Maple Weekend

On Saturday I went upstate to check out Maple Weekend. I decided on a farm that was about 2 hours away from NYC.

honey section

sap evaporator

maple taps

some bee action

some thirsty bunny action

some pancake breakfast action

I stocked up on some maple syrup, some honey and a deee-licious maple cream spread. It felt great to help support a farm directly! I look forward to some more upstate NY outings this Spring and Summer. If anyone has any inside tips/ suggestions of places to visit I'd love to hear them!

ahem, can I get some privacy please.

Sal spotted these 2 peepin' doves and took a picture. These mourning doves hang out in front of my window all the time. They are thinkin', "Damn, she needs to clean these windows we can't see what's going on in there!"

La Lune

, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

The moon was giving out a large cross-shaped glow and I was trying to capture it. Not very successful.

morning routine - 4

Sal and I went to a cafe in Carroll Gardens where I experienced the worst coffee (tasted like rat poison, or windex or maybe both together) I had in a long time and a not-so-tasty shiny bagel.

We headed over to our favorite bake shop in Bay Ridge to get some red velvet cupcakes to make up for the horrible breakfast. The cupcakes we got were so fresh, so fluffy and soo delicious! Highly recommended!

Timmies 136 & 137

Battle of the pom pom hat begins!

8% Sac

I've discovered what has been missing in my life... grape juice with actual peeled grapes inside! The grapes taste exactly like the grapes from the vines in my grandma's backyard. I'm sure all your teeth would fall out if you drank this everyday because it is uber-sweet but once in a while I'm sure it is A-OK.

Thanks to Seung for showing us the way to the grape sac :)

Next on the beverage agenda- crushed pear juice.

morning routine - 3

Korean cookies and some coffee

chocolate-filled cookie love

Timmie #136

Timmie #136, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

This Timmie has been adopted but more Timmies with hats are in the works.

Timmie #134 finds love in the UK!

Check out the cute pic!

Morning Routine

I just joined a new group on Flickr called Morning Routine. Here are my pics from yesterday morning and today.

Tuesday morning: Giant mug of skin-color-coordinating-coffee and the internet

Wednesday morning: coffee and (watery) blueberry oatmeal

Don't spit on the floor

Here are some signs from my dad's cousin's shop in San Benedetto in Perillis, Abruzzo (Italy). I want them so bad! The signs on the right basically say, don't spit on the floor, don't touch anything and something about refusing food and beverages that have been involved with mosquitoes. I love these.

stray dogs

stray dogs, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

Here is a pic from my Italy trip back in October. Do you find the rust colored doggy creepy? For some reason the way he was staring at me gave me the heebie jeebies.

!!!!! WARNING !!!!!

Please tell your friends who sell their art online! My friend just got scammed big time and he wants to send out a big warning to everyone else. Many of you are familiar with the "overpayment" e-mail scams : The "buyer" sends you a check or money order for MORE than the price of the item, but soon "realizes" the mistake, and asks for a refund of the overpayment. Once you send the refund, however, you discover that the buyer's check has bounced.

Here is another form of this scam but a bit more personal.

Here is Mu's e-mail:

"Dear friends of mine,

something really bad happened to me recently, I got scammed.. yes, I got scammed.
few weeks ago some person from England e-mailed me and pretending to buy my paintings, and then he sent me a bad check, which i was not experienced enough to ask people around before deposit it, after that he canceled the deal and asked me to send his money back through western union. He lied with very convincing story so it end up I lost $5800 dollars. It is a very complicate situation, so i can not go through all the details with you with E-mail now.
I was just too inexperienced and too stupid and naive which allowed me gave him a chance to trick our money. The worst part is neither my bank and the police would do any thing for me, but at least I still have my paintings...

I contacted FBI today and they told me to send them all the information I have, I hope they will do something about this, I am not asking them to get that guy for me, I just want them to know that there is one more victim now, and I wish we can be protected in the future.

Now, I know you all are much smarter than me and you will never drag yourself to shit like this, but I still want to let you all to know that this had already happened to someone around us, so please be really careful when people try to approach you about your work on line, especially do not trust any body from outside of United States. "


As if artists don't have a hard enough time trying to make a living! I am so disgusted.


Message to the scammers:

Don't take advantage of my foreign friends.

Thanks a bunch,

M.P.


Update:
Here is a link to an art forum that discusses other art scams that are going on!

Illustration Friday - "heavy"

My first IF of '08!

Disclaimer:
This illo is not fictional and does depict an actual person or event (me every morning). But do you think I learn from my consumption mistakes? No. In fact, I am holding a frozen fudgy bar in my left hand as I post this. Fo' realz.

What do you think??

(Click image to enlarge)
For the summer. This shirt would be for adult women with the taste of 5 yr old girls. Please let me know what you think.

my new buddies

I purchased some new flash usb drives. Aren't they sweet? Perfect for storing pics of my softies and other silliness.

Thanks kid!

I want to publicly thank the child who wrote all over the deposit slips at the bank-

NAME: "mr. fartsalot" with account number "farta farta"

NAME: "mrs. poop y head" with account number "big ol butt"

You made my banking experience much more enjoyable! I was considering taking a pic with my camera phone, but ya know, I didn't want to look immature :)

-mp

Salvation Army Sign

It reads, " WANT TO MAKE GOD LAUGH? TELL HIM YOUR PLANS"

Thanks Salvation Army for making me feel hopeless.

I prefer this message from my tea bag much more:

Ugh

I hereby declare I will get this mess under control this month. Goodbye dust bunnies - go find somewhere else to live.

painted sketch from my new sketchbook

painted sketch from my new sketchbook, originally uploaded by m patrizio.

from last month.