2011 Wall Calendar!

Hello! I hope you had a happy weekend! I stayed in most of the weekend, doing some work and being a little bit lazy (I'm savoring the lazy weekends for the crazy ones that are coming up  in the next few months!) I also went to the Makers Faire on sunday, and helped out at The {NewNew} Etsy team's booth, crocheting and knitting baby hats, booties, and bibs to donate to the Bronx-Lebanon hospital. It was super-fun and I LOVED walking around the Faire afterwards. I'll show you some pictures I took from it tomorrow.  

I also finished my 2011 calendar this weekend! So so psyched about it!  The new year brings a fresh start of sorts to our lives, and I think that you should try to fill it with as much happiness, giggles, awesomeness, goofiness, and kindness as possible! For each month, I created a brand-new illustration to capture one of those moments, and to serve as a reminder throughout the year. 

This is a super-special calendar and I am really excited about the quality of it. It is printed on a matte photo paper, with all twelve months plus a pretty cover page. This would make a special gift to old and new friends and family (and to yourself!) The original illustrations for this calendar were painted with watercolors on watercolor paper and all the text that you see in the calendar was also hand-painted! 

Bonus awesome-ness: All prints can also be trimmed to a 5"x7" print at the end of the year and framed!

Sizes: 8"x10" with rounded corners and a small hole for hanging at the top. Pretty mint/white bakers twine ties it all together for hanging. Any copyright text will not appear on actual calendar.

This calendar comes packaged up nicely with a hard cardboard backing to prevent bending and is wrapped in recyclable cellophane to protect it during shipping. 

You can find it here in my shop

Annnnd all together (click images to see it bigger!)

Portland, Maine Sights

Portland Head Light house. I think I dug the rocks and the ocean more than the actual light house, but whatevs! It was pretty!

Silly's! So fun (and yummy!)

Nik was beyond happy that they had Moxie there and Moxie shakes. I had never heard of the stuff before, but it holds a special place in his heart.

Sitting on top of a Ferry, waiting to depart to Peak's Island.

Someone loves buoys! Peak's Island.

Peak's Island. This place is so gorgeous. We hiked to the other side of the island, and it was so quiet that we were whispering! It was really isolated there, walking alongside the road that ran along the ocean. It was fun to oogle at all the huge, gorgeous homes alongside the coast and really peaceful to stroll along with no other signs of other people. 

At the ferry docks, back in Portland.

We went to the sand-sculpting contest at Crescent Beach. The turtle was my favorite. 

Silly phone pics walking along the beach.

A few more pictures are here on Flickr

Portland, Maine Food!

Hello!  Nik and I went to Portland, Maine this past weekend, for a mini vacation before all the fall/holiday business starts up.  It is SO pretty there! I, of course, ate all sorts of yummy vegan food and walked on lots of beaches and lusted over lots of cute shops and gourmet food places. It was a super-fun trip!  Here is some of the food we ate:

Silly's!  I loved this place so much. It's really super-bright and colorful and eclectic inside, and in the backyard, where we ate.  I got the Fuffalo Burger (falafel burger with buffalo sauce slathered on it) with sweet potato fries and a Peanut-butter soy shake. Holy yum!

We went to the Pepper Club for dinner the first night, and I was a bit disappointed with my meal there, overall. I got the tempeh cakes with jasmine rice, a citrusy sauce, and roasted veggies. I didn't really dig the sauce too much, so it kinda ruined the rest of the meal.  Dessert was a chocolate-coconut mousse, that was super-pretty, but REALLY rich. I couldn't finish it! I know!

The Green Elephant was probably my favorite meal in Portland. It is a really cute little place, and we had to wait to be seated, but they were nice about it and gave us a little buzzing coaster so we could wander around and it would alert us when the table was ready.  Nik and I shared the Oyster Mushroom Tempura for an appetizer and it was to DIE for. Seriously, so so good. Fresh out of the fryer, so it was nice and crispy and the mushrooms were amazing. Really great batter too.

Nik had the Green Tea Noodle soup, with soy filet in it. It was a great comfort meal with a really awesome broth.

I had really wanted to try their local tofu and local tempeh, so I chose the steamed veggies with peanut sauce that came with both the tofu and tempeh. The homemade tofu totally blew me away. It was really creamy, yet still firm.  I could have just eaten a whole meal of just the tofu.  I usually buy the homemade tofu from my local asian market, but this was nothing like that! Totally inspired me to try making my own. I think I will save that for VeganMoFo!

