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It's been a while!

Things have been a bit hectic/busy in my life recently (good and bad). One good hectic is that I resigned from my job to make art full-time. PHEW! And THANK GOD!

I'm very excited to embark on my artistic career (and, of course, relieved I won't need to wear a suit every day!) I'll be getting a studio space in Brooklyn to work out of, & a part-time job to help cover expenses. My last day at work is October 4th.

Oh - And a pumpkin contest too. My mom & I are entering a pumpking contest (grand prize $5,000)! It's sponsored by Michael's craft stores, & you have to use "craft pumpkins" (the fake pumpkins) to make your entry. Unfortunately, one of the rules of the contest is that no photos can be posted on the web, including blogs, so you'll all have to wait until December to see this thing.

I will, however, be posting pictures of my new T-shirts on the blog this weekend. I've been having a tough time with my hard drive, but seemed to have finally fixed it. I have 46 new shirts for the fair, & about 20 old ones. I plan on making 25 more before the fair (October 7th, Providence, RI) and I'm having more fun with the new T-shirts than I've ever had.

I'm ALSO having fun sharing a table with Rebecca at the fair. AND seeing Brooke! AND Katy & Paul! AND Robin! AND hopefully LeeAnn (who moved to Newport)! Either way, it's going to be a wonderful weekend.

Jenny Holzer has installations up along the waterfront, & there's a great exhibit in the RISD Museum about underground Providence Art (i.e. Fort Thunder, etc.).

Okay!

Have a great day everyone!

xoxo
Strongie

Fall Weather

I'm afraid my job stole away all of my time today, so all I have to share is this picture of an old painting I did.

Rebecca (who does not read this blog, even though I mention her!) & I were discussing the October 7th Craft Fair at RISD in Providence, RI earlier, & completely panicked. We realized we have less than a month to get everything together! Last year was a lot of fun, & I'm looking forward to going & especially sharing a table with Rebecca.

We plan to eat at Julian's SEVERAL times, & visit our WONDERFUL friends there. It was stormy last year, so hopefully the weather will be better this time.

Also, congratulations to Britney & K-Fed on their new baby boy! I'm sure another bun will be in the oven in no time...

Have a great night everyone!

xoxo
Strongie

Wednesday Morning

I'm running out of room on my computer again, so I may be recycling some old photos for the blog. The fish photo is from a trip to the Bronx Zoo with Gisel YEARS ago. We had a wonderful time.

In related craft/art news, I'm very excited (& thankful), for my work to be shown on ohjoy.blogs.com, an amazing blog (& one that gets a LOT of hits!). Their comments were very nice, & please check out their blog for interesting art & fashion. Very fun!

Hope everyone has a great day!

xoxo
Strongie

MONDAY

No pictures tonight : (

Updates:

*Last night, I silkscreened the octopus eyes onto fabric for the boys baby tee.
*Finished cutting trees & rabbits & applied fray blocker.
*Ate sushi (twice).
*Went out for $2 beer with Gisel after work
*Had phone date with Rebecca.

Also, I'd like to thank Seamsters.net for their wonderful piece on my illustration work. Thank you! If you haven't done so already, please visit this fantastic site.

Okay. VERY TIRED.

Goodnight everyone!

xoxo
Strongie

Iceland

I'm back from a WONDERFUL trip to Iceland, a country filled with ponies, ice-cream, & glaciers. Please enjoy the (many) photos below!





This was along Ring Road, the scenic exterior road around the country.



In fact, the scenery is so beautiful, even hamburgers fall in love (i.e. magic).



Homes in Reykjavik.



Scenery around our hostel in a remote part of the country.



More magic. The dipped cone is EVERYWHERE in Iceland. And this cone, "clown head," is their leader. He has a blue raspberry hat, gummy earrings, chocolate eyes, a lollipop nose, & a green gumball mouth. Hopefully, they will export this product very soon.



So pretty.



At our remote hostel on a (rare) sunny day.



This country is gorgeous.



Gently, pretty ponies, very friendly & sweet.



This was on the glacier, where we did a five hour hike & drank 1,000 year old water from a glacier puddle. I'm now going to live FOREVER.



I laughed out loud when I saw the glacier lake. It made me so happy to see these icebergs.



