Wishing you a cool cat 2010

be safe. have fun you groovy cats. see you in 2010

Speaking of Creepy...

Do you know the author and illustrator Edward Gorey? he's the creepiest of creepies if you ask me and I love him. I've been so obsessed with pen and ink drawings of late. I just marvel at the detail that can come with a few little scratch marks. I've had a couple of his books for years but just pulled them out to study them a bit more.


His Gashlycrumb Tinies is a hoot, sort of the macabre version of the A B C's as each page starts out with a letter and a one liner about a kid that gets axed. A is for Amy who fell down the stairs, B is for Basil assaulted by bears...



Probably not something you want to read to your 5 year old at bedtime, but a 10 year old might get a hoot from it, and well we know the 40 year olds love it don't we?



Seriously though...the pen and ink work? to die for

Read more about him here

The Creepy and the Stuffed

I hardly ever visit my old employer Apartment Therapy anymore. Aside from dealing with super cranky responders, I just plain overloaded on home design while I was there.



But today I stopped in and saw this fab gem Gold Bug located here in Pasadena, and I'm super intrigued.



call me crazy, but anyone who has a couple of stuffed beavers displaying crowns and a pocket watch? totally ok in my book
not to mention the many creepy things under glass they seem to have.

thanks to Abby Stone>Apartment Therapy for turning me on to it.

photos via screen grabs on their website.

My kinda ink

if I ever got a tattoo it would be something like this.
via The amazing Jessica Hische typeographer and illustrator

I wonder if...

Yesterday I left my friend Tara a message that said something like this:



"So I'm standing in the sunlight with a magnified mirror, tweezing my face [because it's come to that It's not just a few strays anymore] and I was wondering. Do you think Cindy Crawford has to tweeze her mole? Because it would make me feel so much better to know that she did."

We decided that she probably does but that she most likely pays someone to do that for her, just another perk in being CW if you ask me. I like to imagine that conversation as "Hey You, yah you...come tweeze this chin hair for me!"

UGH welcome to 40.

merry merry

have I ever mentioned how amazing my guy is? He is super smart. I don't mean in the book way, but the life way. Don't get me wrong, right now he's probably setting a cast on a 8 year old's arm or possibly amputating a foot or a toe. he's in his orthopedic rotation currently and has done a bit of what I just said on a daily basis for the past few weeks. I might also brag that he's delivered babies and done c-sections in his last round. I couldn't do those things ever so I think that's pretty smart.


but what he's really smart at? real life. he is a man who has had his moments like all of us. The difference with him is that he sat with it for a long while and I swear to G*d got all of life's answers served to him on his yoga mat or maybe it was that time on his surfboard, I'm not sure. It's one of the reasons that I love him to my core. He knows exactly the correct thing to say [maybe not always what you want to hear] for exactly the right moment. I might also add that he has a bit of 6th sense and the biggest heart in the world. It's all of these things that make me adore him down to my last cell.



This weekend I got a pep talk as in "there is no bah-humbugs in this house at Christmas" because I have been a bah humbug and a whiner and a complainer and a cry baby if you want to know the truth. A mixture of things, most notably not having a steady income makes the holidays nerve wracking and my surgery last week that didn't change a damned thing. Saturday night he bought me a ticket to fly home to Sacramento to visit my family. I'll fly home xmas day to be with him when he gets off his 30 hr call.

And in my complaining, moping and pouting because I didn't want to fly home and be chipper or pretend or fake all of the holiday cheer, he told me step by step why I should fly home and be chipper and maybe have real holiday cheer. So I'm going Tuesday Night in hopes that the holiday spirit sets in as we fly over San Jose or Modesto and kicks in before we hit the terminal.

So there you have it, a step by step guide to holiday cheer. Lets hope it goes better than my time spent at the USPS this morning which would turn anyone into the biggest. crank. ever. because right now? not so much.

--------
I hope that you are having visions of sugar cookies and cheer and that your holidays are filled with warm fuzzies and the good smell of a christmas tree or hanukkah bush. There. did that sound authentic? I mean it... really I do.



images via moi, real life linoleum cuts which are pretty cute if you ask me.

