What a dog can't blog. And love, too.

So I hear that you were graced by Leo's presence a few days ago and I think I should fill in the gaps that his command of the written English language may have left out. (He is quite impressive with those paws and a keyboard, though aye?) We had 3 birthdays last week which left me with a 16 yr old, a 10 yr old and a 4 yr old (and the 8 and 6 yr olds haven't gone anywhere its just that they didn't have birthdays - who would leave with so much birthday cake around?) Ahh. Birth dates and due dates. Oh yea, due dates! The book is done! I finished writing the book. I'm finally done with that blasted book. Hey I've been wanting to tell you I finished the book!! Oh, have I told you?? It's DONE!

What a feeling. Its like being on the other side of the biggest college term paper ever and I don't even have the desire to go out an binge drink or burn pencils or anything. I have just a few figure drawings to complete. As it turns out I could have just drawn the entire book for you. I think I turned in more drawings than I did instruction steps for the projects. I couldn't help myself. There is the weirdest satisfaction I get out of drawing just exactly what I mean. I can barely have a conversation with anyone, without pulling out a piece of paper to draw what I'm talking about. Alas, I know several figures will get cut from the final manuscript due to my publishers sticking to page count, etc. What is that? So what if we said 176 pages, couldn't we make it like around 881 pages? Anyway.



I had the fortune of treating myself to a cold but bundled up morning at the flea market last weekend and, as I do almost every time, I purchased some more vintage buttons. I go absolutely mad when people organize their display by color. It's insane what it does for me. I have a disturbingly high admiration for any randomly gathered group of odds and ends that are thrown into color categories. So I bought the white. And the red. And I almost bought more, but it was getting just silly when I considered the amount I already have at home. But then. I thought of you.


And so I made this card for you. If you click on it it'll bring up a 8.5 x 11 jpeg that you can download, print and fold. Use it to write to someone that you love. You are like the red buttons in my day, all lovingly gathered together to cheer me on. You have no idea how much I appreciate every comment, the ones I have time to respond to, the ones that I only say something out loud to when I read them, and even the ones that tell me I look even vaguely like someone who is even vaguely cute.

have a lover-ly afternoon. xoxoAM

Playing the role of Me today will be...

So easily distracted am I! I was over visiting with Betz this morning was so amused with her list of celebrity twins (and btw Betz, each would be lucky to look like you!). I gathered up my personal list of celebs I'm often accused of looking like to share with you. Pretty much anyone with a round face and dark eyes and dark hair will do. Sally, dear Sally. I watched every re-run of Gidget as a kid over and over again. I had friends who called me Gidget in high school. I could be compared to worse, I suppose. I hear her new show is good. Will watch it when I'm not procrastinating by blogging 60's era pictures of the ole girl.

I get this one a lot...Ali Mcgraw...especially from people several years older than me. Jeff stop reading here. Jeff and I watched Love Story together not long after we were married, mostly because people (including perfect strangers in public places) kept telling me 'you look just like Ali McGraw in Love Story!' that we just became curious. I do not lie when I tell you that when her character was suffering her terminal illness (ooops, you've seen it right?) that Jeff was weeping and saying "it's like you're dying". Jeff start reading again here.

Now this is the one I really WANTED to look like.....but the one that I really didn't look like. Sigh. She was the prettiest sitcom princess in a plaid shirt and high-waisted no-pocket jeans ever! Oh, those were the days. Okay I feel really old. Could someone please compare me now to someone who isn't 20 or more years older than me? Okay thank you.

Who do YOU look like??

Advice from His Majesty

If you've been waiting around like me for some attention, my advice is to just curl up in a sunny spot and take a nap. She's been in there day and night all week with her face in front of those bright things and incessantly tapping away with that irritating noise. (To think my little episodes of self-cleaning annoy her.) She did run out of the house the other night with everyone but me to someplace, and they all came home smelling like feet. I was able to get a few good licks of frosting from the little one's fingers. (that one never washes her hands and drops food easily. I try to stay close to her at meal time.) When they got back the loud one tore through a bunch of things throwing paper all over the place and making happy yelling noises. Seems like whenever they do this, they do it over and over again.

Speaking of noises, you should have heard the one big operatic yell come from the studio a few minutes ago. She made some weird noise of triumph, like something is done with then jumped in the shower. (Its about time considering she's been wearing the same pajamas for 3 days now.) She smells really fruity now which usually means she's about to leave me for a few hours.



So, like I said, just get comfortable and I'm sure she'll be back here tapping away up on the table soon. Be glad she never sticks that annoying black thing in your face when you're trying to get a nap. Humans.

