7/9/11 to 7/17/11

Baby it's cold outside . . . and inside. My house is freezing. Thankfully the holiday spirit is keeping me warm. Arrow sleeping at my feet is also keeping me warm. 

6/30/11 to 7/8/11

So about a week ago, I got a call from Santa telling me that he has been recieving a lot of letter requests from people asking for more blog posts from me for Christmas. Seeing as how I love Christmas (and letters), I told Santa I would be happy to start posting again. 

Birthdays and Bell Book and Candle

I am awful at remembering people's birthdays. My dad recently had a birthday--which I barely remembered--and I made him this birthday card. The image is from the film Bell Book and Candle. I have never seen the whole movie, but it features the lovely Kim Novak as a witch and James Stewart as the man she bewitches. This painting was a bit rushed, and I could not get the eyes right. Oh well. That is what I get for not giving myself enough time. At least I got to stare at Kim Novak for a bit while she stared back at me. 
"Hasn't this cat got anything better to do? Couldn't you give him something to read?"--James Stewart's character, Shepherd "Shep" Henderson

6/12 to 6/20

Things that remind me of my fairy godmother (my grandmother Anne, my father's mother):
Ladybugs
Betty Boop
Royal purple
Mystery TV shows
Gypsy cold care tea
Anne of Green Gables


Things that remind me of my grandmother Mardy (my mother's mother):
Peanut butter and jelly 
Large barrettes
Clip-on earrings
Soap
Piles

Terrarium Magic

A couple of weeks ago the lifestyle group at my work went on a field trip to Workshop, a cool DIY craft workshop in SF, where we made beer cozies and terrariums. I know everyone is going on and on about terrariums, but when you make one, you do feel the magic. Now I have my own little magical glass jar world. And did I mention the deer? There is a deer! Awesome. 
(Don't judge the magic based on my crummy photo. That's why I spend time drawing and not taking pictures.) 
So I am thinking of starting to bike to work, but I am a nervous nellie, and the idea of biking in the city terrifies me. Riding next to cars scares me; riding next to other bikers scares me; me on a bike scares me; you scare me; Anne Hathaway scares me. The only thing that doesn't scare me is terrariums--unless there is a mini zombie in the terrarium--a mini zombie in a terrarium scares me.

6/4/11 to 6/12/11

I need to have more conversations with kids. When else do you seriously get to discuss buried treasure, mermaids, and gnomes? More conversations about pirates please; less conversations about deadlines and whether a word should be capped or not. 
Things I liked to draw as a kid:
Dolphins jumping through hoops
Asian women in restaurants
Mermaids
Paper dolls
Cows hanging out in pastures
Elephants with carriages on their backs 

5/26/11 to 6/2/11

Current things that I fancy:

Fashion: This dress worn by Marion Cotillard in Midnight in Paris

Songs: Stardust sung by Nat King Cole (Stardust 4 eva) and Fantasy by Mariah Carey

Drinks: Pimm's Cup or a Chi Chi

Films: Rebecca and Midnight in Paris

Sayings: Gee wilikers

Cuteness: Socks for my chair

5/16/11 to 5/26/11

Sharing is caring and I'm a Claire Bear, so today I am going to share two things with you: One, I'm a robot; two, I'm gay for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Okay, both of those things are false (except the gay for Buffy thing), but I do have two other things to share.

I recently submitted a post on the Chronicle Books blog titled Do You Have Post-Potter Depression? It is all about how to overcome the depression that comes with the knowledge that there is no more Harry Potter to look forward to (cue desperate sobbing).

My brother started a daily picture diary blog called 1 per Day. He is traveling for three weeks, so he probably won't be adding new content for a while, but you should check it out.

And that is my sharing for the day. I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time.

5/8/11 to 5/16/11

4/29/11 to 5/7/11

Things I have been up to:

Trip to Seattle (Some things to note from the Seattle trip: Lydia, the gnome who lives in Doe's purse; the church "You either have to join them or you want to kill them."; moldy tent; Keala skying Miranda; Oompa Loompa; yummy food; sultan of cock block; hanging with my ladies)

Midnight show of Harry Potter (so awesome, but my heart feels a little lost without Harry)

Picking out paint for my bedroom

Avoiding working out

Drinking a milkshake from St. Francis

Skirt of Arms

In honor of the skirts alumni team that I am going to play with at the end of June/beginning of July, I created a coat of arms, or as I like to call it, a skirt of arms.

