Glorious! Glorious! Glorious! I love you Christmas!

Here's the thing, I am a Christmas addict. It is creepy and weird because I have a tendency to be sarcastic with a dash of cynicism. So, it comes as a surprise to all that I find this time of year magnificent. Me and Justin decorated a glorious, glorious tree this year. At first I worried that two designers decorating at Christmas would clash heads but aside from one disagreement about ornamental color schemes, we worked quite well together. Every night we are amazed at our skills that shine bright in the living room. Last night I wrapped the hell outta some presents. Those also, were nothing short of glorious. For our fur ball doggie we have a fabulous Christmas sweater, and I must say, he wears it well. Almost like that green and red argyle was made to be worn by him with his smashing good looks. So, now that we've made our holiday pretty to look at we're gonna shine some love, kids. Merry Christmas!

Metamorphosis Art Benefit....Ooooh fun

Once a year I get the privilege of participating in the organization of some sort of art benefit for charity. This year I'm so excited to be on board for Metamorphosis, an art benefit for the Kyrie Foundation. The event will be held November 6 at Studio 2131. A quaint little finger feast will be provided by several local restaurants including: Thomas, La Bodega, Room 39, D'Bronx, The Foundry and McCoy's, and Sweet City Cupcakes. I will be dancing, dancing, dancing to the live music provided by one of my faaaaavorite local bands, Softee.  And some people, if so obliged may want to partake in libations which include beer and wine. Oh...I almost forgot the whole point...art. Several wonderful, amazing, beautiful local artists have so graciously donated their incredible work which we will live auction that evening, all proceeds going directly to the Kyrie Foundation. In addition several other donated gifts will be raffled. It will be a lovely, lovely evening for a beautiful cause. We can dance and look at art together. Wanna?


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Painting, painting, painting....all for you

Wanna hear a super sweet, heartwarming story? So, years ago, while still in college, my friend Mindy Chang told me the only way to get the ball rolling on showing my work was to man up and schedule a show. In since I was being a scaredy cat, she went ahead and scheduled one for me, on the walls of her place, Blue Koi. Then, in the weeks following she would ask, "how's the work coming?" It was endearing. So, for the last few years she's inquired about when I may be willing to show again. I recently decided it was time. Time to replay the little nudge she gave me years ago. My newest body of work is the most sentimental set I've exhibited to date, properly so I guess, in the first place I ever showed. Awe, sweet huh? These paintings will be on display at Blue Koi until November 1. Next month I will be co-hosting Metamorphosis, an art benefit, at Studio 2131 in Crossroads. Lots of fun stuff going on that night, I will be posting more info soon. Then in April I will be curating and participating in Xx Chromosome, a study of the feminine hand in Contemporary Art. Exciting eh? I'll keep you posted. Until then I'll be working away, making pretty stuff and wearing big, fuzzy scarves. I love Fall, and getting to layer up. I'm loving the forecast ahead!

 

Go Away. watercolor and India Ink on paper.

Ode to Amy: nothing says love like french fries off the dashboard

So, this drawing is an ode to my dearest Amy. We just returned from getting our pumpkin spice lattes and holy canole is it raining! Which sometimes makes people drive pretty stupidly. Like the guy in front of us on the highway. Amy had to hit her breaks, which made my life flash before my eyes. We've been down this road together before. In high school. Collision on the highway, in a snowstorm returning from McDonald's. Horrible accident. I say the dumbest things in life-threatening situations. After the car was finished getting all smashed up, us jostled, fast food scattered everywhere...I picked a french fry up off the dashboard and offered it to her. Hey, I was trying to console alright?! French fries make me happy.

400 people per year survive lightening strikes, so...

Just now I was standing by the window, pouring myself some coffee and watching the pretty storm. I watched as a lady I work with ran out, into the storm, to get her umbrella out of her car. I sat pondering the sense of that situation. Going out, from a dry, covered building, to get an umbrella to bring back into the dry, covered building? Then I hoped that lightening would strike me through the window so that I could go home for the day. I guess that doesn't really make a lot of sense either, does it?

Chicks, man.

