Mehndi Continued

And on our right, we have a very pleasant-looking Caroline footie. She, being what she is, asked for a peacock. This time worked much better than previous and the dye took to her skin very well. Also, control increases with practice, this is good to know.

Also good to know, man my thumb got tired with the jacquard bottle, I might have to try using a cone...

Beginning Mehndi

This year I've decided that I won't bring my oil paints with me to the desert party, so instead I ordered myself a mehndi kit (which came whilst I wass away!) and decided that I would love to learn this beautiful art.

Brief synopsis, mehndi is the Indian name for painting the body in intricate patterns with henna. On a complete aside, I found out in the process of researching how to do this, what to get, blah blah blah, that www.mehndi.com is a dating site. A quick perusal yields the following result: not a single blonde. Back to our regularly scheduled programming. A great store I found is Beachcombers, they sent their pre-mixed product along with all manners of adorable literature and were quite fast. I like fast.

So I have 5 weeks to learn how to do this and fairly limited amount of time in which to do it, but I am reassured by the results thus far. While not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and I definitely need to work on the patience to make the thinnest of lines and be good at it at all, I believe this is a decent enough start to continue on with this project. Please understand, if there is any stranger coming at me from a strange land who does not know me that I am not playing cultural

voyeur, I will talk about later my theories on cross-cultural borrowing of the aesthetic variety as well as the philosophical, but it is done on my part with respect to the origination cultures and actually as my own little homage to the beauty that others create. To summarize, to me beauty is beauty and I really

don't care where it comes from. Why should it matter if it comes from across the globe? It is beauty and in this world deserves being treasured and shared among whomever can appreciate it.

Well off that soapbox and on to the images! The first is my hand, done with a random pattern of paisleys and swirls and pods and leaves and a half-lotus type flower at the base of my palm. This was my first effort and I am aware of its lightness and that was planned. Since I'll be doing many experiments over the coming weeks I couldn't very well have my most valuable canvas obscured! What I learned in this is that my hands are not steady enough for the finest of lines, I really need to learn that. Also, that I have a lot of lines on my palm, but that's different.

This photo is my friend Lou's foot. I asked him for a thematic element and he said 'fish, since

y

ou are making fishheads anyway.' So I made a koi, then added kelp to the bottom and other random elements l

i

ke a lotus on his big toes and some leaves on the others. I am noticing that I very much like and prefer curvalinear forms to anything geometric.

You will also notice that his foot is INFINITELY darker than my hand. This is because A) I rinsed my hand (a HUGE no no!) due to me needing to make dinner for my fambly tonight and B) because I am a cold-blooded reptile. Basically you are looking at the difference between the body chemistry in an ice-queen v. a hot-blooded Mediterranean-type. Hold your jokes, please.

I'll keep working, bear with me while I try to get better in time for the party! It will not be as easy to do this on the playa as I had originally thought as they do need a long time to 'cure' but I think will still work for my purposes.

Things I've Learned...

As I opened the door to the oven in hell today, I mean, when my plane landed in Phoenix this morning and I debarked, I realized that being away from someplace for one month is enough time for it to stop feeling like home. This saddens me immensely, even though I knew the risk I was running in being away. What gives me pause though, is that very concept of home itself.

I have always been a nester. I find a place that will be my habitation and I endeavor to put it to an order that I can deal with, have homes for all objects and in general make it a comfortable and serene environment wherein I can exist and recharge. I have found that not everyone does this, nor does everyone knowingly miss it when they do not have it. For these people the creation of a sanctuary just hasn't registered as a priority, nor do they usually understand what the importance is.

My interest in this concept comes up because lately I have run into a lot of people for whom either they never had a 'nest-home' and when I try to promote the concept, they do not understand. It seems there is a disconnect in this conceptualization, as with many abstractions, and sometimes language just isn't adequate. I explain my mental malaise at having all my things in boxes and the internal tension with not having homes for each of my normal use items like my paints, my office stuff, etc. and to them this disorder should cause no duress as it is their modus operandi.

Where this gets interesting to me (probably not for anyone else) is that the few people who I have forcibly even though softly (ahem, ex-boyfriends and the like) created for them order and habit, very much have enjoyed this newfound 'nest-home' and its absence causes the same malaise for them that it does in normal for me. Which brings me to: are we all looking for our nests and just might not know it? Was Madame Bovary simply never nested so she couldn't conceptualize making one for her family? Do children that are exposed to and taught nesting behaviors seek to form more lasting and permanent bonds than those whose twigs had no down to cover them?

I seek understanding.

Props to my friends Jess and Josh and their adorable baby Oliver for coming down and playing games with us. It brought to my attention two things, first that we haven't ever established some awesome games. Secondly, that Jess and Josh have created a delicious and simple margarita that I'll share with you all so you get the happiness too.

Games to play over and over again:

Risk (classic, Mary-Kay Commandos always rule!)

Blokus

Rumis

Qwirkle

Settlers of Catan (expansion packs always welcome)

Nuclear War

Farkle

Cribbage

Sequence

Rummikub

Ticket to Ride

Set (my perennial favorite, please if I haven't played with you and you enjoy doing such, let me know!)

Please let me know other games that will make us happy. I love trying new things.

The Good Nite Margarita - Happiness and Simplicity:

Simply Limeade

Tequila

Triple-Sec

Ice

The end.

xoxoxoxo