Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Ruby by Francesca Lia Block & Carmen Staton
Francesca Lia Block was my favorite author when I was in middle school; she was the reason I fell in love with Los Angeles and wrote all those novellas. Before falling in love with Esquivel's Like Water For Chocolate, Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude and Borges' short stories, there was Weetzie Bat. Even though it was published in 1989, a short decade later it still transformed the urban landscape for me.
But honestly, all her work after that has been about the same story of sexually abused girls and boys grown up, all told in a dreadfully cliche or over-romanticized to the point of caricature style. I might even venture to say Ruby was one of the worst, since its synopsis presents a thinly disguised Orlando Bloom fanfic. The only reason I even picked it up was because it was on the new stacks at the library; otherwise I would have continued to bypass it all together. Maybe it's for the better if I don't read any more of her work; maybe it's better that I just keep the postmodern fairytale of my adolescence alive.Labels: books
Monday, July 30, 2007
Lace & Letters
Last week I finally set up the sewing machine my parents gave me for Christmas. It's a bit of a toy machine, which I totally love, though it has all the serious parts (quilting foot, button foot!). I sewed up two 32" x 32" pillowcases for the mismatching pillows on the futon. They were a hand-me-down from Ryan's old apartment, and no longer matched our new combined furniture -- so they needed new outfits! I was so happy to find this pale blue lace patterned fabric at JoAnn's! As much as I love pouring over the fabrics at ReproDepot, there is a pleasure in the tactile experience of shopping (and not paying shipping!).
Another great pleasure, a nice big stack of library books -- mostly children's books and two novels by two of my favorite authors (Francesca Lia Block & Aimee Bender). It feels like shopping, but then I get to take them back when I'm done. You see the genius in that? It means I don't have to move them. Ahhh, luxury.Labels: arts+crafts, books
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Olvera Street
Since we haven't really seen Los Angeles since moving here last September, we're spending our weekends bunkered in the city really enjoying all the color and flavor that high rents and heavy traffic afford you!
We went to Olvera Street and Chinatown in between scouting out neighborhoods for the pending apartment move. Olvera Street was so ripe with colors and chock full of Mexican tourist kitsch tchotchkes. The colors are just SO vibrant, it's almost overload for all your rods (or cones, I can't remember which sees color).
On a side note, I really love the Not For Tourists (NFT) guidebooks; they really help you adjust in your first year living in any place. How else would you know to park at the Hollywood & Highland complex for $2 instead of in the clusterfuck stacked parking dirt lots for $15 when going to the Hollywood Bowl?Labels: losangeles
Friday, July 27, 2007
It's Only A Paper Moon
I love the color combination of these potatoes sitting there together, like they're gossiping. Do I sound like I'm losing it? Let's just say I'm so glad it is the weekend; let it be a weekend of peaceful apartment hunting, lovely domesticity, and productive art-making. Let it be a weekend to love being a hermit in my own little world.Labels: domestic goddess, foodie call
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Homeopathic Cure for the Caterpillars
For those of you who are finding the site by searching "getting rid of caterpillars in my garden", here's a tip I picked up from the plant lady at the farmer's market: make a mixture of 2 tbsp. of dish soap, a smidge of olive oil and a dash of Tabasco sauce with 95% water in a spray bottle. After washing affected leaves and branches, mist your plant with the spray 2-to-3 times a week.
I haven't actually tried it out for myself yet, but once I get my hands on a spray bottle I definitely will. Fortunately since mint is such a parasitic-like perennial, little sprouts are already shooting out.
And for fun, here are the hydrangeas (my favorite!) growing outside my window:
I love the tea-stained color the petals become towards their end days.Labels: domestic goddess
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Skirting the Summer
Hello, friends! There have been a couple reasons I have been missing the last few days, most of which enumerate to:
(a) Reading: my reading speed has multiplied tenfold since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and I'm running with the momentum while it's still here. I've also finished On Beauty by Zadie Smith early this week. It was great and witty in the beginning, one of the hippest books I've read, but then it lost itself cloying for meaning in its (honestly, tired) themes and I found myself completely disinterested and feeling no empathy or connection with any of the characters. Which raises the question: is it more important to have beautiful prose with a shallow plot, or clunky prose with an intricate plot? Is writing as an art sometimes disregarded for the Intriguing-Tried-and-True Plot? By the looks of the bread & butter of the publishing world (mystery novels, romance novels), the answer is yes.
(b) Finding a primary care physician. I think that's enough said.
(c) Sewing! I set up my sewing machine last night and stitched together two pillowcases (32" x 32") to match the two haphazard pillows on the futon. Pictures to come. Up next may be a skirt out of Sew U.
(d) Apartment hunting.
