Here it’s been suuuuper rainy! And freezing cold. Pounding wind & rain has woken me up almost every night this week! But wouldn’t ya know it, tonite – albeit a warm(er) night than we’ve had – people are sitting outside of cafe’s, enjoying the brisk San Francisco air.
I myself am wearing two long sleeve shirts, and have to go to sleep with my socks on (which I usually have to take off at like 4am).
I think it’s time to pull out the electric blanket.
will be hearing me speak on Friday. I’ve agreed to speak to 2 or 3 classes at Albany High about my profession, etc… I’m really looking forward to it!
I’m so excited.. Saturday Rick & I are going down to the San Jose Museum of Art. There’s 2 things showing there that I want to see, and actually have been wanting to hit that museum for awhile now!
Yoshitomo Nara: Nothing Ever Happens and Art of Zines 04
Jem, do you want to join us?
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Speaking of arts and Jem… She joined me for the Stich & Bitch / Crafty Girls Night over at Becca’s the other night! yay!
We had fun creating while we ate wine and cheese and I even got up & told the funny story about how Kazoo “has his way” with my teddy bear, Pudding (I have it on video, I just need to get it digitized! Wait till you see, it’s disturbing and HILARIOUS)
Most of the girls worked on their knitting, but I brought a whole drawer full of stuff to get down all crafty-like: Paints, brushes, paper, pens, pencils AND this felt, thread, etc that I bought wanting to experiment w/ the idea of making some of my characters into stuffed animals.
My Drawer-o-Craft (umm, also with my 2 non-matching socks :) the blue striped one is my monkey sock, but I lost the other one – but I still wear it cuz I love it so)
First I started to paint. Which, as I’ve remarked before is kind of difficult for me. I’m so used to doing quick sketches and I love the fine line of pen.. not to mention the UNDO key :), but I’ve really been having the URGE to paint. I think I just haven’t found my technique yet. So I’m willing to try!!
I did 2 small pieces… one where I played with painting the background and then using pen on top. The pressure of such a finished piece weighs on me though. I mean, I just have to get used to doing a ton… and not being so nervous about messing up. I’m so used to doodling like crazy – and then often I take my doodles; scan them in; and clean them up all handily on ze computer, so it makes it easy to “tweak the foot that came out looking really odd”, see Exibit A :)
This is part of a rocker chic series I’ve started to doodle out… I have a bunch in my sketch book, so I thought i’d try it on a painting. I’m looking forward to doing more.
I tried to paint the monkey on my business cards, but as you can see I ran out of room – and overall I don’t really like how it came out, but it was an exercise in painting the fills first & then outlining it at the end:
Wow! I just realized I forgot his tail! haha – I didn’t have the card in front of me, I was going off of memory.
I only did a few paitings before I sorta got tired of them not turning out the way I want and decided I wanted to spend some time doing some sewing with the felt I brought. I have all different colors which is fun! Bummer was I forgot the stuffing, so I kinda made do just to sew a little and play with the felt anyway.
As you can see, I was focused on making monkeys:
Since I didn’t have stuffing, I just sewed him on another piece of felt… but I had to give him a belly, so I stuffed scraps of felt in there :)
I haven’t sewn probably since Home Ec in Junior High, so it was just cool to sew!
I still want to give him ears. And I plan to use my stuffing next time and make a real stuffed character! :)
::: Jem’s Art
Jem brought pastel oils (? I think that’s what they’re called… they’re very crayon-like) and created a magnificent portrait of me painting!
I love how fantastic my hair looks (I could only wish for a natural flip!) and overall she really did a great job!!! Thanks Jem!!
“Glass of Wine” by Jem Fanvu
She then ran out of things to draw… so she drew a rendition of my painting:
Monkey Fever!!!
Overall it was a fun night and we both met some cool new girls. Becca’s decided to have them once a week now, but Jem & I will have to miss next week’s cuz we’ll be at Interpol/Secret Machines show (yay!!).
motovader.
moatavater.
motivhater
motivator.
