Tag: Columbia

Life

Architects of Air: Katena Luminarium

Jessica Smith

Katena3

Happy 50th birthday, Columbia! (And happy belated Father’s Day, dads!)

This past weekend was the annual Columbia Festival of the Arts and this year’s festival had a special treat as part of the city’s birthday celebration: the Katena Luminarium.

Katena1.jpg

Katena was designed by Architects of Air. It looked like a giant, enclosed moon bounce, but instead of jumping around inside, visitors walked through tunnels illuminated by red, green and blue lights. It was beautiful!

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I had heard of the Luminarium a few months ago and was excited to go. I wrote about another light installation a few years back at Longwood Gardens, and with that experience in my mind, I took the baby to walk through Katena to see how it compared.

Katena_panorama

It was over an hour to get in, but it was well worth it. After all, it’s not all that often that a giant art installation opens up in my backyard!

Life

Columbia Mall Shooting

Jessica Smith

Ugh. I don’t understand why people do the crazy things they do…

Columbia is my home. It is my happy place. It is where I grew up. It is where I went to school. It is where I bought my first house. It’s where we’ve met some of our best friends. It’s where we will have babies. It. Is. My. Home.

It could have been me at that mall. Or my husband. Or my sister, brother, mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad or mother-in-law. It could have been my best friend or my neighbors. It could have been someone I loved. It really saddens me that such a senseless act of violence took place in our mall, leaving three people dead. Three families are mourning the loss of their loved ones and I feel for them. I feel for them and at the same time am so eternally grateful that my sister and I weren’t shopping at the mall. Or that my hubby and I hadn’t just ran in to get food like we’d done two nights prior to the shooting. Or that my mom couldn’t get her manicure appointment until Sunday. So grateful that my loved ones are safe and didn’t have to endure the terror that filled the mall on Saturday.

I am also so grateful to live in such a great community with fantastic first responders. The Howard County police and all of the other first responders who attended to the mall shooting had the situation under control minutes after they received the distress call. I truly appreciate the professionalism and courage they displayed on Saturday and know that they do everything in their power to keep our community safe.

Here’s hoping the families that lost loved ones will find peace and this tragedy in Columbia will help inspire a change. No family and no community should have to suffer a loss like this.

Hug your loved ones tightly.

#HoCoBlogs

Craft Projects

Nuno Felting

Jessica Smith

Last Christmas-related post …  I swear!

For Christmas, my dad gave my stepmom a nuno felting class at the Savage Mill. He bought two classes so she could bring a buddy, so Jill invited me along.

We went to a shop called Peaknits for the class and learned all about nuno felting. I won’t give a full tutorial because I am not an expert. But here’s the jist… first, you separate the wool. Then, you place it on a piece of chiffon in the pattern you want. I went for a mostly pinky/purple shade for mine. Once your wool is where you’d like it, you can add ribbon and all sorts of other things to the scarf. Wet all of the wool, then roll it up (there’s a lot more to this step…). You roll your project a bajillion times, which is activating fibers so the wool becomes felt. Then you get to beat the crap out of your project – my favorite part. Let the project dry out, trim the edges and you are done!

OK, wow… that was a really brief and not so great “tutorial” haha. But like I said, I am not a nuno felting expert by any stretch of the imagination. Here are photos of the process.

And here is my finished product!

Scarf

I am allergic to wool, so I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to stand this on my neck for more than a picture or two. The scarf is totally unique and I am still impressive that I made it from tufts of wool!

Scarf1

Ever felted before? I want my next felting project to be some sort of animal craft. I’m not sure if and when that will ever happen, but they are so darn cute!

If you are ever in the area, make sure to check out Peaknits and all of the other unique shops at the Savage Mill. It’s one of my favorite places!