I think most of my non-updating is attributed to the fact that I feel like I should come armed with illustrative photos of my life and work-in-progress. What made me suddenly so threatened by just plain words? It's always been so good to tune into what other people are thinking; it's time to feel that way again.Labels: books
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Little Red Riding Hood <3s UFO Books
Finished up this painting on Friday night while waiting to go to the HP midnight release -- I call it Little Red Riding Hood Loves UFO Books.Labels: arts+crafts, artsy girl
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows
I resisted spoilers for months, we went at midnight, we were out the parking lot by 12:30am, I kept Ryan up until 5am because the light was still on and it was only due to his increasing protest that I turned it off, and despite the fact that I woke up with a migraine this morning, 759 pages later I came to the end of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows within 24 hours.
What a relief it is to finally be able to use the internet!
Thoughts?Labels: books
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Work in Progress/Life in Progress
Painting I started working on tonight for a friend.
Amazing piece bought off of Etsy.Labels: artsy girl, covet, photolog, work in progress
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The Lovely Rosemary
I bought a bushel of rosemary at the Farmer's Market today, along with a bag of other vegetables, for a ratatouille tonight. The trouble with herbs is that you never need the whole thing at once, so instead of letting them wilt I hung a bundle to dry in the kitchen and stuck the rest in a small glass jar with water. Instant kitchen table centerpiece and rosemary herbs to cook with later.
Perhaps I'll make the Rosemary Loaf Cake in How To Be A Domestic Goddess. I love that cookbook; I've been reading it like a novel lately. The only disappointing thing is that there are barely any photographs of the food.
Also, here is a hand drawn/colored concept I did for the book cover assignment in the Illustrator class:
I like the girl-in-a-bottle concept so much I think I'm going to do a painting of it tonight.Labels: domestic goddess
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I Hate The Hungry Caterpillar.
Yesterday evening, I came home from work to discover that my little new mint plant had been chewed to the bone! I haven't even had an opportunity to take pictures of the little guy, who I brought home no more than two weeks ago from the Farmer's Market. I did get an opportunity to use his leaves for the Mint Lemonade I made on 4th of July, but there will be no more of that in the foreseeable future (at least from my plant). Shocked, I immediately suspected the squirrel -- he probably got too comfortable in my front porch as we sporadically left apple slices, nuts and bread outside for him. But then Ryan pointed to a minuscule green blob resting on one of the branches, still suckling on what was left of the sweet lush mint leaves, and I almost THREW UP.
CATERPILLARS. I HATE CATERPILLARS. They are NOT the cute fun curious creatures in children's books. They are disgusting big green blobs that RAPIDLY munch through your otherwise happy little garden. One was attached to my window screen, no doubt hoping to suckle at the sweet leaves of my indoor plants! Flashbacks came of big fat juicy caterpillars eating the tomato plants in my grandmother's garden, taking hearty bites out of the summer harvest -- I HATE THE HUNGRY CATERPILLAR! I was so physically ill with the idea of caterpillars outside my house that I actually went to class even though I wasn't planning to from being so exhausted from work these past two weeks.
Yes yes yes, I know, have respect for all living creatures blah blah blah. I can only do so much, and my limit of caring only extends as far as being vegetarian, adopting pets and vegan baking -- it stops at bugs, insects, creepy crawly things that make up the largest population of living species on earth.
I hope they don't find hydrangea plants appealing, because I will be piiiiiiissed if they eat my favorite plant. I'm leaving well enough alone that Ryan moved the vile creatures to an undisclosed location, and I'm hoping due to the resilient (read: parasitic) nature of the mint plant, he will easily recover. Although I will never eat a mint leaf from that plant again as it's been touched by the bulging bellies of its predator. Any pest control/gardening tips will be very well appreciated.Labels: things i hate
Monday, July 16, 2007
Lying On The Floor Music
I'll Be Your Umbrella
I don't think I ever posted the finished version of my first acrylic painting that I mentioned briefly earlier this month. The girl turned out real nicely, but the boy looks a little tweaked out. As it turns out, acrylics don't really blend as well (if at all) as oils do. But they appeal to my impatient sense, and I can quickly finish a painting within a day or two, whereas the oil painting I started at the same time is still awaiting the drying of the under-painting.
You might also notice that the soundtrack for July is updated, finally. I'm always between great dance floor at a dive bar music and Saturday night songs you listen to lying on the floor of your apartment. I love both so so much. And I am SO excited for Rilo Kiley's new album, Under The Blacklight dropping on August 21.Labels: artsy girl, musicbox
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Sew Excited!
