Tiny House Creature #12

Mini-Mini-Tiny-House-Creature (+substack updates)

Happy Dead Week! In honor of Dead Week, this Tiny House Creature will be very short and sweet. Here are 5 things I’m thinking about this week:

1. My 2024 word of the year:

   

   I’m not a big New Year’s resolutions person, but I do love to pick a word of the year to guide my decision-making and priorities. I think the word of the year was popularized by Gretchen Rubin and I’ve been choosing a word since 2017 when I first heard about it on her podcast. Because of my current focus on my art career, I’ve chosen “create” as my word for 2024 and got a Giving Key necklace with that word inscribed. Giving Key is a pay-it-forward company that donates a part of their proceeds to nonprofits providing employment resources and support to those transitioning out of homelessness.

   Do you choose a word of the year? What is yours for 2024?

2. Upstream Fellowship work:

   

   First piece of my Moments in Jars series: Bill’s Berries

   Everything about this fellowship is new for me - I’ve never been so excited to create illustrations inspired by my own experiences. Normally, the work I like doing is based on someone else’s story. I like taking an editorial piece and translating it into an image, or making a drawing based on a product or a feeling a client is going for. It isn’t normal for me to sit down and consider the stories that I want to tell.

   I’m planning on creating 4-5 images for this “Moments in Jars” series and this first one is what inspired it all. My grandpa with his raspberries. Check out my Instagram Reel to learn more about it.

3. Creative cocktails:

   It all started with a bottle of sweet vermouth…

   I found a nice bottle of sweet vermouth at Costco and now I’m totally stuck on figuring out how to use it up. (Have you tried a simple sweet vermouth + soda water? I think it tastes A LOT like cola.)

   I’ve been watching a lot of Anders Erickson cocktail videos - I think his Wisconsin-ness is comforting - and a couple of weeks ago I made a Martinez for the first time. I need to make it a few more times before deciding, but it could be a contender for my favorite cocktail.

   A Martinez calls for: gin, sweet vermouth, cherry liquor, orange bitters, and lemon. I also added some soda water because I prefer a sipper to a strong drink.

   Any other suggestions for the rest of my bottle of sweet vermouth?

4. Cookbooks I’m getting for myself (and none of them are new releases):

   

   I got some lovely gift cards to my favorite local bookshop and I’m planning my next move. These are the three cookbooks I’m treating myself to in the new year:

   1. What’s for Dessert by Claire Saffitz - I was obsessed with her first cookbook, Dessert Person, and I’m assuming this one is just as amazing.

   2. Family by Hetty McKinnon - This will complete my Hetty McKinnon collection.

   3. Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving - because my big birthday/Christmas gift was a pressure canner!

5. How much Substack stinks: If you’re internetty enough, you probably know by now that Substack is cool with Nazis. And well… I’m not cool with that. I’m giving them a month to make some good choices, and if they don’t, I’ll make my way over to a different newsletter platform that doesn’t stink so badly.

   Next month you’ll either find me here with a new issue of House Creature, or with an announcement about where you can find me next. Stay tuned!

Happy Dead Week and Happy New Year!