Ticket Stubs

I've been to a lot of concerts.  Last night I went to see one of my faves play, Mount Eerie (for the third time), and I got to thinking about all the ticket stubs I have and how many great memories I have of those shows.  I love being able to look at a ticket stub, and instantly recall a flash of the concert or a snippet of a memory.  Like when Michael Stipe dedicated "Tongue" to Radiohead (their openers for the show), or when I was upgraded to 3rd row seats at Madison Sq. Garden for the New Year's Eve show of Wilco and the Flaming Lips (!), or all the road trips I have taken to Canada to see Radiohead play (and Jonny waving to my friends and I after we called out to him after the show in Barrie, ON), or seeing Rainer Maria at a dive bar in Buffalo, NY and them not getting on the stage until almost 3am.  Ani Difranco was on crutches when I saw her (also in Buffalo) and the memory of her beautiful voice carrying throughout the auditorium,  grabbing the setlist from The Arcade Fire's tiny show at a church in NYC (and my 2-hour wait in the freezing cold without a ticket and ending up inside standing next to David Byrne in the audience!), all the road trips to Bonnaroo and the amazing bands that played, seeing Gwar and really trying hard not to get any of their blood and other fluids that they spew into the audience on me (I made it until the last song, when they shot out some sort of liquid straight out and it reached the very back wall where I was standing), all the warehouse shows of tiny bands that went onto be big bands,  standing in line without a ticket for Beck at the Hiro East Ballroom and slipping the bouncer $20 to let me in (he did), cutting in line and making it into The Boredoms "77 drummers" show on a beautiful summer day in Brooklyn.  PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, Underworld, Sigur Ros, Massive Attack, Liz Phair, Bjork, and I could go on forever.  

I've never really thought of myself as a "collector" of anything, but I guess I do have one real collection in all the ticket stubs I have amassed over the years. My Dad is a really avid concert-goer and I was always in awe of his ticket-stub collection when I was younger (think of just about any classic rock and blues players and he has probably seen them...).  I definitely am my father's daughter in this respect, and he was the inspiration behind me saving every ticket stub I was left with after a show.

Anyways, I was sad last night when there was no ticket stub and it got me thinking back to all the will call or free concerts I have been to (probably quadruple the amount of ticketed shows) and how I don't have that printed stub to trigger a memory of it. Sad!  I wish I had thought to document them in other ways in the past...

Tomorrow night I'm seeing Radiohead for the 12th time!  I'm just really excited to have seen so many of my favorites play in person, ticket stubs or not (but hopefully!)

2012 Wall Calendar and New Prints!

2012 Wall Calendar, available here in my shop.

So this is what I have been working feverishly on for the last couple months, my 2012 calendar!  As has been a bit of a tradition over the last couple years, I created 12 brand new illustrations, surrounding some sort of theme for my calendar.  I've been feeling a bit daring lately, and dreaming about all sorts of magical lands and fun times that I want to experience, so I hereby declare this year the YEAR OF ADVENTURE!  Yep, that's right!  Adventure doesn't have to mean traveling to a foreign land or jumping off a plane, it can also mean taking a different route home or just having no plan whatsoever for an evening and seeing where it takes you.  So hooray, I'm super-happy about this coming year and really excited about how my calendar came out!

2012 Wall calendar and all twelve prints are now available in my shop here!

Twelve brand new prints, available here in my shop.

Chicago Fun-times

My display.  Experimental lightweight pocketed wall worked out pretty well.  Everything fit in a suitcase!

So I'm back from Chicago and Renegade was a complete success!  So much fun and I met so many nice people that came to my booth.  Plus, we had PERFECT weather (SO happy about that).  My boothmate, Paula Egan, was great and she makes absolutely beautiful jewelry made out of handmade paper and resin.  I didn't really get a chance to walk around the show at all, which I was a little sad about , but an A+ time overall!

New zippered pouches and 2012 calendars, which I will be putting in my shop super-soon.

I also got to wander around Chicago a bit and hang out with one of my very best friends that I don't get to see as often as I would like.  I walked around Chicago while he was at work on Friday and saw Lincoln Park, Millenium Park, the Tiffany dome at the Cultural Center, and went to the Museum of Surgical Science and of course, The Chicago Diner (yay!)  

