bloody brilliant

A few important facts about my Ideal Bloody Mary:

-The mix itself should be spicy & substantial, but you can still taste the tomato. Also not a lot of horse radish.

-The add-ons need to be more than just a celery stalk, but not insane. We're talking cheese cubes, not cheeseburgers.

-Definitely need a pickle.

-BEER BACKS. Seems to be something I saw more in Minnesota than out west, but I'm convinced that they are a necessary balance for the bloody. 

It's been a lot of radio silence on the blog, which I think is something I mention in every post... so this will be the last mention of it! I feel like a lot of the things I'd normally reserve for blogging end up on Instagram now... has anyone else noticed this? I'd like to keep up with the blog, but it may be round ups of my goings on instead of more regular weekly posts. You can still follow me on instagram for the silly stuff though!

Ideally I should have a handful of things to show off in the near future though... stay tuned!

bagel & talks

New year, new blog!

I'd like to try to do some process posts again this year - specifically showing my process for pattern and animated gif making. Obviously I am no animation master, but personally I love seeing people's process... even if it's way different from mine.

Here's the most recent sparkle food I made! I had BAGELS ON THE BRAIN... specifically bagels from Bagel Broker, but perhaps only because that's the only place I've had bagels since we moved to LA. But they're GOOD BAGELS. REALLY GOOD.

In other news: Lisa and I have a new pin! Okay this is sort of old news if you follow our instagram account. SORRY, I'm bad at blog updating etc etc etc.

But anyway, this new little bebe is based on Medjed. What, you haven't heard of this obscure Egyptian god who's mentioned only one time in the Book of the Dead? WEIRD. JK, I hadn't heard of him until Lisa brought him to my attention. Apparently he's experienced somewhat of a revival thanks to Japan and the internet. Know Your Meme explains it better than me.

We'd love to make more pins and OTHER FUN THINGS in the future too. If there's something you'd like to see let us know! We're friendly, I promise.

old haunts

It's October! YAY, you guys, IT'S FALL! I don't care if it still gets up to 90 on a weekly basis, I love Fall and all the stuff that comes with it... including gloomy doodles! I've been doing a terrible job drawing something spooky every day (Bill is doing WAY better), but I wanted to show off a couple of my recent doodles!

Spooky podcasts have been inspiring me a lot this month, I started listening to Lore (nonfiction scary story origins), Limetown (fiction journalism about a strange town and its disappearing inhabitants), and most importantly Knifepoint Horror - this one is another fiction podcast, but each episode is a different terrifying tale written from one point of view. They are the ultimate campfire stories, with twists and open ended mysteries, I'm totally obsessed.

Also accomplished this month in the spooky realm: I watched the Blair Witch Project for the first time ever and survived! ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED.

moon child

After a flurry of texts and sparkley eyed excitement (as we always do), on Sunday Lisa and I decided to do a quick last minute blood moon gif poem - say THAT ten times fast! 

I just realized that I never posted our original gif poems, the ones that started this whole gif poem obsession! We made 10 of these bad boys for Poor Claudia, and it took me fifty million years to finish them but now they're one of my most favorite things. 

 

(Bonus: if you go to Poor Claudia's website there's some extra info about our process when we work together. It involves a lot of sparkle eyes.)

playing ketchup

Here in the US it's Labor Day! There's a lot of history surrounding this day, but most people just celebrate the fact that they don't have work and can drink beer & grill up some hot dogs in the middle of the day - which, I'll admit, is kind of what I do. Except we don't have a grill, so instead I digitally grilled up a SPARKLE DOG.

Tell me, interwebs, what do you like on your hot dog? I'm a simple ketchup and mustard girl myself, although I do prefer that the dog be grilled within an inch of it's life. Crispy dogs 4ever.

cherry on top

I was totally going to start doing these sparkle foods weekly. I think I maybe even promised that on this very blog? Okay yes I just went back and looked and I did indeed bandy about the word "weekly". The problem appears to be that I have a hard time keeping up with ongoing personal projects because I get VERY EXCITED about other person projects/paying jobs. 

Anyway, I'm now saying that sparkle foods will be a semi-regular series. And here's the latest edition! This started as a photo:

And then some super cool buddies of mine suggested I turn it into a sparkly gif! Challenge ACCEPTED of course, and then I realized that I would have to figure out how to make the food move - all the other ones have some sort of moving part besides the sparkle. Eventually I called to mind our old place in St. Paul, where a tree right outside our windows would make these suuuuper dreamy leaf shadows that quietly swayed back and forth.

