Art, Design, & Nonsense

feelin’ that seasonal pull

Things have finally been settling down a bit over at my life. The apartment is on its way to looking fabulous, and the boy and I are holding our first Thanksgiving dinner at our place! The theme started as a shabby chic look, but its now starting to look a little more like my old room…a colorful melting lollipop. We decorated for the holidays to make it look more festive, and are looking into buying a white x-mas tree! I love our place, seriously I couldn’t ask for better.

I have been experimenting with cooking different dinners, and the other night I decided to make penne alla vodka with shrimp from scratch. I had all the ingredients, and everything was coming out perfect. However, I made ONE little mistake, which ended up being the biggest mistake of the recipe. Instead of 1/4 tablespoon of red pepper flakes (which are REALLY spicy), I poured in a whopping 1/4 cups of it!!! It was so spicy me and the boy couldn’t even handle it! I was so hungry, and it tasted so good that I forced myself to eat a bowl of it, while sipping milk in between each bite.

The derby season is over, which means lots more time for knee healing. I am selling prints once again on Etsy, the link is below to check out. I am in the process of making some roller derby and roller skating wallets to sell as well. I finally got a new sewing machine, and by ‘new’ I mean another 1950’s Singer. The one I have was giving me some problems, but I refuse to get rid of it.  Also, the Long Island Roller Rebels have a blog. (http://longislandrollerrebels.blogspot.com) If you scroll down, you can see some of our Halloween fundraiser pictures (Hint: look for the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter).My boyfriend found his silk-screener while organizing the studio room. I am hoping to use it for some wallets and possibly some tee-shirts as well. I have a tendency to create a million art ideas, with little or no time to actually work on them. And I don’t think I can blame that on the ADD or OCD.If you are reading this, and are under 12 years old, you may be interested in some new art classes I will be offering over at The Drawing Studio in Smithtown. The flyer will be out this week, classes start in January.

GO Thundercats!

On Saturday, October 24th, the Long Island Roller Rebels held their championship bout of the season. I was supposed to play on the Rolling Thundercats, but about a week before, I fell on my knee pretty hard. Trust me, I WAS NOT happy at all that I was going to have to watch the game and not participate. I decided to shoot some photos of the game, and was pretty happy with a majority of them. The lighting in the rink was terrible, and all I had was my Speedlight to help. Luckily, I was close enough where I could get some decent shots. Below are some of my favorites. I will be uploading the rest onto the Long Island Roller Rebels photobucket, so when I finish that I will give you the link to the rest.

typing with numb hands

Woke up this morning to a house alarm. Five hours later, the alarm is still going off. I feel I have been neglecting my blog for one good reason: busy-ness. Since the summer, I have made a comeback to roller derby. It was well missed. There are so many new girls on the league, I almost feel old. If any of you are thinking about seeing the movie Whip It, don’t expect to come to a Long Island Roller Rebels game looking for the WWF. When I first joined the team in 2006, it was a lot like a wrestling meets Nascar game. Now, all grown up, we play the way it’s supposed to be.

I started substitute teaching, and I must say, I love it. Even though I am not always in the art classroom, subbing gives me the opportunity to be a multi-subject teacher. Just last week, I gave two lessons in Social Studies, and read to the English class. It’s a fun challenge to be working in different subjects, and getting to know the students from other classrooms. For two days, I subbed for an art teacher. It felt like home. Hopefully in a few weeks I will be teaching Saturday enrichment classes.

On an even better note, I am moving!!! The boy and I found a HUGE apartment a little further east of here. It’s great because I will finally have an extra bedroom to use as a studio, instead of the 2×2 foot space I have been working in. Packing, on the other hand, has not been fun. I never realized how much crap I actually owned. Please don’t confuse me with a hoarder. I have a ton of stuff, but at least it’s clean and organized. I just cannot part with my collection of Burger King and McDonalds Happy Meal toys from the 80’s, or the many Alice in Wonderland troll knick-knacks that scatter around my room. I can give you a story for every piece in this room, from a trinket to a fortune cookie, and it will be well worth hearing.

Once I pack and unpack my scanner and computer, I will be posting some overdue photos and drawings.