off to Europe!

I made a final trip to the pottery studio to clean up my shelf and take home stuff that had come out of the glaze kiln. It turns out that about 85% of the stuff in this kiln firing was mine... oops! I carried home more than 30 pounds of ceramics.

I'm just about done packing and am heading off to the airport for my 6:20 flight to Paris (via Madrid.) The last time I was in France was with my youth orchestra during High School... see right for nostalgic picture of me and my friends on a wall in some random rural french town. awwwwwwww how young and innocent we were! Come to think of it, I am pretty sure all 4 of these guys are now professional musicians. holy jebus.

I suprised myself by actually having a fair amount of extra room in my hiking backpack (the one bag I am bringing.) This bodes quite well for when I have to pack it for a 5 WEEK TRIP after this one!!

I'll be blogging some from Europe... so, faithful readers, keep refreshing your browser windows for some delicious updates on my tour

I love making gifts

Set of 2 Cereal Bowls for Ethan

white clay; mint creme glaze in inner and upper exterior, randy's red over all, noxema blue under bottom exterior; 2 bowls approx 6" diameter and 2" tall each

Gift to the collection of Mr E Crumlin of Cambridge

One of my good friends' birthday is in early May, but I knew I'd be travelling all over up until then (and, actually, with his twin in California on the actual day) so yesterday I delivered an early birthday present.




I made these using a wooden rib to shape the inside, then as I was trimming it (upside-down) and the wheel was turning slowly, I carved rhythmic lines around the bottom exterior to add some texture. When I glazed the pieces, i filled these lines with blue glaze before putting the red over the whole piece. The blue didnt come through quite as much as I hoped, but it did add a little bit of dimension.

The interior was done in the same way that I did these and these... it's SUCH a beautiful affect.





And they stack pretty decently! Always something I'm afraid wont work because of the curves and size of the bottoms, but another success.

Happy early birthday, buddy!

Today's 5k race - I DIDNT SUCK!

Lindsay invited me to run a 5k race in cambridge today. I finished in about 30:20 (if I take off the time it took to get through to the start line). NOT BAD for 3.1068 miles! My goal was 30 mins, so I just barely missed it. I finished 393/528 (considering the run I did in July where I was only followed by 5 people... all senior citizens... I'm pretty psyched that I beat over 100 people!) 98/156 for my age group. Running is so great. And I get to have the proof live on forever through the wonders of the interweb

And now for a self indulgent diatribe:
Dear 2008 VA Beach Shamrock 8k,
The 2008 Somerville Road Runners' An Ras Mor 5k also had timing chips on velcro bands. HOWEVER, on the envelope in which the chip rested the lip was sealed with a sticker containing a picture of an ankle and a clear message to wear the chip on said ankle. WHY DIDNT YOU DO THAT YOU FOOLS????
Love,
Rose

another pic from my 8k

not the most flattering... but I look like i'm going FAST, huh?!?

thanks to the Shamrock 8k sponsors who had camera-people all along the race route


and, in a rather disturbing edition of "Overheard by Clayrose":
"And he looked directly at the face of each doctor that had mis-diagnosed his son, and memorized their faces, and said later on that he had every intention of going back and killing them if his son died."

WTF???????

Sisterblog

My sis Holly just started a blog
so now I dont even have to have real conversations with either Holly or Juliet, we can just remotely feed off each other's interweb diaries of public/private thoughts. I love technology!

(right - Hol and her daughter Izzy OMG SO CUTE)

Overheard

Have you ever heard of the piece in the NYTimes or NYPost (or something like that) "Overheard in New York"? I am starting a spinnoff.

OVERHEARD BY CLAYROSE

While walking down the Commonwealth Ave mall...
"... can't believe I was arrested for possession. I mean, I had it in possession, but I had NO intention to DISTRIBUTE!"

