Bears in a Boat

A couple of years ago, I worked in a giant cube farm. I survived because I was surrounded by a really awesome group of people (like, REALLY surrounded - they split up the cubes in half so there'd be a charming Cube Tweener forced to sit on the crack between two cubes). AND because there was such a thing as Cookie Time. Every Wednesday, 2:00 pm. Cookie Time. Think about how awesome that is. Despite the cookies and the cool peeps, sometimes I got overwhelmed sitting in such a massive space packed to the gills with people. Anyone could interrupt you at any time, and no headphones could block out the conversation noise and blanketed fluroescent dim of the lights. Since my coworkers and I would habitually change up our computer backgrounds per season, I was scrolling through the usual choices (deserted island, forest glen, inexplicable sand dunes) when I came upon this picture: Just these two bears sittin' in a boat. I have no idea how they got that way, but I assume that their current predicament is all the smaller bear's fault. It looks like we've happened upon the scene right after a family spat occurred.  Why was it just sitting there among all the other typical kitten and mountain range backgrounds? A mystery that will never be solved. This picture immediately became my background, for months and months. There's just something about that overcast sky and the cool gray of that lake that soothes the soul. My coworker Sean started saying "Remember the bears, Monica!" whenever I stressed about the latest insane deadline. And he was right. Just take a look at those two bears, off on some kooky adventure because Junior Bear didn't realize when they'd hopped in that the canoe wasn't tied to the dock. Ridiculous antics ensue, I'm sure. Recently I tried describing this picture to my boyfriend, and he sent me dozens of inferior knock-offs. Googling "bears in a boat" just doesn't do this picture justice. Luckily, while sorting through old office things, I came upon a printout I'd made and taken with me to the next cubicle. And now I'm convinced I have to preserve it for all time. Accept no substitutions. Never forget the bears!

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Am I a Douchebag for Liking the Avocado App?

I know the last thing anyone wants/needs is another tool to do something they already can. But hey, where would stores like Target be now if they couldn't keep selling you the same crap, repackaged differently? That's kind of how I feel about apps in general. On my phone I have Evernote, Simplenote, Real Simple and Weave, each one for the purpose of taking down my ideas and lists. Instead of using any of them, I default to the Notes app that comes standard with the iPhone. Each one is just a little lacking in what I want to do, therefore I hang onto ALL of them. So you can understand my reluctance to embrace the Avocado app, which is essentially just another checklist-making app to throw in my Never Use pile. BUT WAIT. For some reason this one is actually packaged and designed well with enough things in one spot that I actually use it. On the regular! I make lists, calendar invites, send messages, take pictures, and it doesn't bother me a hoot that I already have a million other apps that can do those very things. Unfortunately the thing that makes me like it is also the thing that makes me cringe. It's an APP FOR COUPLES. *barf* I know, I'm rolling my eyes really hard right now too. But as much as my boyfriend and I shun cutesy couple things altogether, it IS kind of convenient to be able to send him messages and requests to pick up wine on the way home without having to navigate the various other apps. It's all in one place, and it makes sense for it to be so. Sure, we could also send photos to one another of hearts and "I wuv you" notes but WE AREN'T THOSE PEOPLE. One app doesn't make a nauseating couple, does it? Oh and did I mention the app says supportive things to you when you cross off items on your lists? Oh god. I'm off to Lowe's. It's all downhill from here. You'll tell me if I've gone too far, right?

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Am I a Douchebag for Liking the Avocado App?

