Ripped from my Sketchbook #1

When I was in college, I was required to keep a sketchbook for nearly every art class that I took and I still try to keep one up from time to time. Maybe I should make myself an assignment of one sketch a week...

Hooray for Freelance!

I may be a full-time graphic designer, but I also make time for freelance projects, like this poster here for a gig next weekend in Champaign, IL. Jared Bartman, a musician friend of mine, who can play just about anything, own's his own record label and puts out some pretty catchy tunes. His latest album Jersey Shore was designed by the same person who designed two of Death Cab for Cutie's records. Now I have been commisioned to do some work for JB, including a super cool project that I will write about in the near future.

Check out Jared's eclectic music here!

A night of Fondue and Fun times!

My cousin Carrie and I are more than cousins, we're friends, and every month we make a point to get together to make food and fun! Monday evening we ventured into the bliss of Fondue!!! For the first course we chose a Gruyere and Swiss fondue coupled with yummy bread, and baked soft pretzels. Mmm, I can feel a food coma coming on. For fondue part dos, we succumbed to the deliciousness of Toblerone and Ghirardelli Chocolate fondue, with strawberries, crunchy pretzels, rice crispy treats and the bread (which tasted like cake by the time we had finished smothering it in chocolate. For drinks, we toasted Jarritos Mexican sodas in Mandarin and Lime, which have no artificial sweeteners and co caffeine (of course the 60g of pure sugar makes up for any thought of trying to be healthy :)

After dinner we burned off a few of our calories by inventing dance moves. Carrie claims that if our entire night had been recorded it would have made for an extremely entertaining reality show, we are way to easily amused. Our fun evening ended with a good movie and three inches of snow.

Now wipe the drool off of your keyboard and carry on with whatever you were doing...if you would rather drool some more just ask for the recipes!

Quotes of the night:
"Poor people eat carbs... man it's good to be poor." (said with a mouth full of bread and chocolate)
Carrie: "I'm not colorblind am I?" Her favorite line from the Royal Tenenbaums.

Mint Creams

I'm not the most adventurest cook but I do like simple, colorful, crowd pleasing recipes. This one is all of the above. My family happily devoured these over the holidays, but they are quite delectible year round.

Peppermint Creams

1 egg white, beaten until frothy
2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 drops green food coloring
3 to 5 drops of Peppermint extract
Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips


Beat egg white until frothy, add coloring and extract, sift in powdered sugar until the consistency of play-doh, if it's too dry add a little more egg white, if too sticky then add a little more sugar. Once a dough, taste to see if it's minty enough, sometimes more extract is needed but the taste shouldn't be overpowering. Break off teaspoon size chunks and roll into balls then immediately stamp them down on a clean cookie sheet with a fork. They should be smooth, if large cracks appear then the mix may be a little too dry.

Let creams sit in the fridge for an hour to firm up. Usually I use a small 1cup measuring cup with a copper bottom over medium low heat to melt the chocolate, I use Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips, about a third to a half of the bag. It is a smooth consistency and does not turn frosty or filmy when cooled--it maintains that rich color. Twist creams off of the sheet and dip half way in chocolate then let cool and set on a foil covered tray. When finished lick spoon and measuring cup clean of chocolate (hey why waste it!)

Store in fridge until ready to serve. Mmmmm.....

All things TRON

I am a geek. I am that girl who tried to hide her Star Wars obsession when every other girl in school was into Backstreet Boys and their Cell phones. I am the girl who still gets giddy over the clicking together of Lego bricks. I am the girl who treasures her 80s toys like ancient artifacts and breaks out her Jem in the Holograms and She-Ra/He-Man dvds when I'm feeling nostalgic. I am the girl who still likes to break out my N64 and show Bowser who's boss with the power of 120 stars. I am the girl who watches Star Trek reruns at 1am and literally shakes with excitement when the show Fringe is on.

Recently I have found something else to geek out about! TRON. I must confess I never saw the original, only the trailer, but the new movie sucked me in. Oh Daft Punk, you turn me on, and I never want to turn off. Though the story was not all that complex, the art direction, FX, wardrobe and music hit the nail on the 80s revamp head. A actually got goosebumps as the Daft Punk theme score swelled. My cousin Lauren and I watched the armory scene and soon relayed to each other that we wished we could wear shoes like that in realy life. Well guess what Disney is coming out with its own line of TRON accessories! The cuff and ring actually light up! But I can't afford them, instead I will probably find a way to make my own.

Oh and check out these kickbutt wedges complete with LED lights by Edmundo Castillo, again, out of my price range (4 figures!) and only at Saks, but how cool are they?!