spirograph

when i was a kid, i had a handful of art supplies (actually it was a closetful) that i kept within arm's reach. lots of colored pens, included the giant pen with 10 different colored inks in it:
a couple sets of markers - the skinny ones and the mr. sketch smelly markers. the turquoise blue mango smell was my favorite :)

stencils made of translucent colored plastic - otherwise known as AWESOMENESS:


and this sweet "toy": the spirograph. OMG i LOVED this thing. armed with multicolored pens, i could create a freaking rainbow of crazy designs. well, while i was christmas shopping, i found this:


and proceeded to get so excited i could barely contain myself. i finally purchased a set and have been happily doodling since then. but now i'm thinking of some artwork i can apply this process to....it'll be a grown up version of an old school joy. i'll post pics once i get started on this new project...

(p.s. click on pictures for links to sources)

no coconut birthday cake please

photo from wikipedia

i've never been a big fan of coconut. those white, chewy, dried pieces just don't do it for me. now, when i lived on guam, i remember seeing palm trees with bunches of coconuts for the first time and thought "holy crap! real coconuts!" but that didn't make me want to eat them. i did try some fresh coconut though, and it is a gigantic leap up from that dried stuff at the grocery store.

on to my story...when i was too young to remember, my mom made me a coconut cake for my birthday. i think she said it was pink too. after eating some cake, i apparently got really sick. thank goodness i can't remember that. maybe i just blocked it out of my memory. i'll spare you the gory details, but as you can imagine, it was pretty bad. and from that experience, i believe i gained an intense dislike for coconut, pink, and throwing up. i've grown out of my dislike for pink though, but the other two are still high on my list.

TMI? yes, definitely. but now you know why i'll politely decline that coconut birthday cake you're thinking about making :)