Trumpet Honeysuckle : Available on Spoonflower.com

Ok...I posted two designs up on Spoonflower and submitted the (brown/blue/pink) one into next week's contest. I personally love the brighter one (yellow/orange/red), but I think the other appeals to a wider audience...and I really want to win - this is as close as I'll ever get to American Idol. More next week when I find out if my design makes it to the finals for voting!


Trumpet Honeysuckle - Dusk


Trumpet Honeysuckle - Sunshine

Nice 'Do...More Like a Don't

Our apartment is soooo hot in the summer and it's very sad for Paws - he has about 30 lbs. of fur on him. I can't get him shaved because taking him out of the apartment is very traumatic for both of us, so I try to trim him at home.

I gave him his first cut over the weekend and it's really bad. I feel awful. Abe thinks he looks like a kitten, but I think he just looks insane and it's all my fault.


Click for a close-up ... you gotta see the look on his face.


Aesthetics aside, the little man loves his hair-cut - I can tell he's so much cooler.

My First Fabric Design

I've been trying to buckle down and design some fabric patterns and I've finally completed one!

This one was inspired by my trumpet honeysuckle shrub that Abe's dad and step-mom got me at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens last year when they were visiting us. I had no choice but to leave it on the fire escape all winter and it's survival was questionable, but sure enough - it's back to blooming business!

I'll be making some final touches and uploading to Spoonflower tonight or tomorrow - then I'll be asking y'all to vote for it in their weekly contest.

I'll also be posting some downloadable desktops in the next couple days of this design.

McCarren Park = People Carpet

Last week my friends and I heard the weekend would be 90 degrees so we made plans to meet at McCarren Park (click to read the Wiki article - it's pretty funny) on Saturday to do what would probably be the best people watching of the year.

Between the girls sunbathing in their bikinis, young families attending the Kite Festival, mustachioed men with their dogs, and large groups of people sipping on giant beers from the Turkey's Nest, we could barely find our own patch of grass.





After the park, I went to The Deitch in Long Island City for an art opening with Mamie-Claire and Margot. The show itself was pretty fun - I loved all the colors, but the gallery space made it super extra awesome because it's right on the water. So the sun was setting, it was 80 degrees out, a soft breeze coming off the river, and the skyline of NYC in front of us. Very movie set.

Kittens No More

I am happy to announce that I think last November's cat trap & neuter project was a success! So far we have no new kittens in the yard, which is a huge relief. I loved watching them romp around in the yard as babies, but it was very sad to see them suffer and lead such short lives.

If you have feral cats in your NYC neighborhood, please contact the one of the organizations below. Volunteers will help you trap, neuter and release the cats - or you can become a volunteer yourself. Not only will you be helping these animals have healthier lives, but also making the whole neighborhood a cleaner and safer place to live.

NYC Feral Cat Initiative
c/o Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals
244 Fifth Avenue, Suite R290
New York, NY 10001-7604
Phone: (212) 330-0033
Email: info@NYCFeralCat.org

Neighborhood Cats
2576 Broadway, No. 555
New York, NY 10025
Phone:(212) 662-5761
Email:headcat@neighborhoodcats.org

Paws Gone Wild

Most people don't know Paws because he's a huge baby who hides whenever someone comes over to the house. He spends his days lounging around and he's never really gone outside - unless you count 5 seconds in the hallway. This morning I opened the kitchen window and encouraged him to venture out on the fire escape. He didn't leave the window sill, but even that was a giant step for this little kitten.


Peeking in the neighbor's window.


Checking out the feral cat posse in the yard.


Thinking it might be about time to go back inside. This is kind of scary.

Sunday Something

Sunday night Preeya and Dave came over for dinner. It started because Friday night Abe and I bought a new Homie and it looked like a Homie Preeya. Darn, I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it. Also, I wanted an excuse to make the Matzo-Crusted Chicken Cutlets I saw in Martha Stewart Living.

