Archive for November, 2005

Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005



appetizers

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


We have a family tradition of going around the table and saying what we’re thankful for. This year, instead of a traditional Thanksgiving spread, we lazed about in the 85 degree weather, and with a glass of wine and some mexi-appetizers enjoyed a more California approach to Thanksgiving. Rose was in town from NY, and we got together at her old house, hung out on the deck until after dark, and enjoyed homemade guacamole and pico de gallo salsa, quesadillas with cacique jalapeno cheese, grilled carne asada steak, pasilla chile’s stuffed with more cacique cheese, grilled zuchini, corn and mushrooms, and black and pinto beans and cilantro-chile rice. It was delicious! We did move inside after dark and enjoy the traditional pumpkin pie, complete with cool whip… and did the very American activity of watching a bit of telly on a full tummy. The dogs both enjoyed a bath and a nice long walk to the park to run and play. Click on the photo to see more. Thanks for hosting Rose and thanks for cooking Manny!

DJ Fun

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005



sarah_djing

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


I learned how to use Serato this past weekend, which opened up my musical dj’ing song selection to about a million more songs! I love it when I play and the ladies stop by and tell me how glad they are that I’ve just played this song or that. Sometimes it’s Pat Benetar, or Sister Nancy, sometimes it’s some old 70’s Heart, other times it’s Duran Duran or usually Prince always gets everyone happy. Yay for good music and fun times, and running to the next bar just in time for a handful of shelled peanuts and last call!

Mariposas

Saturday, November 19th, 2005



mariposas

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


Last weekend I took in the Day of the Day Exhibit at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. It was really great, and I never knew how great the museum itself is! They have an entire room of stuffed birds of all sorts, it’s just fascinating to look at them up close, to see just how large some of them are. Birds never sit still long enough to really look at them, so it was very interesting to check ‘em out. And I loved seeing all of the ofrendas and altars and paper mache skeletons for the day of the dead exhihbit. It’s 80+ degrees today here in SB, truly unbelievable Fall weather, but I’ll take it! Happy Birthday Faith! I’ll be dj’ing at Elsie’s tonight, I’m putting together my set as we speak!!

A Letter from the Author…

Wednesday, November 16th, 2005



birdy.jpg

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


Happy Bloggiversary to me! A year ago, I started a personal blog over on Blogger. And when I announced that I was starting a blog too, I included this excerpt as part of my very first post. “I often read blogs, focusing mostly on the adventures of fellow creative types, and have seen a variety of formats… daily musings, personal adventures woven in with work stuff, things i like, etc, etc… Which format would work for me? Most likely short musings with photos every now and again. My main concern is getting over what might be a natural tendency to make my postings “neutral” since they wouldn’t neccesarily be written specifically to someone…But then i decided, get on with it! I think blogs are interesting, stop being a wimp and waiting for some extra motivation to get this thing goin’! I get inspired from others, so why not post my own?!”

It’s funny to me now to see that I was actually worried about my blogging “format” and being too “neutral” because honestly, those concerns rarely cross my mind these days. So what have I learned from spending the past year publishing a diary/blog/website? And why do I continue to do it? While my motivation has become more focused there are many lessons I learned that I didn’t forsee. Last November when I started a blog, I was two months into a new office job in California, and yearning for an expressive outlet like I had in Portland with the art studio I used to share with other working artists. I felt like I was spending so much time doing something just to get that money, which is really the only reason I was working at that office job, and so little time doing anything that felt personally motivated. Within 6 months of this weekly writing I made the decision to quit my job and began my New York Adventure, which I thought warranted an official website. It was not easy, no part of it was, making the initial commitment that is. I remember driving to Goleta one morning and I was on the phone with the Registrar in NY at FIT, hands trembling, signing up for my first class. I remember faxing the registration to FIT in NY, realizing that there was no refund if I backed out. I remember listing the car for sale, and hoping, praying, someone would buy it. I remember leaving California with a few interested parties, but no offers, and thinking, how will I do this without that money? But it was just that leap that hurt so much, once I had landed on the other side, things went exceptionally well. Not having a plan for how things would work out, and taking a risk anyway, was one of the scariest things a planner like me could experience, but I knew things needed shaking up, and of course, it worked out. I definitely spend less time fretting about what I can’t control these days, your faith in life grows exponentially when you take risks, educated, informed, but sometimes just intuitive risks. I was wholly unprepared for the personal growth I experienced, not to mention the professional growth.

I spent the next 3 months chronicling my adventures, feeling so thankful so many people along the way had invested in my decision and wanting them to live vicariously through my adventures. I think ideally I hoped my website would be a showcase for all of my productive creative endeavors, and although it is that, to some degree, I mostly highlight the more social aspects of my life, but to me, especially right now in my life, living is very much a creative endeavor for me. Life in general is so inspiring, and the people in it are more amazing and complex and inspirational than anything contrived or made, at least to me. I realize that it doesn’t matter what it took to get me motivated to start being more accountable to my creative self, it’s just good that I have become just that; more accountable to my need to be expressive through travels, creative adventures, social excursions, and writing and photographing about my experiences and creations. Looking back I can see how much I have grown and changed.