I know the last thing anyone wants/needs is another tool to do something they already can. But hey, where would stores like Target be now if they couldn't keep selling you the same crap, repackaged differently? That's kind of how I feel about apps in general. On my phone I have Evernote, Simplenote, Real Simple and Weave, each one for the purpose of taking down my ideas and lists. Instead of using any of them, I default to the Notes app that comes standard with the iPhone. Each one is just a little lacking in what I want to do, therefore I hang onto ALL of them. So you can understand my reluctance to embrace the Avocado app, which is essentially just another checklist-making app to throw in my Never Use pile. BUT WAIT. For some reason this one is actually packaged and designed well with enough things in one spot that I actually use it. On the regular! I make lists, calendar invites, send messages, take pictures, and it doesn't bother me a hoot that I already have a million other apps that can do those very things. Unfortunately the thing that makes me like it is also the thing that makes me cringe. It's an APP FOR COUPLES. *barf* I know, I'm rolling my eyes really hard right now too. But as much as my boyfriend and I shun cutesy couple things altogether, it IS kind of convenient to be able to send him messages and requests to pick up wine on the way home without having to navigate the various other apps. It's all in one place, and it makes sense for it to be so. Sure, we could also send photos to one another of hearts and "I wuv you" notes but WE AREN'T THOSE PEOPLE. One app doesn't make a nauseating couple, does it? Oh and did I mention the app says supportive things to you when you cross off items on your lists? Oh god. I'm off to Lowe's. It's all downhill from here. You'll tell me if I've gone too far, right?

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January Pants

So last year my boyfriend and I decided to finally buy a house. No, not the perfectly good 1920 rowhouse we'd been living in for five years, but another house. Because that's what you do. We also decided to do it right before Thanksgiving, and then spend the holidays frantically shuttling stuff back and forth, making mountainous donation piles, staring wistfully at our pinterest boards, and wondering when our house would start to get its act together.

Soooo ... now it's January. And normally I hate January. It shows up for no good reason after the end of the holiday season, to mock you. And where I live, it doesn't even snow to trick you into thinking the holiday feelings were stretching out into the new year. Nope. It's JANUARY. Big, stupid, mocking, and 50 degrees. You can't do anything in 50 degrees. In 60, you can go for a hike. In 40, you can dream of snow. In 50 you start to wonder what season it's supposed to be.

Anyway. So while my head has been spinning with all the things I want to do with my house, I stumbled upon Apartment Therapy's January Cure. Apparently the genius folks over at one of my favorite blogs have found a way to tackle the January Blahs by giving you a list meant to distract you from the fact that WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER AND IT'S STILL NOT SNOWING. I know I'm late to the game, since this started on January 2nd and it's now January 9th BUT! There's nothing stopping me from grabbing onto the tail of the bus, Back to the Future-style, and join the home improvement.

I've already done Day 1: Make a List of Projects and Day 2: Make an Outbox, thanks to the moving process. The other day I sat on the floor and stared vacantly at the fireplace for a while, which in my mind counts as Day 4: Get a Fresh Perspective in 10 Minutes. This is going to be a piece of cake!

What's everybody else doing to conquer the January Blues? Or am I the only one afflicted?

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January Pants

So last year my boyfriend and I decided to finally buy a house. No, not the perfectly good 1920 rowhouse we'd been living in for five years, but another house. Because that's what you do. We also decided to do it right before Thanksgiving, and then spend the holidays frantically shuttling stuff back and forth, making mountainous donation piles, staring wistfully at our pinterest boards, and wondering when our house would start to get its act together.

Soooo ... now it's January. And normally I hate January. It shows up for no good reason after the end of the holiday season, to mock you. And where I live, it doesn't even snow to trick you into thinking the holiday feelings were stretching out into the new year. Nope. It's JANUARY. Big, stupid, mocking, and 50 degrees. You can't do anything in 50 degrees. In 60, you can go for a hike. In 40, you can dream of snow. In 50 you start to wonder what season it's supposed to be.

Anyway. So while my head has been spinning with all the things I want to do with my house, I stumbled upon Apartment Therapy's January Cure. Apparently the genius folks over at one of my favorite blogs have found a way to tackle the January Blahs by giving you a list meant to distract you from the fact that WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER AND IT'S STILL NOT SNOWING. I know I'm late to the game, since this started on January 2nd and it's now January 9th BUT! There's nothing stopping me from grabbing onto the tail of the bus, Back to the Future-style, and join the home improvement.

I've already done Day 1: Make a List of Projects and Day 2: Make an Outbox, thanks to the moving process. The other day I sat on the floor and stared vacantly at the fireplace for a while, which in my mind counts as Day 4: Get a Fresh Perspective in 10 Minutes. This is going to be a piece of cake!

