Penny's love of Mazuri, tortoise food

Penny was originally raised on lettuce (encrusted with calcium dust)... but has since been transitioned to Mazuri, a commercial tortoise diet, and she LOVES IT.

Like... as much as I love burritos.
and considering that I ignore an explosive food allergy for my burrito fix; I'd say that's a pretty hardcore love.

Don't believe me? Here are some amazing Penny photos, I took yesterday, before I went to Pho Vina for yummy, yummy pho. (#10 with extra tendon; it's the best!)

Nov 14th; Pho Vina

Apparently some folks have started writing down my URL, to visit my blog... I should probably start making some real content, huh?

Oct 31st, Taco Del Mar; Redmond

I have been falling behind with my drawing posts, again. >_>
bad Elfy!

Tortie-cozies. It'll catch on.

I'm a trend-setter; it's true.

Taco del Mar, Kirkland, WA

Carmen and Jose~

True story.
Taco del Mar, Kirkland, WA

Dear Ooba Tooba

I'm allergic to wheat and avocados. It really sucks, but I try not to let it get me down.
...or at least I don't let it get between me and Mexi nums.

Chajanmyeon Noodles~

Drawn at Genki Sushi in Factoria, WA

The owner actually liked this drawing so much; he took it home to show his wife. o.O

Pro-tip

So... Waldo bit me. and I'm not talking a little nip, I mean I bled for 3 days and was on heavy antibiotics 10 days. Cat bites can be life-threateningly serious; if it's a puncture wound; see a doctor IMMEDIATELY.

...in his defense; we were shaving his butt.

Dismayed Colette

Colette is my sister's tiny black cat. :)
Drawn at Genki Sushi in Factoria, WA

In the not-too-distant-future

Looks like it was at the Bellevue Taco del Mar. :)

I hate hot weather

Taco del Mar, Kirkland, WA

Waldo actually does love the fan. Hardcore.

So full, so happy; so cute

I honestly don't remember where I was... >_>

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHADEADSPIDERFELLONME!

That's the actual text that Phoebe sent me.
The solution: Genki Sushi, Factoria, WA

It's too darn hot

Taco del Mar, Kirkland, WA
again; because I love them. <3 p="p">

"Too hot to move! WAY TOO HOT TO DRIVE!"
"Honey~ wanna go to Taco Del Mar?"
"..." "I'll get my keys."

Purrito~

Taco del Mar, Kirkland, WA

Boots, betrayed again... or perhaps forgotten?

Taco Time, Redmond WA

Mmm~

Genki Sushi, in Factoria, WA

Taco Time betrays Boots

Taco Time is teh yums~

and Boots' face is teh flats~

Matthew's Birthday~

We went to Pho Vina in Woodinville for Matt's Birthday~

Backlog of pics!

I've been terrible about posting; I've recently noticed.
So, here's a bunch of  pics! I found 'em from July....looking for June. >_>

Genki Sushi!

Genki Thursday!

Today, after enjoying a lovely meal at Genki Sushi in Factoria, courtesy of my twin, I went back to Phoebe's place and bathed her cat with her.

Phoebe's cat is 16, mostly blind, and slightly senile... and her arthritis prevents her from being able to thoroughly groom herself. It's a winning combo, really.

Who says I don't ever earn my keep?
aside from my "so, when are you getting a real job, like the rest of us?" family.

Hay in the roll? Genki!

I love Genki Sushi, and I love that my sister "has to" eat sushi once a week to keep her bloodwork regular, for the coagulation clinic. XD

Yeah, we're nearly 26, and my sister had a blood clot. Unrelated to sushi, mind you. :b

I love you, Genkiiii!

Cake for a spider?

Pho Vina in Woodinville, WA.
I was going to feed my cream puff to my feeder bugs, and then feed them to the hopefully-pregnant tarantula, Harriet. ...but I forgot to grab my puff.

Pho Vina, Woodinville, WA

One for you, one for me!
that being said; never give noodles or pasta of any sort to a tortoise. Ever.

Ooba Tooba, Factoria 2

Worth every hive and trip to the bathroom. Screw you, wheat allergy!!!

Ooba Tooba, Factoria

The doodle is of the one in Woodinville... sorry you didn't come out well, DJ! (TJ? crap. It's been too long)

I really can't have their burritos anymore, since developing my wheat allergy... which sucks, because eating their burritos is a freakin' transcendent experience. downright spiritual.

Doodle at Tech City Bowling

My Stitch N Bitch sometimes meets at Tech City Bowling in Redmond/Bellevue/Kirkland (Sunday night; we're on Facebook! Sunday after Mother's Day, we'll be at the Starbucks in the Redmond Fred Meyer on 76th-- come join us!)

I left a doodle in the bar~

Dangers of take-away pho; Pho Vina

Boots and Penny will steal your noodles!
...not my best work, by any stretch.

Happy Waldo! At Pho Vina, Woodinville

Yay, Waldo is happy!
I was super happy, because I had a cafe sua da (iced vietnamese coffee) with my Pho. Mmm!!