It took me... awhile... to figure out how to actually make that work in animated form. Have I mentioned before that I only took ONE animation class and that was all the way back in like 2006? I'm not a very good animator you guys.

For reference, here is my insane-o work screen. I wish I would have taken screenshots of my process so you could see the whole thing, but this should sum up the craziness. Does anyone else like seeing how people lay out their Photoshop? I am VERY interested in it, in a weird voyeuristic way. #showmeyourphotoshop 

yeah yeah I hardly ever name my layers, yell at me now.

ice ice baby

It's officially summer! It's been feeling VERY summery here in LA for awhile now - especially according to my computer, who starts the fans up around noon every day. It makes me so nervoussssss.

Anyway, I made a sparkly ice cream cone to celebrate the changing of the seasons. No matter where you are I hope you can grab a cool, tasty treat soon! These little sparkly food gifs (I've been calling them #sparklefoods) have been really fun for me to work on. I might try to make it into a weekly series! Is there a kind of food you'd like to see next?

slam dunk

Sigh, another Sunday passes through my fingers like crumbs to the coffee cup. Where does the weekend go? I donut understand.

....

get it? GET IT? Maybe I made this post just so I could draw a donut and make a donut joke.

Today I grabbed a couple of tasty donuts (green tea, ooh) at California Donut for my first breakfast, had a little rest and then took second breakfast with my ladies over High Lifes and home fries at the Black Cat. This is possibly my definition of living the dream, especially since I get to watch a new episode of Game of Thrones tonight. Fingers crossed we get more Sand Snakes... really if it were up to me it would be Sand Snakes 24/7.

In media consumption, we saw Mad Max on Friday and then finished Grace & Frankie on the same night. These two things could not be more different but they're BOTH kind of my favorite right now, and I didn't want either of them to end.

To end this post I found a very appropriate Grace & Frankie gif. Seriously, if you haven't watched this show yet then stop looking at this and fire up your Netflix ASAP. I mean... LILY TOMLIN.

cover to cover

At some point a couple years ago I decided to read more books. I don't exactly remember when, but I e-mailed Katie and asked her for some good ones to start with, as she is The Book Queen. She sent me an excellent list, I put it in the Notepad app on my phone (way back when it looked like this, *shudder*) and I forgot about it.

And then magically, without even realizing it, I was checking books off the list. And then I was ADDING books to the list. IT WAS A MIRACLE, Dear Reader! A book reading miracle.

So with that I give you my List of Things to Read. It is presented to you exactly as it is on my phone: definitely not in alphabetized, possibly with some misspellings, added to whenever I hear about something interesting, read in no particular order, checked off with the emoji checkmark when I am finished. It's a crazy system but it works for me.

CRAZY LIST OF BOOKS:

The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker ✔

Seating Arrangements - Maggie Shipstead ✔

Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach ✔

The Red House - Mark Haddon*

This Bright River - Patrick Sommerville

The Leftovers - Tom Perotta ✔

Dare Me - Megan Abbott ✔

The Newlyweds - Nell Freudenberger ✔

Prospect Park - Amy Sohn ✔

Blood Bones & Butter - NF Hamilton

Swamplandia - Karen Russell 

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig

This is How You Lose Her - Junot Díaz ✔

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn ✔

Dark Places - Gillian Flynn

The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards

The Best of Everything - Rona Jaffe

Fin & Lady - Cathleen Schine

Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

Then We Came to the End - Joshua Ferris

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern ✔

From the Mouth of the Whale - Sjón

Blood Will Out - Walter Kirn

The Vactioners- Emma Straub

The Marriage Plot - Jeffery Eugenides ✔

Wild - Cheryl Strayed

The Magicians - Lev Grossman

Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel ✔ **

Wildalone - Krassi Zourkova

The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell

The Circle - Dave Eggers ✔

Southern Reach Trilogy - Jeff VanderMeer (Book 1 finished, Book 2 started)

Commencement - Jay Courtney Sullivan

The Fever - Megan Abbott

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins ***

Wolf in White Van - John Darnielle ✔

The Anatomy of Dreams - Chloe Benjamin

Delicious Foods - James Hannaham

The Country of Ice Cream Star - Sandra Newman

The Passage - Justin Cronin

The MaddAddam Trilogy - Margaret Atwood

If you'd like to start your own crazy list, might I suggest checking out NPR's Book Concierge? I got a tonnnn of additions to my list from wading through these great little widgets. Also sometimes a book gets added just because it has a cool cover. I'M NOT SORRY.

