As far as our journey went, it was super smooth and sweet. I’ve definitely never had so many friends express such warm feelings and come over to say goodbye (and I’ve fled many a urban center). It made the leaving all the more difficult, but solidified the reason I loved living in San Diego. My parents and brother coming out was also super sweet and supportive. It obviously helped us save a bunch of money, and made the whole transition smooth. Max and my mom and I took two days to make the trip (stopping in Santa Barbara) so there was plenty of time at parks with the driving portions strategically planned during nap time. The second day of the trip Max slept 3 hours out of the 4.5 hour drive and arrived at a house with a whole room set up with his toys. He felt right at home.

So that gets us to…. what is there in Monterey besides a kick-ass aquarium. Well, here’s a quick run-down of our findings as well as photos of our first weeks here. AND IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ THIS REALLY LONG POST, YOU CAN JUST SCROLL DOWN TO THE PHOTOS AT THE BOTTOM:

1) First off, people here love the hospital and hate the weather. It’s as if nobody here has heard of Portland. Truth be told, we’ve enjoyed the weather thus far. Plenty of grey (which makes for much better outdoor photo ops – not as much shadow), but some sunny days too. And about 10 degrees cooler than San Diego. And the hospital seems pretty great, which is grand since that’s where Jason works. He is so far loving his job.

2) Coffee Shops and Bakeries – within a 3 minute walk of our house is Pavel’s Bakerei. In the photos there is a series of Max devouring a blueberry danish. Definitely yum and big-gulp-sized croissants. My preference is the Happy Girl Kitchen which is a 15 minute walk (along the beach!). They do drip coffee one at a time (from a San Francisco brand Blue Bottle), host canning classes, have tons of preserved goods and superbly executed baked goods by a woman Stephanie who studied in Paris (from whom I’ll be taking a class at the end of this month). Stephanie was one of the first people we met when we did a reconnaissance mission here in January. She turned us onto Pacific Grove.

3) Parks – the Caledonia Park is about a 7 minute walk from our house and has your standard play stuff and collection of moms trying to stay sane. It does have a little table top track where boys seem to congregate and race cars. Very popular. And – judging from my sweep of local parks – these table top tracks seem to be more of a staple here.

4) There is the beach here within walking distance. We haven’t made it to Asilomar Beach which reportedly has great surfing and is also within walking distance. I have to admit in terms of playing in the sand, I like the Carmel beach even though it’s in Carmel. The sand is prettier, it’s cleaner and there’s less seaweed. I don’t know how I ever got so wimpy when it comes to beaches.

5) The “My Museum” is like San Diego’s Kid City. We got a pass and have been there once.

6) Parents Place – I’m digging this spot. So far we’ve only been to the Friday cooking and art classes. The classes are from 10am – 1pm, but it’s all very casual. You show up and leave whenever you want. There are stations for different art projects and cooking projects (in two separate rooms) and you can participate as much or as little as your rugrat wants. You can also just play with the toys they have inside and out and just hang with the other parents. I like the art class because the teacher Linda makes lavendar-scented, pink, sparkly play dough and plays classical music. It is very soothing after a morning melt-down.

7) Second Hand Shops – There is a great density of antique shops, consignment shops and second hand stores. The range is vast. I’m loving Candy’s “Good Stuff” second hand shop (super funky) and the Goodwill. I guess if you’re a movie star you could afford things from Trotter’s Antiques ($4000 bedside lamps for starters), but there are other more price-friendly places for us less-informed, less-well-off hunters of things used. And there’s a wonderful children’s consignment shop called Chatter Baux that is so filled to the brim with so much stuff that makes you feel really bad for ever buying any child’s clothing new.

Our House - 605 Pine Street. Built in 1905. We’ve really been enjoying it and are working on fixing up the guest bedroom first, so we welcome all. Max loves riding his bike in the house (since we don’t quite have the furniture to fill out) and having a room dedicated to his playing. It’s a lot of fun.

9) Friends – We miss everyone. There are a lot of military families here, so there’s a lot of transition. Luckily for us, one family we met at the park live 3 blocks from us and actually aren’t military (the father, Mikko, works at the hospital too). They have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old and we’ve been able to have some of those impromptu play dates that make life so much more bearable.

10) Ice Cream Shop – within walking distance. Very funky with occasional live music and an Elvis Pinball machine.

11) Other culture – the Whole Foods here stocks Bust Magazine. Welcome to Central California. Jason has been missing the San Diego local breweries. Local music is more folky. I don’t think I’ll be going out for any punk music or fancy cocktails anytime soon (not that that’s so much on my agenda at 32 weeks pregnant). I did spot a place in Seaside (I think) called the Alternative Café where Mark Mothersbaugh reportedly has played. If this is true, seems like it could hold some potential.

I spotted these illustrations as soon as they went up. Granted, that was a couple of months ago, but I wasn’t feeling well for a couple of months.

