The Pearl Jammiest thing I saw in September 2007!

Hello! I miss you! I think about you a lot and I hope to get my drawing game back together.

Today is a very blah, foggy, Seattle 1990-something kind of day, so I thought I would share this drawing I meant to post over 2 years ago:

On a very similar kind of morning, this guy was belting out the Pearl Jam at the bus stop!

And no, he is not homeless or wearing shoulder pads, that is just artistic flair. He WAS wearing flannel though.

The yellow belt-iest thing I saw today!

On the way to dinner with fine friends after a sunny and cold afternoon enjoying the Art Shanty Projects, we drove past this clever placement:
Are the ninjas disbanded, or disguised?

I hope you did not need any martial arts experts in a hurry along HWY. 55!

The Blushiest thing I saw today!

(Hey- Long time no see! Thanks for returning with me!!! I have missed drawing for you!)

As I awaited my Metro Transit chariot home yesterday, I was quite amused to witness four individuals of the male persuasion who were all randomly dressed alike and all rushing to catch the same bus.

(Click to enlarge)

I found it darling that they were all wearing pale pink polo shirts!

(The color shown here is more of a "hot pink", their shirts were "Baby Girl" pink. Paint has drastic limitations on color selection.)

From anecdotal research, I have found that this color is not always easy to get the male of the species, or the some females for that matter, to wear. I could see no reason why they were all dressed so similarly, it is a busy bus stop and a busy bus.

I had a fleeting sense of joy as they all rushed by me. If they were flamingos, I would have thought they had all scored a nice shrimp bounty!

I took a count on my own bus, and found that periwinkle blue was the polo shirt of the day, with five total on the bus.

The gaardiest thing I saw today: Monster Challenge!

I received a new monster to post today! Fantastic!

Today's entry comes from my friend Dave, he drew a lovely monster for the challenge and he also creates them in his writing, as evident by his 2009 Bram Stoker Award Nominated (nice job Dave!) debut novel and friend to us all, Tellon:

Tellon, with Richard "A-Bomb" Klatte and Troy LaFaye, in The Hardworking Man From Nebraska.

Now, let us meet Krangaard:
Dave reports: He was born on a Monday morning after a three-day weekend, was made to go to work in the Pain Mines of Blech, and has been enraged ever since.

I hope I never have to work in the Pain Mines of Blech, but if I do, I will say a cautious 'hello' to
Krangaard.

Thank you for this great monster, Dave!

Any one else have a monster? Will I ever get my own drawing act back together? Questions we all have to live with on a gray and drizzly spring morn, I guess.

The Maggotiest Thing I Saw Today: Monster Challenge!

My friend James, who sadly moved to Boston but is still rad, came up with a doozy of a monster for our pleasure.

The Maggot Farmer:James writes: The story is that he was a bad man who stole a pig and was sent to prison. The authorities killed the pig and threw it in his jail cell, where they left him alone to rot. After 3 moons past he managed to escape, but only after eating the pig, skin, guts and all.... and whatever came out of it. Now he has a taste for awful, and his body is starting to change.

This is amazing and totally creepy, James! Great work!

James asked if I could make out the facial features, I think I can and I think I am uncomfortable with the way he is looking at me.

Anyone else up for a challenge? It is a hazy shade of winter in Minneapolis today, I encourage you to take 5 min and create some magic- but do not eat any maggots!

The Chinga!-iest thing I saw today: Monster Challenge!

I am excited to share a drawing that Jennifer made for the Monster Challenge.

Jennifer also drew one of her pets:


The artist says: This is Jezebel. I drew this picture of her as an attack cat for my friend Xime -- the Chinga!cat reference is from an X-files episode, in which a very violent doll wreaks havoc, all the while saying, "I want to play!!" This is my cat, to a T.

I have met Jezebel and know her story, I can't argue with Jennifer. Sorry Jezebel! You attack things, but you are a pretty kitty, nonetheless.

Here is a very slow loading set of footage from that episode (I hope!):

The Murkiest thing I saw today: Monster Challenge!

I chiseled out this monster, Murk, because of the cloudy, wet, dense air that has taken over my city the last two days.



I like to think that Murk is lurks somewhere out there in the foggy abyss salvaging dity snow piles and luring in the misty air. Or maybe he is out to get us all! AHHH!

