My Computer is Back!!!

Yipee, I went to pick up my computer this weekend in Seattle, all is well and so are my 17,890 photos that I have stored in it. The lesson learned is:
1. Pay attention to the moment ( or wander don't off and leave your carry on in a duty free shop, or any other shop)
2. Back up all your photos and other valuable data on an external hard drive.
(I just spent 2 days doing this)
3. Fly Korean Air (they handwrapped the carry on bag AND my computer and Nikon D60 camera AND sent it through in the cabin rather than cargo so that it would arrive in 1 piece! What an an airline!

So I am ready to start posting with a fervor, beginning with my fabulous adventure in Bali.
It actually started on that Korean Air flight back in February.
I had just had a most luxurious flight from SF to Seoul, Korea, tasty meals and snacks as I mentioned in the last post, wonderful movies, non-stop service etc.
I de-planed in Seoul and immediately upon exiting the plane what do I see after flying a million hours (with no sleep?)
LAVAZZA BAR/CAFFE! Lavazza coffee is one of the biggest coffee brands in Italy and they have bar/caffes all over Italy, their coffee is served nationwide and it is delicious! So imagine my delight to find this coffee bar to start out my 2 hour layover in Seoul!
I ordered a triple espresso and watched the sunset over Korea!
Off to a great start of my 5 week Bali adventure. And thanks everyone for your comments on my computer mishap and your welcome back wishes!

Back from Bali

Hi everyone! I am now back from Bali, finally normalized after a week or so of spacey jet lag.
The trip was fantastic, I had the best time ever! The 5 week journey started out with a bang with Anahata Katkin, her wonderful mom Gina, fab brother Eli, 17 of the coolest students ever + Ms.
Ruth Ann and our one husband; the most wonderful Shanal, Andreas guy whom we all adored!
I would so love to post my photos and I took at least 1000 or so, however I had a little misplaced computer incident on the way home. I brought my laptop and was continuously downloading photos the whole trip. So on my way back via Korean Air (best airlines on the planet)
I stopped in Seoul, Korea to change planes.
I was drifting in and out of various duty free shops, allready in a zone since it was about 9am our time but I had been up over 24 hours en route.

At some point i looked at the little wheely shopping cart i had put my carry on suitcase on the bottom , purse and shopping bag on the top part. i thought: well, there's not much on this cart , ill just carry the purse the shopping bag around...leaving the carry on with the computer etc sitting on the cart in who knows which duty free shop.......

i realized my error about 1/2 hours before boarding for the states , ran all over the airport like a maniac searching for the bag, to no avail.. i filed

a report with Korean Air info desk...hoped for the best and boarded...
And btw , I forgot to mention, I have been uploading photos on my mac laptop for 5 years never backing them up once. So, you can imagine my extreme distress at losing that computer. All the kids pictures, life , all of it!!

well a darling Korean Air official was waiting for me when i got off the plane in LA and informed me they found the bag and it will be sent via Seattle later in the week.
There is a god for sure, maybe who lives at Korean Air!
I tell you, I was so impressed with this airline even before this happened. The food is great, the service outstanding, lots of leg room, I wanted to just fly around for days going nowhere in particular just so i could be pampered. and the little meat savory buns they pass out in the middle of the night for snacks! no pretzels here! Heaven!!!! Maybe I could be a stewardess for them?
Sure enough, my bag arrived safely in Seattle, the Korean Air official in charge of my carry on bag, took the trouble to wrap my computer and camera in bubble wrap so it wouldnt get damaged, then hand carried my bag to the cabin part of that Seattle flight , so that it wouldnt have to stand the rough handling in the cargo part of the plane. Then I received a phone call from Mr. Jun, who runs the Seattle office virtually by himself, and he informed me the bag was here and in perfect shape! Thank you Korean Air!
So in any event that was a long winded way to tell you, i cant post any photos quite yet, since my bag is in Seattle and I will be picking it up in a few.
More on Bali later...much more.......

Happy Birthday Mitch!

I don't like Facebook much, it's not arty enough for me, even though I have it. So I am
using the blog to say happy birthday to my cutie brother Mitch!! Happy 42 Birthday right Mitch?:) Love you!!-stace
Ok now Im done, Bali here I come!

Just One Last Little Post...

I forgot that I wanted to mention the activity of this last week. I convinced my family to go on a raw foods 7-day cleansing fast. I loved it. Rob hated it. Jesse is somewhere in the middle. Corey refused to do it.
I could eat this way eat for ever, it is heaven for me. It's all about slimming down, always has been.
So anyway, we ate only raw fruits, vegetables, juice and a few sprouted almonds thrown in for good measure. Just look at this mouth watering meal.
And doesn't Rob look so excited to be indulging in this food fest?Although I felt great all week and did not miss food, I did really miss my coffee and by the last few days all I could think about was coffee and I looked and felt like this:

Bali Bound

I am madly getting ready for the Anahata, Michael and Judy workshops in Bali,
I leave this week and I am taking way too many things, including art supplies. I must have every color Golden makes. And I havent even begun to pack the ephemera yet.
That will be a suitcase in itself. You never know when you might need that perfect piece of trash!!!!!!!!!
I dont know if I will be posting while there, Internet is pretty slow, so it may be when I am back...Ill have lots of photos and stories!
Here I am in my new Bali outfit, what do you think?
See you all soon! oxo stace

Postscript Mexico City

I downloaded the rest of my pictures just now so I wanted to post some.
I stumbled upon a street with shops that carried all bridal ware, it was pretty cool, very
1050's.
I love manequins, older ones like in these bridal stores. There is something kind of wierd about them, like the discarded dolls I suppose.
I hit a field day when Michael took me to an inside complex of stores, 3 levels high all religious stuff for sale. It was pretty great! I have loved statues of saints forever and have a nice little vintage collection of them, Ill post them along the way.
Here is what I found:
Along with this fascination for saint statues, discarded dolls, and manequins comes my obsession with saint statues IN churches. I hit 'em all when I can. I have 100's of
photos...this was a good one:
Did I mention I was obsessional? These are just but a few...

Valentines...

I made 2 valentines; one for fabulous husband, and one for my sweet mom.
I found this book, CUORE, (heart in Italian)last year in Italy during Michael deMengs Alchemist Book Workshop we held. I knew it would be a good future valentine. I also
credit Judy Wilkenfeld and Ruth Rae for fabric layered inspiration, thanks you 3!
After this one, I burned the midnite oil in the studio and did this one for mom.