So, I'm insanely excited right now. A little busy....but still finding a little time to get fired up. A few of my favorite things in the entire world include: creating new bodies of work (of my art), discussing art with other artists...becoming inspired by them and learning from their process, networking in my local art community, and helping new artists whenever I can. So, I decided to crumple all of those ideas into a big ball and create a new show out of it. Xx Chromosome (the name may change, just something I came up with on a whim) is a new show opening April 3, 2009 at the Late Show Gallery in the Crossroads District here in KC. The concept of the show is to highlight the female artist, recognizing the importance of the feminine hand in contemporary art. The show will explore the processes, inspiration, use of materials, and each artist's growth through their individual work. The highlighted artists include women who are  experienced showing their work in galleries locally and nationally, and women who are not as experienced with this process. My hopes with this show is that it be interactive, encouraging a vessel for networking and discussing common interests. I'm so inspired by it that I think I may turn this into an annual affair showcasing different female artists every year. For this year though I have been incredibly fortunate...I'm getting to work with some beautiful artists that I admire immensely. The artists line-up includes: Maura Cluthe, Ellie Kort, Rachel Kort, Catherine Armbrust, Tiffany Matson, and Ali Moline. Exciting stuff eh? Don't worry, this show's my new baby so I'll be posting plenty of updates, including features about each of these awesome women. Lucky you.

Plethora...

....is one of my favorite words. I love that word. It reminds me of a giant garage full of junk or an eccentric old woman's jewelry box. I don't know why, it just does. Here's a plethora of crap I like to doodle about.....

I just got my new steak suit fitted...I think I look pretty damn good.

So, last week me and Kim were busy at work...thinking up awesome but unlikely ways to kill each other. I previously mentioned that Kim's illustration skills leave much to be desired. However, I took for granted the fact that my homegirl is a graphic designer with some mad program skills. This was in my inbox this morning. It gives me warm fuzzies. Next week I think we should move on to concepting epitaphs.

This is my steak suit. I only wear it out on special occasions...like when I'm going to the zoo and I want to die.

crazy, awesome deaths that are super unlikely

Ah, computer update training week at work. Seven fun-filled hours a day learning how stuff works. It's not fun kids. See, my thing is drawing stuff. Designing stuff. Sometimes falling down, sometimes accidently breaking stuff. These are my strengths. Retaining hours upon hours of computer lessons, weakness. So, to entertain ourselves me and my good ol' buddy Kimmy decided that we should send illustrated death threats to each other across the class. Sweet right? A few days ago my friend Kim requested a friend divorce adding that she would rather be hit by a car than apologize for hurtful words she spoke about an embarrassing, but awesome band I love. I reminded Kim that hit and run accidents and divorces go hand in hand and that later that afternoon I would be renting a Ford Festiva to take her ass out with. I recommended she invest in a helmet and wear it at all times. Just in case. So, that's where the first illustration began. Awe, it all started with a Ford Festiva. 

Watch out Kimmy! You never know when a Ford Festiva's gonna be gunning it around a corner, coming for your ass! 

Next, I wished Kim a death threat by her imaginary, drug-dealing boyfriend's python. All drug-dealers have pythons or tarantulas, everyone knows that.

We work out close to an airport so of course, work with what ya got. Airplanes purposely swooping down specifically to decapitate Kim. If I were a pilot I would totally do that.  

Finally, Kim orchestrated her own death. An escape buffalo that knocks off a lawn mowing business, runs her ass over with a mower then stomps on all the tiny, mangled pieces! Awesome! Oh yeah, but then she also tries to defend herself with mace. Everybody knows that buffaloes are immune to mace. Get smart Kim!

I know I may come off as a little creepy here...obsessed with death but hey, that's what 7 hours of computer training does to people. It's not my fault man. Kim was not completely innocent in the whole thing either. My favorite death of myself was me wandering through a zoo wearing a steak suit. Brilliant. I would love to have shown it but Kim's illustration skills are crazy weak. If I don't get her a cyanide sandwich for Christmas I may just get her a drawing class.

Bacteria, Protozoa, E.Coli, and Love...for my friend

   So, if you've taken part in the reading of my previous posts, it'll come as no surprise to you that I despise Johnny-on-the-spots. They are the bane of my existence. Horrid, horrid little creations. The guy that created Cheez-Its, awesome. The guy that created porta-potties, satan's spawn. I could go on for pages...but really, no one likes 'em so I would just be preachin' to the choir. Germs are gross. I agree. But the germaphobe that obsesses ( aside from my J-O-T-S obsession), may be worse. 

