Monday, November 07, 2011

book event: the why chromosome

i figured since i already had blogger open i might as well fix up another post. last week i had the pleasure of attending the author event the why chromosome: why boys do love books. put on by bridge to books, it was an awesome event with 5 male authors with discussions about their individual reader beginnings and topics about male readership. this was a very unique event (in a good way). usually ya book events are heavily populated with female readers and authors. this even had all male authors and a mix of people in the audience. in attendance were andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri and greg van eekhout.

the discussion topics were intelligent and interesting.  they talked about what got them started reading - answers ranged from a parent reading aloud to them, an attentive teacher and libraries. libraries seemed to be very important in the factor in these authors' development.  they also got into discussions about graphic novels/comics and whether or not they were "good" for boys to read. happily i think everyone agreed that comics are a very good way to get reluctant readers to try something new and that there are many excellent comics being made today. this is sort of a near and dear topic to my heart because i've loved comics since i was a kid and find that they're generally written off as not being "real" reading. but any serious comic reader will tell you that there are so many truly intelligent and original comics being written all the time. sorry - end mini rant.

i had a great time and mrs. nelson's toy and book shop in la verne is an awesome store. i know it's not super close to those who live in l.a. proper, but it's so worth the trip out there if you get a chance. anyone who loves ya/middle grade/children books will fall in love with the store. now - on to the pictures!

the why chromosome posters
wall of ya awesomeness

i like taking pictures of small toys

apparently these are german penguins

l to r: andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri, greg van eekhout

john stephens and jonathan auxier
the gregs - neri and van eekhout
andrew smith and allen zadoff

delicious desserts

the why chromosome

Sunday, November 06, 2011

loft collection

has everyone seen the new loft collection by jared flood? to die! everything is seriously beautiful. and it reminds me that i have yet to try jared's new shelter yarn.  maybe as a present to myself at christmas i will buy myself a few skeins of loft and shelter.  for now, i will just ogle the pictures. below are a few of my faves.

jaffrey tam - look at those gorgeous cables

thayer

parson

stoncrop
that's it for me today. which pattern is your favorite?


Friday, November 04, 2011

november

wow - i really can't believe that it's november already. where the heck did october go? i know i've been missing lately. so much for my promise to post more. but life's been busy. my dad was ill as well which took me away quite a bit in the last couple of months. so instead of a long post i am just going to give you some pictures i've take over the last month or so. hopefully i'll be back soon with some new knits and holiday shenanigans. happy friday, everyone!

baby shower that i helped plan

vanessa with the baby mama

i made about 10x this many sliders.

adrienne's caramel apple cupcakes

our hallway at work

odessa hat made for charity

another bulky hat for charity

this pumpkin's mouth moves!

zombie hipster, cat, tippi hedren from the birds

marie antoinette, angel of death, flag girl

the birds!

do not mess with these people.

work friends are awesome.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

i love zombies and zombies in love





it's no secret that i am a big fan of zombies. i don't know what it is but the idea of undead creatures trying to eat my brains freaks me out - in a good way! if you're free saturday night, consider coming out to nucleus in alhambra to see artist scott c and get his new book, zombie in love. i was able to flip through a copy of the book at this year's comic con and it looked awesome. so that's where i'll be this weekend.

on the knitting front, i started a baby hat for my friend hannah. some friends and i are planning a baby shower for her in a few weeks and i hope to have some hats done to use as decoration. and tiny baby hats are just so cute. i'll take some pictures soon.

what are your plans for labor day, dear readers?

Sunday, August 28, 2011

graphic guise

hello again! see, i told you i'd be back. last weekend was quite eventful. i had two book-ish events and also managed to see rise of planet of the apes, which was much better than i expected. everything you've heard about the special effects is true. they're pretty amazing. the orangutan is my favorite. onto events!

on saturday i helped out at the graphic guise event put on by my friend's org, bridge to books. it's a really great organization that aims to get kids excited about books. illustrators/authors kazu kibuishi, bob boyle, james burks and dan santat were on hand to answer questions and work with the kids.

IMG_1267
rainbows!

IMG_1353
the beginnings of a great story.

IMG_1311
james burks

IMG_1329
bob boyle

IMG_1345
kazu kibuishi showing the kids panels from amulet 4.

