Snuggle Bunny Monday

Oreo., originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

Weekend Wind-Down #70

(Leia's freshly-colored PEE WEE HERMAN tat, courtesy of PAIN & WONDER, dwntwn Athens)

Our friend LEIA was in town from Cleveland, Ohio - she was here with her band, THE AFTERNOON NAPS, to play at the big HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME RECORDS 10th anniversary gala. Yesterday, after we had a late brunch with her and her bandmates, Leia came over to Rancho Cocoa so that she could geek out with Missy over BLYTHE DOLLS and so Leia's vintage KENNER BLYTHE DOLL could had a play date with Missy's girls. First they played in the little REMENT BAKERY...



Then Leia's gal reclined against Nilla's super fluffy rump...



Then the girls posed for photos with our baby cantaloupes...



They hung out with our collection of plush thingys in our living room...



And then rode side-saddle on the back of a huge horse...



Before we knew it, the afternoon was over...we dropped Leia off at The Caledonia, just in time for her soundcheck, and bid her adieu. Missy and I headed for THE YOUNG BLOOD GALLERY in Atlanta to catch a showing of HANDMADE NATION...it was being shown in conjunction with a big film festival that was happening in the city. Unfortunately, we had left Athens a lot later than we planned and got to Young Blood a little too late. When we got there, everyone was already in the back, in the darkened gallery part of the store, watching the film. We hung out in the store listening to the movie, but weren't able to buy anything because they were actually "closed" for business, due to the film...darn it too, because I really really wanted to buy these GANGSTA RAP STICKER PACKS:







Feeling a bit defeated, we exited and headed a couple of doors down to the ATLANTA CUPCAKE FACTORY to console ourselves with some gourmet cupcake yummy goodness. I opted for the LEMON ON LEMON cupcake and Missy chose the spicy MEXICAN CHOCOLATE cupcake. We told our sad luck story to one of the owners of the bakery - about how we had driven all the way from Athens to Atlanta to see this movie and how we got here a little too late...I think he felt sorry for us and ended up hooking us up with extra cupcakes! So, we ended up getting six sinfully delicious cupcakes for the price of two...







We ate the two cupcakes we had originally ordered (the Mexican Chocolate had a hot spicy kick to it...so awesome!) and then stashed the rest in the car, before walking over to the hipster wasteland that is URBAN OUTFITTERS...we wanted to check it out because Missy's baby brother, Joe, just interviewed for a job there - if all goes well, he'll be designing and building the displays for a new store that's being built in Red Bank, New Jersey. Not wanting to go home empty handed, I ended up buying a little STYLOPHONE KEYBOARD, which I ended up playing late into the night, annoying Missy, the pets, and probably our neighbors...



FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Hangin' out with Leia and Desi, her Blythe doll!
RAOUL - Hangin' out with Leia!

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Trying to find a vet for Oreo (nothing is wrong with her, though).
RAOUL - Getting to Young Blood a tad too late sucked...

FUNNIEST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Finding 217 bucks cash that I forgot I had!
RAOUL - Unexpected cupcake overload courtesy of Atlanta Cupcake Factory.

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - "Cinnamon raaaawl!"
RAOUL - "Turtle race"

FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Atlanta Cupcake Factory!
RAOUL - Cupcakes from Atlanta Cupcake Factory. mmmmmm...

THREE THINGS ON YOUR TO-DO LIST FOR THIS WEEK?
MISSY - Pet Oreo, pet Nilla, make ad for Mixtape zine.
RAOUL - More water, more cardio, less stress.

WHICH MONKEE PERFECTLY DESCRIBES LAST WEEK?
MISSY - Probably Peter, because it was stupid.
RAOUL - Ringo

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Laura Marling, Jellyfish, Loveletter, Of Montreal.
RAOUL - Unrest, Teenage Fanclub, Au Revoir Simone, BARR, Best Fwends, The Very Best, Best Coast, Vivian Girls, The Clientele, Panther, Abe Vigoda, Ponytail, Girlfriendo, Of Montreal, The Haywains, Saturday Looks Good To Me, McTells, The Bartlebees, Fat Tulips, Delightful LIttle Nothings, Incredible Force Of Junior, Jale, Nothing Painted Blue, The Shins, Shitbirds, The Stool Pigeons, Mayer Hawthorne "Hawthorne Radio" mixes on Stones Throw podcast.

Shiny Happy People

This is too cute not to share...tonight we headed over to JO and ANDRE's house to help them celebrate their 5-year WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. Jo owns and operates HONEY'S SALON (it's where Missy gets her hair did) and André writes the NEITHER BIG NOR TALL blog (he did the story on Missy's TOFU BABY for FLAGPOLE). There was plenty of Mexican food and mariachi music spinning on the record player, an amazing chocolate cake, a pop quiz about how they met, and slow dancing in the backyard to R.E.M.'s SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE...Happy Anniversary, Jo & André!

SHINY 5713 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Nilla Sixty-Eight

Icy Hot Mess

Sometimes after an evening of trapeze practice, Missy's shoulder muscles get super sore...so out comes the ICY HOT roll-on applicator to take care of that hot mess of muscles.

