Dec 2021: Getting Cozy
December’s grey skies have me wanting to getting all hygge & stuff. Here are some things that are high-five worthy & can be done (mostly) while snuggling under the big blanket on your couch.
1) Big Mouth’s latest holiday episode is now in my top 5, along with Charlie Brown & A Year without a Santa Claus. I was totally charmed by the sexy puppets, Claymation & Emmitt Otter references, but the Father Johann/King Mongoose techno dance off was where I knew this would be on annual rotation. Thanks Nick Kroll & team for kicking off my holiday season right!
2) I’ve been following Kate Bingaman Burt on Insta for awhile now. Her Daily Consumption illustrations (what she’s bought during the week) are really fun & quirky so I was excited to come across her old Skillshare class on Drawing Collections: Illustrating Stories through Taxonomies. The course is super short, which is good since it also suggests that you dive into your collections for the class project. I found myself digging through old ticket stubs (hello first concert – Howard Jones!) and my patches (reminiscing about National Park adventures). Definitely give Kate a follow for some extra inspiration.
3) When I heard that @AccidentallyWesAnderson was going to have a feature in Whalebone Magazine, I knew I had to check it out. The latest issue (The Hippie Edition) takes you on a Wes Anderson-like journey through Vermont. It’s my type of travel guide – full of cool, design-y places, including a Dog Chapel that will make you tear up & smile at the same time.
4) I’m a big fan of the Metro Parks here in Cbus Ohio (see my sticker homage here), so when the latest park – Quarry Trails opened, I was thrilled for the 50 degree, bluebird day so we could visit! It’s a mixed use park, making the most of some quarries in town – highlighting a cute waterfall, a lake & carving out some awesome mountain bike trails. I’m constantly looking for birds in our parks & we scored when we saw swans cruising the water. Now they grace my latest Birds of the Metro Parks design.
5) It’s about that time when you’re getting sick of the turkey leftovers & never want to eat it again. But this year, our Thanksgiving leftovers also include Salt & Straw’s amazing holiday flavors. We got an amazing 5 pints including Caramelized Turkey & Cranberry Sauce, Parker Rolls & Salted Buttercream and Sweet Potato Pie w/ Double Baked Almond Streusel. These flavors were weird enough that family members passed on them during Thanksgiving, which means there’s still plenty left for me. HIGH FIVE!