She Sure is {Classy} -- Happy New Year!

Every year, just past the stroke of midnight, from the beginning of my memory, my family throws wax. Since I left home ten years ago, I have carried this tradition to every New Year's Eve bash I've rung out the old and rushed in the new at. Last night was no exception. It is my favorite part of new beginnings - something that never loses its magic and awe. There is nothing like a fortune cast in fresh white relief.  2012  will have dragons, or dogs... or something wild and animal like. Happiest of happy New Years!

I Cut My Heart on Paper

Never $plurge on something renewable. That is the life lesson I have learned from Sephora. This month of holiday cheer, when I am happier than yesteryear due to our brilliantly warm December weather, Sephora has reached into their hearts and given NYC their own version of a White Christmas.  I give you their show-stopping 5th avenue windows.

Paper, Silhouettes, Grand Scale, Birch Trees, Warm light and Girls! Girls! Girls! -- All my favorite things!

Now if I could only justify a life's supply of Hourglass...

Most Everything I Artistically Am

I owe to my daddy.

I am reading 'The Alchemist' for the first time. For those of you who don't know it, sadly, like me last week, it's a book about a boy who travels to a far land in search of his Personal Legend. He is unsure of what to do, and where to go, when a king comes to him and sets him on course to follow his dreams. 

Growing up we often called my father "King Daddy".  I know that what I do here in New York at my perfect little studio is my pursuit of my Personal Legend. I know that this path that I sometimes think begun with a duffel bag and a plane ticket HNL --> JFK really started 28 years ago, when my father allowed me sable brushes, cold pressed paper and master tutelage for my childhood chicken scratch drawings.  

Happy Faddo's Day, Dad.

I love you.

My Favorite Hopper

See how happy this kid is to be wearing this Amber Alvarez Original?
Oh yeah. He's stoked.

Oh! That's better.
Hoppy Easter!

If you want to know more about this, you should know it's at touch up to this post ;)

This Valentine's Day....

I return to my roots...

potato stamps.
I wish you a very punny valentines day, filled with kisses and red dye #4.

Put up the Tree Before My Spirt Falls

This is my post-it tree.

This is my work desk for it:

It was mostly made by the passionate yet introverted Tess Nelson and her venerable Doctor cohort, Zach. Regardless, it was made under my dictatorship gentle suggestion. It is in my apartment.
Win.

I think everyone should have a post-it tree. It's such a fun spot to write at now. Everyone who comes over can make a holiday note on it.
True perfection.

A Christmas March

This holiday season I got my little sister East Side for a week.  She came for the Turkey. Haha.  I have to make this joke every Thanksgiving.  It's obligitory when you have a sister who's a psycho dedicated vegan.  I almost had an unforgivable curse put to me for forgetting that vegan means no butter.... I put a few tablespoons in two pounds of veggies. Later when she asked for the receipe and I told her that particular part of the list, there was a bit of a rage black-out.  Luckliy the anger was hot enough to warm you up on a cold breezy night and isn't that what being a sister is?
Warm and fuzzy? Good times.

In the dead of night on a very chilly NYC evening, we put on our walking shoes and flounced off for the Brooklyn Bridge.

This is the photo she made me take. SEE IT?! SEE THE BRIDGE? 
I thrill to have visitors here at my home. It reminds me that I live a 20 minute walk from THIS spot. Right here:

I walk over the bridge at least once or twice a month, but it is magic to see someone else see it.  It baptizes it in special all over again. 

We waltzed down to the South Street seaport, where we caught the tree lighting and where I had a nerd attack at Brookstone.  April managed to keep it together, how I don't pretend to know.  They were having a sale on indoor helicopters!! Helicopters indoors.



Then April and I ran from some snatchers.  Luckily, we're pretty fast, and I'm pretty good with a camera under pressure. 


I don't know if you've heard, but every year Macy's does this thing where they design some window displays.  It's nice.  If Macy's were a movie it'd be
Fiddler on the Roof. (Careful it might get loud.)

Macy's would proudly trumpet,
"TRADITION!"

