birthday boy

Mark's birthday is today!  Happy b-day, love!  

We had a fun morning that included a little open-house brunch.   I'm stuffed, now.  And it was the 1st time we used our china since being married.  I knew we'd need it one day.  Screwdrivers (less girlie than mimosas), Peach punch, Coffee Cake, fruit salad, "Lazy Chile Rellenos," Egg Casserole, Mo's famous Cheese Grits (mom, yours are better than mine), and DoubleShot Coffee, (of course), were shared with friends that stopped by to wish Mark a happy one.  I should have taken my camera out then, huh?  Oh well.

Ashley and Ryan even brought the doggies a balloon!  Thanks, guys!

Well...I think it was actually for Mark.  But he got enough stuff.

spectacle

So, Mark and I definitely have a routine in the morning.  It begins with both of us lying there pretending to be sleeping while we are really just waiting for the other to get up and go hit snooze on Mona.  Mona's our dog...the newest member of the Steichen clan that wakes up whining (and/or barking) at 7am on the dot every day.  I know, I know..7am is sleeping in for some of you folks.  Well I think you are deprived.

Anyway, this morning, I was the one who caved first, but by this point the noise had escalated quite a bit, so I was in a hurry to get to the dog to quiet her down.  In the darkness, I didn't notice that I was completely blind without my contacts in, so I didn't even think about grabbing my glasses.

Instead, I stumbled across the hall to practice the "quiet" command with Mona-the-destroyer-of-sleep, and immediately felt bad for cursing her under my breath.  It looked as if she had gotten sick in the bottom of her crate.  Poor thing!  Must have been that Mento I let her eat the night before.  No wonder she wanted out so badly.  I loudly called out to still-pretending-to-sleep-Mark that our little pup was sick, and stumbled back across the hall to grab my glasses so that I could survey the damage to the crate and the dog.  Only, with my eyes on, the puddle of sick I had seen only seconds before had been replaced with Mona's rope-bone.  She hadn't gotten sick after all.  She was just being a brat, and I am very blind.

nesting.

Aaah...home.  Nice to be here.

On an unrelated note, I think my nesting ladies here might be related to the Pringles man.  I love Paprika-flavored Pringles, by the way, in case anyone is shopping for a gift for me at this random time of year that is not Christmas or (nor?) my birthday.  You can't get them in the US, though...I've tried.  If anyone is going to Europe anytime, bring me back a can of Paprika Pringles, please.  Pa-preek-ah Preen-gulls.  Ok...I'm delirious.  Bedtime.

Honey...

...will you give me a foot massage?

Yum.

Um, this has nothing to do with sketching, but can I just brag on the salad I made tonight for a second?  It was yum.

Mixed greens, pear, parmesan cheese, sweet chili pecans, s&p, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Love.

I used to think I would end up a lonely old lady.

Then I met Mark.  

*Update: Mark would like to let you know that he is not flipping you off.  It's an index finger, we promise.

Bouquet

So, I suppose I should say that this is representative of how I feel that the people in my life are a gift of a beautiful bouquet. And not that I don't think that,  but I'm pretty sure that would come across better had I left out the bizarre and slightly disturbing legs sticking out.  ...Sorry about that.

I do think you all are as delightful as a bouquet of fresh flowers, though.  Really.  Especially you.

Charades.

Let's play.

Contrary to what it looks like, he's not pointing to his stomach....more like his rib area.

Tetris.

Mark hooked up the Nintendo and we spent a little while playing this evening.  [ Actually, he's still playing as I type this. ]  And when I say Nintendo, I do mean the old school Nintendo...not Wii, not 64, not Super...just plain ole Nintendo.   With big plastic cartridges.  You know, the ones you might have to remove and blow on to make the game work.

Trivia Challenge:  Quick, what's the Contra Code to get infinite lives?

Anyway.  While Mark played Tetris to the dulcet tones of Tchaikovsky's Electric Boogaloo, and Bailey sat on the floor and gazed lovingly at him, I took the opportunity to do a couple of gesture drawings in my sketchbook.

Later on, I got to punch Bald Bull and Don Flamenco in the face.

circus

I think I'll run away and join the circus today.

I could ride the elephants, fly from a trapeze...anyone have a good clown nose I can borrow?

I do like to travel.

Then again...Elephants probably are a little smelly.  I might be allergic to clown makeup.  And I've never looked good in bedazzled spandex.