   Saturday night I'm out to dinner with a rather large group of friends. One of my girlfriend's, let's call her Summer, is seated directly to my right.  Now, mind you we are a large group and the waitress was quite busy. Thirsty and thoughtful, I decide to pour some of Summer's unused water into my glass.  Knowing that Miss Purell would flip if she saw the two lips of the glasses touch, I was very cautious to avoid this. As I set her glass down she stares (I mean lazer beams, lazer beams), sickened at the glass.  Assuming that she had not witnessed the transaction, I decide to explain ( or defend, whatever): "Dude! I totally DID NOT let the glasses touch!"  To which she replies, "You touched my glass though." What?! You know... because the bubonic plague is so relevant nowadays and whatnot.

    Fine, I let it go.  But, here's the kicker, today while talking to my friend Vanessa, whose nickname btw is Toes, alright, says "Well, she's let me eat off her plate before." She let Toes eat off her plate but freaks out when I touch her glass? Selective germaphobe...that sounds like a bunch of BS to me.  So, Vanessa promised that next weekend when she helps our buddy Sum move, she'll cough all over her belongings. In the meantime, I've been doing a little research online about germs, disgusting facts that no one has any business knowing, and tonight I will enlighten, and probably frighten her into paralysis with them. Like my mom always said, "You want something to cry about? I'll give ya something to cry about."

 

Arrested Development

Alright, so I have no fun pictures... and no funny stories about humiliating myself. However, I do have some super awesome good news. Oh yeah, three adjectives to describe it... it's that good. So, I think that David Cross is the funniest man alive. He is cynical and hateful and I love it! I also love to listen to comedy sketches while I work. I've listened to all of his about forty times over and I still laugh out loud. My brother told me that he recently heard David Cross was in a new movie, so of course, I decided to check it out. Guess what I found?  One of the funniest shows ever ( ever, ever) is being turned into a movie. That's right Arrested Development ( Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, and of course David Cross) is being turned into a full length feature film. I know, I know...it's a glorious day, right?  2009, me and my brother and tons of junk food smuggled in via my purse, at the movies laughing hysterically. I can't wait!

Karma's a bitch!

Hey, Katie Horner, thanks for ruining prime time television last night! Real cool. Aw, it wasn't so bad. Me and Am sat out on the deck watching the crazy storms roll in. It was quality time together.  She threw out some weather terms and raved about how awesome the storm was and I encouraged her to go back to college and get her degree in meteorology. Then I got pegged with a hail pellet. Which reminded me of a few years ago...when I decided to go head-to-head with karma. So, a couple of my friends tend to be a bit on the hippie side.  They own at least one tie-dye, drench themselves in patchouli, and often experiment with alternative deodorants. Lilac deodorant, organic mumbo jumbo, whatnot. Listen, it's called Speed Stick, don't complicate things hippies. Simple stuff, been around forever.  Needless to say I occasionally reject some of their philosophies. One night, while most likely on a cynical rant,  one of the hippies (we'll call them Sarah and Amy) say to me, "that's karma for you." To which I most likely replied along the lines of, "there's no such thing as karma, so save it!" Two seconds later a chunk of hail comes through the rolled down car window and pegs me in the head. The hippies laughed and laughed, feeling victorious. True story kids, take it from me, don't mess with karma in a hail storm.

In the bushes outside of Mike Lowery's house

I'm in love with Mike Lowery. Love him! So, a few weeks ago one of our art directors got back from a little illustration trade show in New York. She emails me immediately and says that his style reminded her of mine. I don't necessarily see it, but hey I'll take the compliment because I think he's great.  Then I was reading Julia Rothman's sketchbook series blog and stumbled upon him again. I'm in the midst of some researching at work and all I wanna do is hang out on his websites. Or in his front bushes with binoculars. Just kidding...kinda. On Etsy he has a print of bunnies eating dim sum. I think I'm gonna need that. Perfect for my new entryway with my collection of work from favorite artists. So, I suggest you take some time...preferably on your company's watch, and check him out. And Mike Lowery's neighbors, if you see me in the front lawn, don't call the cops, it's cool, I'm researching. 

