Mr. Mayor, The beginnings of The Legend of The Moon Goddess

Im currently illustrating a story that I wrote when I was 9. I found it at my parent's house and read through it...how amazing it was to read something I wrote so long ago- how I worded things, see my hilarious punctuation, understand where the plot came from and how the story ended--all things that show what parts of me have stuck around and what has changed. This is Mr. Mayor--he is one of the main characters in my story, "The Legend of the Moon Goddess"....which will be out in stores next month.

I am so excited to be sharing this

This Father's Day, I had an unexpectedly meaningful day. I was feeling particularly emotional and blessed about my relationship-not only with my dad, but my whole family. I decided to bike to one of my favorite cafe's--hi-rise bakery and have a me-day. I brought my journal, my work clothes for my night shift at Charlie's, and a copy of a letter that my grandfather had written to our family on his 82nd Birthday. My Grandpa Uds passed away 4 years ago on his 87th birthday. I loved him dearly. Anyway, i guess it was kind of a bad idea to bring his letter with me and read it in a quiet, peaceful cafe because I started to cry in my stool and had to wrap the rest of my sandwich up and leave. I decided to take a walk around the block...the sun was so warm and I could hear kids from the playground laughing nearby. As I continued to read the letter, I suddenly found myself understanding my grandfather in a way that I never had before. His ability to love unconditionally was amazing. He was a quiet man, but his heart was wild with caring, thoughtfulness and love- for his wife, his children and grandchildren. Maybe its through travel, or simply the more people I meet, but the years of experiences I've had since my grandfather died have brought me a more adult understanding of my life and of life in general. As time goes on, the luckier and more blessed I feel to have the family that I do and to have been raised with an abundance love that I now possess. Here are some of the words that my grandfather wrote to us in his letter: About my brother: "I am so proud of him, my chest has expanded with joy for him and I have popped the buttons of my shirt. He is not surprise to us, we always knew he would be a source of happiness for the whole family. Keep on learning and growing in knowledge." About my mother: "To our daughter Deborah, who has brought grace and beauty to our family. Thank you for entering our lives and bringing understanding and love to our son." "To our Dear son jerry, who I love with admiration and tenderness. Who has been a son and given of himself and shown his love for family and parents. May you be granted all of the good things of life. And now thank you all for being here and helping me celebrate this ocasion of my birthday, and listening to the babbling of this old man. I love you all." I had the unique pleasure of tending bar at Charlies on Father's Day. When I arrived at my shift, I found myself still caught in this cloud of thought about fathers and father's day. I decided to ask my customers to write little stories, memories..anything they wanted-about their own fathers. And so now I have a collection of absolutely wonderful and hilarious moments from people about their fathers. Ive chosen some of my favorites and illustrated them. I hope you enjoy reading these and I ask you to take a moment-no matter your situation- and reflect on your father. What does a father mean to you? In what ways have you learned, laughted, cried, loved, and grown-becuase of your father. I hope you all can think of at least one. Even if you think its silly.

"My dad love to ski. Every time I go skiing with him, he always gets long snots dripping out of his nose. It seems he has no idea. How does he not feel the snot. Wipe your nose dad, Dad."

"My Brother and I were 14 and 11 years old and being jerks while chasing each other around the yard. My dad was sweeping and in his concern that we might run into him, he said, "Real smart to run around me while I have something long and hard in my hand." We both cracked up immediately and he just laughed and said, "God Dammit." "My senior year of high school, my dad allowed me to host our after-prom party at his house. He took a little power nap at midnight and woke up at 3am and cooked french toast for the entire party. He loved every minute of it. I love my dad. " "My dad is 61, Overweight, but a good cook Funny, Sometimes. Working class Remarried, but happy. A bus driver. Today he decided. to ride a bike after years of not doing anything. Physical. He said his ass hurts. Happy Father's Day Dad." "When I was about 5 years old I was riding in the car with my father. I was in my car seat when my father started yelling at me about talking too much. After not being able to bring myself to being quiet, my dad stopped the car. He swings my door open with his hand raised to hit me. He asks me if I'm going to be quiet, I respond with "Nope," along with a huge smile. Between my innocence and honesty, my father starts laughing and lowers his hand. Instead of punishing me, he takes me to Chuck-e-cheese and shows me a great time along with embarrassing me for being me."