IMG_1359
dan santat, kazu kibuishi, james burks and bob boyle with the graphic guise poster.

it was a great event. the kids really had a lot of fun - and the adults did, too. bridge to books has lots of fun events. to check out what's coming next, go to www.bridgetobooks.com.

Monday, August 22, 2011

better late than never

hello, dear blog. i know i've been neglecting you and for that, i apologize. i really am trying to get my act together but i've been busy. i know it's no excuse for ignoring you but i promise i'll make time to spend with you in the coming months. in the meantime, here are some pics from last month's san diego comic con. see you soon!

love,
me

simone legno
simone legno at the tokidoki

kidrobot booth
giant dunny at kidrobot

tara mcpherson
tara mcpherson = love

lichtenstein
one of the best costumes i saw that weekend.

IMG_1071
i forget what these girls are but they are, apparently, popular for teenage girls.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

testing

testing the blogger app on my new phone. let's see if this works.


Friday, May 20, 2011

on friday

i am so glad that we've finally reached the end of the week. the days were really dragging. i have been trying to cook more in general decided to jump into making some chicken. i am usually too lazy to cook meat but this looked pretty easy.

roast chicken

here are the results. i took the recipe from the new real simple cookbook dinner tonight! i quite like this cookbook. everything is really simple and unfussy, just how i like it. i don't have the recipe on hand to give you but it was really easy. throw some cut potatoes and carrots (or whatever veggies you have on hand) into a baking pan with some olive oil and salt and pepper. stick a lemon and thyme in the bird (i didn't have lemons so i threw in some garlic). rub the chicken with butter, salt and pepper. throw everything in the oven for 65-75 min. and then you get a lovely chicken dinner that looks like you spent a lot of time on it but didn't. i will definitely be doing this again with different veggies and seasonings.

i also made a batch of cookies last night. i saw them on the hostess with the mostess blog and couldn't resist. those colors were just too awesome not to try. link to recipe here though i've copied it below for you. check out the blog - it's full of fun stuff.

cakey sugar cookies

THE BEST FROSTED SUGAR COOKIES* (from hostess with mostess)
{*in my own humble opinion}
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 400º.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl & set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until mixed well. Add the dry ingredients in slowly & mix well. Chill for at least an hour to stiffen the dough. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin & cut shapes with cookie cutters OR form dough balls and flatten into thick circles with your hands.
Bake 8-10 mins or until just the edges of cookies start to turn a very, very light golden brown. Don’t over-bake. For an extra-doughy consistency, remove the cookies before the edges start to brown.
*****
FROSTING:
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 Tbsp milk
1 egg yolk (optional)
5-6 cups powdered sugar (thicken to desired consistency)
food coloring
Whisk butter, vanilla, milk and egg yolk together. Slowly mix in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. If it gets too thick, add more milk in very small amounts, about 1 tsp at a time.

Friday, May 06, 2011

lemonade and books

gosh it's been so long since i last posted. i always tell myself i'll be better about it but then it doesn't happen. i think my philosophy now will be to just go with the flow and post when i feel like it.

last weekend was a super busy one for me. a good friend was visiting to i took friday off (gasp!) to play and we did lots of fun things including a gallery visit, umami burger and frosted cupcakes. last weekend was also the weekend of the la book fair. the last few years it was held at ucla but this year they switched it up and had it on the usc campus. we had a ton of fun and i only bought a couple of books. but we had lemonade and ice cream and it was fantastic. picture show below.

umami burger
umami

spotted in hollywood
IMG_0250

james jean exhibit
james jean 1

james jean 3

free ben & jerry's at the book fair (i got tiramisu)
ben & jerrys girl

lemonade does indeed have delicious lemonade. i had strawberry kiwi.
lemonade

Monday, February 14, 2011

happy valentine's day

happy valentine's day, everyone! here are some gratuitous pics of cupcakes i made for the office.

IMG_1754

IMG_1745

IMG_1751

Friday, January 21, 2011

favorite things

pics from a recent trip to manhattan beach.

IMG_1497

IMG_1514

IMG_1516

and, i've been practicing a new skill.

