BACK ONLINE...

Today is much better, Tai Chi class was good last night and I managed to draw too, so feel back online and ready to design!

Well have a great evening, It's my turn to cook tonight so watch out!!!

LOVE
C

THANKS GIVING CATCH-UP!

Wow, after nearly 5 days off I really didn't feel like working yesterday! We had a great time in the city, first time for both of us in long while that we didn't go away anywhere.

Wednesday we clocked off early at 1:30pm, so I met Bethzaira at home and we went out for lunch at Balthazar, funny I'd never been in all my time in NY. The rain closed in quickly by the time we finished lunch so we headed to Dean & Deluca and Despana our new favorite place to pick up appertizers for Bob & Pete's Thanks Giving Dinner. The rest of the evening was spent at home watching movies and relaxing.

We woke up late Thursday morning (TG Day) such a treat and headed over to Bob & Pete's, where Liz and Bob had been busy all night and morning preparing a gigiantic feast for us all! It was so yummy and fun to see everyone so a big thank you, thank you to B&P, Liz & Jose and the kids for making it such a memorable day!!!

Friday we were rudely awoken by the construction but thankfully it wasn't too bad and now we are so used to it it really didn't bother us. We met with Sam a friend of mine from London who was visiting for the weekend. He and his mate were so hungover after crawling the streets of NY all night on a booze cruise so they weren't up to much. So Bethzaira and I made our jolly way to 14th street for some holiday shopping, partially imposed by work as a "Retail" day, so hit Forever 21 an awful store for mainly women and Virgin which was mildly better I bought the Beck "information" album with the sticker booklet. Then we headed up to Paul Smith and Club Monaco for some more shopping. I had had quite enough of "Black Friday" so we bought food at Wholefoods and walked home.

Saturday we enjoyed breakfast at home, eggs, bagels, salmon and cava, delightful! Then we dressed warmly went to see "Borat" the movie at the groovy old Village threatre on 2nd AVE and 12th ST. The movie was OK, the threatre was cool then before we knew it we jumped on the 6 train up to the Metropolitan Museum for some art and CULT'ure. I really wanted to see the Asian area which I breifly checked out when Hannah was here, they have an amazing selection of art, sculptures and artifacts. We then paused for a quick cocktail on the first floor terrace and listened to the live classical music, simply delightful what! Sam called and we arranged to meet him after dinner at Juan's place for some drinks, it ended up being a great evening even though we forgot Juan was away in DR with Marina!!!

Sunday I was so hungover I could hardly make it to our favorite Suunday Brunch venue, Il Posto Accanto. So needless to say we headed home to relax and recover, I actually did some illustration for Bethzaira who needed a hand working up some bag for work.

Monday I was a little frazzled to be back at my desk and on the machine...

LOVE
C

GOBBLE F'N GOBBLE!!!

Here's my second submission for Illustration Friday. It's was kind of rushed but I like it just the same, this weeks theme was "Thanks Giving". So here's my "Punk" submission...

LOVE
C

CARE BEAR

I'm catching up on my weeks blog I've been so busy with work and getting everything revised and approved for Warhol! Here's a sketch I worked up yesterday for our new Parcel™ Fall 2007 line, it's going to be so cool made from camo printed ripstop nylon, with a pocket on his belly and on his mouth!!!

Have a fantastic Thanks Giving!

LOVE
C

THE HOLE...

For those of you that are more than aware of our daily battle with the ever increasing noise from the construction site behind our apartment here's a panoramic glimpse of the destruction! It's quite amazing, I need to make a sketch of these gigantic beasts which wake at 7AM every morning and toil 'till 5PM like mechanical dragons or those "Tonka" toys I had a child complete with the stocky construction figures with poseable arms and legs!!!

LO-VE
C

P.S. Click on the image for an enlarged view...

LUCKY man!

Bethzaira looked lovely as ever on Friday and we enjoyed the luxury amenities of the hotel, bar, restaurant and room! It was such a laugh to be somewhere different for a night. Thankfully we didn't have to wake to the noise of the "hole" in our back yard, they were busy at work when we arrived home Saturday afternoon!

LOVE
C

PACK YOUR BAG

After quite a "challenging" week at work I decided to treat Bethzaira and myself to a night of luxury and love. So booked ourselves into the Hudson Hotel (hudsonhotel.com/) up town. I can't wait it's going to be really good fun and just the break we both need to clear our heads and refresh our souls!!!

Have a great weekend!

