HOLIDAY WREATHS

I've been very impressed with a selection of gorgeous DIY wreaths around the web this holiday season. THIS is my favorite one so far: simplicity at its best. Since we're moving during Christmas this year it is not possible to decorate our own home, so I paint it instead:

Happy Holidays from Austin,

Alli

THE BEST THING FOR ADULTS TO DO AT THE SAN DIEGO ZOO

Last week I was feeling claustrophobic in the city of Phoenix as a whole. Driving between 3-14 hours every weekend while living in New Mexico has permanently imprinted wanderlust into my biological rhythms. I miss traveling to small, tiny mountain towns in the desert. So I'm excited about our drive to Austin for the stops in-between, especially Riudoso, NM.

I was researching the ETYMOLOGY OF WANDERLUST. It originally means, in German, "hike-lover." Appropriate!

Side note:

Nick and I went to the San Diego Zoo with his family the day after Thanksgiving. It was just slightly chilly, overcast (perfect for photos), and I had a good time being clowns with my in-laws (That is not a sarcastic statement! I love them!). I think the best part about the San Diego zoo is the scheduled zookeeper talks. We went to the MANED WOLF talk. It was fascinating hearing about the animals (especially the evolutionary bits), but even more interesting was hearing about the keeper's career and how she ended up in her position. I expected her to have a BS in some sort of life science field, but in reality there are relatively few zookeepers that have degrees (although it's becoming more common). The reality of a zookeeper's daily work is a majority of manual labour and a minority of face to face animal time. Sounds like public school teaching.

Being at the zoo makes me want to read LIFE OF PI again - and go to Disney World, because most high-end theme parks just get better as you get older.

Nick and I checking out the manatees.
Photo by my brother-in-law's delightful girlfriend Leticia.

Cheers!

BUFFALO

After packing up all of our stuff and being in San Diego for a week, I'm going a little stir-crazy for my workstation at home...which no longer exists. The following was an older practice, again using Sharon Montrose's WORK  as a reference. This was the first one I did of her work, and remains my favorite. Bison remind me of Christmas in New Mexico near the Jemez mountains, which is always a good memory.

Happy Thanksgiving.

PROMOTIONAL POSTER: THE LORD LACKBEARDS

I did a series of posters to promote my friend's theatre company, THE LORD LACKBEARDS, out of Wellington, NZ. They're currently mounting their summer school tour of two plays, R&J, and Bedtime Monsters. I love that their summer is actually during the fall and spring terms for us, being on the opposite side of the equator. My friend would always come back to the states from Christmas break tanned while we were all white as ghosts.

This was a fun project and brought me back to my salad days of undergraduate theatre group posters.

Break a leg, Lackbeards!