A Holiday of Feasting

This year I chose to make things simple by staying in town for Christmas.

Now while most Jews are (according to a short audio-story by Andrew) screaming at the clock, hurling books at the wall, and breaking their TVs in impatience for this dreadful holiday to end, I decided to bake.

Things started out nicely with Conjoined Baby Jesus sugar cookies, decorated with the conjoined efforts of Lizzy, Andrew, Celia, and myself.






Then yesterday I made a delicious butternut squash with ground turkey (I still have the other half! ah, what to do with it?!)

Today I started early by making oatmeal blueberry pancakes.

Then I threw bread ingredients (cheese garlic herb) into the machine. It just now beeped. Those 3 hours really do drag on!

And then I made some soup with a lot of the F2F produce: carrot, sweet potato, ginger, and beet! I am always nervous when it comes to beets, but this is actually delicious!

And finally, a frittata, which I have never made before. Not bad!

And tomorrow I will bake an apple pie, and who knows what else!

I hope everyone is eating as well as I am, and if you aren't, come help me eat all this goddamn food!

*Edit. A continuation of this bless-ed holiday, a Snow Day has befallen the people. I indeed baked that apple pie, as well as pumpkin scones that were a failure, but then last night I made up for it with pumpkin cup pies!


What else can I bake today?!

Solstice

The Winter Solstice coincided with a lunar eclipse yesterday morning. I should have stayed up. I should have called out of work. But I didn't. I was really sad to have missed it, but a lot of good people posted photos and videos on facebook. And I knew it happened, so I suppose that was enough for me.


I've been participating in some studies for monies. The past two were mood studies, at The Monell Chemical Senses Center and Penn. Penn was much more enjoyable than the Monell, but the Monell was much more interesting, to say the least.

Also, now that the CSA is over, Lizzy, M.E., and I have been utilizing the Farm to Families program, which is a pilot program to get fresh local produce to low-income families in the Kensington area. So far its great! I pay $5 and they split the rest. I get all the meat (so far ground turkey!) and half the eggs and then we split the rest of the produce. Thursday pickups, so, tomorrow!

The other day my friend Erika calls to ask if I have time to do a quick photoshop project for her parents' company, Interprative Solutions. I had done a small photoshoot for them before, and of course I said no problem. I did it in two hours last night, so, thanks Erika, for $30!

I even finished that commission for that couple. They picked it up on Saturday. I forgot to take a good photo of it though! But they loved it and were very happy. Lots of money rolling in these days. Much different from last December.



Kayla came to visit last week. We went to the Wagner Institute of Science which was AWESOME. It's just like the Mutter museum, but its Natural Science specimens. We were there for 2.5 hours, and it was free. I love Kayla because she is so smart and wonderful!
She even made me this lamp shade because the bulb is so bright!


December is pretty cold, but my apartment is warm, and we even got a little snow.

Oh how I love the snow.




Today I cleaned out the hallway (and Ian is coming next week to get some more stuff)

I checked on the building's worm bin (I have my own in my kitchen). Its doing really well, but there were all these squash sprouts!! And because I'm me, I couldn't just break them all and shove them back down... I had to pot them. They'll probably die anyway, but I will love them until they do.
Oh the magical world of the worm bin.

Tonight? Conjoined Baby Jesus Sugar/Gingerbread Cookies! Stop on by!

Thanksgiving and a Day in NYC again

Another couple of busy weeks!

Thanksgiving was spent in Columbus Ohio this year, with Celia's parents and brother Josh, his wife Claire, her parents, and her sister. The food was delicious and Celia's friends are wonderful! What more could you want?


I flew home on Friday and was back at work Saturday. Monday was Yoga again, and then Tuesday Mom came for dinner and to gift me some things. I bought her a necklace fitting the description "funky" and she liked it! Glory be!

Wednesday morning I got up and went to NYC and met Erin there! She was in town because she participated in a fundraiser show for Hamilton Alumni. It was in the same building as the Gogosian show with John Currin. While we were in the city we managed to see the MOMA,


Double O, by Zilvinas Kempinas



Gordon Matta-Clark

Yoko Ono


the Whitney (sorry, no photos, but they did have the same Charles LeDray show I had seen at the ICA in Boston. It was lovely to see those tiny pots again!), and some galleries on West 24th st including the Gogosian Gallery there with Anselm Kiefer. Amazing.