Shameless self-promotion? or just begging?

I think we know exactly which this is... but it's also true.
I mostly go out on other peoples' dimes, which means really quick doodles with minimal detail.

When I pay my own way, I can take a little more time.

back post

From a Thursday trip to Genki Sushi with Pheebs. :)

My cat is cuter than yours.

Fact.

Genki!

Phoebe was amazing~ and took us to dinner, for Sushi Tuesday. <3

Here we have our respective Fail Cats; Tiger, the senile, incontinent, blind cat cannot find not remember food (tends to wander off mid-meal).

Boots, the squish-nosed Exotic shorthair, cannot pick up nor chew food with any degree of ease or grace.

We love them dearly. <3

Torrero's in Renton, WA

Jessica and I went to Torrero's after our trip to the annual Reptile Expo, down in Renton.

I highly recommend the Pollo Chipotle; it's amazing!

Sushi Land - Redmond

Boots, post sushi binge.

my baby is growing up!

Oh, Penny. It feels like yesterday that I brought you home in a little cardboard box. <3
and look at that shell! <3 <3 <3

Chupacabra Warriors (working title)

so... I've been learning more about tarantulas, and really LOVE the patterns and colors on a lot of 'em... and stared thinking about how they'd make great superhero or luchador wrestler outfits. The more I thought about it, the more it appealed to me, so I decided to sketch up come ideas... and I loved it.

Bouncing some ideas off of Matt, we've decided this:
We want at least one hero from each continent where tarantulas are native.
We want a mix -- one born mutant, one scientifically altered, one tech genius, one genuine wrestler, maybe one blessed by an ancient god, and one who opts to organize the group... and an alien. Hear me out!

When I was 14, I designed up several races... okay, like 5, and dreamed up homeworlds, cultures, religions-- I even worked on making a functional language for one race (and wrote a children's play, in that language, during my senior year of high school... which is retrospect, is pretty amazing).

One race I came up with was a large, centauroid race of arachnids. I've sketched them occasionally over the last 11 years since their conception, but never really knew what to do with them... until now. :D
What if their technology was only a few hundred years ahead of us-- they didn't have the dark ages, or the weird-ass Pythagorean cult? and they aimed a ship in the general direction of Earth.
It would take a few generations (I'll sketch out ideas for how they may have manufactured food), but the ship would eventually get here; and there would be no way back.

anywho.
I've decided to redesign him a bit; an update, more like. It HAS been 11 years since he was designed... I'm gonna use an awesome blue jumping spider as my model/muse/inspiration/whatever
WARNING: SPIDERS!
http://mechafushigi.com/insect-morphology/jumping-spider-opo-terser/

They're a fabulous species.
Anywho. I'm famished and my wrist hurts so... I'm gonna figure out... something. to do. maybe veg with my wrist brace for a bit. le sigh.

I'll upload some pics, and plan to write up some back story for my heroes, soon. :)
...typing hurts my wrist. :c

Elf and Chewy Aww

I like my half-assed effort at two-point perspective. but then, I was sitting at a small table at the Woodinville Taco Del Mar, so whadda ya want?

yay drawing. :P

itty bitty pictures

so, it looks like the things I'm posting from my ipod are even tinier on a regular computer... I'll have to get that sorted.

Speaking of things that need sorting: I should fill out that tax form, since I see my tax consultant in about 2 hours.
...okay, she's my friend who works at H&R Block. Shush! I like to feel fancy.

The Music of The Schmoops

it's his nightly serenade; slurping and grunting as you drift into dreamland... ew.

still in a rut

I even drew you a picture about it.

Because we're friends, and friends share feelings.

this doodle was a little bit Hyperbole-and-a-Half inspired. :)

hat concept

i figured out how to attach pics on my ipod. i win at technology, now.

thoughts on exotic pets

So it's about 2am, and my brain is still chuggin' away, and I had a realization... and a silly thought.

I'm a classically trained artist, and work as a freelance illustrator and fiber sculptor; money has never been abundant, but that doesn't stop me from pursuing my hobbies-- ya just get creative!

so, I decided to make a small list of Ts best suited for broke artists, lol!
Criteria:
slow moving -- downright sedentary, even; that way you can draw them, easily.
docile -- so you can place it in a still life, if so inspired. (optional)
low maintenence -- low humidity reqs included; it needs to be a-okay if the artist ends up living in their studio for a couple days.
cheap -- I'd say a $25 USD cap (slings, most likely)

my top 3 picks would be

g rosea
g pulchripes (sling)
b albopilosum (sling - juvi)

if I had more money ($50 USD cap)

b smithi
g pulchra
GBB

if i didn't care about handling, I'd go with any number of poecilotheria (pokies) or maybe even baboons.

and if I were rich, I'd have a 2 bedroom apartment and one room would be the hot room; kept at 75F with a small space heater, and I would house my exotherms there. Then I'd buy a bunch of p metallica tarantulas (Gooty Ornamental, or Gooty Sapphire), and breed them! To help reduce the pressure on wild populations. :)

anyway. here's a picture. rejoice.