Moral of the story: GIVE ME YOUR BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS. If you can't tell I'm all over the place as far as taste goes, so I'm game for pretty much anything.

*I started reading this book over Thanksgiving two years ago, left it in a hotel room in Ohio, paid the fine at the library and never picked up another copy to finish it. The memory haunts me still.

** My most recent conquest, now I only want to read dystopian novels and think about how terrible I would be at surviving in such a world.

***Just checked my LAPL account - I'm currently 696th in line to get a copy of this bad boy, which isn't bad considering when I placed the hold the number of people waiting was seriously more than 1,000.

celebrate!

Good morning, internet! I made this animated gif for my buddies that threw me the greatest surprise bachelorette party known to man. I actually ended up having TWO bachelorette parties - one in LA (the surprise) and one in Minnesota, and they were both seriously the best. Pizza was ingested, karaoke was performed, bingos were gotten and friends were awesome.

Look, I know it's Monday and you are not currently having your own bachelorette party (and if you are please reconsider your decision to read my blog when you should be living it up), but don't worry guys! YOU CAN DO IT. TODAY WILL BE GREAT. Think about pugs and flower crowns and animated gifs and WRITE THAT E-MAIL.

If this gif isn't enough, if your morning has been particularly morning-y, then let me recommended you google "flower crown dog" and let that take you away to a happy place. "Flower crown cat" also turned up some fantastic results.

piece of cake

Woops! Where did the year go? The end of every year is sort of a whirlwind for me, what with Christmas, five million birthdays (including my own!) and New Years.  So here's a little slice of cake for you, internet, whatever you're celebrating.

Here are some photos from my annual celebration chunk:

tubular

Ahhh, Thanksgiving. Perhaps my favorite holiday? Shh, don't tell Halloween. Or Christmas. Or any of them really, I love all holidays.

ANYWAYYYY this was our first Los Angeles Thanksgiving, and it was a successful one. Prosecco was imbibed, deviled eggs were noshed on, pups were petted, turkey was consumed. Even though it was in the 80s until sunset I could feel myself getting into the winter holiday spirit.

Our contributions were cranberry relish (how I love thee) and roasted sweet potatoes with a spicy coconut creme fraiche. Doing research on a sweet potato dish reminded me of how hilarious the word tuber really is. Well done, little sweet potato, well done.

children of the corn

Ahh, October. A crisp breeze blows through the air, the leaves change, scary movies are watched. Well okay, I'm still on the fence about that last one... let's just say an overactive imagination doesn't mix well with creepy children lurking around the corner. You know what does mix well though?

....I mean, if you hadn't guessed from my little animation above, the answer is PEANUTS AND CANDY CORN. This "trail mix" was introduced to me by a fellow college classmate and I think I've made it allllmost every year since then. If you like candy corn you'll LOVE it, and if you don't like candy corn then what are you even doing here. Next you're going to tell me you don't like circus peanuts or black jelly beans!! 

My taste in candy may be a little strange.

Anyway, if you'd like to make this delicious concoction for yourself I have very generously illustrated this DIFFICULT RECIPE for you.

Yep, that's it. All you have to do now is sit back, relax, and enjoy as you watch Halloween for the umpteenth time because that's the only scary movie you can actually watch without waking up in the middle of the night due to ghost nightmares. 

What's your favorite Halloween treat? If you say apples and toothbrushes you can also leave.

Just look at that beauty.

ritual union

Look, I know anytime someone who has a blog gets engaged and posts about wedding planning says exactly what I'm about to say.. but I'll say it anyway: this isn't going to turn into a wedding planning blog. PROMISE! But I've got some major thoughts that I'm so excited about, and what's a blog if not a place to put those thoughts!

