7/31/12 to 8/5/12

Quote of the day from While We're Young:
Josh: For the first time in my life, I've stopped thinking of myself as a child imitating an adult.
Cornelia: You feel that way too? 

7/21/12 to 7/28/12

What's going on with the two blank boxes? 
The cool answer: I used invisible ink in the blank boxes, since I was going through a spy phase.
The truthful answer: The cool answer was the truthful answer!
The real truthful answer:  . . . You caught me. I never drew pictures for those days. 

Quote of the day:

“Writing is a job, a talent, but it's also the place to go in your head. It is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon.”
―Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty

7/13/12 to 7/16/12

This quote goes out to my Sissy Watkins and all kindred spirits. 

Quote of the day:

“Whenever I saw her, I felt like I had been living in another country, doing moderately well in another language, and then she showed up speaking English and suddenly I could speak with all the complexity and nuance that I hadn't realized was gone. With Lucy I was a native speaker.”
―Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty 

7/5/12 to 7/12/12

I'm back! I apologize for the disappearance--all I can tell you is that it had something to do with unicorns, an elf, some green beans, and Beyonce. Beyond that, I can say no more.

Quote of the day:
"Tidying is just a tool, not the final destination. The true goal should be to establish the lifestyle you want most once your house has been put in order." --Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

6/27/12 to 7/4/12

Quote of the day:
You just never know when you're living in a golden age. --Alexander Payne

6/19/12 to 6/26/12

Alden: And then I can make mini ice-cream sandwiches.

Claire: Why would you make MINI ice-cream sandwiches?!

6/6/12 to 6/18/12

Quote of the day:
“I choose you over everyone.” 
―Rainbow Rowell, Fangirl

Original Journal Cover

This is the cover of my very first journal. 

Quote of the day from Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life From Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed:

What do you do when you don't know what to do about something?

I talk to Mr. Sugar and my friends. I make lists. I attempt to analyze the situation from the perspective of my "best self"--the one that's generous, reasonable, forgiving, loving, bighearted, and grateful. I think really hard about what I'll wish I did a year from now. I map out the consequences of the various actions I could take. I ask what my motivations are, what my desires are, what my fears are, what I have to lose, and what I have to gain. I move toward the light, even if it's a hard direction in which to move. I trust myself. I keep the faith. I mess up sometimes. 

5/30/12 to 6/5/12

House Stark motto:
"Winter is coming."

House Fletcher motto:
"Christmas is coming."

5/22/12 to 5/29/12

Quote of the day from I Heart Huckabees:

Albert Markovski: I'm talking about not covering every square inch with houses and strip malls until you can't remember what happens when you stand in a meadow at dusk.

Bret: What happens in the meadow at dusk?

Albert: Everything!

Mrs. Hooten: Nothing!

Albert: Everything.

Mrs. Hooten: Nothing!

Albert: Everything!

Mrs. Hooten: Nothing!

Albert: It's beautiful.

Tommy Corn: It's beautiful.

From the archives: bodybuilder with a ballerina head

Shout-out to Kirk, since the women's head and bodybuilder came from a zine he made. (Kirk is the winner of sending me one of the most memorable letters I ever received.) Photo of tree was found at Scrap.

I just watched the movie Stories We Tell, which I highly recommend. The movie opens with the following quote.

Quote of the day:
"When you are in the middle of a story it isn't a story at all, but only a confusion. . . . It's only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all. When you're telling it, to yourself or to someone else." --from Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

5/14/12 to 5/21/12

Quote of the day:
Mike: You're a slut for sleep. 
Claire: Yeah . . .

5/6/12 to 5/13/12

Quote of the Day from The Newsroom:
Will: Yeah, I get that there are moments, small moments, infrequent moments, where I'm not the easiest guy to work with, but who the hell is?
Charlie: I am.
Will: Well, it helps that you're drunk most of the time.
Charlie: It certainly does. 

4/29/12 to 5/5/12

Quote of the day:
"Let's shag ass." --Royal from The Royal Tenenbaums

4/21/12 to 4/28/12

You may have noticed that this entry jumps forward two months from the last entry I shared. That's because I'm a time traveler. I was visiting the renaissance age. . . . It was okay―a little overrated. 

