Mumbles & Squeaks

Right, then.

2009-10-04T15:33:02Z

I have been hearing the same question a lot lately, whenever I venture out of the house... "Where have you been?" So. Regarding the 2-yr social hiatus, please insert the following where applicable:

Yeah, it really has been a long time since I was out in the world... I know, it's appalling.

No, it's not just you... I haven't been seeing much of anyone outside my own household. I do that sometimes... get out of the habit, and then it takes ages to get back in. I think that I'm cycling round to social again.

Why did I drop off the face of the earth? Well to recap, first there was a month of being really sick... back in October 07. Then I was sick for a second month, waiting for surgery to fix me. Then surgery recovery... and then the month after that I lost my job. (You all remember this.) Then, I was job hunting and not spending money on non-essentials (like going out for shows, social events, etc) and being in a pretty constant state of panic and misery that I didn't want to inflict on perfectly normal people. Then, once some semblance of normal had returned, money was still tight and anyway the boy didn't want to go anywhere ever. And then after a LONG period of that, right about the time boy was out of the picture and money was finally no longer a constant issue, which was... um... this May?... my car elected to begin dying in earnest, and in an unfixable fashion. Enter panicked car search and saving money for that. Also throw in some "oh god where am I going to live" to make things interesting and properly preoccupy me. And a lot of interstate travel. And then, PRESTO...

It's October 09, and my world has settled into a new orbit. I love my home and the people in it, I have a car that lets me finally enjoy driving again AND go visit people without worrying about whether it'll break down, a job that covers my bills and makes me really happy, and freelance work that lets me go out and be frivolous while still maintaining a savings account... I can finally get my eyes checked! so I can SEE again! Money for glasses, hooray!

So... I'm happy again for the first time in a long, long time. Happy... and safe. Things are good. I'm good. I'm ready to be in the world again.

Just wanted to say hi! and I missed you all!

well...

2008-08-30T22:14:36Z

that
was
AWESOME.

Whitewater tubing is a yes. yes yes YES.

My arms hurt from paddling now :P

Yay for not drowning.

Art Opening (and wine, don't forget the wine)

2008-08-11T13:18:28Z

Hi people! It's finally time for my opening at the Yellow Dog Tavern in Baltimore. There will be delicious foods and a wine tasting, and mingling and being cosmopolitan. (I think the latter is true.) It will be tomorrow evening, August 12th, from 6pm to 8pm after which no doubt something else exciting will happen.

If you can make it, awesome! if not, there will be others! Let me know if you have questions! Yes!

new bits for summer...

2008-07-09T16:29:24Z

(hai i make thingz)

Etsy
Buy Handmade
CuriousInk

and now a word on wine...

2008-06-18T22:56:46Z

Peach Prosecco Sangria. Ok that's three words.

1 bottle Prosecco
1 bottle Tango Peach wine (Boordy)
a little apricot nectar (to taste)
peaches, nectarines, and apricots per your personal taste and inclination

Seriously, yum. Lightly fizzy and heavily awesome.

Things what are new

2008-05-08T14:19:47Z

Item one being our garden, which is newly planted with the botanical spoils of my sheep and wool trip. We got three kinds of basil (thai, cinnamon, and fino verde), oregano, lemon verbena, two kinds of pepper (chocolate bell and anaheim chile), and two kinds of tomato (patio hybrid and green zebra!) For your amusement and mine, I have created this visual aid:

The new plants went in the ground on Tuesday, to join our rapacious crop of peppermint, spearmint, and catnip, and also the chives. Derek was finally coaxed off the couch and into the yard by my assertion that i had found the BIGGEST earthworm ever anywhere (or at least the biggest i'd ever seen- seriously, SO FAT) and he was overcome by garden joy too, and dug up a second plot for more veggies which we will hopefully purchase tonight. We need cucumbers and squish!