Love, King Leo the Yellow Lab

How Many????

Really? Well you should know.

Happy Birthday Sweet One of mine.
xo, mama

Staying Sharp

Just whatever it takes.
(I have not eaten that whole bag.)
(Not in one sitting anyway.)

Yes But No

Going through the 2nd round of fabric strike-offs today for two lines in the studio to make changes to the changes, which I think describes just how it feels to communicate through little notes and tape and paper on the fabric about all your wishes and dreams for this piece and that piece. Wow that was a long sentence, which I should quit because I'm currently washing my gray away and only have 6 more minutes starting......NOW!

Anyway, the mill almost has the colors right, just a few booboos here and there that I need to point out and also offset with some other encouraging notes like "love it!", "perfection!" etc. I worry whether they think I'm nice. I need not worry like this, but I do just the same. Is this the slowest leak on a fabric line in the (short but vibrant) history of blog debuts of fabric lines!!?? I feel like I'm keeping too much from you on all other fronts. Please pretend to be over the top excited when I actually present the grand introduction of Drawing Room even though nothing will look new to you. Actually I think it will. Lots of juicy bits yet to discover in this lot my friends.

So while coloring my hair, blogging, finishing the book, designing the interior and cover for the book, and making fabric notes I also tried to cram in a 3 o'clock lunch with a buttered and toasted cinnamon raisin bagel. After eating the first half, (which tasted fine) I started in on the second half, just to notice a tiny fuzzy white thing on the cut side of it. I know. Then I thought maybe the paper towel it was sitting on brushed across it and left a little fuzzy. Not wanting to find something else to eat, I tried to reenact that occurrence by brushing the paper towel across the surface to see if it would leave a fuzzy mark and therefore continue eating. It wouldn't leave a fuzzy mark. I considered how the melted butter could have slicked up the surface enough to keep it from attracting any fuzz fibers. I also considered how absolutely insane I am.

So as it turns out changing, and re-changing the tiniest little details on 77 fabrics containing over 100 colors does not appear to be too detail oriented for me.

I threw the bagel away.

have a good weekend pals. xoAM

Creeping (not creepy, though)

This is not a stage setting for Hansel and Gretel. This my favorite spot on our property. There's a curved crab orchard stone wall topped with a low hedge that encircles a large raised area of the yard containing a group of about 4 or 5 trees. The trees are close enough together to create a huge canopy for the mossy, clover filled ground below. It's where we have the little playhouse situated, and also Leo's puppy-house behind, which is the green one in the photo up there. Why do we get such a green photo in the middle of winter? Good question! But it's been in the 6o's here for a few days which is surreal, and make-believe-like all in itself. Almost theatrical. It's also insane windy out there. Quite literally, it is howling.



I've swarmed the warmth for days now with a flurry of outdoor book photography that I did not think would be possible during the winter. I'm happy to report one success after another, and I'm remembering again why I decided to do this in the first place. My manuscript deadline is creeping up on me, and then the photography deadline soon after. So it will likely be a little quiet here the next week or two. Its hard to concentrate on the final details of the writing when I have all these fun completed book projects waiting for their close-ups. Harder still is not sharing them with you! Agonizing! Oh the pain of it.



Jeff has been telling me about this major starling problem that the Vanderbilt campus is having. They apparently have reeked havoc on several trees and people to the point where they are sending around trucks in the afternoons to scare them off. The trucks have big megaphones on them that blow out scary-to-a-bird noises like the sound of a giant screeching eagle. The latest noise of choice, apparently, is some bottle-rocket kinda noise. Imagine walking down the street and hearing that not knowing of the great bird send-off plan! I was pondering what noise a truck could blow-out as it drove by my house that could scare me into finishing this book. I said pondering. Haven't actually thought what the noise would be. Okay we've gone from Hansel and Gretel to Hitchcock-like. I told ya the air out there was weird. Oh! Leo just growled really loud in his sleep at my feet. I believe he just scared me into writing. Good boy!
xo,AM

And my heart leapt at this

Its not enough that Isabela is wearing her new flannel nightie lovingly made by her Nani as she mends this little bear in the studio today. Sweet yes, but that wasn't enough.

She also has the most precious little curls in her hair still lingering from her big sister Juliana taking the time to give them to her in the "beauty shop". Sweeter still? The bear is Eleni's and Isabela is wiggling in her seat waiting to surprise her with his mended arm.


But what really has me feeling a flutter around my heart? She wanted to do this not just for Eleni, but also for me. "Because you have so much work Mommy." And cheerfully she said it.

A warning to you: kindness appears to be contagious.

A good year so far. xoxo, Anna