Photos from our trip to Denver/Michelle’s Wedding have been posted! This is one of my favorites of Rick & I all dressed up:
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P.S. The necklace I’m wearing was made by my friend Nicki. She’s just getting started with her own jewelry business and custom made me a beautiful necklace specifically to match this dress!! Those of you on my mailing list* may remember seeing the business cards I designed for her. I did a Custom Illustration of her and the Nicki Designs logo! View Nicki Designs Business Cards
*Since I’m bad about updating my portfolio, I usually send out updates to direct links via my mailing list. This is a good example of that – it’s not in my portfolio yet, but those on the list saw it already… so, sign up if you’re interested in occasional updates such as this! Thanks!
By the way – my friend Aimee, who went to school in Steamboat with me till about 7th grade, posted our grade school class photos. They’re hilarious – check em out & check out her blog, too! She’s a funny girl.
I had sort of suspected I might need my wacom tablet (which allows me to use a pen to draw directly into the computer and is easier to maneuver to clean up lines on illustrations, etc), and I did miss it – so next time I need to have that with me or be at home with my full set up so I can have access to my scanner too.
Without it, all I could really do was work with what I had on my hard drive already. Which wasn’t a problem – but it definitely made me yearn to create new! And yet I think it was also good to finally work with the stuff I have created already. So, I spent a good chunk of time preparing a bunch of images to upload to cafepress.com – where I plan to put some of my illustrations on products to test out which ones I like/what you all like, etc.
Overall my “creative session” was good, but a lot of questions came to my mind: Why am I doing this? Are people going to buy this? Do I need a story to go with my illustrations? Should I have text on there too? Are these too simple? Do I need to clean them (the illustrations) up more? Should these be colored in or is a simple b&w line OK? Ok for who? :) Lots of questions came up!
A big part of why I want to do products is that I’d like to see my art more tangible. I love the web, but I want to touch the things I create. I want to make stuffed animals, and paint, and see my illustrations embroidered or stitched onto fabrics.
But I also find that part of me wants my artwork to sometimes be *more* than it is. (borderline on that “is it good enough” questioning) ….So in one way I felt it was good yesterday was just about looking through what I’ve already done and do something with that… not pushing it to the side and constantly thinking something “better” will come, but giving voice to the works I’ve already created and allowing them to come forth first.
However, that said – I’m looking forward to having my creative sessions be all about opening up the space for new!! That’s one thing I keep saying about making more time for my creativity – is the more time I give it – the more it can grow and find itself (authenticity).
Tomorrow night I even have another creative session at my friend Becca’s house! I think this time I’ll take some of this felt material I bought to play with the stuffed animals (out of my characters) idea, as well as my paints – since a part of me is just needing to paint big time!! (even though I really don’t know how! :)
I never told you guys how rockin the Eagles of Death Metal show was last weekend! I didn’t even get around to talking about how great it was to see my friend Drew, his wife and kiddo in Denver – or about how beautiful my friend Michelle’s wedding was and how much she absolutely cracked me up all night as she shook her thing and lip-synched to all the songs the DJ’s played, all in her beautiful white wedding dress, no less!
So we’ll start w/ Friday night:
Drew’s like a brother to me – and, just like my real brother, we both share the love for partyin!! So Friday night beers, margaritas and shots went down easy , and we even managed to find ourselves in a hour + long political discussion! Which really, unless Drew had said he was voting for Kerry, it probably wouldn’t have lasted that long – but the discussion was started and it didn’t end until we’d all said our peace, debated about the facts, I effusively expressed my opinions on the importance of a Democratic vote in terms of Women’s Reproductive rights (which his wife whole heartedly agreed!), and then *finally* we had to all agree there was only 5 minutes left and then finally changed the subject. :)
(last) Saturday was quick, after sleeping in a little, breakfast and then a quick shoe shopping adventure to get me some pink shoes for my head-to-toe pink outfit (wait till you see!), checking into the other hotel, getting ready and flying off to the wedding (making it just in time!!).