And, once again, this country is beautiful. This is their biggest waterfall, Gulfloss.



This is me, in crampons (sp?), & my harness on the glacier. Missing from the photo is my pick-ax (no joke).



The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal hot spring/spa, with natural mud masks in the lake. It was storming when we went, but delightful.

Okay! A lot of photos!

In craft news, I was accepted into the Boston Bazaar Bizarre, a December fair in Boston!!!! I'm so happy about this, &, especially happy that my wonderful (and talented) friend, Mary Bakija (carryboo.com) is also in the fair!

I'm working on the October fair right now, cutting trees & rabbits to stitch onto shirts. I'm excited about the new shirts, & relieved that they're taking less time, & I can charge less money.

Also, now that my hard drive is cleared, I can post photos of the new shirts!

Have a fun Sunday everyone!

xoxo
Strongie

Western Time

I've just taken my computer (& blogs) off of West Coast time, & put them on East Coast time. Please now consider these blogs in "real time."

Today, I'm going to my cousin's engagement party (congrats Chrissy & Ed!), & then to Iceland. I'm still only partially packed, but will try to "wing it" at the last possible moment.

Not much news to report - I've been away for a large portion of the Summer, &, although have had an incredible time, will be relieved to return without upcoming travel plans. I'll also be able to make more art & t-shirts, & post more frequently on this blog!!!!

I return next Friday, unless, of course, I meet a Viking and fall in love. This is roughly 80% possible. And I'm at least 95% wishing (also praying).

I will post all about it when I return, & empty my hard drive so I can put some new pictures up. In the meantime, I've included some old photos (i.e. blasts from past) to enjoy.





Have a great weekend everyone, & an even better week!

xoxo
Strongie

Out of Room On My Hard Drive!

So, unfortunately, no pictures! I'm out of room on my hard drive & can't save anything. In the Spring, I loaded too many fonts onto my computer, most of which need to go.

Tomorrow I'm going to Iceland, for which I'm very excited, &, at this point, slightly concerned because I'm also a terrible packer. I forget essential things (all the time). I make lots of lists & cross things out when they're in the suitcase, but I still get confused!

In other news, I'd like to extend my congratulations to Rebecca on becoming an aunt for the first time! Congratulations!!!

AND, also congratulations to Amy & Leo on their engagement! Congrats!

Tonight, I did my quarterly tax return (gross) & other busy paperwork. I'm looking forward to spending more time on the shirts when I return. The first Fall craft fair is Columbus Day weekend in Providence, RI, which is approaching fast!

I have no idea who reads this blog (if any), but for those of you that do, have a WONDERFUL evening! Hopefully the hurricane winds will subside enough to go out.

xoxo
Strongie

Tooo Long

I've been tremendously busy recently, which is wonderful, but in the midst of everything, I forgot to blog!

It started with a trip to Monterey, CA for business, & then Big Sur & San Francisco (for fun). Another word for San Francisco is "Best City Ever." The weather was beautiful & I had a fun (i.e. crazy) time visiting Liz, who lives there. I also bumped into Katy, my friend from New York! It was a wonderful surprise!

When I returned, I celebrated my birthday by eating lots of cake. Then Danielle's birthday by eating lots of pizza.

And then, after being away from the office for two weeks, I returned on Tuesday to the grind, where I also had the most incredible Bloody Mary's with Lee Ann to celebrate her new job. Congratulations Lee Ann!

AND, in craft speak, I've been silkscreening up a storm, preparting fabric, & pinning tees. I'm ahead of schedule, & am excited about the new shirts. Tonight, I silkscreened brown trees onto yellow fabric, which will be cut out & stitched onto a brown shirt.

So far, the baby tees of the rabbit & cloud are ready to be sewn, as well as the ligtning bolt/cloud & trees. The process (although rocky at the start) has been enjoyable, & I will be lowering my prices for the Fall Craft Fairs.

I've applied to the Bazaar Bizarre in Boston, which I hope I get into as well. Keep your fingers crossed!

Unfortunately, I'm having some kind of "disk error" related to uploading photos from my camera to share. Tomorrow, there will be new pictures, from my time in CA.

Then, I head east on Saturday to Iceland, which I am very excited for.

Have a great night everyone!

xoxo
Strongie