Wow... I am going on a LOT of trips

I am on the eve of my Major Travels... today's activities:

1. Having lunch with a friend. This week is FILLED with lunches and drinks with people whom I know I may not see for two months.
2. Getting a haircut - I have to look utterly stylish when I land in Europe (see #5)
3. Buying hiking socks. I'm going to be in Arizona hiking/camping for the last half of April and I have to be prepared! PS hiking socks are EXPENSIVE!
4. Taking a nap bc I was HELLA tired
5. Planning my trip to Paris with my friend Sam. I leave on MONDAY to head across the pond. I can barely believe all this travel is coming so soon... And I'm especially intimidated by Paris. The French are so scary!! As I saw explained on a travel show recently: "Some people are grapefruit, and some are coconuts. The grapefruit people are easy to get into, but a bit sour on the inside. The coconuts are hard to crack, but so so sweet once you crack them. The French, we are coconuts." (imagine all that in a thick French accent... yeah)

My itinerary is thus:
March 31 - leave for Paris
April 1-7 - PARIS with Samantha (fluent in French and has been to Paris 9 times. I think I'll be pretty set, despite knowing about 6 words of the language.)
(side note - of the top 8 images that came up through Google Image Search for "paris", 2 were of the Hilton variety. *shudder*)
April 8 - leave Paris to go meet up with my sister Juliet
April 8-10 - The Netherlands with Juliet
April 11-13 - Belgium with Juliet
April 14 - all day travel back to Boston
April 15-16 - BOSTON! unpack, laundry, sleep, repack.
April 17 - Head to Seattle to meet up with my sister Holly
April 19-May 3-or-so - driving down to and camping/hiking all around Arizona. Holy goodness.
May 3-or-so -May 23-or-so - San Francisco, LA, and San Diego... busing down the coast to visit everyone I know there (friend, friend, friend, brother+fam, friend, friend, sister+fam, friend)

Wow... this is scary! BUT IT WILL GIVE ME SO MUCH TO BLOG ABOUT!

Tea Set for my sis Jet

Tea Set for Juliet

white clay; mocha glaze body with hobbit hazel over top half, evergreen matte glaze on foot detail; 2 cups approx 3" diameter (4" with handle) and 4" tall, teapot approx 5" diameter (8" with detailing) and 8" tall

Commissioned by and gift to the collection of J Grabowski of Cambridge

My sis Jet asked that I make her a tea set so that she and her boyfriend could be hippy crunchy and drink tea together as they talk about their feelings.

When it was done I was like "uhh... well, your birthday is coming up. So this is for that." Pottery is wonderful in that way :)

You will notice that the lid for the teapot is SLIGHTLY misshapen (look in the lower left in this picture.) That is because I dropped it when I was making it. SHHHHH dont tell Juliet!

I also tried really hard to make these pieces match. One way to make things match is to glaze them the same way... it is AMAZING how much you can cover bad stuff up by glazing them all the same. However, I also made the foot (bottom) of these the same shape and made the handles have the same curve. Not too shabby, if I do say so...













In related news - the marketing folks at the BCAE (where my studio is) decided to put a photo of some of my work (the plates I made for Mitra) on all the signs that show the studio open hours.
I AM FAMOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the employment saga

Well, I turned down a job offer today. I have to say - it was TOUGH. Giving up an opportunity where I'd probably be decently stimulated and get along with the people, AND make very decent money, seems like a ridiculous notion at some moments. Every several hours I'll slap my forehead and say "seriously? why did I turn that down?"

I guess, as Juliet would say, I'm a little greedy for happiness. I have so many things I want in life and I am just not satisfied agreeing to a situation that may only give me a good portion of those things - I want something that gives to me a GREAT portion. Too bad I dont really know what that means yet.

The biggest question I have to answer for myself is whether I want to move cities. I have this [sometimes] overwhelming desire to explore a new place, and while doing a lot of travel helps quench that thirst a little, there is no better way to SERIOUSLY get to know a location than to live there. I lived in DC for one summer during college and, in many ways, it was one of the best times of my life. Not THE best time... that is probably the present time, since I live a life of clay/running/travel/leisure. Unfortunately, this lifestyle isn't exactly sustainable.

So I would love to live in San Francisco, and I would love to live in DC. But I also love Boston and have SO many reasons not to leave. BAH! if only I were uber-rich and could have three homes and three jobs that each only wanted me a third of the year. Now THAT would be an offer I couldn't refuse!

