April Fish

Hi. Today’s my birthday!

Yeah, “an April Fools’ baby,” as I’ve heard all my life. Thing is… I’m not super into April Fool’s Day as a thing. Especially now that I’m older. I could get down with some silliness as a kid but now that I’m old, I just don’t like pranks. Or at least not the kind where one person is the butt of a joke. I don’t mind the annual Google prank press release or webcomic switcheroos and things like that. But I don’t like pranks.

Now, in parts of Europe and French speaking parts of Canada, they apparently do a thing called “Poissons D’Avril” or “April Fish.” This includes trying to attach a paper fish to someone’s back without them noticing (a mild prank I might be fine with) or false news stories with subtle references to a fish that will tip off readers. I think I can get behind this more than April Fools’. Mostly because it’s so weirdly themed.

So, in honor of April Fish, here’s some fish I like!

1. My mom has a set of midcentury chalkware fish hanging on her guest bathroom wall. I think everyone needs a set of midcentury chalkware fish hanging in their guest bathroom. Like these from Shake and Pass the Salt.
2. April Fish postcards were a thing at the turn of the century and I think they should be again. These elegant, absurd postcards From Penny’s Postcards featuring glass-eyed dead fish kind of wordlessly illustrate why I find the idea of April Fish so funny. The pretty fishwife is cute, but the fish delivering a romantic message kills me.
3. And speaking of funny, the expression on this wall-eyed pufferfish pin from Fluffernutter tickles me.
4. It’s not all jokes, though. Get serious about fashion with this leather fish purse by Bonspiel Creation.
5. We’re not getting through April Fish without a pun. Buy this catfish sticker from Amber Morgan Designs.

Chicago! The city so nice they named it… Chicago!

First of all, thanks to my husband for the title. It’s a joke he made repeatedly while we were in said city for a week. It got better every time.

Cloud Gate, with a nice layer of frosting.

 

We were in Chicago last week! It was pretty great. Both my husband and I have been before, but it’s been years. We were excited because we got at least a few days of real winter. It’s been an incredibly mild one down here in Mississippi. We went from highs in the 70s to the most snow I’ve ever seen in my life.

We spent a lot of time in art museums. Including the entire duration of the Tuesday business hours of The Art Institute.

Turns out, this is where they keep all the art.

And we also ate.

The best Reuben sammich.

And we explored Chinatown…

And we ate.

Tonkatsu ramen!

And we visited the Museum of Contemporary Art…

My favorite is the middle one — ‘Birth of a Star’ by Mariko Mori.

And we ate…

Not Pictured: My new best friend, Italian Beef

And we had dessert!

We only had one small cake.

The warmest day, with a high of probably 35. 

We did some shopping and some gawking. We saw a show at Second City, which was great. We explored a couple neighborhoods and found a cool board game shop. We saw lots of street art and murals and neat old buildings.

And we ate!

Fish tacos. From a place picked at random. They were great.

We didn’t do any St. Patrick’s Day partying (because we’re old and lame and it was our fifth day there and we were so tired), but we did see the city lit up green.

We didn’t get to see a fraction of what we could have. We were so worn down by day five that we barely had the energy to leave the hotel. But, I think we’ll be back one day. (But not before Boston and New York, which are next on the list.)

I’m not kitten — be my Valentine!

To My Valentine

Those Batman: The Animated Series (Riddle me this! Will you be mine?) valentines are great for homeroom, but what about the REALLY special people in your life?

1. There are few things I love more than a vintage space pun, like this one from Picklelady Papers.
2. Okay. Cat puns are up there too. This card from My Zoetrope is prime cat pun.
3. If you want pure romance, look to the Edwardian era and this postcard from Loras Vintage Shop.
4. I love all of 1canoe2’s designs, but this anatomical valentine is a standout.
5. Can’t decide between vintage elegance and weirdness? Then don’t! Alternate Histories has you covered.

Check-In: November 21

Once again, I’ve let almost a whole month go by without an entry. I’m great at blogging. Once again, it’s real life that gets in the way. November is probably the busiest month at work. So all of my downtime has been spent recharging. Anyway, here’s a quick update:

What I’m working on: Keeping it together, man. Just keeping it together.

What I’m listening to: I’ve been catching up on a lot of podcasts lately: No Such Thing as a Fish, Schmanners, Adventure Zone and How Did This Get Made.

What I’m reading: I FINALLY finished “Where’d You Go, Bernadette.” I enjoyed it. It only took me a couple months. If there were more than three people in my book club, I woulda been kicked out long ago.

What I’ve been playing: Okay. Here’s where we find how I’ve really been spending my time. Stardew Valley has seriously become my main method of de-stressing. It’s a nice, zen, low stakes building game so it hits all the right marks for me. And there’s Civ 6, which I’ve been achievement farming because it provides a temporary sense of accomplishment.

And most importantly, Pokemon Sun and Moon came out. I got Sun and the husband person got Moon. I think I’ve mentioned before how we’re extremely late getting on this Pokemon train. We were both in our early teens and were way too cool for it when it first came out, so we didn’t get in on the ground floor. But now that I’m a mellow, old thirty-something, I find it a pleasant game to play. There’s the collecting aspect and the strategy aspect. It’s fun to put your teams together and all that.

Plus, it really helps that most of them are super cute. I don’t think so much about stats and strategy when picking my favorites. I got for the cute ones.

I mean, you’ll never see me messin’ with no Machamp. Skitty 4 Life.

Anyway. Happy Thanksgiving! Hopefully things will get closer to normal next week.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

This past weekend, the husband person and I took a little trip up to Chattanooga to visit his brother for a couple days. It’s about a six hour drive from where we live, so it’s not too bad for a short vacation. And when you leave a coastal area for the mountains, it really feels like you’ve gone a lot farther than you really have.

Chattanooga’s a pretty hip town, too. It’s walkable (or bikable if that’s your style), there’s history and art and so much food. It’s like Nashville Junior, if you consider Nashville the Austin of Tennessee. (Austin being the Portland of Texas.)

Here’s what we did!

First up: Nature! This is the husband person (right) and brother-in-law person (left) marching toward Signal Point on Signal Mountain. It’s called that because of the Civil War Signalin’ that went on there. (Click the link for someone that knows what they’re talking about.)

Rockets’ red glare

July Instagram Challenge

This morning I noticed I had a yellow smudge on my jeans. I tried to wash it off at work, but it just smeared into a big wet, yellow smudge. So that’s how my Friday started. But! It’s a three day weekend, so there’s that to look forward to.

Anyway, it’s the first of the month. Time for a fresh start and a new Instagram Challenge from Lazy Lady!

June Instagram Challenge

After taking last month off from structured Instagramming (and having a pretty pitiful feed to show for it), I’m jumping back on board with Lazy Lady’s June challenge.

See you on Instagram tomorrow — follow me @paperdollannie!

Oh baby!

This is exciting! For the first time I get to show off a finished product someone else made with one of my designs.

These adorable birth announcement cards are available at Brindavan Crafts (along with a ton of other great looking stuff).