The illustrations are by Blair Thornley, one of San Diego’s many talented local artists. Thornley teaches illustration at San Diego’s City College and supports herself otherwise as a fine and commercial artist. Of her commercial endeavors she has done some very endearing animations for a Neiman Marcus Christmas campaign. You can find this commercial and her “Underwear Stories” animation at the animations section of her website. If you have 3 minutes, it’s worth a look. You’d have to hunt hours to find something so delightful on youTube.

I look Thornley’s simple line art approach. It the richness of her imagination and the confidence in her approach that make them work. It is certainly something I aspire to.

A friend of mine owns Suzie’s Farm in San Diego. They are the newest kids on the San Diego Community Supported Agriculture scene and they rock.

They recently held their twin daughters’ 4-year-old birthday party down on the farm (doesn’t that sound wholesome?), where the kids got to eat pizzas fresh made from a kiva oven on the farm, run around in the dirt, consume copious amounts of frosting, and go treasure hunting on one of the fields. Apparently the kids – in this directed/mediated age – were asking for some kind of map or list. How would they would know what is a treasure they wanted to know. You’ll know it’s a treasure when you see it, they were told. Where would the treasures be, they wanted to know. That’s the hunting part of the treasure hunt, they were told.

So here’s some of what they unearthed as well as some other recent treasures in my own wanderings.

As what I want to do most in the world (besides be a great person to the people I love and to human kind in general) is to be an illustrator, I thought I’d start compiling some illustrators that inspire me. I hope it serves as a source of research and a way to categorize and learn. In organizing and bringing this information to light, I also hope it helps me in deciding the style I want to pursue as an illustrator. As with any endeavor they say one of the best ways to learn is to study those who have gone before you. If you want to be a writer, read. If you want to be a photographer, look at photographs. If you want to draw, look at drawings. The name of this blog, after all, is look… see. The process of doing may begin with looking.

That does not excuse, of course, a lack of doing. I see this as a journey. One that will eventually lead to more examples of what I’ve done for other people to look and see.

So here are some beautiful rocks that I look and saw. They remind me of an illustrator who goes by magprint on etsy. This person is obviously inspired by the natural world, but has also done a series inspired by quilts that also have a rock like quality to me. What I enjoy is the pattern and texture and that comes out in the choice as lino cut as a medium.

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Basically, the first trimester of pregnancy stinks. So while I’ve been busy, it’s mostly been with growing the organs of another being and watching a very energetic 21 month old. As far as my energy level, I was getting a headache every time I exerted enough energy to walk to the park which didn’t leave energy for much else.

Which isn’t to say I didn’t do stuff. I did do some stuff, especially if I was pressured into it or had a deadline. Now, as the first trimester woes wane, I’m finding my vitality getting back on track. I have the energy to show what I’ve managed to do and what I’ve been thinking about and hopefully do more stuff in the future.

So I’ll start with one of the bigger projects I undertook: making 80 cupcakes for my friend Anna’s wedding. The majority of the cupcakes were Irish Car Bomb cupcakes (use any excuse you can to make a batch of these. they are as good as they sound). We also made some carrot cake cupcakes since that is the other half’s favorite flavor (and who can blame him for liking cream cheese frosting?). While I was at it I had rubber stamps made of a whale and a bird to go along with their whole fish/birdie theme and then made little flags of the cupcakes from them. I also had whale and bird pins made as wedding favors. And finished up with a couple of signs, a guest book, and an outdoor wedding sign that took entirely too long for the end result (but the bride had requested it and she is so not pushy that I thought I could give her the one thing she had the nerve to ask for). All in all it was tons of fun (although I’m sure it stimulated a few headaches) and made me wish I had been so inspired by design*Sponge before my wedding (or maybe not…. I still appreciate the punk rock approach we ended up taking. it was sooooo not stressful). Still it’s fun to be involved with a DIY wedding. It definitely is a conduit for creative energy and certainly deadline driven.

Come to think of it, the Bobro Stafford wedding was pretty punk rock too. They ended up booking the Polish American hall the weekend before the wedding when they realized a backyard wedding in February was going to be a problem (Ms Bobro said it was oh-so-Deer Hunter

Carrot Cake Cupcake with Bird Flag

). And check out her tiger plate! Sassy.

Commitment takes time. And well, just commitment. It’s hard to show up for even just my second “making marks” session. And it’s hard to let go of expectations…. of where this will go, what I’ll make today, how much I’m satisfied, how “good” I think I have or have not done. But what I have done is to get it done. At least now for a second time. I tried closing my eyes. Drawing from imagination. Drawing while not looking at my hand. Making five minute drawings from photographs. All in an effort to let go and just allow the marks to emerge. And I tried a different material and medium. A china marker on Max’s newsprint pad which we have set up on an easel in our living room.