Birthdays and Bookstores

I turned 25 a few weeks ago. My friends were kind enough to indulge me and watch New Moon together (we watched Twilight for my 24th birthday). Watching the Twilight series with friends is one of the greatest joys of life and you simply cannot convince me otherwise.

Backyard New Moon party!! It doesn’t get any better than this!

Turning 25 doesn’t freak me out in terms of aging: I am deeply anti-anti-aging and am greatly awaiting the day I have deep laugh lines and my hair goes white. I’m more concerned because I feel less like an adult and more like three house cats in a trench coat: I’m unsure exactly what I’m doing and most of the time I would like to sleep and not be responsible for feeding myself. However, cats are often wildly confident creatures so maybe that’s not a good metaphor. I guess I just still feel like a teenager: I’m trying to figure it all out but I can’t find something to grip onto, so I just keep grasping blindly hoping something will stick. I’m a little boat adrift in an ocean of calm— my world is blessedly safe but surround an infinite vastness that unnerves me.

None of these feelings strike me as bad (don’t worry mom! I’m ok), but they strike all the same. I’m unsure of the boxes to sort them in. I know I don’t have to corral them, but it would also be nice not to let them run wild and free around my brain space, ya know?

I guess that’s just 25! I don’t have any big creative goals, mostly just putting myself out there and doing more of what I love, like writing and illustrating.

Speaking of putting myself out there, I got to ring in 25 painting the windows at Politics and Prose! (Call me Paul Blart because I just segwayed like a mall cop)

I randomly decided to email a few independent bookstores in DC to just get my name out there if they were looking for any artists to collaborate with, and Politics and Prose got back to me within 24 hours asking if I wanted to paint their windows for Fall! Do I know how to paint windows? No! Did I do it anyways? Of course!

Turns out, windows can be painted on pretty easily with acrylics and a lot of determination. After a about a week of design work, I spent a few mornings hoping and praying I wasn’t irreversibly damaging the windows of a historical, very prestigious independent bookstore. Because acrylics are pretty hardy, I was able to paint on the outside of the windows (in that good good city heat). I began each vignette with a loose sketch in white paint and then built up layers of basic colors. After the base was dry, I then came back in with the details. It was good learning experience, and the folks at P&P were so great to work with. If you’re in DC, pop by, grab a book, and see some windows! If not, no worries! I’ve included some pics ;)

One of my favorite parts of this project was coming up with all the book puns! See how many you can spot and let me know your favorite!

I made the title “Tails of Pie-rates” because there are a lot of little animals throughout the paintings, but looking back it just seems like I don’t know the difference between tail and tale.

Speaking of tails, I totally forgot the fox’s. Let’s just pretend we don’t notice.

My favorite vignette! I’ve actually never read Of Mice and Men, but I would definitely read Of Mice and More Mice. Also I love the pumpkin.

Now I want to write a version of Pride and Prejudice with woodland creatures. Pride and Prejumice. Elizabeth Bunnett. Foxwilliam Darcy. Squarles Bingly. I could keep going.

These are just a few of the fun little guys you’ll see if you stop by Politics and Prose this fall! Are they perfect? No. But did I have fun and learn things and also find a Claire Saffitz cookbook on sale? Yes! So yeah! I’m 25! I painted some windows! The world is my oyster but also I’m not in a rush!

As always, thanks for reading! I’ll be back in a few weeks to share my dark chocolate toffee blondies recipe and some of my favorite fall reads 🍂 for now, enjoy the dregs of summer!