Got back from NYC and then worked on the commission for a while, followed by Puppet Uprising's Year End Cabaret! Both Friday and Saturday nights! What an awesome couple of weeks.


But now it's cold outside. And it's just harder to feel the sun on your skin through so many layers.

Alice

Also, I have to give Celia credit for finding this guy Pogo, but Andrew did show me this.



Enjoy!

Social Survival

Been very social this weekend. Nick (old Mutter coworker) stayed with me so that he could talk to Penn about grad programs. We went to Toby's Weekly Revue which was med-student themed.

Saturday Zac took me to a housewarming party for his friend ShawnElise and met wonderful folks there, including Zac's exroommate Chad and his girlfriend Audrey, both of whom were delightful.

Last night Eli and Celia helped me move some huge roots into the studio. I have great plans for them, so if anyone has [a shit ton] of white yarn I can have, please let me know! Then Eli and I went to Dave's for cookies and bonfire with some other good folks. They have the most lovely backyard.

And the weather has been awesome. (Especially compared to last year, sitting outside at ESP all fall).

Tomorrow I leave for Columbus, Ohio for Thanksgiving with Celia and her family and her brother's wife's family. Will I survive? ...Will they? Tune in next time!

Worm Bin for the House

It is November 17 and it is finally Autumn.

Thanksgiving is next week. In Columbus.

Yesterday I started working on this commission for a lovely couple in Baltimore. They drove up a few weeks ago so I could take the reference photos, and they turned out wonderfully. The painting is going super super well (don't jinx it, Jen!) and today was day 2 working on it.

I came home for dinner and was feeling so productive that I tore the worm bin apart. In a good way. I promised the building a worm bin and issue after issue have come up to prevent it. Finally I said that I would have my own worm bin, so that I could monitor what goes into it, how often, how much, where in the bin... how warm, how cold, how wet, how dry... And now, three months later, I can officially call myself a Vermiculturist. I can now identify all the good guys from this article, and none of the bad (don't jinx it, Jen!). For the past few weeks I have been keeping all the food to one side of the bin, so that the worms leave the other side of the bin, and I an empty it of castings. Too much castings is bad for them! So then I realized, well, this is a great time to start the other bin (because let's face it, I'm too protective of my worms to give them up to the fates of strange food matter). So I ran across the street to Circle Thrift, and kindly asked the beautiful blonde boy if they had any plastic bins with lids I could buy. After 5 minutes he came back with a perfect blue one. What a wonderful store.


So, how do you separate out worms from dirt, you ask? Well, you use their hatred of light against them! pile the dirt into a mountain, and shine a light. The worms will burrow, and just scrape off the top layers. It takes a few rounds of remolding the mountain and scraping off dirt, letting the light encourage them deeper and deeper into the mound. So, I now have a wonderful bag of dirt. I will give it to Gert for her flower bed!



I apologize if this is too much for you guys. But think of how much you've learned! I will try to keep my worm excitement to a minimum from now on.


Hans sneakily trying to play with his tiny wriggly brothers.

And last night I made french onion soup in my new soup pot!

I had a little of it last night, but it is MUCH better today, sitting in its own delicious juices overnight. With bread from whole foods, and 4cheese blend from trader joe's, what more could you want?

A head of lettuce that is now a pet and not food, perhaps? Well, I've got that too.

So That They Don't Freeze

I finally transplanted my herbs indoors. I ran out of pots, and they are currently residing in my bedrisers (I took my bed down off them a few months ago, but eventually I might want them again!)
I offered via facebook to give away the doubles (oregano, marjoram, parsley, catnip) and my friend Kolleen once again accused me of being a hippie. Listen folks, don't be fooled: just because I sometimes plant a whole head of lettuce at 1 in the morning because I can't bare to eat things that can continue to grow... JUST because I have a goddamn worm bin... JUST because I learned to bike in a city and refuse to use air conditioning except in the most extreme of temperatures... Shit. Maybe Kolleen's got something there.

Anyway, lots of good stuff going on these days: I feel really good about my art lately, and I'm in the process of winterizing the studio. Found some plastic at Lowes, but I might end up getting some better stuff through my wonderful uncle, if he ever emails me the link so I can see what he's talking about...

I'm about to start the commission, the couple responded today with their favorite image. And Amanda recommended the printshop at UPenn, and I think that's exactly where I'll go!

