weekend adventures: st. michaels

(Before.)

During last week's unseasonably cold (and completely uncalled for) weather, I got the idea that our farewell-to-summer weekend activity should be a trip to the Eastern Shore to sit by the Bay and stuff our faces with seafood...namely Maryland Blue Crab. 

Larry's always wary of crossing the Bay Bridge, especially since two years ago I had a similar plan and of course it was the day that there was a horrible motorcycle accident that caused the bridge to close in both directions. To avoid sitting in a six hour traffic jam, we pulled a complete dick move that involved backing down the shoulder to reach the last exit before the bridge - and our escape. So when I suggested we cross the bridge this weekend in search of some seafood, I was surprised to get Larry's wholehearted endorsement. (And fortunately, there was no traffic this time!)

On Sunday morning, our friend Bryan joined us and we headed to the picturesque town of St. Michaels, Maryland. The sunny 78 degrees promised by the weatherman was a complete lie, but it was a great day anyway. I actually enjoy an overcast sky over the water - very moody.

We wandered the town (it's adorable!) and walked along the water admiring the boats, checking out the jellyfish, and falling in love with St. Michaels. In fact, we loved it so much that we're already planning to make this trip a summer tradition, and Larry is making plans to gather our group of friends to rent a house and a boat for a week next year. (He also thinks we should get married there!)

Hey look, a photo of me wearing something other than hiking clothes!

Then we went to The Crab Claw for an afternoon of smashing dead crustaceans with wooden mallets which we washed down with pitchers of beer (the crabs, not the mallets). Correction: The boys smashed the crabs like barbarians. I, the ever civilized lady that I am, had crab cakes. Really, I don't like to have to work that hard for my food. Crab cakes are SO much easier and the process of eating them is so much less disgusting. (I don't like to have to rip the guts out of anything I'm eating. Just the thought of the crab "mustard" makes me gag.)

Oh and another thing: Crab cakes don't have eyes!

It was a shellfish feast, as the crabs weren't the only sea critters to be ripped apart by the boys. Shrimp and oysters also went down the hatch. I'm realizing that as much as I love seafood, I don't like all the dirty work involved. I like my crab in cake form, I like my shrimp de-headed, de-shelled, and de-legged, and I like my oysters...cooked. With the texture of snot and the flavor of seawater, as far as I'm concerned, raw oysters have nothing going for them.

Larry ready for some crabs.

I call this one "Larry with pile o' crab guts."

Did you know that the underside of a mature crab should resemble old horses' teeth? If the crab's underside is white and shiny, it is called a Whitey and it isn't worth eating as it doesn't contain much meat.

Larry demonstrates what happens if you eat too many crabs...

After the feast, we made a large spontaneous purchase from a local art shop (more on that later) and then enjoyed a few more beers on the deck at Foxy's while watching people play Bimini Ring Toss. 

Most relaxing weekend we've had a in while - can't wait to go back. Next time we're planning to take a sail on the Selina II and sample the ice cream at Justine's.

I wonder where I get this from...

All in all, a great day for everyone, except the crabs...

(After.)

baltimore holiday heap 2011

On Saturday, my shop was a vendor at my first holiday art market - Charm City Craft Mafia's Holiday Heap (AKA the reason I've been too busy to blog lately). I can't even put into words how awesome it was.

I'll admit I was a bit intimidated when I first arrived to set up - the other vendors had AMAZING work. This was a pretty big show - 60+ vendors set up at St. John's Church in Baltimore. It was the perfect location - kind of an industrial space in an old church, all strung up with twinkle lights. As soon as the doors opened at 10 am, the market was slammed. During the first two hours of the show, I actually had people lined up at my booth to make purchases, and Larry and I were juggling swiping credit cards and bagging stuff up and restocking - thank goodness he was there to help, because I could not have handled it on my own!




Within the first hour I had sold out of the Maryland ornaments. A few minutes later, all the Maryland map illustrations and new River Rock and Cairn illustrations were gone! Holy smokes! I had no idea that Baltimore was such an artsy town, and it made me so happy to see crowds of people out to support small businesses and buy handmade from local artists. Thank you, Baltimore - you all are awesome!

And thank you to my family in Maryland who dropped by to shop and say hello and to my Virginia friends who drove up to Baltimore to surprise me. You all are awesome, too and I'm so flattered to have your support!



Not only was this my biggest market yet, and first holiday market, it was also my first indoor market and last week Larry and I built a new display system for my art. It took some jury rigging (and a bit of sweating) to get it to stand up at the market - the whole thing is held up by paint cans and...duct tape! (Thank God for duct tape!) But it ended up looking great and I was especially excited about the battery-operated light display!

It was an amazing (and exhausting) day, and now that the dust has settled, I'm feeling so pumped up and inspired for the future of Funnelcloud Studio. After the last market I sold at this Fall, I was feeling unsure about continuing to sell at markets, but after this weekend's experience, I realized I just have to be selective and only attend fairs that are the right fit for my shop. I've been researching other markets and am excited about the possibility of going bigger in 2012...

I'll be a busy bee this week, as next weekend is Richmond Craft Mafia's Handmade Holiday (Sunday, December 11th from 11-6 at Plant Zero) and I'm working like a madwoman to restock my prints. Inventory is currently low in my Etsy shop, but I am reprinting and will post updates on new work both here and on Twitter when prints are available. If there's something you've had your eye on, let me know. Thanks for your patience and thanks to all who came out on Saturday!

weekend adventures: sunflower fields

When I first heard about McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Seneca, Maryland, I couldn't believe that a massive field of sunflowers existed only 20 miles from my house. For some reason, I expect fields of sunflowers to be found in places like Indiana - not Montgomery County, Maryland.

My second thought was I have to get over there immediately with my camera! And for once, this wasn't something I found out about too late, after the sunflowers were dead. Evidently, the middle of July is the peak for sunflower blooms.

This place did not disappoint. As we walked around the corner, we gasped at the sight of thousands of sunflowers as far as you can see. Luckily, the sky and clouds were amazing that day, too.


You couldn't help but be amazed at the beauty of nature at a place like this. Unfortunately, there is a rather sinister reason that the sunflower fields exist. They are planted to attract doves - and later in the season the fields are opened up to dove hunters. So this extraordinary field of flowers is actually a killing field. There were even shotgun shells discarded between the rows of blooms. Poor doves. But I tried to ignore that aspect of the fields as I went a little crazy with my camera...

Photographer walking through the sunflower fields.

I wasn't the only one with the idea to photograph the sunflowers - there were lots of other photographers there - some with fancy set-ups and reflectors and other equipment I have no idea how to use. This was one of those places where it was impossible to take a bad picture, but difficult to take an excellent one - how to get a really unique shot of sunflowers?

Larry pretending to be a sunflower.

All in all, it was a beautiful sunny summer day and the sunflowers were definitely worth checking out.

To top it all off, we came home and cooked up one of the best meals we've made in a long time to enjoy on the patio: Pork Tenderloin with Tomato-Peach Compote, Zucchini-Ricotta Fritters, Carmelized Onion and Goat Cheese Cornbread, and homemade Strawberry Gelato. Oh, and a few glasses of chilled Vouvray. (Can't forget the wine!)

Me and Mom on the patio.