The wedding was held in Denver’s Cheesman Park Pavilion, and they couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful sunny warm day! It was so good to see Michelle afterwards that we both started crying… and then I expressed how excited I was to party with her at the reception. haha!
The reception was fun and after I managed to spill a practically full cosmo on my dress (pink! how appropriate!), we had dinner and then hit the dance floor! I know a few of Michelle’s friends, but got to meet a lot more – and got to see her Mom, Dad & brother all of which I hadn’t seen in 10+ years! Her Dad is an absolute DOLL. Oh my God he’s so sweet! And also in her wedding was a girl I grew up with in Steamboat, Samantha Roberts… so it was cool to see her and her little brother, too – who is not so little anymore, he’s totally a grown man now! So cool to see people so many years later.
Anyway – we partied the night away, dancing at the reception – and then Michelle & Aaron even invited all their friends back to their sweet ass suite at the Brown Palace (costs over $500/night!!) where we all hung out a little more, even though since we’d all been drinking for 6 hours by then I think the party faded fast.
The next morning we slept in, packed it up & got on our flight, got off & then drove home from the San Jose airport (after which we went directly to Guitar Center to pick up the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s guitar tabs book for Rick. aww yaaa… ) So by the time each of us got home we had a little time to check email, (me) snuggle my fuzzy pants kazoobie, and then take a shower before we headed out to the show: Eagles of Death Metal at Cafe Du Nord – with Eric Shea’s band Parchman Farm opening!!
We both thought we might be draggin by Sunday night, after 2 solid nights of partying.. but instead we actually had the best time!!!! We were supposed to meet Ajax and Kat there (Kat the Crippler all the way from Toronto!!!) but the Slutschool instructor became SnotSchool, and apparently fell asleep early that night in a allergic stuffed up stupor from their trip to wine country and totally FLAKED ON US! P*shaw! You’re lucky I love you, girl. :) But really, as I told her we had SUCH a great time that night that it was really just sad she missed it!!
Parchman Farm was fantastic – they opened the night up right, bringin us all back to the HEART of rock, and we all just found ourselves smiling and movin to the music… seriously sweeeet!!! And awesome to meet Eric in person after only knowing him from the list where he writes hilarious emails. He’s so nice!
The middle band sucked IMO. One too many tatoo’s and that SoCal sound that just seems like it’s trying to hard to be cool – so we sat that out & had a shot of fernet.
Eagles of Death Metal finally came on & they were TOTALLY fun!! I really wasn’t sure how it was going to be at Cafe Du Nord, but it was perfect. It’s so intimate so if you’re up front (which of course, we were) then you’re able to be right there with the musicians… and the lead singer is SUCH a character that it made for the funnest night. He had a very funny schtick saying “Let’s hear it for the ladies!” and right off the bat once they started playing, the crowd just let loose and had a GREAT time – it was awesome.
We rocked it out in the front with the raucous crowd, watched ladies dance on stage (which sometimes I can’t stand the whole invite girls on stage, but this was funny!) and I loved it because I just felt like everyone was FEELIN IT and having SUCH a great time. It was awesome. We came out sweaty and with big smiles on our faces!!
Their whole CD is so fun – check it out if you haven’t already.
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OK, so back to my “creative work”. :) I’ll upload photos tomorrow probably… have a good night!
Lastnight my friend Elana had a night free of hubby & the kids and so we got to hang out for awhile! I already had plans with Rick to hit a show later, so Elana & I met for dinner in the Marina (a good compromise location wise since she lives in Mill Valley) and ate at a really yummy Greek food restaurant called, Mezes. Her & David had actually gone on their honeymoon years back to Turkey & Greece – so she was really excited to eat some of the authentic food they loved and practically lived on during those weeks there. She’s really excited to take David there now – and I’m excited to take Rick there, since he’s the biggest lover of Turkish & Greek food, too!
After dinner I picked up Rick and we hit a show at the Fillmore: Old 97’s. I used to be a fan of theirs probably 10 years back, and Rick plays a lot of their stuff on guitar – so we thought it’d be fun to check em out.
