Last weekend, a bunch of friends and I packed our finest bikinis, meats and libations to spend a weekend in Hicksville – a desert “trailer palace” in Joshua Tree. Now, Hicksville is my new favorite place for glamping – that’s glamour-camping to you.

Why glamping at Hicksville is good: you get the desert, a fire pit, s’mores and cooking under the infinite stars, but you also get a salt water swimming pool, a rooftop jacuzzi, WiFi, plumbing and adorable themed trailers, each with its own design and story.

We stayed at The Sweet, a psychedelic, chromed out Airstream:

Check out these other wonder-buggies up for grabs.

My favorite aspect of this trip -besides being in the desert, which I have loved long and hard- was, by far, the pool, where I spent actual hours. Verdell liked it, too.

As did everyone else.

Ales got in touch with his inner cowboy,

and scouted the desert terrain for snakes and anthills,

between hot tub sessions and grillin’.

We also made gourmet sandwiches, about which I will tell you in the next installment of Mmmf!

And lost goth points by languidly roasting in the sun.

But gained a few back by burning the midnight oil alongside marshmallows. That counts, right?

On the way home after two days of sun, water and grilled meat, we stopped in Yucca Valley to visit a novelty and comic book shop called HooDoo. I made off with a vintage Alien Sex Fiend T-shirt, an ’87 edition of William Gibson’s Burning Chrome, and a beat-up Tank Girl #2, thus officially making the trip a success.

Mhmm, loved and needed this mini-vacation, and want to do it again, soon. A ton more photos await after the jump!

                          

All of my Europe-related articles from the April supertrip have gone live. To save you the trouble of combing through the Chinashop archives, I’ve created this handy chronological post. Pretend I’m your tour guide, and get ready to marvel, drool, absorb and above all, walk. I walked everywhere on this trip and loved it! Click the images below to see the articles.

Rome – Tastes Like Ice Cream

Gods and Gladiators – a Brief, Sticky Tour of Rome’s Top Attractions

An Optional Blessing at no Extra Charge – the Vatican

The Happiest Place on Earth – Pompeii

Spring Commerce in Florence

Left and Right – a Mildly Hedonistic Walking Tour of Paris

                          

These were taken during my first full [and I do mean full] day in Rome, and are but a taste of many, many more, which are coming to ChinaShop soon. Stay tuned for more Coliseum, Vatican Museum, Forum, and the jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring St. Peter’s Basilica. See also: EuroZoom 2011, Part 1.

Morning outside my hotel

Coliseum wall

Katya 2008

Inside the Coliseum

Exploring The Forum

An grief-stricken dog inside the Vatican museum

The tapestry hall in the Vatican museum is impressive

Baby dragon at St. Peter’s Basilica

Papafernalia

Breakin’

Classica Ragazza Italiana

                          

I am returned from a flurry of cathedrals, cobblestones, ancient history and art. Evidence bombardment begins.

Heathrow

A disturbing iPod dock

Tea + appetizers + Light Asylum shirt at Gordon Ramsey’s Plane Food restaurant

Steak Carpaccio

Foie Gras

Epic gift from Mom – the Alexander McQueen bee skull ring

Mom, being awesome and enjoying the menu

Sleepy after the flight, on the way to drop bags off at our hotel

Rome, being beautiful at night

The best gelato of my life

                          

IPHONE CASES
My iPhone cases are coming. I can’t show them to you yet, but these are the featured designs, though they won’t be released at once.

TRAVEL
Still catching up on freelance while attempting to plan my trip to Europe. It’s a quick jaunt through Rome, Florence and Pompeii, as well as a couple of days in Paris. It’s going to be a fairly full schedule for me, but if you have suggestions on things I absolutely must do this time around, let me know anyhow!

SKY
The sunsets have been especially breathtaking lately.

ARTZOOM
I’m in the process of creating a Kickstarter and web page for my new project, ArtZoom. I’ll be traveling to the Amazon jungle to teach a children’s art workshop later this year, and will need your help to get me there. Hope to have all this ready to go within two weeks, time permitting.

