Sweets on the Streets

So last night Andy and I were coming home from dinner when I noticed a cupcake on the railing of my apartment steps. It was exactly the size and shape of a real homemade cupcake, with fluffy pink frosting and a little flag stuck in it.

A nicer, better person might have been curious but minded her own darn business and left the item alone. I've left boxes or bags on my front steps when going up to retrieve my coat or cell phone before, so maybe someone stopped mid-cupcake to go get their scarf or something. Or maybe someone had left it as a little birthday surprise for a resident. The fact is, I had no business picking up what looked like somebody else's pastry.

But I'm a jerk, so I totally picked up the cupcake to examine it. It was heavy like stone, and clearly not made out of sugar, spice, or anything particularly nice on the digestive tract. In it, I saw a little flag that said "You deserve a treat!" And I have to be honest, in my head, I was like "Yeah, I do! Where's the cake?!" On the back of the flag, it said Cakespy.com.





I happen to be a prior fan of Cakespy.com, the cupcake website with the cute little pink watercolor cupcake artwork which I've loved since before I moved to Seattle. I particularly enjoy their Queen Anne Cake Walk Guide and whenever Cyndi finally comes to see me I plan to take her on the Seattle Donut Tour. Although disappointed about the whole not-being-edible thing, I was right pleased to have found the adorable little cake. I'm jerk enough to inspect the frosted goodies of strangers, but I know better than to disturb public art, so I took a few photos of the sweet and then left it where I found it.

I went upstairs to check the website, and sure enough, there was a post featuring my own front door. They are running a little experimental Cupcake Street Art Installation by depositing plaster cupcakes with uplifting messages in neighborhoods in Seattle, and my apartment just happened to be a lucky recipient.

When I came home today I was sad to see that the cupcake was gone. I intended to move it to a new place, take a photo, and leave a comment on Cakespy. But hopefully someone out there has their Deserved Treat sitting on a desk or table and making them happy.

In LA I often felt like the art was yelling at me, competing for my attention and preaching a political message, but I like street art that serves merely to amuse and add whimsy. I like not knowing the exact intent of the work because it leave me free to make up my own meaning. I sometimes miss seeing the little Berds hanging at busy Los Angeles intersections.



Perhaps because of tighter geography, street art in Seattle comes knocking on my door much more often, and when it does, it's usually just to say some like



"Hello there..."


"Aren't people so wonderfully creative?"


"Isn't the world a strange...."


... funny place?"


"Isn't life full of the most exciting possibilities?


"And you know what? You deserve a treat!"

The Story of Fifi the Loofah

Sometime in May, a little baby loofah named Fifi was left behind in Seattle. We're not sure who the negligent parent is... Beth bets on Nicole, although it seems unlike Nicole to leave something behind. Andy think it was Jean, but I think it's because he likes to imagine Jean showering. I dunno. It could be Emily or Kim or Andrea. Even though Ben stayed at a hotel, he's not completely off the hook.

Poor little Fifi had some abandonment issues in the very beginning, and it was hard for her to get used to life in Seattle. She is such a tiny little loofah, alone in a strange new place with strange new friends. But she has been quite brave... and she's doing better, although she would be happy to travel home to LA if someone wants to claim her.

Here is her story:

Fifi feels sad and abandoned in Seattle.

Fifi attempts to make friends but finds it can sometimes be difficult to connect with strangers. Perhaps it's the Seattle Freeze?

Disheartened, Fifi contemplates ending it all... Don't do it Fifi!

Beth tries to comfort Fifi and help her adjust to her new life in Seattle.

She invites Fifi to join the family for supper... Fifi uses a booster pillow at the dinner table.

Fifi licks her plate clean.

Beth thinks Fifi might be tasty... although, perhaps a little spongy?

Just kidding Fifi! I would never have you for a snack!

Fifi aims to get the triple word score.

Fifi enjoys trashy television. Notice the wagging tail...

After a short adjustment period, Fifi finds acceptance with her new family, Lulu and Louie Loofah

Call Me Tuts

Yesterday morning I went into work feeling pretty bummed out. You know the feeling, when your job pays you well to sit and do nothing, and you feel sort of useless and listless... you spend a lot of time looking at YouTube videos that people send you or reading blogs about cupcakes or chatting on AIM about Battlestar Galactica. Right?

Thank goodness for AIM chat with Jean. Two days into her new job and she is already full of great wisdom and advice (even moreso than before). She reminded me that the benefit of a freelance gig is in flexibility. My hours are, after all, *my* hours. If there's anything Beth is good at, it's using the internet, and within a few minutes I had discovered a new way to charge value into my day, in the form of Photoshop Tutorials!

I had completely forgotten about online tutorials and the inherent bliss of learning something new. I had forgotten that along with baking blogs, Battlestar Wikis and Movie Spoiler Websites (which have saved me from many an M. Night Shyamalan Crappening) the internet is full of new somethings to learn that actually pertain to my job. Because while it's great to be able to keep up hours long conversation on why there's no 7th Cylon (Yeah, why?!), no one is gonna pay me for that skill.

