celebrating

Ahoy, shipmates! You know what tomorrow is, right? My favorite random celebration of the year… International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

via flickr

When my son was a wee nipper, we went through a heavy-duty pirate phase. One of the best things about his pirate obsession was discovering two great movies. The Crimson Pirate is a totally engaging piece of Technicolor fluff starring Burt Lancaster in all his beefcakey glory.

How's that for some pirate talkin'? "I'll eat the smoke of their cannon!"
via moviescreenshots

via moviescreenshots

Bonus! Burt in drag!
via moviescreenshots

via via-51

quite a resemblance, right?

And, for the more serious pirates amongst us, the 1990 version of Treasure Island, starring Charleton Heston and a young Cristian Bale is truly a great adaptation of the novel with beautiful cinematography and first-rate acting. Both these beauties can be hard to find, but are well worth the effort.

What's on yer pirate agenda? I'll be grabbin' me first matey and a pint o' grog and settlin' in for a snug night o' movie watchin'.

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Sending a big, beautiful bubble of love and gratitude to friends of February 13 Creative. Wishing you a joyous holiday celebration!

New and just in time for gussying up all your Black Friday and Cyber Monday gift purchases… Pam Nudel's cut paper tree design on wonderful gift wrap from f13 licensing partner, DesignDesign!

This colorful, contemporary wrap is part of their eco-kind Green2 line. Happy wrapping!

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Today's my godmother Judy's birthday. She passed away over two years ago, but she influences me to this day. She was a swinging single girl in the '60s, working in publishing in Mad Men era New York City. Her sophistication, her travels, her independence, her intelligence, her hip fashion sense, her clever way with words and her endless, multi-faceted creativity are embedded in me as inspiration. In this photo, she's visiting our family shortly after we moved to Ukiah, in about 1970 (that's my little brother, Jason, on the left). I keep this photo on my desk and everytime I look at it, I remember how great it was to have her arms around me... how strong and full of potential it made me feel (and she smelled sooooo good!). At her memorial, her husband Tom gave me some of her jewelry and I was so delighted to discover that one of the pieces was the silver chain that she's wearing around her neck in this photo. I have it on right now. I miss her all the time and am so grateful for her presence in my life.

We have a very happy lemon tree in our backyard that is a never-ending source of inspiration for me. Lemon curd, lemon cocktails, lemon-roasted chicken, endless zesty cocktail twists, marmalade, limoncello, lemonade and, of course, art...

... which the fine folks at Elise Entertains recently licensed for these lovely cocktail napkins, available here!

Seeing as it's the Year of the Rabbit, and seeing as I was born in the Year of the Rabbit, and seeing as I've lived in San Francisco for over 20 years and had yet to witness the city's renowned Chinese New Year Parade… well, it seemed like it was high time for me to do so. On Saturday evening El Esposo and I bundled up, braved the cold and the rain and headed downtown to see what it was all about. I can tell you now it was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. The colors, the lights, the noise, the imagination… out of this world. I can't wait to make this a tradition.
(The parade opened with several go-go booted girl gangs... red boots, black boots, white boots. I was too busy snapping photos to see what they were all about but I can tell you they were all utterly fabulous.)

big-headed buddha guy

delicate damsels on stilts

very tall, very wise

another ginormous head... couldn't get enough of these!

so many bunnies in this parade, but these were my favorites... jumping over the Golden Gate Bridge. They flashed on and off and bobbed up and down!

and, of course, there were dozens of dragons. This one (I think it might have been sponsored by Recology) had little Chinese slippers for teeth... SO clever!
 

I attended my first ever cookie exchange over the holidays, hosted by my dear pal Cindy (event planner extraordinaire... she pulls off intimate parties for friends and grand fetes for captains of industry with equal style and grace). My contribution was a souped-up oatmeal chocolate chip number that I've been perfecting in recent months. It just gets better and better and I think it's time to share the recipe!

The last batch called out to be immortalized in illustration...

You can find the recipe here.

Happy baking!

... betsy ...

This one goes out to you, E.T., and all the other hot mamas I know out there... especially those who will (like moi) probably be spending at least part of their day tomorrow getting ready for NSS and Surtex. See you in New York!

Congratulations to:

• Karen Besterman-Dahan
• Katy (aka: kitkat234)
• and Jodi Brown!

We have a lovely set of gift tags for each of you, so please get in touch to let us know your mailing address. Email us at info[at]february13creative[dot]com.

Many, many thanks to everyone who entered... your comments and your support on facebook and twitter are greatly appreciated!

Happy holidays to all!

..... betsy, pam and amy .....

The final hours of our first-ever giveaway are quickly ticking away. Entries will be closed at midnight tonight (PST). Will you be one of our three much-envied winners? See below for details!