Party at The New York Public Library, Save The Date!

I'm posting this a little early, becasue this time of year always gets so crazy busy for everybody! There is a rumor circulating that we will all be wearing bell bottoms.

1st Annual Brooklyn Pie Bake-Off Benefit

Leslie is my publicist over at STC. We have an understanding. If an event involves food or beer, It also involves me. As in, don't even bother calling me just put my name on the flyer.

Technically I gave up beer a few years ago because of a very awkward exchange between myself and a trainer at my former gym, which was one of those places where employees openly solicit potential one-on-one clients. "I can help you lose that baby weight!" he said enthusiastically. I didn't need to tell him that I have never actually had a baby, he realized it before I was even finished carefully arranging the look on my face. TC thought this was extremely funny, and the next time he bought one of those little kegs that everyone was so wild about last summer he referred to it as "Our Little Blessing". Since that day I only drink beer when its for a good cause, or when its much much too hot to drink wine. Or if I'm poolside. Which is why, long story short, I go to Brooklyn a lot. Every single promotional event that Leslie gets us involved in over there there seems to include Pabst Blue Ribbon or a local micro-brew, always for a worthy cause. Occasionally, there are bagels. Pizza is often delivered. I usually try to eat beforehand. BUT, not this coming Sunday, when I am honored to have been asked to be a JUDGE at the 1st Annual Brooklyn Pie Bake Off Benefit at Spacecraft and for one of my favorite charities: Bags For the People. Beer will be served. Pie will be judged. I will look like I am in my third trimester by the time they stuff me into the cab and send me back to Manhattan. Actually, I should demand a private car so that I can lie down on the ride back. I may stop eating on Friday in order to take full advantage. 

Take a look at the details, contest rules, and other specifics here, and I will see you there!

The Owl, The Pussycat, and The Great Big Bag of Coffee.

I have long loved Edward Lear's poem The Owl and The Pussycat. Apart from the mismatched lovers themselves, the most captivating element of the story in my mind has always been the items that the two packed as they set out for a strange new world: Honey, and a "great big bag of money". Something about that packing list feels so complete, so assuring, leading any reader to believe that their seemingly scandalous affair and subsequent elopement is something that we can all get behind with confidence that it will all work out for the best, cheering them on from the shores as they row away. I was a little skeptical about the guitar, having once survived a long cold 4th grade winter with a boyfriend of my mothers who also had a guitar on which he could play exactly ONE SONG. Over and over and over again. I would tell you which one it was but then it will be stuck playing in both of our minds all day. I hoped for the Pussycat's sake that the Owl's repertoire was more varied and that the guitar wasn't thrown in the boat at the last minute, with the Owls explanation being something like: "This will be the perfect opportunity to finally learn how to play this guitar", because Sister, I have BEEN there.  The honey and the money though? that seemed really promising to me. How wonderful would it be to only require what we could fit in the bottom of a pea green boat?

Anyway, I recently found myself developing some Owl and The Pussycat artwork for a client, and I really expected it to be a pretty easy task, since I already knew the characters quite well. The process was a lot more trying. My first sketch was a bit too sweet, But I did like the way Pussycat comes accross as being in charge of directions:

Something about this felt a little... un-relatable to me. I was trying to find a personal experience that might lend a bit of inspiration, and I was reminded of my father in law telling me about his youthful summers on Lake Michigan, which (he agreed with me on this) sound a whole lot like that Kid Rock video. And yes, this link will actually lead you to a Kid Rock video. My father in law and I have this in common: we are both, deep down, fans of canned beer and Kid Rock. So I took a moment and made him this sketch, which imagines the Owl and The Pussycat with an outboard motor and a sixer of tall boys.

I did another dozen sketches, none of which are worth showing anybody. They all looked a little forced, like I was trying to re-tell somebody else's story and I wasn't remembering the punch lines or as if I hadn't met the characters first-hand, and was getting very frustrated. This is when I did something for the first time in a very long time: I drank a cup of espresso in the mid-afternoon. And this is what I drew next.

Yes, the Pussycat is squeeze-guzzling honey straight from the bear. And the Owl is rocking out. I loved it, but it wasn't exactly a sustainable amount of energy for any of us. Our fearless duo would be out of honey and energy very soon at this rate and we would all be crashing and dismal before dusk. I needed to tone it down.

And still, I had lost something along the way that was making it hard to tell this story in the way that I remembered being able to see it as a child.

I decided to keep the honey bear though,  and managed to scratch out this slightly sugary version:

Which, in turn, led to the group below. I'm sorry I can't tell you what this is all for yet, but if all goes well you will be seeing them all again...

Spending a week with the Owl and The Pussycat has also led to another seemingly permanent development in my life. I'm now officially an afternoon coffee drinker. The addiction was instant, within a few days of my first mid-day cup I was crawling into the kitchen with a splitting headache a half hour after what my brain had already decided was Coffee Time. Oh, the anchor of dependency.

Maybe that's why I struggle to relate as well to The Owl and The Pussycat now as I did as a child, because with every convenience, every luxury, every habit that becomes a part of my life I know that I am further away from a ife that allows for spontaneous adventure, or at the very least saddled with a much longer packing list.

Maybe if I just stop accumulating things now, I can still manage it. I can see myself pushing off from that dock someday in my own pea green boat and rowing off to lands unknown, accompanied not just by a big bag of money and a squeeze top honey bear, but also a formidable amount of coffee beans, pre-ground. Its calming to imagine my tall, handsome percolator sitting across from me, gleaming with the promise of a productive afternoon. I hope he doesn't try to bring a guitar.

Denyse Schmidt Studio Sale and New Quilt patterns!

Denyse's studio, in sale mode

My dear and talented friend Denyse Schmidt is having her annual studio sale on November 14th in Bridgeport, CT at her gorgeous studio. Its worth the drive or the train ride if you are in day trip distance, if for no other reason than to meet Denyse and to see her workspace, which is in one of the old American Fabric Co.'s former factory buildings.

Denyse has a lot going on this month, with the launch of her newest fabric line, Hope Valley, as well as four new quilt patterns (below) shipping before the holidays. I especially love "Hills and Hollers", but look at that proverb quilt, which allows the maker to sew up any message spelled out in lovely Denyse-y blocks on full sized and baby quilts. Such a brilliant idea.

Oh, and there is also a very quiet but very exciting sale going on over at Denyse's website right now: a very small number of her quilts are 30% off for a limited time.

And here are those new quilt patterns, fresh off the press!

Its a Gross Thing (Or, Halloween for Grown-Ups)

Today I bring you excellent news. With 10 days left before Halloween, there is still time to order your Eyeball Jello Molds!

I've made these very realistic jello eyeballs and they are so much fun. My advice is that you should freeze them and drop them into icey martinis rather than arrange them on a platter, because even the politest of guests will not be able to bring themselves to pick them up and put them into their mouths. The best part is that when you drop them into a clear drink, the red veins (food coloring that you have expertly applied with the unwound edge of a Q-tip) sort of waft around like spooky swirling little drops of blood. Creepy and lovely. Especially beautiful in martini glasses but also very effective in shot glasses. Be warned: The oppportunites for punnish toasts are endless.

Order them here.

Oh, and if you are tempted to order the Jello Brains kit, don't. It will frighten people away from the buffet.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween, especially here in the Northeast.