Oh.

One of the new girls.

Crispy.

I think I said previously that I have gotten in the habit of roasting things. Did I say that previously? Because I should have. I like to roast things. Or, maybe more accurately, I like to cook as much of my dinner as I can in the oven, so I can do other things while that is happening. Like go to the bathroom.

Seriously. I come home from work, throw things in the oven and then go to the bathroom, change into sweats, find my clothes for the next day, find some pajamas, give the cat her meds, wash my hands and then finish dinner. So, anything that can happen in between throwing something in the oven and washing my hands is good. Very good. Anything that makes dinner easier and faster…very, very good.

So a lot of things get thrown in the oven these days. Most veggies get roasted. I love asparagus, but roasted asparagus? Perfection. Don’t like Brussels sprouts. Roasted? They are awesome. Roasted cauliflower stinks while it’s roasting but tasted great, especially the browned bits and roasted broccoli works great, even with frozen broccoli. So the newest veggie to get chucked in the oven was kale.

Kale is bit of a tricky one. I like it, most of the time. But it’s got a strong flavor and if I am not in the mood…eh. Boiling it just never seems to do the trick, steaming it doesn’t seem to cook it enough and sautéing it used to be the best option. That is, until last night when I roasted it. The husband declared it a keeper and we ate a whole pan of it as a topping to baked potatoes.

Here’s what I did:

Preheated oven to 450°

Washed and spun one smallish bunch of kale dry…actually, I do this backward. I usually cut the kale (lettuce, greens, cabbage, whatever) first, then put them in a salad spinner and wash and dry them. Is that bad? I wash the cutting board and knife before using them again, in case the greens were contaminated, but it just makes more sense to me…anyway…kale is cut into about 1” strips and washed and dried.

Then I put it on a baking sheet and drizzled it with olive oil and tossed it around a bit to coat. You want a fairly healthy covering here, so if you are concerned with fat, this probably isn’t much better than frying or sautéing. But it’s olive oil, so your skin will be smooth and your coat will be nice and glossy.

Chuck the whole mess in the oven for about 10 to 14 minutes. Check it at ten and see what you think. It should still be very green but the edges may start to get brown. That’s about where you want it. Too much brown is bad. Black is also probably not good.
Take it out of the oven and turn the oven off…because I always forget that part.

Drizzle with a little tiny bit more oil, just a little bit and sprinkle liberally with sea salt or kosher salt. I don’t want to be all fancy here, but they do work better as finishing salts because they have a “softer” taste and we’re all about the soft taste over here.

We put the kale on top of baked potatoes and it was good. Like really good. It’s crispy, and almost like a really thin potato chip, only made from kale. And I could eat these leafy greens like chips, just put ‘em on a plate and munch away, they were that good.

I was going to draw you a picture of my potato with kale topping but…that sounded like work, so I didn’t. Here’s a worried tiger instead…

Post.

Sorry. I've been doing my civic duty for five days and foresee at least five more. I'll be back in touch if and when it's done. Until then...


New cards are available in the store. For the not quite ordinary Valentine.

Giveaway.

Oh I had plans. I had big plans. Four days off, no guests for Thanksgiving dinner? Plans, baby. Clean house. Trip to the storage unit. Christmas decorations. Yep. Big plans.

What? Oh, you want to know what got done? Um…well…my desk is a lot cleaner. And my kitchen floor. But that's about it. Oh there was cooking. There was turkey and stuffing and and roasted Brussels sprouts and sweet potato casserole. There was sticky toffee pudding and pumpkin pie. There were even emergency muffins made late last night when I realized there was no real breakfast food in the house and that I am done, DONE, with turkey. But there are no christmas decorations up. There are a few sitting on the table in the dining room (also known as my office, also known as the other side of the living room). There are plenty more in the storage unit. But no tree. Not yet. Maybe next weekend.

Oh, next weekend…there is a craft show. Tallmouse hosts the Handmade Brigade, which the Tired Girls attended in the summer and enjoyed very much. So, you know, if you find yourself in Cerritos, stop by. I'll have a soy peppermint mocha, no whip please. And if you are feeling generous, make it a grande. Thanks.

In the meanwhile, I have a suggestion for you. See, there is this other blog…the PaperLotus blog, where you may have seen my musings on artsy things. Well, we are having a little holiday giveaway over there. All you need to do is stop by and follow the instructions which pretty much boil down to: choose something you like from the store and post a comment with a link to it. Simple, right? And who knows, you might win something. So please do. Besides, we love the company. And sometimes I say something over there that's not so stupid. And we like to talk about art and craft, so maybe you'll enjoy it.

Toast.

I am going to be completely honest with you here. I am burnt. And crispy. Like toast. Burnt, crispy, toast. Or bacon. Overdone. Uncomfortably crunchy. No, let’s go with toast. I like toast. I don’t care so much for the bacon. I am toast.

It’s been a busy three or four weeks around here. Traveling, birthdaying, premiering, Felt Clubbing, and having a cold has taken it out of me. Add on the poor air quality due to the fires and I am left a crispy outer shell with very little inside. But you know what? I am left, and my home is intact (messy, but intact) and all my people are ok, so I guess being burnt out, is a lot better than some of the alternatives around here right now.

Felt Club was good. I think we were pretty successful. We always get nice people visiting us and this time was no exception. And hey, there were also people we sort of know. Friends and internet buddies stopped by and that was lovely. I bought stuff that I don’t need but want anyway and that too was lovely. An adorable “soap dish” that is destined to become a display stand for the perfect cupcake, a very excellent print of a bat, a charming watercolor, a nice little bag…probably some other things that I am not remembering. It was big and it was loud and it was crowded and it was fun but on top of everything else, it was pretty exhausting.

