Sissy and the Valley of the Dolls

Georgia's Third Year

On his day three years ago, Georgia came into our lives via a greyhound rescue organization. She is my shadow, my velcro dog, my anti-depressive pill and my best friend. She always has a smile at the ready and a wag in her tail. I hope I make her as happy as she makes me; although I sometimes think the love we have for our nonhuman animals pales in comparison to the unconditional love they give us. I mean who else in the world will ALWAYS be happy to see you?

Cakey hearts and orange roses

A cake I made yesterday using a coconut cupcake recipe from "Vegan with a Vengeance" and orange roses found on my doorstep.

Valentine's Day

A wire sculpture valentine, Georgia's rewrapped splint in a Valentine's print bandage and a chinchilla that will eat your heart out.

Illustration Friday: Sweater

A sweater my Aunt wore in the sixties.

Elephants in Love & an Elephant Cushion

I made this cute cushion for a certain little someone that arrived on a cold morning in December....when he is big enough he'll be able to sit his sassy little self down on his very own seat cushion. Directions for cushion found here.

Old Cards, Udon Noodles & Dogs using Dogs as Pillows

Another blast from the past Valentine's Day card circa 1985 (and yeah, thats the Care Bears), a yummy broccoli curry udon dish and Beatrix using Georgia's very bony head as a pillow cushion. I admit to using Bea as a pillow on occasion b/c she is built like a bull in a china shop whereas Georgia is so dainty she is the china shop.

Old Valentine's card and Coconut Pancakes

An old card I received many moons ago as a kid and some seriously delish vegan coconut pancakes from the book "Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I pretty much followed the recipe which is something I don't do too often (often due to lack of proper ingredients) except that I used coconut milk rather than soy or rice milk. For more recipes by Isa check out her site: Post Punk Kitchen.

Hippos on the Brain

Some sketches I did to try and work out the shape of a hippo...I was going for cute and graphic. I tend to work very small; each hippo sketch is probably less than 1" x 1"....then once I get the drawing I like I blow it up and work on the details. Done with pencil

When I was little I went to the zoo on a school trip and I saw a huge hippo swimming in a tiny pool. That image has always stayed with me. I think the hippo could have used a bigger pool. There's a life quote in there somewhere...

Georgia's toe

drawing done with marker

Animals in Love

done with charcoal, ink and marker

Illustration Friday: Surrender

So Georgia broke her toe. She gets to wear a splint and a bootie to keep her foot dry in this awful weather. The word surrender conjures up many ideas, but the one I have had on my mind these past few weeks is the idea of surrendering to the things we cannot control such as my dogs broken toe and the huge bill that came with it. Life does not typically follow the course I would prefer to take and I find myself more often than not surrendering to plans unforeseen.

Drawing is of Georgia wearing her splint and bootie. Done using only the multi-touch track pad on my MacBook pro...talk about difficult! Below is the video I was taking of Georiga running in the backyard. I unintentionally caught her injury on this video...