Annually you're faced 3  walls of windows.  One wall is the tradition TRADTION tradition of a classic Miracle on 34th Street animatroic dysplay.  You get to peek into the whole "who believes in Santa Claus?' bit and watch a little girl gain belief in Santa.  It's a blast to watch play out.  There's beard pulling, the Macy's Parade and the whole nine yards.

Awww... lit'l sis likes it!

Traditionally it is impossible to look at without cracking an ear to ear grin. See little sis, here? She didn't stand a chance.  I dare you to look upon the trial of Chris Kringle and not have your heart grow three sizes.

 Afterall, it's tradition.  

Christmas in Um....

Now.
Aww the joys of being a licensing artist.
It will most likely be Christmas in July toooooooo.

Amber Alvarez

Needs a vacation.

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...

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.

Ring Out the Old!

Ring in the New!

This morning I arrived moody and upset at the airport after spending a hellish red-eye flight next to Neanderthal man and his lesser-half child bride. I was already a little homesick. I know that with my family in Utah instead of Hawaii and my brother working for Delta that I get to see them much more than any other time in my adult life, but the drama queen in me likes to wonder "When will we meet again?!"

I hailed a cab from the curb of JFK. Stepping into the familiar yellow taxi I shook out my snow covered scarf. We left Queens, keeping to Atlantic Avenue in a wild flurry of snow that blanketed everything in sight. I couldn't help but feel a deep satisfaction and calm wash over me as we made our way into Brooklyn. When we turned on Court Street and I felt my neighborhood get closer, that familiar warmth of belonging made my pulse quicken in excitement. I hadn't been out of the cab long enough to grab my suitcase when the grocer from the fruit market across the street yelled out "Ahhhhh Happy New Year Miss Amber!!!!" I lugged my "way over-sized" luggage up to my third floor apartment. At the top of the stairs it hit me, we're at the end of a decade! I hadn't really put it together yet. I took a moment to reflect on the past. I was senior at Kahuku High this time ten years ago. Now I am here. (picture a big red x on a map of awesome)

I CANNOT wait to kick 2009 to the curb, let's be honest, it's been seven kinds of lame. At the same time, I smile so broadly on the the last decade.

Ten years ago I rang in the decade of double zeros with my family, Pacific Ocean side. I distinctly remember chasing my twelve-year-old sister down a sandy stretch of beach with a sparkler held aloft.

at that point in my life

• I hadn't ever spent a night completely alone.
• I didn't know what it felt like to have friends that are like family.
• I'd never been in love.
  
• I'd never swam in the Atlantic Ocean.
• I didn't comprehend how a computer could do anything but hinder you as an artist.
• I had absolutely no idea how anyone could stand talk radio.
• I swam faster than I walked.
• My skin was about ten shades darker.
• I wanted to be a full-time animator.
• I hadn't lost anyone close to me.
• I hadn't graduated from high school.
• I was more interested in biology than I was in any other subject in school, including art.
• I had in no way embraced my inner-nerd. I spat at her, embarrassed when she showed her 'glasses-face'.
• I had no idea how to walk in heels.
• I was torn, wondering whether Blink 182 or Weezer was the best band of all time.
  
• I didn't know how to ask for what I really wanted.
• I was often paralyzed by my fear of the unknown.
• I didn't know how to stand up for myself.
• I trusted so easily.
• I wouldn't ever guess that I'd live for tough contract negotiation or that I'd thrill at the challenges that come with new clients.
• I didn't have an identity or a style as an artist - I was fairly sure I wouldn't ever find one.
• I was terrified at the idea of disappointing my family and my community.
• I hadn't yet made the decision of Brooklyn's Pratt Institute over Valincia's Cal Arts.
• I was sure I that no matter my choice, I would want to work for a huge company in California as an animator after I graduated from college.

I had no idea that a decade later I'd be in love with my life, confident in who I am as an artist and an individual. How could I know that I'd be thriving, making a living as an artist in New York City? I didn't know that I'd have so many rich experiences or that I'd live through so many hard lessons. I didn't know that I would have so many people in my life who make living fun, exciting, challenging and oh-so-rewarding. Who could know that I'd love Brooklyn as much as I loved my sprawling white-sand "back yard"? When I'm here, I am home, my soul knows it.

