Featured in the Providence Journal

Hey check it out!– Our wedding was featured in the Providence Journal (also known as the Projo around these parts,) in a section about DIY Weddings.  We got interviewed and everything. Was not expecting a full page in color though. Sweet!

And, as always, special thanks to Li Ward from Fat Orange Cat Studios, for the gorgeous wedding photos!

Working Wednesdays: Live Animal Study in Providence

Have you ever been to the RISD nature lab? If not, you’re in for a treat:

Live Animal Study: A Children’s Book Illustrator’s Workshop
Date: Sunday, February 26, 2012
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Place: The Edna Lawrence Nature Lab, 13 Waterman Street, Providence, RI 02903
Admission: FREE

Bring your sketchbooks, pencils, and light painting supplies and enjoy a rare opportunity to study a handful of live exotic (and some not-so-exotic) animals up close and personal!

RISPCA Humane Educator Laurelin Sitterly will present on each creature’s basic anatomy, movement, and habits that will be sure to inspire you and provide a wealth of knowledge for your animal-themed book projects. Taxidermy and skeletal models will also be available to examine, courtesy of RISD’s Edna Lawrence Nature Lab.

This is an event to gather inspiration from the animal world, practice your craft amidst an active environment, meet your fellow SCBWI illustrators, and benefit from a critique of your day’s efforts by your peers.

RSVP by February 17, 2012 : complete the registration form and send it back as an e-mail attachment.

Coordinated by the talented (and fellow crit group member) Christina Rodriguez. Thanks for putting this together Christina! (and for using my animal sketches on the flyer!)

I hear spots are filling up fast, so register asap!

Snow Day

We got our first real snow all winter the other night.

I took some photos on our morning walk and romp in the dog park.

What a happy girl.

Other members of our household enjoy snow days a whole other way:

Cooking without a recipe

Do you use a recipe when you cook? It seems there are two types of cooks: those who wing it and those who adhere religiously to recipes. I like to wing it. (And it almost always works.) (The one exception is baking. I {mostly} stick to recipes then.)

I know it’s annoying to some of my friends when they ask for the recipe to whatever and I answer um…do this and this, then add a little bit of this until it tastes good. (Or like last week, when I had friends over, and I kept trying to add stuff that wasn’t in the recipe. Oops.)

I love to cook. Which is great because I love to eat. We make 85% (more?) of our meals from “scratch” at home. Cooking is fun and mostly stress free, probably for several reasons, but one, that I hadn’t considered until recently, is that I rarely use a recipe.

I spotted a write up on Tamara Adler’s cookbook, An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace, on the NY Times “Well” blog. The article is entitled, A Recipe for Simplifying Life: Ditch All the Recipes and I thought Yes! That’s it.  Not following a recipe to the letter is so key to easy, every day, cooking. (Well, for me anyways.)

Has anyone read her book? There’s a crazy waiting list for it at our library, so I think I’ll just order it.  Among other things, she advises roasting and preparing all your veggies right after you buy them. Then you have food ready that’s easy to combine for yummy meals:

This is my 2nd week working this way, and so far it’s really great. I love the idea of preparing everything in one big batch ahead of time. We’ve eaten a TON of veggies.

(And did you spot how pretty her fridge looked? gah! That’s something to shoot for…)

In related news for all you Providence locals, check out the lovely grocery store Fertile Underground! They now have regular hours and are constantly adding yummy things to their stock.

 

All images credit Tamara Adler’s site

Happy Thanksgiving!

We’re off to my parent’s house, salted turkey and assorted goodies in tow!  I’ve recovered from my cold that’s knocked me off my feet for the last few days, and in the nick of time, managed to get a good chunk of work done anyway. Relatives from my mom’s side of the family, G’s parents and brother, and my brothers will be joining us soon. I hope you all have a wonderful, snuggly, yummy, day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

PS. I took that photo in the Adirondacks, at the Falling Leaves picture book workshop I went to a few weekends ago. Gorgeous, right?

Scary Movie Update

An update on the scary movie outing.

