Where did all the trees go? (Queue Tegan and Sara...)

Every year, right after Christmas in the park near where I live, there starts a mass tree grave that just grows and grows every time I pass by. People just bring their Christmas trees here to discard. It is so sad looking!

I took a nice long walk around the neighborhood today, enjoying the oddly-warm-for-December temperature and sunshine, while taking some photos. 

Happy Holidays!

Sister's disco ball tree

Apple-berry Pie, from Vegan Pie in the Sky

Hello! I hope your holidays are (were) great! I spent a long weekend in upstate NY with my family, with lots of laughter, good times, and yummy food. Hooray for family! I have a rather large family, so it's nice when we can all gather at once together. 

I'm really love this time of year, when I feel inspired and motivated for the upcoming year. I've been jotting down things that I really want to happen this year, business-wise and personal-wise. Places to go, things to see, things to make happen. The important part is following through with all my grand plans! 

Vegan Doughnuts!

So, um, yum! Dunwell Doughnuts just opened shop in Brooklyn recently, serving their amaaazing vegan doughnuts. So exciting! I went and checked them out today (it's like a 20 minute walk from my apartment, so exercise + doughnuts=yay!)  It was hard to choose, but I went with the jelly-filled powder doughnut, the lemon-lavender, and coconut (I gave this one to Nik later on, but I totally wanted to eat them all.) It's really adorable inside too, so I will definitely have to have a work/doughnut/coffee day there soon.

Waffle Sammich

So, a month or so ago, a new place opened up down the street from me called Waffle and Wolf. I didn't investigate too hard into if they had any vegan options or not, I guess because I assumed they wouldn't. Lo and behold, Nik did some investigating for me and they do! They have a buckwheat waffle that is both vegan and gluten-free! Whoa man. I stopped and got this beauty to-go last week and it was as delicious as it looks.  For the filling, I went with their "Wolf Sauce" (tahini + molasses), orange marmalade, strawberries, and almonds.  They have just lots of fruits and veggies for vegan filling options, and I'm hoping they add more vegan-friendly spreads (mostly just PB and jams now) in the future. I might have to try a savory waffle next time (ooo spicy tomato jam)! I quite like the concept of waffle sammiches.

BUST Craftacular!

Hello! For the 5th year in a row, I'll be at booth #167 at the BUST Craftacular this weekend! It's a 2-day event, but I will just be there on Saturday. It's gonna be a super-fun time, and I hope you come say hi if you stop by!

Details: 

December 10th and 11th, 2011Saturday: 11 AM - 8 PM; Sunday: 11 AM - 7 PM
82 Mercer St. between Broome and Spring, New York, NY 

Shop, eat, drink, and craft with more than 200 handmade craft and specialty food vendors at BUST Magazine's biggest and most popular event of the year -- the BUST Magazine Craftacular and Food Fair Holiday 2011! Join us for our first ever two-day holiday shopping extravaganza where you'll find the best handmade gifts, food, a craft beer garden, gift-making demos, DJs, and more.
Be one of the first 300 shoppers each day and receive a free goodie bag!
Admission is $3.

Coloring Books!

Maybe you have noticed this about me, if you have read my blog for awhile, but I'm kind of a big kid at heart. A 31-year old kid! Coloring books were one of faaavorite things as a kid, and I can remember spending lots of time neatly coloring in pages and pages of coloring books. Stubs of peeled crayons were piled in my art box (kinda like my current art box actually.)

I've been wanting to make my own coloring book or activity book for awhile now, and I finally invested in a heavy-duty paper-cutter so I could do just that! I'm starting off with these three coloring books, and hope to expand the line to activity books, and journals/sketchbooks soon. And maybe I'll finally start working on that children's book I've always wanted to write and illustrate...

Coloring books are in the shop!

Out and About

Mural on Karate Studio

 I bought a new camera recently (Canon Rebel T3i), and this weekend was the first I was able to properly play around with it. It is my first SLR camera, so I'm pretty psyched! I'm slowly learning how to properly use a lot of the manual settings. I'm really excited to use it when I go home for the holidays, to take lots of photos of my family. I've noticed that photos are lacking from recent years, now that we are all older (my youngest sis is now 19! the baby is not a baby anymore!) Time to remedy that! I'm also really excited to start painting a little larger and having the ability to photograph the paintings, instead of scan in pieces with  my crappy scanner. Hooray for technology not holding me back anymore!  Anyways, I took a walk around the neighborhood last night, right before sunset when the light was super-pretty.

Sunday waffles with dried cranberries and currants in them. (Raised waffle recipe from Vegan Brunch)

Sunset over Williamsburg Bridge

Christmas Trees for sale

More trees for sale

I accidentally photographed a dude (ghost?) peeing! I swear I didn't see him when I took the photograph! It was all black behind the gated door, to my eye.  I just thought the the gated door was pretty.  Maybe my new camera takes x-ray photos?! Either way, SPOOKY.

Goodbye leaves, see you in 6 months.

2011 Holiday Handmade Cavalcade!

Hello! I'm really excited for the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade coming up THIS Saturday.  Put on by The {NewNew} Etsy team that I'm on, it's always a super-fun event.  It will be at Public Assembly, in Williamsburg, from 10-6pm.  Maybe you can tell, but I designed the flyer this year! It was a lot of fun to make and I'm happy with how it came out. Woo!  So if you are in the Brooklyn area this weekend, please do stop by and say hi!

p.s. We are one of TimeOut NY's "critics pick" for the upcoming weekend!