What's everybody else doing to conquer the January Blues? Or am I the only one afflicted?

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It's a perfectly acceptable food item. It's just not a cupcake.

This weekend I spent time hanging out with darling friends and family. Some of whom were kind enough to navigate the tricksy FODMAPs land (the land in which I currently live) and bring me some gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free cupcakes so I could partake in a fine friend's birthday activities. It was such a sweet gesture, and I so appreciated it. But unfortunately there comes a time . . . when you're on a diet like mine . . . that you realize that what you're eating is not, in fact, a cupcake. It's good, and it's something that was baked and has icing on top and resides in a paper cup . . . But it's not a cupcake. It might be a muffin, or a paperweight. You're not exactly sure. It's even quite good, even though the icing is a little too hard to wash off your fingers. I learned this mistake my last birthday when I attempted to get a gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free birthday cake for my birthday. I was so excited I couldn't believe I could still have birthday cake and eat it too! Half of that sentence ended up being true. I think the problem was that the bakery gave me the option of ordering different types of cake, so I picked yellow cake with chocolate icing. Going in and getting a dark brown cake with toffee icing wouldn't have been so weird if I hadn't been expecting a certain something. The fact that my party guests could stick a fork in said cake and it would take a good 45 minutes to fall out of it ... I'm just saying, much like the vegetarian fake meat manufacturers of the world (I'm looking at you, pepperphony!), the GF/SF/DF baking community might need a bit of rebranding. Let the gluteneers have their stupid cupcakes. I'm sure we could whip up something with almond flour that tastes way better anyway.

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Mantras

I've developed a recent love of mantras. I used to think they were just stupid, silly sayings people stitched onto pillows or reprinted in greeting cards, applying no real meaning to the words more than "here, I've heard this before, so I'm passing it along". But since lately I've been listening to a LOT of Game of Thrones (re: this post), I noticed how several of the main characters have their own mantras. Whenever they're in trouble or have to endure some latest horrible hardship (which happens, like, every 10 minutes in Game of Thrones World), they always turn back to their mantra and repeat as necessary, and somehow it helps them get through.

Ned - "Winter is coming." Daenerys - "I am the blood of the dragon. If I look back, I am lost." Arya - "Quick as a shadow. Still as cool water." Cersei - "I am a lion." Theon - "I am iron born." Jon - "I am a man of the Night's Watch."

I find the idea of having a simple phrase, that means something that I want to remind myself of or inspire myself to do, oddly soothing. My friend Jessie always says "I can control the effort, but not the outcome". I haven't come up with anything yet, but these below are a good start.

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More Christmas Commissions!

More drawing presents that I made for some friends this year!

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Happy New Yaaaar's!

Happy end of 2012, everyone! I'd like to celebrate by sharing a few of the Christmas commissions I've been working on lately ...

Now, a SPOILER WARNING for the images below ... as I've blathered on about before, I'm currently obsessed with Game of Thrones (on book 5 now, yippers!). My brother is too, and for Christmas wanted to do some drawings featuring the characters. BUT these may be a spoiler for anyone who is reading the books and isn't past Book 3 yet, so tread further at your own risk!

I decided I wanted to do a series of Game of Thrones SUPERTEAMS, so for now I've just drawn these two:

I have a bunch of ideas for other ones I want to do in the future. Why? Because -- OBSESSED!!

Anyway, I hope you all have a shiny glittery New Year's Eve tonight (I believe this is a night for as many sparkles and as much make-up as you want to wear, as is my custom). Catch y'all on the flipside!

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Happy Christmas Day!

I'll be posting new Bonnie and Gods & Undergrads strips later this week, but for now I wanted to wish all of you a Happy Holiday week! Here's a picture of my favorite ornament, the Christmas Cheetah. Hand-baked by me in 3rd grade.

And yes, it is missing a head.

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Happy Christmas Day!

I'll be posting new Bonnie and Gods & Undergrads strips later this week, but for now I wanted to wish all of you a Happy Holiday week! Here's a picture of my favorite ornament, the Christmas Cheetah. Hand-baked by me in 3rd grade.