Here is some of my loot from Felt Club today, a combination of purchased goods & goody bag treats. I was so excited about the event that last night I had not one, but THREE, dreams about going. Every time I fell asleep I had another dream, so I finally got up at 8:30am and spent some time apartment hunting online. We got there early enough to get one of the goody bags, and they did not disappoint. The morning was terribly crowded and hot, but by afternoon (we came back after some lunch plans with my family), it was manageable. I picked up some stationary and pins from BoyGirlParty and that adorable felt owl pin from Dandy Brand. The best part might be talking to all the artists and crafters about their lifestyle and educational backgrounds. I'm so on the fence between doing the art/illustration thing on my own and going to art school. The best advice was probably from Jordan Crane (who majored in Engineering at USC, btw) -- he said that the best kept secret about art is "to just keep doing it."
I came home, inspired and tired and sweaty, and attempted to "just keep doing it" but it wasn't happening. Do you ever have those days where nothing is turning out right? Maybe I need these days so that I can just read, and absorb, and be passive and let the creativity and art work itself out subconsciously. What do you do when you have creative off days?Labels: arts+crafts
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Squirrels Are Just Rats With Cuter Outfits
Meet Theodore Von Muffling, our friendly neighborhood teenaged squirrel. Ryan decided to sit in the front doorway to feed him almonds, and so afterwards Theodore jumped onto my little plant table outside the window and watched Scoop with us. Yes, he's awfully cute, but after observing him up close, I realized he really is quite a rat with a cuter outfit.
I love Saturdays with no plans, just afternoons spent in the apartment watching our Netflixed DVDs and baking cupcakes.
These are the classic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes, which despite its watery batter turned out to be perfect, rich and spongy. I used the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World (highly recommended!). For the frosting, I used Magnolia's Vanilla Buttercream recipe, but with soy milk and SmartBalance non-hydrogenated margarine, Emily's secret of adding a teaspoon of cinnamon, and my personal flourish of a teaspoon of almond extract.Labels: domestic goddess, foodie call
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Good Things
Though I can't buy anything frivolous for the next two days, I'm still collecting ideas for a bunch of things I love. Online shopping has made it all too easy -- though I would warn you to stay away from cheap clothing retailers like delia*s because I just received a dress this week from them that was poorly constructed. I know I should have known better. But you live and learn. Now here are some things I'm coveting this week:
Cuckoo Clock
Je T'Aime Necklace from Reyney's Etsy shop
Anatomical Heart Pincusion from LoveForever's Etsy shop
Oh Deer Pendant from gNeebo's Etsy shop
Fresh Cream & Lime Earrings from itsyourlife's Etsy shop
Do you feel my love for Etsy yet?
And of course, a good materialistic Good Things list is never complete without a few covetable items from Anthropologie.
Is it bad when you don't think it's that much to pay $68 for a tea serving set modeled after sea urchins? It's SO gorgeous in person. Anyway, it's all online window shopping for now.Labels: covet, fashion love
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The Week of Nothing
Life has been rather chaotic in my corner of the world, as with the more I settle into my job, the more blind sighting things become when they change. Two Fridays ago, I became the only person in charge of my area in the department for the next 5 weeks, effective immediately. That's left a lot of my work day to do detective work as I follow paper trails to figure out how things were done last year for things I need to do this year.
Outside of the stresses of work, there have been about thirty things swirling around in my head -- all things mostly planning for the future and figuring this whole darn life thing out. Deciding where to live when we move in late August/early September and weighing the pros and cons of each neighborhood. It's been a major weight since I'm tired of moving and we're really looking for a place we can make a little home for the next few years. What really aggravates me is what a huge part TRAFFIC factors into where to live. There you have it, Los Angeles.
The second major issue is higher education. To get a BFA in Illustration or not, when to get my MFA in creative writing. I feel like I'm treading water while some of my peers are moving forward with Masters or in their careers. All I know now is my plan of action for the next year and a half: develop an illustration portfolio for both admission and personal freelance work, while taking classes at both Otis & Art Center. As you may have noticed, you're already along for the ride.
While in a crepe shop earlier today, I spotted a flyer for the SB French Festival. Between that and Felt Club XL this weekend, it's probably a good thing that I'm imposing a no-frills-spending week on myself. (Ending this weekend of course, where I will celebrate my good behavior with an armful of cute, handmade goods from Felt Club).Labels: career jar, growing up
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Shaken and Stirred
Ryan & I saw Ratatouille tonight, and it would be fair to say we both loved it. Which summer film could have been more perfect for me -- two of the things I love most in this world: food and Paris! The food was so beautifully rendered and painted, that even in the 3d animated world, it looked absolutely delicious. Prepare yourself a basket full of gruyere, emmental, grapes, wine and a baguette for the picnic you'll crave after this film. In fact, that's what I'm preparing for our next foray out to the Hollywood Bowl for their infamous $1 seats in the summer season.