We got right up front, which was awesome – since the last couple Fillmore shows we’ve been to have been really packed – or if we are up front, it gets so crazy or the moshpits break out so hard we soon end up back in our old comfy spot of off stage right (conveniently near the bar)
The first couple songs were fun, but I have to admit I got bored. That and this fan was blowing right on me – so I just wanted to move. I wanted Rick to stay up there & enjoy it though, as he was hoping to hear Time Bomb and wanted to be front row if they did play it.
I hung back, ran into the drummer from Replicator and chatted w/ him a bit about their Halloween show coming up at the Hemlock – and about my drumming (or lack thereof for practicing I should say).
Rick & I hung back and watched some of the encore songs and then called it a night.
After getting back to my house Rick made one of his super amazing grilled creations. You may remember my skillz in the area of sandwich making with melted cheese and all the fixins? Well, this is truly yet another area of how Rick & I are *made* for eachother because the man never ceases to amaze me in his late night melted heavenly creations!! :)
Lastnight he put in toast with mayo, grilled chicken strips (I had leftover from a salad), and then melted the cheese on that. mmmmm!!!
The other night he did sliced up (Claussin!) pickles under the cheese and THAT was amazing!
The best part is even though while he’s making it and asking me if I want one, and I’m all “no, no I’m fine”… or the night of the pickle-melt creation I opted for only toast w/ butter… that he doesn’t get mad and instead openly shares his yummy melted creation with me after I realize it’s. so. incredibly. amazing. I. must. have. another. bite! :) he’s such a good honey.
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So today Rick & I had planned to take a “creative day” together. Meaning, all the things we keep saying we’re going to put time towards, today we’re going to set aside a couple hours and DO THEM!!! So we lazed around this morning, and then had a TASTY breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast joints: Just for You – and then headed over to this cafe to work on our respective projects.
I even have another creative evening set up on Monday night over at my friend Rebecca’s! I’m looking forward to getting in the swing of dedicating more time to my creative ventures (putting my illustrations on products, painting, etc) and see what comes of it.
Tonite it’s movie night – we might hit the Parkway in the East Bay & then go over to Graham & Pat’s show @ Cafe Van Kleef in Berkeley… but we’ll see if we even get our arses over to the East Bay – funny how it seems like such a treck and it really doesn’t take long to get over the bridge once we end up going.
Tomorrow I’ll be working to get a head start on the week, but I’m feeling great. I’m soo happy in my life right now!!
I finally called Crucial today regarding this RAM issue and the guy was SOO nice.
I ordered the right RAM, it just may be that these sticks aren’t working out, so we’re going to give it another try and they’re going to send me out some new sticks and we’ll try those!!
I do think crucial has really good parts, it just might take a 2nd time. We’ll see.
Anyway – good customer service is just delightful!! And then there’s Buy.com who you should NEVER. EVER. buy from. They’ll screw you and take your money! But in the meantime they’ll send you these overly apologetic “we’re so on top of it” type of emails… and then all of a sudden you realize it’s been another 3 WEEKS and you haven’t heard from the f*ckers. grrr. Can you tell I just got shafted by Buy.com? Let’s just hope I hear from them some time soon!! I just want a damn refund at this point. I can’t honestly believe they can run their business SO SHADY!
Ok, done venting. I’m back on my original RAM now, so let’s hope I don’t get any more of that spontaneously shut down or freeze/crashing on this!
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P.S. Speaking of customer service I just had to deal w/ a TiVO return – and although it was relatively painless once I got on the phone w/ the guy, I couldn’t believe how many times I got transferred, told to call a different number, transferred again, told it was actually the other number, then their systems were down, then they transferred me again, then they asked me some questions, then they transferred me again, asked me the same questions I’d been asked 5 times! Jeesh! Make it really hard for the customer to get a refund – that’s the way to do it! :) But in the end they were nice and I’m grateful I have the option of returning it.
