May

1. CRABS: Nuff said. Ok, well actually we got these crabs at Waterman's Crab House in Rock Hall, MD when we went camping. As if a tray full of crabs wasn't fun enough, there was a live cover band, tons of people dancing, AND we were right on the bay. Totally rad.

2. ROOFTOP GARDENING: I grew up helping my parents grow vegetables our garden plot, so living in apartments with no outside space has been rough! We still don't have a backyard or a deck or anything...but we do have our neighbor's roof right outside our kitchen window. And one fateful day we found a white wooden door discarded by our apartment, so with some 2x4 scraps, plants bought from Greensgrow, and some sweat we now have our very own container garden! Two tomatoes, a pepper plant, zucchini, and basil and lemon balm. Keep your fingers crossed!

3. NEW MUSICS: Been listening to Miike Snow a lot lately, as well as Marina and the Diamonds. So much so that I might have killed those albums, but until I find something else new, these will have to do!

4. GARDEN: Speaking of helping my parents with their garden, this year I got to help them plant a slew of tomatoes while I was home in May. I even tried to keep track of what kind of tomatoes we planted in a little map, with a legend denoting if it was grown from seed, what kind of fertilizer we fed it, etc. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish the map the next day because...

5. STREP THROAT: What?? Who gets strep throat anymore these days? The night after we worked in the garden I started getting a little achey while we watched a movie. The next morning I had a full-blown fever and major unhappiness. After about an hour of debating if we should go the clinic or not, I finally conceded and despite my confidence that I wasn't going to have strep, in fact I did. The ONLY good thing about the whole ordeal was that I was at home, so my mama could take care of me. Felt kinda nice to be 8 again.

6. CAMPING: At the opposite end of the month we finally made a move to go camping for Memorial Day weekend with Dustin, Kati, Giaco, Alan and Megan. After hours and hours of searching for a place (most were totally booked, or didn't allow unrelated adults to stay on one site!? Seriously??) I found a place that had spots available, no crazy water-slides or ponies for kids, allowed unrelated adults, and was beer-friendly. Oh, and it was right on the Chesapeake bay! Aside from offering little/no shade, I'd say it was completely ideal. Thanks Bayshore Camping!

7. POISON IVY: Oh but wait, did I mention the poison ivy? We first realized that we had an enemy to contend with as soon as we got there, but we all took precautions to avoid it. We did pretty good, but on the last day a couple of us saw some patches starting to appear on our legs. I could just as easily put this rotten plant in my June post, because it's June 13th as I write this, and I'm STILL itching!

8. PHILLIES: Another year, another trip with Steven and Ashlee to see the Phillies! Basically, we should be invited by Charlie himself to all their games, because the two that we've all been to together have been incredible. Grand slams, home run after home run, major comebacks...we're good luck! GoPhils.

April

Hmm, it seems I've skipped past February and March. I think those months must have been pretty boring, or else I would have been more inspired to do one of these posts. It's OK though because April was awesome:



1. PIZZA: Shaun brought home probably the coolest channel letter sign yet, and it fits perfectly in our kitchen (each letter is about 26" tall). It originally had red acrylic panels to cover the neon, but the red really stood out against our yellow kitchen in a bad way, evoking only thoughts of fast food chains. I like being able to see inside the white letters anyway. The neon even works still, except we didn't feel like hooking it up and having wires hanging around. Only the Z is damaged, but hey, that's part of the charm.

2. PENN TREATY PARK: We haven't been eating out as much recently in order to save some money, but this month we couldn't resist. After splitting a delightful cheese plate and reuben at the Swift Half, we walked to the park and skipped rocks. And then we got Mr. Softee from an ice cream truck. Basically, it was a perfect day. (cue Lou Reed song here).

3. EASTER: For the second year in a row we went up to Reading for Easter and had a delicious Easter dinner with Shaun's family. Before we left he stopped to buy his mom some flowers, and also picked some up for me, how sweet!

