i can hardly believe it’s november.
my sweet pea is turning six in a week or
so! this marks six years since i’ve had a
regular 9 to 5 job. if you told me i’d be
a published author back then, i wouldn’t
have believed it! =)

another crazy full very social weekend
seeing my old uni friends. d and n are
ex-roomies and were in town with their
three adorable children. they rented a fantastic
tudor cottage steps from the beach and we had an
all day halloween bbq extravaganza. it was
wonderful hanging out with them, their friends
and family. the bubs (and the love, who dressed
up as a knight, ha!) had so much fun! of
course, so did i.

*d, n, and me!

we used to watch x-files
together on friday nights. =D
i didn’t have a costume and didn’t
want to dress as chun li again so put on
my nyc wig from circa 1999.

*melody’s friend, melody, me and
melody’s dad.

and thank goodness for facebook,
i found out that melody was starring in
a two person show at the san diego lyceum
called long story short. i was able to buy a
ticket for her last show on sunday.

the show MADE ME CRY! and how i hate
crying. but it was wonderfully touching and
poignant and her voice is as stunning as i
remember from back in college.

melody’s dad was so sweet and bursting
with pride. you could just see it in his face.
he was exuberant. he said melody loved to
sing since she was a child–what a fitting name
for my friend, no?

*i didn’t photoshop this painting so you can
see the wrinkles of the rice paper when it’s not
yet mounted / backed.

we painted pomegranates recently.
i love it when we have the actual subject
to study. these fruits were so rough around
the edges (irregular) but beautiful with their
ragged “crowns”. i used chinese red and indigo
for the colors. the actual fruit is a gloriously deep
dark red. look next time.

i’ve been keeping busy doing all the things
i put off while writing the sequel. now, i’m working
on an “extras” section for the paperback edition
of silver phoenix. fun!

also, i finally chose a winner for my silver phoenix
released contest from six months back! annie king,
a librarian and fellow writer, won a signed copy
of silver phoenix! she also chose an original framed
brush painting as her prize. (i’m not sure what she’ll
get–i may not have painted it yet. =)
congratulations, annie! and thanks to nearly 150
entrants sharing the news of Silver Phoenix release!! <3

i hope you had as lovely a weekend as i did,
dear readers! =D

currently listening to :

all these things that i’ve done by the killers