We saw the Decemberists play with the LA Philharmonic on Saturday night, and sadly forgot our wine and cheese. The guy next to me, however, brought enough pot for all of us. He was even polite enough to offer some. The Decemberists were beautiful live under the stars in the Hollywood hills, and there were many moments where I just looked up and breathed in the only-slightly-smoggy-air, and thought how truly nice it is to live here. They say (I don't know if "they" really say this, but I do know that Summer Pierre does) that the first year of living somewhere is always the worst. With 10 months down, I'm starting to really feel at home.
Now here are some drawings I did in my moleskine that I mentioned earlier.
Caramel Apple Girl
Popsicle Girl
Librarian Girl
Hope you all had a fantastic weekend too, friends!Labels: artsy girl, losangeles
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Not Quite Orange
So I'll be the first to say this isn't quite orange, especially when the color on the pencil read "Poppy Red". But I wanted to share this little card I drew up to send to my aunt for her birthday. I've been drawing a lot of girls like this lately in my moleskine, girls with great hair and sweet treats. Partly because I made an appointment for an informational interview with an admissions officer at Art Center and they told me to bring along my work. Since I have no body of work to speak of, I started a sketchbook of cohesive drawings that reflected my current skill level. But mostly because they're cute and I'm obsessed with thinking about all the different ways I can dress them. It's like an adult way of playing with dolls. That sounds dirty, so I'll stop now.
How are your summers going, friends?Labels: arts+crafts, color week
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
A Very Yellow 4th of July
What is more perfect for a sunny 4th of July day off than a big pitcher of mint lemonade?
It was a perfect opportunity to use these enormous lemons we got from Ryan's brother's house last weekend, and the new mint plant I picked up at the farmer's market! I modified a mint lemonade recipe from MarthaStewart.com.
Not-Quite-Martha Mint Lemonade
1 2/3 cups of fresh squeezed lemon
2 cups of water
2 tablespoons of julienned fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of hot water
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of hot water
1. Juice the lemons until you get 1 2/3 cups -- this was about 3 really large lemons + some concentrated lemon juice I bought at the grocery store for back up.
2. Fill a pitcher half full with ice.
3. Pour in lemon juice and 2 cups of water.
4. In a separate glass, combine sugar and hot water; stir until sugar is dissolved. Add to pitcher.
5. In the same glass, combine honey and hot water; stir until honey is dissolved. Add to pitcher.
6. Toss in that fresh mint, and stir stir stir!
7. Test taste; you'll probably need more sugar.
8. Enjoy yourself and wiggle your toes in the grass while drinking a glass!Labels: color week, domestic goddess, foodie call
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Green Tuesday
Just a brief one image today after my overwhelmingly large red/pink post. It's a centerpiece I scanned from the June issue of Real Simple, I think. I scanned a bunch of magazines for a project yesterday, so I've lost track of it all.
More substantial updates tomorrow, since I have NO WORK and everywhere else will be closed!Labels: color week
Monday, July 02, 2007
Red/Pink Mondays
Since I'm really getting into the vibrant colors of summer, I thought it would be fun to do a Color Week since Kayte at LoveForever is running one. Today's color is Red & Pink, and I took snaps around the studio apartment I now share with Ryan. Kayte manages to find the most amazing spreads and generously shares them with her readers, btw!
My dreamy dark red bed with pink accents.
Sweet card from one of my best friends, Gina.
The Sabrina poster hanging in my walk-through closet. What a dream wardrobe Audrey Hepburn had in this film; even her dowdy girl clothes were adorable when she was up in the tree!
Pink paper lanterns from the flea market hanging in my kitchen.
Okay so I don't have a pet octopus in my apartment, yet, but I couldn't resist sneaking in the shot of this amazing creature that I took when we visited the Aquarium this past weekend. Isn't he so gorgeous?
I wish I had taken some pictures of my pink hydrangeas while the sun was still up, but we walked to the market instead. Just take my word for it, they are SO lovely in full bloom in a little pot my mom gave me!
Green trivia for the day: did you know that hydrangea flowers are pink when the soil's pH level is acidic, white when the soil is neutral and blue when the soil is more basic?Labels: color week, domestic goddess
Sunday, July 01, 2007
I found the perfect red lipstick, via Emily's fashion blog. While I was picking up the usual errand-y stuff at Target (toilet scrubbers, dishwashing liquid), I also picked up a little treat for myself: a tube of L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche lipstick in "Target Red". Because a girl deserves to have a little fun once in awhile, and because it's a small frame of time between old enough to know better and young enough to still rock.
P.S. I finally updated the Archives.Labels: fashion love
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