Weekend Wind-Down #111

(Joe, devouring half a pizza at TRANSMET...)

It's been a while since we've done a WEEKEND WIND-DOWN because we've been super busy with house guests the past couple of weeks. After Popfest, Missy's baby brother, JOE, stopped at the Ranch on his way up from Tampa, Florida. He had driven down to Tampa from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a job interview with a children's museum that's opening up there. After spending a week with cousins in Florida, Joe stopped in Athens and spent a week hanging out with us. Of course, we spent a lot of time going out to eat, because there's lots of good food to be had here in Athens. We're spoilt for choice...


(...and then suffering the consequences soon afterwards...)



We went to ATHICA last weekend for the opening of their "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" exhibition. We wanted to show Joe that besides great music and great food, Athens also had great ART...we were determined to show-off the multi-faceted awesomeness of this little college town...





HAVI and Missy traded fashion tips and then partook in the "AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION" component of the exhibition...















FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Having Joe finally come for a visit!
RAOUL - Joe's visit.

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Joe getting sick :(
RAOUL - Joe getting sick and having to cancel our trip to the Georgia Aquarium.

FUNNIEST MOMENT OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Joe telling me stories of his "family adventures"
RAOUL - Me and Joe watching the end of that Steven Seagal movie that ends with some bad guy getting kicked in the groin, exclaiming, "My balls!"

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - "FROYS!!!"
RAOUL - "Theodore Rex"

THREE THINGS ON YOUR TO-DO LIST THAT DIDN'T GET DONE LAST WEEK?
MISSY - Clean craft room, finish finger puppets, trim Oreo's nails.
RAOUL -Peel paint off bathroom tile, haul fallen branches out to the curb, stop at dealership to see what's going on with my car.

FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - The soup I made...
RAOUL - Three starchy sides from Five Star Day.

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST WEEK?
MISSY - Juliana Hatfield, This American Life podcast, NPR Most-Emailed Story podcast.
RAOUL - Fotraque, Mark Robinson, Polvo, Heavens To Betsy, Mambo Taxi, Sonic Youth, Cha Cha Cohen, Saint Etienne, Guv'ner, The PeeChees, Kumari, Clean Boy * Messy Girl, Jale, Momus.

Unicorn Necklace

I was asked by ANDREA via Etsy if I could make her a unicorn charm through my Alchemy at SHOPPE SUGAR COOKIE. She wanted it to be like my FLOSSY THE UNICORN, so I could not pass this offer up. I made the unicorn charm and here it is! I think it really looks, uh, charming!


Here is my charm close up. I love the happy look of this unicorn and the square link sterling silver chain I used for this particular necklace. It really sparkles in the light, making this unicorn more lovely and magical!

Busy Bee

Since I have not posted a Sketchbook Sunday in a while, I thought I would write about some buttons I designed for my pal Jo Nicol at Honey's Salon! I made her some buttons to kick off the school year and celebrate two years of being open! Yay Jo!


I drew her some bumble bees with some fabulous hair. I think the colors look lovely and I really like how I styled their hair. I think they are super cute! Fabulous!

Bananagram Winners #1

Date: 08-23-10
Winner: Joe Kulik

My baby brother, Joe came to visit us last weekend. We had so much fun going to different restaurants with him here in Athens, plus we got to go to other fun places, like Target and Toys R Us! We also played some rousing rounds of Bananagrams. Here is Joey's winning Bananagram. Check out that vocab!


This is my very sad Bananagram. This game was down to the last two letters, and I could have pulled this one off, but the last letter I grabbed was a Z, and we all know that your Bananagram is a clunker after a move like that. I had to take apart at least one third of my puzzle after that move.


Here is the Champ showing off his winning words!

Prints Charming

This evening, our friend and Art Department co-worker, ERIN, dropped by the Ranch so that Missy could teach her how to use our PRINT GOCCO. Erin is getting married in a couple of months and she wants to screen her own WEDDING INVITES as well as print on various party favors and decorations. Missy gave a quick demo by screening some LIMITED EDITION PRINTS, based on one of her own 1" button designs. The image is of two HUGGING BUNNIES, with the message, "I Care, Hang In There"...

















Printing with the Gocco can be quick and easy...soon, we were running out of flat surfaces on which to dry out the prints. We couldn't put them on the floor, because NILLA will sit on any piece of paper or cardboard that you place on the floor...after we ran out of table space, we started to lay the prints on top of our kitchen counters and on top of our electric oven..















(Thanks for dropping by and thanks for dinner, Erin!)

I'm Your Puppet

During Popfest, we took a much needed break from the action and headed out to Atlanta to check out the incredible CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS. Our friend Leia is a PUPPETEER, so we wanted to make sure she got a chance to see the "puppet museum" before her and her band, THE AFTERNOON NAPS, returned to Ohio. Also, our friend ROSE had a plane to catch out of Atlanta that day - we thought we could cram in a visit before she flew back to Canada. Missy and I had been to CPA several times, but it is always so much fun to take folks for their first visit...it's always amazing how the museum can bring adults face-to-face with their childhood selves and remind us of what it's like to be a kid all over again...

We wandered from room to room taking in each and every little detail. Needless to say, photos can barely capture the magic of experiencing the museum in person...



















Missy gets an earful of bawdiness from MADAME:



















Leia and Rose work the controls of an ANIMATRONIC BIRD:



Things got pretty emotional once we encountered one of the actual SKEKSIS from THE DARK CRYSTAL...and the actual MUPPETS from "PIGS IN SPACE"! We marveled at the seemingly lo-fi details of the puppets that we could see from close up - like the PRESS-ON NAILS on the hands of the Skeksis, or the embellishments on the pigs' uniforms that were simply SCRAPS OF FELT, drawn on with MARKER...











Missy broke down crying at the sight of the special EMMET OTTER display within the larger JIM HENSON exhibition. She just couldn't believe that the beloved Emmet Otter (and his mother) were right before her very own eyes...







We also got to see the actual SWEDISH CHEF! and DR. TEETH!







After the museum, we stopped at the YOUNG BLOOD GALLERY & BOUTIQUE to do a bit of shopping. We also made sure to check out the whimsical HARLEQUIN & THE HARE exhibit in the back of the store...Missy was entranced by the figurines and paintings..









Jennifer introduced JOLENE, Young Blood's super cute THREE-LEGGED BLACK CAT, to Rose, Missy, and Leia. Outside the shop, Rose posed with TOFU BABY and Leia, before rushing off to catch her plane back home...





Missy, Leia, and I popped in to HIGHLAND ROW ANTIQUES a couple of doors down from Young Blood, and descended into their massive basement to dig thru all the junk and treasure...











Highland Row had a little bit of EVERYTHING...even PICKLED FROG SPECIMENS!





We found a stack of NAUGHTY CHRISTMAS CARDS that were perfectly preserved from the 1970's...























After exploring the antique shop we headed across the street to the KING OF POPS popsicle cart to treat ourselves to HANDMADE GOURMET POPSICLES...the funniest thing about King Of Pops is the huge MURAL on the side of the building advertising the tiny push cart parked between the gas pumps of a run down gas station...our friends in Atlanta have been raving about King Of Pops for some time now and we were finally able to say that they lived up to the hype.





Missy and Leia opted for the HONEYDEW & LIME ZEST, while I went with the more adventurous PINEAPPLE & JALAPENO...my popsicle was surprisingly good - sweet with a spicy aftertaste. A full day spent frolicking in Atlanta behind us, we rushed back to the car just as the rain clouds burst, and hurried back to Athens in search of more adventure...