4. SODA FOUNTAIN DRESS IN GINGER: The first time I saw this dress on ModCloth it was out of stock, but lucky me they got more in! I seriously love this dress. And on April 8th I wore it for the first time to a Twin Peaks party, marking the 20th anniversary of the first episode. (I brought the donuts and stacked 'em.)

5. iMAC QUAD CORE: OMFG I GOT A NEW COMPUTER! I knew my old computer had been on it's last legs for quite awhile, but I didn't realize how messed up it was until I started using this new one. I can have more than 2 programs open at once! Including iTUNES and iPHOTO!! And it doesn't take 45 minutes to export a 120 page PDF! It's a miracle. Oh yeah, and it's 27-inches, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Also, you'll see a sneak peak of my latest project on the screen! More to come on that later...

6. CRAB CAKES: I found a recipe for vegetarian crab cakes, which sounded good mainly because anything with Old Bay is good to me, but I thought maybe I could add some fake crab meat to make it even crabbier. Of course I couldn't find any krab at the store, so I just bought a can of regular crab meat. In the future, I'm not even going to bother, because that canned crab was so pathetic and barely added anything to the flavor, I'm sure. HOWEVER, the crab cakes ended up being very tasty, and I'm sure I'll make them again, sans canned crab. I also used this recipe for the salad dressing (also where I got the photo from!).

7. BRADFORD PEAR BLOSSOMS: The very first thing that I knew was going in April's post was a bradford pear blossom because Fishtown absolutely exploded with them this spring. They also happen to be my favorite kind of tree. :)

8. THE STOUT ENGLISHMAN: I am so so lucky to have a boyfriend who loves to build things! The Stout Englishman, an entertainment center/cabinet, is the third piece in the Crafted furniture line, and in my opinion, the best thing he's built to date!

9. NEON INDIAN & SURFER BLOOD: These two items don't exactly fit the color scheme as nicely as everything else does, but I had to include them. Now that the weather is getting nicer and downright HOT this music feels so appropriate (Neon Indian sounds like they're playing through humid, hazy heat waves). Whenever I put these albums on, I don't even skip songs, which is a rarity for me these days.

Grid: The Gardening Issue

You guys...it's official:



The April 2010 issue of Grid Magazine is out, and my illo is ON THE COVER! I couldn't have been happier to work on the garden-themed issue, which is appropriate since Shaun and I want to volunteer at Greens Grow Farm this year. So super-excited about this, and thanks to art director Jamie Leary for the opportunity. There are tons of places to pick it up around Philadelphia, or you can read the whole issue online here.

:)

Hansel & Gretel

I am about to jump right into the final stage of a new illo project (may or may not have something to do with the cover of my favorite Philadelphia sustainability magazine!), but I wanted to share one of my latest completed works. Seriously had fun choosing which candies to include—I realize that non-pareils are more French, but I think the inclusion of the chocolate-covered pretzels really brought the German theme full circle. Mmmmyumm.

January

1. SURFER BLUE: I have to admit that this post was slightly more difficult than others, because we spent so much time fixing up/moving into this apartment that we didn't do much just for fun. But what IS fun is this color blue that we painted the walls of the living room. At first I was just a bit nervous about it, but now when I look at the walls I can't imagine them being any other color–it's great.

2. GEOGRAPHY: We had the same shower curtain when we lived in the loft, but this time around the map faces the toilet instead of the inside of the shower. Now I can be assured that Shaun is getting at least a few minutes of geography lessons a day.

3. EATING ANIMALS: I started reading this book in January, and although I haven't yet finished, it's already influencing the way I feel about what I eat. Jonathan Safran Foer is one of my favorite writers, and in his first non-fiction book he makes a convincing argument in favor of vegetarianism. At this point, I have no intention of becoming vegetarian, but I do know that I need to eat less meat, and I'm on a quest to get my friends/family to see the same point.

4. WII FIT PLUS: It had been awhile since I had used my Wii Fit, but since I bought the Wii Fit Plus add-on, it's become a new obsession. I love the build-your-own routine feature, the calorie-tracker, and the new games! So fun!