And besides that, I had, AGAIN, this weird blushing problem. See, I am pretty shy. I do blush quite a lot when I have to talk to strangers but usually, it’s like, in a classroom situation, or being singled out from a crowd, which I guess is not really that strange, right? That’s a normal reponse, to blush when put on the spot. But here, it happened twice, no…three times during conversations that I instigated. And when I blush, I get really embarrassed. Which is kind of the opposite of how it’s supposed to work, right? But yet again, while talking to a very pleasant artist that I am fond of, I felt my cheeks flare red and I hightailed it out of there. And again when I spoke to a handbag designer and yet again while talking to a cartoonist. Now, partially I can say that I get bashful because these people are good at what they do and I feel a wee bit tiny next to them, but you know, I feel a wee bit tiny next to pretty much everyone, so…I don’t know. Any one have any ideas on combating that creeping flush?

Anyway, now it’s on to one more craft show, this one a smaller deal, but a very nice one, I am looking forward to that. And there’s a little bit of work to be done for it, but nothing too scary. And there’s thanksgiving. Which I thought was two weeks away. And I was wrong. So…yeah. And apparently I am cooking for all of you, so I guess I need to go shopping. And for the record, we usually have Pilsbury orange rolls from a tube for Thanksgiving breakfast. Years ago I would make beautiful cinnamon rolls or muffins or something lovely and take it to my girlfriend’s house. We would eat sweets and drink coffee and go off to our alma mater’s football game and it was a lovely tradition. Until her husband said “Wow, these are good cinnamon rolls, way better than yours, honey.” Thus ended the Thanksgiving breakfast…well and I moved away so…you know. But it’s orange rolls this year, so come early if you are into that (Brenda).

Dinner.

At the moment, the thinking is this:

roast turkey stuffed with:
bread stuffing with sage
sweet potato casserole
roasted brussels sprouts with garlic
crescent rolls (can’t help myself)

And for dessert:
chocolate tart with hazelnut crust

But I am sure that I will feel guilty for not making a pumpkin pie and overcompensate with some kind of pumpkin cupcake or cookie or…pie.

Also watch for hors d’oeuvres to be added, as well as various side dishes as I start to worry about not having a “thanksgiving” feeling…for two people. I’d say you’ll probably see the appearance (or at least the consideration) of: deviled eggs, cheese and olive platter, pastry wrapped olives, cheese straws, home made breads, another vegetable, possibly a salad, corn bread to replace rolls from a tube, various wines (although I am the only one that drinks them), ice cream to go with whatever kinds of pies, and as long as I am making ice cream, maybe I should just go ahead and make chocolate chip mint, since that’s his favorite, and since I don’t eat ice cream, maybe I should make some soy cream too…


Yeah, I always start with the best intentions.

Aren't you thankful that Thanksgiving cards are available in the store?

Ugh.

Feeling a bit weary at the moment due to a cold that I received for my birthday. Yay. Thanks. Don’t know where it came from but I literally felt it arrive. I was talking to a friend’s mother and aunt and my nose started to tickle. At first I thought it was an allergic reaction to some perfume but no, it was a wicked little sniffle. I’ve been trying to kill it off with loads of vitamin c and some elderberry stuff and truth be told, I’ve had much worse. Today, however, I feel pretty uggy.

Still I had several nice dinners out over the weekend. Several cakes (no, seriously…several cakes), received many excellent gifts and one cold and it was a really nice way to get older (except for the cold). And I am old. But not bothered by it. I think I’ll save that post for another day though.

Anyway, things are in high gear around here for Felt Club. I have not done nearly enough cutting and folding and packing and ironing and what have you so it’s really not going to settle down before Sunday. And then we have another show on the sixth at Tallmouse in Cerritos, the Handmade Brigade. So, you know, please do stop by if you are in the neighborhood. And if you are not…here’s one of the new Christmas cards…


I dunno, I am kind of fond of her. I think she’s cute but I also think she’s kind of…creepy…what do you say?

Sticker.

I, too got up and voted this morning. No real wait at my polling place which I refer to as “some dude’s garage.” That kind of drives me nuts as I think all polling places should be public buildings but I guess we really do need every available space. I let an elderly couple go ahead of me, I was in no real rush and they actually arrived before me but walked very slowly.

So, when I lived in New Jersey, we didn’t get the little sticker, I’m not sure that they do now either, but here in L.A. we get an “I Voted” sticker and hopefully, I will see a lot of them today. However, if you voted by mail you won’t have one, so please feel free to print yourself one of these…


Heh. Sorry, I work with children, by which I mean, I work with a bunch of boys who wanted me to make this for them a few years ago. There was, at one time, an “I’m Canadian” sticker and one that said “I’m Hammy” for my friend Hammy. But really, this is the one that is most effective. And gross.

And in other news, I made vegan mac and cheese (which had no actual cheese, hence the cheez) and it was…surprisingly…good. More than edible in fact. Jason claims it was delicious but Jason claims all my food is delicious and I know for a fact that it is not. Still, I was impressed by how easily the recipe came together and how flexible it could be, and still be vegan. On the other hand, I also made some cinnamon rolls. And they didn’t work. And I knew as I was making them that they wouldn’t but I went ahead anyway. It was mostly my fault, but the recipe is slightly suspect as well. But like I said, as was making them I was thinking, this flour isn’t gonna work, and this milk is too hot, and that’s too much yeast and not enough rising time…ah well. It happens.

