sound silly, but I'm starting to seriously consider how we make friends as adults. It's definitely something worth pondering for a minute. Growing up, friends are handed to you on a silver platter in the form of neighborhoods, soccer teams, classmates, etc. Now, that silver platter is work; but when you work at a place where it's just you and one other person, you've gotta start looking for a b...

Sometimes the drama is so intense you actually can't think of anything else. Every small conversation you have with acquaintances- -how was your long weekend?  sends you spiraling down the rabbit hole of fury, sadness and helplessness. One thought can send weepy, unwelcome tears down your face. When there is no solution to the problem it is that much more frustrating. Ultimately when there is truly nothing you can do about the issue, all you can do is distract yourself. Here's how I'm distracting myself today: 12 quotes by comedians for when you're feeling shitty at work or in your career. Just make some freaking swirls and get over it. Some Kimye nonsense to rot your brain: Kim changed her name to Kim Kardashian West . Here's Kanye being, well, Kanye . I'm thinking about getting some essential oils after work. Here's some for sadness:  Cypress, Frankincense, Grapefruit, Helichrysum, Lemon, Mandarin, Neroli, Orange, Rose, Sandalwood, and Vetiver...

When I was young I lived here. I spent most of my time outside playing games in the cul de sac and participating in some version of sharks and minnows in the pool. Our neighborhood was filled with kids our age and life seemed limitless. There was a hill over there, that we weren't allowed to go up, but we did anyway. I'd sit in these oversized gutters that were always bone-dry, with my legs spread open wide as I overlooked our street: It was familiar and I felt safe. It was mine and it was my friends'--our little corner of the world.  I met Andrea when I was three years old. She came to the front door, flapping her hands like a bird and asked my mom if she would let me play outside with her. Together we made Indian reservations on her slope, recorded an improv cd that we still play to this day, prank called my mom pretending to be aliens, made crazy recipes because we were in love with boys, and drew maps of made up places. We occupied this intellectual, strange, ...

Make everything okay with the push of a button.

As I left my counselor's office last night, the last words she said to me were: "And, Diana... ....take care of yourself." It may seem simple, but sometimes the simplest things get so convoluted in my mind. One of the major issues I deal with in counseling is my tendency to overexert myself. Whether it's saying yes to too many things, feeling obligated to be at every event, making time for everyone then forgetting to shower, or pay parking tickets, or losing important documents, or missing appointments...I tend to put myself last very frequently and it's something I'm aware of and need to change. So tonight I took a leisurely trip to Trader Joe's. After I bought the whole store, I walked up to the parking lot on the roof. I took out a peach from the brown paper bag and leaned up against my car and ate that whole, glorious, juicy peach. The wind was warm, blowing through my hair. I listened to the cars drive by and the seagulls caw. There was no r...

Installation shot at Mark Moore Gallery in Culver City, CA Allison Schulnik is one of my favorite artists. I love her work so much and have been dying to introduce you to her for some time now (that is, if you don't already know about her). Born in 1978 in San Diego, CA, Schulnik attended CalArts where she obtained a BFA in Experimental Animation. Her work repels and entices. The grotesque mixes with the innocent resulting in Shulnik's own personal mythology. Featuring characters like hobo clowns, mermaids, sad animals and humanoid beings, her multimedia works tell universal stories of triumph in those least likely. Once you get past what might initially seem haunting there lies a tale with Shakespearean influence (represented in his tragicomedies)--she places value on the misunderstood and marginalized, showing glimmers of hope through seemingly dark imagery. "ex•pose: Allison Schulnik" / installation view / solo exhibition, Laguna Art Museum, 2013 L...

I know I said I would write a post about an artist a day. I have one that's nearly finished, but life got in the way. And by life I mean these enormous swollen welts on my face. Seriously. Look at this: I've been struggling with these welt like bug bites/allergic reactions for far too long now. But usually they are on my bra line or arms and legs. Today was the first day they appeared on my face. I was so bothered by it that I had to leave work and go to the doctor. I had a terrible one on my arm on Sunday and so he performed a punch box biopsy, which is kind of like a deep cookie cutter extraction that required stitches. He chose to do it in my arm so he wouldn't have to stitch my face up. How kind. I felt so woozy after the procedure. Seeing all the needles and feeling him tugging the stitches was a little too much for me.  In any case, I really had intended to post about Allison Schulnik today. I'll finish it up by tomorrow and start the art writi...