I wish I could go back there for just a moment and really see my seventeen-year-old self. I know how scared she was and how worried she was that she couldn't make it in this big world. I know how terrified she was to leave her family all the way across the country. She loved where she was but she needed to go somewhere new. She wondered if it was a mistake to fly off to a totally new existence in a far off place where she knew nothing and no one. She wondered how New York could be the right choice. How could you ever feel at home somewhere so big and urban? Plus, what if she didn't make any friends? What if college at an art school was as hellish as high school had been? What if she wasn't even that great an artist? What if she couldn't do it?

I'd go back and hold her hand and tell her that she was in for such an 'effing-fantastic adventure. I wish I could let her know that in ten years time, at twenty-seven, she wouldn't change a thing about the path she'd taken. It's been a Robert Frost journey. I wish she would know not to care when people tell her she's throwing away huge opportunities. Then she wouldn't be so nervous when she turned some things down for other chances that just "feel right". I wish I could let her know that broken hearts mend, that career crises subside and that the people who matter most are the people who let you be yourself. Most of all I wish she knew that New Year's Eve 2009 would find her shimmying into something fancy and scrubbing India Ink from under her nails before running out into the night full of glee and anticipation for everything that is coming now, without a smidgen of worry. Then she'd know that it's a wonderful life and that everything works out the way it's supposed to. I wish she knew she'd be giddy about staring down a New Year, excited to get started on a new decade, "a new day with no mistakes in it yet."

Happy New Year, my loves. I hope it finds you and everything you love, healthy, happy and ready to pop the cork on a bright new future. Let's see what the next ten years brings us, shall we?

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

listening to right this second: "run" -- snow patrol

Something Old and Something New

After twenty-five years of Hawaiian life, my parents recently relocated from the North Shore of Oahu to the Middle of Nowhere Utah.

As I prepared to vacate Brooklyn I packed my warmest clothes and made sure that I hadn't forgotten leggings and scarves. I laughed/cried when I got to unpacking at my parent's place and realized I'd absent mindedly packed not one, but two bathing suits. Old habits die hard.

I quickly busied myself poking around the joint, making sure that things were put "just so". After all, just because it's a new location doesn't mean that things should change. (This is where I start singing Fiddler on the Roof's 'Tradition! TRADITION!')

New: This "woodland upstairs tree". My mom was set on two trees this year! Witness our first major 'Hawaiian Christmas' violation. I can safely bet you that no one in Hawaii decked the halls with two trees this year....

New: ALL of these Ornaments! What? New Ornaments? This is not adhering to protocol. Ornaments can be given as gifts or purchased to commemorate important life milestones. They can be bought on vacations and picked up in small doses at after Christmas sales. They are NOT supposed to be bought in bulk to fit a theme!

But... this tree is pretty cute. I kind of do adore those funky little owls. You know I'm prone to loving you know who?
Old: The teddy bear snow on the windows saved my mom from my skepticism. I was totally afraid she'd shirk this very important tradition. Growing up in a snowless existence makes fake snow on the windows vital to creating the perfect holiday vibe. I was worried that with all the powder on the ground outside this vital bit of decor would go the way of the Dodo. How could I have ever questioned her? Oh. Wait. I know How:

New: This Downstairs Blue Spruce Christmas tree.
Ahwuah? A blue Christmas tree? It is pokey and sharp and unlike the Douglass Furs and Palm Tree Christmases that I was raised on. I paced around it, suspicious like a cat.
I poked around and slowly located all the important things that make for a perfect Christmastime.

Several Ice Cream Angels polka-dot this suspicious spruce. This may come as a heart-attack inducing shock, but I wasn't always wicked cool. As a seventh grader I became obsessed with making these ice cream spoon angels. Their little wooden bodies are crocheted into proper holiday get-ups. I turned a pretty fair little business selling them at the Blaisdell Craft Fair. Mom saved just the right amount of them to bedeck the tree forevermore. Their little mouth-less faces have been a Christmas constant ever since.
This Maneki Neko is a good luck cat. It's important that he's prowling in the branches. He brings a great New Year.
This Santa Icicle is one of my very favorite pieces to put on the tree. I like his crystal blue eyes and his snowy beard. There is part of me that secretly loves and the way he can stab people into being nice with his pointed stare and facial hair shiv. Hmm... right about now I'm loving the way this blue tree showcases the ornaments....
This chubby little mermaid speaks directly to my well documented obsession. It reminds me of perfect Christmas days by land and by sea.
This rainbow block was my first ornament way back in 1982. How could my parents know this Mary Blair-esque decoration would so perfectly speak to my design aesthetic decades later? It's one of my top five favorites on our overflowing tree.
I think I was eight when this ornament was wrapped in the brightest candy cane red wrapping paper and labeled with my name. It might have melted my brain. I'd never seen anything so perfectly beautiful.

