You'll Shoot Your Eye Out (While Stuffing Your Face)...

The holidays are here! Giving, baking, hosting, getting, all of my favorite things come around this time of year! This blog will be about all of those things. Because I like them.


Hosting

Thanksgiving was great - Morris and I hosted his family for dinner and his sister Rossanna had a party the next day. Morris made a lamb stew with beer and barley in a crock pot, which everyone seemed to like; Rossanna had some for breakfast before her party. It was two days of cooking and hosting and serving, some of my favorite things to do.

I'm thinking of having a creative cocktails party after new year's when everyone is broke and depressed with empty social calendars. Stay tuned!

One good idea I was also considering but don't have the time for is hosting a "bitch and swap" holiday party, unisex, with housewares and clothes. Great for groups of friends who are on a budget and want the fun of new things without spending, or the obligation of buying/sending gifts to each other. In a season of shopping, I always end up buying things for myself too, so this is a good way to scratch the "I want new stuff" itch without spending money.

Cooking

I convinced several people to try Celebration Roast (you can get vegetarian gravy packets too if you like, both are sold at whole foods) and tried my hand at roasted root veggies, baked garlic and sundried tomato dip, and dark chocolate-orange sauce with fruit. I made an apple-cherry-vanilla pie that I pretty much wanted to marry, I think it's the best pie I've ever made. It wasn't vegan and was made for a party, so I didn't eat more than a few bites of it, but what I had of it made me really happy. I'm surprised I never thought to make one before. These recipes are all approximate, since I eyeball everything. It's the designer in me. I'm trying to learn to taste my food before serving it rather than just having fun with the plating. So far I've been lucky.

Audiogirl's Very Cherry Apple Pie

• 16 oz pitted sour bing cherries, simmered with 1/2 cup brown sugar until soft
• or sweetened jarred cherries from Trader Joe's or even canned cherries if you're in a rush
• small sweet organic apples (2), peeled and sliced
  
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 tsp each cinnamon, ground cloves
• 1 tbsp rum
  

Mix in a bowl, put into crust. Dot top with soy butter or Earth Balance. They make boxed mix crusts that you roll out for a homemade feel and taste in about a 1/4 of the time and mess. If you want to try to make one vegan, there are several premade graham cracker crusts that are vegan and make a pie that's just as good. I would go heavier on the apples and less on the cherry for that crust idea, and maybe do a flour/sugar crumble on top. Bake at 375 for about 35-40 minutes or until browned.

Rusted Root Veggies

About 1/2 lb each of veggies.

• brussels sprouts, halved
• carrots, parsnips, multi-colored potatoes, 1/2 red onion, all cut into bite-sized pieces
• a few pearl onions
  
• 3-4 cloves garlic (peeled) or several tspns minced garlic
  
• fresh thyme, rosemary
  
• about 1/8 -1/4 cup olive oil, drizzled evenly over all veggies (layer them into your dish, then toss)
• kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
  

Bake covered at 375 for about 30 minutes. Check at 5 minute intervals after that until they are soft. Uncover for 5-10 minutes to brown.

Another great way to enjoy these veggies is to sautee them in soy butter or olive oil on the stovetop. They take forever, so don't undercook them, but it's worth it! Mia, who cooked for Rossanna's party on friday, made brussel sprouts with onion that way and they were delish!
I also considered adding in some sauteed walnuts but didnt have time to shell them.

Chocolate Orange Sauce (can be made sugar free but isnt as good)

• several squares dark baking chocolate, unsweetened or semi-sweet, depending
  
• 2 tbsp coco liquer
  
• splenda or other fake sugar if you are making sugar free. You don't need any sugar if not.
  
• 1/8- 1/4 cup heavy cream or you can use 1/4 c soy milk or OJ, depending on your politic
• 1 tbsp finely ground coffee
• orange zest
• 1tsp cinnomon
  

Melt in microwave safe bowls, stirring every 30 seconds or so, until glossy and runny. Sugar free wont be so glossy and runny. Serve with strawberries, bannanas.

Gift Ideas:

If you like sweet things but are limited by a vegan diet, consider my friend and Miss February 2010's vegan bakery Brody's Bakery out of Kansas City. She make delish treats that are very tasty, for people and dogs! Her yummy cookies sustained the entire PFPB team during the 2009 Pitbull Awareness Day event. She even rocks a vegan pecan pie! Great gift idea too. Order now, so she has time to fill it and ship it.

I've ben busy sewing a large order of custom stockings, which are ready to ship this weekend. If you want a custom Clone Pet or other holiday toy to send to someone you love, order now! Otherwise you'll have to make it a Valentine's Day gift instead.