I hope that it is sunny again tomorrow and that Murk goes back to the Pacific Northwest or his den in the sky to rest.

The Tune-iest thing I saw today! Monster Challenge!

Here is my monster, Szwink:

Szwink devours the particles of joyful sounds that travel through the air with her tentacles. These particles are invisible to the human eye, but sometimes a laughing human will snort when a clump of these particles are escaping the body. Her favorite activity is sneaking into slumber parties, sledding hills, and playgrounds to observe and absorb. Sometimes she will sing out to amplify the sound. Laughter breeds laughter, right? She is small by monster standards, she can easily hide under end tables and park benches without hunching down.

The Overextend-iest thing I saw today: Monster Challenge Submission #1!

Meet Work by Eric G.:


The artist reports:
My monster is work. All I can say is that this is a literal depiction of the scene in my office right now. The geniuses in upper management decided to lay off some of my coworkers while we are in the midst of the hugest project we've ever been involved in, and now it's down to just me and a couple other tattered individuals to shoulder the workload.

Eric G., I wish this multi-tasking monster could actually come and help you out at work. I hope you had a few fun minutes in your day creating this work of art. I really love the detail and the colors.

Thank you for your submission! Hooray for Eric G! Here's hoping his workload lightens.

Anyone else??

The un-deadest thing I saw today!

Over the weekend my friends and I hit the town in our best back from the grave or recently attacked zombie attire.


Here is my husband and I- my husband the werewolf....

There were hundreds and hundreds of undead roaming around. I loved how creative people were with the assignment.

This was me favorite:



She was a zombie stock broker and had great visual aids.

The Sickest thing I saw today.

I left my liberal nest in Minneapolis for my home suburb of Eagan on the 4th of July.

Eagan is a nice middle to upper-middle class 2nd ring suburb that is home to offices of several major companies, including the headquarters of West Publishing, Old Country Buffet, U-Line shipping products and Northwest Airlines plus outposts of Coca Cola, Tastee Bread, Unisys, EcoLab, and every big box chain store one could name.

Guess which company had the most American flags out for the holiday:

Why it was the world's largest defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

Fantastic.

Crikey! The awkwardest toy I saw today.

We saw this at the Reptile Gardens (a nice spot if you like animals by the way, not a cheeseball as you might think):

There was no stingray in the Ocean Dive playset.

RIP Steve Irwin. I feel bad that this toy is still on the market, but perhaps you would want it that way?

The MeMe-est thing I did today....

I was tagged by the sassy MNMOM, who was tagged by another enjoyable blog friend Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein, with this little frequently visited websites MEME.

I decided, "What the heck! I could do this or fold some laundry.....but this helps promote lovely things so it should happen first."

My frequented blogs are on the right, of course I encourage you to check them out, but here are 5 non-blog places I visit pretty much all the time.

1. Etsy.com
So, I am addicted to this site and you can hear me put that on record somewhere else on the internets. (See me in all my grace at 4:51min into the vid) Some of my friends blame me for getting them addicted too, does that make me an etsy dealer?

I love what people make and I wish I could buy more. Instead I just scroll through and wish for things and also pass products on to my friends when I think they might like something.

Here are some things I have bought lately:
Skateboard necklace
Diamond Earings
Naughty Golden Retriever Puppet for my friend Nancy
Blankie Cape for a new baby in the family
Apron for the new big sister


2. emusic.com
This is where I go to download some indie rock n roll and other elements of the musical canon. It is $9.99 a month for 30 downloads. If you are interested I can "invite" you and you get a whole bunch free.

Anyway, I love music and the whole idea of independent labels so this is a cheap way for my to feed my rock and roll lifestyle and still have money for tickets to shows and things on etsy....

Albums I have downloaded lately:
The Mountain Goats
The New Pornographers
Bon Iver
Jeff Hanson
John Phillip Sousa's Greatest Hits
(The March KING!!! With The Minnesota March! I love marching bands, ok?! Here is me in marching band:

That's a huge white feather plume on top of a round helmet- HOT!)

3. Red Hot Pawn
My husband taught me how to play chess on our honeymoon last May. I am still learning...I have won 3 games total! I mainly play with a friend I met randomly on the site who lives in California. We became friends because somehow we came to a draw and I accidentally called him "honey" because I got his game confused with one I was playing with my husband.

