happy boo day!!!

It's almost the witching hour...here are some Halloween pieces I did when I worked at American Greetings:













Halloween is truly one of my favorite holidays. I guess I've always loved the creativity of making costumes and decorating. My mom made my costumes every year and it was always lots of fun to have something unique and handmade, that couldn't be bought in the store. Here's me as a witch...I think I was about 4 or 5 years old:



And here's a drawing I did that same year:



I won't get to celebrate too much this year–no big parties to go to–but I'm hoping to host a Halloween party one of these years so I'll just have to make up for it then! Hope y'all have a happy, happy Halloween!

fall catch up

It's been a while. I have a few new fun things to share...

First...



I am happy to announce that my new book Don't Throw That Away! (written by Lara Bergen) just officially came out yesterday. This is part of Simon & Schuster's Little Green Books imprint, so it is 100% recycled material and is all about recycling and reusing in creative ways. It's a simple message, but the books has some fun interactive flaps that keep little ones entertained.

Second...

I just got samples today of the Haiku Baby boxed note card set I did with Papyrus. It contains 20 cards and envelopes, and features 4 different images from the book (sun, rain, moon, flower). You can buy it online here (click on "additional views" to see all the images). Or hopefully the note card set is in stores too, but I'm not sure about that (so let me know if you see it out there). So you know what to look for: the box is just the turtle image on the front, and all the text info is along the sides of the box.

Third...



If you are in the Ohio area, come visit me at the Buckeye Book Fair in Wooster on November 7. I will be signing 4 books (Haiku Baby, Have You Ever Tickled a Tiger?, Don't Throw That Away!, and Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes: A Very Silly Alphabet Book). I will also have a tiger mask craft for kids to make and wear. You can get the full scoop here. I participated last year and it was a lot of fun. It's a great place to find Christmas gifts for book-lovin' family and friends...and you can get all the books autographed too. But come early, because books do sell-out (I was sold out of books by 1:30-2:00 last year).

Fourth...



Stay tuned for some super-cool jellyfish pics from my trip to the Baltimore aquarium with one of my BFFs (and this is just a dinky one from my i-phone). Till my next post, I hope to be relaxin' and floatin' like a jellyfish on my soon-to-come beach vacation...do sharks like jellyfish or aspiring jellyfish? Hope not;)

happy anniversary, happy fall

Today it has been two years since Jeff and I said "I do!" Last Sunday night we celebrated our anniversary with a plated landscape dinner with wine pairings at Muddy Fork Farm in Wooster. The event was organized and catered by chef Ben Bebenroth and his company Spice of Life Catering Co., who also catered our wedding. Not only do we love Ben's talent for food, but we also love his creativity, vision and whole philosophy of "regional, seasonal and sustainable ingredients." Plus, all of his staff is so darn nice! Much of what we ate came fresh from this certified organic farm...I literally looked out into the field while we were eating one course and saw Ben foraging for more ingredients for an upcoming dish. How cool is that?! And, we got to talk to the farmers and hear their story, and they even ate with us. So, this was the perfect way to remember our wedding day, celebrate the summer bounty, and welcome in fall all at the same time.


Jeff and his dream chickens (he's always wanted a few chickens)


Our new chicken-friend.


Sipping on some sparking wine and sampling ripe raspberries off the bush...does it get any better?


Asparagus field that has gone to seed.


Tiny eggplant. Love that purple!


Diggin' for sweet potatoes.


Greenhouse...we ended up eating in one of these greenhouses since it did start to rain. But the pitter-patter of the raindrops on the plastic roof was so comforting and cozy.



This is originally where the tables were situated.


The tablescape was gorgeous! I have to say I really love the midwest in late summer and fall.


Wooden votive holders made from old barrels, gourds, squash, pumpkins, home-grown flowers, and drinking water from mason jars.


And wine pairings for each course. Cheers...may we have many, many more anniversaries and reasons to celebrate!

good time story time!

My story time and signing for Have You Ever Tickled a Tiger? at Joseph-Beth in Cleveland went great on Saturday! When we were walking in, my husband pointed out the giant poster in the front window (which just seems funny to me, because it's ME). Anyway, the kids really participated and responded well, and I feel like it was the best turn-out yet. We had lots of fun learning about what it's like to touch interesting and unusual animals, reading books, and making tiger masks. Having family and good friends there for me, meeting new people, and sharing my books–it was just one of those days that fills you up inside. The mystery girl below is my niece...isn't she scary?!



I am finally getting more comfortable letting go and going with the flow of these "appearances." I am honestly not the most comfortable speaking in public, though I do really enjoy it once I am in the moment doing it. In the past, I tried to be really prepared and have an "agenda", but I've realized that each signing goes really different, just depending on the age of the kids, their personalities and the general vibe that day. It is much different and less predictable than speaking to adults, but this is also what makes it so fun.

So this time, other than getting together all the necessary materials and putting together a rough outline, I decided to not overly prepare or think about it too much. I got a little panicky the night before, when I thought, "What am I doing? I am NOT prepared!" But I shook it off pretty well. I am slowly learning to accept these feelings of anxiety and anticipation. Instead of trying to push those feeling down and ignore them, I now just let myself feel those things fully. And the panicky nervousness seems to pass much more quickly than when I try to fight it. I recognize that the nerves are just part of the process for me–feeling nervous is really not THAT bad of a thing, is it?

I am looking forward to another story time/signing at the Cincinnati Joseph-Beth this Friday morning. More close friends, kids and good times, I'm sure!

you're invited...

If you're in the Cleveland or Cincinnati areas, I'd love it if you'd come to one of my storytimes and book signings at Joseph-Beth. Click here for the scoop. And bring the cubs if you got 'em.

garden gifts

This year, Jeff and I decided to ease into gardening and planted some veggies and herbs in half of our neighbors' garden. This photo was from a few weeks ago, so things have already grown quite a bit more since then. We got a late start planting, and the deer already ate the tops off all our tomato plants before we could even get them planted, so we'll see how things go. I think most of the tomatoes are bouncing back. It already makes me want to plant lots more goodies next year. Once you get going, you just want to grow EVERYTHING yourself, right? Maybe some day.

And going along with the garden theme, I thought I'd post this gift card I did for Target last year. I just discovered it up on the Target website, so I thought I'd share. I had fun with this one.

check out my new diggs

Just a few pics of the new studio. These pics are of my room...Jeff has his own room now, and we have 3 other rooms for storage and clutter control. I love it...kind of like a mini apartment. And it's so nice to have lots of windows and feel connected to the world when I'm working. I do not miss our bat cave office one bit.

I painted my room (very) blue...I thought it was going to feel a little more like an antique blue, but at least it's not dull (even if I do feel like I am underwater in a swimming pool). I've decided to like the color. This is the first whole room I've ever painted...Jeff says I am a master taper, which I guess really means, "You will be doing the taping from now on, Bets." That's okay, I don't mind, because he has to paint everything up high for me. So it seems like a fair trade.


I think it is so funny that right outside my big front window, centered perfectly, it says, "Y-O-G-A." (there is a yoga studio directly across the street). Do I need any more signs to get my butt over to yoga class??? Geez.

I still have a lot I want to do to "betsify" the space, like add curtains, get a funky rug, stuff like that. But it's a good start. And now it's time to forget about decorating for a while and get back to work. Happy "Independence" Day!