Quote of the day: 
“Discipline isn't a dirty word. Far from it. Discipline is the one thing that separates us from chaos and anarchy. Discipline implies timing. It's the precursor to good behavior, and it never comes from bad behavior. People who associate discipline with punishment are wrong: with discipline, punishment is unnecessary.” 
―Buck Brannaman, The Faraway Horses

2/1/12 to 2/3/12, 2/5/12, and 2/13/12

Quote of the day:
"There is such a place as fairyland―but only children can find the way to it. And they do not know that it is fairyland until they have grown so old that they forget the way. One bitter day, when they seek it and cannot find it, they realize what they have lost; and that is the tragedy of life. On that day the gates of Eden are shut behind them and the age of gold is over. Henceforth they must dwell in the common light of common day. Only a few, who remain children at heart, can ever find that fair, lost path again; and blessed are they above mortals. They, and only they, can bring us tidings from that dear country where we once sojourned and from which we must evermore be exiles. The world calls them its singers and poets and artists and story-tellers; but they are just people who have never forgotten the way to fairyland."
―L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl 

1/23/12 to 1/31/12

Quote of the day from The Office:
Holly: Michael, you cried at that tagline for a movie you made up.
Michael: He had no arms or legs. He couldn't see, hear, or speak. This is how he led a nation.

1/14/12 to 1/22/12

Quote of the day:
“There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it.” ―Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? 

12/31, 1/1, 1/4/12 to 1/13/12

12/9, 12/10, 12/12, 12/25, and 12/26/11

11/21, 11/22, 11/24, and 11/29/11

And so it begins. More entries. With days missing. Because I was lazy and took a lot of days off randomly.

Book recommendation: Eleanor & Park

Quote of the day: 
"I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do."--Roald Dahl

From the Archives: Frankie

“To say I’m an overrated troll, when you have never even seen me guard a bridge, is patently unfair.” 
―Tina Fey, Bossypants

From the Archives: Slips and a Door

Don't you want to know where the doors lead? They do lead somewhere, but you have to physically open them to find out . I'll give you one clue: they lead to . . . magic (but not of the unicorn or new shirt variety).

Things in my life: giant hole in my house, oranges, a pile of books, untied shoes, a mopped floor, and homemade granola.

Quote of the Day from The West Wing:
Sam: I'm just going to change my shirt.
Leo: You look bad. You're tired. You slept in the office. It's Friday. Go home.
Sam: Why?
Leo: Because I think you're putting too much faith in the magical powers of a new shirt.

From the Archives: Shining Girls

This is from my 2003 to 2005 journal and is the first piece I made inspired by The Shining (see an earlier post with another shining painting here). I stopped watching scary movies, but I think I need to make an exception and watch this one again. It has been too long. A friend also reminded me today that I need to watch Fear. What a great and classy double bill. Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Peanut butter and jelly, The Shining and Fear. 

11/12/11 to 11/20/11

Currently reading: The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds by Alexander McCall Smith

Currently watching: The West Wing

Currently listening to: 1999 by Prince 

Quote of the day:
"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."
--Mark Twain

Red Balloon 3

Currently reading: 
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater


“Their very imagination was dead. When you can say that of a man he has struck bottom ... there is no lower deep for him.” 
― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 

11/3/11 to 11/11/11

Claire: What should I write in my blog post?
Mike: That you love Mike Brown, and you don't care who knows it.
Claire: No. 

10/25/11 to 11/2/11

Sorry Ben. This entry does not include a drawing about the everlasting love story between Mike and Arrow. However, it does include a cameo from "the world's cutest dog": Boo (a.k.a Mr. big head).

Quote of the day from Army of Darkness:
Arthur: Are all men from the future loud-mouthed braggarts? 
Ash (Bruce Campbell): Nope. Just me baby... Just me.

