Dear Rain, You Suck

Ick to the Y-U-C-K

(this is the beginning of a song I've been inspired to write over the last week)

We're record breakers. http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/26842/rain-still-threatening-floodin.asp

At least in all of this I get to know that somehow, even in its most sick and twisted way, we won! Seriously, New England, way to bring it home. Granted, My living room is covered in pots and pans and dripping water. Poor little roof just couldn't take NYC's competitive nature this week. I am so SICK of rain.

The only thing good about this kind of weather is Boots.
All I'm sayin' is this better bring April Flowers. With this much rain I don't want to have to wait for May ;)

When I'm dealing with weather like this all I want to do is listen to Bob Dylan - preferably from his 'All along the Watchtower' days and eat popcorn.

What is your idea of making the most of a rainy day?
By now you should have lots of practice.

Happy Rain Day

It Is Supposed to be Spring

I don't know about you...but THIS bunny feels jipped.

Hopefully we'll get some sun and tulips soon. Hopefully I won't be sweater clad and drinking HOT beverages for too much longer. Afterall, it's almost APRIL. Way to fake us out NYC, way to fake us out...

A Serious Subject - A Typical Day in New York

This morning at 11:42 AM I recieved a phone call. This call came from my good "friend" Christian who has been MIA from Manhattan for far too long. He called me why? To tell me A) That he loved my NYC - centric post from yesterday and B) That he just didn't believe it.

When I challenged him he airily replied, "Oh, I believe that you saw all that stuff yesterday, I just don't believe that's typical."

-- "Oh yeah, Christian? I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!"
(Thanks Shakespeare) Seriously, there were probably better things to say but that's my go to when someone tries to throw down. The Bard is often my first defense.

I decided to deny the hunger pains that set in around 1:30 and wait until 2:48 When Christian promised he would meet me so I could recreate the events of yesterday for his jaded eyes.

He showed up and told me that he had to run to 18th Street to pick up a book he'd ordered from our favorite travel store there. He'd already eaten! I was indigent. The nerve! He explained that he was STARVING by 1:30 and he couldn't hold out. Even though he couldn't get to the Flat Iron District before 3, he could get to Chinese food by 2.

FINE.
I called my mom and sulked in the sun while I woofed down my lunch. Seriously, how does lunch taste SO much better at 3:15 than it does at 1:00? My need to win this battle became more acute. OH we'd just see who'd win this one...oh yes we would. (Spoiler Alert - I probably wouldn't blog about this if it documented my defeat).

Coffee Tree Art being meticulously built by Starbucks in the main court in front of the Flat Iron?
CHECK

One of the happy results of going out there to see this again was the baffling progress on it.

Also one of the cute boys from yesterday actually remembered me (score!) and let me look at the grid they were using to arrange these cups. It looks like a gigantic cross stitch grid. Yay for needle crafters.

OH AND he let me get in past the barriers they'd had to put up to keep the crazy crowds from stepping too close to the coffee and cocoa filled cups of color.

I'll admit that if I hadn't been given the chance to get this close to them I might have died. They were the flame to my moth. They will totally serve as prime inspiration for the next set of coffee illustrations I tackle. It was so hard to not touch them.

"Seeeeeeeee?" I demanded of Christian.

--"Yeah, but what about a model shoot. I bet that doesn't always happen here."

I scanned the crowd of late afternoon lurkers. "OH YO, OH YO" I found several small groups of women who were for some reason unable to keep the attention of their husbands/boyfriends/coworkers. Why? Why were these women suddenly powerless? Why did they sound like Charlie Brown's teachers? Why were the men ALL staring slack jawed into space?

Oh I know:

I had to get back to job-job so we didn't have time to go wandering in the park.

On the way back we almost walked smack into Chris March, who I see at least three times a week. He was carrying a huge bag from MJ Trimmings - typical. In a sad display for gay-men-who-hate-stereotypes everywhere, Christian practically fell over in signs of awe amazed worship. "I LOVE the dress you designed for Marlyn at the OSCARS" he practically yelled. I about died. Fawning over celebrities and designers is so not New York, especially when you're just going through a typical NYC day. Sadly for Christian by this point I'd buried my camera in my bottomless BoHo bag.

"Do you think if I come out next week we'll see him again and I can take my picture with him THEN?!"
--"Oh yes, my friend, I'd say it's pretty likely...."

Yay for Spring, Friday, Friends, and WINNING!
Happy Friday! Thank Goodness it's here.

A Typical Day In New York

Today I went to lunch outside. We walked approx. 1 block towards Madison Square Park. I sat where we always sit when it is newly Spring and the park lawn isn't open for picnics yet.