If you're looking to give or get for a cause, think about ordering the 2010 Pinups for Pitbulls calendar. Proceeds benefit dogs in need! Preview and order it here, $20 plus shipping.

Decorating fun

I've convinced Morris to let me put up a Birthmas tree, so this weekend we're going to set it up and make tree lights out of discarded shotgun shells, an idea (and shells!) we got from the nice people at Moore n Moore.

Getting

Speaking of shotguns, I feel like Ralphie this year, because I really want a gun. I've gotten better at sporting clays, and now I want to feel like I've got the proper equipment to practice it. I'm entered with 2 little tickets in a raffle at Moore and Moore because I shot a tournament and somehow won a trophy. I'd prefer a 20 -gaugue, specifically a beretta 303 even though it's too short, since that's what I've been shooting, but anything at this point would work, and I should probably get a longer one. I'm just not the kind of person who owns Nice Things, so if I did win a gun, it would kind of be a Christmas Miracle. Pretty moving. I mean, as moving as guns can get.

But, there's always my feminine side, and so there's always my Anthropologie Wish list :) I'm especially partial to aprons right now...

Yay

It's been a busy summer and fall, full of transition and lots of changes in my life and the lives of people I love. I'm enjoying a for-once-not-totally-drop-dead-busy day. (Though, to be fair, I was up at 5 am and worked 3 jobs so far today.) It's a great day today.... Fall weather, I'm in Romance Mode with a man who is either a serial killer or the man of my dreams, and the 2010 Pinups for Pitbulls Calendar is at press!! 

My Pinups for Pitbulls news, which you can scroll past if it bores you):

I've been working hard and well with some great women from all over the country, some of whom I've been working with for over a year and have never met face to face. These women in Pinups for Pitbulls have really enriched my life and my experience with being part of PFPB. The great news is that we are now officially 501(c)3, with Non-Profit status. I am also now on the board, something new and happily "adult" in my life.

Probably the best thing of the past year has been working with my friend Deirdre, known publicly as Little Darling, PFPB's President and Founder. She is one of my oldest and dearest friends, closer than a sister even, is someone that I really admire. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have cared to get involved in this in the first place, not being a Pit Bull owner. It started out as just me helping out her grassroots, myspace-based, ghetto-fabulous dog rescue calendar and website, tweaking her website in the wee hours on my loud PC about  5 years ago. 

Her passion and energy and spirit, her creative drive and her brilliance with PFPB has made it what it is today, mostly because she has the gift of MAKING people care enough with her. She would probably never allow anyone to gush this way over her, she's just give it right back to the dogs, her team, me.... but I've worked with her for years, now, and there is rarely I time where I have not reached my limit and given out, or given up, or snapped, at some point due to exhaustion, stress, or worry over a deadline, and she is a freaking rock. A rock of molten energy that can exist on like, 3 hours of sleep and still greet the day being beautiful and positive, drive to work, save people's homes from financial ruin, come home, be an awesome mother to her dogs, an awesome woman to her man, and then spend another 5 hours saving dogs, planning events, and drumming up publicity for saving more dogs and raising more funds. It truly boggles my mind.

I guess I'm thinking about all of this because I was listening to her on a call-in radio station plugging the huge PFPB 10/25 event in Philly  this sunday (if you are there, you MUST go to this event, please see the website for details, it's all day and all night). And I was just so proud of her, and so glad to know her and be a part of this with her. It's really been a fulfilling part of my life. Last year it got me through the toughest time in my life, and this year it enhances my total experience as a woman - giving me the chance to use my talent, my beauty, and my brains, as well as my heart for animals and my love for working with people toward a common goal that makes things better here.

This year, in addition to being on the board and Creative Director, I am Miss June, posing with Roxanna the Pitbull from Newport, CA and Trevor "Mister Man" Renee Nanuk.

Look for the calendar after this Sunday, 10/25, on www.pinupsforpitbulls.com (I just revamped the site), or you can just trust that it's going to be Way Awesome and order one now!! The theme of this year's calendar is "A Tribute to Classic Pinup", where 12 lovely ladies and their bully breeds are paying tribute to such classic artists as Gil Elvgren, Art Frahm, Peter Driben, Alberto Vargas,  Al Buell, Joyce Ballantyne, Pearl Frush, and more. As always, proceeds benefit Pitbulls and Bully Breeds in need, and fund education about breed discrinimation and BSL (breed-specific legislation.)