McCain.

So I wrote a whole post on what I thought about Barak Obama’s campaign logo and in the interest of being even-handed, I need to say something about John McCain’s logo. Here’s the thing…he doesn’t really have much of one, does he? And to me, that’s kind of a problem. See, this is a visual world. Sadly, a lot of people either can’t or don’t read. And that’s their choice or their burden I guess, but when it comes to selling something, you really gotta stand out. You have to be visual. We all know this, don’t we? We’ve seen the studies that kids recognize the McDonald’s Golden Arches logo before they recognize their own names in writing. Sales and marketing matter, especially when we are talking about politics.


Now, I don’t want to say that McCain has NO logo, he does, it’s a star…so I guess what I am saying is “not much of a logo”. On the other hand, it’s a very traditional symbol for presidential elections. And I think some effort has been made to select a specific type of star. In fact, I have looked high and low (ok, not high and low, I have looked around a BIT) for the meaning of that type of star and I still have not found it, but I have seen it referred to as a “naval star” so I am thinking that it was chosen to remind us of Senator McCain’s military career. More recently I have seen it referred to as a “maverick star” which is actually the name of a type of geranium so I think it’s a bit of a misnomer there.


Anyway, we have a…let’s call it a beveled star. It’s a very traditional image, it has military connections and, if you are thinking sneaky, it’s become very popular with a younger generation for use as a tattoo. So maybe that was the philosophy? Nah, doubt it. The star is either white or yellow on a field of either black or blue and there are embellishments on either side in a matching color. That’s not a very good description is it? Well like I said, it’s not much of a logo.

If I were a designer for the campaign I’d be a little annoyed. There’s not really a lot one can do with this. But, on the flip side, it is very traditional, very timeless and very…political looking. There are some attempts to adapt the image but I am not sure how good they are. In one case the blue or black background was replaced with green and the star was replaced with a shamrock. Really? I get that he is a “MC”, I was once a MC too, but we’re not talking Kennedy here, are we? Is the Irish American population really behind him? Hmmm…looks like there is. And that he actively courted them. Annnnyway, that has nothing really to do with the design elements. I just wanted to mention that the adaptations of his very traditional logo were, for me, at best questionable. I feel like they diluted the design unlike Obama design being enhanced by the adaptation, but that is because the Obama design still remains center. If you replace the star in the McCain logo with anything, you have effectively changed the entire logo. So, in this case, I think it’s safe to say that the simplicity of the logo is just as much it’s downfall. And the changing of color, from black and white to blue and yellow, also dilutes the image. It is, in other words, not an effective branding.


A little more searching reveals yet more color changes. “Women for McCain” adds fancy pink text on a white background (tsk, what a stereotype!), while “Sportsmen for McCain” is green and yellow. And while I agree that foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of…whatever, I don’t think this is working.

I tried to be impartial here. And to be fair, I am honestly only talking about design, not the actual campaigns, but I think these designs tell a lot about the candidates. One is fresh, well thought out and adaptable. The other is very traditional, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but when it is changed, even in the slightest, it ceases to be representative or useful.

So here’s my point. Design is important, even when you don’t realize it.

Obama.

I don’t generally talk about politics publicly. I have pretty specific views and I want people to feel free to tell me their views before I open fire on them. No, no, just kidding. I think everyone is entitled to their political views and I am interested in differing opinions, but I tend to keep mine to myself. Like Luanne from King of the Hill once said, “If I tell you who I voted for it won’t come true.” So I don’t. But there is one thing in the current campaign for President that has really caught my attention and I want to talk about it. It’s um…logo design.

You heard me. Logo design. You’d think what with the millions of dollars they spend on all this political stuff, logo design would be pretty important, right? I mean, it’s the very branding of an idea and an ideal as well. It’s gonna show up on every thing you get from a candidate, on every ad, every sign, every tee shirt. It needs to have impact and it needs to make a very specific statement. At least, that’s how I would see it if I had to design one.

It’s kind of surprising me though. I talked to several people about it while I was writing this and they looked at me like I was perhaps a slightly wee tiny bit crazy. Me, I swear I see this design everywhere and I know I see it on a daily basis, but when I mentioned it to other people, they didn’t really get what I was talking about. Does no one else see what I see?


Clearly, someone else has thought about this as well because since the first time I saw the Obama logo, I have been marveling at it. It is a lovely little design that makes quite a significant statement and no matter your political views, I think you probably have noticed it and probably thought about it without realizing that you are even thinking about it. In short, I think it’s good design. I might go so far as to say that I think it’s excellent design.

Let me refresh your memory, or, if you have been living under a rock for the past year or so…here:

I remember seeing this logo on a bumper sticker at least a year ago and commenting to my husband, “Man that is an intriguing, thoughtful design.” And he said “Hunh? What design?” and I ignored him. But that’s neither here nor there. The first thing that struck me was the use of the red, white and LIGHT blue color scheme. It’s the light blue that’s important here, isn’t it? It’s a way of showing hey, we’re American, we’re united but um…we’re a little different too. We’re brighter. Cheerier. Light blue is a HOPEFUL color, isn’t it? Dark blue can be mysterious or serious or even depressing, but light blue is the sky, endless and boundless and natural. Even the red is a slightly brighter red than we typically see used in the language of politics. This red is a little more candy red.