Happy Father's Day!

On this, Father's Day...I wish a very very happy one to all of the fathers in the world, but especially to MINE. Ive been dying to dust off and use these old photos that I found at my parent's house...(and theres more where these came from :) My dad has been an amazing father and raised me with an abundance of love, support and strength. Happy Father's Day!! Now grow your beard back.

Schoni Oschtere

Remembering Easter in Switzerland

New work

Dance how thy will until thy will is emblazoned into the ground.

Wood Brothers at The Paradise

On Saturday I was handed a ticket to see the Wood Brothers at the Paradise...10 minutes before they went on stage. I was at a barbeque and had left a conversation mid-sentence to say goodbye to a friend when he handed me a ticket and said..."Wood brothers--theres a cab waiting out front. Get in now, or don't come." So I did. I ran.. (a solo cup of beer still in my right hand) and hopped in the cab with the others. We arrived just in time for the show to start. And as Oliver, the lead vocalist, began to sing and the trio began playing their bluesy, southern tunes, their strong voices filled the concert hall with such amazing force. It occurred to me at that moment, that Sometimes you have to let life take you, rather than take on your life all the time. I could have stayed with my friends a the barbeque, eaten some burgers and lived out the night like I had envisioned it to go...instead I was in another part of town with a whole new group of people enjoying amazing music on a beautiful night. Please take a look this video of The Wood Brothers. Recorded and produced by Mason Jar Music, an awesome audio visual/production company in Brooklyn NY.

What a peach

I overhear many peoples conversations while at work. Funny things, sad, smart, dumb, awkward...and sweet. Like this one.

Airport sketches dusted off

I dusted off some sketches from my sketchbook that I came across. Its been about three weeks now since I've returned from Switzerland. Surprisingly I slipped right back into my life here...except Ive noticed a seriousness about my work and my career. Now more than ever, it is important for me to find work that I love. I was just accepted as an intern at the Boston Center for the Arts, where I will be doing their graphic design for events, publications etc. Very excited to be at the BCA in the South End. More on that later. For now, these were some of my last sketches from my European journey..only on the American side. I had a three hour layover in New York and having slept on the plane, I found myself perky and bubbly and eager to draw everyone. Here are some of the people I captured at the JFK airport.

Getting Tasty Tonight!

Hello! Come by Plough & Stars tonight in Cambridge for an evening of Tasty music. The Clippertones start of the evening at 9:00 and stick around for Eleanor Kaufman and The Tasties at 10:30. We are excited to be playing here again...it will be our first show back since I returned from Switzerland in April. Hope to see you all there!

At work yesterday, I overheard a co-worker of mine talking about here terrible experience at the hair salon. Something along the lines of- she told the barber to do one thing and she did something completely different..thus creating mayhem in the barber chair, where my co-worker started crying. I have heard so many of these hair salon disaster stories. And Yes, Ive cried at a cut before too. Its because, in many ways, our hair is a big defining image for us. We often have an EXACT image of what we want done to us, and when it looks different that what we imagined, all hell breaks loose. We feel like something precious is being taken from us, never to be returned.But alas, hair grows just like all living things. So after hearing so many of these anicdotes, I felt compelled to illustrate this unique experience. This is dedicated to all of the women who cry in hair salons. Remember, all is not lost.

My last weekend, I went to Zurich. These are some things I saw: Call out to the awesome vintage posters hanging along the Limmat river- by Donald Brun, an amazing Swiss Designer and Illustrator/ Poster Artist.I love love love how he uses typography and image together; his compositions are so simple and sophisticated.

