Ghosts Waltz

The Sensational San Smith

2012-01-26T20:41:00.001-08:00

One of my all-time favorite blog ladies is San Smith. I started following her adventures so many years ago, I actually can't remember how I came across San in the first place, but I do remember being hooked right away. Of course I'm a sucker for a pink-haired gal, which she has been on many occasions. Not only is she stylish and cute as a ridiculously adorable button, she is an amazingly talented artist as well. Anyway, San's birthday was way back in June, and I wanted to send her a gift, so I painted a little watercolor portrait based on her fabulous birthday photos.

San does a lot of self portraits, so it was a fun challenge to try and capture her likeness in my own style. I absolutely love her fashion sense. She looks great in everything she wears, especially her Betsey Johnson party dress.

San put the portrait up on her inspiration board, which is a huge honor! You can even spy it on her Facebook business cards. Yay!

If you haven't had a chance already, make sure to visit San's blog, for all things cute and sparkly. Go go go!

Much Love for Children's Books

2012-01-23T16:34:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of my new job, and I have to say that I am so much happier with life than I have been in a loooong time! I'm working in an elementary school library, which is pretty close to "dream job" territory for me; I've been hoping for such a position to open up since I first started working at my school district years ago. I've always loved books, and I have an especially big place in my heart for children's books, so what better thing to share for Much Love Monday than a little glimpse of my collection?

I still have all of my Little Golden Books from when I was a kid, and I always look for more when I visit thrift stores or used book stores. In elementary school, I was part of the Weekly Reader Children's Book Club, a club where members received books in the mail, and a lot of those books are still my favorites.

My collection is still going strong. I am always a big fan of circus books, and I've found quite a few in the past year. I also snagged A Book of Mermaids from Jose's new classroom during winter break when we went through all of the left-behind books from the previous teacher in his room.

Now that I'll be the Library Lady, I want to start reading lots of great children's and young adult books, so that I can be as knowledgeable as possible (can you believe I've yet to read any of the Harry Potter series?), so I'm always open to suggestions. I'd also love to feature my favorites here on the blog every now and then, if anyone would be interested. Wandering around Barnes & Noble looking at all of the gorgeous cover art and illustrations is one of my favorite things to do, and now I have a good excuse to do it even more! I'll definitely be sharing lots of pretty things!

Fancy New Lens Equals Cat Pictures

2012-01-19T16:39:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed that once you stop blogging for a little while, it gets so much more difficult to get back into it as the days go by? It didn't help that I had a terrible stomach illness for about a week, but sheesh, that seemed like a long silence, even for me. However, I definitely have more of a reason than ever to blog up a storm from now on; a spiffy new 50mm lens! We've only been using our camera's kit lens since we got it years ago, and it became jammed about two years ago so that it would be a huge pain to focus on anything or to even take pictures at all. Instead of buying Christmas gifts for each other, Jose and I decided to purchase a nice lens so that we could once again use the camera without cursing or giving up in frustration. I absolutely love the look of the resulting photos! Of course you know I had to spend a ridiculous amount of time testing the new lens on Lily (and once of Sweeney).

Speaking of being a crazy cat lady, I received the book, Cat Versus Human as a Christmas present from "my aunt's cats" (how are cats always such perceptive gift buyers?), after reading Diana's mention of it and quickly adding it to my wishlist. If you are a cat lover (which you must be if you've suffered through yet another cat-heavy post), you absolutely have to check out the book, and the author's blog. It is eerily like my life; some of the drawings even look a little bit like me and Jose. The comics are hilarious and extremely cute in a sometimes morbid way, just my style.

Also, Jose's grandma gave me this very nifty Edward Gorey paper doll book. I think that perhaps people are on to my feline obsession.

New Year's Eve with Cupcakes and Sparkles

2012-01-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

You know we had to celebrate New Year's Eve with cupcakes! And a bit of Sofia. We stayed in with my family and ate dinner, then my cousin and I watched the Twilight movies with commentary by the actors, which was really entertaining since they make fun of themselves and the movies the entire time. We then ran out to the living room just in time to watch the ball drop and clink our glasses. Please excuse the return of the gratuitous cupcake photos, those things are just so darn photogenic!

Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee, Bubbly Strawberry Champagne, and Lemon Honey.

I also wanted to show off my glittery new nail polish. I usually only wear red or black.

Not a bad way to start off this exciting new year! Did anyone do anything particularly fancy or fun to celebrate?

Shiny Happy New Year

2011-12-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

Usually, I think of celebrating the new year as sort of a weird, made-up thing. It has always seemed a bit arbitrary to me. However, this has been a year of just getting by, of feeling comfortable and then being surprised with some sort of massively stressful event. This year will be known as the year of Lily's troubles and near-death, and of endless yard sales just to pay the rent. I am so ready to say goodbye to 2011.

Of course we always share the most positive things in our lives on our blogs, so it's nice that I can look back and say that even though the year has been pretty brutal, there have been lots of great times as well. I was fortunate enough to see The Honey Trees perform quite a few times & meet them, I ate a lot of cupcakes, and got to be an audience member for a couple of award shows (and was on tv for a few seconds, ha). I also was lucky enough to meet quite a few lovely people like Jennifer, Kat, and Emily. This has been a great year for my little blog; I have made so many friends here, and I was humbled by the kind words and generosity of those friends in the midst of Lily's illness. I feel pretty darn lucky to know all of you.

I am so excited for 2012 because I know it's going to be our best year yet! Jose starts his first real teaching job in a few weeks, which means we can move to a place where we can have heat, drain the kitchen sink, and drink the water - what a concept! It also means that now I can quit the job I've been miserable in for years, which is an incredible relief. I can finally see rays of sunshine emerging from the clouds, and it feels absolutely amazing. I can hardly believe this is my life!

We might dress up to celebrate, just to be fancy, but we're staying at home with my family, so here's my little imaginary New Year's Eve party. When I think of welcoming 2012, I see nothing but sparkles and light!

Have a fantastic New Year's Eve, and I'll see you next year! I can't wait!

A Silly Cat Christmas

2011-12-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how many people will be around blogland to see this, but here is a peek at our photo for this year. Since we didn't have one last year like he wanted, Jose was determined to make a beach themed card this year... and why not? Who doesn't wear sweaters and bring cats to a tropical beach? I love how serious Lily looks. He's so darn handsome! He's a remarkably patient model too; Sweeney was struggling to flee in every single shot, while Lily just sat in my arms, purring for most of the time.

I hope everyone has a marvelous and restful day!

Antiquing for Gifts

2011-12-21T22:22:00.000-08:00

Jose and I have been doing pretty much all of our Christmas gift shopping this week, and astoundingly, we're just about finished. On Monday, we took a little trip out to Los Alamos to do a bit of antique treasure hunting for somewhat more unique options. We hit up the big antique mall first, and though there were plenty of interesting things to look at, we were a bit underwhelmed when it came to actually finding things to gift.

Holy cow, am I ever awkward when it comes to standing. For those interested, everything I'm wearing is from Forever 21 except the scarf, which I've had for years so I don't remember where I got it. I love it because the colors remind me of ice cream. Anyway, we searched a few other shops, which all had an even less impressive selection, so we ended up back at the antique mall to make a few more laps and to finally purchase a few nice pieces. I'm almost finished wrapping everything, so soon we can finally sit back and enjoy our much-needed holiday.

Our Christmas Card Tradition

2011-12-12T17:29:00.000-08:00

The year before we got married, Jose and I made our first Christmas cards together, and since then we've been continuing the tradition every year. We usually wait until the last possible minute to come up with a concept and take the photos, but I have to say we do rather well for a short time frame and a self-timer. For our first year, 2007, we went with a goofy retro theme.

I remember laughing hysterically for most of that photo shoot, especially when we dunked our faces in whipped cream. That was our fanciest year, because we used three different options and had them completely custom made, which turned out to be waaaay expensive, so we've switched to more budget-friendly methods since then. The inside of the card read Wishing you a swell Christmas and a nifty New Year.

For 2008, we had gotten married a few months before, so we wore our wedding clothes. Sweeney made his first card appearance, and because he kept trying to escape, it was such a challenge to find a photo where he wasn't totally blurry. He does look pretty cute with his little Santa hat, though.

Lily joined the family early in 2009, so that year was his first card appearance. You can imagine how next to impossible it would be to get a decent shot like this with everyone in the frame, with the cats actually sitting still while being tangled in lights! So we had to be a little creative and put a few photos together for the final result. Jose's expression cracks me up, and Sweeney does not look amused.

Last year I offered to do an illustrated card, but Jose wanted to take a picture at the beach. However, the December weather had other plans, so I quickly put together this little family portrait. It was definitely easier than trying to wrangle unwilling cats into sitting still for the camera. What's in store for this year? You'll just have to wait and see! I will say that we found a pair of matching vests at the thrift shop last week.

Wintry Shimmer

2011-12-09T13:52:00.000-08:00

Still Sicky McSickerson over here, but I have a few peeks at our Christmas decorations to share today. I am really picky when selecting winter decor; I'm not much for the usual bright red and dark green for the most part, I'm more partial to silver and muted blues. We are slowly adding to our small collection year by year. It's a challenge decorating with two destructive felines in the house, so our tiny white tree is way up out of reach for the cats who would otherwise destroy it. Also, this is the first year we've put lights up outside (rather Jose put them up), and so far we're one of the only houses on the block to do so.

Fancy Wine Drinkers Eat Cupcakes

2011-12-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

That nasty cold virus has taken hold of me and I'm getting sicker and sicker by the minute, so not much is going on around here. For now, here is another cupcake adventure! Over the Thanksgiving break, my aunt and cousins drove up to visit. Of course we had to head over to Enjoy, and this time we did the wine pairing to go along with the cupcakes.

We all split a few of the mini flights. It was a really fun time! Watching my cousin Jamie's face as she tasted the wine was particularly entertaining, since she's not big on any alcoholic beverage other than strawberry margaritas. The wine selections went surprisingly well with the cupcakes, but it seemed like the amount poured was significantly less than anywhere else I've been wine tasting before. Of course the cupcakes were superb, and it was so tough just having a half of a mini version of each flavor. Some of the flavors included Eggnog, Chocolate Frangelico Hazelnut, and Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookie Dough.

Cute Pup & Custom Pet Portraits

2011-11-28T22:56:00.000-08:00

A while back, I was contacted by the lovely Jaclyn, who asked me if I would paint a portrait of her cute little Boston Terrier, Marty McFly (as a huge Back to the Future fan, I acknowledge that to be one of the greatest pet names of all time). I have done plenty of pet portraits as gifts, and a few as commissions, and it's definitely one of my favorite artistic things to do. So of course I was more than happy to paint the great Marty!

I'm such a cat person and I almost obsessively draw Lily, so it's good for me to get some practice painting dogs every once in a while. I'm really proud of how this little guy turned out! It didn't hurt to have so many great personality-filled photos to use for reference.

I enjoyed painting Marty so much, I decided to make a "thing" out of it; now I am offering custom pet portraits in my Shop. These would be great gifts for any pet lovers, or you can get one of your own fuzzy friend. If you're interested, be sure to check out the listing for your own Custom Pet Portrait.

I also added a bunch of brand new prints, and some original paintings as well. I'm trying to branch out a bit, since I've only been selling prints and a zine, so I'd love to hear from you guys about new items you'd like to see. Totes, buttons, stickers, cards, or anything else you'd be interested in. I have been looking into making jewelry featuring my art, I just need to figure out where to find some pretty settings for brooches, necklaces, and the like.

Speaking of new things, I made a load of buttons in all shapes and sizes to use for linking to Ghosts Waltz if you are so inclined, and you can find them here. Also, look at the new and improved Bloglovin button I made on the right sidebar, sorry to be a nerd but I totally love it!

Win Books from Chronicle

2011-11-27T02:26:00.000-08:00

It's time again for the Happy Haul-idays Giveaway from Chronicle Books! For the second year in a row, one lucky blogger will win up to $500 worth of Chronicle books. To take part, you can create and post your own list of books to win, up to $500 worth, and enter your link here. One reader who comments on the winning post will receive the entire list of books too! So even if you don't have a blog, you still have a chance to win by commenting. This year, Chronicle is being extra awesome and also giving $500 in books to a charity of the winning blogger's choice. The last day to submit entries is December 2nd, so get to it! My list is pretty similar to the one I made last year, with a few new reads.

Dress Shoppe by Brigette Barrager
Paper + Craft by Minhee and Truman Cho
Miette by Meg Ray
Handmade Hellos by Eunice Moyle and Sabrina Moyle
Ramayana by Sanjay Patel
On Tender Hooks by Isabel Samaras
Frida Kahlo: Brush of Anguish by Martha Zamora
Decorate by Holly Becker & Joanna Copestick
Fantastic Plastic Cameras by Kevin Meredith
The Kittens of Boxville by Ryosuke Handa
Cartoon Modern by Amid Amidi
Weirdo Noir by Matt Dukes Jordan
Anna Sui by Andrew Bolton
Silhouette Art by Vana Chupp
My Milk Toof by Inhae Lee
Pirate's Log by Jory John and Avery Monsen
Vunce Upon a Time by J.otto Seibold and Siobhan Vivian
Chuck Dugan Is AWOL by Eric Chase Anderson
Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations by Jeffrey Brown
Porch Parties by Denise Gee
One Love by Cedella Marley, Illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton

Grand total: $496.78

If I were to win this wonderful giveaway, the charity I would choose is The Pajama Program, an organization that provides new pajamas and new books to children in need. Many of the children served by the program are abandoned or abused, and are living in group homes or shelters.

