back from NYC!

Quick note: yours truly turned 25 this week. Yikes, sounds so adult.

Well, i got back on monday night, but i didn't really have anything to write about. I still don't really, but i thought i'd update anyway! Although it started with a car break in, our trip was great! I especially loved the bronx zoo. So fun! Since i've been back, i've been mostly hanging around and playing video games. But I made a special bat to donate to the silent auction at the Wings of Hope Wildlife Sanctuary in Louisiana. Pretty cool! Anything to help out the animals. You can see their website here.

I received my christmas cards from overnight prints the other day. They look good! Except for one - i'm trying to decide if the mistake is big enough for me to have to reorder them. But if i'm thinking about it, it probably means i should, right? Sigh. I'll start on the christmas chubbikins soon. Hopefully christmas things will start showing up in my store by mid-october. We'll see!

bigfoot is bored

I've started working on a new children's book called Bigfoot in New York. When i started i was really excited. As time goes on i am less and less excited. I guess i was confident about it until i started the color pieces. I'm not sure if i should be doing them in a different medium (but i don't know what that other medium would be, so i'm sticking with watercolor for now). I'm almost done with the second picture, which might be coming out okay but maybe not. We'll see. I just had to post this so you would know i've been doing something. 

i like making lists

Three things i miss about new york. 

1. Transportation. Yes, the subways were hot, crowded, sticky, the air was thick down there underground, and it was the home of countless frightening hobos. But I hate driving. I hate it very much. It makes me nervous and sweaty. The subway was convenient (most of the time) and you didn't have to worry about paying for gas or being too tipsy to drive home. Also, i liked walking places. That was my main form of exercise. I probably walked miles but it didn't feel like it because it went block by block. Walking to dunkin donuts here doesn't work. 
2. The city. Museums and amazing shopping were only a hop, skip, and a subway ride away. Not much going on in the way of those things here. The natural history museum was my favorite - i like the animals. I'm not sure about any amazing museums around here - although the international cryptozoology museum is in portland. I'd like to check that out but it's in some guy's house, so i ain't goin' alone. As for shopping, really there's only the mall. Not so many options.
3. Bagels. This is probably what i miss the most. Oh those bergen bagels! Big, thick, hot, cream cheesy goodness. I'm sure maine has good bagels somewhere, but i haven't found them yet. Somehow dunkin donuts bagels just can't even come close to comparing. They appear to be toasted, but they are neither hot nor soft. And maybe enough cream cheese to cover both halves would be nice. 
   

Three things i don't miss about new york

1. Lack of nature. I like trees. I like grass. I like little critters running around. NY has little critters running around, but they are usually in the form of cockroaches. Not the kind of critters i like. And yes, NY has central park, which i like very much. But it's not quite the same. 
2. Trash day. Trash day in NY was never a good day. Walking past mountains of leaking, rotting bags of garbage always makes you a little sick. Plus it's a little scary to see groups of homeless people digging through the trash right outside your apartment building. 
3. General things. Crappy apartments, car stereo systems so loud that they set off car alarms when they drive past, dumb pratt kids being loud at 2 in the morning when you're trying to sleep, subway construction, costliness, waterbugs, all around dirtiness, crowds of people on the streets, competitiveness... 

Sometime i want to go back to NY and do all the things i miss. But for now i'll go about my quiet life in maine. There's nothing wrong with a quieter life.