And then there’s the shape. Most obviously there is an O for Obama. But the “O” here is used as an opening, a doorway. We are invited to look through it. In the case of this particular campaign, I think it is intended that we see the O as a type of window to a future. Perhaps the opposing party would point out that there is nothing beyond the O and that this perceived future is blank. If I were a spin doctor, I think I’d say “Not blank. It is yet to be written by the PEOPLE. The future can be what we want it to be.”

And for my part, I like circles. I am willing to bet if you took a survey most people would choose a circle over a square. Even though, in this case, the circle is an initial, I think it may be a very calculated choice. Looking back at previous presidential races, I don’t find a lot of logos that incorporate the intital of the candidate. There are a few notable exceptions, Hubert Hortario Humphrey, which, c’mon, that’s too good too pass up. HHH. And…W. However, it would appear that the W. was adopted for his second campaign. Hmm…something else I am just now noticing is that most presidential candidates tend to use stars in their logo…no stars here (although the Mr. McCain uses one, something I think I will address on another day). But back to circles. Typically, the circle in design invokes certain ideas. The circle is never ending, it is also enclosing, like a hug perhaps. It is universal symbol for unity and wholeness. Aaaaaaand…it’s the first letter in the name Obama. Go figure. But THEY (the designers) DIDN’T HAVE TO USE IT. Personally, I think it’s very clever of them that they did.

Finally there are red stripes, a design element familiar to Americans. But in the case of the Obama logo the stripes appear to be in motion, moving off away into something new, but NOT into the O, alongside the O. Hmmm….very interesting. And you’ll notice that the stripes carry off the logo but do not rise up…there is only the gentlest of curves. No hill to be climbed, just a little bump to get over. And in the center, where the stripes meet the openness of the O there’s a little lens flare. A bit of a shine perhaps. A brightness. A glow.

The design is simple and elegant and even better, well, better for the campaign’s designers, it lends itself to adaptation. Change the red stripes to a rainbow and voila! You get something new and significant. Veterans have added stars, Asian American and Pacific Islanders have added a lotus style pattern, and check out the Republicans for Obama button!




I gotta say, this, to me, is an excellent logo. It says a lot with out really saying anything at all. And I bet if you asked the designer “What was your intention here?” he/she’d say, “What do YOU see in it.” Or maybe I’m just crazy, but I suspect not. Not in this case anyway.

Contrite.

Ahem. I have been…scolded by Brenda. Well, she had her coffee in the Los Angeles mug this morning and used that as an excuse to gently encourage me to “get to posting” so here I am…posting.

I don’t make excuses when I don’t post because…well, it’s my blog and I’ll post if I want to but how can I not post when she drinks from the L.A. mug? Truth be told, all has not been quiet on this western front. Lots of things being made and fixed and cupaked and oh, I don’t know. Just lots of stuff. And I’ve been writing a lot, but then not posting it. Essays sort of. And random ones at that. One, that I will post shortly on the Obama campaign and branding. One on reading gothic literature. One on…well, I don’t know. But there’s a lot of things turning around in my brain that are bound to make an appearance soon. Until then, a few other things…

-My BFF recently helped start up an all new company in her field and it’s been a bit of a bear. It’s been a really good bear, but a really stressful bear too. I wanted to do something to mark the occasion for her but was kind of at a loss. When she told me that she would finally have her own office space, I decided to build a box o’ cool office stuff for her. I found some great post-it’s from KNOCK KNOCK, a funny cigarette pen for those really stressful times, great notebook and planner from Cherry Bomb Squad, a cool business card holder made from sock monkey fabric…but something was missing. I wanted her to have some art for her new walls but I couldn’t really find anything I liked, or that was the right size so I made her a version of the “Keep calm and carry on” poster that’s been going around the design blogs. If you’ve not seen this poster it looks like this:


It’s basically a British propaganda poster from World War Two. Well, propaganda in the sense that it was meant to reassure the public that eventually all would be well. And it’s kind of comforting. It didn’t originally come in pink but my friend likes pink so…but also, I wanted it to match my response to the original poster.


She says she hasn’t put my version up at work but only because she doesn’t want to offend anyone…yet.

-There’s also been a lot of cupcakes lately. Both vegan and non-vegan. And while chocolate cupcakes remain my favorite, man, when you can cram a cookie into a cupcake…that’s a serious dessert. Now to get some candy bars in there..

-I’ve been doing a follow along read at Austenprose of Northanger Abbey. I am a fan of Jane Austen anyway and I have read NA before but I am really enjoying it this time around. I have always found it to be the hardest Austen to get into because it’s a different type of humor than her other novels. See, this one is a parody of Gothic novels and not being a big fan of Gothics, I always felt a little lost. For whatever reason, it’s really clicking with me this time and I am enjoying it immensely. So much that I have just ordered some classic Gothic novels to help fill in the blanks. I also did a bit of research into Gothic novels and discovered some interesting ideas that really put me back in the mood for study and research, which in turn makes me want to read more, which then makes me want to buy a Kindle. I’m holding out for the next version but the more I read about them the more intrigued I get.

-I watched the VP nominee debate with a twitter feed over it. It was…well, it was about what you’d expect, a lot of people not saying much, but those who had something worthhile to say, did. What I found really interesting though was the idea. If I could watch a debate with some interesting policial pundits, commenting in real time, and not having to speak over the debaters…or even…you know, it would be really interesting to hear just a few, well spoken (or typed) average people commenting on it. I’d like to know what other people, people who aren’t my friends, or people with different political views see when the nominees speak without it all end up in one big shouting match. It’s an interesting application for social networking technology and I’d like to see what could be done with it.

-Finally, there has been much preparation for craft fairs. But not enough. So back to that. But here is one new thanksgiving design that I kind of get a kick out of. If you like it, it should appear in the shop shortly.

