That's the spirit!

Mister Gingerbread Man, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to eat you. I have to have at least one gingerbread man during Christmas, and I've picked you!

You've picked me, well that's nice of you. Except, oh no, you ate my entire body! Now what am I supposed to do? Oh no, I'm coming awfully close to your mouth, and your teeth are kind of pretty and... big! Oh no, it's getting very dark and I can't see! Oh that tickles me! Well, Merry Ch...

Like a Lemon to a Lime

Born and bred Brooklyn - U.S.A.

They all me Adam Yauch - but I'm M.C.A.
Like a lemon to a lime - a lime to a lemon
I sip the def ale with all the fly women

Ever wondered how much the PG&E bill was?

Eucalyptus Street, San Carlos

I love you Jay and Devo

A bright time of year

Christmas lights make me really happy. Let's just leave it at that.

Three blogs I've been enjoying

I wanted to share three blogs I've been enjoying recently, all vastly different from one another.

This first one is called The Daily Coyote and it's written by a young woman who picked up and moved to Wyoming from San Francisco, and soon found herself caring for a baby coyote.

"Charlie came into my life when he was just ten days old, orphaned after both his parents were killed. He lives with me and a tomcat in a one-room log cabin in Wyoming."

Every day she has a picture of Charlie and how he's getting along, living with her and the cat. Very refreshing.

The second one is called The Sartorialist. This man loves fashion and he loves finding people on the street and taking photos of them, based on what they are wearing.

"I started The Sartorialist simply to share photos of people that I saw on the streets of New York that I thought looked great. When I worked in the fashion industry (15 years), I always felt that there was a disconnect between what I was selling in the showroom and what I was seeing real people (really cool people) wearing in real life."

There is such a wide variety of styles from New York and all over the world, and his blog has gotten such good attention, that fashion magazines now hire him. It is an inspiration, and clothes as some of you may know, are my favorite thing.

Last but so not least, can I present you with A Fanciful Twist. This young lady creates a very special world to share with others! She has a kind soul, a vivid and active imagination and a wonderful attitude. She makes all kinds of art and has her own gallery in the country.

"My name is Vanessa Valencia. I feel like a strange and curiously artistic woman from the 1800's trapped in the body of a thirty year old girl living in a bizarre Arizona."

Dare I say, you will be transported!

A very groovy resource

The San Francisco Public Library has a phone number you can call, to hear a pre-recorded story. There is a different one each day. The voices are wonderful and the recording is a little crackly. Take a chance and listen, won't you?

(415) 437-4880

"Thank you for calling Dial-A-Story. Please, hang up the telephone."

If you are in another area, check this link! Lots of libraries in the U.S. have this service.

Happiness is...

...Watching The Hills finale with my buddy Jess, in PJ's, cozy under a blanket. With intelligent discussions such as, "Do you think Lauren will get to go to Paris"? and "I wonder if Spencer and Heidi will break up!" and Jay in the background making wisecracks. ("This show is about nothing"!)

Ah, nothing. Until Paris, Jess!

...said Jamie Watson, 39.

Willie the Squirrel. Watson Christmas card 2006.
Photo by Jay Watson

Well golly, I was quoted in the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune! Shutterfly referred me to the reporter there, as it was an article on Christmas cards and letters, and our Christmas card last year was considered "unique"!

So, here is the article and darnit, now you're all going to know that we make fun of Christmas letters. But please keep sending them, we love it all, honestly. You can make fun of us, too. I mean, who ever heard of a Christmas squirrel?!

A happy show

the view from my studio
from l to r: artists Kalani Engles, Sean Smith, Jess Nichols of Rosina Red, Jay Watson

my studio

A surprise visit by good friend, Wendy Oropeza

Oh did we have fun last Saturday. I think we are still recovering from the scurrying and preparations and late nights, and this weekend isn't here a moment too soon. Thank you to all who came to visit and to those who wanted to be there and asked about the show. I feel the show was a success, even though we didn't have the coverage and traffic that goes with Silicon Valley Open Studios. We all sold something which is wonderful, but the best part to me is the process. Making new art, meeting new people, talking about my work, hanging out with the other artists and eating their snacks - this is what brings joy to me.

Our next show will be in the Spring and we are going to have a meeting about having it be a green show. We'll incorporate using recycled materials in our artwork and print our own flyers on recycled paper...I am already excited about it!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Remember, if you feel stress, stop and take a moment for yourself. Ask for a hug. Make a cup of cocoa, snuggle under a blanket to read and daydream and doze off. Life isn't a dress rehearsal. Make your moments count, now.

Oh, apple!

Oh apple, I love you apple! Pink lady apple, so crisp and delicious. My stomach always feels great after I eat you. Thank you, beautiful apple.

One of my favorite scenes from the film, Into the Wild is when Chris McCandless is talking to his apple while eating it. "You're so organic! You're sooo good! You're the apple of my eye"!