David Sedaris, sprinkled with glitter

I am so excited! Tonight I will be investing in three sparkly new sketchbooks for the three new lines I've been asked to illustrate at work.  With the lines is also the promise that I will be able to work undisturbed...I think the way they put it was "off limits," I've been made "off limits" to the rest of the company. They're giving me sketchbooks and pens...and the luxury of privacy. It's kinda like winning an all-expenses-paid vacation. Although this all-inclusive vacation is in the Northland part of Kansas City, I'll still take it.  There is one catch however...I have to do 40 thousand mock-ups today before receiving my prize.  Needless to say I am slowly mutating into a spray mount glitter monster. Wherever I walk I'm sure to leave behind a pink glittery trail. Precious, huh? In our staff meeting a few hours ago a friend slid a piece of paper over to me, my favorite author ever is releasing his new book today, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Unfortunately I'm playing this game where I act like a grown-up and budget...so the book will not be mine for a week or two.  I'm content just knowing it exists. A few years ago I was reading one of his books while on an airplane. I began laughing so hard I was literally gasping for breath, couldn't breathe. My head was in my lap laughing into the book, trying desperately to stop. The very thought of the story I had just read would send me right into another fit. I think I truly frightened the middle-aged woman to my left. It was great...so, I'm very excited to get the newest addition to his collection, and most likely humiliate myself in public once more.

Man, I'm good at weekends...and Scrabble. Right girls?

Horrible! Horrible, horrible, horrible! I've neglected you so blog. On the upside I have lots of great times ahead of me...and, fingers crossed, I'll be keeping up with posting.... lots of doodles, sprinkled with a few funny stories. So, hello again. I just had super, wonderful weekend number 2. Although I've had a bit of muck going on...I'm feeling almost unfairly blessed. Friday night I was fortunate enough to see one of my favorite bands. They flippin' rocked...it was a perfect, perfect night...the weather was beautiful and they played my very favorite song last during their encore. Thanks, guys. Then on Saturday I spent the day with my three wonderful, wonderful best friends. My friend Amy threw a memorial party in the park for her mother who passed away 5 years ago. It was incredible... Amy created a beautiful day that her mother would have absolutely loved. So, we remembered an amazing woman, exchanged lots of hugs, wore summer dresses, laughed together, and I got to take baby for his first trip down a slide in the park.  Then, later that night I dominated Jen and Sarah at Scrabble. I mean, I killed them. They should be embarrassed.  I bet if you added both of their scores together it still couldn't have touched mine. Jen will have to refresh my memory...I displayed the score sheet on her fridge, a reminder that I am a Scrabble savant. I should go on a scrabble championship tour. I need to clear out a place on my shelf for a new, shiny trophy. 

I have to thank my girl Val for going up to the plate for me...talking me up to the big wigs and getting me some awesome new assignments at work.  I love doing illustrations for kid's stuff. It's muy, muy fun. After I clock out though, this is what I'll be working on. I've written a couple children's books about this little guy, Bixby Gato, now I just gotta get busy illustrating. He's gonna be my new boyfriend for awhile, we'll be spending many evenings together. Lucky guy.

fake coffee, fake furniture, fake stuffed boar's head

This weather has been insane.  I love it... but I'm not being as productive as I plan to be. Oh well, it'll be too hot soon and when it comes 'round I'll have plenty of work to catch up on indoors. Last night I joined friends for dinner on the patio at Fric and Frac. Before I was able to even sit down Mr. Nick Walker, whom I wrote about in the "Fat Bat" post, says to me, " I have a few issues I would like to discuss about Fat Bat." He proceeds to tell me that mocha chai does not exist and that it will "not fly" with the general public.  My friend Amy, a previous Starbuck's employee in her youth, endorsed Nick's argument. She decided to delve into detail about how mocha coffees are made, this process is not applicable to chai .... the two just do not mix. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the senseless blabbing. However, I was simply using the term "mocha chai" because the syllables worked and because this was after all, just a satirical sketch that I quickly created to inspire this pesky perfectionist that now challenged me from across the table. Also, in my past experiences with Starbuck's, they have been willing to accommodate almost any request I make. For instance, I request pumpkin spice flavoring in June and voila, I get a pumpkin spice latte (typically reserved for winter months). Amy and Nick rarely go to Starbuck's by the way, perhaps they should find another crusade.With the new project I am working on I am considering rudimentary furniture designs, the modern classics. It's been mucho, mucho fun and I have a feeling I'll be having a desire to share lots of the preliminary sketches. Such as this one, highlighting the Eames Herman Miller chair. We have a brown leather one, although I prefer the white one that I portray here. Maybe I need to go furniture shopping. Retail therapy..and research for art projects, love it.