And yes, it is missing a head.

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Gods & Undergrads Is Back!

Hooray! Gods & Undergrads (my weekly webcomic about a girl at college and her Greek God relatives) resumes again today! I'll be posting a page a week, every Wednesday. Today there's a special block of pages to get the engines rolling!

Click here for the latest and here for an archive of everything so far!

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Gods & Undergrads Is Back!

Hooray! Gods & Undergrads (my weekly webcomic about a girl at college and her Greek God relatives) resumes again today! I'll be posting a page a week, every Wednesday. Today there's a special block of pages to get the engines rolling!

Click here for the latest and here for an archive of everything so far!

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Selling Comics, Big Easy Style

I'm currently reporting from a blank room full of piles of my belongings, hunkered down on two boxes of comics inventory. That's right, I'm all moved into my new home! Woo! Now, my next challenge is locating all of my stuff. And/or finding places to put them that make sense. At least my cats have come out of their litterbox, where they spent moving day smooshed together in mutual horror at the new enviornment and all the crashing around of the movers. It was the cutest truce I've ever seen in Kitty Land before.

Anyway, I wanted to take a minute to recap about my super great weekend trip to Wizard World New Orleans last week and share all the fun commissions I got to draw (if you follow me on Tumblr or Instagram, you were already inundated with these during the con!) Since I seldom do big shows I wasn't sure what to expect. Plus, being in New Orleans my table helpers/manservants were sure to be scarce at the very best (the lure of bloody mary's and the French Quarter is not something I would begrudge them succumbing to). WWNOLA was a nice, spacious con. It wasn't so choked with people that you had trouble getting around, yet there was a constant stream of attendees. Everyone I spoke to was incredibly enthusiastic and supportive about comics. Once again, as with other big shows like Baltimore Comic Con, I was pleased to see so many families there. Especially families who dressed up as teams of superheroes. I love the potential embarrassment of family superhero costumes, but honestly a lot of them were really pulling it off. Normally I don't get too jazzed about celebrity appearances either, but I have to say that walking in behind Kevin Sorbo and having Michael Madsen in my line of sight for most of the convention was pretty sweet. I wandered by the Walking Dead actors too, but sadly didn't get to glimpse any of the Star Trek folks. But hey - Patrick Stewart will be at Emerald Comic Con, so maybe I'll get another chance!

On to the drawings!

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Mad Guns, Right?

Sorry everyone, but there won't be any Bonnie updates this week, since I'm trudging through my MOVING NIGHTMARE. Rookie House-Buying Tip: Don't schedule your move into your new house the weekend you get back from a wonderful comic convention in New Orleans. Just saying. But I'm pretending that my arm muscles have grown exponentially from all the graphic novels I've been hauling. MAD GUNS on these arms. Wait, are arm guns the biceps or the forearms?

Hopefully I'll be all hooked back up by the end of the weekend, but if not I might have some delirious blog posts from my phone. Thanks for bearing with me!

P.S. I finally saw The Dark Knight Rises, and Bane's voice was as deliciously theatrical and Sean Connery-esque as I'd been promised. Loved it! I mean, you have to figure he better EMOTE with that voice since there's shit all over his face. Am I right? Also, I did like Catwoman, but I'll post more later on that. In the meantime ... at Wizard World New Orleans I did this pencil sketch of Pepper Potts for a lovely woman in an Iron Man dress who didn't get to pick it up - please email me and let me know if this is yours!

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Mad Guns, Right?

Sorry everyone, but there won't be any Bonnie updates this week, since I'm trudging through my MOVING NIGHTMARE. Rookie House-Buying Tip: Don't schedule your move into your new house the weekend you get back from a wonderful comic convention in New Orleans. Just saying. But I'm pretending that my arm muscles have grown exponentially from all the graphic novels I've been hauling. MAD GUNS on these arms. Wait, are arm guns the biceps or the forearms?

Hopefully I'll be all hooked back up by the end of the weekend, but if not I might have some delirious blog posts from my phone. Thanks for bearing with me!