For anyone who might want to create their own list, here are a few Chronicle books from my own collection that I absolutely love. They're all so pretty and full of great design!

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Be sure to show me your list if you make one. Good luck to everyone!

Thank You Kitty

2011-11-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

This year has definitely been a long one, with plenty of less than pleasant surprises along the way. Fortunately, I have this little space to help me focus on all of the good parts. The brightest spot of all is the fact that this handsome guy is still around, and is doing quite well. We've been worried about him for such a long time, and I think it's finally okay to breathe a sigh of relief.

I am so thankful for my little purring furry-faced fellow, and I am especially grateful for all of the support I found here, through your encouraging words and thoughts, as well as your contributions to Lily's hospital bill.

As a small thank you, if you plan to shop online to avoid the ridiculous crowds and find something a bit different, please use the code THANKYOUKITTY for 25% off any order from my Shop from now until the 28th. I am planning on adding some original paintings and maybe some other odds and ends starting tomorrow. To my friends in the States, I hope you have a wonderful and cozy Thanksgiving, and to everyone else, I hope you have a lovely night!

Honey & Coffee

2011-11-21T00:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since The Honey Trees have played a show, so I was excited to finally get to see them again last night at Kreuzberg, Ca, a coffee shop and used bookstore in San Luis Obispo. We got there early to grab good seats, and I found a very comfy little blue chair (I want one just like it at home!) while Jose scoped out the huge selection of books.

The decor is quite a bit more "hip" than we are, haha.

I'll never tire of listening to The Honey Trees play; they're always amazing! I'm looking forward to their new album so much, I can't wait! Such beautiful music. And they're such wonderful people as well. Make sure you watch their cover of "Moon River" that's all over the internet.

No Doubt Obsessed

2011-11-14T00:50:00.000-08:00

With Gwen Stefani having released her Harajuku Mini line for Target yesterday, I started thinking about the years of my life spent obsessing over No Doubt. I distinctly remember listening to Tragic Kingdom over and over as a preteen, while my mom and I took down the wallpaper in my room and painted the walls, laying the foundation for what would eventually become a wall-to-wall No Doubt shrine of epic proportions (there are photos somewhere but I haven't been able to find them). I collected every single clipping and piece of memorabilia related to the band, and either pasted the clippings into a notebook or taped them to the wall.

I collected full-page articles and photos of the band in a special binder. My school binders were covered with Gwen, Tony, Tom, and Adrian for many years. In fact, it was one of those binders that prompted Jose to say his first words to me in high school, "Cool binder, I love No Doubt!" I guess you could say that the band brought us together, haha.

Gwen was very influential on my style growing up. My love of having pink hair definitely comes from Gwen. I accumulated a couple of weeks' worth of No Doubt tees. I even bought a few bindis as a teen, but never really mustered up the courage to wear them. I still have them just because they're so pretty to look at.

So far, I've seen No Doubt in concert three times; once opening for U2, once headlining, and once at an outdoor performance for Jimmy Kimmel Live. Though I've been less excited about the band's music since the release of Rock Steady, I would love to see them again when they tour for their upcoming album. I have never been a huge fan of Gwen's solo music; I enjoy two or three of her songs at most, but I continue to admire her style, and I do like some of the products she has released under her L.A.M.B. and Harajuku Lovers brands. For our anniversary this year, Jose bought me a pair of Harajuku Lovers headphones, which included a sweet little carrying case. For my birthday, my cousin gave me the "G of the Sea" frangrance, which smells so beautiful and comes in the most adorable mermaid Gwen container.

Most of pieces from the Harajuku Mini collection are too bright and busy for my taste, but there are a few things I thought were cute, so I went to Target yesterday out of curiosity. I can usually fit into kids' tops without much of a problem (my wedding cardigan was from Target's kid section!), but even the XL tops were very tight on me. The non-clothing items were either gone already, or weren't out yet, so I left empty-handed. Here are my favorites...

Are you or have you ever been a super-fan of any sort? Do you have any huge clipping collections? I'll have to share more of my old binders soon; it's funny looking back at all of the old interests I still hold onto today.

Cats & Cupcakes

2011-11-06T22:19:00.000-08:00

Just a few little peeks at the past few days, including a few of my favorite things, cats and cupcakes! On Friday morning, as I was about to head out the door, I spied Lily relaxing on the window sill in the bathroom. Of course I had to take a few pictures.

Cold weather is officially here (it hailed on Friday!) so it's time to break out the space heater, since the actual heater in our place has been broken since we started living here, unfortunately. Hopefully we'll be getting that and our badly clogged sink taken care of soon. Sweeney always likes a front row seat for the heater.

Caught up with my favorite reanimated damsel. Also watched the Kenneth Branagh version of Frankenstein, for an altogether different and slightly disturbing experience. Yikes.

My mom has been out of town for the past week, and on her way back, she picked up some cupcakes to bring back and share, yay! I dropped by yesterday after she got home, and we split all six flavors.

Tart Cranberry Chardonnay

Chocolate Maple Marshmallow

Snickerdoodle

Chocolate Malt French Fry

Lemon Cream Pie

Chocolate Blackberry Syrah
I think my favorite would be Tart Cranberry Chardonnay; I loved the sugared cranberry on top, and cranberry filling. The Chocolate Malt French Fry was so good too, the tiny salty french fries on top were such a nice addition. They were all so delicious though, I have yet to try an Enjoy cupcake I didn't care for.

Today was a bit of a lazy day, since my neck and shoulder pain is still sticking around, with a headache thrown in for good measure. However, I did manage to do a commissioned painting for Jose's colleague's birthday. Also, I forgot to share that I received the super-spiffy premiere issue of Rock N Roll Bride Magazine, it's so pretty!

Lily and Kat's kitty Henry look so much alike, I had to take a picture of Lily reading the magazine. I think he would like it, if he knew how to read. Speaking of Lily, Jill of The Dapper Toad has created the most adorable cat charms for her Shop. She offers pre-designed cat charms, or you can order custom charms! I want one of Lily soooo badly! I would want one of Sweeney too if he wasn't such a jerk, haha.

Jill is generously hosting a giveaway where you can win one of her kitty charms, and I am crossing my fingers, toes, and whatever else I can cross, to win a teeny tiny Lily to carry around with me like the crazy cat lady that I am. I know I'm not the only cat lady around here!

Frankenstein's Lovely Lady

2011-11-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

The one film I absolutely have to watch every Halloween season is The Bride of Frankenstein. She may only be onscreen for a few short minutes, but The Bride is by far my favorite of the classic movie monsters. From the moment she comes to life, up until her final hiss, she is amazingly mesmerizing to watch.

Portraying both The Bride, as well as Frankenstein author Mary Shelley in the film's prologue, is the wonderful English actress Elsa Lanchester (who many may recognize from Mary Poppins). Other actresses considered for the role included Brigitte Helm and Louise Brooks, but it is impossible to imagine anyone embodying The Bride as beautifully or as hauntingly as Elsa.

My fascination with the film really took off during my first year of college, when I took a course in Film Music and fell in love with the gorgeous score by composer Franz Waxman. The Bride's theme (starting around 0:48 in the sound clip) is particularly hypnotic, and it has been my phone's ringtone for quite a while.

Since then, The Bride has been one of my biggest art inspirations. I would sketch her in many different incarnations, in the pages of journals, and eventually started working her into paintings. Here are a few pieces, starting from almost ten years ago, ending in some more recent works.

I started the painting with the floating skull a while back, but I'm still figuring out what to add to it. I might make it into a print for my shop if I ever get around to finishing.

Of course she's my favorite part of the Halloween banner I made a few years ago. You can't see it in the photo, but she has a bit of silver glitter in her white streak.

A few days ago, I created an Etsy Treasury with a Bride of Frankenstein theme, and I was pleased to find that there are so many great Bride items to be found. If you are interested in seeing more about our favorite lady in stitches, be sure to click over to Andrea's DIY shoe & brooch post at Paper Sparrow, and go see Kailey's great costume on her blog, Mermaidens. Do you have a favorite classic movie monster?

Jazz Cat

2011-11-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend! Ours was a little less-than-stellar to be honest. On Saturday, I woke up with shooting pains in my neck, shoulders, and arm. I think it might be residual pain from when I got whiplash at Disneyland back in the summer. It hurt too much to move, so I stayed in bed, perfectly still for most of the day. Our friends were having their annual huge Halloween party that night, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to go until about ten minutes before it was time to leave. I dragged myself out of bed, threw on my tuxedo bodysuit and tulle skirt, put on my cat mask since I was in no mood to do any elaborate makeup, donned my wingtips, and dubbed myself "Jazz Cat" as we headed out the door.

Jose dressed up as a dead sailor like he did last year. He definitely looks better in my Navy uniform shirt than I do. The party was fun and there were lots of great costumes, but we didn't bring the camera to the party since it now refuses to work zoomed in, zoomed out, or any way other than the exact focus it feels like having at any given moment, so it's too frustrating to use most of the time. It's time for a new camera soon!

On actual Halloween, we couldn't afford to leave the house since both of our cars were out of gas, and it was a few hours until official pay day. So we went to sleep early. Squares! Obviously next year will have to be an improvement!

Costume Cavalcade

2011-10-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

I love this month in Blogland because a lot of my favorite bloggers have been sharing old pictures of themselves in costume. Here is a look at all of the pictures I could find of my past costumes. For my first Halloween, at four months old, I was a ballerina. At one, my mom dressed as a sheep, and I was a lamb. I look pretty hilarious at two as Supergirl, wearing a Burger King crown for some reason.

I was a ballerina again when I was three, but there's no actual picture so instead you get to see a very awkward picture of me in a tutu. At four I was Dorothy, complete with stuffed Toto, and at age five, my mom made a My Little Pony costume. Our kindergarten class walked in a line through all of the classrooms at school, and I remember being so mad when a few bigger kids remarked "Aw, look at the cute little bunny!" I guess my ears were a bit long.

I was a black cat when I was six but there are no photos. At seven, I was Belle, and carried around my little Beast doll. I was a cheetah when I was eight... gotta love the crimped hair! As a pixie at nine, we had a Halloween party at my house, which I don't remember too well, but I do recall that we bobbed for apples.

I was a playing card when I was ten, and then in a particularly weird and nerdy turn at eleven, my sixth grade class went to see the musical "1776" and I decided to be Thomas Jefferson. I sure do wish I had a picture of that! I still like to wear the velvety jacket from time to time. Twelve was sort of a cringe-worthy year, when I went as Rose from Titanic.

Thirteen was the one year I didn't dress up at all, because we went out of town, and I was pretty sad about it. Here's where photo-taking sort of fell by the wayside for quite a while. I dressed as an angel when I was fourteen, pink-haired Gwen Stefani at fifteen (another I really wish I had a photo for), a Victorian ghost for sixteen, and Wednesday Addams at seventeen.

Halloween during the college years was kind of tough because for most of the time I didn't really have people to celebrate the holiday with, since my cousin Jamie wasn't very interested in Halloween, and most of my friends lived a bit far. I did go with friends to a concert at eighteen, when I dressed as a Swing Kid. At nineteen I roped Jamie into going with me as zombie Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Then at twenty I got her to dress up with me as The Corpse Bride and Bonejangles. Twenty-one was really the year I started doing last-minute costume planning; I guess I was a flapper skeleton. At twenty-two I had to attend play rehearsal on Halloween so I dressed as a low-key Rosie the Riveter. Since then, I've been sharing my costumes here on the blog, so you've probably already seen my Sweeney Todd, Poe's Raven, and Sally costumes from the past couple of years, and my Edward Scissorhands and Lost at Sea costumes from last year.

I still have no idea what I'm doing for this year. I'll probably go as the Black Swan again for one of the days, but I hate to wear the same exact thing more than once so I'll have to try and come up with some other ideas since we have a few festivities lined up throughout the weekend. We'll just have to see! Do you have any exciting plans for Halloween? I can't wait until we have a home where we can throw elaborate Halloween parties!

The Nightmare Tradition

2011-10-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

Last week was the opening of The Nightmare Before Christmas in 4D at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre. Jose wasn't able to go this year, but I carried on the tradition and brought along my friend and fellow Burton-fan Toni. We arrived in Hollywood just before dark, and as we stepped out onto the Walk of Fame, I snapped a few photos of the marquee. A cameraman for a news channel asked to take video of me taking pictures, and then took a shot of the results on my camera display. That was a little weird. We then headed to the theater, and for the first time in my history of attending the show, we had to check all recording devices at the door because they would be sharing some special video clips.

As always, the night started with organist Rob Richards playing the giant Wurlitzer organ (he even played Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor!). Then Don Hahn came out to host the pre-show. The theme for the evening was "Tim Burton: past, present and future," and we got to watch Vincent on the big screen, which was pretty neat. Animator Stephen Chiodo was the guest, and he spoke about the process of making Vincent with Tim. For the most exciting part of the night, we were treated to an exclusive sneak peek of the new stop-motion Frankenweenie, which looks like it will be wonderful!