Art historical retention and research. Art writing. Critical thinking. They are like any other learned skill. You need to continually practice them or they start to fade. Then when you finally get the courage to put pen to paper you've got scant to say and shit similes . Well, I'd like to start out small. I'm giving myself two weeks to write about a new artist every day. Someone up-and-coming, maybe even just finishing their MFAs. There are two reasons I'm choosing to focus on young artists. The first is that there is limited reading that one can do on an artist that maybe just graduated college. They are not in history books yet. They probably have a website and links to reviews of their senior project. I need to regain the skill of inferring, analyzing and dissecting works of art based on the visuals and available context alone. I need to remember what it's like to do original research. Maybe I'll even reach out to the artists personally. Young artists ar...

I'm not even going to google this to see if it already exists, because I just came up with it right now and it feels so genius that I want to take full credit for it. There needs to be a website/forum about hobbits called "Tolkein about the Shire". Right?

It was one of those nights I'll remember fondly for quite some time. After a very long day at work I took a much needed shower; mostly an attempt to escape the boiling heat that had taken over California. After that luxurious, cool shower, I chilled out with a cold beer, slathered on lotion and popped on a tank top and shorts and headed to counseling. It was a great session. We talked about the fear and embarrassment associated with discussions about money--namely that of negotiating salary. We have a plan of attack that I'm really excited about. We'll see how it all turns out (more on that later perhaps?). When I got home I cooked some spinach tortellini in a brown butter sauce. Delightful. Katie came home and shared the meal with me. We sat in our living room with the wide glass doors open, fan spinning around on high, as we sweat in the 80 degree weather at 9 pm. Instead of watching TV or a movie, like we usually do, we talked about this and that, our days, our memories,...

As some of you may already know, before today I was a hair color virgin. I'd never done anything to my beloved locks, because my natural auburn hair was something I really, truly loved about myself (it's okay to like something about yourself :) Anyway, you might think, why did you change something you loved? Well, I figured, why not? It's just hair. It grows back. I decided to get a balayage, which is a French word for painting on , and the process is set up to leave your natural roots in tact and lighten the bottom portion of your hair to give the effect of movement and lightness; it's a very summery trend. I really love the way it turned out! I might go even lighter in the future, but it's nice to know I could chop my hair short and be right back where I started if I ever wanted to. What do you think? Do you like it? If you're looking to get this done, I'd recommend Nikki at Slash studio in Santa Monica. She's really great! So nice, warm and fr...

If you liked Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight , you'll probably like, Boyhood . This is a pretty phenomenal feat--director Richard Linklater cast a young boy Ellar Coltrane at 6 years old and filmed him every summer for 12 years with his fictional parents, Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette (who also signed on to work on this film for over a decade). By the end of the film, Ellar is 18 years old and we'll see the fictional family go through divorce and many other coming of age moments. The film debuted at Sundance with great reviews ("moving", "touching", "once-in-a-lifetime"). I'm really looking forward to watching this! Here's a trailer:

Just eating some almonds, watching the wind blow through the trees outside.

I know I'm so late getting into the photo editing app trend, but I just got A Beautiful Mess app for my iPhone. It was created by the cute girls over at A Beautiful Mess. I love how cute the fonts and borders are, but mostly I love how easy it is to use. I've created a couple little pictures that I like--hopefully I'll get better at this!

This gorgeous, slouchy trench . Should I just buy the damn thing already? This cute high school girl isn't getting great grades and didn't get into her colleges of choice...but she started her own company , and it's adorable (and successful). In love with Lianne La Havas right now (thanks, Shane). This song is especially fun. I also really like when she sings with just her guitar. Pretty floral dress for a springtime wedding. Another great option here . ASOS is offering 20% off their label for a limited time only. Per usual, Wit and Delight's wish list is spot on. "As per vs. per usual" ^ via the Grammarist . And now that you've just clicked on all of these links, here's a link to an  article  that suggests that link hopping and surfing the internet can be harmful to your brain. Fantastic exhibition on view at Richard Heller Gallery featuring work by collaborating artists Neil Farber and Michael Dumontier. Love this image. Com...

Today I received this cool gallery invitation from the Kohn Gallery . They represent neo-surrealist Mark Ryden . The envelope was the size of a record and inside was an incredible invitation to the opening--a work of art itself! I'm taking it home and putting it up in my room.