It sort of feels like this

Nothing to say or report. so I thought I would draw you a picture instead.
I'm feeling a bit quiet these days so I'm just going to wander off for a while and do just that.
Have a great week

My brother may kill me after this

either it will be the best or the worst christmas gift ever. either my brother will love it and want it for himself or I'll get a annoyed phone call in a week or so. Either it will be all my nephew can talk about or possibly a emergency room visit. it's a fine line with rockets. how bad could it really be? it's made with vinegar and baking soda....I guess we'll soon find out.



But really...how was I suppose to pass this up in the store on Saturday? the cute vintage packaging, the way it was screaming my nephew Hunter's name as I pondered it.

Explorers Meteor Rocket Science Kit $19.99

New In the studio - Love, a wedding announcement

Gabriella and Robert are a couple you might remember from this engagement party announcement


They decided to skip the hoopla [much to their family's surprise] and elope. They decided to do a fancy announcement instead.



Keeping with the color scheme and theme for the engagement. We did a two color letterpress using the flower illustration and the navy and silver theme. Fold over navy announcement reveals a pocket that includes a CD movie of their wedding, and interior card that announces their marriage in both English and Spanish for their respective familes.

letterpress, two color, custom illustration, crane's Lettra 100% cotton paper
[PLEASE CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEY ARE SO MUCH PRETTIER BIG]

do you want the good news or the bad news?

I asked this last night to Chris when he called me after working a bizzillion hours in a row [no lie, he has 30hr shifts at the hospital] groggily he said ok lets start with the bad. And I passed along the news of the day. It all evens out doesn't it the bad and the good? it seems to lately.

So would you like the good news or the bad news, I say, knowing full well you won't really answer. The good news you say? Sure, let me show you my picture. Please let me apologize for my SAW IV movie posters, that's what my friend Gary calls them. It's the only way I can show you.



if you might remember I'm in a huge science project at the moment? Me an acupuncturist and a special bodywork person. We're out to save the world. Not really. Just out to saving me from another "cut me open, drill and put odd things into my spine". I thought I might tell you that we're using alternative medicine to cure my scoliosis. I think I might say that a few times if you don't mind. Just incase some poor 19 year old girl is googling this tag line scoliosis, alternative medicine. she may find this and save her from a surgery. because if you asked me now to do this surgery I would say no. There is another way. But when I was 20/21 I didn't know.

So may I tell you about my mug shot? the right photo is a xray taken this past April, the left taken just a couple weeks ago. Can you see it? please tell me you can see it. I drew the pink line in so it would help you. The doctors? they won't acknowledge the change. but I know it's better. I'm off pain medication for the first time in close to 2 years. I didn't think that was possible. We obviously have a long way to go. I don't expect to be straight, there are fusions etc that exsist. But I do expect improvement. That I know is possible, as I've already seen.

One huge thing. if you have someone in your life that has chronic back problems I cannot stress enough, shout enough about this body work series I did. I was VERY skeptical. It's a shit load of money I'm not going to lie but it changed my life. Hellerwork If you're interested in knowing more email me or leave me a note I won't bore you with the details but seriously got out of bed [morning is the worst for me] after my third visit and was pain free. PAIN FRIGGIN FREE. no lie.

So that's the good news. it's great news really. Just figuring out how to pay for the rest before my next xray appt in June. but that's another story.

The bad news? it's not so bad really but my stupid kidney thing is back. I have to have a little proceedure next week to laser the scar tissue out of that asshole tube that connects my bladder to my kidney. Whatevs...it's just a little thing no sweat. Looking forward to the killer cocktail they hook up to your IV if you want to know the truth.

under water

have I told you? I want my bedroom walls to be the color of under water. I've wanted it now for about 3 years.

I thought I had the color worked out but alas when I tested it it was screaming with all the sunlight that comes in. I'm talking electric. It wasn't electric in my neighbors bedroom it was the perfect powdery blue-green, but she lives on the other side of the building on the first floor, my bedroom is on the 3rd floor with all sun. no bueno.

but I was visiting Habitually Chic [do you know her? she's fab-u talented that one] tonight and I gasped when I saw this blue from Aerin Lauder's home.



