if this fridge could talk

the last issue of Orion magazine featured photographer Mark Menjivar. one of his recent projects titled, You Are What You Eat 'is a series of portraits made by examining the interiors of refrigerators in homes across the United States'. it was fascinating to see how people stocked (or didn't stock) their fridge and even more fascinating how much it said about those people.

here's another quote form the artist's statement and a few images (you'll want to click on each image so you can see it bigger and read the captions):

A refrigerator is both a private and a shared space. One person likened the question, "May I photograph the interior of your fridge?" to asking someone to pose nude for the camera. Each fridge is photographed "as is." Nothing added, nothing taken away.

These are portraits of the rich and the poor. Vegetarians, Republicans, members of the NRA, those left out, the under appreciated, former soldiers in Hitler’s SS, dreamers, and so much more. We never know the full story of one's life.




and here is my fridge - as is...

Stay At Home Mom/Artist | Reno, NV | 4-Person Household | feels like a kid in a candy store shopping at grocery stores in Reno compared to those in Sanpete County (and is making cheesecake for Friday)

so i'd like to encourage you all to do the same. send me your image (kelbelbrooksatgmaildotcom) and i'll post it or if you'd like to post it on your blog, please leave a comment letting me know you did so i can link to it. i'd like to see more.

and here are some more...

and some links to more:
• boiled pizza's

milestones

tomorrow i turn 30.
yesterday i hung up the first cereal-glued-to-paper picture made by my own kiddo.


without a doubt this last decade gets five gold stars. not that it was free of hardship. it was not. but the highlights are so bright. i...
dove into married life with my best friend,
graduated with my BFA,
student taught with one of my greatest mentors at my alma mater, BHS,
traveled to eight countries,
worked one of my dream jobs - teaching art and doing graphic design - for four years,
brought two sweet babes into the world,
placed in two professional juried art exhibitions,
grew in so many ways (and surprised myself time and time again),
met so many wonderful and life-changing people who are still my friends,
and moved out of Utah for the first time in my life (to name a few).

i look forward with excitement to the next 10 years.

book report

i finally finished The Omnivore's Dilemma last month. yeah, it took a while (those of you who notice my current read were probably thinking i'd forgotten to change it or something) but i had a baby and moved twice during that time so, you know.

i would recommend this book to everyone. Micheal Pollan talks about where food comes from and, even more important, why we should care. using first hand experiences with fast, organic, small farm and personally hunted and gathered food as his main structure Pollan works through the ethics, politics, economics and rhetoric of food production, food marketing and food consumption. he gives his opinion but leaves the reader plenty of room to form her own. and ultimately inspires the reader to eat better, which in Pollan's mind means consciously.

so the one question i'll ask here (to get you thinking about reading the book) is: what does it mean that our relationship with food - a relationship even more intimate than sex, the every stuff we're made out of - is more often mediated by its price, rather than its quality or origin?

this book will help you think it through... but you don't have to take my word for it. bah- nunt, nunt!

weekend highlights

when i was a little kid our next door neighbors would vacation at Lake Tahoe. before i even knew where California or Nevada were i heard about how great Tahoe was. i totally wanted to go to Tahoe. every year it was Tahoe this and Tahoe that. eventually it got annoying and i kind of wanted to steer clear of 'Tahoe', still not knowing exactly what it was. but last Saturday we went to Lake Tahoe and it was swell (especially with the echoes of Tahoe this and Tahoe that in my mind).


then early Sunday morning we nabbed one of the last parking spots within close proximity to the Reno Balloon Races, walked right up to the park and watched as fifty or more hot air balloons lifted off. spectacular.


geez. it looks like we had a pretty fun weekend.

'what's the smells, Mom?'

on July 7th i called Graco and made an order over the phone for two Pack N' Play mattresses. i gave them the model and serial numbers, payment info, etc. and was told i'd get them in three weeks. didn't happen. called again to check the order status and they said, three more weeks. nope. the next call was less a status check and more of a 'just send me a mattress. i don't care if it matches, i just want one that's not busted, please.' FedEx next day service. new mattress, doesn't match, no charge. great! two weeks later, another delivery: two more mattresses, definitely do not match, smell like Play Dough according to Ash, no charge. huh? a week later, another delivery: one more mattress, doesn't match, charged. wait, what?

i call Graco and ask about sending it back and getting a refund. they say no. (and forget to hit the mute button while explaining the situation to the supervisor, so i hear the customer service lady say, '...and now she doesn't want it. DUH!' some customer service.) so after nine weeks, four phone calls and three deliveries i have four mattresses, none of which are the ones i ordered. what the...?!