Then it was time for the feature presentation, so we put our 3D glasses on and experienced Nightmare with blinking Christmas lights, falling snow, overwhelming fog, and the aroma of gingerbread. Once the movie was over, we picked up our cameras, took a few pictures, and headed downstairs to line up for the special puppet and set displays.

Next, we wandered next-door to the Disney Soda Fountain and Studio Store to have a look around. We decided to share The Oogie Boogie Special, a sundae with pumpkin pie ice cream (wow, so delicious), cookie crumbles, gummy worms, and green marshmallow ooze.

The server came over and told us that they had accidentally made two sundaes, and asked if we wanted the other one for free. Um, yes please!

There was supposed to be a costume contest, but unfortunately that never happened. Oh well, my "always a corpse bridesmaid, never a corpse bride" look will have to be revisited another time.

Happy Haunting House

2011-10-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again, when I make our little home just a tad spookier. There are skulls and lots of black & white out all year long, so it doesn't take much to make our place Halloween-ready. Our portrait masks change every year, but until next year when Jose gets his teaching job, this super-tight budget only allows for the same decorations as always. Good thing I like them a lot, and I have plenty of black construction paper!

Keeping with the Halloween spirit, I decided to have my own Tim Burton movie marathon over the past few days. In mostly-chronological order, I have watched Vincent, Frankenweenie, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Corpse Bride, and Sweeney Todd.

I watched most of them with commentary by Mr. Burton, which is funny because he can be a little uncomfortable-sounding but I love to listen to his stories and his musings on things that scare him, like suburbia and normal-seeming families.

Tonight I will be watching Alice in Wonderland and my old VHS of Batman. I unfortunately don't have access to Batman Returns, Mars Attacks, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so those will have to be for some other time. I love movie marathons!

On the subject of Halloween, now is a great time to head over to my Etsy Shop and pick up something spooky, because I'm offering free shipping until November 2nd, with a special code. If you're in the States, there's still time to receive your order in time for Halloween!

A Starstruck Swan

2011-10-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

I'm back with a few screen captures to share from the Scream Awards. They're mostly shots of me but I've also included a few of the set and my favorite moments. Here is the only actual photo of my table that I could find, but it's pretty tiny!

This is probably the best one, with all of the other lovely swan ladies sitting around Darren Aronofsky's table. At the bottom left of the photo sits Scott Franklin, one of the producers for Black Swan.

I felt kind of silly constantly cheering, most of the time for people or movies I was very unfamiliar with, but that's what we were there for of course. They used this shot of our table again later on in the show, but mirrored the image so we were facing the other way, weird!

Mr. Aronofsky going to accept his Best Director award, and me being genuinely super excited behind him. The picture quality is kind of bad and he looks a little derpy but I love this one!

I know you are but what am I? In the presence of Pee-Wee and Rainn Wilson... a truly awesome moment! Thanks for indulging me and my little starstruck self! On the subject of swans, here's a bit of doodling for your time.

The Splendiferous Mary Blair

2011-10-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

You could say that I'm a little bit obsessed with Mary Blair and her work, so I am always on the lookout for books, movies, and anything else involving her art. Mary would have been 100 years old today, so to celebrate her birthday, I wanted to share two of my favorite Little Golden Books featuring her amazing illustrations. The details are pretty fantastic, to say the least! Here is a peek at I Can Fly, written by Ruth Krauss.

Inspiring, right? I could fill an entire house with her artwork. Here are a few pages from Baby's House, by Gelolo Mchugh.

Another masterpiece! I definitely recommend both books, whether you have children or not, they are great little pieces of art to have in your collection.

I also adore Mary's concept art for Disney, both for films and of course for "It's a Small World." She had such a wonderfully unique style, and she actually influenced many of my favorite artists of today.

I'm off to watch Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros in honor of today. Happy birthday, Mary!

Swan Fun At The Scream Awards

2011-10-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, I was lucky enough to receive a ticket to the 2011 Spike Scream Awards (which airs tonight, be sure to watch!). This is a particularly fun award show to attend, because the audience members get to dress up in costumes. We were asked to dress as one of the nominees, or in generally sci-fi or fantasy costumes. When I saw that Black Swan was nominated in a few categories, I immediately knew what to do.

Since I'm on an extremely tight budget, every part of my costume was something I already had in my closet, aside from a tiara, which I bought for two dollars at Target and spray-painted black, and some black netting material to use for a veil and a feathered sleeve, which was also around two dollars.

I was looking forward to the makeup most of all, since it would be the element that really made a difference in the quality of the overall look. I had to send in a photo of myself in costume so the show's producers could approve it, so a few days before the show, I gathered everything together and applied the makeup, then Jose took a few pictures of the final costume.

I tweaked the costume slightly, wearing boots and fishnets instead of ballet slippers and white tights, because it was much more flattering and would also fit better with the aesthetic of the show. I think everything came together quite well, myself, especially for mostly using things I already had. What do you think?

I really loved how the makeup artist for the film painted Natalie Portman's hands as well. That was one detail I definitely wanted to incorporate into my own costume.

Going to the show by myself meant that I needed to be totally in costume before I left for Universal Studios. Which also meant that I would be driving in full makeup and a tiara for three hours on the freeway in broad daylight, which felt a little silly.

Once I got to the studio gate, I parked and then stood in line for a while as I finished my hand makeup. We all started walking to the shuttles to drive us to the venue, and it was then that I unfortunately lost the veil for my face, darn it!

Our tickets specified that we could not bring cameras or cellphones with us, so I left mine in the car. I regretted that, because everyone else brought phones, and some even brought cameras and were snapping away right in front of security. Next time I won't be making that mistake! I would have taken lots of pictures because everything looked amazing! Since I don't have my own, the rest of these photos were found on the internet. The show had sort of a carnival sideshow theme, complete with circus performers doing tricks. The set was outrageous! My seat was on the stage at one of the tables.

You can see me in the photo above, on the far right.

During one of the breaks, I was moved to sit with a bunch of other girls in black or white swan costumes. I wasn't told the reason we were sitting together, and then I looked over at the table next to me. Darren Aronofsky (director of Black Swan) was sitting right there, surrounded by swan girls, myself included. Wow. I think I may have stared a little. When he went up to accept the Best Director award, he walked right by me. That was so neat!

In the photo above, the arrow shows my seat for most of the show. In that photo, the arrow is actually pointing to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, and Gary Oldman waiting to accept an award. They were talking to our table about how awesome our costumes were. So crazy! I could have touched them, haha.

It was totally worth it to be outside freezing and hungry the whole time (everyone in the audience got free food and liquor, except for those of us on the stage, I guess they didn't want to film people eating)! How many people can say they were able to have this experience? Make sure you watch the Scream Awards tonight at 9/8 Central (or I'm sure it'll probably rerun quite a bit) on Spike TV, maybe you'll see me! I'll be screen capturing it of course. There were lots of Black Swans, just look for the one with the best makeup, hehe.

Enjoying the Most Delicious Cupcakes

2011-10-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

At long last, today is the day of the Epic Cupcake Post! If you ever pass through Los Olivos, California, you absolutely have to stop by Enjoy Cupcakes. I have never been a huge cupcake person, because I had only ever tried those boring piles of icky frosting found in the baked goods section of the grocery store. But after trying Amber Vander Vliet's amazing creations, I am always thinking about what delicious treats she will be serving up next! The menu of six flavors is different each week, aside for the signature Chocolate Blackberry Syrah; Amber has created 350 flavors so far! She and her husband Kevin run Enjoy out of the Saarloos & Sons tasting house, and they also have the cutest vintage trailer to use for catering weddings and other events.

The first time I visited Enjoy was on a day trip to Santa Barbara in July with Jose. He won't eat any kind of cake and wasn't interested in trying them (his loss!), so I happily ate two cupcakes all by myself. One Raspberry Chardonnay and one Coconut Latte! It was then that I immediately converted to full-fledged cupcake fan. They were the most moist, delicious, perfect little things! I also loved all of the details of the shop, from the cute chalkboard menu to the beautiful wallpaper and of course that darling trailer. I knew I would have to visit again soon.

After raving about the cupcakes to my mom, we stopped on the way south for our weekend of awesome food. We each got one Salted Cadillac Margarita and one Mexican Chocolate. And my mom lost her mind. Well, I did a little bit too, but wow, did she ever love that margarita cupcake! She said it was the best cupcake she's ever tasted, and the lady loves her sweets, so that's really saying something.

I believe it was the sweet & salty lime zest on top that did it, but the lime curd filling was also really fantastic. The Mexican chocolate cinnamon pudding filling was sooooo good! We also picked up a flight of all six flavors of the week (mini size) to bring to my aunt and cousins. Of course we stopped by again on the way back, and this time we tried the Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee, which of course was super tasty.

After that visit, my mom would ask me about the menu every week. She was hoping that the Margarita would make another appearance, but usually it's a pretty long time before Amber serves a particular flavor again. But when I saw that Mojito was coming up soon, we figured that was close enough, and made a little trip just for cupcakes.

We split Mojito, Raspberry Mascarpone Chardonnay, Almond "En"Joy, and Vanilla Honey Sea Salt. Once again, all of them were delightful! And so pretty too.

I hope I haven't made you drool too much. I can't wait for the next cupcake weekend! You know you'll be hearing all about it. If you visit Enjoy, make sure to save one for me! Also, take a look at the gorgeous photos of Kevin and Amber's 10 year vow renewal, taken by the wonderful Jennifer Young. They're breathtaking!

Drawing Sugar Skulls

2011-10-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

It may be a bit early, but lately I have been drawing lots of girls decked out in calavera face paint for los Días de los Muertos. I recently got a pack of black Faber-Castell artist pens and I love them! It's actually therapeutic sketching out the curvy shapes of flowers and flowing hair.

For the past few days, I've been re-watching the complete series of Daria, so I did sugar skull versions of Daria and Jane for my friend and fellow Daria-lover Liezl on some nice, thick watercolor paper and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Speaking of sugar skulls, the lovely Mary Rebecca is hosting a Halloween giveaway which includes my Muertos Girl print & Cats in Costumes zine, and lots of other super-duper prizes. Take a look at the post for all of the giveaway details. I will also be doing a guest post at Mary's blog later this month.

Tim Burton Blog Party

2011-10-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

You simply must take a look at the Tim Burton Blog Party happening over at Paper Sparrow! Two days absolutely packed with Burton goodness from Andrea and a lot of other great bloggers, including little old me.

My guest post is here.

There is also an incredible giveaway with loads of amazing items, including my Mad Tea Party print. So go go go right away!

In the meantime, I thought this would be a good time to show off little snippets of our Tim Burton bathroom.

It's Halloween all year in our house!

Especially with Sweeney Todd, the Demon Kitty of Our Street lurking in the shadows.

Antiques & Classic Cars

2011-10-03T19:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my mom and I went out to Los Olivos for more cupcakes, and on the way back, we stopped by Los Alamos for their Old Days Festival. It's sort of a street market and classic car show. The booths were not too impressive but we popped in to a few of the antique shops along the street and they had some neat things to see.

I loved that beautiful circus poster but most definitely did not have $75 to burn.

For any Michael Jackson or Paul McCartney fans, that is the hotel from this video.

The reason for the trip. Look for a huge cupcake post coming up very soon!

Pirate Week: Printable Bunting Project

2011-09-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

It's almost the end of Pirate Week, and I wanted to thank you for following along by offering a fun pirate printable I made. This little banner features seven lovely pirate ladies, and you can find the link to download the flags a bit further down in this post. The girls can be left black and white, or you can color them in yourself if you wish. I printed mine out on regular paper, but I suggest using card stock to make it a bit sturdier.

After you have printed the page, cut the flags out. I included a blank flag, so if you like, you can use it as a template if you want to cut additional flags out of patterned scrapbook paper and alternate them like I did.

You can use string, yarn, cord, twine, or whatever else you like to hang everything up. I arranged the flags in the order I wanted them, then started in the middle of the string and worked my way out, gluing each one on. I used a glue stick, then folded each flag in half over the string.

The Pirate Lady Bunting template can be saved as an image file HERE or downloaded as a PDF file HERE. Note that the page is only the pirate ladies and one blank flag, the striped flags are just scrapbook paper I had around the house, so you can add any kind of paper you wish, or you can have an all-pirate banner, which looks great too.

I put together a last-minute mini pirate party to display my new banner, complete with plenty of Pirate's Booty and a margarita (I only have martini glasses!) with coconut-flavored tequila. My own little pirate paradise. We were hoping to have a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon, but then we realized we only have the first two movies.

I hope you enjoy! I'd like to do more things like this, if anyone is interested. If you do make your own banner, I would love to see pictures!

Pirate Week: Dressing the Part

2011-09-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

It is possible to dress like a pirate without it being an over-the-top costume. I have been incorporating pirate elements into my clothing for years. I'm a sucker for peacoats and jackets with a nautical flair. I always gravitate toward stripes. Boots are great as well. My beaded skeleton boots are one of my very favorite things in the world to wear. I should have bought two pairs, because I've had them for so many years I've worn the soles down to practically nothing, so now I only bring them out once in a while.