Here is the key to decoding the skirt of arms, from bottom to top:

Ardens Desiderio means Burning Desire in Latin (or at least I hope it does) because skirts have got "the juice, the fire, the burning desire."

Flames obviously refer to the burning and also represent zealousness.

The arrow in the center of the shield represents readiness for battle.

The B and S are for Burning Skirts.

The heart represents skirt love.

The snake represents wisdom, but more importantly is a reference to the brilliant movie Stomp the Yard, which the skirts refer to for both battle and dancing tips (the film is so multi dimensional).

The ladies are representations of the strong and sexy skirts of the past, present, and future. They wear the skirts uniform, including the "DOM" headbands. DOM=dominate. The ladies get there pose from, can you guess?, Stomp the Yard. (Wow, that film offers so much. What else can we learn from it? We can learn that a ripped man with his shirt off on a lawn mower=sexiest ride ever.)

Between their hands rests a circle with wings. This circle represents a disc, a snitch, a ring (a la Lord of the rings), and a monocle.

The wings on the disc also are in honor of Billy Bob Batman. (OK I made that up, but he had to be mentioned. He threatened to eat my first born if I did not give him a shout out.)

And there you have it. If you are now asking yourself, "so your whole damn basis for this coat of arms is based on a stupid dance movie?" I would like to respond by saying "yes, and skirtie love." Here are some inspirational quotes from the oh-so-wonderful Stomp the Yard:

Sylvester: Payback's a bitch, ain't it?
Zeke: I'll see you at Nationals.
Sylvester: Yes you will.

Duron: It's not just about you. It's about us, we're a team.
DJ: Well then this team' bout to double up on their asses!

We rep'n skirts, skirts, skirts. We rep'n skirts, skirts, skirts. We repin ooo, ooo, ooo, BOOM!

4/21/11 to 4/28/11

Another year, another cool camp. I can't wait for:

Waterfalls

Reading

Falling asleep under the stars

Looking for shooting stars with little Claire

Hanging with my cool camp family

Having Alden cook all my meals for me (muhaha)

Listening to Emilia talk about how much she loves Ronald Weasley

Cards

Eating watermelon on a hot day

4/12/11 to 4/19/11

I have an awesome elephant necklace. I named my elephant Celeste after Babar's wife and also after a sweet lady I knew who died too young. Tonight I was reminiscing about her while I went through an old box my mother had found in her garage. Shortly after telling my mother about her, I pulled out a picture of her. This is probably the only picture I have of Celeste, and it sat there forgotten in a box, on a night I happened to talk about her. Seemed like weird serendipity.

In loving memory of Celeste, gone but not forgotten. Aloha.

4/3/11 to 4/11/11

The girl in this photo is my old principle. As you may have noticed, I like to paint pictures from film stills. For Christmas one year, my brother gave me a book of Hollywood photographs. In it was this picture of Dana Andrews with his family. And there was Susan, sitting on the stairs getting her hair pulled. How strange to have a part of your past present itself to you in such an unexpected way. Dana Andrews is in Laura, one of my all time favorite film noir movies.

Lyrics from the song Laura:

Laura is the face in the misty light
Footsteps that you hear down the hall
The LAUGH that floats on a summer night
That you can never quite recall
And you see Laura on a train that is passing through
Those eyes how familiar they seem
She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura but she's only a dream

3/25/11 to 4/2/11

I saw a dear old friend I had not seen in two years last night. We had a yummy dinner, played writey drawey, and chatted it up. Hats off and drinks up to old friends (since I'm too old, shy, and cranky to make new ones).

3/16/11 to 3/24/11

I went to the dentist today and had my teeth cleaned by a woman named Queenie. What a great name. She told me she was getting married soon. In my imagination her soon-to-be husband is named Kingey or Kingsley. Some of the unique names of people I know:

Teiwaz

Castle

Alden

Zanna

Teja

Pepper Ann (Okay, I don't know a Pepper Ann, but I do know a girl who might as well be Pepper Ann, who goes by the nickname Chaco)

When I was growing up, I fantasized about having a son and naming him Tuppence the lovable chimney sweep.

