INCLUSIONS.

It's been raining off an on all day here. Hopefully that means more pretty mushrooms growing all over our wooden steps and in the park down the road... I failed to get any good pictures last time they were around. But, I did snag all of these little gems the other day while I was wandering around the trail behind our house. I'll use them as inclusions in the handmade paper we've been working on a Pyramid. (Sorry for the grainy photos. These were taken at night and I have to refuse the harsh flash on my camera, but you get the idea.) They are all currently being smashed in between a heavy stack of Stu's law school books to prep them for being added to some handmade paper! Can't wait!

I'M GETTIN' PAPER.

Sorry, couldn't resist the chance to reference Chris Brown... 

So, I guess I haven't shared much about my internship yet. Whoops. Well suffice to say, it's great! Pyramid Atlantic is full of wonderful people with cool ideas, easygoing personalities and hard work ethic! Awesome combo. 

And right now at Pyramid we're dealing with one of my all-time favorite materials - paper! To honor the art, I've chosen one of my favorite prints to share - "Paper Making Deckles My Edges" by Amy Gonzales. Amy is a fantastic book artist, printmaker, designer and all around cool gal. Check out her site and her etsy shop! I picked this print up about a year ago at the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair, and until now haven't really had the papermaking credibility to be able to hang it up! You'd better believe this bad boy is going up in my studio now that I've successfully produced some of my very own sheets. 

"Look at me now, look at me now..."

WEEKEND SCENES.

Nothing too crazy this weekend. A LOT of work and then mostly sleep. But in between:

>  a birthday celebration for Stu's dad featuring a delicious spice cake with carmel sauce!
>  frozen yogurt with granola and raspberries. Can't wait for pinkberry to hit georgetown!
>  lunch breaks by the new fountain at the Georgetown Waterfront Park
>  popcorn in this ridiculously awesome pop-up bowl while watching season 8 of Curb

And, now it's Monday.
Ready, set, go!

PROBABLY ILLEGAL, BUT...

I guess it's not all that safe to be driving down winding roads in the rain while taking video clips with my camera, but can you blame me? This stretch of road is just so nice I couldn't help it. So, enjoy a little something other than words and photos, and get a peek into what my drive home from the studio is like... With a little moody Regina Spektor to match the rainy weather.

DUDE, CUPCAKES.

Yes. Dude, cupcakes. With tiny carrots and berries. YUM!

Lots and lots going on here. Started back at work last week, worked seven days straight, then started my new (and awesome) internship at Pyramid Atlantic today. Love that good kind of busy!

But, back to the cupcakes. Made these little babies to bring into work last week for my first day back. I had a little too much fun frosting them, but when I bake from a box I feel like I have to do a bit of something special. Stu's Mom has this awesome tool for frosting cakes (basically a cupcake gun - yeah so gangsta!) that made the job a piece of cake! And, I was able to employ my handy Martha Stewart cupcake caddy - thanks Mom!

BEER AND HOT SAUCE.

It was a beer and hot sauce kind of weekend. Uh, when is it not? Especially now that Stuart is obsessed with combining the two...

Other things happened this weekend, but the important stuff is: I drank beer that was bigger than my head at Biergarten House (it took two hands), roasted garlic and peppers for some homemade hot sauce (this recipe was fantastic), and infused vodka with cucumber and jalapeños (separately, of course).

Which basically means, there will be some extra delicious beer + hot sauce (or bloodys!) in my future.

GOOD MORNING FRIDAY.

Mmm. Breakfast. Hands down my favorite meal of the day. This morning's breakfast looked so pretty I couldn't resist taking some snapshots. It's Friday and I'm ready for an awesome Labor Day weekend.

Some plans include:

>  Going to go to hear jazz in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden with friends tonight.
>  Making some hot sauce with the backyard-garden-grown peppers.
>  Swimming around in the pool.
>  I may have to make a sensible footwear purchase to help me survive standing all day at work. Hmm...
>  Finally hitting up Eastern Market!
>  And my oldest brother is in town! So who knows what I'll get into with that crazy one around....

Hope yours is a good one.

RABBIT RABBIT!

Rabbit rabbit! It's September!

For the superstitious out there, I hope you didn't forget to say your ode to the bunny this morning. I don't normally do this, but think I will start. Why not!? So it goes, if the first thing you utter after you wake up on the first of the month is "rabbit rabbit" you'll have good luck all month. There are tons of variations on this superstition, including that it could actually bring you bad luck, so speaker beware. Also, for those of you who missed out this morning, fear not! The alleged remedy is to just say it all backwards ("tibbar, tibbar") before hitting the hay tonight.

Hope you enjoy the new wives' tale inspired painting I made today.

Happy September.