Wearing: Dress - Forever 21, Jacket - H&M via Buffalo Exchange, Cameo pin - my grandmother's, Purple scarf - Wet Seal, Necklace - Delia*s, Boots - Scavenge, Tights - had them forever.

For years, I was the queen of striped socks and tights; I wore a pair pretty much every day. After wearing many pairs until they had huge holes, I still have a lot, but I rarely wear them out since I'm usually in ballet flats.

That's not even all of them! People still give me striped socks as gifts, so I like to put them on while lounging around at home.

Liezl sent me these awesome buttons. I love the illustrations.

Pirate Week: Disneyland & The Red Carpet

2011-09-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is enjoying these pirate posts! For this installment, I am sharing a few photos of my pirate experiences at Disneyland. As a teenager, my very first job was being a Disney pirate. There I was, making my way through the park to get to the ride, dressed in a bright maroon and orange pirate costume, when I received my first-ever question from a guest. "Do you work here?" Well, I can't say I normally walk around dressed like that, wearing a name tag no less. Oh, goodness. Don't laugh!

My other Disney piratey times were attending the world premieres of the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films. I have a button for each of the first three premiere events (the first one was given to me by a friend who worked there at the time). For Dead Man's Chest, my wonderful friend Liezl and I hauled ourselves to the park extremely early in the morning to grab a spot on Main Street next to the red carpet. I believe we sat there for about thirteen hours before the action started, but it was so much fun to see everyone in person and I snapped a ton of pictures. Though I feel like a huge dope for never getting one of me and Liezl together.

For the At World's End premiere, Jose and I planned to get up super early to get a good spot, but we ended up oversleeping quite a bit, so instead we enjoyed rides at the park for most of the day and then went to see some of the stars arrive at the front gate later on.

Johnny Depp came out while Jose was in the bathroom (with the camera!), so we weren't very close. As soon as Jose came back out, he jumped up and got this neat picture of Mr. Depp's back in the middle of so many flashing cameras.

We weren't able to attend the premiere for the latest movie this year, but we definitely hope to go to the next one!

Pirate Week: Costume Designs

2011-09-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

One of the best projects I did in college was designing costumes for Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera. We were each able to come up with our own design concept for the show, collect a body of research and inspirational images and materials, and then go ahead and draw up the designs, including fabric swatches. My concept was to combine the fashion of the 1920s with pirate elements. I am very proud of how my designs came together and I would love to see them come to life in a real show.

Above, some inspirational images, my typed concept, and a few preliminary sketches. Below are some of the final designs, with swatches attached. I love the colors and textures of the fabrics I was able to find.

Here are a few close-ups of the details.

I love the look of these vintage ladies in pirate gear. The main inspiration for my design concept was the bottom center photo.

Pirate Week: Adventures & Places

2011-09-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

I love to go on pirate outings. It's silly of me, but I get a kick out of dressing up like a pirate and going out to the beach. So here are a few of my favorite pirate adventures from the past, starting with the most recent, and working back to the earliest. First up is the time Jose and I took my visiting cousin Julianna out to the Guadalupe dunes, where the Davy Jones' Locker scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End were filmed.

It was quite foggy when we visited, but we had a lot of fun being silly, and I love how all of the photos turned out.

One of my favorite places in the world is Seaport Village in San Diego. There is a wonderful little shop there called Captain's Cove, that sells all kinds of pirate loot and other nautical items.

Of course our wedding counts as a pirate adventure! This skeleton gentleman was a hit at the reception, and we did walk into the venue to "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me."

I don't think I'll ever convince Jose to go with me to the Ojai Pirate Faire, but the one year I did go was a pretty interesting experience.

Years ago, we showed up to the dunes for what was advertised as a Pirate Hike, but once we got there it turned out to be a bit of a short walk with a guide who talked about the beach for a few minutes, and that was basically it. I'd love to do a real pirate tour someday though.

Here is some vintage Jose and Danielle! I always like to dress up for midnight movie showings, even when I'm the only one. I did get Jose to dress up with me one time at Disneyland though, and it was one of the most fun days at the park we've had! I think I was (mistakenly) identified as a cast member more times that day than when I actually worked there.

Lastly, I smuggled a pirate flag in with me to my high school graduation, and I had to sport the striped tights at prom. Always showing the pirate love!

Have you ever gone on a pirate outing? Here are a few musical selections for any adventures you might have.

Pirate Week: Arts & Crafts

2011-09-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite pirate-themed art. I scoured Etsy for the very best items to showcase in a piratical Treasury. It was actually quite a task to find items that I really liked; I waded through thousands of party invitations, questionable pencil drawings, and loads of other very random listings. I'm very happy with the treasures I ended up finding. Here are a few other pieces of great piratical art that I have found over the years.

Charmaine Olivia is a brilliant painter who also does gorgeous silhouette art, and I especially like her pirate ladies.

Of course Marc Davis deserves a place of honor due to his amazing concept art for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I particularly love his depiction of the red-haired lady, and I would love to have his painting of her as a pirate lass on my wall some day.

I recently discovered the work of Mab Graves and have been in awe of her ever since. She makes and sells the most amazing cameo necklaces, featuring her tiny original paintings and custom charms.

I have been a fan of Camille Rose Garcia forever, and I love her depictions of piratical fashion, both in her book, The Magic Bottle, and in one of her older works.

I think it may have been Fawn Gehweiler who produced the first piratical artwork that really caught my eye. These are quite old, I remember finding them in high school, but I still love them as much as ever.

Are there any pieces of art with a pirate flair that you love? Have you done any pirate-inspired artwork or crafting yourself? I'd love to see it! I'm always on the lookout for new art to drool over.

Pirate Week

2011-09-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Now, I'm not going to lie, I'm not planning on going around talking to people in a pirate voice; I am not that brave. But I have always been a big lover of piratical things, so I wanted to celebrate in my own way. I am declaring this week to be Pirate Week on the blog, and I will be sharing all sorts of piratey goodness, like adventures I have had in the past, piratical fashion, art, and even some very embarassing photos of myself from when I worked at a certain theme park on a certain ride... oh my goodness. For now, I wanted to share photos I took of some of my favorite pirate treasures.

See you tomorrow for more, and let me know if you go out today and talk like a pirate!

Weekend Bits & Pieces

2011-09-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

As you can see, last weekend was pretty much packed with all kinds of delicious food. The phrase "food pics!" was used often. My mom and I headed out on a road trip for a wedding, and I suggested we stop on the way for cupcakes that ended up blowing her mind (more on those later), then my favorite fast food in the world, a grilled cheese at In-N-Out. There was a chocolate fountain at the wedding, and an open bar, which was quite nice. For a late night dinner we picked up some outrageously tasty flatbread pizzas from Daphne's, a Greek fast food place that very unfortunately only has locations in Orange County. The next morning, we stopped for cupcakes again before coming home. A very satisfying couple of days. Here's to hoping for another food pic weekend.

Downtown Disney and Photo Fun

2011-09-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

I am so behind! I've got some serious catching up to do here on the blog, as I've got quite a few things I've been planning to share. These photos are from our LA weekend, which was already two weeks ago! We went to Downtown Disney to see if my mom's friend was working that day, but he wasn't, so we did a bit of wandering for a few hours. It's pretty tough to be there without actually going into the parks, but it was still fun to see what the shops had on display, and we had lunch at the House of Blues, which was so amazingly delicious.

I went a little googly-eyed seeing this giant wall of Mary Blair. I have never been a huge fan of the it's a small world ride, but Mary Blair is definitely at the tip-top of my list of favorite artists, and I adore her concept art for the ride. If I had the money, I think I would probably decorate an entire house with Disney concept art, specifically with a whole lot of Mary Blair and Marc Davis.

On our drive back home, we had to stop by our old go-to photobooth and take a couple of strips worth. The ink was a little icky though, when it first came out there were little black "crumbs" everywhere, making it look like Jose had a giant wart and a missing tooth. Fortunately, we brushed them off before they dried.

And then it was back to reality.

I Heart Flapper Girl Creations

2011-09-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes being part of the blogging world can lead to some great things! Thanks to the Blog Party Donna threw last month, I was the lucky winner of a Vintage Inspired Carnival Garland by Christine of Flapper Girl. I remember seeing her garlands on Flickr ages ago, and even back then I loved her style, and the way she combined a love for vintage and all things spooky. She's definitely a lady after my own heart! I received a package from Christine just days after I sent her my information, and I couldn't wait to open it and see my spiffy new garland up close.

Christine used the prettiest sparkly tissue paper and sealed everything with flapper lady stickers. Once I carefully opened the tissue paper, I was so surprised to see that Christine had sent me a whole lot more than the garland alone; she put together such a nice collection of goodies for me! She included one of her Vintage Bookworm Button Sets, three sweet little rings, owl pins, and a stack of "Piss Off" donuts postcards. How generous!

The garland is just as gorgeous in real life as you'd think; there are so many neat little details, and if you know me, you know I love carnivals and vintage photos, so it's absolutely perfect! It took me a little while to settle on the perfect spot to hang such a fine piece, but I ended up giving it the place of honor, where I usually hang my own bunting. It looks swell with my little knicknacks.

One of the things that struck me the most about Christine's goodies was her fabulous packaging; everything looks so professional and goes together so well, you can tell she put a whole lot of thought into each and every detail of the presentation. I hope one day to have a top-notch packaging scheme like hers. I am so grateful to Christine for her generosity in sending me such a nice collection of her items, and I am looking forward to following her blog and getting to know her. Be sure to take a look at her shop; you'll find all kinds of spooky delights over there in time for Halloween. I'm also thankful to Donna for making this all possible! I've said it often, but I have found some of the most wonderful people through the internet!

A Day in L.A.

2011-09-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

After our super-fun night in Los Angeles for the Rock N' Roll Bride party, we went back to the city during the day for a little bit of exploring. I usually drive past L.A. and I've only been downtown a few times in the light of day, so it was very different, and lots of fun to wander around with Jose, discovering new places and things. We started out at Olvera Street, a very touristy Mexican marketplace packed with luchador masks, sugar skulls, papel picado, toys, clothing, lots of other trinkets, music, and delicious smells.

I always love looking at the little muertos figurines. There's Kat and Gareth in calavera form! I bought a tiny glittered bottle cap pin, and a small papel picado banner, since the banners we already have are very large and I wanted one that I could hang up in our bedroom.

Our next stop was Chinatown, but I didn't take any pictures since it was a bit deserted and there wasn't a lot to photograph. After that, we wandered over to Little Tokyo, which is so nice! It was incredibly litter-free and organized for being in the middle of Los Angeles. There were pretty paper lanterns everywhere, and of course lots of shops filled with all things kawaii.

I went into the supermarket with a mission, and I was so pleased that they carried both of the items I was seeking. Back in high school, I would always buy a box of strawberry Koala's March at the 7-11 during my lunch break. Then, they stopped carrying the cookies, and I couldn't find them anywhere! I've been looking for them ever since then, and I was so happy that the market had giant boxes of them! So I bought those, and some fizzy soda candy, which I've also been hoping to find for a long time.

I love that my trading card koala is named Waltz, like my blog name, hehe. The cookies are just as good as I remember! The different little koalas are so cute; I especially love the one on the left with the star.

A Fab Rock N' Roll Bride Party

2011-09-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

I have been crazy about Kat Williams of Rock N' Roll Bride since she featured our wedding way back in 2008. She also featured our first anniversary photos. She's my pink-haired hero! So when Kat mentioned that she and her husband Gareth would be taking a trip to the United States, and that one of their stops would be Los Angeles, I thought about how awesome it would be to meet her. Then Kat invited me to a party being thrown in her honor, and I decided I simply had to go! And of course I had to paint her a little something.

I forgot to take a picture of the final result but this is pretty much what it looked like, except I added her tattoos. I wrapped the painting up with the portrait of Kat I did last year. Then, Jose and I drove to LA, and after getting a bit lost looking for parking, made our way up to the Rooftop Bar at The Standard. You have to look at the photos on their site! It was so fancy... we felt like we were living in a dream for a bit. The view was crazy!

I was pretty nervous to meet Kat, but after Jose and I sat down to talk with her and Gareth, I totally felt at ease, and I didn't feel ridiculously awkward like I normally do. Kat was so sweet, she asked me how Lily was doing right away. They were both so nice and funny, and we hung out and talked and laughed for a really long time, in fact, until everyone else had gone home. As we were all leaving, we took some Fuji Instamax photos and Kat gave me two to keep, which I appreciated so much. I need to get one of those cameras! Jose and I kept talking about how much fun we had for the rest of the night. It was a really wonderful experience, and I'm so glad Kat invited us.

We took a day trip back to LA a couple of days later, and I kept spotting little reminders of Kat everywhere, pink hair and skulls all around. I'll be sharing the rest of our LA photos very soon.

I can't wait until the next time Kat and Gareth make their way to the States! Hopefully I'll be back to my own pink hair by then.