Postcards and a pinch of Buffy

While I grew up, I collected postcards of artwork I liked from museum visits. One of my favorite postcards was of a disproportionate girl in a red dress holding a cat. In college I wanted to start making ink drawings where I made no initial sketch, so I was forced to live with all of my mistakes. I started this experiment by copying the artwork from my postcard collection. Does anyone recognize this piece? I can't remember who it is by, and I can't find the old postcard with the art information.

To find out about what I have been reading check out this Chronicle blog post.

Quote of the day:
"I laugh in the face of danger! Then I ... hide until it goes away."
--Xander from season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Moonrise Kingdom still

I'm watching you . . . 
Most of the time if someone was watching me with binoculars I would be pretty creeped out; but if that someone was standing on an adorable lighthouse in a cute dress with knee high socks, I would probably just be flattered that such a pretty scene thought I was worthy of being watched. 
This is a watercolor of a still from the awesome film Moonrise Kingdom. Yay Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola!

From Moonrise Kingdom:
Sam: It's possible I may wet the bed by the way. Later, I mean. 
Suzy: Okay. 
Sam I wish I didn't have to mention it but just in case. I don't want to make you be offended. 
Suzy: Of course, I won't. 

Allen and Anne, my grandparents

I'm lucky that I got to know three out of four of my grandparents. I did not get to know my grandfather pictured here, as he died when I was too young to remember him, but I am thankful that he at least got to meet me as a baby. My middle name if his first name. I did not realize until I got older that it is not common for a girl to have a male middle name. 

10/16/11 to 10/24/11

Not much to say besides, go Giants!

Poundcake the bear unicorn

This was a commission for a friend of a bearicorn. (You know those, right? A bear mixed with a unicorn--super common.)

My favorite giants game moments from tonight:
Huff huffing home
Matt Cain wearing his nonplussed expression while Romo pitched the final inning and the crowd went wild 

10/7/11 to 10/15/11

This weekend I went to Elie and Scot's wedding. I've known Elie since third grade. Here are some of the things we have shared in the time we have known each other: acting in follies and singing such gems as "welcome to the emereld city"; the viewings of many Harry Potter movies; living together in IV; watching all seasons of Felicity; playing for the Burning skirts, where I threw her many goals at the front of the stack; a love for Pride and Prejudice. But  perhaps the most important thing we share is that we are both parents of fictional children. Stelie is Elie and Steph's lovechild, and s/he is part woman, man, and goblin. Finnegan is Mike and my awesome son and his first and only word is "MEH." They're both winners...well, at least Finnegan is. 

9/28/11 to 10/6/11

So these entries are from almost a year ago today. The weird thing is that this time last year one Molly left my work and a cardboard Johnny Depp was put in her place to help us cope with the loss. Now the other Molly has left, but thankfully Johnny is still around. Good old Johnny. 

Conversation with Mike
Mike: (singing something to me)
Me: What?
Mike: Are you ignoring me?
Me: No, I'm just doing something else, so I barely even heard you. 
Mike: Yeah, that's ignoring. 

9/19/11 to 9/27/11

Sleep rocks my world. My ideal amount of sleep is 10 to 11 hours. (I know! I'm a sleep slut.)I rarely get to sleep that much, but when I do, it makes me do a little jig inside. 

9/10/11 to 9/18/11

 Lately I have enjoyed: watching Woody Allen films; reading a lot of young adult books; eating tomato, basil, and avocado salads; drinking iced chai and black iced teas; and listening to podcasts and Nat King Cole. I guess all of those usually apply, except watching Woody Allen films.

9/1/11 to 9/9/11

In July I went to Japan and had a great time. Here are just a few of the things I enjoyed about Japan: Studio Ghibli; the waterfalls and deer on Miyajima island; the cute uniforms; feeding monkeys; the trains; meeting Tomo; seeing the all-women production of Footloose; and eating pineapples.

Glinda and 8/23/11 to 8/31/11

Glinda: Are you a good witch, or a bad witch? 
Dorothy: I'm not a witch at all. I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas.
Glinda: Oh. Well, is that the witch?
Dorothy: Who, Toto? Toto's my dog! 


Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain...only straw. 
Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain? 
Scarecrow: I don't know....But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking...don't they? 
Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.