Andy's Mug Commission

8 Electric Mocha Mugs

Red/white clay mix; mocha glaze with hobbit hazel on rim and bottom; each is 3" diameter, 4.5" tall, and 4.5" wide with detailing

Commissioned for the collection of Mr. A Kling of Massachusetts

When I was leaving my last job, one of my coworkers asked me to make 8 mugs for him. Here they are!

And look... they stack!

Something special

There's something special about walking into a bar where they know you so well that, before you even have your coat off, they have your favorite beer out of the tap and in a glass on the bar.

I <3 Cornwalls

8k roundup

Final word from the 8K
1. it was awesome
2. i am, actually, pretty proud of myself
3. Manish put together a fun crew to run/travel with
4. I am never drinking at 9am after 50 minutes of excercise and a skimpy breakfast AGAIN*

*unless it is at next year's Shamrock 8k











Running: notice the difference in light between the first pic (race start) and second (race end)

Celebrating in the [beer] tent and on the beach just outside.


Me with my finisher's medal!! I shall treasure this moment forever.


















Evening celebrations in an Irish pub. Guinness, Guinness everywhere.

8k!

I ran the 8k yesterday!!! My gun time was 51:20, though I think my actual start-to-finish was about 50:00. HOWEVER, I was never told that the sensor chip had to be worn on my ankle (i thought it was an arm band) so MY OFFICIAL TIME WILL NEVER BE KNOWN

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooo mad. ACK

anyway... i did it!

DC Deliciousness

arrived in DC. Got dinner at an Arlington pub. Watched 2 episodes of The West Wing with Manish and two other CIA employees. Playing on Manish's tiny green Laptop courtesy of the One Laptop Per Child program

Definitely a quintessential Washington evening :)

Race this weekend!

I'm hopping on a plane to DC in a couple hours to visit my dear friend Manish and to run an 8k on Saturday in Virginia beach.



This was my run this morning... I wont lie, I kinda whooped me. I was planning to do 6 mi, but that went down the drain when my legs decided they were too tired around mile 3. Oh well... maybe they are trying to save their energy for Friday???

at least I had a good run on Tuesday:


it turns out that the way to get extra data points in the graph is just to press the center button on my ipod at various points and it logs the point.... woah.

my goal for the 8k this weekend is a clean 50 mins... oy

Lindsay's Commission

Matching Mug and Bowl For Lindsay's Office


















White clay; Mint Creme glaze over whole interior and upper exterior, Randy's Red glaze over entire pieces; Bowl approx 5.5" diameter and 3.5" tall; Mug approx 4" tall, 3" diameter (4" with detailing)
Commissioned by Ms. L Hays of Cambridge

My dear, dear friend Lindsay asked me to make for her a mug and bowl that she could use in her office at grad school. Since I have a strong affinity and respect for graduate students (and Lindsay freaking rocks,) I obliged.

She asked that I use something colorful like the blue/red rainbow or green/rust combo. The green/rust combo is one of my favorites... you can probably see why. This combination is SUPER drippy, so even though I only put the green about half-way down the outside, it dripped all the way to the bottom. That's largely why I made the pieces to have a large ledge a the bottom - to catch all the glaze!

The outside of the bowl had so much glaze on it that some parts popped off inside the kiln - I actually think that effect is kind of cool... very artsy :)

Of course, this commission turned into yet another belated xmas gift (procrastination is my enemy, and yet my soulmate.)

I am currently obsessed with Half Marathons

Now that I'm so into running I have this HUGE goal of running a half marathon this summer. Manish and I are thinking of going to some random place in the country to run one - wouldnt it be neat to run the Mighty Mo in South Sioux City, Nebraska? or the Grizzly in Choteau, Montana??? There's a half marathon in Reykjavik that looks FANTASTIC but tickets there in August are $900.... gross.

For now i'm considering the Boston Run to Remember Half Marathon that is May 25 (at Lindsay's excellent suggestion,) and the Boston Half Marathon on October 12 ... but I also want to go somewhere crazy to do one. Maybe I should do all three??? that would be so badass.