Hellooo! Its been a wee bit long since Ive written. Im back in Boston and it feels great. I love that summer is coming. I love being with good friends again. I love the fact that I can finally understand what people around me are saying. I miss the Swiss air, though. And other Swiss things, like the cheese for instance. So I have decided to start a series of colorful posters with images and scenes of places, people, things etc that I lived with and saw. Ultimately, when I finish each one, i feel like I am honoring a memory or a story from my time overseas. And that has been very special. I see this as an ongoing project and I hope you enjoy reliving my Swiss experience with me. This new one is from the Rhuylauf Half marathon that Bianca and I ran together in Ob

erriet, Switzerland. It was a gorgeous day, with gorgeous people and a good race. I've also started a Behance site, which serves as my online portfolio of my Graphic Design, Illustration, photography and more. Be sure to visit! http://www.behance.net/eleanorkaufman

Stateside

Hello! Greetings to everyone! I have returned home to the US. Its strange to be home; but surprisingly, I had absolutely no problem adjusting to the time difference; other than the fact that I go to bed at 9 and wake up at 6am. Oh well, Ive been jumping right out of bed and getting a lot of my own work done, which is good. I am home at my parents house in New Hampshire until I move back to Boston in a couple of days. Its lovely to be back; yesterday my parents hosted a little birthday/welcome home dinner at my house. We laughed a lot, ate a ton and I recalled stories from my trip. Today my brother is forcing me to go for a motorcyle ride. And although I have tons of work to do, I will go with him, as it is a perfectly sunny day in new hammpshaaa...and what better way to spend it than

whipping through spofford's back roads clutching my brothers back, screaming. I have completed this illustration since being back, the image came to me in my sleep my first night back home. Boy do I miss the Swiss landscape. Its great to be home and Im excited for my next adventures. -El

A Perfect Munich breakfast:
Amanda and I stumbled upon a great cafe in Munich on Saturday Morning, where we ended up spending 3 hours sitting, sketching and making friends with Gilcau, our waitress. To our wonderful surprise, we caught a performance by a mother and her three adorable little girls.

Chamonix

For the long Easter weekend I decided to hop on a train and go visit a high school friend of mind, Elliot, where he lives in Chamonix-Mont Blanc, France. Despite the fact that my wallet and camera were both stolen in a salsa bar, I had a really great time in Cham (as the locals call it). We walked around downtown, hiked a bit and on Sunday night a group of us pitched a tent at the foot of Mont Blanc, built a fire and camped out for the night. When we crawled out of our tent in the morning, there were tons of rock climbers around us, curiously watching us. Apparently we had perched ourselves right at the base of a local rock climbing hot spot.

For sure it was an eventful weekend, and nice to get away and see a new part of Europe. This was the second time Ive gone to France. In 2009 I stayed in Aix-En Provence after studying abroad in Granada, Spain. See my posts from my previous trip here!)

Amanda arrived yesterday! She'll be recovering from her jet lag while I scoot off to work today. Its a cozy rainy day here in Gais. I hope everyone is safe and well!

-El

Chag Sameach 2012

First off, Happy Passover. I celebrated on Friday night in St. Gallen at a synagogue downtown. The seder was led by Rabbi Noam. I had met some of the members of this wonderful community at a Purim service a few weeks back and was lucky to have been invited again to join them for Passover. This year, although I was not with my family, I am so happy to have been welcomed into this Jewish community in Switzerland and to so lucky to have shared a similar feeling of connectedness with a new group of people. I sat at the rabbi's table with his wife and a couple of others that I knew. The seder was led completely in Swiss-German and I loved being a part of it. Even though I could not understand all of the words, I knew what he was talking about because of how emphasized things and engaged everyone with discussion, laughter and song. When a little girl, Olivia, was asked to sing the four questions, I suddenly felt myself being swept from my seat and transported back to home, where every year growing up..and even to this day, I would sing the four questions at our seder. It was a special evening with new conversation and good food. And even though my family was not by my side..I felt very much a part of something new and good.