People say to me all of the time, “I would keep a blog but I don’t have enough interesting stuff going on in my life.” I understand that to some degree, but let’s face it people, you have to write for yourself, not to keep up some society page! You don’t start swimming one day and quit because you’re not going to be in the Olympics next year! My simple answer is this; it’s the process that’s important, not each, individual part (or entry.) It’s the whole, the end product, which can be a year later, or 10! What if we judged everything on it’s momentary value? Like, geez my orchid looks bad this year, it needs so much babying, I should just throw it away! Anyway, I do realize it takes a lot for today’s contemporary human to put aside momentary gratification in order to do the right thing for the future. Our grandparents had no problem doing this, but for some reason, maybe our lives are too easy, to fast, and to disposable, that it’s just so hard for so many of us to do it! But I can say with full authority that you can never wait for the right time to do anything that is really important in your life. Because if you do, you’re really waiting for something external to soothe your fears of what life will be like when you start working on what it is you think you want! It seems much more appropriate to figure out what’s important to you right now, and try to fit some of that in every day in some way. Otherwise, time passes by and you get numb to the internal motivations that really make us do great things, those important things that make us feel, really feel!

This blog/website has served as a timeline to measure my life by. These days, I have achieved shortening the distance between what I want and think and feel, and what I do about it daily. For me, it meant really listening to the desires that come from within, and then gently, slowly as is sometimes necessary, starting to form my external world “around” these values. It’s not easy, and I’m no champion nor am I trying to be a spokeswoman of this! But I am so aware, and have this past year of entries to see where I started and where I’m at today. And the funny thing is, once you release preconceived notions of how you think things should be, what you need comes to you. You meet the people you’re supposed to, end up in the environment that you’re supposed to be in! Things feel like less of a struggle, because really, the struggle is usually within yourself with your own fears and doubts.

I check the statistics on my website from time to time, wondering if more than my Mom is reading! October showed the highest amount of unique visitors to date, 367 unique visitors checked in to funcupcake.com in October, but June yielded the highest amount of just straight hits, 12,318 hits with 6,272 pages viewed! And while most of the views come from the US, there are a fair amount from all over the world checking in, whether on accident or on purpose, who knows! Sometimes people are looking up Grommets, Williamsburg Brooklyn, or Cupcakes, and then they find this site. Some email me and say they just wanted to know about “beaded purses”, but they found this and have continued to read it! I do intend to keep up the site. Thanks for being a funcupcake with me! xoxo Sarah

Turbo in the Window

Tuesday, November 15th, 2005



turbo_window

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


We had a great time visiting Portland last weekend… not as many photos from the trip, I was too busy relaxing and chatting with friends, and watching Manny DJ!

I just started a temp. job for the time being, which is great because it means extra cash, a busy, more structured schedule, and being around fashion which I think beats being in an office all day, while I continue to work on my portfolio and wait for that perfect job!

Santa Barbara Courthouse

Saturday, November 12th, 2005



SantaBarbaraCourthouse

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


The day before Halloween around Santa Barbara.

Porfolio in progress

Friday, November 4th, 2005



Porfolio in progress

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


So it may be perceived, as most of my recent posts have been about going out and having fun, that I’m solely a lady of leisure these days, not doing a lick of work. But you see, I am doing a bit of drawing, developing a collection of footwear and handbags, as well as designing surface patterns. When I finish scanning the other drawings, I’ll put ‘em up for your viewing pleasure! We’re headed to Portland tomorrow, then I’ll be in San Diego for a few days next week.

ARTS-n-CRAFT

Friday, November 4th, 2005



ARTS-n-CRAFT

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


The art show motivated me to make some prints. I carved an image inspired by Dios de Los Muertos, and made several prints, some on handmade paper. Please email me if you are interested in these 5″ x 7″ prints, only $5.00 each! The ink color choices are: silver, black, orange, turqouise, or fuschia. I also recently finished knitting two more scarves, here they are, and look Melissa, modeling scarves is not so serious anymore! Coy smile just for you!

Dios de los Muertos Art Show

Friday, November 4th, 2005



Dios de los Muertos Art Show

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


Last Friday was the art show, and it was a smashing success! I opened up the dj’ing for the night, playing from 6pm till about 10pm. It was a great crowd, and the artwork looked amazing.

HALLOWEEN

Tuesday, November 1st, 2005



HALLOWEEN

Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.


Happy Halloween! I dressed up as a coked-up Trophy Wife… I was really hoping to run into a real Trophy Wife so I could spar with her, but no such luck. I carried around a bag of powdered sugar (and made sure to coat my nose) and smeared my makeup, and loaded up on jewels and other appropriate props… those “fake” credit cards that come in the credit card solicitations worked great to cut out all my “lines.” And also try to pay for things! Hah! It was a great night! And I realize I’ve posted no creative work lately, but I am preparing a collage to show y’all what I’ve been working on… some drawings, some knitting, some printmaking, etc, etc.. Later this week I’ll post it.