Fleshy.

From the Candy Blog, one of the more horrifying sentences I have read today:

"The squares are surprisingly light, not dense and gelatinous, more soft and fleshy like Mochi can be."

I do not want to imply that her writing is horrifying, it’s not, and I love her blog. It’s also not inaccurate, in fact, that’s is exactly what caught my attention, how very accurate the word “fleshy” is to describe the texture of mochi, for me anyway. I keep rereading that sentence and shuddering. You, of course, may enjoy mochi and that is certainly your prerogative…personally, I don’t enjoy it. But that is by turns the most horrifying and correct sentence I have read for quite a while. (For the record, she is describing Turkish Delight, another item which I have not developed a taste for, and if Edmund hadn’t it would be a very different story now, wouldn’t it?)

What I’ve been reading: Well, some time ago, Captain Blogger suggested that I read Midnight’s Children, and I did start it, and then I put it in a tote bag and forgot all about it. Yeah. I do that a lot. Still not sure where I put that Michael Pollan book either. But, I did find Midnight’s Children and it is now back in line. Currently I am reading My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs and Shakespeare by Jess Winfield, who was a former co-worker of my husband. I’m not very far into it though because…

What I’ve been watching: …I’ve been watching some TV. Some of it has been catch-up stuff, some of it has been curiosity and some of it…well…I have no excuses. So there are the old favorites, Mad Men, Weeds, Burn Notice (not caught up, do not spoil). The things I watch with the husband but kind of don’t always enjoy like Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations and Entourage. The cooking shows I love like, Jamie at Home and Mexico: One Plate at a Time. The new shows I am watching out of curiosity like Gavin and Stacy and True Blood. And the things I can’t really explain, the mind rotting candy of Primeval which I think is supposed to fill the void left in my heart by Doctor Who but doesn’t because it’s really not good but I can’t stop watching poor Douglas Henshall looking surprised every time a dodo appears. And then there are the occasional forays into dvd collections like Jeeves and Wooster and The Thin Man movies. Not all at once mind you, and really not much at a time at all. It is kind of amazing how much time you save with a dvr.

What I’ve been cooking: There have been some cupcakes and there will be some more. I’ve got a package of chocolate cream Newman O’s that need to be used up so I am thinking vanilla cupcake, vanilla frosting, crushed up cookies. And lest you think all we eat here is cupcakes and brownies, there has been much fruit and veggie cooking around here. Plenty of red chard in olive oil and garlic, braised bok choi, baked peaches, grilled peaches, peaches with yogurt (oh how I love peaches), figs with yogurt, roasted brussel sprouts, roasted asparagus with chili sauce, salads, steamed corn and who knows what else. I do love summer veggies and I’ll be sad when it’s back to cabbage and beets and apples. Although I like those too. And there are various forms of meat to go with the veg, but you know I don’t care so much about those.

What I’ve been drawing: Christmas cards, Christmas cards, Christmas cards. Ugh. But I am pleased as punch with the things I’ve got in the works, so I am hoping they do well. I do have plans for a few more Hanukkah cards and some new notecards too. If you are into that stuff, keep an eye out. I try to remember to post here when A.C. puts new stuff in the store but I am forgetful. Just go here and look around, see if anything catches your fancy. Some of the newest stuff includes cupcake pendants and happy hungry monsters, robots and some rather unpleasant food.

Who I am crushing on:
(The one on the left.)

Rock.

There’s one final pinup for you coming after all this type-ity stuff. I’d be hard pressed to say which pinup was my favorite to draw but this one is my favorite joke (if you don’t know why it’s funny, don’t worry, it won’t matter anyway) but this is also the pinup that went through the most revisions. She started out just as kind of rock chick and eventually became a kind of rockin’ Uhura. Mostly I just wanted to have something that said “Rock out with your Spock out.” And now I do. So here she is before and as you can see, no hands, one sock, no shoes. She’s a bit of an urchin here. But I still like her with the pink hair and all and I suspect she’ll make a return appearance…somewhere…sometime.



As for now, it’s all Christmas cards all the time as I gear up for a holiday craft fair. Oh, there are some Hanukkah cards too. And Chanukkah…and Hannukah. Whatever. All of them. I like to cover all my Jewish spelling bases. Oh, and hopefully, before that, there will be a few Halloween cards in the store. So, you know keep an eye out for that.

Meanwhile…you will never guess who I met last weekend…give up? I MET THE AMBITOUS HAMSTER. How cool is that? Well, very cool for me since I also work for her and this is the first time we have met face to face. We have emailed, IMed, texted, called and tweeted one another but this marks our first actual meeting. And it was grand. Hopefully she wasn’t too scared and will come back again sometime.

Sadly, there were no cupcakes for the hamster meeting, although she remarked that it would have been nice, and it would have but I was at work. Even sadder? There were many cupcakes the very next day. So many that we weren’t even able to eat them all and there were cupcakes enough for the whole weekend. And you know what…yum. I hate to say I make great food because really, that’s all just a matter of taste, right? I mean, what I like and what my husband likes are markedly different, so I can’t really assume that…anyway…I made two kinds of cupcakes and I gotta say, I done good on both. I started with “Crimson Velveteen” vegan cupcakes. Now, I am not a fan of the red velvet variety of cupcake. It tends towards oilyness and it’s not really chocolatety and holy cow it uses a whole bottle of red food dye. Yeeesh. Even this “Crimson Velveteen” recipe calls for 2 TBS of red dye but I could only bring myself to use one and then promise that I would find a more natural solution next time (I’m thinking dried beets will do the trick). But this recipe, even with the shocking amount of dye…fabulous. It bakes up so light and fluffy and not at all oily and because it calls for some chocolate extract, it actually tastes of chocolate. It’s different from a chocolate cupcake in a good way, not in an oh god what did I just eat way.