...looks like I can't attach a pic.
goodnight.

New look!

Hey kiddies!
and possibly fans. o.O

My dear man, Matt, decided to add that "buy a drawing" button I've been meaning to add to this blog for several years, now.

When he added the handy, dandy drop-down menu and "throw money at Elf" button; it scrapped my old layout. Sad panda. But! That meant I had to look at new themes, and discovered this amazing orange curly pseudo-monstrosity. I am SO in love.

Speaking of love; I miss Our Taco Del Mar. A lot.
If you guys followed the url I wrote on the last napkins I left you, and found this site; I miss you guys!
...and I miss your burritos. T-T
Matt decided not to cook, tonight, so we went to Taco Time...
the cheese was yummy, but just not the same. :c
Like... the music was good... we missed the cheesey surfer music.
anyway.
I did leave a couple drawings, but my heart just wasn't in it... until I saw a guy that TOTALLY looked like Richard Simmons. Then I had something to giggle about. I'll post those, soon.

and speaking of frustrations; we're playing Splosion Man. <3
So many deaths.
and still I love Twisted Pixel. <3 <3 <3

anywho.

Buy drawings from meeee~!
so I can visit family in Seattle... and buy a burrito at the TDM on Roosevelt. :b
...and pay rent. >_>

12th Avenue Cafe

So, yesterday I drove Waldo to the Issaquah PetCo for his annual bath and buzz (make 'im nekkid!), and needed to kill a couple hours.

I knew I was hungry, and knew I was close to places with nums.
Go somewhere big, cheap and corporate? Maybe. But most of those places are not super tasty, and tend to have wheat gluten EVERYWHERE.

I also realized that I needed to pee, and that it was really cold and windy.

After walking along the sidewalks for a few minutes, I saw the 12th Avenue Cafe (http://www.12thavenuecafe.com/), and decided to go for it. I like little mom & pop style places; it's always a few dollars more, but the food is almost invariably worth it.

Most of the food also contains at least one thing that I'm allergic to, but again the "food is so good; it's totally worth it" thing comes in to play. I ended up getting their Jimmy's Turkey Melt and it was AMAZING. It's like what Denny's Super Bird is trying to be, but will never quite manage it.

When the sammich came, I picked it up and said "this is going to make me so sick... so I will savor every bite, and make it worth the agony to come". and you know what?
As I suffered in the washroom at 4am, today... I said to myself, with steely resolve "no regrets".

Anyway, here's my thank-you drawing.

A Farewell to Noms

So the Taco del Mar here in Redmond, WA is closing on the 7th of March.
Which makes me beyond sad.

Here's a farewell drawing I did for them.

I'm going to miss their amazing burritos.
But! I'm glad to say that there are still several other locations owned by the same people... they're just all kinda far south. Like, Federal Way south... ew.

The Taco del Mar in Woodinville is okay, but it's just not the same.
The Redmond TdM was *our place*... Like, Matt joked about proposing to me where, when we had our real engagement rings. We'd have to get them in 6 days, to make that happen, now. Heavy sigh.

Oh, and now Phoebe and I have each had food poisoning from a Chipotle.
She got poisoned like a year ago from the one in Redmond, and I got poisoned by the one in Woodinville, last week. That was *fabulous*. and by fabulous, I mean I was so dehydrated that I couldn't even pee for over 12 hours. =_= Amanda's guacamole was very, very good... like, worth the horrible cold sores and hives. but not worth THAT much "quality time" with my washroom... I am hesitant to roll the Chipotle dice again. =_=

Anyway.

Lots of love to everybuggy~! <3

o.o fans?

Wow, so apparently writing the URL of my blog on the occasional napkin is actually an effective means to help people find my blog.
...and I guess, if you're looking for me... does that make you my fan? [gulp]

Anyway!
Finally got out to Pho Vina in Woodinville, again. I've missed the tendony goodness. <3
So, here's today's drawing... I should really upload more drawings. >_>

It's true; a friend on a forum mailed me a surprise birthday tarantula for my 25th birthday, last year!

...and I sweated BULLETS, unpacking it and transferring it to a makeshift vivarium (thoroughly rinsed pill bottle from the pharmacy). 

I kept the bottle in a drawer, on my dresser, in my closet... and found it oddly fitting that there really was a hairy little monster living in my closet. 

I still tend to sweat when I have to move my little beastie for cleaning, but I really do enjoy learning to read its body language and getting to know its subtle personality. I named it Chewbaca and refer to is as male, so I won't be too disappointed if it turns out to be so (males only live about 5 years, and females live 10-15).

anywho. 

I should get back to my knitting... a client just had to postpone payment for her hat, so I'd better hurry up and make others that can be sold in my store front. T-T

...anybody want a hat?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElfDa 

Please? Maybe a feltie? I've got bills to pay...