For anyone visiting from OC Weekly, I’m not a professional baker or cookie maker or anything -  I just make them as gifts for friends, and they seem to like them so I just kept doing it.

Thanks for visiting!

But March feels like a fresh start.

After experiencing the monotonous, soul-sucking judicial process for a week by serving as a juror on a pointless civil trial, having the worst cold/illness I’ve had for a couple years (upper respiratory infection), feeling so behind on work yet also feeling too burnt out to work extra hours, and finally (and worst of all), my very sweet & kind grandfather passing away… I am ready for a new month.

I feel like I’ve learned some lessons, I’ve been hurt, I’ve been healed, and I’ve been rejuvenated to continue creating new things and having new experiences.  It’s time to dive into my list with renewed conviction. In February I abandoned my sketchbook/journal a bit, but it’s about time we became reacquainted.  I have another set of cookies that needs some icing and a grand reveal to its recipient (oooh, who could it be?). Spring is just starting to spring so it’s almost time to start getting outside again; gardening, bike rides, picnics, and general exploring.  It’s time to start drawing more. And more. And more. And more. South by Southwest is coming up in a week and I need to make some new business cards.  I have a lot to do and I feel excited to get to the doing.

Meanwhile, Todd has finished up a very special project that we just HTML-ified and put online last weekend. It’s a “what we did in 2009″ recap, but in super fun, design-y style. Check it out at Quackenblog.

Todd also just started a Tumblr blog tonight in which he shares some of his musical findings, of which he has quite a lot. And those findings are quite good. So that can be found here: candyhugs.tumblr.com

So, anyway, March: I like you so far. I feel a little more caught up with work, I feel inspired, SXSW is coming soon, and more good things are on the way, I can tell. So, thanks.

I thought I would have it done by my birthday but I wanted to make sure I got it right, so I didn’t rush or pressure myself.  I kept that mantra in mind as well as I wrote this list – no “draw something every day” or “write a blog post every week”.  Those types of goals just make me feel stressed and I am more likely to give up on them if I miss a day or two or seven.  I always think, since I screwed up that one time, I may as well just give up on the whole thing because I ruined the “streak”.  I have already started my illustrated journal, and I’ve tried to be very forgiving of myself if I don’t draw or write anything for a week.  If it’s been a while, I just pick it up when I get some time and keep going, and try to avoid the whole idea that I have failed if days and days have passed without any drawings.  That just causes me to feel like I am “behind” and then I avoid the whole activity until I can muster up the motivation to do multiple days worth of drawings (crazy).

So I guess Number Zero on this list is “forgive yourself”.  I think that’s a good one.  Here are the rest, in no particular order of importance:

1. List something for sale on Etsy
2. Make promotional illustration postcards
3. Illustrate something… for money! *gasp*
4. Design and print “real” business cards  – backups for when I don’t have hand-made cards :)
5. Put up a portfolio website (for both web development and illustration)
6. Keep an illustrated journal/sketchbook
7. Go to life drawing sessions/classes
8. Animate a little something every month
9. Create an infographic (or an animated how-to or how-this-works)
10. Set up an “arts & crafts cabinet”  to make pens, pencils, paper, glue, Xacto knives, sketchbooks, paints, etc. easily accessible upstairs (e.g. not in basement)
11. Fill a sketchbook with drawings from around Portland (landscapes, buildings, statues, etc)
12. Make a gardening/home improvement/travel blog with Todd, where we write about… life and stuff (not work)
13. On that note… create a “travel-log”-esque website for our 2009 Switzerland trip
14. Make a stuffed animal for Carter’s first birthday (my nephew)
15. Visit the Classical Chinese Gardens and drink tea
16. Explore Portland’s west hills, and see the Rose Garden, Japanese Gardens, and see Pittock Mansion
17. Hike in Forest Park
18. Have a picnic in Cathedral Park and walk across the St. John’s Bridge
19. Buy a long board and ride a wave standing up
20. Drive down Hwy 101, surf, see the Redwoods and hang out in Ashland again
21. Learn rudimentary Italian and French
22. Give thoughtful gifts to my close friends and family for their birthdays
23. Finish Todd’s Valentine’s scarf (started for V-Day 2008)
24. Make a terrarium
25. Learn to hockey stop on my right side (and just overall become a better skater)
26. Bike the Springwater Corridor from Main City Park in Gresham to the Eastbank Esplanade
27. Decorate the mantel and hang pictures above the fireplace
28. Make an inspiration board – OR – decorate my office/desk area at home with things that inspire me
29. Attend a roller derby match
30. Attend a play/ballet/symphony concert

casaofcentraloregon.org

scrapaction.org

moonit.com

I’ve also been reading various New Years’ resolution lists, and articles about how to achieve your resolutions, and strategies for getting started working your resolutions.  But I haven’t made my own list.  I think this year rather than make a few vague resolutions I’m going to make a list of ‘30 things to do before I’m 30′.  I got the inspiration from this awesome blog: hula seventy. I found it through Ward Jenkins whom I follow on Twitter (hula seventy is his wife’s blog.  They are both amazingly talented people with awesome blogs. )  I turn 29 in January, and I really like the idea of having your birthday be the start of your own personal New Year, and setting a specific list of goals to accomplish before your next birthday.

I haven’t officially started the list yet but I have a few ideas kicking around.  One of the most important to me is doing something creative on a daily basis. I’m not sure if I want to start a daily sketch journal and hold myself to doing it EVERY day, or be a little looser and just make sure to make some doodles or write a haiku or knit or… whatever, every day.  My ultimate, practical goal from doing this would be to get better and more confident with drawing, since I would love to eventually be doing illustration professionally. But I think knitting or writing or doing anything else creative would contribute to that confidence boost too, and I would just feel better about myself not spending too much time in front of the computer (which is what I do all day at work, I don’t need to do it at home, too).

So my only actual New Years’ resolution this year: Finish my “30 things by 30″ list before my birthday on January 22.

So speaking of doing something creative, here are some cookies I made for our neighbors.  I’m in the process of making other sets of cookies with different themes for various friends and family members as well. They were all going to be Christmas presents, but most of them will have to be ‘Happy New Year’ and maybe even ‘Happy February’ cookies. These are my favorite so far, simpler is definitely better when you are working with royal icing as a medium.  Some of my other cookie designs have been a little too elaborate (trying to get a likeness of existing characters from TV or movies, or trying to use semi-realistic shading and colors).  But I’m learning a lot and getting better at figuring out the process. I still get icing and food coloring all over myself no matter what I do.  It’s not pretty…

These fruits and vegetables are definitely not good for you, but they are pretty tasty!