But then I started to worry that some of the people I would be with wouldn’t cotton to a red velvet cupcake, but I knew that at least one of them likes coconut, so coconut it was. And they were damn fine too. And they got better the second day when the flavor had developed even more. So sorry Hamster, I’ll make sure you get some next time.

And the final pin-up in the geeky girls set:

Daemon.

What I’ve written about lately that I haven’t posted:
My favorite comics
Why Frederic Wetham could be more important to you than you know
My first (and last) scrapbooking experience
Tempeh Chickenless Wingz
How quiet my life is when my husband goes away (the phone rang 3 times in one week…that is all. Three times.)
What I’ve been reading, watching and doing lately.

But…um…yeah. Not really done with any of those yet. There were some lemon cupcakes a few weeks ago because I found some lemons in the office kitchen. Don’t know where they came from though. I’ve read some books. I…um…watched some new tv shows…

LOOK, a pinup!


And the pinup cards are now available HERE.

So are the cupcake cards.

And some new robot cards by Ambitious Hamster.


So…there you go.

Seduction.

It's the return of the sad lunch.

It wasn’t really a sad lunch, more like a weird lunch because it was all stuff I more or less wanted to eat, but not all together. But I was feeling particularly lazy and I didn’t want to walk to the store. I guess I should have. But because I didn’t it was peach soy yoghurt with a fresh peach mixed in and some hummus and pretzel thins. It doesn’t seem very balanced does it? But it’s got a fair amount of protein and fiber I think. It was a lot of creamy stuff though, but without any cream. Kind of like a baby food lunch.

Here’s the problem. The husband left town. Usually that means a week of vegetarian goodness over here. In fact, this time it was going to mean a week of premade, delivered fresh vegan goodness. I was gonna order my meals from a fresh food delivery service, just to see what it was like. But the menu for this week was…eh (OH! next week it looks really good! Tofu Chilaquiles and Korean Chapchae! Quinoa salad! With cranberries! Darn.) And I got sidetracked and that’s how I found myself in a crowded Whole Foods last night, running into comic-con friends and searching for an appealing soup for dinner (veggie) but I neglected to look for lunch. Ah well. Maybe I will make my own Tofu Chilaquiles for dinner.

Sorry, anyway…pin-up, because I really have nothing of interest to say.


This is the second in the set and she is called Seduction of Innocent. Now, there is kind of a joke here, which, if you are not a huge nerd, may just sweep on by you. That’s ok. It was aimed at the nerds.

In 1954, this guy Frederic Wertham, a psychiatrist wrote a book titled Seduction of the Innocent, which postulated that comics were a cause of juvenile delinquency. To be fair, that’s a simplification of the whole thing, but all you need to know for this picture is that comics caused kids to do naughty things. There’s actually a lot of interesting stuff connected with both the book and with Wertham, who aside from some strange ideas on comics, was a pretty interesting guy. But the pin-up, not really meant to be any real social commentary, just a nekkid girl with comics.

What did cause a little buzz around this picture (and I mean little buzz, like three people’s worth) was the bruise on her leg. See, when I was drawing her, I was trying to go a little bit against the pin-up type. See the glasses? The sneakers? The comics? And most pin-up girls have flawless skin, right? Well, this one has a bruise…on her calf. Which some people saw as her knee. And then took to some unintended extremes. So…whatever. She’s a nerdy girl who loves the Batdude and Hellguy, what more do you need?

Zombie.

I’ve been meaning to show you one of my pin-ups for a while now. They were quite a treat and a revelation for me. I have always avoided drawing people because…well…they just never end up looking like people. Not to my satisfaction anyway. I sometimes will draw distorted cartoony children because hey, if their heads are too big, well who is gonna complain about that? But pin-ups are a whole other thing. And oddly, I kind of dreaded drawing them, even as I knew it was something I had wanted to do for some time now. So, here is “Dead Sexy” the first of the four pin-ups. I actually sold more prints of her than any of the others and one girl even bought one and came back the next day for another. She told me she had ended up giving hers away and wanted another. She also told me that she had shown it to a friend who was a pin-up artist who had commented that it was “demure” and not too gory or disturbing, which made me happy since that was exactly what I was going for.



In the end, I was very pleased with all the pin-ups and I discovered that I really, really enjoyed doing them. I am planning on another set of four girls and I think I am even going to try a few pin-up guys. Any requests?

Lists.

Movies watched recently:
30 Days of Night-Eh. I liked the first half hour. The rest was…eh.
Most of Sydney White-Surprisingly cute. Something that I could show my mom and not be embarrassed by.
Brick-V. v. good. My brother told me it was and he was right. Not that I doubted him. Minimal. Very minimal. Very clever. Very good.
The Dark Knight-Good. I liked it. It was quite nerve-wracking but good. Still, and this comes from someone who only likes movies where stuff gets blown up or ears get cut off…it was slightly over the top for me. Possibly only because when you have Batman, you have kids, and I don’t think this is appropriate for any one under…let’s say…12. So, you know, be careful.
Please Don’t Eat the Daisies-I don’t know if I had ever seem all of this before but I do love me some Doris Day and David Niven.
The Namesake-Oh Kal Penn. You are so cute. But…no. I like the book quite a lot but the movie? No. Not so much. Well, to be fair...good actors, bad retelling.