The cutlets did not work out. It's a whole long story about making my own matzo bread. I ended up just using bread crumbs to coat the tenderized chicken and baking it with slices of garlic and olive oil. I roasted some brussell sprouts, made a salad, and cooked some rice in the rice cooker. I felt like a mom making a real home-cooked meal.


I started eating and then tried to clean it up so I could take a photo

Then we had dessert.



Then Preeya played the tromboner.

Abe wanted to sign her to a record deal.

Garden Season

Saturday was fun. In the morning I went to Lowe's with Chelsea to get some gardening supplies. We made a pit stop at McDonald's on our way home and I had a McFlurry lunch.

Back at the apartment, I got to cleaning up the backyard. After I had cleaned all the trash out, raked the ground, did some planting of brussel sprouts, propagated the Tiger Lilly, and completed a new grill station layout, I thought it looked pretty awesome back there. But now, when I look at the photos I realize there is still so much to be done. The problem is that I rent and plan on moving next winter, so I don't really want to spend money on someone else's property behind a Chinese restaurant. But to give you an idea, I've posted some before photos (circa 2 years ago) for reference.


Click for large view.


Click for large view.

I planted a ton of brussel sprouts, moved the strawberries into containers, tried to cover a lot of the shadier areas with mint, lavender and wild flower seeds.

After a day of yard work I took the G train to Brooke and Miles' apartment for the first BBQ of the year and it was damn good.

Hello, Spring. You Are My Friend.

Friday night I got off work and Abe and I went to McCarren Park to play catch. We went back to the very first place we ever played catch together. Awwww.


If you click you can see the sequence in a larger version and pretend it's a movie.

Tiger Game

Today we are going to play "Guess the Tiger's Sex". I stole these photos from Telegraph.co.uk. Go there to see 11 more photos of tigers because they are endangered and it's very sad.

Guess the sex of the tiger based on its looks. Answers are at the bottom.



1.) Karupa, a 2 year Golden Tabby Bengal Tiger


2.) Brahman, a 6 year old Golden Tabby Bengal Tiger


3.) Jannaki, a 2 year old Standard Royal Bengal Tiger


4.) Kanja, a 6 year old Standard Royal Bengal Tiger


5.) Loka, a 2 year old Royal White Bengal Tiger


6.) Narayana, a 3 year old Royal White Bengal Tiger


****************************************************************
Answers: 1.)F, 2.)M, 3.)F, 4.)F, 5.)F, 6.)M

Rainbow Cake - Not Just for Lepruchauns

I just found this blog post on how to make a rainbow cake over at Omnomicon. Move over, Funfetti there is a new cake in town.


This recipe is a "diet-cake", but you can easily just use regular cake batter. OMG, what if one used Funfetti cake mix to make rainbow cake?! I might have to run some experiments this weekend.

I Choose Adam Lambert

Tonight I went over Colleen's to watch American Idol and eat fro-yo sundaes. Adam Lambert was amazing once again. I have officially developed a major teen crush on him. This goes right up there with Luke Perry and NKOTB except most of my admiration is strictly amazement and pride and interest in his career (read: I probably won't be putting up a poster of Adam on my bedroom wall and kiss it goodnight).

After Idol was over Colleen had a very special surprise for me...Heartthrob! The Dream Date Game.







I won both rounds.

The Ultimate Trio of Skills to Master

On the way home from work tonight there was a beefcake, good looking dude with long, skinny dreadlocks on the G train with me. He was holding 3 "For Dummies" videos with him:

• Foreclosure Investing for Dummies
• Credit Repair for Dummies
• Wine for Dummies

60th Easter Optima Weekend

This weekend was very fun and exciting not only because it was Easter (very exciting), but because it was my dad's 60th birthday AND I got a new car - a Kia Optima (I put 2 transmission replacements in my old car and since the transmission was dying again it was time give up).

Friday night I hopped in the car with Abe and my cousin Eddie. We left at 7:25pm and made it up to Shrewsbury by 10:40 - and that was with 1 stop for food and gas! You need to be incredibly impressed by that timing.

