keri smith's guerilla fortune art project

...as many of you know i teach art to K-8 kiddos full time too. recently i had my 6th & 7th graders do one of keri smith's guerilla art projects. i absolutely love her book "the guerilla art book" & have used several of the projects with my students. i assigned the fortune affirmation project to them - they had to make 15 fortunes, about making someone feel good. they ranged all over the place, from simply, "you look good today" to "you are a fantastic human being & don't let anyone tell you any different" :) they were instructed to go out & about the city of san francisco & leave these fortunes around. it made my heart flutter a little to read through all of these fortunes & see their documentation photos & know the power of a good feeling was magnified in multitude & there were many smiles throughout this last week from strangers picking up paper fortunes from my 6th & 7th graders. it's heart warming no? i love that the kids enjoyed this so much & some of them got way into it. here's just one email i received from one of my 6th graders:

Hi Ms. Lake,
Here are the pictures I took showing where I left the "fortunes". I walked around my neighborhood and then to a market area nearby. I handed out 17 of them and my brother and sister walked with me. We had fun and it actually felt good to send people good wishes. I saw one guy go to his car and read the slip of paper and then he looked at me and smiled! That was cool!
Thank you,
A. G.

sometimes i just adore my job :)

have a great thursday!

friday flickr faves (on a monday)

friday flickr faves - again, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

thank you most inspiring people for sharing your lovely photos with me.

life, living & soulepapa

one of the blogs i've loved to read for about 4 years now, is soulemama. some blogs move in & move out on that left list column, but soulemama has been a constant. i love her writing, her kiddos, her creativity, her maine, & her sense of living. her mister, soulepapa, has started to blog occasionally to in her space. his most recent one is just downright lovely. & pretty perfect. check out his post here on life, living & capturing it -- it's just awesome. it's a good one to start the weekend with.

have a lovely one all.
xxx.

sunday streets in sf

sunday streets in sf, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

last sunday we had "sunday streets" - they closed off a bunch of roads down by the bay where we live & let us all bike, roller, skate, walk, run, what-have-you play around. it was totally fun & i got to ride my sketch bike that doesn't shift &/or shifts into the hardest gear all on its own while going up hill - it's tres fun. & the brakes don't really work either. it's a nice death ride. :) but, it has the best bell & basket & that's all that matters.

we are in a weird middle mode right now; really busy with getting the loft all ready & hopefully sublet for the summer -- plus restocking all my stores for the summer months while i'm gone. so while we are running around like those crazy chickens, all i want to do is sit still & read about where we are going to go in europe. this time of year is always super difficult for me motivation wise. i start rolling into work later & later, it's prettier outside, all the grad schools are starting to show their thesis works (which inevitably means summer in my mind) & i just want to take naps and sllloowww down. so it's a struggle! summer-itis & i have it bad!

so mini trips like the bike ride are what is working right now. lots of flurry of work, and then a little summer reward. that'll have to do!!

we leave in less than four weeks for london! so excited! :)

i'll be chatting about some summer shows soon you can still catch sprout studio at even though i'll be traipsing around euro-town....

have a lovely thursday!

the sublet write up!

so here is the craigslist write up -- know anyone who would like to come hang out or vacay in the city?! put us in touch!

***

...our awesome live/work loft is up for sublet from june 9 - aug 9. this space is located in the sunny dogpatch neighborhood of san francisco at the bottom of potrero hill. large live/work loft close to public transit (the T line is a block away and the 22 bus is kitty corner from our building), cute restaurants & coffee shops (piccino, serpentine, hard knox, just for you...) are a coupla blocks away & potrero hill is super close too. groceries (whole foods & the good life), shops, restaurants, etc...are just up the hill. parking is very easy & we even have 2 bikes you could mosey along the bay with if you are nice! we are close to the 280/101 & to the mission district. we are minutes from the bay bridge & downtown. our building is a great community & our neighbors are really wonderful. the ny times just did a write up about our neighborhood:

ny times dogpatch article

...esprit park is located right across the street; dog friendly, picnic friendly, kid friendly & nap friendly :) ...great benches on the other side of our building to hang out with the neighbors, have a cocktail with & a catch up.

rent is $2000 a month, $4000 total. a security deposit, a signed temporary lease, plus the first month's rent will be needed up front.

everything you need is in our loft - all kitchen items for you to use, a sunny loft deck to lounge on & read from the library, great large table for dinner parties, lots of art & art books to look at, comfy bed up in the loft, maps to look at to get around town or out of town, wi-fi, laundry in the building, etc...

check out the photos if you are interested & give us an email shout if you want to come see it & chat more! (&/or email us for our website to see even more photos of the space & surrounding hood.)

see here: lots more photos of our place currently!

thanks!

*no smoking in the loft & a dog could be maybe negotiable (we have a great dog walker).

subletter wanted... (dixie looooooo come on up!)

dixie looooooo come on up!, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

we are looking for a subletter for the summer. (our place is a little different now -- so this is an old photo, but our deck is up there still - it just has lots of plants on it now :)

we are traveling to europe from june 8 - aug 10 (swoon! really!?!) & we need a subletter for our fun, urban, industrial, arty live/work space. the actual dates are june 9 - aug 9 -- 2 full months of fun living in the dogpatch neighborhood. lots to do: cute restaurants, crazy close to public transit (we'll even let you use our bikes), awesome space to live in, work in, be in, etc...close to the bay waters, wonderful neighbors, good community building..... want more info? know someone who would like to vacay in SF for the summer? let me know!! we'll be putting it up on craigslist soon but wanted to give dibs to friends first :) there are loads more photos of the space in my flickr stream too (check out the side bar).

come to SF! have a fun summer! our neighborhood is truly the sunniest in the city :)

this could be YOU! -- first dinner on the deck, from circa 2004

first dinner on the deck, from circa 2004, originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

we are looking for a subletter for the summer............

new sprout studio necklaces to be...

new sprout studio necklaces to be..., originally uploaded by sproutgirl74.

just back from l.a. - i did unique l.a. with my friend christine. it was awesome to hang out with her as she is one of my favorite people. the show was not so hot, but the good thing is, i have loads of merch done for the renegades in l.a. and SF this summer :)

i am so very tired. my list is long, LONG i tell you. i owe people emails, orders need to be filled, europe doings need to happen, subletting needs to happen, train tix bought, website clean ups, library overdues, supplies to order, dinners to deliver to sick friends, cleaning up after my HUGE school art show to be done, thank you notes to write, applications for shows are due...........i could go on.....and on......and ON!

but! i won't :) suffice to say, i will be back here at some point. i need to get a few things off that list, then, i will be back in stride.

hope things are well with you...yes?
xxx.
*j