Item two is that because of my garden illustrating nonsense, I now have something for Illustration Friday! Which is a Thing where illustrators can submit topics and they pick one a week as the theme and everyone who wants does an illustration of the topic and posts it and you go here and see all of them and it's good practice and fun and awesome and why don't i do it every week? Seriously, I've been on the mailing list for a year. Jeez. Anyway, this week is Seed, and some of these plants come from the seeds of last year's but ALL of them represent the seeds of many delicious experiments in summer cuisine. I can't wait to see how D incorporates the lemon verbena into tastiness, he wants to try it as a substitute for lemongrass...

A short list of me-related info...

2008-05-01T18:23:44Z

1. Not dead. (in case you wondered/worried)

2. The show in Fredericksburg went pretty well, two sales (Coffee and Fin) and a couple giclee orders. Yay.

3. Der Sheep und Vool fest is this weekend- I will definitely be going sunday. (Possibly saturday too if my dad decides to come up- his sister, my Aunt Betsy, is working the American Cormo Sheep booth again this year.) If anyone wishes to congregate or carpool, let me know. Llamas are awesome. The end.

4. Not quite the end- My 30th birthday is coming up on the 22nd of May, which is a thursday this year. As I am required to be in fredericksburg for wedding stuff for my sister that weekend, festivities will be that thursday evening (the 22nd). I wish to have a delicious dinner somewhere and then go see the new Indianna Jones movie, which premiere's that evening. Anyone who wants to come help celebrate me being a new and unreasonable age should let me know! I will also post more detail closer to the 22nd. Yes.

5. I have a cold. Again. Also a new and violently orange shirt. I am hoping the shirt contains vitamin c which i may absorb through osmosis. If not, I also picked up orange mango juice, coldeeze, and nyquil this morning at the store. If only I had remembered to buy tissues...

New bits...

2008-03-11T16:35:42Z

I can has bead time...

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
CuriousInk.etsy.com

test

2008-02-29T16:22:21Z

Etsy
Buy Handmade
CuriousInk

Happy Holidays...

2007-12-19T20:57:31Z

I've been fired. They were nice enough to give me till Jan. 11, so I will get my 3 weeks of vacation for the new year, which gives me a month to look for a new job.

If anyone knows of an opening anywhere, please let me know?

Pocketses

2007-11-13T19:40:51Z

I did more stitching this weekend. Since the butterfly pocket I made last week has already sold, I figured it might be a good idea to make more... The flower was simple and fun, and a good use of this outrageously pink wool I have. The sheep... well, who doesn't like sheep? especially lovely curly fluffy sheepies like this one.

Non-Health-Related Posting Is Good For My Health

2007-11-09T15:54:45Z

Christmas shopping is around the corner... I know much of my friends here buy handmade already, but they gave me a button! Had to put it somewhere...

Also, I just finished this and am very pleased with how it turned out. Bee next perhaps? or a fluffy little sheep?

About that indigo stain on my left arm...

2007-07-23T14:23:24Z

Holy crap it's beautiful out today... feels like spring. Meanwhile, I'm hoping the coming weekend has less thunderstorms scattered over it than predicted... but a good storm while we're at the beach would be lovely.

This weekend was pleasant, and I'm happy for all the artscapers that it wasn't traditional baltimore purgatory this year... but instead of going to see art (for which i feel mildly guilty)I hid in the house and made some of my own...

I started this at perk a couple weeks ago... throwing in the background and tuning the shading a bit has pushed it into something I really like...

...but I like the background on this one better. I know, it makes no sense, the edges of the paper or whatever overlap and meld impossibly, and the whole picture looks like it's dripping off the page. HEE.

I just wish I hadn't fucked up the thorax. Le sigh.

I'm working on a cicada, using two half-dismembered specimens (I should coat the bastards in shellac maybe). Fun. More beetles for meeeee! I'd love to get a Nymph... or a moving leaf... not only are they lovely to look at but from a drawing perspective I could geek out over the frills and textures for hours.

Yes. And now, coffee.

fruit plate + mojitos = trouble

2007-06-06T13:34:11Z

I feel as though i've been run over by a truck. A truck carrying fruit. And Highball glasses.