IMG_1460

Monday, November 07, 2011

book event: the why chromosome

i figured since i already had blogger open i might as well fix up another post. last week i had the pleasure of attending the author event the why chromosome: why boys do love books. put on by bridge to books, it was an awesome event with 5 male authors with discussions about their individual reader beginnings and topics about male readership. this was a very unique event (in a good way). usually ya book events are heavily populated with female readers and authors. this even had all male authors and a mix of people in the audience. in attendance were andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri and greg van eekhout.

the discussion topics were intelligent and interesting.  they talked about what got them started reading - answers ranged from a parent reading aloud to them, an attentive teacher and libraries. libraries seemed to be very important in the factor in these authors' development.  they also got into discussions about graphic novels/comics and whether or not they were "good" for boys to read. happily i think everyone agreed that comics are a very good way to get reluctant readers to try something new and that there are many excellent comics being made today. this is sort of a near and dear topic to my heart because i've loved comics since i was a kid and find that they're generally written off as not being "real" reading. but any serious comic reader will tell you that there are so many truly intelligent and original comics being written all the time. sorry - end mini rant.

i had a great time and mrs. nelson's toy and book shop in la verne is an awesome store. i know it's not super close to those who live in l.a. proper, but it's so worth the trip out there if you get a chance. anyone who loves ya/middle grade/children books will fall in love with the store. now - on to the pictures!

the why chromosome posters
wall of ya awesomeness

i like taking pictures of small toys

apparently these are german penguins

l to r: andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri, greg van eekhout

john stephens and jonathan auxier
the gregs - neri and van eekhout
andrew smith and allen zadoff

delicious desserts

the why chromosome

Read More


Sunday, November 06, 2011

loft collection

has everyone seen the new loft collection by jared flood? to die! everything is seriously beautiful. and it reminds me that i have yet to try jared's new shelter yarn.  maybe as a present to myself at christmas i will buy myself a few skeins of loft and shelter.  for now, i will just ogle the pictures. below are a few of my faves.

jaffrey tam - look at those gorgeous cables

thayer

parson

stoncrop
that's it for me today. which pattern is your favorite?


Read More


Friday, November 04, 2011

november

wow - i really can't believe that it's november already. where the heck did october go? i know i've been missing lately. so much for my promise to post more. but life's been busy. my dad was ill as well which took me away quite a bit in the last couple of months. so instead of a long post i am just going to give you some pictures i've take over the last month or so. hopefully i'll be back soon with some new knits and holiday shenanigans. happy friday, everyone!

baby shower that i helped plan

vanessa with the baby mama

i made about 10x this many sliders.

adrienne's caramel apple cupcakes

our hallway at work

odessa hat made for charity

another bulky hat for charity

this pumpkin's mouth moves!

zombie hipster, cat, tippi hedren from the birds

marie antoinette, angel of death, flag girl

the birds!

do not mess with these people.

work friends are awesome.

Read More


Thursday, September 01, 2011

i love zombies and zombies in love





it's no secret that i am a big fan of zombies. i don't know what it is but the idea of undead creatures trying to eat my brains freaks me out - in a good way! if you're free saturday night, consider coming out to nucleus in alhambra to see artist scott c and get his new book, zombie in love. i was able to flip through a copy of the book at this year's comic con and it looked awesome. so that's where i'll be this weekend.

on the knitting front, i started a baby hat for my friend hannah. some friends and i are planning a baby shower for her in a few weeks and i hope to have some hats done to use as decoration. and tiny baby hats are just so cute. i'll take some pictures soon.

what are your plans for labor day, dear readers?
Read More


Sunday, August 28, 2011

graphic guise

hello again! see, i told you i'd be back. last weekend was quite eventful. i had two book-ish events and also managed to see rise of planet of the apes, which was much better than i expected. everything you've heard about the special effects is true. they're pretty amazing. the orangutan is my favorite. onto events!

on saturday i helped out at the graphic guise event put on by my friend's org, bridge to books. it's a really great organization that aims to get kids excited about books. illustrators/authors kazu kibuishi, bob boyle, james burks and dan santat were on hand to answer questions and work with the kids.

IMG_1267
rainbows!

IMG_1353
the beginnings of a great story.

IMG_1311
james burks

IMG_1329
bob boyle

IMG_1345
kazu kibuishi showing the kids panels from amulet 4.

