cristmas!

we had a very mellow christmas this year...we drank wine, watched movies, built a gingerbread house. it was pretty awesome, but then aya squashed it

poor little penguins:(

cookies

i started baking when i was about four with my mom, i loved it because i got to lick the spoons along the way & the bowl at the end...& i still love cookie dough! sometimes i have it for dinner. that's how much i love it. over the years i have been a total health "freak" on & off depending on how disciplined i'm feeling, so my recipes have been altered over the years. here is one of my favourite cookie recipes i have written:  

~gluten free vegan cookies

~1 cup peanut butter (crunchy)
~1&2/3 cups honey
~1 egg (beaten) or flax mix (refer to below)
~1&1/2 teaspoons vanilla
~1/3 cup soy butter (earth balance is good)
~1&1/3 cups flour (spelt or brown rice (or mix them together))
~1/2 teaspoon salt
~1/2 baking soda
~1 cup unsweetened carob chips or sweetened with agave syrup 

now i know i said egg in the recipe but when you think of what those eggs have been through (for the most part) eggs are kind of gross. so here's a little secret: you can replace egg with flax! just mix 1 tablespoon of ground golden flax seed with 3 tablespoons of water, beat it like you would an egg and in baking thats the equivalent to 1 egg but way healthier! 
i also sometimes replace the 1 cup carob chips with 1 cup of chopped up toblerone. i'm not going to lie, they taste way better when you do it like that, how could they not?!

~preheat the oven to 350 f
~mix the peanut butter, honey, & butter together
~stir in the egg (or flax mix) & vanilla
~mix the flour, salt & baking soda together & stir into the      peanut butter mix
~oil the cookie sheets & roll your cookies into balls
~squish them onto the baking sheet
~bake for 10~12 minutes (keep a close eye on them, honey burns  quite easily)

be careful, they are highly addictive!!

~♥~

miss caitlin ffrench

here are a couple of photos i took of my friend caitlin this summer in her backyard. caitlin has a cat and loves to knit and drink flower tea. her last name is ffrench. her husband gave it to her. he paints nice whales.

she also plays the accordion and collects dead things.

 

♥ tattooed ladies ♥

i love old photos of tattooed women, here's a few from my    collection...

                     i wish i had a pet zebra...

aya rain

on october 3rd at 3:14am aya rain was born! she was 6lbs 4oz. she mostly sleeps, eats, and cuddles. she's starting to smile more and keeps getting a little cuter everyday:)

   

♥

 

  

38 weeks

me & jamie are having a baby! probably in two weeks! here are some photos of 30~36 weeks in no particular order...

i've been making critters for the baby & so have some of my friends, it has a pretty odd but hilarious collection. right now i'm making a really stitched up sad teddy bear. i think he'll fit in great with these guys. they can be friends.

& then somewhere along the way my feet started to disappear...

italy

jamie & i started this year out in italy! i was there for a month & a half and he was there one week short of that (he had to go to switzerland for a tattoo from rinzing). while we were there our friend becky requested a melodrama... so we made one for her! we filmed under the lemon & orange trees where we stayed with leilani in a huge house with an amazing view of the ocean. you can also check it out in better quality here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijl-t_COjGA

  

that's max the cat at the end of the film...he followed me around everywhere...

 

  

there were five super cute puppies living there as well, bear was my favorite. she's the villan in the film. she always wore a smile on her face and i wanted to take her home with me. here's a picture of bear & chuey.

 

while we were in italy we went on a road trip through tuscanny & up to venice. venice was my favorite place i went to in italy, it's like stepping into another world. & yes, it really is sinking :(. at least i got to see it while it's still around ...

here's a picture i took from st. marcos bridge somewhere around the heart of venice.

 & of course i couldn't leave venice without some masks! 

st. marcos square venizia.

viva italia!

drawings & paintings

jamie & i have been having late nights & painting together, here's a couple portraits from recently (mixed media on wood).