1/9/05 to 1/16/05

Here is another old entry. This one is from January 2005--the days of skirts/ultimate Frisbee, college, Santa Barbara, sleeping in late, and part-time jobs. It is crazy to realize how long I have been doing the daily drawing entries (although it has been on and off throughout the years). I started looking at my old journals to find out when I started it; 2004 is the magical year. The old entries are pretty funny. It is interesting to see how my drawing style has evolved and to see what in my life has changed and what has stayed the same. I think I may start posting more of my old ones, interspersed with the new ones.
Changed:
My life does not revolve around ultimate Frisbee
Alden has long brown hair instead of short blond hair

Stayed the same:
Mike Brown
UCSB sweatpants
Sore shoulders

A Monkey, Alligator, and Bird

Cadbury Caramel eggs are the bomb diggity.

3/7/11 to 3/15/11

So my journal and I took a little break between November 2010 and March 2011, but we are now going strong. I haven't missed a day since 3/7, and I intend on being faithful, even if Timothy Olyphant knocks on my door. Okay . . . that is a lie. All bets are off if Timothy Olyphant shows up.

Conversation Mike and I just had:

"You look pretty with your earrings and hair like that."

"Yeah, it was a cute day for me."

In case you were wondering, I was the one complimenting Mike on his earrings and hair.

So long Elizabeth Taylor . . .

So long Elizabeth Taylor. May your afterlife be littered with diamonds.

"The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues."
--Elizabeth Taylor

"It is strange that the years teach us patience; that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting."
--Elizabeth Taylor

11/18/11 to 11/26/11 larger version

Here is a larger version for those of you who actually read the journal entries and don't want to use a magnifying glass.

11/18/11 to 11/26/11

When I get really stressed out or am trying to distract myself from a memory I find unpleasant and/or embarrassing, I start talking to myself. Often times I mumble distracting questions and proclaim things like "NO" and "It's okay" out loud and to myself. Today I was appalled to find out that, if distressed enough, I also mumble these things while people are present. Not good. Nice defence mechanism. Way to make a bad situation worse. Oh well.

This entry was made during my birthday. My wonderful birthday. In case you were wondering what's so great about my particular birthday, let me tell you, it's because it's my birthday, and Harry Potter movies often come out on my birthday.

28 is a good age. You already have 26 and 27 under your belt---the years where it hits home that you are leaving that golden age of working out without stretching, no wrinkles or gray hairs, and an awesome metabolism. By 28 you have come to except those terms and are just happy to be in your twenties. It is kind of a content, settling age where exciting things still feel possible. Stay classy, 28. Peace out.

Everything Is Going to Be OK

This is the beautiful book cover of a recently published book at Chronicle Books.
5 reasons to check out this book:
1. I have two pieces of artwork in it.
2. It's upbeat and positive, so you can give it to your happy friends or bunny rabbits.
3. It's upbeat and positive, so you can give it to your cynical, depressed friends to piss them off.
4. The cover is super sexy.
5. I'm super sexy.

As Linus would say, "Those are good reasons." It is currently selling at Urban Outfitters and you can buy it on Amazon. Let me know if you are interested in getting a free poster of the cover art as there are currently some available. I have the poster hanging at my desk, and when I get really stressed out, I stare at it for hours, until I realize it is 4 in the morning, and I should go home to bed.

Another old entry

This entry consists of: a letter from a cool lady named Teja; cut up art noveau–style paper from Caro; Karate poses from an envelope Teja sent; and drawings of two girls based on photos of children in England during WWII. This entry was made in September 2006.

I wanted a bird as a child. My friend had two lovebirds but then one died. I liked to play with the remaining bird, but one time, when I was holding the it, the bird walked up my arm with a devilish gleam in its eye and started biting my ear. I got it back on my hand, but it started biting my finger. I started shaking my hand in panic, and the bird was thrown across the room. Undeterred, the bird started toward me with the same look in its eyes; it was out to get me. I haven't really wanted a bird since. (Plus, it seems sad to be given the gift of flight, only to be locked up in a cage with your wings clipped.)

11/10/10 to 11/17/10

Along with rereading the Harry Potter books, I am currently rereading The Witches by Roald Dahl. When you mention Roald Dahl to most adults, they smile fondly and reminisce about which books they read as children. His were the first books I read all by myself, and they helped to spark my love for reading. His humor and storytelling are so engaging that his books still resonate with me as an adult reader. Here is a response he gave in an interview regarding what it is like to write a book:

When you’re writing it’s rather like going on a very long walk, across valleys and mountains and things, and you get the first view of what you see and you write it down. Then you walk a bit further, maybe up on to the top of a hill, and you see something else, then you write that and you go on like that, day after day, getting different views of the same landscape. The highest mountain on the walk is obviously the end of the book because it’s got to be the best view of all, when everything comes together and you can look back and see everything you’ve done all ties up. But it’s a very, very long slow process.

