Prototype, on Earth Day!

...I didn't plan it that way- that's just how it happened! How appropriate!

Tree Friends will not only be available in prints (soon!) and maybe cards, I am working on a cuddly, huggable version of the Tree Friends.

This is my first attempt:



Obviously, I have some changes in store for the next little guy...But for the first pattern, first attempt, finished in a few hours, he did turn out pretty cute!

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Spring Cupcakes!

So, I've been feeling a little, err, off for the past few days- generally unfocused, unmotivated, blah. I talked to Shawn after he got to work this morning, and he suggested I make cupcakes to de-funk myself.

After I hung up I thought, THAT'S IT!

I haven't baked and decorated cupcakes since....well, probably Christmas!

So here are my spring cupcakes! I tried to pull off dahlias, and although I don't think I quite got it, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!






...maybe I'll pretend these are belated Aku and Tomas Magnum birthday cupcakes!

To all the fake'n'bake dummies out there!

As I've been saying for years, tanning beds ARE just as dangerous as the sun! Exclamation point! Stop turning yourselves into orange-skinned cancerous tumours!

Blue skies and 15c!

And how did I spend this beautiful day? Cleaning the freakin' house! There isn't anything more satisfying than a vinegary clean bathroom, and floors you can eat off of! Yay! Well, maybe drinking beers in a park in the sun would have been more satisfying, but spring is young yet.

I rode my bike (who I am tentatively calling "Ingrid" at this point) to and from work for the first time on Friday, and was rained on BOTH WAYS! Thanks Edmonton. You fuck me around with 5 months of winter, and then, when the weather is finally nice enough to ride a bike in, you piss on me! Insult, meet injury. The way there wasn't bad. Just a refreshing spring spittle- the ground smelled sooooo good- but on the way home, there was thunder and lightning (already!?) and I got soaked! Good ol' hub brakes got their first workout in the wet, and handled great.

In a bike-related vein, I read this breakdown of Dutch cycling culture and thought, as I do several times daily, that I am definitely living in the wrong country. Almost everything in this little write up rings true to me, especially (re: saddles) "not for us the crotch cutter seats of racing bikes, because we value our reproductive body parts!". Also, the "Bike Helmets & Lycra" section made me giggle. Good stuff.

I've been toying with the idea of making some of my silly paintings into prints lately. I got some quotes from places around town, and may actually give it a shot. I painted a little bit the other night. The usual. Anthropomorphic cartoon trees and hearts. I guess I'm kind of a one-trick pony. Oh well! Buy my cute prints if I make them! If not for you, for your favourite six year old little girl! After all, that's secretly all I really am.

Hill o' beans

This is in no way new news, but I'd just like to mention that, thanks to the lovely (and muchly missed!) Wheels, my morning coffee has contained a far higher dosage of awesome lately.



"Black Mountain" might just be my favourite coffee of all time- So rich! Full-bodied! No bitterness! It is magical. The Ethiopian Harrar is verrrrry good too (a lighter or brighter taste, if that makes sense?), but you just can't beat Black Mountain.

You know those coffee commercials, where one sip immediately transports the drinker to misty hills and verdant jungles? The same thing kind of happens to me, except I picture campfires and forests and log cabins... Yes. It's that good. I miss Bean Around the World.

New bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I saw her in the window, and it was love at first sight.

Pashley Bicycles- made in England since 1926. I pick her up tomorrow at noon!!!!!!!!

A (very) early birthday present because, well, getting a new bike at the end of July pretty much means there's only two months of good riding left- this way, I get a full Spring and Summer's worth of riding in! I can't wait- basket, dynamo lights, built-in pump, Brooks saddle, fenders, chain-guard- everything I could need!

I had no idea I would be getting a bike today! I love you Shawn!

Coming soon!

...Do you??

Early Easter!

Look what we got from my Mum and Dad this morning!!!



Easter candy with a few awesome bonuses:

1) PLAY-DOH!! Which, as the packaging makes VERY clear, is NOT intended for consumption. No? Then why does it have all of those "CAUTION: Contains wheat" stickers?

2) New toothbrushes! Such a mum-like addition to a sugar-headache-inducing package!

3) Grocery gift certificates!!!!!!(not shown)!!! Even pushing 30, this is by far one of the BEST "care package" goodies to receive! Yay!

4) Kitty treats!! And treats that even Tomas will eat! Aku, well, will eat pretty much anything- he's more like a fuzzy black goat, really.

But in true kitty fashion....



...the box it all came in is FAR more interesting.

Mmmm.....Candy for breakfast...Thanks Mum and Dad! We love you!

Saturday afternoon snack!

I have Saturday off this week- and before you start dishing out the high-fives, this really isn't a treat for me. I've become accustomed to my days off being weekdays, and since I've never had a Monday to Friday type of job (neither does Shawn), I think I may always associate Saturdays with work. I like being able to do my weekly "stuff" without the weekend throng. It's much more relaxing.

Maybe that's why I feel so restless today- like I should be accomplishing something other than surfing Etsy, breaking in my new shoes, getting quotes for prints, and of course, baking!

One of my new favourite blogs, Everybody Likes Sandwiches (which is an AMAZING collection of yummy recipes, by the way), featured a recipe for cranberry and blood orange loaf earlier in the week, and I have been thinking about it ever since! Unfortunately, I could find neither blood oranges nor frozen cranberries (I really didn't want dried) at my corner grocer, and was in no way in the mood for a Saturday afternoon larger-chain-grocery-store venture. The horror, on the weekend! The horror! So I grabbed my last three navels (which had been languishing in the fridge for a good month), and subbed frozen cranberries with frozen strawberries. The results?



Exactly what the doctor ordered! A nice fresh-from-the-oven slice, with a hot cup of Natural Farmworks Chai, and I'm not at all concerned that I haven't got anything lined up for dinner. Strawberry orange loaf sounds fine to me...