rad

Who knew radishes came so small? There they were, at the bottom of the first box from my CSA, no bigger than a ping pong ball. I tried to use them sparlingly, maybe slicing one up for a salad, but soon enough they were all gone. Luckily, I recorded them in all sorts of media - including a some watercolor doodles (pictured above, which I am officially counting as part of my analog project because I can) and on the brand new camera the boy and I purchased, but that's a story for another day.

p.s. speaking of the analog project, something that should come out of that is living here. More details on that in the future, for now we're keepin' it real spooky-like.

work it

photo by light grey art lab

PHEW. Did I mention that two weekends ago I attended Illustration Boot Camp with Meg Hunt at the Light Grey Art Lab? Man oh man, guys. If that wasn't the kick in the pants I needed, I don't know what is! From 9-6, both days, we listened and talked and drew and watched. Meg is such an amazing person, kind, friendly, and super supportive. I already knew the folks at Light Grey were nice, but hosting this workshop was no small task!

I'm so thankful for my time with everyone at the workshop this weekend. PLUS I met some super cool people, and hopefully we'll keep in touch. It seriously felt like summer camp, but the super condensed version with a "real talk" twist to it.

we doodled a little bit on predetermined grey blobs. I see animals in everything, apparently. 

LOOK HOW HARD I'M WORKING. Also thank god I shaved my legs that morning. photo by light grey art lab

photo by light grey art lab

On Sunday we worked on a small zine (pictured at the very top of the post) with the theme of "summer". I managed to plan something much too complicated to finish on time, and had to simplify it to this. Not what I was really hoping for, but it'll do!!  

west wing

As previously stated, we had a blast in California. I intend on returning soon, hopefully for a longer period of time. I hope I don't sound like too much of a broken record , especially when Alli AND Katie have been posting really fantastic photos of their own lives/trips on their respective blogs. I'LL JUST POST A FEW PHOTOS OKAY? Okay.

margs in L.A., ice cream in Santa Barbara

Did I mention the pool at our house in Solvang? It was out of control.

Lemon tree at Hearst Castle

good morning!

gulls

obligatory barfy photo / the rose garden in the backyard

If you're in a "family vacation" slideshow you can go on over to my flickr for more!

unlisted #3

Okay, I still haven't done my first analog challenge yet. Maybe tomorrow? In the meantime, I'm catching up on some of the things occupying my brainspace. (previous versions: here and here)

from left to right

Room in Paris from AirBnB: So now that I've taken a week long vacation (my first in ages), I've got the bug. A certain someone (name starts with a B and ends with an oyfriend) is afraid of flying, but we have a system down now - three tablets of Calms Forte and he's out by the time we take off! So why not take the plunge and go to Paris next? This room on AirBnb is calling my name HARDCORE. I mean, look at that wood paneling behind the bed. C'est genial!

Adventurer's larder from Hchom: This one's for you nerds. I've been pouring through the archives of Hchom with the sort of glee I only experience every once in awhile. Marian Churchland is an illustrator and comic artist, and Hchom is her illustrated/photographed log of everything she wants - normally food or fancy jackets. I especially love her list of food in Skyrim and this menu of food for her imaginary cafe. Foodies + video game nerds unite!

Honey Wheat Cake: More food. I want to eat anything with honey on/in it.

David the Android video: Fassbender, dear readers. FASSBENDER. He's holding strong on my top five, and for good reason. We saw Prometheus last night, and I'm happy to report that he was my absolute favorite part. Never have I felt more love for a (possibly flawed) robot! My fellow moviegoers were less than happy with the movie overall, but I enjoyed it in the way that perhaps only someone who didn't grow up with Alien could. But really. Watch this "viral video" (ew, I hate that phrase) they made starring Michael Fassbender and I think you'll understand why he's so great.

Hand Carved Coco Bead Necklace: Thief&Bandit is one of my favorite sellers on etsy. I have one of their keychains and it is ever so charming... and just look at this necklace in all of its tassle-y wooden bead-y goodness!

This cat: I wish I knew the original source for this little darling. I love it so much, I even made a little version of it myself.

hand maiden

Isn't the internet great? Thanks to the internet I met Lisa and got to work on a cover for her amazing chapbook, thanks to the internet we kept in touch, thanks to the internet we started scheming about something pretty cool. Seeeecrreettsssss......

While scheming, Lisa invited me to do something else with her: the Analog Challenge! In a twist of fate, this project is about doing something weekly for the entirety of June off of the internet (and then, of course, logging back on and reporting about it on our respective blogs). Spending all my time on a computer has changed the way I think and create, and that's a double edged sword.

I'll still be online and probably creating things digitally this month as well, but each week I'm going to take care to enjoy myself away from my computer. You should do it, too! I mean, look at these things that I'm going to attempt:

For this week: cook something new out of a *gasp* COOKBOOK. I know, I won't have the endless chasm of my recipe board on Pinterest, I'll have to pick something from a finite book. It's going to be great....

Okay this one's cheating, since I've already started taking photos with a film camera AND posting them here. Instead, I think I'll either order some polaroid film and use that instead of Instagram for a week OR learn how to use this fancy camera we have stashed away somewhere.

This one might seem like cheating too, but I honestly haven't made full illustrations outside of a computer in ages. It's going to be a big challenge!

I'm not sure if I have too much for the whole month or not, but either way.. I want to write some people letters.... do you want a letter? I can write you one! SNAIL MAIL AND EVERYTHING.

(p.s. if I'm going to be doing all this painting and such, I'm going to really need a new scanner. I might be the only one that noticed this, but it has a BLURRY spot, which is really against the whole point of having a scanner.)

frozen planet

I know I know. Frozen yogurt was a huge deal FOREVER ago everywhere else. Minnesota is always a little slow to pick up on food trends, but once we have them we go NUTS with them (see also: donuts). It felt like in a flash there were froyo spots popping up all over the twin cities... and, to my delight, mostly in St. Paul! Freestyle is my fave, although TruBerry is conveniently close by.

So, in celebration of the Official Dessert of Summer 2012, I've whipped up a chart of my favorite frozen yogurt options, with a super sized serving! (seriously though, I could never eat that much)

1) Let's get this straight. I've tried some amazing flavors, like salted caramel or chili chocolate. They're wonderful. But nothing beats a nice plain tart yogurt. Tart pomegranate also is pretty great - and colorful!

2) Strawberries are obviously the best fresh fruit choice. Fresh fruit is REQUIRED, that's just how I roll. A lot of places have raspberries and black berries, which I like in theory but then all those seeds get in my teeth and I cry, because getting seeds in my teeth is a big food pet peeve of mine. My other big food pet peeve is anything that turns your tongue blue.

3) Some places have these funny bubbles that are just encased fruit juice. The mango one is amazing! It's like an explosion of mango happiness.

4) MOCHI OH MY GOD MOCHI. Did you think those were tiny marshmallows? THINK AGAIN, THEY ARE TEN MILLION TIMES BETTER. If you don't know what mochi is, (a) I pity you, and (b) they are a Japanese rice cake. They're squishy and funny, they go PERFECT with frozen yogurt, although I'm not sure why. Not all places have these either, which is a giant pity.

Aren't you hungry now? I certainly am.