deep breath

This post will be short, I don't want to rant. No pictures, because the computer is at the computer hospital. I think this is # 3 in my bad omens for the past week, so I'm hoping they're over.

1. Car broken into in SF and items stolen, window shattered.
2. Sprained ankle (still the size of a grapefruit, but walkable)
3. Computer died

I'm not sure what a logic board is, but my computer needs a new one. I'm taking the week to work on non computer work, organize (if you had any idea of what my studio looked like at the moment....) and to figure out a few new projects I have in the works.

I leave you with a few other projects I plan to work on this week that might interest you:

Sewing - Amy of Angry Chicken is so resourceful and productive, her posts have encouraged me to sew the many items I have in my queue.

Cooking - Last night I made ravioli from scratch. I used this egg noodle recipe and then winged it after reading this Martha recipe. They were delicious, but I wish I could have rolled the dough out thinner. I'd add one more egg white and 1/4 cup water. I made about 30 ravioli using a 1 1/2" cookie cutter as my template. Next up will be chicken pot pie from scratch.

Renegade SF

Renegade was awesome! I truly love doing the Renegade shows and meeting all the creative etsy-ers that we see on the blogs. To read more about the event, Apartment Therapy (love these guys!) did a wonderful post here and Just Something I Made did a great write up of the entire event. If you have time, scroll through Cathe's blog. She is incredibly talented and super blog productive. I love her free downloads that she offers.

I'll have much more to post in the next few days, but at the moment am nursing a sprained ankle. I have always known I'm a klutz, but supposedly walking normally is more than I can handle on a trail. The very last step of the Eagle Creek Trail and I tripped (no idea on what, I think I missed the trail) and landed on my ankle. It's the size of a golf ball! Off to ice and nurse with a glass of wine.

Rearing up for Renegade

Yesterday I had a wonderful time at the Mississippi Street Fair. The weather was comfortable, my booth companions were fabulous and I got to look at Barbara's beautiful t-shirts all day.


This week I'm getting things together for my fabulous trip down to San Francisco for Renegade. This is one of my favorite shows for the year. Lots of amazing art, wonderful people and just a good time all around. I will have some new images, some larger boxes (yup, 10"x10" and 12"x12") and some framed prints that I'm quite fond of. If you can't make it, I will be updating my etsy shop and my online shop the week after I get back to include all the new items.

Jean Pierre & the end of trip

Here is the finale.  We left Jean Pierre in the hotel room the entire time we were in Memphis getting ready for the wedding.  We felt bad, but we were busy and it was too hot to lug him around.  The wedding was beautiful, I now have a wonderful sister-in-law who makes my brother smile from ear to ear.  As soon as the wedding was over we hit the road the very next day.  

Day 11: Jean Pierre was trying to stick around with my uncles, who could always be found out by the pool smoking.

Day 11:  Jean Pierre tried to get in the pool as we were trying to leave, claiming he'd be good in the car if we let him swim for 5 minutes.

Day 11: We had a hard time staying in the car, having escaped it for the last couple of days.  We did stop for the best frozen custard (aka cement) ever.  We had high hopes of getting 2 smalls each, but after 1 we were so full there was no way we could eat anymore.

Day 12: Jean Pierre was really confused by the hotel room we stayed in.  We got in late on Sunday and went straight to bed.  When we got up the next morning and I opened the curtains, we were looking out into a conference room/ballroom.  Weird....

So that's the simplified version of our trip.  I'll upload more pictures this week sans Jean Pierre.  We saw some incredible views, really cool towns and some great people along the way.

The adventures of Jean Pierre, part 2

I feel a little ridiculous writing a post about a plastic donkey we photographed across the country. I photograph these toys, I sometimes play with them when children are around, but I don't typically carry one with me wherever I go. But then I remember that it was fun to prop him somewhere or tell my family (yes, there were strange looks) about our mascot and figure that it's okay, I don't do this every day. (Not that there's anything wrong with that)

So Jean Pierre continued.....Day 2 dinner time - Jean Pierre stopped by to see Steph and eat some delicious BBQ chicken pizza. We made sure to include a lovely picture colored by one of Steph's neighbors to remember that we were in Utah.

Day 2 & Day 3 - Jean Pierre camped out at Big Cottonwood Canyon in Utah. He was amazed at how close we were to Solitude Ski Resort and how much it rained on Day 3.

Day 6 - Jean Pierre sulked in our hotel room in Boulder for 2 days because we refused to haul him around as we hiked the Flatirons or walked around town . He forgave us on day 6 as we headed out, but insisted that we see the Flatirons 1 more time.

Day 6 dinner - We were on a mission to find BBQ as soon as possible. Because we were still 2.5 hours from Kansas City Jean Pierre made us stop in Salina, KS and we ate delicious BBQ at the Hickory Hut.

5,335 miles

5,335 miles in 13 days all the way to Memphis (and back) for my little brother's wedding. I was hoping to blog throughout the entire trip and share fun pictures, however my computer and camera were not being cooperative. So you'll be inundated this week with lots of pictures.

I decided for this road trip (last minute) that we needed a mascot. We needed something fun, something large and something that we thought could signify our adventure on the road. I chose a jackass, I mean donkey, it seemed fitting for people who wanted to drive over 2,000 miles for a wedding that lasted 3 hours. We named him Jean Pierre and vowed to photograph him at every stop.

Jean Pierre had quite a few photographs taken, but not every stop. He was really excited at the beginning of the trip but by the end he didn't even bother getting out of the car for most of them....

Day 1: (about 2 hours in) Jean Pierre by a tree that he thought was pretty in Oregon. He actually made us stop to photograph this tree.

Day 1: Jean Pierre by the windmill farm in Oregon. He was entranced by these giant wind turbines and asked us to stay and stare at them for an hour.

Day 1: He kept asking if he could ride up front, so we let him, but just for a few minutes.

Day 2: While we were getting dressed, Jean Pierre surfed the Internet at our hotel in Boise in hopes of finding something fun to stop at along the way.

Day 2: He found Lucky Peak recreation area just outside of Boise. He wanted to go swimming in the lake, but the photographer knew they were camping that night and didn't want to smell like lake for 2 days.

Stay tuned for more of Jean Pierre's adventures and his sad story of being left behind and locked in a car for multiple days.