Books Purchased for self:
When Twilight Burns By Colleen Gleason
Colleen has a blog here. You should read it, she is very entertaining.

Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer

I don’t know if Eoin Colfer has a blog. I imagine he does. I should go look….no, I don’t see one. He does have a website though. And he’s very entertaining as well. And I like the way he’s been writing lately. Well, I like the way he writes but I recently read “Half Moon Investigations” and it struck me as one of the first non Gossip Girl type books that was really using technology the way kids use technologly. Texting and video and the like. China Mieville did this too in that book he wrote…um…Un-lon-don. I like that idea. That the actual uses of video on cell phones and you tube are starting to filter into books.

All Wrapped Up! Groovy Gift Wrap of the 1960s by Kevin Akers

Kevin Akers has a website here. I don’t know Kevin Akers but I intend to email him and tell him how very much I do indeed enjoy this book. It’s lovely.

Getting it Right with Type: The Do’s and Don’ts of Typography by Victoria Squire

I haven’t read this yet. I skimmed it and I was slightly disappointed (not by you, Victoria Squire) because I think it may be more basic than I was hoping for. Typography is hard. Hard, I tell you!

Art of Modern Rock Mini #2: Poster Girls by Dennis King

I am hoping that this book will be inspiration for some more pin-up girl illos from me. We’ll see. I did discover an artist that I like but didn’t know his name. Unfortuantely, I don’t have the book with me and I still don’t know his name.

Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace
Cute. Slight. Simple. It’s a nice book. Buy it for a kid.

I Completely Must Do Drawing Now and Painting and Coloring by Lauren Child
Do you know Charlie and Lola? I love Charlie and Lola. This is a Charlie and Lola book. It’s not here yet, but I am looking forward to seeing it.

Drop Dead Cute by Ivan Vartanian (postcard book)
It was cheaper than the book, so I thought I’d start small.

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
Jim Butcher was at Comic-Con, promoting his new comic with the Dabel Brothers. I didn’t see him. Or the comic for that matter. I would have liked to see him. Not so sure about the comic.

Books Purchased for others:
Comic Book Tattoo by Tori Amos and a lot of artists (two copies)
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
Chester Cricket's Pigeon Ride by George Selden
Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse by George Selden
Dinosaur's Binkit by Sandra Boynton
Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne
A Treasury of Curious George by Margret Rey
Baby Signs by Joy Allen
Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt

I don’t think the people from whom some of these books are meant to surprise read this blog, but um…if you do…SURPRISE!


What I had for lunch:
2 slices portobello mushroom pizza

Regrets I have:
Eating portobello mushroom pizza

…and drinking soda.

Cookies within reach that I will not eat because I ate portobello mushroom pizza:
White chocolate chip and pecan
Oatmeal chocolate chip
Gluten and egg free chocolate chip button cookies

What I am making for dinner:
Gnocci with chicken, mushrooms and swiss chard with garlic, crushed red peppers and olive oil, NO CHEESE! In the name of all that is holy! NO CHEESE!

(EDIT: There will be no gnocci with chicken, mushrooms and swiss chard for dinner. There will be only soup.)

OH OH! Christmas presents purchased:
ONE! Yay!

Oh dear. I am listening to a random opera podcast of Robert Merrill and he just started singing “Ohhhhh sweet mystery of life at last I’ve found you….” that’s just made my day.


And next time I say the word “pizza” could you just punch me in the stomach? Same effect but much quicker.

Nerves.

Well, it’s almost here. That one thing that makes me both shudder in horror and squee with glee. Well, fine, a lot of things do that to me, but this one…you know…Comic-Con is right around the corner. I leave on Wednesday and I am more or less ready. More or less. Some new stuff to show off, some old favorites. It should be good. It should also be exhausting and nerve-wracking. It’s just one of those things.

At the moment I am experiencing the weariness that goes with Comic-Con. Stayed up a little too late last night to get one last thing done, woke up a little too early this morning due to the endless construction on the building across the way. I’ll be better tomorrow I am sure. But it’s not tomorrow that I am worried about.

Right now, aside from regular life worries, I am experie….

Here’s a strange aside. I just answered the phone and Sponge Bob Square Pants was on the other end. Well, voice actor that plays him was on the other end. Weird. He was very nice though.

Anyway, aside from regular life worries, I am a little nervous about presenting new art. You know that it’s hard enough for me to refer to what I do as art, but then showing it to people….ewwwwww. Makes me twitchy. And that’s kind of the point for me doing things like Comic-Con. Or having a blog. It’s a challenge to myself to step outside of my comfort zone. And…well…right now I’m not totally comfortable. But, for me, that’s kind of a part of the whole process. The nerves part.

So, in an attempt to kind of get it started, here is a little sampler of some of my newest art….my first attempt at pin-up girls…nerdy pin-up girls…for nerds. I hope you like them! Um, I am just now realizing that the nerdy part doesn’t always show through with just these little bits. They are all full figures, heads, feet and everything in between. And the titles kind of reveal what makes them nerdy, so clockwise, from top left…


Dead Sexy
Rock Out with your Spock Out
Seduction of the Innocent
Mailer Daemon

That should give you some clues. And maybe, when I get back from con, if they have been well received, I will show you a bit more.


Hmmm….you know…there is a serious shortage of pin-up boys in this world…maybe…nah…not yet.

List-y.

Four things from my youth that I apparently have no nostalgia for (some of which are kind of old news since I started this a while ago and never finished it):

• Journey. Did you hear? They have a new lead singer. He sounds just like Steve Perry. Eh.