Old woman on bus in Salzburg

Ebenalp

An absolutely amazing hike on Saturday. The weather was perfect, the trail was steep, and the views were overwhelming. More on my flickr

Pray all day

The bus driver on the way to Oberriet for the half marathon stopped and let an older woman out so that she was a closer to walk to Church. I didnt think anything of it--just remember watching her slowly leave the bus and hobble down the road. Hours later, after we had finished the race and were waiting for he bus home, I explored the center of town a bit. I saw a beautiful white church, piercing stark white in front of the blue swiss alps in the background. I decided to go in. As I pulled open the massive wooden doors I heard the organ blaring through the hall in front of me. There were glass doors peering into the sanctuary. This is what I saw; the lady from the bus, sitting perfectly still and alone in her pew, held in quiet prayer.

Rhylauf Half marathon!

Bianca and I ran a half marathon last weekend in Oberriet. What a funny day.

After winding down the steep plunge on the train to Alstaaten station, we arrived with our backpacks filled with sneakers and power snacks. With my small mental tab of german transportation vocabulary as well as my flailing hands and arms, we communicated with the bus driver where we needed to go by showing her the "running in place" gesture and repeating the town over and over again. "aahh yes" she said with a relieved smile. Contented, we went to sit. After 5 minutes she turned around with a smile and gestured for us to get off and wait 3 minutes.. Then another bus pulled up, which was the right one and we got on- confused-giggling in wonder as to why this woman let us sit on her bus for so long. Maybe she just wanted the company.

On the right bus was a man, Lucas, who was also running the race. He accompanied us to register once we got to Oberriet and helped us translate our forms. We nonchalantly talked about running and our past races. An hour later, as Bianca and I were on our 7th mile, seriously discussing the fact that we might have taken the wrong turn, Lucas would zoom by us, turning to say a quick hello. He would place 40 out of 300. Pretty much, we befriended Hercules and we didnt even know it.

In fact, when we arrived and looked around it became clear that we would be running this race with only elite runners. Everyone-the men and women- looked like they belonged in the Olympics. So when we saw the Sweeper, we looked at each other with big smiles and accepted that we might in fact come in last place. Bianca and I finished the race (not quite last) and it was a lot of fun. The route passed through all of these cute little neighborhoods. All along the course, spectators were perched in their yards with their beers and their kids, ringing cowbells and yelling "hop! hop! hop!", which actually means "go go go!"...I thought this was really funny.

We met a lady named Daniella while running, who had run the NYC Marathon and LOVED IT. She kept telling us we were fantastic and that she would wait for us at the finish line since she was running the 9K and no the full half. She was so bubbly and sweet..I believe at one point she even stopped running to remove a worm from the road and place it back in the safe grass. Sure enough, she was waiting for us as we rounded the corner to finish the race. I couldnt believe she actually waited for us...it always feels great to have someone rooting you on at the finish line..even better when that person is stranger you met 30 minutes earlier.

The race ended with us recieving the best race bags EVER. A loaf of bread from a local bakery and home made jam. We sat and ate pork sandwhiches and drank beer. My legs felt like two heavy wooded posts for two days after the race. It was a lovely day and an experience I wont forget.

First Aid Kit

I stumbled on this great sister duo, First Aid Kit. Their voices blend so well together and their songs are so pretty! Perfect music for a rainy Friday in Bühler.

Saturday getaway

Halo,

Last weekend Kat and I accompanied our bosses Lori and Jon to Vorarlsberg, Austria, one of their favorite weekend shopping getaways. And by shopping I mean food shopping...Austrian prices are soo much more reasonable than Swiss prices. We went to Ventilator, a huge antique house, lunch on top of a mountain and a farmers market. Great weather and awesome way to spend a Saturday. View more of my photos on my new flickr site!

Toys: A philosophy on life

While browsing the blog of my friend Christina Watka, I came upon this video and I wish to share it on my blog as well. I find it so simply precious. I want to spend the rest of my life playing with toys too.

The Toy Maker from Richard Hunter on Vimeo.

Hand ahhht

I stumbled upon these awesome hand art photos today