Summer vibes.

Keeping with the fruit theme for August, this week I made a little sketch of a very cool pineapple. Pineapples are my favorite fruit, and I especially love a good pineapple sundae. 

Since I've taken on many other hobbies, embroidery has fallen by the wayside, but lately I've been thinking of getting back to it. I could maybe sketch a drawing or brush letter on fabric instead of on paper and then embroider it. However, I know I should avoid taking on too big of a project because I'll likely lose interest and not finish it. 

I had a little free time this week, and when I saw these cute little embroidered succulents in Mollie Makes magazine, I knew that they were just the right project to get me back in the embroidering groove. I added magnets on the back, so they're practical too. They'll match my gray fabric covered office perfectly, and I won't even have to water them - lol. 

Fun with blueberries.

Had we not chosen to celebrate International Cat Day, this would have been yesterday's post. I've been meaning to try this recipe for  Zucchini Cake with Lemon Buttercream, and I finally gathered all the ingredients to make it this past weekend. In my opinion, any time you make a cake from scratch and don't screw it up is a cause for celebration. Actually, not only did I not screw it up, it turned out pretty good. I don't know if I'd call it "amazing," but I do find it amazing how the zucchini virtually leaves no trace in the cake. I mean, I didn't even peel the zucchini, so where did all that green stuff go? And the seeds too? I tried to search for the science behind this, but I came up empty. Chalk it up to another of the universe's mysteries.

Also, don't let the fact that this cake contains both fruit and vegetables deceive you. This is one hell of an unhealthy cake. The cake contains full cup of oil, 3 eggs, and over 2 cups of sugar, while the icing contains 2 sticks of butter and 4 more cups of sugar. I feel so guilty when I think about, but then I just keep eating it anyway.

Since I had blueberries on my mind, I was inspired to make a little blueberry sketch in my journal. I needed a quote to go with it, but I didn't want to go with the obvious Fats Domino reference. Quotes about blueberries are few and far between, and I was about to give up until I found this perfect bit from Willy Wonka. Aside from the girl turning into a giant blueberry, that scene will always be the most memorable to me because I've always wondered what it would be like to chew gum flavored like a roast beef and baked potato dinner!

Happy National Watermelon Day!

Isn't it funny how there is a national day for everything now, especially food? I think National Ice Cream Day was last week, and I remember there being a National Hamburger Day back in June. National Donut Day is probably the most recognized since it gets heavily promoted by Dunkin' Donuts.

Anyway, in honor of National Watermelon Day, I made this little drawing in my sketchbook. I also ate some watermelon today too. I wonder if the Great Melon will rise out of the watermelon patch and bring toys to good children? Since she doesn't believe in the Great Melon, I told Lauren that we were going to place our Watermelon Day presents by the refrigerator (per tradition) and sing Watermelon Day carols, but she wasn't buying it.

2016: The year of keeping expectations low.

Unlike the last couple of years, I am none too sorry to see 2015 come to a close. For me, it immediately got off to a bad start, and although there were certainly a lot good things that happened, it never seemed to fully recover. I think the lack of blog posts this year was a reflection of that. So I welcome 2016 with caution because while it could certainly be better, it could also be worse.

This year I decided not do to any projects, although I am going to try journaling again. For the third time. They do say that third time is a charm, right? In any case, I'm not calling it a "project" because that would surely doom it. I did make some modifications to my approach that will hopefully keep me interested and enthusiastic. In the old way I was doing it, there was a lot of room for both drawing and writing. I'm not a real touchy-feely kind of person, so all that space to write about my innermost thoughts just wasn't working for me. Since most of my days are pretty routine, there was typically little to report other than:

• Got up. 
• Drove to work (Stopped for coffee somewhere in the middle).
• Did some work. 
• Ate lunch with Mel C. 
• Went to a lot of meetings. 
• Drove home. 
• Picked up Lauren. 
• Took the dogs out. 
• Made dinner (Or picked up take out on the way home). 
• Watched television. 
• Went to bed.

It's not really worthwhile to write that over and over again 200+ times. So now I just have a small square which should be enough room to hit the highlights. Additionally, in the old way I was doing it I had to illustrate a two page layout. Not only was it intimidating to have to keep coming up with new ideas that my meager drawing skills could handle, my drawings often took up all the space on the days where I actually had a lot to write about. With this layout, the artwork is on its own separate page, so I have a lot more flexibility and less space to stress over.