Does anyone want to run one of these with me?!?

I am so obsessed with this right now... I hope I'm able to train when I'm in Paris/Amsterdam/Bruges/Arizona/SanFrancisco/Napa/LA/SanDiego over the next two months!

uh oh... I think this means I'm a nerd

Scarily enough, as a child I memorized exactly the same length of pi that this cartoon shows, and it stuck in my brain all these years... oh god I am a geek



toothpastefordinner.com

Joanne day 3

Item 1 - We spent the morning posing as MFA members Ms. Juliet Grabowski and Mr. Michael Barnett at the Museum of Fine Arts. We are CLASSY broads.

Item 2 - Lunch with Joanne's old roomates, Joan and Sarah. We went to the Other Side Cafe, which I described to them as "kind of healthy/hippy - like, the kind of place that offers sprouts in their sandwiches." It turns out they also have a huge vegan menu - Juliet, FYI!

Item 3 - The Garment District. SCORE! I got a big fluffy bathrobe and a short light bathrobe for a grand total of $3.56 in the Dollar-a-Pound section. The scary thing is that when I was a child we used to shop for our clothes there also. If any of you have been to Dollar-a-Pound... you will understand the oddity that will have incurred in my youth.
We also had fun exploring the funky accessories upstairs... If I had a job right now, I'd make this go on my photo ID

Belated Xmas for my Mitra

Being the procrastinator I am... I was quite late this year on a christmas present for my bff Mitra. I finally mailed it last month and just found out that she received it - so of course the first thing I thought was that now I can blog about it!

Set of 6 White and Green Breakfast Plates
White clay; white majolica glaze on one third and celedon green glaze on two thirds with blue underglaze detail; approx 6" diameter and 1" tall each
Gift to the collection of Ms. M Lohrasbpour of San Francisco

Mitra is a dear dear friend and just moved out to San Francisco - so of course she needs home goods galore. I made these for her so that she could have a nice set of plates to eat breakfast/snacks off of.

As I have written before... making a set of something is a PAIN in the arse, but so completely worth it. I had done a similar glaze combination back in the summer on the first plate I ever made and really liked it, so I did it here with some extra detail. I also made a split foot (the bottom of the plate is divided into thirds) to add a little personality... charisma, if you will. *snap*









Mitra sent a thank-you note in the mail and signed it with a heart. I love this woman.

Catchup - Sunday

Day two of La Visit De Joanne:

I had to leave her for a precious few hours to go to the 50th Anniversary Alumni Reunion for the Youth Orchestra I was in as a kid... The reunion was actually kind of nice and they had a speaker who was a member of the orchestra in the 70s and is now the director of the Composition department at Juilliard. It was super surreal to be around all these people who are now in professional orchestras and music positions and to know I was in the same group as them... freaky. Too bad I didnt like practicing flute that much... or I would have made a badass flute virtuoso.
After the reunion we all went to the concert of the current orchestra in Symphony Hall. Cue Nostalgia for My Youth - awwwwwwwwwwwwww!


That evening Joanne and I met up with Tim and Rafael, both former Digitas peeps with us. Tim - Joanne thought your beard was super hot.
(Editor's Note: Joanne did not say this.)




I think in this last picture Joanne and I look identical except for the eye color. Maybe for halloween I'll get colored contacts and go as Joanne Sprague

My knee isnt broken forever HORRAY

now that I am home I can give you all excrutiating detail on my running. You have been ever so patient and have my everlasting gratitude.


First day in Florida:

A decent run along the ocean. And look how fast I went!

My second day in Florida, Lindsay and I ran again along the ocean. Yum!


My fourth day in Florida... somehow the waterskiing that gave me a bruise on my knee caught up and, as you can see, I was quite pathetic.

The run was so short that Nike+ didnt even have more than one data point to show in the graph. WTF.


I decided to give it a week to heal.... so today Joanne and I went for a short/slow run on the Esplanade. In 35 degree weather. Because we are hardcore.