First Friday was lovely last week. I took Jessica and Christiane to the galleries on Frankford Ave, and we even stopped by the BYO printshop to discuss using the space. I am all set. Just need to get some copper plates and get started!
Then we ran to Old City for the Painted Bride's First Person show, that Mutter-cohort Megan has been working on for months. It was pretty good! Then Dave had some gloves for sale at Art in the Age. Every time I turn around, this guy has some new connections coming through for him, including this awesome article.

And last night was another show: Tyler Scaife, another Basho slave, has a show at the Random Tea Room. I brought Jess and Christiane again, as well as their roommate Erin, and Kelsey who also went to MICA and is visiting for the week. It was a nice turnout. Not TOO many people, but the space is very small. The show is of the Wet-Plate Collodion pieces he's been working on. This is one off his website, even smaller than the image on your screen.

Tyler is really an inspiration to me, whether or not he believes it. (Sidenote, my hands are featured as two of the 26 in the show, selling for $35, so if you want to own my hands, go and get them, if you can figure out which ones are mine...)

Tonight is movie night with Jess and Christiane. Last week we watched The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which I enjoyed a thousand times more than I expected to. I mean, Wes Anderson, of course! I also really enjoyed The Ballad of Jack and Rose. And I also enjoyed Agora, but mostly because it was beautiful: Rachel Weisz is stunning as usual, but mostly it was every Alma Tadema painting ever.

Celia and I even went to Yoga on Monday! At the Kensington studio. We liked it enough to agree that going back is a good idea. Pretending to be healthy for $5 is a pretty good deal.

Yesterday was the last CSA day of the year. How heartbreaking! But Celia took me to IKEA and I bought a big soup pot so this winter will be sponsored by root veggies and lentils!

And today I'm covering for Sandy in the store. Time to use the booklight I bought on Amazon. It has been helping, in that I can actually see the words on the page of the book. Maybe its my fault for buying a 600 page book with dark pages and tiny words. But The Mandarins is just so good! (I can't wait to be done with it!)

November and Some Breathing Room

November. I breathe a sigh of joy, another of relaxation, and another which is more like a gasp for the warmth of summer.

Ghost Tours are officially winding down. I have only one scheduled for November (at my request... no more cold for me than necessary. And I should really be using any nice days in the studio while I can before the weather and I get miserable at each other.)

Riding my bike has been fantastic. This past week as been sort of like a race to the finish line. Halloween, of course. I do SO love having a deadline. I never do anything without a deadline. Today I made a list of all the things I need to do soon, and gave them each a deadline. A bunch of them are getting done this week. Hooray deadlines!

I knew things were winding down when I was able to have coffee with Celia at the Rocket Cat last week. It was a beautiful day. Maybe the last beautiful day for months. I loved it, and mourned it at the same time, as I do with so many things.

Dave joined us for a bit, and introduced us to Slim, who usually doesn't have soot on her nose.

Then, this magical flower burst into a fairy and we followed it to the moon.

We came back though, because Celia forgot her water, and I had to work on my Halloween costume.

Where were my turnips?!
Prepping in the studio.

Garvin and Eli and me waiting for the bus (picked us up at a top secret location, to bring us to an even more top secret location for the epic PEX party!)

(Keeping my eyes real wide gives illusion of being more cartoonie. You see it, right?)

Garvin volunteered for PEX so got to hang some of his work in the first floor gallery space!




And if that's not enough pictures for you, here's some more!
And we dressed up at work on Sunday.


Megan (dead drummer boy), Me, Marie (Super Umlaut Girl!), and Sandy (Sonic the Hedgehog)

I sold one of my hair paintings that day: I have large ones for $55 and small ones for $40. I sold a $55 one, and I get 65% of that in January. Very cool, I gotta keep em coming though!
I even have a commission! This lovely couple is driving up from Baltimore on Friday so I can take the pictures. Pretty exciting!

Friday is First Friday, and my first First Friday in MONTHS. Very excited! I've been really happy being social lately. I want more and more and more of it.

Every winter for as long as I can remember, I think of it as a time for renewal. I imagine a part of myself dying, the part of myself that has grown too warm, or too attached to things, people, places. The winter cools me down, and I grow numb to those things, but I know that they will return to me again. The winter is something I really need, I just wish it weren't so long.

The jade is all dead. It tricked me! It looked so thirsty, so I watered it just a little bit, and just a little bit, and just a little bit. DEAD. But some buds survived, and I'm nursing them (or leaving the fuck alone) back to health, and they are looking quite lovely.