 |
|
Another
year, another birthday.
In the last five years, I've developed a new birthday tradition:
1 No plans for the day
2 No work (unless it's artwork.)
3 Wake up and follow my whims.
It
tends to be a solo adventure. I let my introvert nature lead and
do whateer the heck I want to. Simple.
|
This
year, my 32nd: 
|
|
First,
I slept in. Woke up to a call from my sister. We hadn't talked
in awhile so it was good to chat with her.
|
I
made my whim list:
|
|
I'm not sure what everything means exactly, but I want
all these words to be part of my day.
|
|
|
|
Blue
sweater - a new one. A gorgeous cobalt blue, 100% wool, wavy cable
sweater. Comfy, unitchy wool. I feel curvy, wavy, sassy myself.
Well
dressed and list in hand - I head out.
|
|
|
|
I
get a iced latte from my favorite coffeeshop, Metropolis. This
charming drawing sums it up. I love the caped guy on the left
who speaks in symbols. That'll play into some drawing soon. The
robot rocks. Meto, indeed.
|
|
|
I head
south on the train, drinking my latte, eating a birthday choclate
bar from Rose and listening to great music. Including Astrud
Gilberto and Stan Getz's Water of March.
Yes, that
says "dirt chocolate." I like chocolate that's so
dark it tastes like dirt. This was a tasty 70% cocoa bar. Yee-yum.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The
koi are darn hard to catch on camera. I love the patterns and
layers of this blurry-but-very-interesting shot.
|
I
didn't get the name of this super plant:
|
|
|
|
Close
up of the super plant.
|
|
|
The zoo
is empty and gray and loads of animals are inside unviewable.
Including my beloved polar bears. A bit of a drag.
A indulge
a $3 whim and get stickers of myself in a sticker booth. Honestly,
they kinda suck:
My black coat got all garbly in front of the blue screen. ???
|
My
new heroes of the day:
|
|
MEERKATS!
|
|
|
|
Doesn't
this meerkat need a remote control, snack chips and a cola in
a foam cozy? This meerkat got the memo on Chicago new standing
as the nation's #1 fattest city.
|
|
|
These
guys are the meerkat equivalent of Klimt's painting, Die
Jungfrau.
|
|
|
|
The
meerkat Sears Portrait Studio shot for their engagement announcement.
I wish the future Mr. & Mrs. Meerkat a wonderful life together.
|
|
|
|
Dance
party.
|
|
|
|
Camels
are the wierdest shape. It boggles my mind to see all the shapes,
sizes, textures and patterns life comes in.
|
|
|
|
Quick
lunch at Eatzi
in the Century Mall. Two potato latkes, sour cream and a red grapefruit
soda. $3.02 and very tasty. Ate quick-like before I head upstairs
to see Soderbergh's new movie Bubble.
|
|
|
|
*shrug*
I
enjoyed the movie, but it didn't kick my butt. Soderbergh
is one of my favorite directors; one of the few that'll get my
butt in a seat opening weekend. I really appreciate that he'll
nail the big Hollywood movie, and then tackle an entirely different
artistic idea in the next one. So, I appreciated that he was doing
something different (both the movie itself, and the delivery of
it). It didn't wow me. It "hmm"ed me. That's okay.
|
As
I left the theater, I glanced up at the sign. I had to laugh at
the wording:
|
|
True
enough.
|
Next,
I wander a bit and shop. Nothing I really need, but I'm looking
for "shiny." I like shiny things. Didn't find shiny.
Instead: 
|
|
Furry/Muppet-y!
Woohoo. Jackpot. This fantastic Mongolian lamb bright blue scarf
for a bargain-tastic $12.
|
|
|
|
Head
back home, dinner in hand. Glad to be home after much walking
in the gray and drizzle. I put on good music and sing.
Follow
another whim and wrap the new scarf around my head:
|
|
|
|
|
|
I
am a ferocious lion! GRRRR.
|
|
|
|
Another
whim - jordan almonds.
|
|
|
|
Dinner
- sushi and seaweed salad.
|
|
|
After
dinner, I get down to making stuff. First a pom pom necklace.
An idea I got a week and a half ago on my flight back from Seattle.
Perfect with my new Marimekko
stripey shirt. Began a sibling necklace, with small black pom
poms, but I was getting tired and dropping poms.
|
|
|
Set
that aside and went onto a project with less fine motor demands:
|
|
I
printed 100+ copies of the Va-Va-Va-Voom woman I drew on 12.02.05.
Glad to see this in print. I'll be taking 90 of these and handpainting
30 redheads, 30 blondes and 30 brunettes. I took my 26"x40"
paper and folded and tore it into 16 equal pieces. They ended
up 7" wide and 10" high. A happy accident: the 7"
width is the width of my Print Gocco machine, making it easy to
line up! Expect to see plenty more 7"x10" images. Great
to have these drying, soon ready to be colored.
|
|
|
|
Get
a lovely phone call from my new beau, Eric, belting out Happy
Birthday to me from Seattle. Rock on, Eric.
I
get out my sketchbook odds and ends, but I was just too tuckered
out to concentrate on putting new stuff together. I stack it all
up and make myself silly with mini cupcakes!
|
|
|
|
YUM. I love cake. And I love these kids of basic grocery store
bakery frosting. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. A rare treat. I eat six. I've
been relatively sugar free lately, so those six baby cupcakes
and a handful of jordan almonds earlier have me kinda vibrating.
|
The
leftover sprinkles inspires this:
|
|
Hee!
(Props
to designer Rodrigo Corral and photographer Fredrik Borden for
the original A
Million Little Pieces cover)
Great,
great book cover. Haven't read the book. Only admired the cover
at the bookstore. Big old hooha these days about the veracity
of James Frey's book. Personally, I don't think a story has to
be true to be good. But lest I add to the hooha
-
I
crack myself up. Instead of a Million Little Pieces, my life is
about as complicated as about 14 little sprinkles. Much more my
speed, so to speak.
Great
birthday.
I'm
seriously considering adapting my birthday tradition into a once-a-month
Whim Day. One day out of 30 to leave unfettered by obligations
and open to the possibility of simple pleasures.
Meerkat
reprise:
|