When that happens we settle for here:

Smack dab in front of the Flat Iron Building.

Yes, I am aware that people sometimes travel thousands of miles to glimpse this archetctural marvel, but I see it every single day. It takes a gorgeous Spring day for me to remember how grand it really is. That's probably because on a typical day during my lunch break I have a lot to look at.

For instance, girls hula hooping in the middle of the street for a photo shoot.

Or Starbucks saving the world's forests by building a huge art installation.

Here are my coworkers/friends with their rad/free/forest saving coffee tumblrs.

(BTW Your hair looks amazing)

So here's how this promo worked. You bought a cuppa from Starbucks, we have three within walking distance from 5th Ave - so you've got options. Then you walk to the Flat Iron and hand your cup to a troupe of people who trade you for a reusable tumbler that you can put your own art in.

Then they follow this concept grid and put your old paper cup in the perfect place to build this tree, esentially a coffee cup mosaic, representing the trees that are saved when you choose to take your own mug to Starbucks instead of using Paper Cups.

Granted I have always despised Starbucks for stamping out local business while they take over the world, but this event was pretty effin' rad and made a lot of headway with me.

Then I walked over to the park and happened upon a pint sized performance of wide acclaim.

I sat and listened to these fabulous musicians for a good 15 minutes while I drank my Tazo Passion Tea from my Starbucks Tumblr. They were not only well versed on their instruments but pretty comic too. My favorite part was that every time someone tossed some money in their itty bitty violin case they jumped down onto all fours and counted how much was in there now.


At first they would try to do the math to figure out how much the last person had left but that soon grew tiresome. I was right there with them. As prolific artists can we really be expected to be good at math too? Huh?

Their mom hid off in the park and she'd walk by from time to time. It reminded me of happy Hawaiian days with my siblings, mooching money off tourists fresh from long hikes in the Kuoloa Mountain Range. Good times... Good times...

So that was my day, and that's how it is - typically here in NYC.

Lucky Salutations

Given my life long love affair with chunky typography that is not what it seems,(scroll down to see exhibit A) I fell in love with Etsy's landing page this morning. I thought it'd be a travesty for it to be destroyed without proper accolades. Incase you missed it (like if you're not refreshing www.Etsy.com every ten minutes) I've recreated it here in all its crafty genius.

Hippity, Hoppity,

Easter's on Its Way!
Yesterday at church when this fact was brought to my attention, I decided I'd draw a bunny.

That seemed to go pretty well. So I decided I'd draw another.

And another.

Then this bunny seemed to be looking for something....

I figured with Spring (allegedly) right around the corner he was pr'olly looking for love.
Sometimes this goes well.

Sometimes it does not.

Sometimes it is frustrating.

Sometimes it is simple.

Sometimes it is passionate.

Sometimes it is shy.

Sometimes it is centered on tradition.

I thought maybe these Love Bunnies were pretty serious about one another.

They'd probably want their own little families.

Bunny Babies!

Then I made myself stop.

Happy Almost Easter.

Hey Bag Lady ;)

Today is my kid sister's birthday! When I think about April B. or Prilly, or the Apie, as she is sometimes called, I first think of her innate fashion sense. April has always known 'What looks good.' I distinctly remember running out of the house on my way to a field trip and having April hold out a sweater that she'd pinned a big fat broach on. "If you're going to wear THAT, will you at least wear THIS over it?" I think she might have been eight years old then.

April belongs to the 'no offense' club when it comes to fashion advice.

When she was little she used to lug these gigantic bags around. She was BoHo Chic before the Olsen Twins had stopped saying "No Way, DUDE!" It was a common occurrence for her to drag a bag or two to the car, carefully climb into the car, reach down to grab the bag and fall back out of the car because the bag was so heavy it pulled her down. She might have been in diapers but she was stylish.

On a trip to Vegas when April was about four she lagged far behind us, again with more bags than we would have needed for a beach picnic. The bags just seemed so heavy and she was so small. Taking pity on her, my mom and I went back to help her carry a few. When we picked them up we almost fell over too! She'd been walking along the Las Vegas strip picking up decorative landscape rocks and filling up her bags! That was the day we officially started calling her bag lady.

Now that she's all grown up her sense of style has changed a hundred times. She's always throwing together this or that, but the bags remain a staple of my April.

This set is straight from my sketchbook, and in just under the wire. My mom reported that my sissie tore open the presents I'd sent at the stroke of midnight last night, when she had just barely turned 23. When I asked April about it she defended herself by saying "Well, it is MY birthday and my birthday starts at midnight!" So this post happened on her birthday, March 9th and that is what counts ;)

Happy Birthday, kiddo. I love you. I think you're the tops.

Bears Need People

People need bears.