I'm not sleeping well this week, probably from residual stress. Or maybe it's just going around. Either way, the living room floor has never looked so inviting. I'm listening to my coffeehouse shimmy mix in an effort to wake up without ingesting any more coffee... so far the Combustible Edison is just making me long for the horizontal. (The Twilight Zone controls the horizontal, my head says helpfully) Also the birds have eaten all the food in the feeder again, running through the entire lot in just two days, which indicates to me that they are greedy monkeys and also that this will be an expensive way to entertain the cats (and lets be honest, myself). (It also controls the vertical, so really it's Rod Serling's fault you can't lie down...) I should eat something that is not unlike food. (what, are you too tired for paragraph breaks?) And I should go argue with myself somewhere you all don't have to read about it.

Point: I am dusting off my deplorably rusty mix making skills, and anyone who wants to guinea for me should speak up. Yes.

The things I do instead of work...

2007-05-24T15:19:54Z

1. Identify the birds which have finally discovered my new birdfeeder: the House Sparrow, Passer Domesticus, which is actually imported from Europe. They are lovely and striped.

2. Count all the roses on our rose bush: 80, not including buds.

3. Shop for Adirondack chairs online: Mitzi found me a rocker and table on craig's list, listed on my birthday no less (kismet!), for cheap and close by! We are going to steal a truck and go get it!

4. Water the gerber daisy and baby nip plants again: the daisy needs to be planted tonight, as well as the tomato and zucchini we bought. I want zucchini for dinner. No, i want green beans and hamburguesas. Yes. And an adirondack chair.

5. Post silly things on my journal that chiefly entertain ME: Like so.

Day 2 of 29

2007-05-23T13:35:11Z

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so lovely yesterday. I had a fantastic evening. And lots of rum. and cake. and great weather and a dragon and pens! PENS! and crayons and caterpeople bugthings and good music and great people and awesomeness. Yay. You all rock.

Quiet please darling, your auntie's hung...

2007-05-19T19:31:29Z

...but not too hungover to garden. I got home this morning at six and I tried to sleep, having been up all night, but people we don't know in Missouri and Kentucky kept calling and hanging up. Then my parents called. Then cassie came and sat on my chest and started putting her paws on my chin every time my eyes closed. And then I got up and headed outside where I proceeded to get spectacularly dirty and even more freckled.

I planted the cinnamon basil and spicy-bush basil (i know...what were they thinking??) and the Poblano pepper I got from the Sheep & Wool fest... moved the peppermint into the main part of the garden, and rounded up most of the catnip sprouts which have not abandoned us after all. (orion made passionate love to my weed pile once he discovered there were stray nip plants in it. he is FILTHY.) I removed almost all of the pernicious violets from the entire garden, and unearthed the strawberries. Then, after two Gardeners Gone Wild moments and two changes of clothes, I agreed that we need a new hose for the backyard.

Mitzimouse- I have a pot of violets, a pot of peppermint, and a pot of catnip for you. We can also give you a strawberry if you want one.

Everyone else- if you want catnip, violets, peppermint or regular mint, or chives seeds, let me know. I have tons! Mint in particular does really well on windowsills- i've been growing a plant from a cut stem since last summer in just a glass of water. Seriously, they're EASY and smell good and go nicely in tea and mojitos.

Speaking of which... yum.

By the way, did anyone take home my black sweater last night? I forgot to put it in my car before I left, and when I went back to perk it was gone...

sometimes a girl just wants zombies...

2007-05-11T14:28:20Z

If anyone is interested, there is a group going to see 28 Weeks Later tonight, around 9 or 10. Contact me for details if you want to go!

In a desperate effort to avoid work...

2007-04-25T17:01:35Z

Yep.

Purples... um... glass, ocean jasper, amethyst, and garnet.

And another shell one cause the other one has been spoken for by le mitzi. This one has glass, hematite, pearl, labradorite, and shell of course.

Queen Amy

2007-04-20T14:06:01Z

There is nothing quite like a dish of fresh strawberries for breakfast to make you feel like royalty. Add in the gorgeous spring morning, sunlight warming the coats of my sleeping minions, and a damn fine cup of coffee... man. Bring on the affairs of state.

