MUSIC: Fok Friday {The Living Sisters}

I was recently told that people need at least 8 "loving touches" a day in order to survive. Well, I'm not sure if we all meet that quota every day, but if you'd like to give a little comfort to your ear drums, go ahead and take a listen.

The living Sisters is a newly minted trio made up of Eleni Mandell, Inara George and Becky Stark. These lovely ladies just put out their first album,"Love to Live."
Its an immediate feel good remedy, made up of luscious three part harmonies and adorable lyrics.

This isn't surprising since all three already have an established musical background.
Eleni Mandell has already produced solo 7 albums exploring her talents as a jazz, folk, and country singer.
Inara George is the bird or maybe the bee from the duo, The Bird and the Bee.

I have known about Becky Stark for quite some time. She is featured on the latest album, "Hazards of Love" by one of my favorite bands, The Decemberists. The album is definitely a concept album, more like a off-off Broadway rock opera, that I may or may not have fantasies about turning into an amazing puppet filled show... Becky is also a member of Lavender Diamond who deserves their own Folk Friday write up!

Keeping with a theme here, these ladies are all about love! The love to sing, they love to laugh, claiming sometime they spent more time joking than harmonizing. And they love babies.

I think they sound a lot like The Chordettes, who made famous "Mr. Sandman" in the 1950's. Or the sister-y group, The Andrew Sisters. No?

So a quick count, The Living Sisters, all three members, Lavender Diamond, The Decemberists, The Chordettes, The Bird and the Bee, the Andrew Sisters and my best wishes for you today... love your ears!

Howard Pyle

You may remember a week or so ago I mentioned that I had visited the Delaware Art Museum. I was on assignment - doing research for my Historic Properties class about the sustainability of the organization & various other intrigues of the preservation minded.

Anyways, while I was there I discovered the works of Howard Pyle, who has since become a component of my paper. Not going to lie - I had never heard of him before, but this Wilmington, Delaware native was an amazing illustrator, often compared to his cohort, Norman Rockwell.

Pyle {1853-1911}, a member of the Brandywine School, illustrated many children's books, including The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, King Arthur, and lots of books on pirates - in fact he created our mental image of pirates. His illustrations colored the pages of many magazines in the early 20th century, including Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, etc.

The Delaware Art Museum, seeing as how Pyle is the reason for their existence, has the foremost collection of his works - I copied down the titles of my favorites while I was there, but I couldn't find most of them online...so here's hoping that you'll go out & search for more of Pyle's works.

{image: Catherine De Vaucelles, in her Garden, from "In Necessity's Mortar," October 1904.}

{image: from The True Captain Kidd, 1902}

{image: Sindbad on Burrator, 1902}

{image: King Arthur and His Knights, 1903}

{image: The Travels of the Soul, 1902}

{image: The Mermaid, 1910}

{image: Published in Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, 1881}

{image: When All the World Seemed Young, 1909}

What to wear today?

Remember wearing the same outfit to Catholic school every morning? No, okay well... remember how cartoon characters always wore the same thing in every episode? Well its kinda like that. But not for Sheena Matheiken!
I recently found out about Sheena who started The Uniform Project. Through a staggering amount of recycled and thrift shop accessories (not to mention a rather impressive collection of tights and socks), Sheena managers to wear the same exact Little black dress for 365 days! She has 7 of the same dress, a reversible tunic made from organic cotton that she dresses up and down for every style and mood and occasion. She chronicles her daily outfitting and credits her etsy and ebay addiction with her astonishing accessorizing. Tim Gunn would be very pleased!
It gets even better. As part of the Uniform Project she is also raising money for Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots movement that is revolutionizing education in India. At the end of the year, all contributions will go toward Akanksha’s School Project to fund uniforms and other educational expenses for children living in Indian slums.
I can't post all 365 looks here, but I did pick some of my favorites!
*May 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010* The original.


*May 9, 2009*



*August 9, 2009*



*September 7, 2009*



*Oct 17, 2009*



*December 1, 2009*



*April 18, 2010*


*April 24, 2010*


I am keeping my eye out for when this Little Black Dress, or LBD, will be available to purchase! Not only is it supporting the idea of sustainable fashion and education, but its looks great! Maybe cartoon animators were on to something....

Molly Hatch

While probing around the web, in order to distract myself from the piles & piles of books I need to read {which is currently giving me the side eye from the corner}, I came across this amazing ceramicist {word y/n?}. She hails from western Massachusetts {home commonwealth shout-out!} & I'm obsessed with her designs.

Besides the fact that I love tea cups, saucers, serving plates, & all manner of decorative tableware {gosh I'm lame} - the paintings on her items - birds, flowers, etc - are just screaming 'I need this now!' She does art exhibits in addition to selling her work - love that home-goods can be functional & artsy.

Visit Molly's Website or her Etsy Shop to see the rest of her work - she did just have a baby, so nothing is currently for sale...bummer...oh well, shouldn't be spending $$ on anything anyways! {yay for being a grad. student!}

About The Artist {taken from Etsy Bio}

"My childhood was spent on an organic dairy farm in southern VT and a Quaker community in central VT. My love of ceramics comes from a family history of using our hands to make objects for use and contemplation. In my ceramic work, I aim to keep the family tradition of making the things we need and things we desire. I aim to design new objects and redesign old objects in the hope that the folks using my work will begin to see art in the everyday."