Tasty Caprese Sandwich

2011-08-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

I love caprese salad. Which is weird, because I have never liked tomatoes. I never eat them (except in salsa or ketchup, or something else where they don't actually taste like themselves). Somehow all of the other ingredients in caprese salad make the tomatoes taste pretty darn good. I also don't make food that often, my expertise is closer to putting fruit in yogurt or heating up something frozen. It's terrible of me! My dad is an awesome cook, and I never tried to learn from him, I just kept letting him make me delicious pasta sauce from scratch. So for all I know, I could have a knack for it, I've just never tried. Well, today Jose had his first day of substitute teaching, and it was for a kindergarten class, so I thought after all of the herding of small children he'd be doing all day, it might be nice for him to come home to a prepared lunch. I got home a few minutes before he did, and I put together this little sandwich I dreamed up last night (I made him two, and one for myself). It was soooo delicious, and simple!

I toasted an English muffin, spread some pesto sauce on it for a little extra kick, added a slice of tomato, crumbled fresh mozzarella on top, added basil, and finished with balsamic vinegar.

Jose definitely approved, by the way. I think it's kind of pretty too. Looking at the photos makes me want to eat another one! Yum! It goes really well with a blackberry Izze.

Weddings I Love

2011-08-27T16:41:00.000-07:00

Even though I've been married three years, I still can't seem to tear myself away from wedding blogs. It's probably not good for me, because sometimes I see a fantastically done wedding, and almost wish I could go back and make ours a bit spiffier. For the record, I totally loved our wedding and I thought it was pretty perfect. I just think some of these people are so amazingly creative and there are so many ridiculously awesome things going on in the "wedding world" now. So I wanted to share some of the weddings that make me weak in the knees.

The photos from this wedding just took my breath away. It was truly a masterpiece of creativity and design. It's one of those weddings that makes me go "Shoot, why didn't I think of that?" and it is simply perfect. Eunice and her sister Sabrina are the minds behind Hello!Lucky as well as the adorable book, Handmade Weddings, so of course everything would have to be visually stunning. The parade, the stage, the dress, the tent, ummmm... basically everything about it was genius. You can see tons of other details about their day here, including DIY projects with instructions, and you can even buy their stationary, customized for your own wedding.

Here is another one I wish I had come up with myself. Jenna and Jon had a Coney Island carnival theme (so you know I love it), and it was executed in such an elegant but playful way. I totally adore their invitation suite, inspired by tickets, covered in stripes and circus fonts, and emblazoned with little elephants. They married under the Brooklyn Bridge, and their officiant swallowed fire! There were balloons, paper hearts, and a very pretty handmade huppa. Their reception was like a circus tent, and they even had a hula hoop performer. What a creative and unforgettable way to get married.

I'm sure everyone has seen Elsie and Jeremy's wedding, but if somehow you haven't, you have got to take a look! Elsie is definitely one of the most creative blogger gals out there, so of course her wedding was a whirlwind of DIY and thoughtful handmade touches. You can tell that so much thought and love went into each little detail. The menu for the reception was quite amazing; gelato, tasty drinks, and the prettiest treat table. They had breakfast for dinner, including heart-shaped pancakes... how sweet is that?

I believe I found Ginny's blog, My Favorite Color is Shiny, through her gorgeous wedding photos, and if you look at them, you can see that she's absolutely serious about loving shiny things. Ginny and Ed's wedding was a lovely 1920s-inspired event, and even the guest dressed in period attire. Ginny looked like an absolute dream in a shimmery vintage drop-waist dress. I love the colors, the lanterns, the photobooth, and especially how blissful the two of them looked through the entire day. You can see much more here, and watch their beautiful video.

I have loved the art of both Nik and Jessica for many years, so of course when the two of them got married, it was bound to be totally fantastic! Bowling alley wedding, oh my goodness! They both looked so spiffy; check out that eye-popping dress Jessica is wearing. Of course everything was brilliant design-wise; kitsch and rockabilly all around. I especially love the fawn cake topper, made by Jessica (she sells them in her shop). These two are so cute and bad-ass at the same time!

Michelle has been an online friend of mine for a number of years, in fact I even remember when she met Robert. Their engagement photos were so fantastic; they posed at Disneyland and in front of the famed Cabazon Dinosaurs from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. They are so cute together! It seems like they always have so much fun, and of course their wedding was no exception. There were tiny origami cranes and colorful origami flowers everywhere, their cake toppers were Luke & Leia Leo people, and they even had a piñata! Most importantly, they just look so happy and in love, the photos made me tear up a bit.

This was one of the most inspirational weddings to me as we were planning our wedding. Karyn and Sean included the most amazing little details, but unfortunately the photos are all private now so I can't link to them! The couple designed their invitations, as well as cake boxes, gift tags, and even paper cones for the cotton candy they served. The paper goods were marked with their nickname, "The Dreamies" and sweet little illustrations. They gave personalized polaroid film as favors. The color palette was full of lovely pastels. I believe seeing their pictures inspired me to use a bubble machine in front of our reception tent.

I followed Tamera's wedding planning process on her blog, and I couldn't wait to see how everything turned out in the end. Well, I have to say that Tamera and Sean had one of the most magical, whimsical, and beautiful weddings I've seen. It took place in the woods of Vermont, and what a perfect setting. There were so many handmade elements; personalized invitations in wooden boxes, a wonderful feast, the loveliest decorations. Tamera even made her dress. Incredible!

Here's another carnivalesque wedding that I love (do you sense a bit of a pattern here?), shot by Josh Goleman, who also took the photos of Ginny and Ed. Adam and Halli had a lot of help from their friends and family in putting everything together for their wedding. The venue was decked out in gorgeous fairy lights and balloons. I love the little bit of striped fabric behind them during the ceremony, like a tiny piece of a circus tent. The entire event truly looks like a carnival, complete with loads of fun and dancing, plenty of tasty food, and a kissing booth!

This one is more of an honorable mention, because it's not a real wedding, but a set up for one heck of a great photo shoot. My heart jumped when I saw it! Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows that I adore Water for Elephants, both the book and the film. Photographer Marilyn Nakazato shot this beautifully styled take on what Jacob and Marlena's wedding might have looked like. They even shot it at one of the locations in the movie! I think everything is absolutely gorgeous, and I love that they used cotton candy, candy apples, popcorn, and circus cookies. The photographer and vendors really captured the look and feel of the story quite well.

OH MY GOSH. I've been working on this post on and off for a couple of weeks now, and right before finally publishing it, I was reading Dot Girl Blog and I discovered the most butterfly-inducing wedding photos I have ever laid eyes on. Dominique and Ron definitely outdid themselves. Look at the outfits! Her headpiece! Their decor! They even had an In-n-Out catering truck. Oh my word. It's almost beyond words, guys! You have to look at all three parts of this incredible wedding. Why am I not friends with these people?!

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

We're looking forward to throwing a super amazing ten year anniversary party!

Wonderland Treasures

2011-08-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

It may not be very original of me, but I have always loved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I love the story, and I like many of the films as well. Especially dear to my heart is the totally ridiculous 1985 tv movie musical I grew up watching on VHS. You have to see it (John Stamos and Carol Channing, why not?). So for this Much Love Monday, I decided to share my little collection of Alice trinkets. This amazing handkerchief was given to me by my friend Phillip, who is a master of finding really nifty obscure vintage pieces. He also found the Disney Alice paper doll with lots of cute outfits.

As for books, I found a big beautiful copy of The Annotated Alice at the public library shop as a discard. Camille Rose Garcia's illustrated book is just amazing. She is one of my favorite artists, and I think her style goes so well with the story. I used to have the Little Golden Books version of Alice in Wonderland when I was vey little. There are home movies of me at about age two "reading" it upside-down, while I actually tell the story of Snow White. I couldn't find that copy among the boxes of my childhood books so I snapped this one up at a used book store.

Jose's grandma gave me this cute little tin of mints.

These postcards by Emily are so darling.

My Mad Tea Party painting is one of the pieces I'm most proud of.

Also, if you are interested in winning my Dessert Girls print and Cats in Costumes, or any of the other goodies Donna is very soon giving away for her Blog Party, don't forget to comment here, plus you can see my feature post here and comment for an extra chance at my items.

A Week On My Own

2011-08-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

Jose has been away for a week visiting family while I stayed home to take care of the kitties, so I've been on my own, trying to keep somewhat busy and entertained. It's been a week of get-togethers with friends, eating with Mom and Dad, watching way more television than I can usually stand, reading, organizing, list-making, and a lot of snuggling with Lily.

He will be back tonight, then we'll have one more day together before our summer comes to a too-soon end. I love summer, I will be so sad to see it go.

Treats At The Fair

2011-08-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

Last month, Jose and I went to the fair and wandered around for a little while. I actually had my first ever gelato (blood orange and pineapple) and it was so tasty! We shared a funnel cake, as of course I'm always up for that, but I think the funnel cake at Disneyland is definitely heaps better. Fair photos are always my favorite, so we did a lot of walking around and snapping away.

I absolutely love the aesthetic qualities of the fair, as well as the multitude of delicious smells floating all around, but our fair is a bit underwhelming, and we always tend to get bored pretty quickly, so we gobbled up our sweets and called it a day.

Grandma Meets Her Idol

2011-08-09T17:33:00.001-07:00

While looking through my grandma's photo albums, I happened upon one made of wood and covered in white crackle paint. When I opened it, I realized that it was a scrapbook full of clippings and photos of a man I didn't recognize. I did some research and found out that this actor, Helmut Dantine, had a small part in Casablanca, but he also played Nazi villains, which is very interesting given his past.

Dantine was born and grew up in Austria, and as a young man he became part of an anti-Nazi movement, which resulted in him to be taken to a Nazi concentration camp. He was released and came to California, but his parents later died in one of the concentration camps.

As you can see, my grandma was quite a big fan of Mr. Dantine's and she collected all of his magazine clippings and photographs in this album. In the 1970s, Grandma was working as a switchboard operator, when she received a very surprising call. The man on the line said he was Helmut Dantine! "Who is this, really?!" she asked him. It turned out that Dantine had somehow heard about my grandma and her album, and he wanted to buy it from her! He even came over to her house to meet her and look at the album. In the end, she couldn't sell it, but she got an autograph and these incredible photos!

Isn't that crazy? If only Johnny Depp or the members of No Doubt wanted to buy my huge collection of clippings...

The Deer Donna Blog Party

2011-08-06T00:40:00.000-07:00

My fabulous blogger ladyfriend Donna has one of the cutest web spaces around, and I just adore her to pieces. I love her posts about her life with her boyfriend and their two sweet kitties, her features on all kinds of cute animals, all things stylish, and loads more. She is celebrating the first birthday of Deer Donna by hosting a huge blog party!

She just started the party today, and it runs for the rest of the month. She has a ton of awesome giveaways lined up featuring things from her talented group of creative friends, including yours truly. I'm so excited about it!

You can read all of the details on Donna's post, including photos of all of the goodies up for grabs; everything from jewelry to a scarf, lots of accessories, a very nifty banner, and even a CD. The giveaways are all separate, so you have an even better chance of winning, and throughout the month Donna will be featuring each of us sponsors in our own individual posts so you can comment again to win if you've got your eye on something in particular. My giveaway is my Dessert Girls print and the Cats in Costumes comic.

Congrats on your blogaversary, Donna, I'm so happy to be a part of the party!

The Voice

2011-08-05T15:46:00.001-07:00

I was going to share that special album of my grandma's today, but I just learned some very interesting new information about it so that post isn't quite ready yet. Instead, I have something from a while back, which I never got around to posting about... our trip to watch the final two tapings of the television show, The Voice. I never watched much of the show on tv, but it's always exciting to go to tapings, so when the opportunity came up for free tickets, I jumped at it! We went to Warner Brothers Studios to see the last performance show, and then went back the next day to watch the finale show. It was really fun walking around to the different sound stages, seeing the little village of trailers, and getting to watch everything from right up close.

I was a nerd and screen-captured some of the parts where you can see us. You can easily spot Jose on the far right, and then I'm next to him, and Jamie is next to me.

That blob on Javier's right side is me, hehe.

Grandma Shirley's Albums Part Three

2011-08-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

I have a few more little gems to share with you from my grandma's photo albums. It's a bit of a mixed bag time-wise, just things I missed sharing before. I think Aunt Jean looks a little like Diane Kruger in the photo above, I love that one!

Look at all of the fun she had with her gal pals! It makes me wish I had a girl-posse of my own.

A pretty stylin' nautical getup, and a Christmas note from overseas.

I am so glad she saved all of the little paper scraps, I love the design of that whole era so much, it's neat to have a few of them in person.

A wonderful, very old photo with her siblings in the 20s; she's bottom left. And then with Opa Milton, looking quite fancy. I have a special album of hers that I'm very pleased to share tomorrow, it is quite a find!

Much Love For Pugly Pixel

2011-08-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

Katrina, the amazing mind behind Pugly Pixel, is one of my all-time favorite blog ladies. She always blows me away with her design skills and her taste in just about everything. I love her photography, the way she styles her photos, the super cute graphics she makes, her very informative tutorials, and her charming layouts (this blog layout is hers!). Plus she is a really nice gal and her comments on my blog always make me happy, so that doesn't hurt! I was so flattered when she purchased the Cats in Costumes comic from my Etsy, I painted a little watercolor portrait of Katrina and her pug Taco to go along with her order. I totally love how it turned out! I like the teeny tiny heart, and it works perfectly for Much Love Monday.