This year we opened the calendar up to anyone who wanted to submit an image, and as a result had about 100 teams of photographers and models submit images nationwide, and many of the images will also be on the website and used for merchandise and prints for the year. That was a fun process, meeting women who love what we do and want to be a part of it, though choosing the images with a team of non-biased people was ROUGH. That part sucked.

At least we will be probably doing things that way every year from now on, so people can submit over and over. And I'm excited to make new merchandise with all the images we have now! Maybe models are sad about not being "calendar girls", but the calendar is just a part of what we do - hopefully later on, when they see us using their photos in promo materials and stuff, they'll feel less "rejected", if they feel that way now...

Speaking of photographers and photo shoots, my shoot with Mitzi of Mitzi & Co. at the beginning of the month to shoot my 2010 calendar month (June) and my About the Designer shot was so much fun! If you would like to get a pinup portrait done or attend a great pinup workshop, I highly suggest you visit her website and contact her! She is a talented, sweet woman with a heart for animals, and she's great at what she does. Being in her studio is like being a kid in a candy store for anyone who loves pinup or playing dress-up. Liz Carrillo did a great job on my makeup and hair, too.  I was just really thankful that Mitzi stepped up, because I had been at my wits' end finding someone who fit with the calendar's goal, and the project as a whole. I'm excited to work with her again, and work with her selling the calendars, beginning with Mooneyes in early December (details will be on the PFPB website).

We also just got our very first grant, which I applied for, from Animal Farm Foundation, to honor our 4-Legged Founder, Carla Lou. Which feels pretty good!!

Oh, and one final note: PFPB will be featured in an episode of a new show on Animal Planet this winter! Visit our website for details.

Toys and Paintings:

It's been a slow few months since everything has taken a back seat to PFPB, but I have been making some toys here and there, most recently a cloned Kitty and some sharks, and this week I am starting on an order for a Christmas stocking of a Cloned Kitty. If you are interested in ordering a christmas stocking, either with a cloned kitty or other furry-friend embellishments, now is the time to contact me to order one or several! Prices run $30 for order of 1-2, more are $20 each.

No new paintings of late, besides a watercolor for a possible children's book but it fell through. Here's to hoping, though, and I had fun with it. I HOPE to do Pitbull Story Books this fall.

Websites:

I've been working on Permanent-Results.com for my sister's weight loss coach and nova-lash business, and mushrushart.com for my amazing ink artist, Seth Mushrush of Baker Street Tattoo in Media, PA. If you would like a website done, please contact me, as I love doing them and can get them done fast; and I work for trade or for competitive prices.

Romance & Recreation:

:) Happy woman here. I think I've done my time....

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes

Apple Slaw?!?

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Yum, Donuts. Yay, Fall.

Adults R Us

My "wife" (local best girl friend) just moved into a house down the street from me, with her bff of 15 years.

The house is great - huge and roomy, with high ceilings, picture rails, huge yard and patios, french doors...Perfect.... Except for the fact that the previous tenant was color-blind, and painted every room a new shade of disturbing color. Electric-lemon yellow, baby blue, electric blue, "creamsicle" orange; it was like a clown ate a bunch of rainbow sherbet and threw up on the walls. So, before Moving Day, several of us took a group trip to Home Depot to get painting supplies.

That was the day we discovered that, for homeowners, Home Depot is pretty much the adult version of being let loose in Toys R Us at age 5. Not even 2 years ago, Home Depot to me meant Art Supplies.... I used to skulk around in there for the odd piece of wood to paint on, or to help myself to the paint chips to make collages out of. Maybe pick up a plant or two to make it worth the trip.

This time it was a whole new experience.Up and down the aisles you could hear our shrieks of delight:

"Crystal door knobs? Cool!!!"
"Hey, should I paint an accent wall deep Indigo? I'm goin' for it!"
"Woah, a wheelbarrow!"
"Awesome, check out that toilet seat!"
"Wow, a dimmer-switch!!"
"Drawer pulls shaped like horses? No way."
"Hey, they sell hot-dogs here!"
"Check out this mailbox."
"I want that door!!"

I don't think anyone in our party got out of there for under $85.

And, by the way, the house looks fantastic now.