Game On!

Oi vey! What a weekend. Uno mas deadline complete. This one was the most demanding and yet most fulfilling one to date.  I love that... working feverishly and at the end being insanely satisfied with the final product. All weekend I thought, "I cannot wait until Monday! I am gonna be so flippin' lazy!" So, last night I waltzed out of the office, heading for my couch.  Instead I got wild urges to go to the gym and later, to bust out my laptop and begin work on the next project. Fortunately someone close to me reminds me often that in order to not get burnt out I need to take a pause in between. So, I retired to bed quite early for me ( 9:30, what ninny?!) and slept in this morning. So, self, I hope you enjoyed your little vacation because tonight it's "game on"! 

One of the fifty-thousand sketches that was produced over the weekend.  Quite amusing to me...listening to myself describe these deadlines, then seeing the cute, snuggley doodles that are produced.  Doesn't make it seem so dramatic now does it? Thanks mermaid lady.

Sketchbook, I'm gonna wine and dine you tonight!

So, I got over my little pouting session about the upcoming rainy weekend.  I'm all heavy in the middle of a new presentation at work and I love, love, love what I'm getting to work on! However, it's illustration city 'round these parts right now. Not complaining... not one bit.  But all of my illustration energy has been turned over to this current project and in since we're preproduction, I unfortunately can't really share it with the world yet. Me and my doodles are gonna spend a nice romantic weekend together... nailing down the finishing touches for the big presentation dia. Next weekend I'll play outside and spend some quality time with you... making pictures for you, treating you right. It's a date. On a sillier note- John, a friend of mine at work, just told me that early this morning his daughter (the girl in the moustache and pink shirt in my earlier post)  got to meet David Cook, the KC guy from American Idol. He's taking the photo that she sent him of her and David and turning it into a faux Teen Magazine cover. So, now she's officially the coolest girl at her school and she has the sweetest dad ever! Awe, that's so flippin' cute! 

Okay, for real rain, go away!

So, a couple close friends are whining ( now I'm gonna receive phone calls saying 'Oh, whining, huh? ) that I'm not including enough of my personal artwork on this blog. I'm just a trophy "art" girlfriend to you all aren't I? The work's so pretty until she talks. So much for my opinions and interests. I'm just gonna smile and nod... and post artwork to win affection. Ha ha. Alright, pity party's over... go home. I'll do my best to keep your appetite satisfied but I am a busy girl so there may just be a few days thrown in, in which you'll just have to enjoy my personality...without pretty pictures. And, much like the images below, you'll have to settle for sketch book scribbles some days. I am working on my next show though. Slowly but surely... so stay tuned and I'll give you sneak peaks. 

This one expressed my sentiments exactly. I've been really enjoying my lovely days...getting to play outside and now those damn weathermen are gonna screw up my weekend dreams. Oh well, just an excuse to stay inside and create. I'm trying to be a "glass is half full" type of girl these days.

One man's junk...is another man's reason to play hooky from work

Boo hoo! Everyone loves to complain about their jobs and I admit that I too have been guilty of this humdrum pastime.  But in reality I dig my j-o-b. I get to illustrate, paint, design, and down as many diet 7-ups a day as I want. So, not too bad. Another bonus of being a creative professional is a splendid little thing called "research days." Days where I get paid to go out and shop. We creatives have to stay trendy, y'know. On Friday, together, as a big happy design family our studio got all dolled up in our best boho chic attire and headed to Sparks, Kansas for the biannual Sparks/White Cloud Flea Market. Shopping is an art... that business wears me out, but we did find some pretty fun stuff. An additional bonus, we got to mingle with the locals. Whoo-eee! 

             photo by Robert Baker

All kinds of stuff...some even in the exact same color.

 There was one tent that had the coolest, old graphic-y stuff. We could have spent hours and a fortune in there.

 This one below is my favorite purchase,  a 4ft scroll from an old teaching aid easel. One section of the scroll was a diagram of the presidents of the U.S., the last being Woodrow Wilson, only showing the date of his inauguration, 1913. Wowzer... older than my Grandma!