The real-life cuteness, and Katrina's pretty photo of the comic and portrait. If you have never visited Pugly Pixel, you simply must! Also check out her sweet personal blog, Pixels and Pugs.

Speaking of cute things and Etsy, take a look at this lovely ice cream themed treasury, which includes my Dessert Girls print.

Aren't the pastels so gorgeous? It makes me want to go get ice cream, but then again, what doesn't?

Grandma Shirley's Albums Part Two

2011-07-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

My grandma's albums are filled with her little notes written in white ink.
I absolutely love her delicate handwriting, it's so pretty!

Her sister, my great aunt Jean, who is still alive and hilarious.

Grandma and Jean holding my uncle / My great uncle Chuck and Opa Milton

These photos of my Opa (on the left) and his military buddies are wonderful!

My grandma's collection of cocktail napkins, complete with handwritten dates.

Grandma Shirley's Albums Part One

2011-07-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love looking at my Grandma Shirley's photo albums. During World War II, she was one of those Rosie the Riveter gals, working at Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California, like these ladies. I always keep an eye out for her whenever I see photos like those. This particular album seems like it was mostly compiled before Grandma met my Opa Milton. It is filled with little mementos, portraits of her friends, lots of silly photos of herself, and a few letters.

What a funny lady she was! I'll be sharing more tomorrow.

Generations Album

2011-07-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

During my latest trip to the public library, I checked out two very different types of craft books; Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People, and Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts. I love Amy Sedaris, I think her newest book is even more hilarious than I Like You. I always enjoy Martha Stewart's crafts, even if a lot of them are a bit too skilled for me. One of the projects in her book that I really loved was the Generations Album, an album filled with old family photos and trinkets. You can find the instructions on creating your own album here.

I definitely have a soft spot for old photos and photo albums, whether they're of my own family, or found in an antiques shop. I can't believe anyone would part with such treasures. Maybe it's kind of weird to collect pictures of people I don't know, but some of the photos are just too interesting to pass up. I also collect old empty albums, hopefully to someday fill them with my own photos. I love the black pages, and the little black photo corners. I found this white and gold album in Oregon, and the little wooden album was from an estate sale years ago. The photos have been collected from here and there, over many years.

My mom has two fantastic albums from the 1940s and 1950s that belonged to her mother, who passed away when I was about ten. They are packed with pictures labeled in her handwriting, plus lots of notes and even a collection of cocktail napkins. I will be sharing some snippets from those over the next couple of days. They're amazing!

Closet Clean-out Sale

2011-07-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Through a very recent series of unfortunate events, there's a good chance that we might be a bit behind on the rent for next month, so we've got to make some money before the end of this month. We're selling pretty much whatever we can at a yard sale, and I've put the nicer things up for sale online. I added lots of new things, some of my very favorite pieces, so if you looked during the sale for Lily, please have another look! I hate selling some of these things because I really like them, but I'd rather one of you lovely people have it if I can't. I've also put several of my original watercolors up for sale.

Have a look!

Thank you!

Wedding: Our Video and In-N-Out

2011-07-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

Yay, I love it! Hope you enjoyed! Here are a few photos from after the wedding, when we went on a little run to In-N-Out Burger to pick up some dinner.

My uncle took these photos. I'm going to try and put together a little tutorial on making our carnival banner, so if there's anything else like that you'd like to see, let me know. I know I didn't go into a whole lot of detail about everything, mostly because having to shut my dying computer down every twenty minutes is making everything a hundred times more tedious, so I'm doing everything on three different computers and it takes forever! Thank you to everyone for your sweet comments throughout this week, I appreciate them so much! I'm glad I finally got to share our wedding with you!

Wedding: Our Reception

2011-07-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Now for everyone's favorite part, our reception! There are soooo many pictures to share, so sorry if it kills anyone's computer. While we were taking more photos on the beach, our guests walked to the reception tent and snacked on fruits, veggies, and fresh popcorn being popped in an old-fashioned machine. The music was provided by my dad's 18-piece jazz big band. We also played a bunch of CDs I made with of some of our favorite songs; indie folk, old jazz, and Danny Elfman for me, and plenty of rockabilly, Chuck Berry, Elvis, and Bruce Springsteen for Jose. As bubbles floated in the breeze, we entered the tent to our favorite piratical song...

Neither of us were huge fans of dancing in front of everyone by ourselves, so we mostly talked about how awkward it was while we were dancing! I am a horrible dancer, and I much prefer silly dancing to fancy dancing. It was a lot more fun once everyone else came out on the floor and we weren't in the spotlight.

Jamie made herself cry (and me too!) with her toast, even though it was supposed to just be funny. Aw! We're so ridiculous.

Jose doesn't like cake, so we had different kinds of donuts instead. Rasberry-filled for Jose, lemon-filled for me. I found our little Día de los Muertos topper in Old Town San Diego. It was one of the first things I bought for our wedding, and it has a place of honor on our shelf at home.

If only I had made a different face while tossing that bouquet, yikes! Also, anyone who says not to have a money dance is crazy! It was really fun, and everyone was quite generous!

Well, there you have it! Jose and I were so happy with our entire wedding; it was truly one of the best days ever! Not only did I get to marry my very favorite person, but we got to have an awesome party with so many wonderful people. Our family and friends all enjoyed themselves, and we were so glad to show everyone a great time. I can't thank Alex enough for capturing our day so beautifully, and we will always treasure every single photo of our little carnival. I know this should be my last wedding post since this is the seventh day of the series, but I have to share our video and a few other things, so I hope nobody minds if I squeeze in another post tomorrow! If anyone has any questions about any part of the wedding, from the process to where I found things, just ask! Also, there are a ton more photos here if you want to see more.

Wedding: Our Ceremony

2011-07-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here comes the exciting part! After our guests had strolled up the boardwalk and arrived at our ceremony site, they mingled and took their seats as an instrumental version of "By The Sea" from Sweeney Todd played (why not have a song from a murderous revenge musical at a wedding? haha). The little clearing was actually supposed to have a few strings of papel picado hanging from the trees, but that never ended up happening, so fortunately nature was pretty lovely by itself. The orchestral theme from Amélie played as our families were seated.

My dad walked me down the aisle to a whimsical instrumental song I love.

It was definitely a blur, especially since I was concentrating a little too much on not crying. Around the part of the ceremony with our vows, my dad's cellphone started ringing. It was his neighbor, who was sitting right behind him, who had accidentally butt-dialed him. We were all giggling, and I was grateful for that moment, since it helped me not to cry and made everything a lot less serious. Then, it happened again a few minutes later! Also, Phillip dropped my ring in the sand when Jose was supposed to put it on my finger, which I didn't even notice until he told me much later, but I guess there was a small bit of freaking out on their end.

It was over in a flash! Our recessional made everyone dance a little.

I can't even believe how fast everything flew by, it was beyond surreal. It's a good thing there are so many photos! Photography by Alex Creswell, and a few are from family. Did you see that I actually found a photo with the flower girl basket? I had to crop it and blow it up, but there it is. I hope the music works for everyone. Next up, the reception!

Wedding: Portraits

2011-07-17T22:21:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty small wedding party; we each had only one attendant. My cousin Jamie was my maid of honor and Jose's friend Phillip was his best man. Here are a few portraits with them and some of just us. Some of these were taken before the ceremony, and some were taken after.

Photography by Alex Creswell.

Wedding: Getting Ready & Bridal Portraits

2011-07-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

My hair & makeup was done by the wonderful Paris Komie, of Hep Kat Beauty Parlor in San Luis Obispo. I would've loved to have taken photos in the salon because it has such a neat fifties rockabilly style that tied in well with our wedding, but Paris had me come to her house since the salon was closed that day, and there was nobody around to take photos that early in the morning anyway. There aren't many "getting ready" photos in general, since I basically changed in a tiny closet at the venue.

Our awesome photographer, Alex, was kind enough to call me on her way over and offered to bring me something from Starbucks, so I got to have a strawberry frappuccino to match my hair.

The onsite restaurant catering the reception had this pirate statue by their front door, so Jose and I asked if we could borrow it for the reception, and they were nice enough to bring it over for us. I love the photos of it! All photos are by Alex Creswell, except top two, taken from a web search, and Starbucks & perfume photos, taken by my aunt.

Wedding: What I Wore

2011-07-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today I'm sharing a bit about what I wore on our wedding day. Is anyone actually reading any of these? Anyway, during the early stages of planning, I wasn't too sure about what kind of dress I was looking for. All I knew was that I had no interest in standard wedding dresses, I wanted something vintage or vintage-looking, and I wanted it to be inexpensive. One day, Jose and I took a little drive to Santa Barbara on the off-chance that I might find something interesting to try on. We walked into Victorian Vogue and The Costume Shoppe, and browsed around for a while. I was walking past a rack of rental party dresses when I swear a beam of light was shining right onto a strapless ivory dress with a sheer overlay of glittery netting and a rhinestone brooch. That was it. I tried it on, showed it to Jose (throwing tradition to the wind I suppose), and after a quick run to an ATM for just over a hundred dollars, it was mine. My mom added straps and I had extra tulle added underneath for some more length.

It took me much longer to find a cardigan to wear with the dress. I finally found one in the girl's section at Target of all places. Yay for kid clothes!

My shoes were from Kohls. I wore ivory flats for the ceremony, but I wanted a little pop of color for the reception and photos.

My dress was something old, the shoes were something new, a bracelet from my mom was something borrowed, and my something blue was a bit of yarn pinned to the lining of my dress.

My costume design teacher gave me white cateye sunglasses as a gift for the opening night of the show I designed.

Check back tomorrow for more!

Wedding: Making Things

2011-07-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

Many of my favorite things about our wedding were done ourselves. I knew that I wanted to design our own invitations, because I like doing that sort of thing, and also because I am on the cheap side of thrifty. I made everything from the save-the-dates (which I actually think are kind of ugly now, but hey, it was a long time ago and I've gotten better since) to the rsvp postcards. Jose and I created the little map together.

My mom was a huge help with pretty much everything. We went to Michaels to pick out flowers and ribbons for the boutonnieres, but she's really the one who put them together. She also made my birdcage veil and our beautiful carnival banner.

For our centerpieces, we used lots of cake pedestals, Coke bottles, popcorn cartons, caramel apples, candy, and on some tables there were fishbowls with goldfish inside, which we let some of the kids take home after the wedding. I made the basket for our flower girl by gluing old carnival pictures inside a frosted take-out box. Unfortunately I don't have a single picture of it during the wedding!

We are both horrible procrastinators, so a lot of things were done the night before, which for the most part, I do not reccommend. One thing that had to be done the night before were the caramel apples. After our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, my aunt, mom, cousins, and I melted down caramel candies, covered apples on popsicle sticks in the liquid caramel, and then rolled some in coconut, and some in crushed peanuts.

I never got to try them but they sure looked pretty, and I hear they were good!

Three Years Married & Wedding Week

2011-07-13T23:27:00.000-07:00

Today marks three super-swell years of being married to Jose, hooray! It seems so much shorter and like forever at the same time. We have had so many adventures together in such a short time. To celebrate our anniversary, I'm going to do something that I've wanted to do for quite some time. When we got married, Ghosts Waltz hadn't been created yet, so I never really blogged about our wedding. I always see photos from it around Tumblr and we heart it, and I still find the odd admiration blog post about it, so I figure that people must be interested. Taking some inspiration from Elsie, I will be sharing different aspects about our awesome day, every day this week. I'm kicking the week of with a little glimpse into the planning process.

When we first started planning our wedding, I really liked looking at wedding magazines, though they were way lamer four years ago than they are now. It seems like I see a new d.i.y. or indie wedding magazine or book popping up every other month! I rarely found much useful information, but I have always been a big fan of collecting clippings, so I put together a binder to hold the clippings I liked and important papers, lists, and random inspiration.

I also had the computer equivalent, folders packed with cute things I'd find while browsing the internet.

I made an inspiration board for the general look we wanted for the day; vintage Coney Island boardwalk, with black, red, and white. It's funny how different my aesthetic preferences and color tastes are now.

Certainly the biggest challenge we had during planning was finding a venue. We wanted to have an oceanside ceremony. After months of scouting, my mom ended up visiting the Pismo Beach Golf Course on a whim, and she found that they had a helpful and accommodating wedding coordinator. The site had a very nice tent, and a boardwalk that led to a picturesque little piece of forested area just touching the beach. It was perfect!

See you tomorrow for more!

Return to Renegade

2011-07-13T00:58:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, Jose and I attended our second Renegade SF, and we got to see so many great indie artists and crafters. I was excited that Emily and Uppercase would be attending again, and I decided to paint a couple of little portraits to give as gifts to Ms. Martin and Janine Vangool (the wonderful mind behind Uppercase).

I packed the paintings in little envelopes tied with baker's twine, and we set out on the long and harrowing journey to San Francisco.

Emily was a sweetheart! She really appreciated my gift, and she was kind enough to sign my copy of her book, and to take a picture with me, though Jose was the one who asked since I was on the verge of heart palpitations... aw, gawrsh. My face looks surprisingly calm here, I was more "AHHHH!" on the inside. She's so cute.

We ended up with some very nice purchases and things given to us by certain very generous ladies.

All of the prints by Dan Bob Thompson were amazing, but I chose this one.