It more than makes up for the long night... I hallucinated something just as i was drifting off, and it spooked me enough to wake me up completely. After that, restless angry dreams fit for much heavier heads than mine.

Shaun of the... Bed & Breakfast... er...

2007-04-13T17:02:08Z

Ok kids. Hot Fuzz, the new film from the team that brought you Shaun of the Dead and Spaced, is coming out next friday, the 20th.

We are so going.

If you would like to be part of a collective outing, let me know. Mmhm. yes.

A little office homage...

2007-03-16T14:09:21Z

http://www.larissabrown.net/

She makes spiky things out of office supplies. Awesome. Go look!

"as my lover you will have to accept..."

2007-03-14T16:18:50Z

I can't find it.
I have this sheet of paper that I picked up at a gallery at MICA once, little colored scraps drifting around the room, on ledges, on the floor, and all of them bore this small manifesto from the sovereign heart of one of my fellow artists, "As my lover you will have to accept.." in bold letters, some wildly serif-ed font that spoke to him, to her, and below that a list of demands. They were statements, some silly, some heartbreaking, some requiring the lover's action, some only their acceptance. It was not a list of qualities such as people make when looking for a mate, to clarify what they are looking for... it was a declaration of self in the light of offering that self to another. "I am these things, better or worse, and I want you to love me for and in spite of them all..."
I kept it. I have lost it. I want to make my own.

As my lover, you will have to accept...

I love horror movies, and expect you to watch them with me... even the cheesy ones.

I will plant the backyard full of herbs and flowers at great expense and let them all die for lack of watering or weeding.

I will make us dinner and it will be fantastic.

I will go to sleep curled against you with my nose tucked against the back of your neck.

I snore.

Sometimes I don't snore.

I hate to clean the bathroom but I love to clean the kitchen. Vaccuuming is fun.

I have an irrational aversion to Laundry.

I will foist books on you and make you read them. I expect you to reciprocate.

I talk to my cats. I will not accept suggestions that this is pointless.

I know all the words to lots of songs and a few movies. I will quote things a lot. I find this funny.

I indulge in puns. It cannot be helped.

I will make you laugh.

I love like it's the only thing. Like there is nothing else I could be doing. Like there is nothing else.

I prefer comfortable clothes, sometimes to the detriment of personal appearance. Makeup is an afterthought. I am not good at being "girly."

I usually smell wonderful.

I make weird noises in lieu of speech sometimes. I will expect you to learn what they mean anyway.

I will send you letters when it's important because I speak more clearly on a delay.

I expect you to slow down for me.

I will drag my feet about small things if they are new, because I am a little afraid.

I will go anywhere if you go with me.

I will sing in the car at the top of my lungs instead of talking to you. I will do this all the time. Sometimes I will not be on key.

I will bring you my crafts and expect some response. Much like a puppy, usually all I need is a pat on the head.

I will bring you my paintings and ask you what you see in them. I will need an answer. It doesn't matter what it is.

I will resist compliments even when I agree with them. I still need to hear them.

I will see how beautiful you are even when no one else does.

I will love you like no one else does.

I will be difficult.

I will be worth it.

Saturday Night at the Perk...

2007-03-10T15:51:49Z

I know, I know, it's not tuesday, but my roomate James and his friend Meb are playing tonight, and everyone should come. Come for the music... come for the comraderie... come for Rowan, who is opening for them. Seriously, people, just do it already.

Rowan Corbett opening for
Melbourne Moon
8:13pm
College Perk
yes
go

photos migrate slow like sea urchins...

2007-03-05T19:43:03Z

So Parazz, formerly Shutterbook, is dissolving back into the ether... apparently it was just too much work and the founders don't want to run it anymore. So, I have shifted all my photobits here to Flickr. I am not overly thrilled with the organizational options at the free account level, particularly being stuck with the order in which the photos are uploaded for basic viewing, but it's free, so complaining is bad form. Anywhich, there they be, proving to all that my lens gravitates toward the feline and arborial. Wot.