I survived.

You were right, Fright Night was not so scary.  I think watching True Blood has dulled my fear of anything blood+vampires.  As expected, it didn’t quite live up the original. G was not impressed. He actually fell asleep soon after, during the beginning of  Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark.

I thought about driving home, but then stubbornly watched the whole darn thing. All alone. (-Obviously not counting my snoring husband, the dog in the back and the hundreds of other cars there.)

I am happy to say, my second-grade-self, and I, are now not afraid of little goblins who like to kidnap small children.

So there.

Photo by michigandriveins, on Flickr

Going to the Drive-In

 

We’re headed to the Drive-In tonight for the 2nd time this summer! Yeah, we’re gonna sneak in before we get slapped with a hurricane tomorrow. And because I’m really brave, and a super nice wife, we’re going to see Fright Night and Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark.

I do not watch scary movies.

Well, I like thrillers, but anything horror? No thank you. When I was pretty young (second grade?) I slept over a friend’s house and for some reason they let us watch two terrifying films. I remember her older brother and parents laughing, and peeking out from my sleeping bag, I was completely baffled. This was not funny stuff. In hindsight, I’m sure they were super cheesey, but growing up in a tv-free household I was not equipped to deal with movie monsters of any kind. I never knew what the films were, but they haunted me for years. Seriously, I can’t get into a lake without picturing a swamp monster. People have said that one was probably Swamp Thing, or something. But the one with little grey people, who were really angry, and mean for no apparent reason, and weirdly strong? Not a clue.

Needless to say, I never saw Fright Night growing up, and so am lacking the fond memories that make watching the remake interesting and desirable. G is very excited. (And did I mention how great of a wife I am?) I also figure watching it in our car outside, with a bunch of other people around, and my dog in the back seat to protect me, all will be well.

So in the spirit of gearing up for tonight, I did a bit of research to see what I was getting into:  Mean vampires, check. Haunted house…fine.  Little gremlin people in said house that steel…Wait. WHAT-the??

I now have a sneaking suspicion that the 1973, Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark tv movie is one of two films that forever damaged my fragile childhood psyche.

But I’m too scared to watch the trailer and find out.

Food on a bus

Yesterday morning we had a breakfast meeting at Julian’s to learn more about using their fancy new double decker food bus for our rehearsal dinner.  You can’t really tell here, but there are tables on the top level.  That would be pretty cool right?  We’ll see…

Kitty humor+ Illustration Competitions

Your bathroom sink comes with one of these too, right?

You may remember Hudson from this photo.  Need I mention his love of bathrooms?  Anyways.

One of my goals for the year is to enter some competitions.  The deadline for the first one I’m looking at, PEN New England Children’s Book Caucus’12th Annual Children’s Book Caucus Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award, (yep quite the mouthful,) is fast approaching: February 1st.  I’m going to try to get a final manuscript of the new story idea I’m working on and some sample illustrations done, but if not I’ll just submit my illustration work.

I’m working on compiling a list of other ones through out the year.  Any recommendations?

Tis a gift to be simple…

Here’s a rough sketch of an illustration I just finished for Time Out New York magazine.

Other than that I’ve been working on knocking things off my monthly goal list, as well as some Christmas-y things.

My immediate family is considering “simplifying”  gifts this year.  We’re  in the process of deciding what exactly that means– no gifts? just stockings? a price limit?  donations in lieu of gifts?– but I think we’re moving in a nice direction.  We’re all grownup pretty much– my youngest brother is twenty– and everyone seems to be interested in less stuff lately– either in the interest of pairing down in general, or because of near-future moves.

I love to buy gifts, but I tend to be a little insane about it.  I get caught up in needing to find the perfect gift.  It starts out as fun, but it can turn stressful towards the end.  I think a simpler take on things, might open up the holiday for us.  Leave more room for enjoying each other and the season.

Which is what I’m looking forward to this weekend.  Getting a tree, decorating, some gift making, some baking… our apartment smelling  yummy…hot apple cider.