Super.

Congrats to my nephew on recently passing his test to earn a green stripe in Cuong Nhu!  Don't get too close, he might kiya you right in the face.

PS...I have no idea how to actually spell Kiya...Kia...Keeya.

fig. 1

Inspiration: Old illustrated botanical or medical diagrams.  Like this:

My take: Fig. 1. 

Get it?

inked.

I have none myself, but I kindof love tattoos.  While part of me firmly thinks that folks shouldn't deface themselves, I have also been known to say that IF you are going to get a tattoo, then you should GET a tattoo.  As in, why get some little heart hidden on your hip when you can make your entire arm into a beautiful piece of artwork.  I love them so much that I even convinced my hubby that we should design some temporary tattoos as giveaways at our wedding.  They were skull and crossbones and said "til death do us part."  Heh.

Check out these amazing tattooed circus men dolls I found.  I want one.  They are the greatest thing ever.  How creative; she made them out of toile!  I've linked to the artist's blog over yonder on the right (Mimi Kirchner)...anyone want to shop really early for my birthday next year?

Ice Cream.

I must be standing up too much lately.  More chairs!

The middle chair is my favorite...it's my memory of the little ice cream parlor-esque set we (really it was my sister Carrie's) had as kids.  They were little white chairs with red vinyl seats and a matching table.  I remember thinking they were cool looking where the metal twisted around itself to form feet and a heart shape on the back.  In high school I made some little wire sculptures of people that had feet just like those chairs.

Big Dog, Little Truck.

This was the funniest thing I saw this weekend.

Paint Drip.

This tiny drip = significant. In college, every piece of clothing I owned was marred with paint. Annoying, yes, but understandable, as the majority of my classes were in an oil and acrylic drenched studio. Today, when I repainted our $7 garage sale coffee table and dripped paint on my jeans, I realized those jeans are now the only piece of clothing I own that is stained with an artistic medium of any kind. Made me realize it's been way too long. Ready to get back into it.

My old college studio. (circa 2002)

Wallpaper.

I have a thing for Damask.

Been enjoying my sharpies lately, but I know it's time to pull out my paints [and brushes]. Oh art...I've missed you.

Chair and Window

Nakedness Prevention.

Mark and I try hard to be adults, but sometimes we don't quite nail it.  We currently have every single item of clothing we own in piles on our bedroom floor.  They are mostly clean...just not put away, and certainly not folded.

Every so often after spending too many hours on cleaning the house just so guests won't run screaming, we decide we've got to get it together.  One of these well-intentioned planning sessions took place at least 6 months ago, and I decided to get creative with a ruined placemat and little hand-drawn cards to create a chore chart for us.  Well...quite on par with who we are, this unfinished project ended up in a plastic bag in the closet in the computer room underneath piles of gift bags, a slinky, and a hot pink wig.  Since we recently cleaned out said closet, I found the remnants and decided to put it to work immediately.  Scrapping the original plan, I found a wire hanger, added the charms, and voila...a chore abacus.

Whoever gets to it first gets dibs on what they want to do, whether it's to be the "Top Chef," do a little "Dust Detection," or follow through on both the washing AND folding of "Nakedness Prevention."  Once we've completed the few chores for that day, we slide the charms from the "Bring it" side of the hanger to the "Oh it's already been broughten" side.  Now if only the actual chores were as fun as the keeping track.

Butterfly Effect.

Mark and I recently got two new chairs for our house.  I love them.  They are salmony-shrimpy (I'm not even a big seafood fan) silk chairs with an orchid pattern on them.  Loooove them.  Anyway, because of these chairs going into our living room, we had another chair that was getting the boot into the computer/dog room.  Just a simple move of one chair into an adjacent space...no big deal.

...So after an entire weekend spent arranging/rearranging and cleaning out an overflowing closet, we still don't have the chair in there.

In the midst of the Great Computer Room Project of 2011, I ran across this little painting sketch of my hubby I did back when we were dating.  It's representative of his very favorite activity: napping on a couch... and I'm pretty sure this is what he really wanted to be doing instead of a 2 day home makeover.

Dogs

My husband (Mark) and I have two dogs.  Bailey, who was inherited from a friend of mine, and Ramona, a puppy we adopted in October.  Gosh they are cute.  And brats too.

This is my view of Bailey from the couch anytime Mark goes in the kitchen.  ["Please Mark...please give me cookies!"]