Believe it or not, I have been "hit on" and talked to very inappropriately by people on the chess site! Now I only accept games from people I know. Let me know if you want to play chess. Inappropriate propositions can be left in this blog.

4. Scrabulous
I play when I can. There are some scrabble champs on there who are too cool to play a casual player like me.

5. Goodreads
Here I log the books I read and have read and want to read in the future. I also like seeing what my friends are reading and try to rally up new people for the book club I am in.

If you are on goodreads, let me know and I will check out your shelf!

(See, now that could be taken the wrong way, but I mean it in all literary good ways.)

Another Creepy Pants Cat!

Last Friday I posted a couple of drawings between a friend and I that was probably a little too much of an inside joke, but we both drew what we imagined "AH! Creepy pants cats! LOL." was referring to.

I did get one submission from Starshrines:

Check it out, yo:

Remember the fairy tale Puss in Boots? I always found the illustrations a little creepy:

I mean, they were more like hip waders than boots. And hip waders are kind of like creepy pants. So here is my creepy pants cat!

So very true! I love this rendition of Puss in Boots. I hope it does not give your cat any ideas.

Although.....hip waders might be an interesting Project Runway challenge: "Fly Fishing Fashion".

The May-December-est Thing I saw Today

My darling and I attended a chic private gathering, the sort where people either pay to attend or else they are "with the artist". (We were "with the artist".)

I observed a couple conversations like this one:
So Woody Allen. So reminded me of my own denial about the way the world works.

The Touche-est thing I saw today.

'Round these parts it is common to see a car sporting a bumper sticker like this: That is a campaign bumper sticker for US Senator Paul Wellstone, a wonderful man. A man with the moxie and courage to change the world and to speak for those who were not being heard.

A man who died 6 years ago in a terrible plane crash days before the end of a heated election.

His passing left a huge void in the hearts of many Minnesotans. Some people still have his campaign yard sign in their yards, numerous buildings have been named (or re-named) in his honor and some put his legacy into action.

Recently I saw this take on/response to the "Wellstone!" bumper sticker:


I suppose they can mourn their heroes too.

Sigh.

The Flirtyest thing I saw today.

Long time no see everyone! I hope your year is off to a good start.

I have a lot of things to share with you and I am working on more time to get them done.

Today I drew a picture of some attention that I got whilst I waited for the bus a couple weeks ago. It was a balmy 9 degrees outside and I was looking my best.

This guy literally drove back around the block to ask me TWICE.

Funny, I wasn't feeling at all attractive at the moment...I was more focused on keeping my nose warm without breathing on my scarf.

The spookiest thing I saw today.

So I was hanging out with my 8 year old niece and I mentioned how much I love Halloween decorations (it is actually practically a problem as I have more decorations than I do square footage in my condo! Good thing my husband loves them too or it would be a long life).

Anyway, she drew this pumpkin for me:

Now I am exploiting it and using it as a blog entry...

I mean, now I can use it to get us all pumped up for HALLOWEEN!!!

Ow!

OH! I am hosting a Halloween party on Saturday with a friend and there is a coloring contest. If you want to enter, you could color and caption this and e-send it back to me! I would be proud to hang it up.

The Alderaaniest Thing I saw today.

So I was taking the bus home the other day, sitting on the aisle seat just minding my own business; reading my book and zoning out the animated conversations around me.

The bus neared my stop so I perked up a little and the woman sitting next to me tapped me and said:

And I said "You look JUST like Carrie Fischer in 1977! Oh, and this is my stop too."

She said, "I know."

Then I tried not to stare at her the remainder of our trip.

Guys must ask her to wear that slave costume all the time.

The creepiest/randomest thing I saw today

Driving on a less traveled road (Larpenter Ave by the St. Paul Campus farm fields), I cruised by a random and creepy item perched on a street corner. It looked as though it was waiting for the bus or a taxi.

It was a military uniform of some kind stuffed and tied up to a gurney that was standing on end. A happy human skull (perhaps fake, but this was unconfirmed) was placed on the uniform- just a grinnin’ in the sun.

Perhaps it was some sort of marker for an event “Turn right at the creepy skull army guy on a gurney”, but it had no sign or other detail to lead the passerby to confirm that.

Perhaps it was a real soldier whose ride to the VA never showed up……