FOODS
This is much too easy to deserve a post in Mmmf, but if you have access to Trader Joe’s simmer sauces, I highly recommend them. They’ve been life savers in this busy time. Try making your own basmati rice by adding a handful of slivered and peeled almonds and few of teaspoons of cumin to your pot/rice cooker, then mix in some butter, or butter substitute when done. Here’s is mine, with chicken marsala.

ART
Absolutely dying to finish a massive painting before I leave for Europe on Sunday. Time is decidedly not on my side at the moment, but I’ll try to at least put in a few more hours.

COILHOUSE PDFS
You have until April 21st – a little over a week, to purchase Issues 01 – 05 of Coilhouse Magazine in PDF format.

The PDF effort took several months to come to fruition. As dedicated lovers of tangible Print Objects, we deliberated long and hard about making downloadable issues, but eventually agreed that this was indeed the correct decision. You can read more of our thoughts on print vs. digital here.

For $5 USD a pop, you can download And Other Curiosities (01), Beauty Is A Choice (02), The “Hold My Gold” Issue (03), Onaim, Perantes, Rasonastos (04), and Let All the Children Boogie (05) as individual digital issues, or at a discount price of twenty bucks for all five. Also, should ye be feelin’ flush and generous, you’ll have the option to pay a bit more, because this is an important fund raising push for us.

                          

I’m in the process of releasing several exciting new merch items into the world, dyeing my hair, planning my trip to Italy and France next week [oh god], and scrambling to catch up on a month worth of work. Still, I’m intent on updating more. First up, a few outtakes from our trip to WonderCon, in San Francisco. I have a couple of related galleries coming to Chinashop sometime next week, as well.

Somewhere between LA and SF, nestled in one of those flat, open spaces between cow farms and vineyards, there is a diner decorated with vintage lunch boxes and thermoses.

It’s also home to a delicious peach milkshake and a less delicious peach pie.

We’re told the pie is actually legendary, but ours came without the bottom crust, which was apparently left behind, burned to the baking pan, with no comment from the staff.

Sleepy kitty.

Yoda overlooks a fountain outside of LucasFilms HQ.

Some of the best mussels I’ve ever had.

Eso, in Golden Gate Park. The park tells me I should consider relocating.

                          

Interrogation Station is here to answer questions from YOU. To give it a go, just submit a question through my Formspring page. You can ask anything you like, it doesn’t have to be about style or art. All I request is that you check out my FAQ and previously asked questions beforehand. I can’t guarantee that I’ll get to every single question, but I will certainly try. You can see previous installments of I.S. here.

What perfume/bodyspray/lotion scents are your favorite to wear, and do they vary for different situations? (ie: daily casual, night out, formal, etc)?

I go between Viktor and Rolf’s Antidote, Viktor and Rolf’s Flowerbomb, Black Currant mixed with Bonfire from I Hate Perfume, Cherry Cordial from I Hate Perfume, and a variety of baked goods scents from all over – cookies, chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch – I love it all! I don’t consider any occasion more worthy of a scent than another, so there’s no real system in place. I’m at home in my pajamas at this very moment, and wearing Flowerbomb, just because.

Have you ever been accused of undergoing plastic surgery? Have you actually gone under the knife?

I’m not sure that plastic surgery is something one’s “accused of”, per se, but the answer is, not really. I’ve had a few people ask whether I’ve had breast implants, which, no, I have not. I’m terrified of cosmetic implants, actually, but would be up for all manner of electronic modules – camera eyes, UNF!

As far as having gone under the knife, the answer is never, which isn’t to say I wouldn’t later in life, if my financial situation was such that cosmetic surgery wouldn’t make a dent. As things are, however, there are so many other things I’d rather spend my money on, that it’s a non-issue. Also, I’m rather fond of aging naturally at this moment, because fighting age? Ultimately, you’re fighting a losing battle, no matter how wealthy. No grace in that.

Do you have a favorite country to visit/one you want to visit?

Favorite? Impossible. I have so much more to explore before I can even consider answering that. As far as current plans, I may be going to Rome in the spring, then my husband and I are planning a trip to Southwest India immediately after that, and a sort of mass exodus to Iceland the following year. I’m incredibly excited about our trip to India, because it’s so unlike anywhere either of us has traveled. Spending two weeks immersed in and exploring this culture together will be an unparalleled experience. More on that once we have our tickets and some idea of specifics.

