Settling down

Please pardon the radio silence as I get unpacked in our new home (again). This time we're settling for awhile an it feels great. Most of our place is still in boxes, but the living room is shaping up nicely. The house we're renting feels like a little mountain lodge.

This is the view from the living room window:

And a little fellow my husband caught the other day:

The place is brimming with wildlife; there are hummingbirds, dragonflies, frogs, chipmunks, and deer all over the place (I'm told bears as well, though we haven't seen any yet). The woods are full of edible mushrooms, my husband had some for lunch today that looked like this:

It's been a really nice change from city life, and a big sigh of relief to unpack things that have been in storage for more than a year. I realized pretty quickly as we started sifting through boxes that the vast majority of my things fall into one of three categories: books (of course), art supplies, and angsty drawings from college like this one:

I'd love to purge and lighten our load but I find each of those things very hard to get rid of, for different reasons. The books because I want to remember them and reread them and use them for inspiring new stories. The art supplies because of all the projects I might need them for. And the drawings because the more time that passes since art school the more I forget where I started on the journey to becoming an author and illustrator. And it's good to remember that beginning and how much has changed since then.

Getting settled

Right now life is a bit chaotic, so I just thought I'd give a quick update on all the settling in going on now that I am back on the East Coast. First off, this is what my office looks like:

Nice, huh? There is much to be done. But as I said a couple weeks ago, it feels good to go through all my things once again and purge. I feel like I'm wiping the slate clean and preparing for a new phase of life.

In between the unpacking and sorting I recently made a quick trip down to Mystic to see Linda's incredible play and visit with Libby, Alissa and her family. It was a lovely day involving a picnic and stroll by the water in Stonington, CT. Tilda enjoyed the fresh sea air and playing with Libby's hair.

When the mess in my office or stress of making a home *again* gets to be too much, I sit with Tilda and remember how lucky I am to have her (or more accurately, belong to her). I can't even imagine life without her at this point.

Thats all for now! Will be back to books as soon as those boxes disappear...

San Fran digs

This has been a year for change in many ways. I finished two book projects long in the works, moved to Northampton, MA from Boston, and am now starting a family. But the latest big news is that we'll be traveling to San Francisco for 9 months so that Bruno (my fella) can do an internship for his graduate program. So in addition to getting ready for the baby and the launch of Disappearing Desmond in a few short weeks, we are madly apartment hunting!

We've been scouring Craigslist for a one bedroom in the city that will take cats and let us have a 9 month lease. If anyone has and leads or suggestions for finding a place from a distance any advice is most welcome!

Highlights from a crazy month

Please forgive my lack of posting, the past few weeks have been mad! Since I lasted posted I have moved from Boston to Northampton, finished the book dummy for Disappearing Desmond, and been scrambling to finish planning my wedding which is now in LESS THAN THREE WEEKS. *gulp* Since I am still knee deep in boxes and seating charts, I will offer some highlights in pictures...

When we first arrived, my studio looked like this:



I needed to set it up right away to meet a deadline, I'd say its about 75% there now... still need to put up my bulletin boards do a little rearranging. Definitely the biggest work space I've had so far!



Here is George sleeping in the mess, with his head resting on a wooden shelf. Oh George.



Once the studio was in order I finished off the Desmond sketches I've been working on. I have to say I am very excited about this book.



When not drawing or unpacking, I've been attempting to continue with wedding craft projects. My mother and I are sewing cloth napkins out of this amazing fabric I found on fabric.com:



This is what they look like. Each place setting will have a different napkin, and guests will get a set as gifts.



Can't forget about the legal stuff! Yesterday we headed down to City Hall for our marriage license:



Here we are out front, bleary-eyed but happy. Its been a little crazy having everything happen at once, but when we took the oath and got our little slip of paper we couldn't help but feel that everything is happening just as it should.

Moving, moving, moving

Today is my day to post, but alas I am mid-move; running boxes over to our new place, painting, cleaning and all that fun stuff... we are moving into a loft style studio apartment that is basically one giant room in an old converted horse-drawn carriage factory.

I've been going back and forth for days about wall colors and arranging the place, after all it is my work space too. Yesterday I painted one wall this color (it is a nice pea green in case the color doesn't translate):



I can't get enough of looking at that color. It is so satisfying.

Well that is all the creative outlet I've had this week. I'll post pics soon as the studio comes together!

And Katherine, I'll work on the palette pics! (comment from last week)