Lazy, Lazy Girl

Where to start?

I am shocked, and appalled that my last post was probably a year ago...considering it was about the neat Christmas gift my brother gave me and here we are, another Christmas passed.

Either way I finally finished a piece for said brother and it will be going out in the mail soon...and it will but I decided to post early.

LG Words

End Scene

It's pretty plain but I saw a picture in an old Smithsonian Magazine and so I decided to do a baseball, well, Yankees, based piece and naturally if that was so, it was going to NYC brother...

It's Lou Gehrig's speech on the day he retired. He is my favorite Yankee partly because of this speech...
 What took so long with this piece was the repeated application of medium to trap all those little cut up lines on the page...also the back started out as a totally separate piece and I had to also make sure they stayed together. Glue stick would not be enough.

I was happy with the turn out even if it is not nearly as flashy as what I sent NYC brother's girlfriend. Heh.

Unexpected Gifts

So this will be short and it's do over due but I got this great Christmas gift from my brother and Jen, his girlfriend...a vespa, sort of:

I'm not talented with the stamp but I added it to the back of L'aranciata and I love it!

What's next?

I am not an ambitious person -- never have been, not in the most common understanding of what ambition means in this world: money, status, impressing others (which isn't a complete lie, everyone wants to appear like they have what they want and can get whatever they want next, or just acknowledgement as a worth while human person..(how sappy))(wow, an aside within an aside and then I had to comment on it....)...

Anyways, the point being that is how I think of myself, a floater through life who follows along what is expected but doesn't exert themselves unless it is something I really want: doing well in Art History, getting into the Italy semesters abroad program, going back to school, becoming a librarian. It's a very short list.

So, its a little weird at times because I am at what is a strange-ish age for singlehood and I am happy with my job and cat (Destructo Demon Queen of Hellfire: three mugs, two picture frames, my skycow) and I am in the period were I am happily nesting (Thank you trip to Italy with relatives two years ago, suppliment with yearly Maine trips as well as flying home from Christmas has left me with little desire to travel much more...almost sad.).

I should probably get back on point, soon..month maybe two or three I will be wondering: what's next? (Damn you West Wing and your catch phrase.) 

The great thing with the mail art is I can convince myself the next thing is the gift I have planned for my brother...procrastination is a talent.

Un'aranciata..

Picture it, Sicily...well, Bologna, late August in 1999. It was my second day (or so, ah...memories) in Italy and I had finally done the mental math to realize that Bologna was sharing some latitude with Southeastern PA which meant heat, heat, heat and humidity. The ice fey that is my soul was melting in despair. And Then, then then...I had my first aranciata and I was in love.

I know it's basically orange soda but its so much better than the neon glowing orange stuff we swill in the states (to be honest, I like American orange soda as well...the heart is fickle). So upon my return several months later, depression and a longing for cafe macchiato, latte macchiato and aranciata set in....

Fast forward and San Pellegrino Aranciata is available in most grocery stores and generate great collage material:

L'aranciata

 Six pack cans come with these foil coverings on the top which I naturally ripped off in one piece and used to build this! If any previous post spoke of an ongoing project, this is it....There was a lot of time spent getting it to be flat again. Oh gel medium, how I love thee.

Anyways, back to that craving: I was lucky and a friend of mine found it at the Dean & De Luca's  in her hometown. Naturally when I finished this, I sent it to her.

Here's to you, Sailor Rosner....

Back to it then...

So I have literally had this one piece sitting on my monitor heater for months and last night, I stopped worrying about bills, fleas on the new cat, Christmas presents, and did a little work. (Yes, yes I should emphasize the little here....)

Anyways.

I got the final ribbon touches on my lingering piece and started the background for the next one. It's nice to feel like I got something done! The new kitty (Shiro or her evilness) was as intensely curious about what I was doing on her chaise lounge...

As I was playing with both charcoal and black oil pastels and Shiro is pure white (and deaf, poor baby), they did not go well:

Who doesn't love the Muppets?

Okay, so friends have been tweeting about the Green Album that came out this week with a bunch of people covering music from the Muppet Show (oh, my love hate relationship with the Rainbow Connection. Northern Stars rule.)

Anyways, I was killing some time on NPR when I got to experience the following:

My favorite part, Statler and Waldorf because everyone should watch cat videos...

The Man in the Blue Pajamas

I had to share this:

Again, Big Brother's travels through Southeast Asia continue and while I totally dig the food (see a previous thought I couldn't get out of my head or this posting on the Chiang Mai market) but I think (unless they end up as a resort chilling on the sofa-like thing in the little  gazebo by the infinity pool) the place they visited recently will be my favorite....

Only I don't think the blue outfit they make you wear at the elephant home suits my brother.