Grilled pizza

Yesterday afternoon when Tony said he was in the mood for pizza, I was so excited since I had actually just bought some pizza dough while grocery shopping a few days prior. Which brings me to the news I've been spreading for the past couple of months since we first tried it::: Grilled Pizza is wonderful!!! It's so easy once you get the hang of it and tastes as good if not better than the best pizza you've ever had. I just did a recipe search to link to but the ones I've read all make it sound more difficult than it really is, but here is a decent one*. Basically you have a hot grill, throw your dough on it for a few minutes. When that side is done, flip it onto a baking sheet with the uncooked side down. Quickly put your toppings on the cooked side and using some tongs and a spatula, slide it back onto the grill for about 5 more minutes. It has come out wonderfully for us every time.
We gorged ourselves last night and even had some leftovers to snack on today during our Tuesday hangout with my sisters. (We're still trying to find a replacement for the Lair and today wound up at a family friends' pond.)

* This recipe calls for a charcoal grill-we use gas. Also it says to use cornmeal so it doesn't stick-we just use a bit of flour.

The Friday Archives

Claire at Loobylu has started a really neat blog project, "The Friday Archives". This is such a great idea and makes for an easy post too. A quick look through one of my sketchbooks on hand turned up this sketch from probably 1997. It was a sketch of what came to be an etching (can't seem to find any of that right now, hopefully soon).
I love the idea of this project as it will give a glimpse of how individual artists' styles have changed over the years as well as (most likely)adhered to a similar sense of theme or distinction.

scenes from another Tuesday

Just posting some pictures again from our Tuesday morning.
Trying to find a good substitute for our Lair, we (Enzo and my sisters and I) went to the dock at the end of the street (first picture) and then onward to the Riverside house (second picture).
After cutting my toe on a barnacle while snail searching, we went home and discovered our new camera had been delivered! Our current one is barely hanging on, with the door to the battery compartment missing big pieces. I then potted some plants in my new pot set, a gift from my friend Karla after her recent ikea trip.
I'm looking forward to trying out the camera later.

OH, and something else that is making me happy: a new project that Cara is doing, such a great, fun concept.

face painting and kids' birthday parties, chaos

Always trying to improve upon my illustration skills (or lack thereof...illustration is my newest medium, but yet the one I tend to show the most on this blog, hmmm) I decided to do a quick, "looser" one of the birthday party where I did face-painting this weekend. My neighbor Sam, who I really like and therefor try to impress, asked me if I'd do face-painting at her kids birthday party Sunday. I said, "Sure, no problem!" and then brooded about it all week :). It was total chaos for a bit, as usual but in the end I was happy to have done it. And I was nice to the kids, don't worry.

Lair Tuesday

Since my last post about the lair a few months ago, we've been going over every week on "Lair Tuesday" to hang out in our super cool spot. Pictures just don't do it justice, it sprawls. It has rooms, trails, swings, bridges and there is always planning for more. Well today was somewhat bittersweet as we went over for what may be the last Lair Tuesday for a long while. While other parts of the world are just now welcoming weather that makes you want to be outside, here we are starting to experience the weather Florida is famous for:hot, humid, mosquito-ey. And our lair is in prime mosquito territory. Amongst other things, today we finally baked and put our little clay guys out in their caves and nooks, which was my favorite part. (there were more, but my pictures were bad)
We may brave it out a few more times over summer as we all love it so much but today we enjoyed it with the last of the cool bug-free days.

The Gardenia bush outside my bedroom window has started blooming......smells so good.

just a morning..

Didn't have anything worthwhile to post about today so I just took my camera along during a somewhat typical morning for us (if we decide to venture out). Enzo munched on some homemade egg bread before leaving. We stopped at Goodwill as I had 2 big boxes to drop off and then onward to the library where we read one of our favorites, Chicken Soup with Rice. Dropped by my moms house where I raided her leftovers (some cornbread with a face on it and her yummy relish) and watched as my sister Cassidy wrestled with some goo she made (she says it was corn starch and glue). Then back home where I was forced into making the lime slushies I had promised Enzo we'd make today. I put Enzo down for his nap and here it is, no longer morning.

birthday gifts

I had wanted to set my new chairs up all nice-like before showing them, but just haven't gotten around to it so oh well. For my birthday, Tony bought me these 2 (one shown-they're the same) beautiful chairs I'd been pining for. My sister Ali gave me the above coupon which any parent will recognize as being of VERY HIGH value. (That's 4 coupons in total!) And my sister Sam surprised me with a gift certificate from The Curiosity Shoppe, a favorite of ours. I plan on waiting for her to come over and help me pick something out :).

And lastly, these weren't necessarily a birthday present, but they came in the mail just a couple days before and I love them so. Two beautiful Jordan Crane silkscreens, sent by two super-cool people I feel lucky to be friends with.


Thank you all so much!

fresh eggs

I spotted a cooler at our local produce stand during our weekend visit. A look inside revealed a few dozen farm fresh eggs, brought from a local woman. I have been wanting/looking for these for a looong time so I am super excited. I feel like they're better for all the obvious reasons (hormones, antibiotics, bad chicken lives) but they really do taste better, or so I think.
Otherwise, I've been bitten by the spring-cleaning bug, so I probably won't be doing anything creative this week. Just lots of deep cleaning, organizing, fun. (not)

cool link: book by it's cover