Ever since it's been my "magic glass flying pony."
Never mind that it is not glass, it's some form of iridescent plastic. Forget that it's a Pegasus and not a pony, its title has stuck. I remember thinking it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Its presence on the new/odd/strangely alluring tree reminds me that The Christmas Spirit can transform things. So I might be in a snowy Utah Valley instead of frolicking on the beach of my youth, but my family is here and the ground is white and we're warm and lucky to have each other. I hope your holiday was family and fun and fabulous, on that note, Mele Kalikimaka and a Hauli Makahiki Hou!

The Mood is Right! The Spirit's Up!

Thankfully

An ex-boyfriend once diagnosed me as suffering from "movie-life". If it could happen to Julia Roberts it can happen to me. I was supposed to be riding horses in Italy tomorrow. I missed my plane to Europe when "bad day Saturday" spiraled out of control. I was taken to the wrong airport then the wrong terminal and then the wrong life - in that order. Air France refused to help. Instead of finding myself in seat 34A I took a Red-Eye F train - landing me back in Brooklyn.

On a scale of 1-to-Suck 2009 has seemingly failed to launch successfully. Things have not been up to snuff. Embarrassingly enough, I was sure that this trip to Europe was going to fix the entire year. Missing my flight and then realizing that there was absolutely nothing that Air France was willing to do to get me on a plane was devastating. When I thought about what I was thankful for on "bad day Saturday" all I could really focus on was the fact that when I am wealthy and successful I will be able to take Air France down stone by stone. I decided it would be best to start with a defamatory Super Bowl commercial. Luckily, today rolled around and I had the chance to reassess.

It might sound trite, but I'm thankful for Thanksgiving. I am grateful that I have a day in my life devoted to remembering how much I have and how freely I am given the things that really matter.


At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
-- Albert Schweitzer

• I'm thankful that when I got back from the airport mad depressed and disappointed I had a warm and inviting home to sprawl out in. I am not so naive as to think that when other people have bad days they have a wonderful place to lay their head down.
  
• I am thankful for the plethora of invites to Thanksgiving dinner that rolled in the second it was discovered that I'd be spending the holiday state side.
  
• I am overwhelmed by my 'urban family' of friends who take me into their homes and their lives. They pull me in and love me no matter how quirky or odd I am.

• I'm thankful for my roommate who leaves me notes of encouragement and warm cookies on the kitchen table. It is a relief to come home to someone who is always fun and positive to chat with after a long day of drawing robots.
• My clients and the projects I'm handed offer me the chance I have to live my life as an artist in New York City, a rare and marvelous gift.
• I am thankful for great music, good books and sunny Fall weather - things that make every bad thing seem better.
• In this time of uncertainty and fear in the world I am thankful for Brooklyn, for the inspiration it provides me and for the way it makes me happy to be alive.
  
• I am indebted to my kooky family. They are among those rare kind of families who are truly and unconditionally there for one another. They make me laugh when I want to cry and vice-versa. I can't believe I get to call them mine.
• I am grateful that I have lived my life in the best of two places. I would most certainly have a much different outlook if my parents hadn't decided to raise me on the edge of reality, nestled against the coast of the Pacific Ocean. I won't ever be able to understand how or why I was handed such a blissful and perfect childhood.

• I am always thankful and will forever be grateful I am an American.
• And on this day of days I am thankful for potatoes, mashed and otherwise.
• I am thankful for you.

I'm grateful for long and flourishing beautiful Autumn days and for the wild fire of sparks in my life that kindle a flame inside of me. It's amazing how lucky I am. Happy Thanksgiving, my loves.