We pulled into my parents' driveway and from the front walk I could hear Patsy Cline's "Crazy" playing from inside. When you hear that song at my parents' house you know the karaoke machine is on in full effect.


Abe and Eddie try to ease into the raging party.


Zeke is exhausted and dying for everyone to go home.

They might still party like rock stars even when the karaoke machine starts smoking and shuts down, but you are reminded it's a 60th birthday party when my dad shares his eye glasses with Richard so he and my mom can read Rod Stewart lyrics.



Saturday was filled with tv, eating Easter candy, rain, early bird dinner at JP's Restaurant, watching Moonstruck, and drinking rum & Coke at Dave and Brit's house.

Sunday was Easter (yay!) and involved more eating.


This is the third holiday in a row where Eddie was left to finish dinner alone while the rest of us got started on dessert.

Wicked Mint on Twitter

So I joined Twitter a long time ago, but didn't understand what to do with it. Lately I've spent some time getting to know it better (with practice from Facebook status updates) and I'm ready to try it again.

I started following Spencer and Heidi from The Hills and I find it very entertaining. Spencer uploaded a photo of Heidi's hair-do and you can totally see a bong on the kitchen counter. It's since been taken down and I am so angry I didn't save the photo because he took it down when everyone started to point out the bong!

Anyway, if you'd like to follow me on Twitter you can do so right here: http://twitter.com/wickedmint

You can also look over on the left side bar and see all my updates as I post.

Getting Paper Dolls Drunk and Facial Optical Illusions

This weekend was a friend-filled good time. Dennis came into town on Saturday to look at apartments. We hung out off and on during the day while I ran errands like selling clothes at Buffalo Exchange, and he ran back and forth from one potential roommate situation to another.

On Saturday night Dennis and I met up with Fitz, Tim, Sam and Chelsea at The Habitat and from there we hit up Alligator Lounge 2 (formerly Lost and Found Bar) and The Pencil Factory. Fitz' nephew had sent him a school project in the mail. It was a paper doll named "Flat Kyle" and Fitz' job was to take photos of Kyle hanging out all over NYC.



Poor Kyle had to grow up too fast.



On Sunday adorable Andy and Maria invited a whole slew of friends over for brunch. It was really nice to laugh and eat delicious food for 4 hours. I learned that Maria once went through a phase in her life where she was terrified of dead dolphins washing ashore.


They made little mini frittatas in a cupcake tin.

Luckily she overcame that fear and can now bake incredible things like this:


Most delicious thing ever.


...Andy had to take over the cutting.

Preeya made a weird face for some reason and Andy pointed out that she looked like the old lady in that "Is it an old lady or young girl?" illusion.

Preeya put in a lot of effort to look like a witch - this is not even close to her normal, beautiful face.



By Sunday evening I was ready for more food so, after reading a few chapters of The Beach and dozing off with my little Paws cat, I met Dennis at our favorite Greenpoint Polish restaurant.


Our fave appetizer - potato pancakes with smoked salmon.

SuperMagic on ETSY

I have a new shop open on ETSY.com called Super Magic. Here I am selling supplies that other people can make things and craft the day away. All of these items are pulled from the depths of my home office. Think of it as a yard sale full of useful things.

Search the keyword: "destash" to find other people's yard sales on ETSY.

Color Coordinating New Fave Things

I know, I've been really bad about posting. I've been busy with these things: new computer, new craft blog, work, visiting my family, wasting time on Facebook, online shoe shopping, watching American Idol, and hanging out with friends (but on the couch watching tv so it doesn't make for good photos).

Anyway, with my new computer in place I have also been spending a lot of time surfing the World Wide Web. I recently discovered these items that coincidentally all color coordinate:

Jay McCarroll of Project Runway fame has a line of really adorable/weird fabrics:



This pillow sold at Oak in Boston will be included in my Enchanted Forest room someday:



NEW Cadbury Royal Dark Mini Eggs!