The house of Carl and Karin Larsson

Here is a drawing of the wonderfully inspiring home of Carl and Karin Larsson. If you don't know who they are—and you like watercolors—look them up.

Since I am currently rereading all of the Harry Potter books (I just finished Order of the Phoenix), my quote of the day is from J. K. Rowling. I have this quote hanging up at my desk next to a picture of a baby dressed up as harry potter, broom and all. SULTAN OF HARRY POTTER!!!

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.

— J. K. Rowling

10/18/10 to 10/26/10

Remember last year when the Giants were surprising everyone by first, making it to the playoffs, and second, winning it all? I know I do, and so does every San Franciscan. Here is a journal page from October when all anybody could think about were the Giants. There was the time I pulled Nicole into the Giants frenzy while we watched the game and drank margaritas at Tres. There was the other time when I was at an Alexander McCall Smith book reading event and someone interrupted his talk and told the crowd the Giants were up in the final inning and the crowd cheered. And then there was the time I saw Jonathan Sanchez in Safeway, and I swooned a bit. Good times were had by all, except Eric Dahlke. The new season is about to begin, and while a repeat performance would be too much to ask for, it doesn't stop me from throwing out a "Go Giants" even though I don't really care.

Oils pastels, memories, and footloose (and my realization that everything really does link back to Kevin Bacon)

A friend recently asked to see my old journals, so I got them out. I realized I had not posted any work from past journals in a long time, so I thought it was about time. This is the only drawing I have ever made using oil pastels. I kind of like it. I like how objects, drawings, and photos can bring you back to a partly forgotten moment in time.

I lived with three boys in Santa Barbara when I drew this. There was rat king, who never left his room; Teiwaz, the crazy monkey man who liked to twirl his hair; and my boyfriend, Mr. Brown Town. Teiwaz and I were having a lazy day at home--folding laundry and watching a miniseries. Teiwaz got out his oil pastels and started to draw, not caring if he drew off the page all over my coffee table. I could never resist a drawing party, so I joined him. I liked the colors and how you could smear every line.

I guess I should use them again sometime. Teiwaz, want to bring over your wolf and draw sometime? Then we can invite Alden over, have a dance party, and listen to footloose. Awesoma power.

10/9/10 to 10/17/10

I haven't left the states in quite a while, so lately I have been fantasizing about traveling far far away. In no particular order, here is a list of some of the places I would like to go.

Australia

Spain

Switzerland

Germany

Austria

Sweden

Ireland

There is also a lot to see in the states, and I have a couple of places closer to home that I would like to go to.

Grand Canyon

Maine

Chicago

Ashland

Petaluma

9/30/10 to 10/8/10

Last night I had the house to myself, and it rocked my world. OK . . . it didn't exactly rock my world; it more like cuddled my world. I listened to Harry Potter while cooking dinner, doing dishes, and making chocolate chip cookies. (And by making chocolate chip cookies, I mean making cookie dough, because let's face it--that's why I make chocolate chip cookies.)

Books I read, Jan. 2010 to Jan. 2011

Here are the book covers of the books I read from Jan. 2010 to Jan. 2011.

The trends: young adult novels, women authors, women heroines, Alexander McCall Smith, and James Bond. As seven-year-old Bella would say, "That's typical."

Books I reread: Jane Eyre, Persuasion, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I read Jane Eyre for the first time in middle school, and it started my love for books written in the 1800s by women authors. Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel. I am currently rereading the whole Harry Potter series, while also rewatching all of the movies and knitting a gryffindor scarf. DORK ALERT!

Most disturbing book I read: Sorry Girl with a Dragon Tattoo andUnlovable, but The Road won by a long shot; it wasn't even close.

Favorite novel couples from this selection: Katniss and Peeta, Jane and Mr. Rochester, Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth, Molly Gibson and Roger

Ultimate novel couple: ...this is kind of hard...but not really...but wait it is...my gut tells me it is Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth, but my childhood won't let me forget Jane and Mr. Rochester...I'm going with my gut; Anne and Wentworth are the winners.

Let me know if you have any book recommendations for the New Year. Did you have a favorite book you read in 2010?