I guess we'll see how this works out. So far I like it, but then again, it's only the third day of the year.



Otherwise, we've been very lazy in 2016. I haven't even left the house since New Year's Day.



Marcus's resolution for 2016 is to spend time on the couch (which, incidentally, he's not allowed to do).

 

Cookie's resolution to is to snuggle more in the new year.



I'm not sure how that's possible, but it's always good to have goals.

She's a 10.

 

I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not feeling the 52 weeks project this year. Part of it is due to just being busy with other things, but it's mostly due to the fact that I've been really struggling lately to produce any photographic work. Anytime I try to pick up my camera I feel like I'm shooting the same old things, and I just don't feel motivated to put in the effort it takes to stage a photo either. So rather than fight it, I'm going back to my old way of blogging and share photos when something interesting is happening. After this post, I'll do a month-in-review for May (Because a lot good stuff happened last month!), which should catch us up just in time for my birthday.

But first, we have to go back to over a month ago when Lauren celebrated her 10th birthday. She had asked me to draw a tiger for her. :)

We started the day off with presents.

Lauren follows a few of the internet celebrity kitties, but her favorite is Lil' Bub.

She's almost as good as having the real Bub.

Lauren's birthday fell on a Saturday this year, which also happened to be our school district's annual picnic at Kennywood. So instead of a party, she wanted to go to the park with a couple of friends. The weather was perfect and the girls had a fantastic time. I wish I had some photos to share, but for the second time, I managed to lose a valuable piece of electronics at Kennywood. You would think I would have learned when I lost my Coolpix on the Kangaroo a few years back, but no. This time, it was my iPhone on the Thunderbolt. I realized right away that it must have fell out of my pocket, but it was no where to be found. I did my best not to let it ruin the day because it was just a phone (and an older model one at that), and once we got home, I changed all my passwords, disconnected my Apple ID from it and reported it lost to my carrier. Live and learn - me, electronic devices and amusement park rides don't mix.

 

On Sunday, we had a family party for Lauren. This year's theme was the Eiffel Tower, because that's the design that Lauren had picked for her cake.

 

Keeping the tradition of the homemade birthday banner!

And here it is - I practically wept at the sight of it. Best. Birthday. Cake. EVER.



 I also carried the theme into my sketchbook journal for this week.



Then it was time for more present opening.

 

Pappy was giving her the business about something. If I would have wrote this a month ago, I would have remembered what it was!

 We close with the big moment! When did this:




Become this:

 

 

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 16

 

After a very, very long hiatus, we're back to blogging. No reason for it, other than a combination of being busy with other things and procrastination. But I'm all caught up now - for realz this time!

This week's theme was "It's a Song." So here we have Marcus watching America's favorite pastime. As for the song, I guess I could have picked "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," but I like this one instead:

Oh, put me in coach, I'm ready to play today
Put me in coach, I'm ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield

--Centerfield, John Fogerty

I think he could do it. You should see him catch flying cereal out of the air.

 

Can't get enough of the magnolia trees. I wish they could look like this all year round, but even as I'm writing this, they're just about done.

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 15

 

This week's theme was floral, which made it easy since all the trees are in bloom right now.

I have to admit that there are times when I get the exact shot that I want, it makes my entire day. This was one of those times. There are sparrows that nest in our birdhouse every year, and I thought it would look amazing if I could get a shot of them with our neighbor's magnolia tree in the background. So in the evening I headed outside with my longest telephoto lens and prepared to wait. I think I was out there less then ten minutes when not one, but two birds decided to come home to roost. I actually got several shots of them, but this one is my favorite.



This is Mark's extra special yellow magnolia tree. It gets more and more blooms each year.



This week was the Pittsburgh Pirates home opener at PNC Park. They had a gorgeous day for it, with temps in the 80's! I didn't get to attend, but I do plan on going to several games this year. Mark and Lauren are already sick of me making them watch baseball on television every night.

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 14

 

This week's theme was blessings. I don't think I need to explain my photo choice any further.

