Leave me a message if you’re a reader, I need to know that someone’s “listening”!
And I recently put up a nice tutorial for a cool tagbook on Flickr – check it out.

• Pink Prank Project - It’s really cool, and pink is so pretty, and I admire the effort, but hey, don’t do it to me, ok? (via Rag and Bone blog)
• Faces in places - so cute.
• Anna Quindlen’s Speech - Get a Life! Wonderful. I’m going to print this out and carry it with me. (via Ali Edwards)
• Oh, The Places You’ll Go! – I came across a quote from this Dr. Seuss book somewhere on the internet, and searched the whole book. It’s wonderful on so many levels. Read it!
• Ali’s Travel journal - I’m traveling later this month, so I’ve really been looking into journals, to find a method that would appeal to me and be feasible while traveling. Ali’s journal is wonderful, and this one here too.
• Kolby Kirk’s travel journals - So much inspiration there. Not only in his journals, but in his travels, too! Make sure to check out his Flickr, and the handmade journal he created in preparation (yes, that means before traveling) for his trip to Peru. I’m really curious to see whether I have the guts to ask the immigration officer to stamp my journal. heh.

 Enjoy!

More pics on my Flickr. Now what were they thinking, really!

My grandmother was born in Corfu. My grandfather in Turkey. They met in Alexandria, Egypt, and got married. They spoke French, Italian and Ladino. My grandmother also spoke Greek, and they knew a little Arabic, and later on Hebrew, too.

My grandfather would call my grandmother, Rachelle (Rake-leh), the Italian way, and her friends called her Rachelle (Ra-shel), in French. My grandmother called my grandfather Maurice or Maurizio. We called them nonno and nonna, Italian for grandpa and grandma.

At nonna’s house we would drink “Café au lait”, and hear her say “Basta” and “Toma”, or “Mon cher”. When she would get angry, she would say “Allah!”, and she also used “Ah! Dio santo!” When we would cross the road together, she would squeeze my hand in hers, and say “Shema Yisrael”.

Nonna always laughed, “Il moso tiene otro moso” (my servant has a servant of his own), and said about people she didn’t like, “faccia di pocos amigos”. At her house we ate dukka and pisti, bamia, fideus, aliches, lubia, and avikas, and she would make us jump over her pan of “Behor”, to keep the evil eye away. I owe my nonna my knowledge of French. Until the age of four she took care of me, and it is in her house that I learned all these languages. Even today, there are words I only recognize in their Egyptian accent. It was only a few years ago that I learned the funny expression “Doo Paroo” is actually French, d’où par où.Two days before my ever optimistic nonna died in the hospital, she told me, “mostufa”, a new word I had never heard, and didn’t understand. I asked, and she explained that it’s from the Italian “stufa”, but in Corfioto. She had had enough. Nonno died exactly three years ago, at the age of 86, on the eve of the Jewish New Year. Nonna died this week, aged 87, three days after her birthday. May they rest in peace.

Sento la mano tua stanca
Cerca I miei riccioli d’or
Sento e la voce ti manca
La ninna nanna o’allor
Oggi la testa tua bianca
Io voglio stringere al cuor   
-From Mamma Son Tanto Felice, here by Pavarotti, who also died this week.

My grandparents, Maurice and Rachelle Rozanes, on their wedding day:

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Anyway, this isn’t what I was going to write about, I just wanted to share my beautiful collection of vintage greetings, which I just uploaded to Flickr. They’re all so naive and beautiful, and some just crack me up (the bride, the militaristic ones, and the ones with the dolls- what’s that got to do with the new year?). I think you’ll enjoy them, and you’re welcome to print and use them in your artwork, too.  Enjoy!

I was a bit embarassed with this challenge, and I’m happy that I finally found “my way out” of the embarassment, and into another one of my hobbies – belly dance! The picture was taken at a friend’s bachelorette. I hadn’t planned to dance, but there was a professional belly dancer there, and she had a CD with music I know the choreography to, so there I was – doing a solo dance. Now come on, scrap your booty too!

I rock! I was tagged twice. Once by Anke and once by Tamar. Thanks so much!
The idea is to create a virtual circle of blogging women, originating at this blog. So, here are my nominees for five more rockin’ gals who definitely deserve to be on the list:

1. Corinne, for being so damn brave and colorful and outgoing in her art and life. She’ll talk and blog and scrap about anything, and it’ll always be honest and interesting. She’s funny and sweet, and has a HUGE heart, and… she definitely has the handsomest husband!

2. Hanna, because she has a real passion for art. She’ll try it all, book binding, sewing, collage, paint, photography! and even though I’m sure she’ll receive many nominations, she’s still one of my very favorite blogs, so I can’t leave her out. 

3. Roben-Marie - I only discovered her very recently through Flickr, and I’m amazed at the artwork. I could just favorite every single one of those journal pages. Plus, She also went on a medical mission trip to El Salvador (and just look at this journal she made!)!

4. Cynthia, because she was one of the very first scrappers I ever saw/read, and because I admire her bold and funny writing and enjoy her work.

5. Christine Kane, she’s my guru. Anyone who’s self-employed should read her blog. She has amazing insights I identify with, she makes me nod my head like crazy when I read her. She’s smart and funny and experienced, and she’s right!

 Thank you all. I may have many many blogs on my reading list, but yours are something special.

At 30, Elizabeth Gilbert, the author, decided she didn’t like her life as it was, although many people would have thought it was perferct (the husband, the NY house, the money, the traveling). After a horrible divorce, she set off on a whole year of vacation to enjoy life.

The “Eat” part takes place in Italy, where she learns Italian, enjoys pure pleasure, and, well, eats! The “Pray” part is in India, where she stays in an Ashram, meditates and prays, and the “Love” part is about her 4 months in Bali, where she tried to find balance between pure earthly pleasures and spirituality.

But that’s just the story. What I enjoyed most were two things (of course I enjoyed the story immensely and I’m jealous as hell) - one was those parts where I just had to put the book down and literally laugh out loud. Her sense of humor is wonderful, and it’s liberating, because I could identify with her in many ways, and I think any woman would. Apart from that I also really enjoyed her sensitivity to language and culture. Actually, the book is about language and culture. Not only Italian, Indian, American and Indonesian cultures, but also masculine vs. feminine ones. I love the way she uses words, explains their definitions, thinks about them, about whether and how they’re significant, and also makes her characters use their own language. I can actually “hear” Richard from texas say “groceries”, I can “see” Tutti play with her blue tile, and oh, how I wish I could visit Kutut on his porch!

The other thing I really liked about the book was that although I’m really not spiritual, and I would normally want to skip all the meditation and yoga talk, somehow in this book she managed to get me engaged. I was really interested. I thought the processes she went through were fascinating, and I actually WANT to try meditation. I’ve never felt this “open” to spirituality as I did when I read this book.

So, what are you waiting for? read it!
Also, don’t be me – I ran off to her web page after reading just one book page. So yes, I got see pictures of all the people in the book, but I also got one really big spoiler. Don’t do it. Have patience. That’s what the book is all about!