IMG_1359
dan santat, kazu kibuishi, james burks and bob boyle with the graphic guise poster.

it was a great event. the kids really had a lot of fun - and the adults did, too. bridge to books has lots of fun events. to check out what's coming next, go to www.bridgetobooks.com.

Read More


Monday, August 22, 2011

better late than never

hello, dear blog. i know i've been neglecting you and for that, i apologize. i really am trying to get my act together but i've been busy. i know it's no excuse for ignoring you but i promise i'll make time to spend with you in the coming months. in the meantime, here are some pics from last month's san diego comic con. see you soon!

love,
me

simone legno
simone legno at the tokidoki

kidrobot booth
giant dunny at kidrobot

tara mcpherson
tara mcpherson = love

lichtenstein
one of the best costumes i saw that weekend.

IMG_1071
i forget what these girls are but they are, apparently, popular for teenage girls.
Read More


Saturday, August 06, 2011

testing

testing the blogger app on my new phone. let's see if this works.


Read More


Friday, May 20, 2011

on friday

i am so glad that we've finally reached the end of the week. the days were really dragging. i have been trying to cook more in general decided to jump into making some chicken. i am usually too lazy to cook meat but this looked pretty easy.

roast chicken

here are the results. i took the recipe from the new real simple cookbook dinner tonight! i quite like this cookbook. everything is really simple and unfussy, just how i like it. i don't have the recipe on hand to give you but it was really easy. throw some cut potatoes and carrots (or whatever veggies you have on hand) into a baking pan with some olive oil and salt and pepper. stick a lemon and thyme in the bird (i didn't have lemons so i threw in some garlic). rub the chicken with butter, salt and pepper. throw everything in the oven for 65-75 min. and then you get a lovely chicken dinner that looks like you spent a lot of time on it but didn't. i will definitely be doing this again with different veggies and seasonings.

i also made a batch of cookies last night. i saw them on the hostess with the mostess blog and couldn't resist. those colors were just too awesome not to try. link to recipe here though i've copied it below for you. check out the blog - it's full of fun stuff.

cakey sugar cookies

THE BEST FROSTED SUGAR COOKIES* (from hostess with mostess)
{*in my own humble opinion}
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 400º.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl & set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until mixed well. Add the dry ingredients in slowly & mix well. Chill for at least an hour to stiffen the dough. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin & cut shapes with cookie cutters OR form dough balls and flatten into thick circles with your hands.
Bake 8-10 mins or until just the edges of cookies start to turn a very, very light golden brown. Don’t over-bake. For an extra-doughy consistency, remove the cookies before the edges start to brown.
*****
FROSTING:
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 Tbsp milk
1 egg yolk (optional)
5-6 cups powdered sugar (thicken to desired consistency)
food coloring
Whisk butter, vanilla, milk and egg yolk together. Slowly mix in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. If it gets too thick, add more milk in very small amounts, about 1 tsp at a time.
Read More


Friday, May 06, 2011

lemonade and books

gosh it's been so long since i last posted. i always tell myself i'll be better about it but then it doesn't happen. i think my philosophy now will be to just go with the flow and post when i feel like it.

last weekend was a super busy one for me. a good friend was visiting to i took friday off (gasp!) to play and we did lots of fun things including a gallery visit, umami burger and frosted cupcakes. last weekend was also the weekend of the la book fair. the last few years it was held at ucla but this year they switched it up and had it on the usc campus. we had a ton of fun and i only bought a couple of books. but we had lemonade and ice cream and it was fantastic. picture show below.

umami burger
umami

spotted in hollywood
IMG_0250

james jean exhibit
james jean 1

james jean 3

free ben & jerry's at the book fair (i got tiramisu)
ben & jerrys girl

lemonade does indeed have delicious lemonade. i had strawberry kiwi.
lemonade
Read More


Monday, February 14, 2011

happy valentine's day

happy valentine's day, everyone! here are some gratuitous pics of cupcakes i made for the office.

IMG_1754

IMG_1745

IMG_1751
Read More


Friday, January 21, 2011

favorite things

pics from a recent trip to manhattan beach.

IMG_1497

IMG_1514

IMG_1516

and, i've been practicing a new skill.

IMG_1460
Read More