Do apples remind you of the holidays? Me neither. But let's briefly discuss this upcoming holiday season. I want everyone to feel goooood. I want there to be no stress for any of you! It can happen. Usually I get very stressed during the holidays and I specifically told myself this year not to. I listened to myself. I listened real good. And I always say, I am an average person, experiencing the things that everyone does. So if I can do it, that means you can.

No stress. Apples.

My favorite soup recipe

It's the limes that make this one so special and delicious!

From the recipe book:
Sausalito, Cooking with a View
Favorite Recipes from the Sausalito Woman's Club

Chicken Lime Soup
Serves 6

Olive oil cooking spray
8 chicken thighs, boned and skinned (or 2-3 lg. breasts)
6 limes
1 1/2 quarts chicken broth (1 box)
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
8 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cups diced zucchini
1 14 1/2-oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
1/2 cup medium salsa
Salt & pepper
1 package tortilla chips (for bay area, Casa Sanchez is my fave!)
2 cups cooked white long-grain rice

Spray chicken with olive oil and squeeze the juice of 2 limes over them in a glass casserole dish. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes or so. Grill 5 minutes to a side, or until done. Allow to cool. Shred (2 forks method) and reserve.

Bring broth to a simmer, add garlic, celery and carrots, and simmer 15 minutes. Add zucchini and mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the chicken, juice of remaining limes, tomatoes and simmer a few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in salsa and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon into soup bowls. Pass rice and tortilla chips in separate bowls.

Enjoy!

Cupcakes for a Cupcake

Who me?

Recently there was a small flurry of e-mails between friends, discussing cupcakes. So I thought I'd bust out these photos from my birthday last month. A special delivery was made from my sis-in-law in B'more. She stealthily found a cupcakery nearby. I don't just like cupcakes, I adore and demolish them.

Working

Tomorrow I am showing my work at the warehouse where I rent space with other artists. I am pretty excited about it! Jess will be there with Rosina Red Designs and Jay will be there with his photos. I have to go hang some little posters at some coffee shops on my lunch break today. My Mom is baking a ton of chocolate chip cookies for it.

Linden Street Warehouse Artists
Holiday Open Studios!
This Saturday, Dec. 1, 10am - 5pm
275B Linden Street, Redwood City
Across the street from Target, behind Sleep Train

Participating Artists:

Adele Seltzer
Annie Ahern
Bonny Novesky
Colleen Sullivan
Jamie Welsh Watson
Jay Watson Photography
Kalani Engles
Lisa Atoji
Rosina Red Designs
Sean Smith
Stephen Browning

My lunch

In an effort to provide you with the most droll entertainment of your day, may I present to you, my lunch.

There is a book out there with ideas for your blog including how no one cares about what you had for lunch.

I haven't read it.

Giving thanks

We give thanks before we eat our dinner and last night's went like this:

Jamie: "God, I'd like to thank you for Jay's super hot body".

Jay: surprised, chuckles and adds, "And for this food. Amen".

Jamie: "Jay, I think God has a sense of humor and it's ok to say a prayer like that. He (or She!) probably gets bored of all those prayers and is thankful for Talladega Nights!"

Oh boy, Frisbee, oh boy!

A beautiful saying

I read something really beautiful in the newspaper today. It was an article about a 6 year old boy who is blind, and wants to hand out gifts to the children in the hospital during the holidays. The article also goes on to say how much he loves the playground and going down slides, and his mother wants him to have a playset made out of soft materials, so he won't get hurt. This is how the boy expressed the happiness he feels at the playground:

"Going down a slide is like being on a rainbow".

Mood Lighting

1.5 days in Manhattan

I left my art in NYC

I was talking to Jay about my desire to leave art in different cities around the world. He suggested, why not start when you go to New York?

So I chose a monotype, put it in a sealed celophane bag, added a sticker on it that said "FREE ART! Take me home!" and wrote the following on a card to place behind the print:

Hello! I am a piece of original art (monotype) from San Carlos, CA. Send me a message! http://pineappleluv.blogspot.com

I tacked it to a wall with other posters on it, at E. 39th and Lexington. I wonder if anyone will notice it and want to take it home. I sure hope so. Regardless, I felt so happy to do it. My career as a guerilla artist has just begun.

Happy Birthday Bobby!

Happy Birthday to the greatest brother in the universe!!!

Something awesome in Portland

I happened upon this artist, Flora S. Bowley, whose work I am just loving!! It is so beautiful and colorful and imaginative!

Well, she is curating a show in Portland on Dec. 7th called "Thirty". The description from her website reads:

Thirty! I am the curator/organizer and also a participant of this amazing affordable art extravaganza. Thirty artists will have thirty days to create thirty small paintings (8" x 8") each. All 900 paintings will be for sale for $30 each!!

Gosh doesn't that sound like so much fun!? I wish I could fly to PDX to go to this event. I love, love, love it when artists do things like this to make art affordable for the general public.