Jose found a shirt and stickers by Jose Pulido's Mis Nopales Art.

He also bought a comic and EP from Michael Jonathan.

Two gorgeous issues of Uppercase Magazine. Janine also liked her painting, and we got to talk with her and see her little guy Finley. We didn't get any photos of the Uppercase booth since it was always super crowded, but there are plenty on their blog.

Jose picked out this print of Emily's for his future classroom, and I chose her Alice postcard set.

I collected a few very pretty business cards and a souvenir map.

Well, that was a bit exhausting but pretty amazing! Thank you so much to Emily and Janine for being the bee's knees and making my day. And of course big thanks to Jose for braving the horrible traffic.

Disneyland, Sweet Disneyand

2011-07-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

My mom's friend from high school was kind enough to sign us into Disneyland and Disney California Adventure the other day, and though the heat was sweltering, it was so much fun! It's been over a year since we last visited, which is actually a pretty long time for us. We were able to go on all of our favorite rides, see a lot of our favorite shows, and experience the newly reopened Star Tours, which was fantastic! We also ate at the Blue Bayou, which was a rare (ridiculously expensive but super delicious) treat.

We got stuck at the top of the Grizzly River Run for about fifteen minutes. After the ride started up again, I got really bad whiplash, and I still can't move my head up or to the sides without it hurting a lot. Of course the day after I turn a year older, my body starts making me feel old! We finished the night off with fireworks, dancing and singing to Fantasmic, and some very tasty funnel cake.

We were pretty much limping all the way back to the car, but it was so worth it.

Firecracker Birthday

2011-07-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

There is so much catching up to do here! I ended up having to stay in southern California for two weeks, several days longer than I anticipated, and my computer caught yet another nasty virus that causes me to have to shut it down and restart it every twenty minutes. If you are expecting mail from me, sorry for the delay, it's on its way. Phew. Anyway, my birthday was a very nice day, and I even ended up being a little bit nautical, because I found a cute little anchor print dress at Fullerton's Buffalo Exchange just in time. It was a challenge to find a restaurant that was open for the holiday, but happily we ended up at Ruby's for some tasty all-American diner fare.

Being born on the fourth, fireworks never impressed me all that much, but I am always a sucker for sparklers.

I got some of the most wonderful gifts. Lots of pretty books to drool over.

From the sweet and thoughtful Liezl. I loved the hint-hint to finally write a letter.

Audrey book and movies from Jose, a gorgeous Day of the Dead book from my aunt & cousins, and a Forever21 giftcard from Mom & Dad.

Beautifully illustrated circus book, vintage magazine, and cotton candy cupcake kit from Phillip. Tawny gave me a nifty sugarskull candle holder and made me one of her beautiful hairclips.

I hope everyone had a great holiday or a pleasant Monday, depending on where you call home. I have lots more to share, so we'll see how that works out with a sick old crotchety computer.

A Nautical Birthday

2011-07-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

My birthday is coming up on the fourth, so it's time again for another dream birthday party! I'm not sure if anyone is out there in (U.S.) blog-land right now; it brings me back to when I was a little kid and most of my friends would be off on family vacations during my birthday... sadness! This time I'm imagining a bit of a beachy, nautical theme. None of these things will actually be around, since we are unexpectedly out of town way longer than I anticipated and my spiffy sailor dress and starlette sparkler are sadly in my closet at home. Oh well, that's what imaginations are for.

I had a hard time thinking up things I'm wishing for, maybe that means I truly am getting older. But if I were being extravagant, I'm always up for something sparkly from Giant Dwarf, anything Mary Blair, or one of these gorgeous felt brooches. I've never had a nice pair of ipod headphones, so I'd love the adorable Harajuku Lovers Super Kawaii pair, and I have wanted a subscription to Uppercase magazine ever since I got to be in the first issue.

Invites & Macarons

2011-06-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, my cousin-in-law and super duper friend Connie asked me if I'd be interested in designing some invitations for her upcoming baby shower. I love coming up with themes, fiddling around on Photoshop, and other things of that nature, so I was happy to do it. Connie came up with the term "Belly and Brunch," and she wanted to use her massive collection of scrapbook paper as backing, so this was definitely a collaborative effort. They turned out to be pretty cute, and each one is slightly different.

Connie thanked me with a sweet little package of macarons she picked up for me at Payard Pâtisserie during her trip to Las Vegas.

Speaking of macarons, have you seen the chocolate ones they're selling at Trader Joe's? I just spied them last week, and after I picked my jaw up off of the floor, I immediately snapped them up and ran to show Jose, possibly squealing. I knew they had the tiny frozen kind, but I had never seen these before. They're quite big and extremely tasty.

Thank you, Trader Joe's, for making a whole ton of blogger girls' dreams come true. Now to put a photobooth on every corner and inexpensive mid-century modern furniture in every thrift store. Hehe.

The Dapper Creature

2011-06-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

I recently finished a watercolor painting commissioned by my friend (and Jose's best man) Phillip Guzman, an awesome artist who specializes in all things spooky and monster-related. He asked me to do my own take on the Creature from the Black Lagoon, as sort of a dapper gentlemanly type.

I like how he turned out. I'm especially partial to his little spats and the tiny fish around the seaweed border. Phillip was pleased with the results, and he framed the painting to hang on his wall, so that's pretty darn fancy! I'm thinking about putting prints of Mr. Dapper Creature up for sale on Etsy if anyone is interested, so let me know if you might be. And as always, I'm open to doing any other commissions; just ask.

Minigolf Shenanigans

2011-06-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Jose and I played a little bit of mini golf last week. The first time we played together a few years ago, I beat the pants off of him, but ever since, I have tended to do pretty horribly. This was definitely one of my worst games ever, but it's always a fun time anyway.

I love the miniature buildings scattered throughout the course. I especially love the little cottage, which was the subject of a Holga photo I took and oddly enough has become one of the most internet-popular photos I've ever taken. I've been seeing it around on Tumblr quite a bit.

Always an adventure!

Fancy and Wearable

2011-06-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

When Emily Martin of The Black Apple announced that she would be selling a new line of Fancy Wearables, lockets featuring her artwork, I was one of the first in line to snatch one from her shop. I've gushed about Emily here before, so you probably know I'm pretty smitten with her work. I don't usually wear jewelry, but I thought one of her pretty lockets would be a nice dip into the shiny accessories pool for me. The lockets are made to order, so it took a few weeks to reach me, and when it arrived, I was so excited to open the package.

I love how Emily designed the packaging, and she even included a velvety pouch to hold the locket. She always pays great attention to every detail.

It was difficult to choose which locket I wanted most, but "Lost on the Midway" is the one I went with. The circus tent in the background probably helped a little. Now I need to figure out what to put inside.

As you can see, my Black Apple collection has grown quite a bit! Not pictured are her "Rosie the Pirate" print, the bowl and mug set I was lucky enough to win, and her wonderful book, The Black Apple's Paper Doll Primer.

Stars and Honey

2011-06-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

This is kind of becoming a Honey Trees fan blog it seems. Jose and I caught The Honey Trees opening for Lakes a couple of weeks ago, and as always, it was a great show! Unfortunately, we actually had to leave when Lakes started, in order to stand in line early for the midnight opening of Pirates of the Caribbean 4. I dressed a little piratical in honor of the movie.

Some of these are Jose's and some of them are mine. The lighting was particularly unkind that night; I haven't had this much of a problem in the past, but they're alright. I loved Becky's 1950s style dress.

The singer from the band that played before The Honey Trees, The Sassafras Union, came out wearing this funny "I ♥ Jacob Wick More than Becky Does" shirt during their set. I had never heard The Sassafras Union before that night, but they are an amazing indie folk band from my town, and I loved them so much I bought their EP. I never knew that there were so many talented musicians around here! I can't wait to hear lots more from both of these wonderful bands.

Much Love Monday

2011-05-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

I love the nostalgia of Barnum's Animal Crackers, even though they're really more like cookies than crackers. I found out that the string handle was originally added so that the box could be hung on a Christmas trees as ornaments. I also love this heart-shaped plate from Target. Not so fun fact: shortly after I took these pictures, the cats managed to destroy this box and its contents. Ah well. You can see more of Much Love Monday and join in too.

If You Lived With The Circus

2011-05-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

Today I've gathered a few more circus odds and ends I'm pleased to share. This time I have a pair of children's books, and I've snuck in a catalog as well. Our wonderful public library has a shop that sells discarded and donated books, and I picked up this little treasure during one of my most recent visits. If You Lived With The Circus, by Ann McGovern, is beautifully illustrated by Ati Forberg.

Another book I found at the library shop, The Midnight Circus, by Peter Collington, is about a boy who travels to a magical circus late at night. The book, which tells the story entirely without words, has nice illustrations, but the style is a bit less my taste than those of the first book.

Last, I'm sharing the February 2010 Anthropologie catalog, just because I think it's so pretty! Anthropologie is well known for their beautifully shot catalogs, but when I saw this one, it was instantly my all-time favorite. I may not buy their pricey products (I think I've brought myself to buy one hairclip from them in my life), but I'd definitely love to live in these pages! Though I could take or leave the clothes, the props and styling are fantastic.

Circus Reading

2011-05-23T17:15:00.000-07:00

Sadly, my computer is still not working properly. In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of reading, which leads me to the latest installment of my circus series, which is all about circus-related books. Back when I first read Sara Gruen's Water For Elephants, I finished the book and immediately began scouring the public library for anything with a circus setting.

Of everything I read, Water For Elephants definitely remains my favorite, but I enjoyed most of the other novels I picked up as well. The Final Confession Of Mabel Stark is a very exciting read, based loosely on life of Mabel Stark, the famous tiger trainer of the 1920s and 30s. I am about to finish Modoc, the harrowing and heartbreaking story of the amazing life shared by an elephant and her trainer (the author claims that this is a true story, but my own research suggests that most of it is fictional or highly exaggerated, though it makes for a great read anyway). For those interested in the darker side of the circus, Geek Love is a shocking novel about a family of "man-made" circus freaks.

On the slightly more forgettable side, The Circus In Winter is a collection of intertwined short stories, chronicling many generations as they live and work in the winter quarters of the Great Porter Circus. The Aerialist tells the story of a man who joins the circus, takes on a variety of jobs from candy seller to costumer, and eventually becomes a skilled tightrope walker.

I admit, I checked out The Great and Only Barnum, purely based on how much I loved the cover. It is a children's biography of the great P. T. Barnum, and chronicles his life as a businessman, curator of museums of wonder, and his later role as one of the most famous circus owners of all time. My favorite aspect of the book is the design; gorgeous typography and fun borders are featured on the chapter title pages.

Circus: A World History is a wonderful resource for circus history, from its ancient beginnings up to its more modern incarnations. It is full of beautiful photos, illustrations, and memorabilia.

Strawberry Festival and a Slight Hiccup

2011-05-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was in the middle of screen-capping my favorite circus scenes from movies and music videos to share here on the blog, when my computer caught a very pesky virus. Unfortunately, we have to take everything off of the computer and start fresh with a system restore. At least the hard drive wasn't fried like last time.

So until that all gets taken care of, I'm using Jose's school laptop which doesn't have Photoshop, and I am very awkward at using laptops, all of which adds up to me not being able to finish the rest of my circus posts quite yet. For now, here are a few sort of on-topic photos from this past weekend at the Strawberry Festival.

I hope to be back in full force soon!

To the Circus with Etsy

2011-04-23T00:30:00.000-07:00

In keeping with my circus theme, I put together an Etsy Treasury made up of circus inspired art. There are a lot of wonderful artists included, so please take a look if you like. I also listed four brand new prints in my own shop.

The movie was wonderful, by the way! Beautifully shot, and it made me cry a little. Or a lot. I'll be back soon with more circus goodies!

The Circus is Coming to Town

2011-04-21T01:51:00.000-07:00

I have been eagerly anticipating the Water for Elephants film ever since I first heard that it was going to be a movie. The book is definitely one of my all-time favorite novels, and I've been avidly following the film's production since the very beginning. When the first teaser trailer was released, I did a happy dance. Now, it is finally coming to theaters tomorrow, and I'm attending the first showing in town, because I can't wait! I made a polyvore collage of what I'd like to wear, inspired by the look of the film.

The film actually looks so much like what I pictured as I read the book. It is so visually stunning, it's breathtaking. I know I'll be drooling over the costume design especially. The circus and the 1930s; what a dream! I think a lot of fans of the book have been critical of Robert Pattinson being cast as Jacob, but I'm not worried; from what I've seen he's done quite well. I think the entire cast is pretty close to perfect. Caps are from this great movie fansite.

I also love what they've done with the promotion of the film and its stars. The photo shoots for Entertainment Weekly and Vogue both have a beautiful vintage circus look. The toy elephant is something I bought from a thrift store many years ago. I love his velvety texture and his shiny little button eyes.

Now that I have my own copy (the previous one was checked out from the library), I am rereading the book. Also, I think I will be doing a few more circusy posts throughout the next few days, in honor of the film's release. Perhaps I might even squeeze out a little bit of new circus-inspired art.

More of The Honey Trees

2011-04-13T22:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I went to see The Honey Trees once again; this time with my fabulous friend Toni who is a friend of the band. I had been planning on doing gift portraits of Becky and Jacob for a while, so a few weeks prior to the show, I started scouring every thrift store in the area for a nice pair of frames.