 

Last year for Lauren's birthday, we bought her a new bike. Because she was in between sizes, we decided to get her a bike that she could grow into. The downside was that it was just a little too big for her to ride. This year, it's just right.

Some bonus photos of Kitty Coco. I noticed how her eyes coordinated with the aqua accents in the background, so I had to take some photos.

She's got the life. First it's bath time...

...then it's nap time.

 

No significance behind this week's sketch. Lauren has these really cute bird toys that sing and repeat what you say, so I just decided to draw one because I liked the colors.

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 13

This week's topic was "in the kitchen." I had a quite bit going on this week with Easter preparations, but nothing more daunting than this lamb cake. Although I like to bake, I'm not much of a decorator because I don't see the point in putting in so much stress in effort into something that's just going to be eaten anyway. Or maybe it's because every time I try to decorate a pastry, it's a failure. Anyway, no one was more surprised than me when my lamb cake came out awesome, if I do say so myself. Cool Whip for the win!

 

I also made a flower arrangement for the very first time. Flowers courtesy of Trader Joes. They just opened a new store, and I love that it's located on my way home from work!

 

The obligatory annual dyed eggs photo.



 Easter theme was an obvious choice this week. Check out the cutie photo of Lauren dying eggs!

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 12

 

This week's topic was growth. I couldn't help but take a photo of these crocuses growing near my parents' house. And would you look at that - BEES! It's been too long, my busy, buzzy friends.

 

I had signed Lauren up to make a glass egg at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. When we arrived, she was probably the youngest person there. I was wondering if she would be able to work with the heavy metal tools, but she used them like a pro. She always exceeds my expectations!

 

Here's the finished product.




Given my excitement over the bees, I decided to draw one. I've also begun to incorporate Instax photos into my journals. First I picked up a Fuji Instax Mini 8
camera, but shortly thereafter, I learned about their Instax printer, which is a mini portable printer that can be used to print photos wirelessly from your cellphone. Both the camera, printer and film are a bit pricey, but I think it was worth it from a creativity standpoint and just because they so fun to use. The Instax camera has a bit of a learning curve, but I'm enjoying the process and hope to add many more photos to my journal.

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 11

This week's theme was green, but I had to find a way to incorporate our not so green chicks. Well, I guess in a way they are green, in the respect that they are inexperienced in the ways of the world. Anyway, I remembered that I had a basket with a green checked liner, and with a little coaxing, you have chicken in a basket.

Lauren named the chicks Blossom, Pepsi and Poppy. Blossom is the smallest and the most friendly. She likes being held the most out of three. Poppy is the leader and has a big black spot on the top of her head. Pepsi is the biggest, and she has a plain head.




They are all very sweet and seem to grow bigger and bigger every day.

F

Since this week was the first day of spring and it's exciting  to see the crocuses popping up everywhere, I decided to make them the subject of this week's sketchbook entry. The 20th was National Macaron Day, so that's the significance of the Eiffel Tower sticker. We celebrated by eating some macarons from Trader Joe's frozen section. They come in six different flavors and are actually imported from France. I discovered macarons all the way back in 2008. It only took six years for them to become a convenience food!

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 10

The topic for this week was "I made this." On Monday, our school district had an teacher in-service day. I took a vacation day so that Lauren and I could spend the time together. I promised that I would take her back to The Art Place studio. This time, we did canvas painting.

Usually when you do social painting, they draw a template for you on the canvas to use as a guide. For this painting, you were supposed to paint the background first, then trace the template. Well, I traced the template first so I ended up covering it almost entirely. Because I had to paint it practically freehand, it took me two and a half hours to finish!



Lauren wanted to copy a peacock painting that she saw in the gallery. It was very challenging and took her almost three hours to complete. I'm really proud of the way that she pushed through and finished it. It turned out great!



For my sketchbook journal, I had no doubt what I was going to draw because this was chicken week!



Since last summer, Mark has been researching about raising chickens, and they finally came home to roost this week. He bought them from a local farm that sells chickens on eBay. We had to meet the seller and pick up the chicks in the parking lot of a K-mart of all places. So far they are working out well and are very sweet. I've taken lots of photos of them of course, but I haven't had a chance to go through them all. I'll share more about them in next week's entry.