My new goal for building a better Beth-brain is to complete one PSD tutorial per day from the PSDTUTs site, until I've completed every single one. The site has some pretty amazing tutorials that actually showcase things you would really want to learn, along with links to articles and inspiration. Also good are Computer Arts Magazine, Tutorial 9, and abduzeedo.

Having attended a few Photoshop seminars through Adobe, I find I only learn from doing, regardless of how great my notes are, so it's key to actually follow step by step. The tutorials on this blog are also great because the beautiful end product is taunting you at the top of the page like a carrot on a string. Here's what I've done so far. Not amazing, but I learned a few tricks here and there.

Watercolor Seattle: this is actually a fairly simple layer masking process, which I got from the Viget design blog.


Windows Vista-style light-rings using layering masks & gradients: Fairly simple, just time consuming, but you learn a bit about layer styles


Grassy type: Very very time consuming, but a cool effect to know, and easy to reproduce using any texture you'd like.

Snip Snap

Move to a new city, cut your hair in a new fashion. It's a test. If I look different and I'm located in a different place, can I still hold true to the things that I think make up the central core of who I am? Probably. Afterall, I still hate it when someone asks me if I put "product" in my hair, I still have a combined pathological curiosity/fear of changing my hair color, and I still can't wield a hairdryer for crap.

But next time I intend to get super super short bangs.

I Like the Lichen

I guess looking at lichen is really a solitary pasttime anyways, and here in the Pacific Northwest there is even more of it to look at. I dunno if these qualify as lichen or moss or both. But they're pretty!

Out & About

And I do mean out... Andy tries on my skinny jeans

Dear Journal: as I write I am sitting in my bathtub with my new aromatherapy bath caddy, spilling candle wax on my naked private parts while combining alcohol and a hot tub environment. Pure genius!

Space Needle seen from a street near our house.

Drinks from the Japanese supermarket Uwajimaya. Join the Coffee Mafia and receive free mustache and pipe!

After helping Andre unpack his newly purchased art work as seen on the wall, Beth decided to create some art of her own using biodegradable packing peanuts.

Los Angeles Adventure

This post ins't really about Seattle at all, but how can I talk about where I am if I don't spend some time remembering where I've been?

Before departing LA for my new life in Seattle, I spent the month of December and early January seeing good friends and doing my favorite Los Angeles things, squirreling away fond memories of things and people I love like. During my last week there, my geek hero and punning role model Ben proposed a Los Angeles Adventure in downtown.

Ben is the nerdiest person I know other than myself. I am so glad we became friends because he makes me a better nerd. He is always up to dork-out, and he even lets me cuddle his cat.

So a plan was hatched to ride the metro and visit some classic LA spots: Olvera Street, Chinatown, Cliftons & the Observatory. Another famous nerd pal Cyndi came with us and together we set out to enjoy the multitude of quirky charms that downtown Los Angeles has to offer.

Some shark cigarette posters to start things off. I think the ride from Union Station to Chinatown, which is actually walking distance, completed the Metro portion of our adventure, sadly enough. Even when purposely using public transportation we couldn't manage it.

Lanterns in Chinatown. The Chinatown metro station also has a The feng shui compass which I failed to photograph. It had no informational plaque so we had no idea what it was, but when I stood on it the needle moved. I guess I'm magnetic.

The Chinatownland sign, which was apparently created in 2002 as an art installation.

Cyndi is attempting to act as the arms for this angel statue outside a boba place.

Moving to Olvera Street, which was eerily quiet, we grabbed a quick bite at the stall serving what's widely considered to be the best taquitos in LA.

Union Station at dusk from Olvera Street.

On to Clifton's. I had never been, so I took a lot of photos. One of my partners in ad school had written a series of headlines about Clifton's which really piqued my interest, so I was glad to finally see it in person.

Given the cafeteria-food menu, the colorful variety of desserts was the most appetizing looking area.

I ended up choosing the chicken and dumpling fricasee and strawberry dulce de leche cake.

With the silk flora, animatronic fauna and high dining perch, one can hardly help drawing a connection between Clifton's and Club 33. Similar and yet so opposite.

Gravy makes us giddy.

A transfat free zone.

The view from the street

Now only a blur

After Cliftons we had some mexican hot chocolate at Weeneez which was attached to the Red Dot gallery. Then we walked down the block and saw some amazing sculptures in a downtown hotel window.

After dropping Cyndi off at the Metro station, we headed over to Griffith Park for the final portion of the Adventure. I hadn't been to the Observatory since they remodeled it, and I was excited to see it before leaving.

The Foucault pendulum in the lobby is such a great opening exhibit. When the little peg fell down, it gave me such a sense of awe for the planet and the world. People applauded. Gravity took a bow. You might call it a latitude adjustment.

Ben and I made our way to the telescope on the roof, where we got an amazing view of the moon. But nothing could top Leonard Nimoy's narration in the introductory film for the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater.

My beloved home city. A perfect end for a great adventure.