Downfalls to the day: 1. We lost Amy for a short stint, but fortunately I watch a lot of Without A Trace, so I believe that if it had come down to it my skills would have been found beneficial to her recovery. 2. Lorenza was disappointed that her cheese dog at lunch was made with nacho cheese. We wish they had had a suggestion box on the side of the trailer that it was served out of. We would have suggested a few episodes of Top Chef. Get creative hot dog man! 3. More Johnny-on-the-spots. Damn you Johnny-on-the-spots! Damn you!

What' chu Chalkin' About, Willis?

Ahhh, finally winter may indeed be coming to an end. Of course, I do live in the midwest so it's tough to make that call for sure. I'll keep my mittens out until June, just in case. Don't get me wrong I love me some snow, fuzzy sweaters, and soup but I am getting damn stir crazy in my loft! Last weekend my two friends Brian and Wolfgang ( the directors/creators of Mosaic Brain, a non-profit organization whose mission is to serve underserved youth through artistic exploration and expression)  invited me to participate in the first annual Chalk Walk. It was a cool festival like gathering, you know with music, concessions, johnny-on-the-spots ( which I could dedicate an entire post to because I freakin' hate them), and a bunch of really fun local artists creating beautiful chalk murals all over a park in the Northeast part of KC. Artists involved in the event ranged from tattoo artists to advertising designers and  prominent local  fine artists.  I was completely honored to be invited and loved the excuse to kick it outside all afternoon. 

My friend E-Long ( below on the left) who did a monster 16 foot square, was right next to me. He's got an awesome graffiti-like style which I love. Fortunately he was stocked up with a pretty fancy selection of chalk which he was gracious enough to share.

Below are some pics of my work in progress. I had more people around keeping me company but I look a little lonely in that first one. I guess I could have recruited help but who am I kidding... I'm a little too unorganized to coach people through my vision. For my self-esteem's sake we'll just substitute the word "unorganized" with "improv".... yeah, that's the ticket.

Bring Your Kids To Work Day...and I'll Kick Their Butts at Kickball

So, last week was bring your kids to work day... and it was flippin' awesome! For years I have been annoying the crap out of everyone close to me, quizzing them from one of the best books ever created, The Book of Questions ( by Gregory Stock). It's this quirky little book that asks random, random questions. Couple examples:

Question 4: If you could spend one year in perfect happiness but afterward would remember nothing of the experience would you do it?

Question 88: You, your closest friend and your father are on vacation together, hiking together in a remote jungle. Your two companions stumble into a nest of poisonous vipers and are bitten repeatedly. You know that neither will live without an immediate shot of anti-venom, yet there is only a single dose of anti-venom and it's in your pocket.  What would you do?

Fun, right?  Well, they also published a children's version of this book. When I was in college and used to substitute teach, we may or may not have blown off a math lesson or two to read and discuss from this book.  The kids' answers would crack me up. So, when I was asked to host a little segment we called "Questions With Tuesday," I jumped at the offer. Because we were in our company's big, fancy conference room I  set the tables with place cards, including each kid's name and fake moustaches. After all this was a big, serious meeting.

One of the questions I asked was something along the lines of "If you could do anything in the world, money's not an option, what would you do?" The kid on the left in the pic below raised his hand and said, "shave."

Personally I think that a design studio would be a fun place to spend the day if I were a kid... but we kinda forgot the importance of recess. So, after hours of cool projects the kids were getting a little over zealous to get some exercise. A little panicked, I raced t the closest sporting goods store, bought a bouncy ball and quickly recruited designers from the office to a kickball competition. The kids were impressed with my skills.. I still got it. Take that 9 year olds!

                all photos by Robert Baker

a faux speed date, you and me

So, in since we're gonna hang out for a few minutes I'll give ya a quick brief on junk that I like. It's a courtesy really, a considerate little gift from me to you. That way, before you invest some time looking at all the blah blah I like you can decide if you even like the chick that's offering it up. If I could be a hybrid of famous superstars I would be a nice concoction of Tina Fey, Sofia Coppola, and Parker Posey. I watch really crappy tv...and I'm totally secure with this shortcoming. I smoke three cigarettes too many a day, sometimes a quick one on the way to the gym. I buy grocery store sushi, but the woman that makes it is a sweet little asian lady. I like to imagine that in her youth she was trained in Japan by a sushi making master...so she's over qualified for her position as sushi lady at the local grocery. I don't like cheese ( I know, this is probably a deal breaker, huh?) And finally, my boyfriend's relieved that you all exist, to listen to my artsy banter, he's heard enough.