jenn schiffer's live laugh blog

ceramics

weekly retro #58: logged off, touching clay

weekly retro #57: the usual amount of clay, blood and lasagna

this week was a week of starting new routines to make up for lost ones and keep me mentally and physically well. did i do a good job? well, i was in an active, mild allergic reaction to an edible for 2 days before i realized my throat wasn't swollen because the air is dry lol. that doesn't matter though, i am here now, breathing well, and reflecting on the week.

weekly retro #56: didn't have to shovel but my back hurts

here we are, a new month. february was a slog and i was hoping it wouldn't be to naive to ask for peace in march, but here we are.

weekly retro #55: forgot the title lol whoops oh well

i come to you from the first blizzard here in the jc/nyc area in like a decade. it's coming down really hard, and it's going to be quite a week for all of us.

weekly retro #54: failing to be birthday neutral

birthday weeks are tough because i feel like everyone either puts a lot of pressure on me to enjoy it or they project their fear of aging and dying onto me about it. i very much want to be neutral on birthdays, but i also want to celebrate that i lived far longer than i was told i would or should by adults in my life growing up. here's to 41 years of i lived, bitch, bitch.

weekly retro #53: below zero temperatures should not be allowed outside

as i begin writing this, quite late on a very, very cold sunday, i am surrounded by the (organized) messes of my activities throughout the week. some instant film camera stuff in a pile on my desk, staging from my bugs rock product photo shoot, wax scrapings from future offerings in the shop...it reminds me of how much i've made this week and also how i need to be working on three projects at a time to finish anything.

weekly retro #52: walking in this cold for a haunted doll head

happy february, a month where we hope to celebrate love as well as my 41st birthday. it will also be the month we hit one full year of reading (and i, writing) these weekly retros! this is my personal "new years" season, and it's opening up with lots of opportunities for change. one of those changes that i know is coming and i'm dreading is my aerial yoga studio permanently closing at the end of the month.

weekly retro #51: wheel throwin' and storm postin'

i'm writing this in the middle of that big snow storm the news has been talking about all week. i'm also watching and hearing the little rice-sized sleet bouncing off the window sill, avoiding thinking about what conditions are going to be like tomorrow when we're all expected to go about our mondays.

what i made during my first ceramics class

last week i started wheel-throwing and was able to pick up the final 2 pieces i made last semester to reunite them with my other projects, so it's time to share everything i made that first semester.

weekly retro #50: back into the groove

this week was all about getting back into my routines and i did just that.

weekly retro #47: the one i almost forgot because what day is it even

this is the hardest time of the year to keep track of the days. even when i wasn't making my own schedule, these last several days of december are special and chaotic and slow all at once for so many people. but as the clock struck 8:25pm i shot up from my horizontal position on the couch, watching youtube on my phone, and exclaimed 'holy shit, it's sunday, i need to write my retro!' happy sunday, let's rock...

weekly retro #46: the ramp up to the ramp down

welcome to my retro, and in case you didn't know, there is a livelaugh.blog rss feed, and also a mailing list to have my blogs sent straight to your inbox. wait, don't close the tab! you haven't even finished your jocko molk!

weekly retro #45: stress is free and yet expensive

this week i worked on being intentional with my routine and fitting in movement and rest in healthy doses, while also managing consequences of the last few months of chaos.

weekly retro #41: slow vs. slop

someone posted somewhere that no one blogs, then someone tagged me. the thing is, i don't blog...i write blogs. welcome to my weekly retro.

weekly retro #39: hoping for a renewing november

happy november! this week brought a new month along with other new things and, after a couple of days of bad post-menstrual anxiety exacerbated by the senseless consequences of our government shutdown, i am feeling renewed and ready for november.

making butter (kind of)

happy valentines day, a good day to share a recent, small labor of love i did for a dear friend of mine. lisa and i went to college and lived on the same floor. when i got a remote job, she helped me find a new place in jersey city and so i've lived within a couple of blocks from her ever since - for over a decade now. if you've been to jerseyscript you may have had the pleasure of meeting her. lisa has a lot of style and her home has a lot of nice things that i like to touch and ooh and ahh at. one of those things is a ceramic piece of toast with a little butter candle by collin garrity.