LOVE
CXXX

SAMSONITE BLACK LABEL PARTY

Went out last night to the Samsonite "Black Label" Alexander McQueen launch party. Big thanks to Liz and Don for inviting us! We had a great time, met an old Saint Martins college peer, although I couldn't remember his name to begin with! He is now working for Samsonite designing the bags, the Alexander McQueen stuff was radical croc skin and "rib cage" wheelies really wicked. The "rib cage" wheelie had a "skin" which you is pulled over the case to protect it from scratches and bumps when in transit, etc...

LOVE
C

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY!

Here's the first of my submissions for Illustration Friday (http://illustrationfriday.com/?sstyle=11), the subject was "CLEAR". I had a few ideas, clear sky, clear mind but I finally decided upon something more me vain ba*tard that I am, clear complexion or lack of it someday's!!!

LOVE
C

Poor Willy...

Twast, a fine evening of Tai Chi, art, and food! I worked on a sketch for Bethzaira's boss Bob, who had recently lost his dear Willy... Their young whippet, poor lad had eaten something he shouldn't hav' and he unfortunately past away earlier dis' year. To commemorate this sad occasion they are commissioning a number of fellow art'ists to make rending of Willy which will be hung in their country house.

R.I.P. Willy

LOVE
C

C-DAY!

Yesterday I signed the contract on our new apartment and handed over the first of the checks! We are so excited, the noise levels in our present home on 2nd St. Are reaching an unprecedented high. I can't wait to live in Brooklyn, mornings in the garden doing my Tai Chi, evening on the balcony's enjoying a fabulous meal and good wine...

Spoke with Matthew and Byron yesterday, both are settling into SF life, it's a such a shame we can all be together but life works in mysterious ways and who knows what the new year will bring us in the ways of travel and vacation. I feel the definite need to explore more of the west coast but I am also quietly very happy to be settling finally into a home of our own in Brooklyn.

Have a great Day, weathers supposed to clear up for this evening!

LOVE
C

MACABRE SOCIETY

Finally met with Juan last night at his bar on 51st. It's such a cool joint, amazing beers and great food and the ambiance is fantastic! (http://www.sortieny.com/flash.html) I will be working on some designs over the next month which I am very excited about. Juan has everything set up from getting screens made to the 4-color silk-screen table! So here we come people are you ready for the "Macabre Society"

LOVE
C

NIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE!!!

Last night Matthew and Zack dropped off their round table and black chairs which we are now giving a new home! Hurrah! It's a massive improvement on the front room, thank you M&Z! We left the old table out on the landing of our apartment and it was promptly adopted by one of our fellow tenants within 5 minutes flat, as they say "...life moves pretty fast and if you don't stop to look around once in a while you might just miss it!"

Have a great weekend!

LOVE
C

FAZZLED FRIDAY

Wow, what a week, it's been busy on all fronts. Still I can't complain things are steadily moving along with the apartment, although I nearly exploded at our "obnoxious" broker, she has been hounding us to sign the contract for two weeks with passive aggressive threats of putting the apartment back on the market. I spoke with our appointed lawyer and he diffused my concerns, letting me know exactly what the deal is with these "artificial deadlines" she keeps setting. Anyway we hope to have the contract revised and signed early next week!

Last night was Matthew and Zack's leaving party which went off perfectly with plenty of fun and frolicking amongst the Mac team and close friends. We all over indulged on tequila which made for a fun meal at Schiller's our local bistro. Cuban sandwiches and fish and chips were devoured all round, Yummy!

Well, that's it for today's blog. At work Adam and I hope to have our Warhol collection wrapped up and spec'ed out by the end of play today which is definitely cause for celebration. My how time flies, it only seems like yesterday we were in Europe even though it feel like two weeks ago!!!

Here's a fun sketch which sums up my mild frustrations with my wobbly week!

LOVE
C

FAIR WELL, SO LONG, GOOD BYE...

As you may be aware my little brother, sometimes mistaken as my big brother is moving to San Francisco with Zack and the cats. They have rented a delightful 2 bedroom dream apartment in Sausalito, so to mark the occasion we are sending them off tonight with a blow out party at our friends bar Kingsize (kingsizeles.com/). So bounce on down if your in the area if not we'll have a drink for you and be sure to salute them good bye!

ONE LOVE
C

HALLWEENED

After a long day we decided to start our Halloween celebrations early with a couple of bottles of wine on the terrace at work... a good idea in theory but as with most good ideas it was short lived as I ended up paying for it today at work! We all are quietly suffering from our own hangovers individually induced, oh well I guess I never learn...

Still on a happier note here is a great shot of Matthew, Zack an Aunty D in full costume, quite brilliant, we will miss them both very much.

LOVE
C