We're still more than a year out from getting married, so right now all we have is a venue and my pinterest board, but that's enough for me to make a little inspiration post! Bryan and I are both visual people, so this whole shindig is going to be a biiiig collaboration for us. There isn't going to be a theme (besides, you know, getting married) and I've been having a hard time even describing the look we're going for. Industrial moody romantic leafy natural mystical...? Does that.. help? No? Okay fine, just look at some inspiration photos.

jenn & dave stark photography / adventures in cooking

local gatherings

amy merrick / the reformation / sanktoleono jewelry

in the pink

Yes, the requisite amount of time has past for step one of my hair cycle (the love it would never change it step) and I am now onto step two: oh my god I need change right now. Thanks to some particularly large monetary setbacks (turns out moving across the country and starting over again in los angeles is SPENDY) I'm not in a place where a big change is possible.... but a girl can dream right?

ABOUT PINK HAIR. YEAH, I know, I'm cray. Shouldn't I have gotten the crazy hair feels out of my system by 23? I did dye my hair jet black in college but we never speak of that. And here I am at 28, totally jonesing for some sweet pastel pink hairs ala Alyssa over at xovain. That color! Such perfection. Alas, I have the darkest of dark hair and to get that sort of pink I'd probably have to fry my hair up with something bleach-y first. 

Also that has to be expensive to keep up with, right? Especially for people like me that don't trust themselves with an at-home dye kit.

Instead I'm going to save my pennies and work on mermaid hair (aka no haircuts) and then splurge on some pink ends like Diane Kang, super hair goddess, did. My ends are mostly already lighter, so it shouldn't be as intense as going pink all over... plus if I end up realizing the error of my ways I can just chop it off! 

I will keep you updated, dear blog. 

fresh start

Happy New Year little blog! 2013 was amazing in so many ways, but guess who's too lazy to do a recap? Yep uh-huh this moi. I'd much prefer to make a fun little gif and then wax poetic about my New Years Eve.

The evening was spent with some wonderful friends at a bar that was just crowded enough to make it a party, but not so crazy that we couldn't hear ourselves talk. Sure, the DJ was just so-so, but after midnight the playlist turned to old school Backstreet Boys, so all was forgiven.

The next day I prepared some tasty breakfast burrito bowls (look at all that cilantro) and then something KINDA major happened.....

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yep, you might know this already, but a certain fella popped the question! Obviously there were tears and much nodding of the head, and now I get to wear this amazing herkimer diamond ring with the prettiest hammered rose gold band. I don't know how he figured out exactly what I would have picked for myself, but this is it! Simple? Rustic? Mineral setting? HAHAHA MY DREAM COME TRUE, I DIED ABOUT FIFTY TIMES. We're taking our time and not getting a head start on planning yet but I must warn you, dearest blerg, that there may be some mawwaige related posts in the coming months.

2014 is already off to an amazing start, and there are a lot of exciting things waiting in the wings. I'll keep it at that for now, but I can only hope that everyone out there in internet land is just as excited for the new year as I am.

heart warming

Haha oh you guys, it's winter. Ahhh how I love being cold all the time, wearing tights under my jeans, being in danger of slipping & falling on the ice. Ahhhhh but really, as much as I complain about these things (sorry, everyone I talk to every day) it is a kind of magical time. We got some snow this week and I have been breaking out all my greatest winter wear in celebration/an attempt not to die from frostbite. 

Living in a place like Minnesota means that we really have to get creative if we want to be stylish AND warm. Those things do not come easily when it's -15 with the windchill. I think I've done the best I can this year, but if you're looking for some ideas then you are in luck, because I online window shop like it's a full time job. I've rounded up three of each of my favorite winter garments for your consideration...

1 l.l.bean 2 ALL knitwear 3 askov finlayson

 1. need supply 2. modcloth  3. urban outfitters

1 nasty gal 2 alice and olivia 3 scotch & soda

1. urban outfitters 2. asos 3. mandas mittens

1. le bunny bleu 2. nasty gal 3. j crew

something wicked this way comes

YEP, that's right, another Halloween themed post. Apparently my most productive holidays for blogging are Valentine's Day and Halloween, and I'm not sure what that says about me.

In reality I just realized I hadn't made a gif in awhile and I also hadn't posted a playlist in awhile and now I have both! This spooky playlist has been in the works for about a year (I posted some of the songs on it two years ago, actually... shhh) but I think I'm finally happy enough with it to share... although that doesn't mean I'll stop adding to it anytime soon!

I want to give a special shout out to that Chelsea Wolfe song. If you haven't given Chelsea Wolfe a try and you're a fan of spooky girl vocals then run, do not walk, to her discography.