I didn't find the perfect pair until the day before the concert, and I couldn't start painting until I knew the size of frames I was working with, so I quickly got to work on the watercolor portraits and finished them just in time to frame them and wrap them up to take along with me to the show. I used some of the pretty mustard yellow tissue paper from the package that Sue sent me.

The Honey Trees were opening for a band called Bonnie Dune. An actor from Glee is the drummer in the band, so the venue was a lot more packed and a lot crazier than it was the last time I went. However, I was able to take much clearer photos this time around, and I'm so pleased with how they turned out. Here are some of my favorite shots of the night.

After the show, I gave Jacob and Becky their portraits, and hooray, they loved them! They were even kind enough to mention my Etsy shop on their Twitter. I'm so glad I've sort of gotten over my extreme shyness and was able to talk with them. They're wonderful people, and I can't wait until they record their full-length album.

I finally had the perfect opportunity to wear my Starlette Crown, and received tons of compliments on it all day. During their set, Becky looked down at me in the audience and said she liked it. One girl even said it was the best part of the night, haha.

Jose and I also went to see Jacob and Becky perform an acoustic show last month, which was gorgeous. Super-unfortunately, I didn't bring the camera, so I only took pictures with my phone. Someone else took this amazing photo though.

I also bought these prints of Becky's art at the acoustic show.
You can buy other prints of hers on Etsy and Big Cartel.

A Simpler Lifestyle

2011-04-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

I worry entirely too much. Jose reminds me of this all the time. Sometimes I need to remind myself to just stop worrying, and enjoy the simple things. Lately, I've felt an overwhelming desire to purge a lot of the clutter from my life, to make room to better enjoy the things I love the most. Organization and white space sound comforting.

Things like eating a delicious snack from a pretty dish are nice and calming.

Of course handsome kitty cats do the trick as well.

He always puts a smile on my face, no matter how complicated life may seem.

My Heart Belongs to Giant Dwarf

2011-03-22T21:43:00.000-07:00

The past couple of months have been pretty crazy. Between having tons of cat troubles, taking on a few additional jobs, watching the general insanity going on in the world, and having many other emotionally draining moments, I have been a bit down. So, a couple of weeks ago, Jose convinced me that I should treat myself to something nice to help cheer me up. That particular something being the beautiful starlette crown by Sue of Giant Dwarf, which I had been drooling over since I first saw it, but wouldn't dream of buying for myself due to our financial situation. When I saw that Sue was offering a discount in order to achieve her 3,000th sale on Etsy, I finally went for it. And I was the lucky 3,000th sale! Sue said she would be sending some extras; ohhhh the excitement!

When the package arrived yesterday, I definitely did a little happy dance. It was a much bigger package than I was expecting, and I literally could not wait to see the treasures inside. I had to document the entire thing of course, it was that awesome of an experience. It seems that Lily was as curious as I was.

She included the sweetest little note.

Lily watched pretty intently as I opened the tissue paper.

My jaw dropped when I saw all of the things Sue had given me.
I almost teared up a bit. She was so generous!

In addition to my starlette crown, she included a starlette sparkler and one of her beautiful rosette fascinators, which is now a retired design. I couldn't believe it.

I am so grateful to Sue for her generosity. It really lifted my spirit, and it made my heart so full to know that such people exist. It made me want to be a better person. Is that too mushy?

This is definitely one of the best things to happen to me. I want to thank Sue so much for putting a skip in my step. And I want everyone who has thought of buying anything from her shop to do so whenever possible, because she is truly a gem. I was lucky enough to have a very brief interaction with her last year at the San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair. She is a very sweet lady, and I wish her all the best with her business as it continues to grow.

I'm definitely going to be wearing her creations often!

Poor Old Boots

2011-03-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have had one pair of rain boots in my life, and they are definitely past their useful stage. I've had them for a few years, and they started falling apart quite a long time ago. First, the little loops in the back began to break. Then, the left sole started to separate from the boot. Next, the right toe tore a bit, and the hole has expanded to where it is almost from toe to heel. I keep wearing them because they work decently, as long as I don't step directly into puddles. How useful, right?

This past weekend was extremely rainy, and there is a lot of rain in the forecast for at least the rest of the week. I feel sort of silly walking around in my tattered boots, but truthfully I will probably just duct tape the inside of them rather than buy new ones. No stores in town are even carrying them anymore! And I admit, I am definitely on the "cheap" side of thrifty. But I searched online just for fun, and I found some really cute designs. I like the first ones the most; I love the mid-century inspired cityscape. The peacock and geisha printed styles are also very pretty.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Sorry for the longish disappearance from blogging; it's been a long, weird, stressful month. I have lots of things to share though, so I will be posting a lot more. I hope everyone is well!

Celebrating the Everyday with Jennifer Young

2011-03-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Jose and I ventured out to an art show featuring the photography of the wonderful Jennifer Young. "Celebrate the Everyday," included everything from polaroids, to still lifes of delicious-looking food, to travel vignettes, and even iPhone photos. She takes phone pictures that are seriously frame-worthy. The best part of the show was that I finally got to meet Jennifer, and she is so sweet! I actually didn't feel ridiculously awkward for once, which if you can ask anyone I've met online first, is saying a lot. We also ran into our amazing wedding photographer, Alex Creswell. Plus there was wine and a free photobooth, so of course it was a fun night.

You might know Jennifer from her fantastic blog, i art u, where she shares her favorite art and design, as well as her own photography and tidbits of her life. All photos in this post are by Jennifer Young; click the photos to see the original source. It was way too hard to pick favorite photos, but here are a few more examples of her work.

Her portraits are beautiful; I love the way she uses light. Her engagement photos are also amazing. I wish I would've known Jennifer when Jose and I got engaged! This is the lovely Taylor of The Little Deer, for her school yearbook. If only I could go back and re-do my yearbook pictures, haha.

Believe me, it is surprisingly difficult to take photos of a group of objects without it just looking like a pile of stuff, but I love the composition in Jennifer's color collections series.

Jennifer has often collaborated with Enjoy Cupcakes, and I have wanted to visit this charming little cupcakery so badly since I first heard about it.

This is just scratching the surface; check out Jennifer's Flickr for lots more. And be sure to stop by both of her blogs, if you haven't already.

It's Business Time

2011-03-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

A few days before the whole cat fiasco, I found out that Moo Cards was partnering with Etsy to offer a free pack of 50 business cards to Etsy sellers. I had been wanting to try Moo for a while, and this was a perfect opportunity to do so, since all I had to pay for was the shipping. Since the cards were free, they came with a little Etsy & Moo logo and promotional code, which doesn't appear on paid orders.

My cards arrived about a week later, right in the middle of the kitty drama, so that cheered me up a bit. They came packaged in a little holder with a cute "Yay!" sticker on the front.

The neat thing about Moo cards is that you can use as many different images as you want, though I opted to have a few copies of each image instead of all different ones. My only regret is that I made a mistake on my images with white backgrounds; I accidentally left some random light gray space which I didn't see in Photoshop, but is a bit more apparent on the actual cards. I'll have to find a sticker or something to cover those bits up. But that was my error, so I can say I'm very happy with Moo's end product.

I'm not sure if I'll ever need that many business cards again, but if at some point I do, I would use their services again. They also print postcards, greeting cards, sticker books, and cute little mini cards. If you are an Etsy seller, and you want to get your own free pack of business cards, you can do so here.

And now that I've lured you into thinking this might be a cat-free update, I'll just quickly say that Lily is home and doing extremely well. He lost a lot of weight at the hospital, so right now he's skin and bones (though he doesn't look like it since he's so fluffy), but fortunately he is scarfing up his new food! The day he came home, he sat with me for about an hour and purred the whole time. It was so nice!

A Few Steps Back

2011-02-27T16:09:00.000-08:00

Lily took a turn for the not-so-great on Tuesday, so he went back to the hospital on Wednesday, and will be there at least until Monday, undergoing the same treatment again, and hopefully getting a diet that he will actually eat. He was bleeding a lot, and having trouble moving. He might eventually need surgery if he keeps having the same problems. We haven't seen him since Wednesday, so that is really difficult. Sorry to be posting about my cat so often, but honestly I feel so emotionally drained from all of this that it feels wrong posting about anything else. I'll try to get some happier things going around here.

I've been busy doing commissioned paintings to help with the vet bill, and I really thank everyone who has ordered something from me. If you'd like a custom piece, please email me, I am still open for commissions. I have been doing mostly portraits, but I am up for pretty much anything. It's also a good way to take my mind off of kitty worries.

The closet sale is going well, and since the new hospital stay will be adding quite a lot to the bill, I will be adding more clothing and other things in the next few days, so continue to check back and see if anything new catches your eye.

Hopefully he will be given the O.K. to come home with us tomorrow, but I don't want to get too excited, just in case. If he needs to stay there to get better, then that's alright. I really hope he'll get better this time.

Super-Happy Lily Update and Closet Sale

2011-02-20T19:46:00.000-08:00

Well, Lily is finally back at home, and we are so relieved and excited about it! I've been sitting with him and holding him every free second I have. He was having a tough time the night we brought him home, and he ended up passing a bladder stone, which helped a whole lot. Of course, he doesn't love his new prescription food or his three medications, and he has lost quite a bit of weight since he got sick, but he finally started eating and drinking a lot more (thanks to his new water fountain, which I highly recommend), and he is definitely a lot happier now. He looks a little like a poodle with his shaved legs, but the fur is very slowly growing back.

I just want to say that I am in such awe of all of my wonderful followers, blogger buddies, and friends. Your generous support has knocked out a significant chunk of Lily's vet bill, and I simply cannot thank you all enough; whether you bought art, posted about our story, or sent good vibes our way. I feel truly blessed to know that there are such amazing people in the world who care about us and our kitty. So thank you, times infinity!

I finally finished putting together my closet sale for Lily. There are lots of dresses, tops, skirts, shoes, accesssories, and books, so you can click on the button above to see if there's anything you'd like to buy.

He kind of looks like he's giving you the evil eye, but he's actually trying to hypnotize you into buying something!

Lily Update

2011-02-06T02:14:00.000-08:00

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has commented about Lily, and everyone who has bought anything to help with his vet bill. We are so grateful for your support, and it helps a lot! I wanted to pop in and let everyone know how Lily is doing. We visited him at the hospital on Wednesday and Thursday, and I'll admit, I got pretty emotional, especially when we had to leave. He was so excited to see us, and immediately started meowing when we walked in. The poor little guy looked pretty pitiful, as you can see.

Well, we were supposed to be able to bring him home on Friday, but right before we were about to leave to go get him, we found out that since he ripped his catheter out the day before, he now has to stay in the hospital until Tuesday. I'm so sad! The worst part is that since we thought we'd be bringing him home, we didn't go visit him that day, and they were closed on Saturday due to being out of town, so we haven't seen him for days, and I feel like maybe he thinks we're not coming back. I'm really hoping we'll be able to visit him today. It's been difficult being at home without his squeaky little meows and sweet face. I've been looking at photos and videos of him, and missing him like crazy. Here's a video I took while I was making the bed, and he kept trying to help.

With the extra four days he's staying at the hospital, now the bill will probably end up being doubled. So, that's pretty unfortunate. Please be sure to check out my Etsy if you haven't already. If there is any art of mine at all that you would like as a print, please ask. I should have all of the clothes, shoes, books, and other items I'll be selling up later today, it's just taking so long to get everything photographed and measured. And please cross your fingers for us that he'll be able to come home on Tuesday.

Help Lily!

2011-02-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

This morning Lily was acting very strangely. He was standing very still in one spot, looking like he was trying to go to the bathroom. I had to go to work, but Jose stayed and kept an eye on him. While I was at work, Jose let me know that Lily starting peeing blood, and he immediately rushed Lily to the vet.

Basically, Lily has mineral deposits in his urethra from eating dry cat food, and they backed up his bladder so that it is now about the size of a tennis ball. His kidneys were almost failing. He probably would have died if Jose handn't brought him to the doctor. Lily was sedated and hooked up to a catheter. He has to stay at the vet for about four days. But he will be okay.

We are both so, so worried. Lily is the sweetest cat I have ever had. He nuzzles with us and sleeps with us all night, purring the whole time. He is a serious lovebug. This cat is like my child. I feel so terrible that I couldn't be there with him while he was in a scary place, not knowing what was going to happen to him. But I'm so glad Jose was there to save the day. I miss the little guy so much, I wish I could stay with him at the vet's.

The whole procedure is costing about $800. It's a no brainer, this kitty is so worth it. Not that we exactly have that much money sitting around. But we'll make it work. This is where you come in. If you have been thinking about buying anything from my Etsy Shop, please do! All of the profits will go to Lily's vet bill. Also, if you would like to buy a custom drawing or watercolor of any kind for $20, please let me know and I will be happy to do it for you. You can comment here, or email me, and we can discuss the details. Jose, Lily, and I would appreciate it soooo much.

I will also be selling lots of my clothes and books, so I will post a link to those sales once I get everything measured and photographed. If you can't afford to buy anything, no sweat, please just keep our sweet kitty in your thoughts. And if you could let others know about this, or link to this post, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much!