5. AVATAR: Yes, I, like the rest of the universe, saw Avatar...and yes, I liked it. Perhaps because I went into the theater fully prepared to hate it, it managed to exceed my low expectations. The effects were amazing, and even the odd choice of blue anime-type creatures grew on me by the end of the movie. As far as the "story" which so many people gripe about...I'm just glad when blockbuster movies manage to sneak in good lessons about the environment once in awhile (ie. Wall-E).

6. MAPLE SYRUP: "99!"

7. TABLE: I spent a few days in the studio with Shaun this month to start refinishing and old table that I've "inherited." It had been painted a brown faux-woodgrain to cover up what I discovered was some pretty nasty water damage. But I've managed to sand it out, and even without the final stain I think the table looks pretty good, no?

8. I'M WITH COCO: I didn't actually join the "I'm with Coco" Facebook group, but trust me...I AM with Coco. What is NBC's problem?? I think they've really shot themselves in the foot with this decision. Conan's final words to the audience made me teary...I hope he gets a good deal with another station because I could never watch late night without him!

December

I'm a bit late with this post, but we moved into a new apartment January 1st, so between all the moving and settling in, I sorta forgot. But here goes!



1. CHRISTMAS VILLAGE: I was in Reading with Shaun and his family for Christmas this year, and one of the highlights was when Shaun's parents took us to Christmas Village. It's a very strange, kinda creepy, but ultimately charming farm set up with Christmas lights, character cut-outs and little houses with scenes inside. One of the last buildings holds a miniature train set town, which more than anything made me want to go back to Roadside America sometime.

2. COOKIE CUTTERS: Amongst other great gifts, Shaun's parents got me a set of cookie cutters in the shape of BUNNIES! With a little carrot! I can't wait to use them, but I've got to figure out a good cookie that won't crumble around the ears.

3. CHRISTMAS VILLAGE (part 2): Another sight from Christmas village; I think this sparkly M came from a sign that says "God Bless America," which I don't think has much to do with Christmas...but let's pretend it said "Melissa!" instead, k?

4. PEANUT BUTTER BLOSSOMS: It was Kati's birthday in December, so I made these cookies for her! And saved some for myself, duh. PS - The Lady Gaga song count at Kati's party was probably about 25, AND the Bad Romance music video somehow made an appearance!? Viva La Ga!

5. SNOW: Finally. After more than 6 years schooling/living in the Philadelphia area, we finally got a decent blizzard. I seriously love snow, so much that I don't even care if Philadelphia doesn't have its act together enough to plow any of the streets that I use, OR shovel any sidewalks. We would have been pretty much stuck inside all day, but our friend was in town with his trusty Subaru, so a bunch of us went on an adventure to sled on the art museum steps. I was skeptical that the sledding would be fun on concrete stairs, but there was enough snow that you couldn't feel the steps at all; it was a blast. (Oh, I've had this hat for awhile, but it was an integral part of sledding-day.)

6. ORNAMENTS: I don't have lots of disposable income at the moment, so Shaun and I decided to make presents for his family this year. I made everyone's initials out of Fimo clay, and attached little blue ornaments and candy canes with ribbon. I'm actually amazed at how well the letters turned out, especially the script-y ones; I should think of other applications for this...

7. MOVING BOXES: Like I mentioned earlier, we moved. So we've been up to our eyeballs in boxes...in fact, we STILL have boxes in our apartment, even though we're mostly settled in. I just posted some to craigslist, so cross your fingers that someone will take them!

8. FRIENDSGIVING: Shaun and I were invited to a Friendsgiving at our friend Nike's house this year. I'll have to admit, potlucks in our circle of friends tend to include cheap bread, dry store-bought cookies, and bizarre experimental concoctions—but this potluck was of a different variety. Everyone really brought great stuff, and the food was gourmet and delicious. I brought pumpkin bread pudding, and also assisted Nike in gravy-making, care of my mom's tried-and-true recipe. And also, we made handprint turkeys, and this one was mine. :)