LizzyHouse

Castle Peeps Summer camp tonight!

Sorry for the delay today! I'm flying out the door to go to a brief family reunion at my cousin's place in Des Moines, Iowa. We are going to the fair. It's supposed to be a great State Fair... and all I can say is that I better meet a reporter who has to really weigh the decision to be with me, or keep up his big time job. And I will only be satisfied if my Mom wins in the jam and jelly contest with her famous mincemeat, by getting the head judge drunk. She's a little heavy handed with the brandy. A winner is a winner... that's what I think anyway. But I'll tell you what, if Blue Boy doesn't win the grand prize in the pig contest I just don't what I will do. That and someone is going to fall in love with a jazz singer... doesn't someone always fall in love with a jazz singer?

oh wait... that's State Fair by Rogers and Hammerstein.

Check out Maya's Summer Camp project tonight. Maya is in my opinion, a master human being. She's a feeler and a thinker, a maker and a doer, and I am grateful to know her. So whatever she does is sure to be golden. 

have a great weekend everyone! And if the Summer Camp project, or the State Fair clip weren't enough... I turned in new artwork for a new collection of fabric on Tuesday, and that's all I can say about that until it comes out. Too many people like stealing my things, so you'll get a big wow when it's really out and about.

lovedove,

Lizzy

Favorite thing #4 or... 5?

Sorry to be so absent! I've just been working like crazy to get everything ready for Market.

SOO. Here is my favorite thing from this week.

it's my Mom's book, City Quilts. Her advanced copy came this week. But to be more specific it's City Aviation. Holy COW! The quilts came home this week, and it was my first time meeting them. I nearly fell out of my proverbial chair. It's incredible!
I'm so proud of her, and all of the work shes done. I know that the book is going to be a huge hit, because her perspective, and work are so unique and beautiful. Not to mention the fact that each of her quilts, if they were painted on canvas, would be considered equivalent to the likes of Josef Albers. She has a real gift.

It's like she trained at the Bauhaus before she was ever even born. 

Favorite thing #2

My favorite thing this week is definitely my little sisters new blog. 

She is literally one of the funniest people that I have ever met... in my life. Reading Melissa's blog is such a treat, because it isn't really about anything. She's not selling anything, she's not pushing any kind of agenda, she's not trying to get you to listen to her new music, or get you to try a new recipe... there is no business. It's just Melissa being funny about her celebrity crushes, new sewing projects, her cat Minkee, and life in nursing school. 

She is currently garnering all star reviews from our peanut gallery of peeps.

So if you ever want a laugh, check out our Little Melysses S. Grant. She's the House families wild card. You absolutely never know what she will say or do next. And that's why we love her.

A final goodbye!

I'm totally bummed. My littlest pet shop of a sister, Melissa, is leaving tomorrow. Since she was here for a month, because of her surgery and the holiday, she brought her little cat Minkee with her. Minkee is what we like to call an "only cat". She is very sweet and reserved, but is spoiled and does not play well with others. She has kind of a funny face, and little disgruntled lines on her chin making her appear older than her 2 years.

Finn didn't seem to care that she didn't care for him, and just treated her like he loved her the whole time she's been here. She eventually found her own little groove here, and I am sad to see her go, more sad to see Melissa go though. They make a good pair... Melissa the youngest child and Minkee, her strange little only-cat. 

She liked staying with me in the sewing room while I worked. Here is a picture of her little hamburger face.

now it's officially back to life... back to reality.

being better together

I've read your comments and emails, and I think that we can really help each other. I have been giving a lot of thought to some of the problems we seem to be collectively facing, and how we can collectively kick the habit this year.

We are too hard on ourselves. I was in Salt Lake the other day, throwing my little Asher in the Rye a birthday party. On one of the days I was there, I met this lady, and we were talking about art and what not and she started talking about how hard she is on herself, and the expectations she puts on herself, and then she said, what I feel is the common thread with all of us, "No one expects it of me but I figure if I don't do it, it's not going to get done right". So, I think this is one of our issues. We are taking on so much, and when we don't accomplish everything we get so down on ourselves... when we were the ones!

I taught myself a lesson in this. You have to be realistic. Simplify. Remind yourself how many hours there are in a day, remind yourself who shares your time, remind yourself of your resources; financial/mental. When we were planning Ashlee's party, we knew that we didn't have much money to put into it, and we only had the day hours to prep everything for the night. I went from having a menu with a cake, and 3 different appetizer things, to no cake but six kinds of profiteroles; 3 savory and 3 sweet, to finally, cream puffs. We just had cream puffs, and everyone loved them. I just made up four batches, whipped some cream, dipped the tops in chocolate. No one complained about there not being a cake... or more stuff, we just had cream puffs, and everyone danced.

