New Laini's Ladies!

It's that time again -- the time to design new Laini's Ladies. It's a shift for me, both mentally -- from writing head to designing head -- and spatially -- from writing room to art studio. The lady above is at a halfway designed stage, but I saved a version just like this because I liked the simplicity of it. I did, however, go on to finish her dress and all.

So, four new ladies just hit the stores. These were a fun bunch for me, very bookish:




They also come as greeting cards, of course. Here's what those look like:

Laini's Ladies can be found in stores or can be purchased HERE.

So, our furnace installation is complete and -- WOW! The house is. . . comfortable. I feel a little stunned by this, I don't know why. I suppose I am easily stunned -- I am even a little stunned when eye drops work, or Tylenol takes my headache away. Kind of awed. The marvelous things that people have invented and discovered! Alexandra and I have had this discussion before, of what the world would be like if all people had brains like ours -- there would be no technology at all, only storytelling and cave painting! But anyway, that is one little spurt of boring "grownup stuff" that is over -- the furnace, the car (took it to the shop where it started right up and there was, apparently, nothing wrong with it at all!) and the dishwasher, which had been shutting itself off mid-cycle. When the electrician was out for the furnace we gave him a little $$ to fix that and it's all good now. Whew. I hope I don't have to do anything grownup like that again for a while. It's all so boring and expensive!

It's been an unusually social weekend for us, considering I have barely peeped my head out of the house in weeks! Friday we had dinner with California friends -- Amy, who I knew in highschool but really became friends with in college (she was "popular" in highschool, but she was one of the good popular people. Actually, though my school WAS in Orange County and typical of the schools you see on TV in so many ways, the upper crust of popularity there was not bitchy. And I say that disinterestedly because I was most certainly not a part of it.) Anyway, Amy is in town with her husband Sasha who she met while in Ukraine with Peace Corps and who now has his dream job working for the company that makes World of Warcraft! They have two beautiful little boys with Russian names and this is their first time away from them!

Then, last night, planning on really doing nothing, got a call in the afternoon from another friend, Lisa, who said their dinner guests had "boged" on them and they had all this food and could we come for dinner? Usually I am so not a last-minute invitation kind of person, but we love Brett & Lisa (and Lisa is an awesome cook) so we shrugged and said sure -- felt a little guilty because it's really our turn to have them over for dinner! The food was great, and we always have so much fun scanning Brett's basement office for new toys and books -- and we always leave absolutely loaded down with books because he is the publisher of Top Shelf Comics and he gives us lots of shwag!

And today we will be early-celebrating my father's birthday, so there will be a stop at Saint Cupcake on the way. Yay! And tomorrow I will get back to work on a) finishing Silksinger (phew!) and b) finishing the new Laini's Ladies line. Ay caramba! When it rains it pours -- and right at the time that there are finally good movies coming out that I want to see. Sheesh!