Welcome to My Mid-Thirties

How about I trade:

• Spontaneous summer beach trips
• Spontaneous creativity
• Painting just because
• Writing children's books just because
• Seeing my family
• Fun outings and social gatherings with a group of local friends
• Having coffee with Trevor at the cafe down the street
• losing 10 pounds by cutting back on alcohol in my diet
  
• Baking for my 80 year old neighbor
• dog fostering with a non-profit rescue
• bouts of localized happiness amid a generalized anxiety about my life

For:

• Looking at the beach as I circle to find parking, wondering how did it get to be mid-July and I still don't have a swimsuit
• Organizing creative cocktail parties during which I hang out and socialize and don't make anything
• Painting only when it has to do with work or donating for an art auction (last-minute)
• Writing Children's books under high-pressure deadlines only when it has to do with work
• Being Auntie-Who? that lives in California and is "different"
• Working blindly until 830 pm on a Saturday and then realizing I was supposed to meet one of two girl friends I have within a 25 mile radius for dinner and she ate already
• Dragging Trevor at break-neck speed down the block 2x a day while texting and downing coffee
• losing ten pounds by completely eliminating sugar, fat, & alcohol from my diet, and running myself ragged on the treadmill
• Buying cupcakes at the bake sale down the street and leaving them in front of my 80 year old neighbor's door, hoping he won't recognize them
• being on the board of a non-profit rescue
• bouts of localized anxiety amid a generalized happiness about my life
  

Car Wreck Perks

* chance to justify years of monthly payments
* annoying, minor ding in bumper from 6 months ago now moot, since bumper no longer exists
* chance to get some sun and stretch legs in the middle of morning commute
* complimentary premarital counseling from Tow Truck Driver
* interesting tour of body shop
* free coffee and hourly CNN swine flu updates at insurance office
* $500 car wash!

What the Hell Is Wrong With People??

Gross!

• Barefoot Shoes
• Hand soap

Creativity

Summer/Spring Projects:

• light box
• take more photos with my new camera - learn about speed and lighting
  
• bottle garden
• more toys
• headboard?
  
• bottle chandelier
• paintings
• books
  

Hi. It's been forever.

I just got back last week from my very first adult, non-working vacation. Till now my vacations have mostly either been work-related, work-involved, or family-related, which can be fun but never feels like rest. This time, all I did all week was lie around, wine taste, read, listen to music, cook, sight-see, eat, and shop. It was such a great time, the first relaxation I've had since last April. It was an opportunity for my brain to leave off from Pinups for Pitbulls 2009, to begin my spring, and to get back into caring for myself and my household and my own projects. Time to get to do art stuff again. I bought a whole new set of watercolors, brushes, and tablets while up in Carmel, and am hosting another creative cocktails party on May 9th. I feel emotionally healthier than I have in a very long time, and am taking steps to get my much-fatigued physical self back into great condition.

But apart from a few quick paintings here and there and decorating my bathroom walls with painted flowers, my hands-on, just-because creativity has been almost zero.

I've just been catching up on the blogs and creativity of all my Crafty Friends. One is Audrey, my friend who owns a paperie called Urbanic in Venice, CA (on Abbot Kinney). I went into her shop on Sunday for the first time since last summer, and am just blown away by what she and her husband have accomplished. I was there when they were moving into the store, and now it just blows me away to see what they've done with the place. They have this great bridal lounge where brides can custom order invitiations. It makes me want to get engaged just to have an excuse to sit there and look through all these great books. I picked up a cute journal... I can never resist buying stuff when I visit. I didn't even go in to their clothing store next door, Neighborhood, because I just spent so much on vacation, and everything in there looked super cute. Sigh. Maybe in a few months!

During my visit, their son Javin was running around with this great, fun handmade cape on. Turns out our friend Liz made it for him and dropped it by the night before. Audrey mentioned Liz had stuff up on Etsy, so I wrote her and got the address. I've just spent the past hour looking at all her stuff and am completely charmed and drawn in and inspired to sew and paint and make things this spring and summer. She makes fabrics and shirts and collage/paintings of found objects and prints of paintings... she is my hero this week. I can't wait to buy some of her stuff! I can't wait to go home and make stuff too!

My friend Jessica and I have been talking about bottle gardens this month. I'm excited to get with her soon and make them. Meanwhile, I'm on the lookout for the perfect bottle. There's a great picture of one in one of my 70s plant books. My Bottle Garden Goal is to recreate it.

Finally, my friend Xea in portland has been talking with me about recipes,photography, and how she's been sewing kid's clothes and selling them to local stores. (I'm trying to find a link here of her stuff but I can't... it's very cute and retro.) I'm the kind of person who always thinks that would be a fun idea, but who would never actually get the guts to do this. Maybe in a parallel universe where I live in Portland and don't have social anxiety. For now, I'll just live vicariously through her. She did the photo of her sheep, Napkin, up top, enoying some Sushi.

Anyway, time to sit at my desk and browse Etsy!

xoxox