Food Therapy Friday: The Village Bakery

One of my goals this year is to try a new restaurant every week if we can. Just one of those little things that keep life exciting and the relationship fresh, y'know?

And then I want to share some of my favorite finds - and favorite go-to's in LA - with you.

This week, I'm talking about a forgotten fave - The Village Bakery & Cafe in Atwater Village. It has a nice low key and neighborhood bakery feel, with an amazing bread and baked goods (including mini pies!) selection. It also has delicious egg breakfasts served all day and tons of lunch options. Kind of wish this were walking distance from me - but it's the perfect place for an unpretentious weekend brunch.

Meet Penny

Meet Penny Danger, a sweet ragamuffin of a kitten who found herself in my basement with her four siblings, and now has her own room inside our house as the newest member of our family. She still loves tiny shoe boxes though.

I never thought I would ever have a cat, but Ryan loves cats, and I love Ryan, and he has let me have three dogs - so we are going to keep the kitten. Any advice about kitten-raising would be deeply appreciated - toys, treats, how to discourage her from scratching my newly reupholstered chairs...

It's Only A Paper Moon

Take a peek over at my daily drawing project, Ann Draws Daily. There are a bunch of new drawings on there - I'm back on it!

You Know, You Really Are . . . Fantastic

Last week I worked on this Mrs. Fox illustration for Wes Anderson week at Ten Paces and Draw's Character Redesign project. While working on the piece, I watched the movie again and really, it's so magical. I wish I had this apple dress!

And speaking of Wes Anderson, have you seen Moonrise Kingdom? From Jessica Hische's lettering for the titles to Suzy's pink Peter Pan collared dress and basket purse for her kitten (I need one for Penny), I think it's my favorite of his to date.

Champagne for my real friends

I love these old fashioned coupe champagne glasses - I'm going to start collecting them both for my bar collection and for our wedding.

Weddings are a funny thing, I've been reluctant to start the ball on it since I had been anticipating so many huge things have happening this year, but now that I have that's all I hear myself talking about. Stop me if you've heard this one before. No, seriously.

Have a Donut

So a couple weeks ago it was National Donut Day. And if I had been a more prepared illustrator, I would have had this donut ready for you.

As it turns out, life has been pretty busy this month - between nailing down a wedding venue (not yet), adopting a new kitten, and flying to Rhode Island to attend the Illustration Conference, I haven't even had the time to change the lightbulb in my studio that burned out over a week ago. Literally sitting here by the light of two desk lamps.

Excuse the meanderiness of this post, basically it's to say - here, have a donut and forgive my absentee blogging lately. I promise to be better for the rest of the month.

Tote Bags!

I'm happy to share the launch of a tote bag collection I worked on with Jess LC! It was one of the projects I was working on earlier this year that I couldn't wait to share. The tote bags come in three silkscreened designs - Just Keep Swimming in a hot pink goldfish, Find the Silver Lining in a silver rain cloud, and Make Lemonade in a bright yellow lemon. They're the perfect summer bag - I can't wait to tote the large one out to the beach!

You can get one for yourself right here.

Photos from Makeunder My Life.

Sunday Style Section: Short Shorts

Last weekend Ryan & I and our friends went to Cinespia - which really pops the cork on summer. We had an amazing picnic & watched Sabrina, one of my favorites.

Audrey Hepburn looked so chic in her plaid shirt and short shorts while riding around in Humphrey Bogart's boat, that I think I'm going to have to adopt her look for my summer weekends to come.