meteorology

This morning, like many other mornings during northern California winter, it was raining. Really hard raining though, like the sideways kind, like the kind that gets your jeans really wet. To make ourselves feel better we went out for fancy burgers and curly fries and then to Trader Joe's to get tofu cream cheese and free coffee samples and to look for the mint hot chocolate that I know Jen likes (they didn't have it) and by the time we got home the sun was out. Crazy crazy.
Even though the sky had cleared and it felt much warmer it was still really blustery. And the plum tree in our backyard has been blossoming for the past week so all of the pedals were blowing all around and it looked instead like it was raining flowers!!

sean: my internet is being so slow... i feel like i am on AOL 4.0

Linda & Harriet

i just drew this pattern for Linda & Harriett, a card and stationary company run by the nicest folk who might just win the award for best clients ever. so sweet, so flexible, so helpful. i can't wait to see the finished product.

california: phase two

i'm embracing unemployment*. i'm giving myself deadlines. i'm volunteering to do things i could, later, be getting paid for. i spend too much time chatting on the internet. i'm trying to be an "artist". its weird!! i love it. i can do it, i know it, even when i'm being crazy.

its exciting to know that things are starting to move into whatever is going to end up being the next phase of my life out here on "the left coast". i'm probably already in that phase i just don't realize it yet. here are some things i'm going to work on:
making lists that actually make sense
exploring by foot
purchasing a bike (finally)
drawing more people
cook ALL the produce i purchase

these goals are all very reasonable. also, on a somewhat separate but equally important note, i really think its so dumb when people call it "the left coast" even though i also really like it.


taylor: how is it that there is no money in the entire nation and i still have to pay student loans?


* EDIT: i'm no longer refering to myself as "unemployed." i'm self-employed. i have income.

maira

the day after this came out all four emails in my inbox were links to this:
kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/the-inauguration-at-last/

i'm glad my friends know me so well.

the only american unemployed by choice...

i'm going to start my quest for a new job (positive thinking only, please) on monday. in the meantime, i'm celebrating my unemployment with a cold. you can find me and harry potter on the couch.

also, this is how i spend most saturday mornings.


it's february already?

both of the most recent entries in the two blogs i check most regularly (that just happen to belong to two of my friends) made me laugh out loud when i read them.

el oh el.

happy new year (still)

i love saying "happy new year" to people. i always get so sad when it's far enough away from january 1st that it may seem a little weird to still be saying it. but the year is still so new!! especially if you think about all the many weeks in 2009 we still have left.

i love it. this year is new. it's a different year than the last one.

etsy!

merry happy!

i'm leaving for the east coast tomorrow and, i gotta say, i'm pretty nervous i'm going to find out i've become a soft, weather-wimp out west. it's all relative though! i mean, the coldest a place gets will always feel cold when you're living there. and here, when it's 50º and rainy it feels COLD. i think a snow and friend fix is just what i need though. besides, i found a really good hot chocolate recipe that's amazing with soy milk so feel pretty much prepared for any weather related challenges. somehow december managed to fly by without feeling like it was overwhelmingly "the holidays", maybe because i decided not to do presents this year (best idea ever, by the way). we had a 1920's themed work holiday party at my house and the best part about it was that i made this chandelier:
my roommate and i have already decided that it's staying up forever. i've always wanted to live somewhere fancy.

although i haven't been motivated to learn how to update my website....

at least i've been motivated enough to make some new things to put on it.

"growing new roots"

"chicago"

All the pieces below are on show and sale at Stylus Salon located at 2321 2nd Avenue in Seattle until the second day of the new year. Email devon.kelley.yurdin@gmail.com for more info.

"come in"

"oak land"

"east on the west"

"ghost"

"i left new york looking for trees"

"house plants"

if we all do a little we can all do a lot

i thought it was pretty awesome and appropriate that my first real illustration job in a long time was for a magazine (called Arts & Living California) for an article about the differences between the east and west coasts. months ago they asked me to alter an old piece for it and i did and forgot about it until it was sent to me in the mail and it looks so professional and real. i'll have to scan it. for now though, a pdf will have to do.

also, i've been making little things.

things are good. i'm still trying to figure out why, no matter what, the holiday season always feels so frenzied. i mean, don't get me wrong, i love me some cheer as much as the next gal, and you better believe i'm ready for another three weeks of hearing All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey in every store i walk in to. it's only the best song ever.

today