How were you in school, particularly high school? Did you ever want to drop out? I understand that you went to a high school for the arts, was that your first high school?

I did want to drop out. In fact, I even took my state proficiency test my junior year, but, after passing, decided to stay in school anyway. LACHSA was certainly not my first high school, it was my fourth. I started at Pacific Palisades HS here in LA, then went through two different schools in Denver, CO before ending up back in LA to finish. I hate Denver, by the way.

How do you deal with the concept of morality?

Did you mean “mortality”? Because I’m undecided on that. Same goes for morality, though two key principles do apply: 1. Avoid lying 2. Don’t hurt the people I love unless absolutely necessary, or unless they say “please” real nice-like.

Do you sell any of your self portraits?

Right now, this collection of select 36FAIL images is available. They come in sets of three which is kind of odd, but if you have a couple of friends who might like them, it works out well.

Will I be able to take a picture with you or even ask for an autograph at this upcoming 2011 IMATS in which Amy’s Sugarpill line will be presented?

Certainly, but I have to admit to having no comprehension of the autograph concept itself. I do it from time to time, but why? WHYEEE??!!

I’m a girl who’s had short hair for years, and people give me a hard time about it, because it’s “not what girls are supposed to look like”. I was wondering if anyone has criticized you when you’ve opted for a boyish haircut, and how you dealt with it?

I’ve had people givin’ me lip about my aesthetic decisions my entire life, literally. It hasn’t been about having short hair though, aside from a few ooold boyfriends’ remarks, which I never placed much stock in. And that’s how I deal with it – it’s my head and, frankly, fuck the rest. It’s almost 2011, and if the people around you think short hair is “for boys”, I suggest you move.

Due to circumstances beyond my control I will be dropping out of college at the end of this semester, in the middle of my sophomore year. I will have no chance to return. I feel so lost and scared. I understand that you dropped out of college; any advice?

Don’t stress, and work. Spend a year [not longer] turning nothing down. Work like a rabid firemonkey, and your portfolio and/or resume will speak for themselves in no time.

Do you have a P.O. box or address where we can send you things?

Against better judgment, I do. Email me for instructions.

Do you have any recommendations for Red hair dye? My new job doesn’t approve of my N’Rage Crimson Red hair, do you know of any brands that aren’t natural looking but will pass as looking like a Professional?

Feria, but you’ll have to touch it up fairly often, as it fades rapidly.

How would you feel about somebody changing his/her/its name to a distant resemblance of yours (in form, not in essence), as a permanent sign of being inspired by you?

My purpose behind everything I do here is to inspire people to seek out their true selves and to pursue their own individuality with utmost ferocity. When I see folks imitating even with the purest of intentions, I think they missed the point.

Borscht. Yay or nay?

Hell yes! I have yet to make it myself, but perhaps this winter it shall finally be time.

                          

Finally, a moment to wade through the hundreds of San Francisco photos. I managed to get this round down to under 100, but it must stop here. It’s been over an hour! I’ve hand-picked a few favorites for the post, and the rest are under the jump in a gallery. To navigate, click an image and then use the bar at the bottom of the window. To start off, here is a photo strip from a booth at the Musee Mechanique. I took a quadrillion photo inside, too, but those are a whole other monster, to be dealt with later, maybe. Maybe.

Jon, Ginny, Shane, and me.

Ginny and I took the scenic route, and took our time, instead of gunning it down the 5 as usual LA –> SF protocol dictates. Our drive took about 7 hours, and it was far more pleasant than usual.

We stopped at the Madonna Inn, hoping for lunch. While waiting for their restaurant to open, we wandered around the halls and gift shops, marveling at the gaudy splendor and avoiding creepy dudes. The restaurant alone made me feel like I’ve died and gone to Vegas.

The hot pink, holographic bathroom did, too.

Some dark, especially Russian part of me was interested in this goblet. I’m weak before anything resembling gasoline spills. Managed to resist.

Self-explanatory:

Upon our arrival at Jon’s we invited Eso over and had a slumber party. Jon gave us stuffed sharks for pillows, which we nearly pilfered. So soft! So shark-like! Fortunately for Jon these items classify as “clutter” and aren’t allowed in my home. Adorable clutter.

