I leave for Pakistan tomorrow night, 10pm. It’s about a 19 hour flight, stopping at Abu Dhabi and landing in Islamabad. I’m pretty excited – it’s been almost 8 years since I’ve last been and the first time I’m going without my sisters! Growing up, my family and I were lucky enough to go every other summer for 2-3 months at a time, so it’s always felt like home. After an almost decade gap , I’m afraid I will feel more like a tourist than anything. The tastes, smells, and feel of all things in Pakistan have sadly become a distant memory where I know I love and miss them, but can’t quite put my finger on them anymore.

Alas, that shall all change soon! I look forward to coming back with detailed reports on (1) food, (2) changes since my last visit (I know there have been plenty, (3) culture shock (I hope/expect that to be minimal, but you never know), (4) mountains (um, can I snowboard there please?), and (5) smells. Also, with this being my second time going to Pakistan in the winter, I’m excited to see how different everything is when you’re not under 120 degrees of boiling sun. And then there is FAMILY!! Woot! Can’t wait.

Handmade feather necklace. Each feather was individually placed all under the watchful eye of my cat. Feather pendant hangs from a corded leather necklace finished with wire-wrapped ends and clasp.

Two brother horses we met while camping at Merck Forest in VT. After a 2 mile hike, we emerged from the woods and came across these handsome, friendly fellows, which I consequently made into a fridge magnet. Pen with water color. Neat.

Hand drawn flowers using an old botanical illustration as a guide and layered with water color.

I don’t know where this tree came from, but here it is. Try to find all the faces, there are many.

A nice elderly group of tourists – illustration for a Spiewak ‘05 t-shirt.

Staten Island Ferry illustration made while I was interning at Spiewak. This was ultimately used on one of their ‘05 t-shirts. Go NY!

Long story short, this gentleman was dubbed ‘Renny’ and was the key character for Renegade Marketing’s summer play day. We called all staff to compete for the fictional character’s inheritance. So much so, we even put a fake obituary in the NY Sun.