At least now I think I wont have to wuss out on the race this Saturday!!!! Manish, get ready to rumbllllllllllllle

JOANNE IS HERE!

MY DELICIOUS FRIEND JOANNE

is here for a week visiting boston. She left Kenya a few weeks ago and I love her to death.

I love her so much... that I surprised her with a photo in the middle of brunch.

back north

today is a plus/minus day

minus: i arrived into Logan this morning at 2:37 am. wtf. stupid delta delaying me 4 HOURS
plus: JOANNE WAS HERE WHEN I GOT BACK!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY JOANNE IS IN TOWN!!!!

now off to a DELICIOUSLY greasy brunch at Pour House with my lovely Kenyan-exile

Thoughts on florida, and Salsa pics

1. Florida is QUITE relaxing.
2. We took a long walk along the beach, wearing shorts and bikini tops. Apparently this is what Floridians wear outside. Nice.
3. We are having what Lindsay's parents call "bad weather"... and yet, I think it is beautiful. a little rain is QUITE different then a cold driving rain a la Boston.

Post Script - the Havana Club site posted pics from salsa last Friday - can you see me???
In the first one Ethan and I are (blurrily) dancing near the center.

In the second, I am dancing with a nice Venezuelan man near the left. Yaaaaaaaay salsa!!!

Today's Injury

I woke up this morning with all intentions of doing a stretch-goal run - 6.5 miles. Lindsay and I set off on the path along the ocean (which was BEAUTIFUL) and after about .75 miles the inside of my right knee screamed at my "OUWIE OUWIE OUWIE!!" Needless to say, I had to stop. My 8k in Virginia is in 10 days so I am kinda freaked out. I DO have giant bruises all over my legs from water skiing (or, attempting to water ski) including one beauty right over my right inside knee. Ideally, this just means that the bruise is actually in the muscle and it will heal. Because, while I kind of like the idea of having proof of my fitness (i secretly love that I've had runners knee) I REALLY dont want to have to quit running.

Good thing we are staying 2 blocks from the beach so I can do Physical Therapy in the ocean :)

Florida Day 2 - Run, Red Sox, Napping in the Sun, and Drinking on the Beach

Need I say more???

ps watching the Red Sox at a spring training game was strangely similar to Fenway in the fan-response... too bad they lost.

Day one in FLORIDA

This morning I went on a grossly-early flight to Florida. When a friend, who's parents live near West Palm Beach, asks if I want to come with her to visit for a week, HOW CAN I SAY NO!?!

We got off the plane, had lunch, then went out to the Intercoastal Waterway on their boat and went water-skiing. Or, Lindsay and her dad went water-skiing... I made three attempts, the last of which SORT of got me on the water, and accumulated many delicious bruises on my stems. When I got a big doozy on my ankle I called it quits; I have to protect my precious running-gear, of course.

Also, Lindsay's sister showed us this fantastically enlightening video from British TV. I think if my sister Juliet were to write a TV show, it would end up approximately this way



This evening I did a 4.25 mile run along the ocean. I could get used to this...

I am a fashion queen

Last night included making dinner with my sister and her boy toy, going salsa dancing with my bud Ethan and his girlfriend, and going to a house party at Lindsay's. After a week of 8-hour pottery days, I needed to get out.

Juliet quite enjoyed my new legwarmers... I have to agree, they kind of rock.

In related news, I bumped my head against Juliet's bathtub (dont ask.... just dont ask) and the closest thing to an ice pack was the soy-ice-cream she had bought for dinner. Healing AND delicious! (and, as this picture so eloquently displays, I have goblin-hands.)

The salsa club was the most crowded I have EVER seen it. Stiletto-ed heels sank into my feet at least 4 times. At least I got to dance with a cute Ukrainian doctor for 3 songs! I'm thinking when my life is back to normal (i.e. I have a job) I want to take lessons so that I'm not quite as dependent on a good leader. Or maybe not being a great dancer is a good thing... because then when I fall over during a spin I can fall into the cute guy's body by accident- "oops! sorry I'm so clumsy! Ohhh my what a strong chest you have..."