After a night of sleeping bags and giggling, we ventured out for French breakfast, where I had the most beautiful French toast.

Then off to the water, to visit the aforementioned Musee Mechanique.

Here is Ginny kindly modeling a monkey hat enroute to the Musee.

A mind-blowing martini at the top of the city:

Ginny and Jon, anticipating cocktails.

Later that very night: Little Sheep Mongolian hot pot, wherein I discovered a spice I’ve never tasted.

Perhaps you can help me out. What makes your entire mouth go numb, then sour, then salty? When we asked the restaurant staff they claimed it was white peppercorn, but there just ain’t no way. It looked like this:

And this here is a flaming skull.

The next morning came much too  soon and looked approximately like this:

And now I take my leave. Click the jump for 70+ pictures, if you dare!

                          

Last week, on the day I was leaving for San Francisco, photographer Lydia Hudgens reached out to me about shooting one of my Style Dispatches.  Though my bags were already packed, I’d literally just seen and dug her photos of my friend Gala, so I agreed. Which reminds me! Photographers: if you’re in LA and want to shoot one of these installments, email me. I’d forgotten how fun it is not shooting them myself.

In a way, I preferred it being done on the fly, actually, because this is just a real outfit I was planning on wearing, not something I hyper-styled especially for a shoot.

You’ll be pleased to hear that I’m still sticking to my Spartan Resolution, and not buying clothes in 2010. Strangely, more than halfway through the year, I haven’t really felt any pangs  of desire. It could just be the fact that I have a TON of clothes, or all the moving and travel and general turmoil of the year. Whatever the case, it’s been a fairly easy and interesting experience.

One thing I’ve found is that, even with such restriction, there are things in my closet I just don’t wear. So, unless I find a way to wear some of these things before the year is done, they’re going away forever.

During our shoot, intrepid Lydia and I hoped to find a way to break into one of the beautifully-decrepit condemned buildings near the water. In my experience, these types of massive, ghostly warehouses tend to have the best light beating through dusty, broken windows. Breaking in, however, proved impossible because of strategically-placed guards, so we found other neighboring locations.

COMPONENTS

• John Fluevog Dame Agnes shoes
• Holy leggings
• Taffeta dress. I love this dress so much – feminine and utilitarian and classic.
• Striped metallic scarf
• Bag by Junior Drake
• Disco ball bracelet from a street vendor in Koreatown
• Matching stainless steel bracelets from when I was a body jewelry polisher
• Assorted bangles
• Caffeine molecule necklace by Made With Molecules
• Black heart ring by Lydia Marcos
• Eye & brow makeup by Sugarpill

Even MOAR pictures below!

                          

Packing my little suitcase and heading to San Francisco for a few days. If you know of awesome places or events I should be attending, do let a sistah know.

The other night, after dancing for a while

Also, was just sent this and had to document it, before the murdering begins:

                          

It’s that special time again, when we pack extra rations of vitamin C, deodorant, surgical masks, and hand sanitizer in preparation for San Diego’s ComicCon. It seems like only yesterday I stood in the Avatar Press booth with my Coilhouse cohorts, signing Coilhouse 03. This time around, we’ll be selling and signing copies of Issue 05,and displaying all of our back issues, too. Come say hello on Saturday morning, from 11am to 12pm at the Weta Workshop booth.

Micron and me in our home environment, from the Coilhouse 05 editors’ portrait by R. Stevens

In addition to reppin’ Coilhouse on Saturday morning, I’ll be around for the duration of the Con, shooting event coverage for Chinashop. I trust you to behave if we run into each other.

And speaking of Chinashop, I haven’t returned from NYC empty-handed! My words and Kate Black’s photos of the Master and Margarita Dr. Sketchy’s are here:

Click the jump at the end of this post for some of my favorite sketches from the night. If you were there and have sketches to share, post them in the comments, please.

Also during this trip, which, by the way, turned out to be my favorite New York trip yet, I finally got to visit the strange and fascinating Coney Island.

There, Molly and I gorged on deep-fried things, admired decaying amusements, rode the Wonder Wheel and made friends, and I took many, many pictures of our expedition. Click below to see:

There are tons more photos and thoughts about the trip, but that’s for another day. Now, naptime!