• Strawberry Shortcake. Did you know that they redesigned her? I didn't. She now appears to be something modern girls might find appealing. So? (OK, while I have absolutely no problem with the changes made to Strawberry Shortcake, I do not like the changes to Holly Hobbie…but the whole appeal of that character was that she was a “prairie girl.”)


• Star Wars. Sorry. You can take my geek card away now. I have seen it. I liked it well enough, I don’t feel the need to think about it all that often.


• Growing Pains. I don’t think I have ever seen a whole episode of this show. And you know what else? Saved by the Bell. And pretty much everything everyone my age watched after school. I don’t know what I was doing…oh, maybe marching band, drama club, indoor color guard or…something, but I didn’t watch much tv in my youth apparently.

Movies I have never seen but am quite should I would enjoy:

• The Big Lebowski


• The Bourne Identity (series)


• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (I may have seen most of this but I can’t remember.)


• The Godfather (I know! I know! I have tried to watch it but I always fall asleep.)

Pretty much anymovie where things get blown up, people get shot or young lovers sing in French. What? I never claimed to be consistent!

Have you seen Doctor Horrible’s Sing Along Blog? Because I know people are talking about it all over the internets and that, for me, is generally the kiss of death for pretty much anything but I gotta say…utterly charming. And some very entertaining songwriting. And God bless Neil Patrick Harris. He’s a big ol’ mug of AWESOME!

Things I have recently discovered that make me a little too happy:

• Soy pudding. I tried soy pudding years ago. It wasn’t good. I tried to make my own. It was worse. But now that soy milk tastes better (or perhaps I am just used to it), I can finally be a pudding lover again. Thank you.



• The return of Burn Notice and Weeds. Possibly my two favorite shows ever. I can’t watch all those reality type shows that my parents and friends so love. They drive me crazy. I like things blowing up, drug smuggling and Bruce Campbell. Really, what more could a girl ask for? Oh, right. Jeffrey Donovan.

Movies I would very much like to see but can’t just yet:

• Hellboy II-The Golden Army. Oh yes, please! How happy am I about this movie? Very. How sad am I that I haven’t seen it yet? Very. I am shooting for Monday.


• Wall-E-It’s Pixar and I am a fan. Why would I not?


• The Dark Knight- Nevermind that Batman and Hellboy are my two most favorite comic book characters. This honestly looks really damn good.


• Mama Mia!- DON’T JUDGE ME! Look, I saw the musical and I thought it was just OK. But I do love me some ABBA, more importantly, I love me some Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård. So there.


• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor-SHUT UP. The Mummy is probably on my top twenty movies list. Definitely on my top ten movies that I can and will watch over and over again. Good looking men, Rachel Weisz and you know what? It’s just a really fun, classic adventure movie. It reminds me of 1950’s type matinee movies. And I will defend Brendan Fraser with my last breath. He is a fine actor who likes to make fun stuff. And if you aren’t sure about the “fine actor” part, please do see Gods and Monsters, he’s quite good in it. Do not, however, mistake Monkeybone for anything resembling fine. Just don’t.

Things I am successfully not panicking over…yet:
Comic-con. I am zen. For the moment. Due to the Handmade Brigade, I am more or less prepared. So much so, that I am planning on rolling out two new card sets and a set of prints! I am very excited about the prints and really hope that they do well. I’ll post some next week I think but until then, here is an image from the new card set that I “debuted” at Handmade Brigade (“debuted” makes it sound like I had a big fanfare or at at least a sign that said NEW! But I didn’t. I just mean that they had not previously been for sale…because they weren’t finished…but now they are. And they will be available (hopefully) in the shop within the next few weeks).


Now, as I said, the cupcakes are not yet available in the Paperlotus store but many fine items are. Most recently I have added some less quirky, more useful cards, so maybe you’d like to check these out…

Quickly.

What DID get done this past weekend the weekend before last:

Spent some time with the cat.
Chose and ordered new bedroom furniture.
Cleaned all of the bathroom.
Cleaned some of the bedroom.
Went to Goodwill.
Ate a very nice veggie taco at Hugo’s.
Made spicy chicken vegetable soup and popovers.
Did some other stuff that I can’t remember…

One notable thing this past weekend the weekend before last? We ate dinner in every night. Usually we go out at least one night on the weekend and I had fully intended to go out on Friday night but my hippie home grocery delivery arrived and we had tons of veggies so it seemed that a roasted veggie salad was in order. Then we tried to go out for BBQ on Saturday but it was too long a wait. So there were BLTAs and the most delicious organic “potato puffs.” Then Sunday it was home made spicy chicken soup. Kind of like tortilla soup but w/o tortillas. And it was all really good. But now I don’t want to cook again…but I did last night too! (Chicken sausages in the slowcooker with a nice tomato sauce with lots of spices and red wine, served over polenta and topped with sautéed fennel, spinach salad on the side). I wouldn’t say it’s been “healthy” around here, there’s been a fair amount of meat going on but you know, it’s been better than average.

Um…yeah, things have not been getting done around here as fast as they should be. My living room is filled with bedroom furniture. My “office” is over run with comic-con supplies, my car, until recently, was filled with Goodwill donations. It’s been a wee bit crazy. And instead of doing what I should be doing, I caught up on Doctor Who episodes.

But there is a lot of new, exciting art in the works. PIN UP GIRLS! CUPCAKES! And I’m having…fun. I am really enjoying drawing lately, so, you know, that’s good. Even if I am not getting everything done.