Weekend Wind-Down #69

We spent a good part of the weekend cutting and stapling even more zines...even now, I can hear Missy in the living room stapling zines that were left over from the weekend...the factory is in full effect...







FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - The tribute show to Susan at Canopy!
RAOUL - Knight School, My Teenage Stride, Night Moves at the Caledonia Thursday night.

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Bad cupcakes at Ike & Jane!
RAOUL - Friday - not having nearly enough time to hang out with Kevin and Lisa.

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE WEEK?
MISSY - "Butternut"
RAOUL - "Can I have a bite of that?"

FUNNIEST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Oreo jumping up on top of her cage.
RAOUL - Crackin' wise with Kevin and Lisa at The Grit.

FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Dinner at White Tiger.
RAOUL - Mashed potato, asparagus, and butternut squash soup at White Tiger.

WORST MEAL OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Cupcakes at Ike & Jane.
RAOUL - Sadly, the cupcakes at Ike & Jane were very disappointing...

THREE THINGS ON YOUR TO-DO LIST FOR NEXT WEEK?
MISSY - Draw my comic, wash clothes, feed the pets.
RAOUL - Register for Walk GA, sew some pouches, catch up on sleep.

THREE-DAY WEEKEND: MONDAY OR FRIDAY OFF?
MISSY - Monday.
RAOUL - Monday! I don't like Mondays...

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Siouxie & The Banshees, The Decemberists, Jellyfish.
RAOUL - M Ward, The Coctails, Archer Prewitt, De La Soul, The Crabs, The Ventures, The Temolons, Silicon Teens, M, Gollipopps, Hot Pursuit, Air Miami, April March & Los Cincos, Rade Slavko & Maric Perovic, Zdenka Vuckovic I Vokalni Kvartet, Bijele Strijele, Marko Novosel & Gaby Novak, Kvartet Paloma, Radmila Mikic I Ansambl Milivoja Markovica, Teenbeat Records Sampler 2004, Swag Surfing mix on Mad Decent podcast.

Sketchbook Sunday

Drawings in a hand drawn book for Susan at Canopy, our trapeze studio., originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

So tonight I share with you some drawings from a little handmade book that I drew for Susan's going away scrapbook. Susan was the director of CANOPY STUDIO where I take trapeze classes here in Athens.


The first time I saw trapeze here in Athens was at TASTY WORLD, at the after party for FLUKE, the yearly zine fair. I saw the TRAPEZE TARTS with their cute costumes and amazing aerials - I just had to try this for myself!


I started my first trapeze classes in spring of 2004. Now, I started these classes not knowing what I was in for. I started yoga classes in winter of the same year, so that was good conditioning for trapeze. After the first few classes, my body hurt in ways I did not know were possible! Nowadays, I feel like I can take on pretty much anything. And this is coming from someone who was never good in gym class and was always picked last! I think MARY JESSICA and I maybe had similar backgrounds coming in to Canopy!


I am not a dancer, I am not graceful, and I am not a gymnast. I am clumsy! At least at Canopy I can try and forget those things and focus on trying to be things I am not. I sometimes imagine my time at Canopy more like the performance art I would see at the Warhol Museum at home. Movement, sound, and visuals, all in one.


At the start of 2005 I began silks aerials! This proved to be more difficult than trapeze to me. I thought I would never be able to flip upside-down without help from the floor! I also sometimes get nervous being up so high. I am slowly getting over this, but some days that feeling does not show up at all.


I hope you enjoyed my story about Canopy and my little drawings that went with it. This would not be possible without my fabulous teachers (past and present) - Julie, Allison, Chris, Megan, Nicole, Dana, etc. so not to forget anyone, and of course, Susan!

Knightmare Tour!

(Knight School's EL GOLD blogs about tour on her iPhone as My Teenage Stride sound checks)

My friend Kevin was in town this past Thursday with his new band, KNIGHT SCHOOL...they were on tour with another indiepop band from Brooklyn called MY TEENAGE STRIDE. We met them at the CALEDONIA LOUNGE during their sound check and then stuck around to see them play...



Kevin, Lisa, and Chris of Knight School opened up the show with their garage-y pop sound

KNIGHTMARE 5539 from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

Local hip hop crew FUTURE APE TAPES filled the next spot on the bill with freestyle rhymes and disjointed beats...



Afterwards, MY TEENAGE STRIDE expertly commandeered the stage and got things hopping with their raucous style of pop...

Untitled from Raoul de la Cruz on Vimeo.

At the end of the night, Jed from My Teenage Stride, and Kevin took a quick breather before loading up the van and finding places to stay for the night. Kevin and Lisa from Knight School ended coming over to RANCHO COCOA...Nilla was excited to have company and showed off by rolling around on our dining room table, being utterly cute...Lisa took photos of Nilla for her tour blog, BANDS ON THE RUN







I took Friday off work so I could hang out for a little bit longer with Kevin and Lisa. We ended up at THE GRIT for breakfast, where we were served more food than we could possibly finish. After loading up on food, I took Lisa and Kevin to meet up with the rest of their tour mates...they loaded up their cramped mini van and away they went on their way to a house show in Virginia...