By Campatron Design:

By Kristin Chiappone:

                          

Next Saturday July 10, my husband Ales and I are paying tribute to one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. Along with our very own Begemot the demon-cat [portrayed by Nik Sinn], we’ll be posing at the original branch of Doctor Sketchy’s in New York City, hosted by its notorious madam, Molly Crabapple herself.

Begemot and Azazello by Coilhouse 05 featured artist, Chris Conn Askew

In parallel but separate ways, The Master and Margarita acutely affected mine and Ales’ lives when we each read it for the first time years before we met [Nadya and I even had to fight over who got to write about it on Coilhouse back in the day], and Molly is a huge fan of the book as well, so this is a truly unique and momentous opportunity. Also, I’ll be wearing a bejeweled flesh-tone mesh bodysuit in the end. We hope that all you New Yorkers can join us! The cast of characters below, event info here and after the photos.

MASTER
Ales Kot

MARGARITA
yours truly

BEGEMOT
Nik Sinn [the fetching young man, not the kitty]

This session marks the first at Sketchy’s new home, the Parkside Lounge. Please be sure to note the location change!

Parkside Lounge
317 East Houston St
between Clinton and Attorney Sts
$10 online, $15 at the door.

Tickets are $10 in advance, or $15 at the door, and can be purchased at www.drsketchy.com or at the door. See you there!

                          

‘Suup! I’m dedicating today to learning new visualization techniques. There is a lot of exciting stuff in motion, and the next couple of months are going to be a beautiful tornado of activity, travel and, oh shneep, most likely moving in the midst of it all. As such, extra helpings of level-headed tranquility and organization are in order. Hence today’s plans. Here’s what’s going down.

June

MOVING

Unless something goes horribly wrong, in the next 24 hours Ales and I will be signing a lease for a little amethyst house nestled on a hillside in Echo Park. It’s magic.

Naturally, preliminary painting plans are in place, albeit a little prematurely. Here is what we hope to do with the place, assuming our Feng Shui adviser approves. Ales’ mother studied the art for ten years and is a seasoned interior decorator, so we shan’t spill a drop of paint until she gives the go-ahead.

If you’re in LA and have spare boxes, I’ll be most grateful, because literally the moment the lease is signed we’re going to start packing. You see, the move must be swift, because…

DARK ARTS FESTIVAL

In the second week of June, I’ll be hitting the road to make an appearance on the 11th at the Dark Arts Festival in Salt Lake City with a certain Clint Catalyst and Paris Sadonis. I haven’t taken a road trip in ages, and even though this one will be brief, I’m very much looking forward to the drive. Will be documenting everything. EVERYTHING. Details to come.

Photo-break

RECENT FOODS

1. Breakfast of soft-boiled eggs, sliced tomato and French cheese
2. Maple bacon-wrapped garlic and rosemary pork roast, about to be cooked. FUCK this is good, and here is the recipe.
3. Sesame oil scrambled eggs with crackers topped with chipotle hummus

RECENT TUBS

Right. So! Here is what’s happening immediately after Salt Lake City.

E3

Sawa and I will be shooting at the APB booth in the South Meeting Hall of the LA Convention Center. This is going to be quite an undertaking, as we’ll be at the booth all day, every day of the convention. Then…

July

NYC

Ales and I are heading to NYC, 8th through the 14th. On July 10 we’ll be posing for a very special Doctor Sketchy as Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. It’s a Devil in Moscow Sketchy’s, so be there or be damned for all eternity.

On the 12th I’ll finally be getting my back tattoo finished by the incomparable Tim Kern. Those are the only in-stone plans as of this moment, and more slowly brewing. Very much looking forward to squishing my East coast peeps.

COMIC CON

Ales and I will make our annual pilgrimage to San Diego. I’ll be covering all sorts of fun stuff for Chinashop, while Ales zooms around taking care of bidness.

I love Poladroid so very much. Here is my head:

So that’s my grand 2-month battle plan, as I see it. I also want to shoot more, draw more, Coilhouse more, spend more time with Ales, read more [currently reading A Rebours, as it's perfect for moving time], blog more, travel more, and spend more time doing nothing at all. Doable, right?

…Right?

What’s your plan?

Adorable spirit guides to ensure that your week is a success.