We were both really full, but had to share a slice of the Pumpkin cheesecake anyways. Mmmm!

Possibly the best tofu scramble I have had, at Local Sprouts.

Annnnnd, I got a whoopie pie to go from there too!

More pictures tomorrow of Portland itself! 

xoxo

Shop Update Part 3!

Okay, this is the last of the new paintings that I did for my 2011 calendar. I'm really excited about them, and had a lot of fun painting them. I was trying to think of happy moments that occur throughout the year, changing of the seasons, with friends, or by yourself, and tried to capture them for each month.  

My calendar, with all these images and from the previous posts, will be ready in a week, when I get my printer back from the shop. 

This one is probably my favorite of all!  This is for October, the season of dressing up and pretending and imagination. 

"Cat Bandit"

Watercolors on 300lb Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size is 7"x9")

Original for sale here

This is for December, the month where I like to be cozy in sweaters and rock out! 

"Rockin' Reindeer"

Watercolors on 300lb Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size is 7"x9")

Original for sale here

This is for June, the month where the farmer's markets start to get SUPER exciting and all the sunshine makes me ridiculously happy!

"Summer Ride"

Watercolors on 300lb Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size is 7"x9")

Original For Sale here

This is for November, the cold month of bundling up and drinking lots of hot beverages!

"A Blustery Day"

Watercolors on 300lb Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size is 7"x9")

Original for sale here

And these two originals are gone already, but I have prints of them!

Barn Owls

Bunny Clouds

Shop Update Part 2!

Part 2 of the shop update! Six more will be added tomorrow...

"Sleepy Fox"

Watercolor on 300lb. Arches Watercolor Paper

8"x10" (image size is approx. 7"x9")

For Sale Here

"Changing of the Seasons"

Watercolor on 300lb. Arches Watercolor Paper

8"x10" (image size is approx. 7"x9")

For Sale Here

"Penguin Snowman"

Watercolor on 300lb. Arches Watercolor Paper

8"x10" (image size is approx. 7"x9")

For Sale Here

Shop Update Part 1!

Hello!  I am  *super* excited to show you my latest paintings that I made for my upcoming 2011 calendar.  My calendar will be coming out either later this week or next week (my printer broke the other day and is in the shop right now, sadface!)  More tomorrow!

"I Will Protect You" 

Watercolor on 300lb. Arches Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size approx. 7"x9") 

For sale here

"Monster Sundae"

Watercolor on 300lb. Arches Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size approx. 7"x9") 

For Sale here

"Panda Mom"

Watercolor on 300lb. Arches Watercolor paper

8"x10" (image size approx. 7"x9") 

For Sale Here

Peach Pie: A photo story of yum

Soooo goooooooood.  

The Veggie Burger is Smiling at Me

'Sup!  How is life?? Life is good here, and I'm a busy-bee prepping for all sorts of fun fall/holiday things relating to my shop and planning craft fairs and what-not.  Nik and I are also planning a trip to Portland, Maine in a few weeks, which I am PSYCHED about. Does anyone have any suggestions for things to do/see while I'm there??  I really want to take a day-trip to Acadia National Park, but we are short on time, so we'll see.  What should I do! And more importantly, where should we eat?!  

Speaking of eating, I made this yummy veggie burger last night and tried to draw a ketchup smiley face on it (yes, I am five). Instead, it kinda of looks a little demented.  The veggie burger was a bit of a concoction of marinated tempeh, roasted yellow and green peppers, onions, radishes, garlic, arugula, and some flour, vital wheat gluten, panko bread crumbs, and peanut butter to hold it all together. Sorry for lack of recipe, but I just kinda mix things together until it holds. Totally delicious! And I am eating as much corn on the cob as I can, before it is gone for the season. In fact, I have been buying extra to freeze so I can enjoy it when it is miserable and snowy outside. There I am, using the old noggin'.

Another recent dinner (I love sammiches, if you couldn't tell that already), of tempeh with a little wakame, veganaise, onion, and salt/pepper to taste.  Coleslaw on the side! 

My little sis and her boyfriend came to visit me recently. I took them to Economy Candy and they luurved it (I did too).  I bought lots of Chick-o-sticks and I'm pretty sure something of the butterfinger-like persuasion must be made from them soon. 

And I'll end this post with Mister Miles.  I love it when he crosses his legs like that, looking all proper-like. :)