Donald Kaufman color- have you heard of him? I love him and I just met him. I mean come on? the containers are even the perfect shade of everything. that green that has just a touch of grey to it? and that perfectly silver-blue. I want the labels if nothing else.



If you're someone who likes color or is interested in it even you should go look at his site. The man KNOWS color. Trust me when I say this is a difficult thing. It seems like it should be easy but it's one of the hardest things to do, to be good with color, get rooms to seamlessly meld into one another while still saying something on their own. When I had a place that I could paint [freely], I toiled over how rooms worked with one another. The perfect transition color? something called Tortilla from Martha Stewart Paints many moon ago at Sears is she even still there?[it was horrible paint by the way 5 coats later....] but It was the perfect tan with a touch of grey color.

I'm boring you aren't I? I can see you nodding. I'm boring me, really. Lets stop here shall we?

paint. good. go.

Photos by Francois Halard
Aerin Lauder's East Hampton house from the December 2007 issue of House & Garden magazine

frumpy art girl

last week it hit me. I'm frumpy art-girl. No, really don't laugh, I am, or rather I've become it. I use to be chic art-girl, and a little frumpy on weekends when I didn't have to be dressed up for the office. But now that my office is exactly 23 stairs away from my bedroom, well, frumpy happens a lot more than I can tell you these days.

I use to feel like this girl, ok maybe not this awesome but I can dream right?


For instance, I've stopped straightening my hair. It's a beast of curly, frizzy and takes a long time to manage so my "do" of choice has been to leave it be, sometimes pinning it back, sometimes a bandana-as-hairdo, sometimes bed-head as hairdo. I never could understand moms who said they didn't have time to do their hair or shower but I understand now. This little business of mine is a screaming- shitting newborn, 24 hours a day. I say that like it's a bad thing, but it's... you know...you love your little wrinkily kids no matter how cone-headed they really are.



So for the past week I've been texting my friend and hairdresser saying help me! [all ugly duckling storys begin with a transformative haircut right?] I was thinking of cutting it off Audrey Tatou short but Chris, he said he likes it longer. That's another thing, before I would have just hacked it off and now I'm checking in about my hair. ugh. I don't know what's become of me.



next up red lipstick and maybe a manicure where I actually wear color. I can wear red lips to walk to the kitchen right? Maybe I'll just start with some makeup in general and go from there. So excuse me while I google "short hair for round faces" and see what comes out of it. Meanwhile, maybe I'll pop in Amelie in and enjoy the cuteness.


top image oscar de la renta pre-fall 2010 via elle news blog and here
the others I'm not sure of, if you tell me I'll credit them.

New In the studio - A Cowboy's Dream B&B

I've been printing for another design group here in town. It's been amazingly fun and cool to work on such a fantastic project for A Cowboy's Dream a Luxury B&B located in Alamo, Nevada
More about the project here

design and illustration by Kuro Collective
printing by Moi

photos courtesy of Kuro Collective

A Single Man

Get out your liquid eyeliner



man designs the one of the most noted fashion collections in the past 25 years [Gucci], quits, takes some time off, starts his own men's collection and decides to make movies. Tom Ford does it all. Garnishing tons of accolades for art direction, his stars and their performances and how great looking things are universal.

Did you notice the right side of the "A" perfectly in line with the "I" hanging over the "M" in the poster? this is the dorky stuff that makes my heart sing.

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

If you are a sugar daddy, like I hope you are, I've been very, very good this year. I think this super cute Isetta 300 on Ebay would be the perfect stocking stuffer for me, don't-cha-know? I mean, really, don't you think I would look SO XTRA cute driving around our little beach community in this? people would stop and point I could advertise my letterpress on the side. It would be a talking novelty and convince people I was the the shizzle and buy fancy invitations from me.

Current bid is at 12k and the reserve isn't met yet I think you still have time, hurry!

An essay on Marriage

A long but interesting look at how one couple set out to improve an already good marriage. In todays NYT. Funny, honest, touching and sometimes a little scary to read the honest truth about communication.



