On Weds. we are heading to Ohio for Christmas and then to New York for round two with Jed’s family. Really excited to see family and friends even though there is still  much to do before we go. We decorated our place a few weeks ago and I love turning on the lights every night while we eat dinner. Speaking of dinner…one of my super talented friends Yukiko sent us hand made plates and cups with our faces on painted on them for our wedding gift. They are so adorable, I just can’t bring myself to eat off them. When we were roommates, I taught Yukiko how to drive and she tried to teach me Japanese. She eventually got her drivers license and I used my sad foreign language skills  to make the Japanese team at work laugh on a daily basis. Even though Yukiko now lives in Tokyo she is one of those friends that changed my life and inspires me on a daily basis!

Recently, I had the opportunity to illustrate a great article for one of my favorite publications Yoga Journal Magazine. The article contained short stories about creating your own meaningful holiday traditions (even if you don’t celebrate Christmas). One of the stories was about a mother and daughter planting a spruce tree every year and decorating it with apples and  popcorn for the birds to eat. They also wrote their hopes for the upcoming year on small slips of paper and tied them to the tree. If you get a chance to pick up the December issue, I highly recommend it. Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzza, Winter Soltice, Bodhi Day, Omisoka….

Sending out the illustration above as my Holiday promo this year! Can’t believe I actually finished this in time to mail out for the holidays. Now here’s hoping that everything goes as planned at the printers. Lots of projects to finish up before we head to Ohio and then New York  for Christmas. Really excited  about one project in particular and can’t wait to share the details when it’s finished and published! If you’re looking for the most unique jewelry  for your gift giving needs look no further! My super talented, stylish sister in-law just opened her Etsy shop (Brodie Hall) and in the first three days of opening sold 19 pieces (half of her collection!)! Check it out when you get a chance. She’s busy making new pieces and will be restocking the shop very soon…

Hot of the press! Yesterday I created my first successful batch of screen prints. The whole process was so consuming that three hours flew by and  the instructor had to (gently) remind me that it was time to clean up. Next week I’m going to try to create another screen to add blocks of color to the houses and of course the fog! If it turns out, it might be a fun design for a canvas bag…. Maybe for the Etsy shop!

So many things to be thankful for this year….

-a wonderful, supportive, smart, generous, kind, funny husband. Jed, I’m so lucky to have you as my partner. You make me want to be better every day.

-amazing friends that talked me off the ledge when the wedding planning got really stressful (Sam , Alison, Jen, Donna, Jaclyn…I’m talking to you!). Thank you for the many hours of love and support.

-work, work, work! I feel so lucky that I’ve had such great clients and exciting projects this year. It’s been such a long journey into full time illustration and I feel so grateful to to have the opportunity to do the work I enjoy everyday.

-A few family members traveled all the way to San Francisco to eat the first Thanksgiving Dinner I’ve ever prepared. Very proud to say that I didn’t burn anything. Everyone seemed to enjoy the wine and the mass amounts of food shared in our “quaint” San Francisco Apartment. Now the question is, how do you compost the 12 lb. turkey carcass with these tiny biodegradable bags that come with your “compost bucket.” **Sigh** only San Francisco people will be able to relate to this dilemma.

-fantastic in-laws, plus a sister in-law who is a jewelry making genius… Mary and Gary, I’m so happy to be part of your fun quirky, creative family. It’s the perfect fit :). Megan, come back to visit soon, your air mattress misses you!

-Beautiful weather and a great  view. Ahh California… how I heart you and wish you weren’t in such a financial crisis. Seriously where are all my taxes going?

-My father’s is finally doing better. One more surgery and he will be walking (we hope) by April. It’s been a long 14 months.

-Etsy Shop… Opened in March 2009 and this morning I sold my 100th print!

-A new Nephew!! Caden Mangini. He’s such a sweet baby I can’t wait to see him and Cal at Christmas!

-And then there are the basics: health, happiness, my good running knees, yoga, the view from my studio, our new coffee maker, visiting NYC friends this Christmas and a two week  honeymoon in Thailand coming up in February.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and were surrounded by love.

I was thrilled when SKIRT! Magazine contacted me to be a part of their October issue. The piece above was featured on the cover this month! Skirt uses some of my all time favorite illustrators and artists including; Hadley Hutton, Trisha Krauss, Caroline Hwang and Sophie Blackall. I’m beyond honored to be among these talented women. If you live in the sixteen cities where SKIRT is available pick up a copy. It’s a great magazine geared towards creative, busy (and who isn’t these days!) working women. In other news things things have been busy in the studio with fun projects and the inspiration to dive into some screen printing classes this Nov. in San Francisco. Screen printing has always been a technique that I’ve wanted to experiment with. It’s exciting to learn a new skill that will hopefully complement my work and possibly change the way the line work is communicated in each piece. I think it will be interesting to try a more organic line approach or lose the line all together and build an image just using just layered shapes. And don’t even get me started on the hand lettering aspect of it all. Ahhh…So much to learn!

Words can not describe what an incredible day it was.

Top photo by: Gary Meade

Bottom three by: (Ashley) Henry Photography

**(more pictures and stories coming soon… )**

My work has been featured on the Free People clothing website’s blog today. I nearly passed out when I saw it.