I could have done it. I could have baked the cake, and made the appetizers. I am more than capable of making everything I want to have happen, happen. I would have spent more money then I had and driven myself nuts...But I wanted to spend that time with Ashlee, on her 23rd birthday. I didn't lower my expectations of myself, I was just more realistic.

I started on this path to simplification my senior year in college, when I was finishing up. I had all these crazy expectations of myself, because I felt like it was what other people expected of me, what I came to expect of myself... but one day, I was too tired, and too worn out, and not everything I had had planned worked out... and amazingly enough, the world didn't end. It's like in A Boy Named Charlie Brown when Charlie Brown looses the Spelling Bee, and Linus comes to visit him when he doesn't come to school the next day, and he says... oh just watch the video

the other thing. Times are hard right now. I know that sometimes it seems like you have been sold up the river without a paddle, and that you have been left alone. Forsaken by friends or family, or worse, forsaken by God. This is an imperfect world we live in, made to shape and change us. I've known financial troubles, and family troubles, heart ache, and disappointment. But you can't loose hope. You can't loose hope that there is something better and brighter. We are innovative people. We have an oppurtunity everyday to better our situations. 

I look at my different issues like a design problem. And often times I find myself running into the same problems. I keep hitting the same brick wall. Why? How? I need to step back. I need to assess the situation, and see if there is anything that I can change. 

If we are approaching things, like we always do how would things ever be different if we are staying the same? If you look at it in an equation, you are the control in your life, and everything else is the variable. So, you always have the oppurtunity to change, and better still have some say over your situation.

That's something else too. You can't wait for other people to change. You have to be the one. Things get better when you decide to make them better. And the beauty of the whole thing is, the better you take care and love yourself, the better you are, the better you can love other people. It's amazing how the whole thing works. And to add to the beauty, we have each other. We're in this together.

So, those are just some thoughts I've been having. I want to hear how you feel about it. What are some of your ideas to simplify, and be better to yourself or better your situation this year? 

Embarkation (2003) by Gordon Senior from the private collection of the Crocker Museum in Sacramento California

Printmaking and Prayers.

The Printmaking:

I stayed longer in Rexburg than I had planned, because I felt compelled to. Because of all of the ups and downs this year, I felt like I wasn't a very good artist anymore. If we haven't covered this already, and we have, I am very hard on my self. I think the biggest problem was that I hadn't been able to print since April, and I found through earning my degree that printing with a press is not only an integral part of my creative process, but a major factor in my mental/creative/emotional well being.

So by staying in town, I was able to spend some solid time printing, and I feel more like a whole person. Like I said, I have been doing some monoprints-monotypes, and I pulled one last night, after the final run, and I nearly cried. It was like a blessing or an answer to a prayer to be able to complete something so solid, and wonderful. It made me remember why I print-make, and that even if I haven't printed since April, I am a fine artist.

The picture above is of the first run on a print. It's called Miracle Fish. Funny how much expression a little fish with a single eye can have.

The picture below is of my little sister, Melissa.

The Prayers:

The prayers are for my littlest sister, Melissa. After a terrifying chain of events this weekend she had to have emergency surgery last night. Luckily she goes to school at Johns Hopkins, and is in good hands. So my grandma is flying out to Baltimore to be with her tonight, to be followed by my Mother. So if you could remember Melissa in your prayers, it would mean so much to my family.

my vegetable.

I'm in Idaho. I should probably start each post with an update of my locale.

I've had a Utah, Idaho adventure this Thanksgiving. First with my sisters, and then the Jimisons.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at our friend Kyoung's house!

I was assigned a vegetable and a dessert, and the first thing that I thought about when pondering my vegetable was the "Roasted Pumpkin, Arugula Pesto, Hazelnuts" dish that we ate at Tom Douglas's restaurant, Serious Pie in Seattle. Ever since we ate there, I have been thinking about that dish! So I decided to remake it.

Instead of Pumpkin, I used some locally grown hubbard squash, and every store in town was out of arugula, why? The infamous arugula hoarders of Rexburg strike again! So, Allen drove all the way to Idaho Falls, to get some. Also, nowhere can you find shelled hazelnuts... so we filled a paper bag full, and cracked them, peeled them, toasted them, and cut them in half. It was an all day affair. No one minded. 

Making pesto with arugula was very interesting and super good! There is still a little pesto leftover in the fridge, and the color hasn't changed! With a basil pesto, within a day it starts to change colors because the leaves are bruised... that was cool. Also, the peppery flavor is a nice compliment to the mild flavor of the squash, and the sweet hazelnuts.

here's the recipe!

Arugula pesto:

• 8oz washed arugula
• 2 cloves roughly chopped garlic
• 1/3 cup Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons water

in a blender or food processor, add olive oil, garlic, parm. cheese, and hazelnuts. Chop, or pulse. Add Arugula, and blend, or continue to pulse until it's a paste! If the mixture is especially thick, in a slow stream add water until you reach your desired consistency. 