"According to a widely accepted model, intimacy begins when one person expresses revealing feelings, builds when the listener responds with support and empathy and is achieved when the discloser hears these things and feels understood, validated and cared for. This is not news. It’s not even advice. Offering a married couple this model is like informing an obese person that he should eat less and move more."

"Much of the commentary on modern marriage is frankly terrifying. Miller describes “the marital ghetto” — the marital ghetto? — as “the human equivalent of a balanced aquarium, where the fish and the plants manage to live indefinitely off each other’s waste products.”


Essay written by Elizabeth Weil a contributing writer for the NYT, is working on a memoir about marriage improvement called “No Cheating, No Dying.” photo via Dewey Nicks for The New York Times

Dear Eloise,

I cry at most everything these days. I'm getting soft in my old age.
This morning, cried over a story on the NY Times about the notes children write to Eloise at The Plaza Hotel.


I didn't read those books [past my age when they came out] but I can get behind a little girl that lives at The Plaza can't you?



Apparently, they have staff on hand to answer each and every note left. Santa Style. Come to think of it, I think I'd like a note myself, from The Plaza. Dear Eloise...

>photos via Evan Sung for The NY Times

Madsen Cycles

There's a guy in my neighborhood with one of these [I think] he totally puts his kids in it! [apparently legal from their site]

doesn't it just make you want to grocery shop with one, just because you can? check out their scratch and dent section [save some bucks]. super cute designed website too I might add

something frivolous

I own about 3 dozen scarves. Mostly because I'm cold all the time but I found it's easy to jazz up an outfit with a pretty colored scarf.


The Blanket Scarf looks pretty yummy $48

Perfect

accurate. thorough; complete; utter: perfect strangers. pure or unmixed. expert; accomplished; proficient. These are the words you find when you dictionary google the word perfect. Not a surprise I would guess, we all know the word perfect.

Did I tell you I hate the word perfect? I do.



People have called me this since I was very small. I didn't ask for this label. I was a kid who didn't like to get dirty, who didn't like the way grass felt, who preferred to listen to commercials and draw pictures than cause trouble with the neighbor girls. I had moments of the trouble, don't get me wrong but they were small infractions compared to others I guess. I was also a kid who did her homework at recess. I read books during the summer and did practice book reports. The label weird kid is more apt don't you think? I don't know what it was I just wanted to be good. Unless somebody pissed me off then I wanted to ruin them but that's another tale.



In my 30's after my life fell apart with my divorce I realized that this perfection thing was a lot of f*ing hard work with not the best in returns and I decided to let it go. The idea of perfection is wonderful, but to attempt to live in that space is horrible. I still fight it a good deal. The not wanting to fail thing. It's a giant struggle of mine to be ok with failure.

I find that my outside person doesn't display this as well and this title still follows me around and appears when I'm least expecting it. Such as Thanksgiving with friends and someone pulled out a game.

did I tell you I don't do games? I don't.



The reason I don't do games is that I'm not very good at them. I don't know the answers quickly ever, I can't add to save my life, and lord help me if you ask me to spell something. I reluctantly played the game [and blatantly cheated I might add] and my friend yelled at the table "oh my gawd she's not perfect!"and what I wanted to scream was "I'm not perfect. please don't call me that". It's what I want to say any time someone uses that word directed at me.

If I might, will you just indulge me in a moment of non-perfect barfing? here are just some of my many short falls: I leave water glasses all over my house. At any one time there are 2-4 in my bedroom alone. I leave my laundry in the dryer for as long as I can. My poor roomie is left to schelp my undies out to the couch a number of times a month. I use to be organized but my desk looks like a hurricane set down. My car looks like a homeless person lives in it, wrappers clothes etc. it's a sad state. I hate cleaning out the fridge - as you might guess there are science projects growning as we speak. Lastly, because I don't want to bore you but I just unloaded my dishwasher for the first time in oh... 6 months. I just left the dishes in because I didn't want to unload them.

wooah. monumental right? not very exciting I know, but it makes me feel better, just knowing, that you know, that I'm not perfect.


the photos? they are perfection via my friend Gyslain Yarhi He's a French photographer don't you know? The French, they are perfect, that I'm sure of.