I have more pics up on my Flickr stream, if you were so interested!

Tiffany glass dome at the Cultural Center

Taking a break in Lincoln park.

Orchestra playing in Millenium Park

Bean at Millenium Park

Duh!

Vegan PB Cookie Dough shake at the Chicago Diner

Vegan Radical Reuben at the Chicago Diner

Museum of Surgical Science

Museum of Surgical Science

Museum of Surgical Science

First Kotex ad. Museum of Surgical Science

Museum of Surgical Science

Renegade Chicago! This weekend!

So excited!  I leave for Chicago in a few hours for Renegade and to spend some time with a super-great friend of mine in his lovely city.  If you are in Chicago this weekend, I would love to meet you!  I will be at booth #184 on Division st. btwn. Wood and Hermitage. 

Have a great weekend and I'll be back next week with my new calendar and all sorts of new prints and fun stuff to show you!

Irene

So Hurricane Irene rolled through town this weekend, and thankfully spared my neighborhood and myself.  We didn't even have any leaks or lose power or anything.  Nik and I were pretty super nervous peeking outside every once and awhile all night, but we kept ourselves occupied with some Sons of Anarchy and some cinnamon buns that I baked (recipe from Vegan Brunch).  There were quite a few downed trees and lots of branches and leaves scattered about the next day (and it was still SUPER windy afterwards).  I've never been through a hurricane before, and it's just awful looking at some of the photos from North Carolina or other places with severe flooding and wind damage. Not something you expect, living in the Northeast, to have an earthquake AND a hurricane in the same week...

2012 Calendar Sneak-peek

Hello!  I have been hard at work on my latest series, twelve new prints that will also be part of my 2012 (yikes!) calendar, and I thought I would give a little sneak peek at a few of them.  I'm trying to finish them all in time for Chicago Renegade, which is coming up in a few weeks (double yikes!), along with all the other holiday goodies that I have been working on (plus a top-secret project!)  So yes, it's been all workworkwork lately, but I'm really into it so it's been fun! 

Summer Food

Crazy-big haul.

I love the dog days of summer, where there is so much abundance at the farmer's market.  My fruit and veg haul was crazy huge this past week, so we have been having super-summer dinners all week. So so good.  These are the things I savor (literally!) and love about summer.  Nik and I helped distribute the shares for our CSA this past saturday, and it was a fun people/dog-watching morning in the park.  There was a little pup amputee with two rear wheels instead of legs that basically broke my heart.  So many Great Danes live in my neighborhood, and I just cannot fathom what kind of apartments these owners have that hold such gigunda dogs...

I froze a lot of stuff, corn and zuchini and pesto, in preparation for the dead-zone of winter where I will be craving some fresh veggies that don't have a root attached to it.   I love pulling out fresh corn off the cob on Thanksgiving day! 

A peek at the CSA pickup

I was the fruit lady, handing out peaches and melons.

Eggplant wings (basically just breaded eggplant smothered in a hot bbq sauce), watermelon, and a salad with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red onion, and avocados (red wine vinegar/olive oil/salt/pepper dressing)

Sauteed tofu and onions in spices, corn on the cob, and green beans

Spoonflower Swatches

Hello!  Summer seems to be slipping by rather quickly, as of late, and all of a sudden it is August. Yowza.  I can't wait for Fall though; Bring on the hoodies and apple cider and crisp leaves and pumpkin-flavored everything!  I had an old friend visit this past weekend, and we had a blast.  Coney Island,  The Museum of Natural History, LOTS of walking around, way too much sunshine, good food and beer, and great talks.  I love reconnecting with old friends that I haven't seen in awhile, and feeling like no time has passed since you last saw each other. Yay friends!

I've been a pattern-making fool lately.  Well, for a few months actually, but I was saving up patterns to get test swatches printed via Spoonflower.  Finally got some back yesterday and I'm pretty psyched about them!  Most of them I put up for sale on Spoonflower (you can have a little shop on there; super-neat!) and a few I'm keeping to making a nifty new product for my shop and for upcoming craft shows.  If any of you are on Spoonflower, I would love to connect with you on there and see your patterns.  Such a great community there and so fun to be able to print your own designs!