For at least 15 years, I have had a guerilla-artist-type dream of making monotypes, then flying to different cities with them. PDX, LAX, NYC, Miami, NOLA, Salt Lake, et al. I would place them in cellophane bags and staple them to poles with existing posters such as "lost cat" or "ani difranco - nov. 11th!"

I'd perhaps have a little mission statement in the bag and I wouldn't worry if it got rained on, or if someone took it and did not take care of it. I would just let it go after the staple clicked.

This is going to be one of my main goals in 2008.

New monotypes

I've been having a lot of fun working in my studio lately. I work in a warehouse with other artists. We've just decided to have a holiday sale on Dec. 1st, so my weekends til then will be spent there. I feel really good about everything I'm doing lately. My favorite feelings are happening all at once, of peace, happiness and excitement.

Thank you

Thank you, my dear friend Jess. I thank you from the bottom of my heart! Does anyone notice this blog's new banner? Before, it was a sad rectangle with a Courier font. I wondered how one could make beautiful blog banners such as this one, which makes me drool. And then today, Jess, who is really smart and really determined (smart & determined being a lethal combination), has her 4-year old son Jaden call me today at work. A little voice on the other end says, "Jamie? Can my Momma talk to you for a little while and tell you about a gift"? Oh, well of course, I said! And then the excited Jess comes on the line and asks if I can please check my e-mail now for a gift! A gift! And low and behold appeared in my inbox an e-mail, with a subject line of your surprise, containing the jpg of the beautiful banner you see above. She made it herself, she figured out how, and I'm about to cry typing this because she is just so sweet. And by the way, she made herself a beautiful blog banner today as well. That's alliteration! And that's a great blog to check out.

Turn Back Now!

Arroyo Street, San Carlos

Spooky Hallows

Marie Leveau's tomb at St. Louis Cemetary #1

Mr. Price, I will always love your voice.

Night of the Living Dead by George Romero, 1968

Zombies are relentlessly driven to kill and eat and are far more dangerous in large groups.

Night Falls

Night Falls...

The forest holds its breath
Everything is still...

Witches wail
Witches cackle
A black cat cries at the moon

It is Halloween.


The Golden Arm

"Where is my golden arm? Wherrrre is my golden aarrrmmm!"


My Favorite Halloween Things

* Vincent Price
* Zombies
* Vampires
* New Orleans cemetaries and voodoo
* Scary stories that my dad tells, like The lady with the broken neck
* Horror recordings and sounds
* Scary movies, like Salem's Lot and The Headless Horseman
* Waxed lips

I will leave you with the scene that would force my brother and I to sleep in our parent's room. Yes, it's the scratching the window scene from Salem's Lot. Have a spoohoohoohooooky night!

Happy Birthday Momma!

You are the best Mom in the world.

Willie is back!

Our beloved friend Willie is back. She hasn't been over much, but she was here for a good visit this morning. We thought we hadn't seen her for awhile because naturally she'd be scared of Devo. But Jay said, "Maybe she just didn't come around because it was summer". Of course! Squirrels don't go around hiding peanuts in the summer! They only do that in the Fall, to prepare for Winter. Whatever little buddy, you're here now and we have peanuts for you.

Goin back home to the West Coast

The Vince Vaughn effect

I was talking to a special someone about career stuff and some encouragement was needed. I thought to myself, this career stuff would be easier on the mind if one adopted the ways of Vince Vaughn. So I wrote this.

The Vince Vaughn effect is one that leaves you to be:

Vigorous & determined

Is a gentleman

Not obnoxious but quick to laugh and joke

Confident in himself

Easy to be around

Very positive & very funny

Animated & alive!

Undeterred about his profession!

Gets into a little trouble

Happy but has a dark side

Not afraid to get what he wants, while still being nice

Night driving

Building a building

Ed & Jay, roofing

In this kind of comfy, Bay Area lifestyle, we are collectively known for "working hard and playing hard". So it is very refreshing to know a friend who is building a building. Refreshing also to know that the Bay Area friends want to go and help.

Vegetable madness

eggplant and butternut squash cubed
drizzled with olive oil
sprinkled with salt & pepper
roasted in the oven for 45 minutes
scooped into a bowl with fresh tomatoes on top
heaven

I heart Etsy

Palmeri Sign Earrings by sulu-design

Leilani by BeadGalDesigns

Pineapple handpulled woodcut on rice paper by DCutter

I heart Etsy. This is echoed far and wide, I know! The pictured items are ones that I have purchased. sulu-design is based in Portland (she has a delightful blog!), BeadGalDesigns is in Florida, and DCutter is an artist in Puerto Rico. Such a wonderful community. Thanks to Shari for first telling me about it! And here's to you Miss Rosina Red, who designed all my gorgeous wedding stationary and will have her very own shop there this Fall (OK, it's a double-dare for me to try to do a shop as well...MUST.get.in.the.studio!).