P.S. I finally saw The Dark Knight Rises, and Bane's voice was as deliciously theatrical and Sean Connery-esque as I'd been promised. Loved it! I mean, you have to figure he better EMOTE with that voice since there's shit all over his face. Am I right? Also, I did like Catwoman, but I'll post more later on that. In the meantime ... at Wizard World New Orleans I did this pencil sketch of Pepper Potts for a lovely woman in an Iron Man dress who didn't get to pick it up - please email me and let me know if this is yours!

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Mad Guns, Right?

Sorry everyone, but there won't be any Bonnie updates this week, since I'm trudging through my MOVING NIGHTMARE. Rookie House-Buying Tip: Don't schedule your move into your new house the weekend you get back from a wonderful comic convention in New Orleans. Just saying. But I'm pretending that my arm muscles have grown exponentially from all the graphic novels I've been hauling. MAD GUNS on these arms. Wait, are arm guns the biceps or the forearms?

Hopefully I'll be all hooked back up by the end of the weekend, but if not I might have some delirious blog posts from my phone. Thanks for bearing with me!

P.S. I finally saw The Dark Knight Rises, and Bane's voice was as deliciously theatrical and Sean Connery-esque as I'd been promised. Loved it! I mean, you have to figure he better EMOTE with that voice since there's shit all over his face. Am I right? Also, I did like Catwoman, but I'll post more later on that. In the meantime ... at Wizard World New Orleans I did this pencil sketch of Pepper Potts for a lovely woman in an Iron Man dress who didn't get to pick it up - please email me and let me know if this is yours!

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Happy Day!

Yesterday was jam-packed with traveling back from New Orleans (more on the Wizard World New Orleans show later, I had a great time!), packing/moving more miscellaneous boxes of junk over to my new house (junk that for whatever reason I can't part with), and opening the pile of mail to find ...

Why, it's a copy of my book Glitter Kiss, written by the fabulous Adrianne Ambrose and published by the amazing Oni Press!! Hot off the presses!

I'm so excited to finally see it in print. It's a great size, and the designer did a beautiful job at putting all the pieces together. It's available for pre-order from Amazon, or it'll be out in a few weeks from your local comic store. Eeeeeee! I'm so thrilled to be part of this super cute book!

I'll stop grinning and go haul more stuff now. :)

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Happy Day!

Yesterday was jam-packed with traveling back from New Orleans (more on the Wizard World New Orleans show later, I had a great time!), packing/moving more miscellaneous boxes of junk over to my new house (junk that for whatever reason I can't part with), and opening the pile of mail to find ...

Why, it's a copy of my book Glitter Kiss, written by the fabulous Adrianne Ambrose and published by the amazing Oni Press!! Hot off the presses!

I'm so excited to finally see it in print. It's a great size, and the designer did a beautiful job at putting all the pieces together. It's available for pre-order from Amazon, or it'll be out in a few weeks from your local comic store. Eeeeeee! I'm so thrilled to be part of this super cute book!

I'll stop grinning and go haul more stuff now. :)

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A Little George R.R. Martin Goes a Long Way

Since I've been spending all my time cleaning, packing, trashing/recycling, and preparing for Wizard World New Orleans this weekend, it hasn't been the funnest time. Naturally when your life is in disarray and you know there's more stuff to do before you can rest, it's hard to enjoy the process. So I'd like to take a moment to thank George R. R. Martin and his A Storm of Swords (#3 in the Game of Thrones series) for being my constant companion during this time. Painfully going through old stuff and figuring out what stays and what goes is no longer a problem once I've plugged in my earphones (are we still saying "headphones" these days, or is that like saying "tape deck"?), loaded up my Audible app, and put my iPhone in my back pocket. It perfectly drowns out the vacuum, the sink, the sounds of my boyfriend's frustrated cursing as he dismantles IKEA furniture.

Oh yeah, and thanks also to Roy Dotrice, who does the amazing job of voicing the multitude of characters (even though I don't particularly like his Tyrion voice after seeing Peter Dinklage nailing the part on HBO.)

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