stratosphere, shmatosphere

one vacation project has been a clean-up of the office to make it a more usable space so that the dining room table can be reserved for, well, dining.

part of the cleanup involved using blake's new fancy scanner to be able to throw out piles of paper. i scanned a lot of old drawings and doodles and i realized that i was a much more psychedelic artist in decades past. case in point:

available

hey y'all, my letterpress postcards are now available at Orecul 77 in Highland Park. it's a great new store, with local handmade and vintage clothes, gorgeous hair accessories, including one clip made out of peacock feathers which i swear will be mine, and much more! the owners are awesome, plus they have really cool events planned. check it out...or as keri told me the kids are saying on the east coast these days, "check my fresh."

best new year ever

i haven't blogged in a while. i guess i've been really busy.

but i think i might have had one of my best new year's ever. yesterday we met jason for dim sum in artesia, and then went and tried on winter coats. it's always a treat to have my man and my best man friend together in one place. hi-jinks ensued.

then i made my first-ever batch of homemade ice cream and we went over to brian and heather's. brian masterfully mixed some delicious drinks (including two Pim's and lemonade for me), and heather brought out the pots and pans to bang at midnight. then this morning we woke up, went back to their house to pick up my purse from where i had left it on the floor, and headed to the beach. it was mild, sunny, and hazy with gigantic pelicans and schools of new year's dolphins on their way to santa barbara.

then, we were looking for a place to eat lunch. most of our favorite places were closed, but blake remembered samosa house, an indian grocery he's been meaning to take me to. we showed up there, and saw tables outside. we parked, relieved that it was open, but as we approached we saw these banners out front, which read, "indian wedding new years day celebration, all welcome, dancing, free food all day." we walked into the store and were immediately handed trays of delicious vegetarian indian food by a beatifically smiling woman. as we ate we got to enjoy the most awesome family-style dance party ever. there was one couple who really caught my eye; she had short brown hair and a blackberry clipped on to the waist of her swirling skirt, and he was dancing like a bollywood star in his turban. a younger sister type was teaching a middle-aged woman some new moves. the family mingled on the dance floor with venice hipsters, neighborhood grandkids, college boys, and old mexican couples. the good vibes were exploding out all over the place. i think i would be a fool not to interpret that as good luck for the year.

i miss you, new york. but i love you, LA. here's to a happy new year for family and friends in both cities! may 2009 be filled with marine life, dance parties, and Pims.

improv collage

i made this in less than 5 minutes, all from the wrappings of a fancy chocolate bar. inspired by a recent viewing of jacques cousteau and louis malle's le monde du silence.

life motifs

this morning i found myself charging through the house, grumbling, "well where the f* is it, if it's not where i f*ing PUT it." i realize that this is one of my recurring motifs, in life, in language, in body behavior. sigh.

however, on the bright side, inspired by the vintage photography i've been looking at, i picked up these two gems of fatherly and grandfatherly love at a local store. no dates on them.