A note of experience. I highly recommend using a food processor for any kind of pesto. Using a blender can be a bit tedious, unless you have a crazy powerful blender, you're going to be reaching in there and stirring it, trying to get everything to hit the blade... I only say this, because I have a tedious blender.

Roast any kind of pumpkin or squash that you want. Just make sure you peel it. I cut mine in half moons for a nice presentation. Also, I used a little olive oil, paprika, and pepper. You salt it, when it comes out of the oven, because if you add salt in the beginning, it's going to pull out the moisture, and you will have a harder time getting them to really get brown, and roast. In addition, don't crowd the pan.

The presentation is simple. You just put the squash down on a platter, and spoon the pesto over it. You top it with more parmesan, and halved toasted hazelnuts. 

It's a dream, and a big hit. It's good served warm or cold. It can even be made vegan by replacing the cheese with 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes. 

Tomorrow, I will share with you my Champion Chocolate Orange Cheesecake recipe.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Were there any stand out dishes at your meals?

Christmas in Europe!

Hiya peeps!

I just got back a couple of days ago and wanted to share some of our trip. We started in Amsterdam, which was really so great, then we took a train down to Brugge, Belgium, and then we ended the trip in Paris. I am really grateful that I got to spend that time with my little sister Melissa, and one of my best friends, Jessica. I also had a lot of time to think while I was there. I feel like I got some clarity and a bit of perspective that I could not have gotten otherwise. A Christmas miracle.

I hope that everyone had a great holiday, and that you all have a Happy New Year. I'm actually really excited for this year, last year I think I was a little fearful, but this year, I'm ready! Cheers to all of you!

a beautiful night.

Thursday night was the BFA show, and I could not have been happier with how it went. This has really just been a dream weekend: getting to see my family (Luke, Ashlee, Melissa and my Grandma!), having a successful opening, seeing so many friends at the show, having a great party, spending time with my dear dear friends Courtney and Kurt, and Benjamin...Here are some pictures from the night. I will post some pics of the actual pieces in a couple of days.

Luke, Ashlee, Me, Melissa, Grandma

Ashlee, Me and Melissa

 Soon Kim, and me in front of her paintings!

hilarious!

made a mini installation chandelier for the after party Soiree! 

I hope you all have a great Holiday. I will have new items in my shop for Christmas in the coming week!!! So check back

where am I?

I keep walking into the living room expecting to see my family, expecting to lay on a red couch with fifteen billion quilts to choose from, expecting to pet a cat, expecting there to be food in the fridge. I keep expecting Texas, when all I get is Idaho. Home vs pseudo home. I am one of those peeps (assuming there is a group of people who do this) who wakes up in a different place than I am. I wake up in the living room at home or in the past when I am actually in my bed in Rexburg. It's a weird feeling. I am in Rexburg though. Getting back here was the worst its ever been. Hard time getting on a plane, delayed shuttle, charter size bus without air conditioning. I don't know what I was being punished for, but I got what I deserved; I guess...

I am sorry that I forgot to mention that I would be gone for a while. Maybe I did it intentionally; a disappearing act. I can't remember. Maybe I just forgot. I am actually a very forgetful person. I have to actually try really hard to remember some things, and other things that are just random nonsense stay with me. That and number sequences. I can see a phone number once  and tell it to you once you have lost the gum wrapper you wrote it on. And don't even get me started with pi. I could easily rattle off fifteen numbers. What a strange thing to remember.

It was a good trip home. I am always so happy to spend time with my family. Nothing means anything without them. We watched movies, ate really good food, played video games (we beat Sonic 3) played music, laughed until our stomachs ruptured... just kidding. My sisters are the funniest people I know. I seriously cry, pause the game, whatever it takes to keep from dying. They are hysterical, and it makes me sad that we are all together less all the time. We need a family vacation real bad. Also, I just can't seem to spend enough time with my Mom. That's that

I had an impromptu trip to Kansas to visit my dear friend Amy. It was so pretty there! I had no idea. It just goes to show that the more you know, the more you realize you don't know anything at all.

I had a trip to Boston planned that fell through because of our fake, nonsensical hurricane, Edourd.

here are my dear kitties

dream cat Stella

sweet little Pinecone

the girls with Mickey.

This is a video of Ashlee playing one of the songs from her album. She's just a dream come true.

you can now purchase the shirts that I designed for her and her cd in the shop!

You guys would be proud of me for not cutting my hair again, yet. It has gotten pretty long, and what's strange is it seems to grow even more in the humidity? Is that possible? If I could get a little time off, this is where I would go to get my hair cut. How cool would that be?

ps. if you ordered something from the shop while I was gone, it has been shipped.

ok, i'm done