Guess My Wish

I hereby promise an original hand-painted postcard to whomever can guess what I wished for before I blew out my birthday candles. I would post a picture of said postcard, but 1) I haven't painted it yet and 2) I don't think I have a scanner here at home. (Hint: it's real simple and kinda lame too.) You have one week (until midnight of Tuesday, January 5) to leave your guess and address in a comment to this post. I will mail the card to the winner. Good luck!

Happee Burfdae to Me

Really my birthday was yesterday, but it doesn't matter because we had to delay celebrating until tonight anyway. And by celebrating I mean family, cake, and ice cream, which is about as fancy as we Toiaivaos get. 

(I tried to have a "regular" birthday party once -- my eleventh birthday, I think; a disastrous mistake. Who knew so many people would be out of town around Christmas? Or that Wild America with Jonathan Taylor Thomas would be such a wretched movie? Or that the anti-alcohol board game my sister made for a health class project would not exactly rivet people to their seats?)

Anyway, in honor of my birthday and my zodiac-loving friend Brittany (who is transferring back to her original university and will be sorely missed), I looked up my star chart. 

The picture, of course, means nothing to me, but the description that came with it is shockingly accurate. It accounts for my extreme introversion, my defensiveness, and many other facets of my general absurdity, but mostly I'm just glad to see some divine justification for my pathetic lack of stamina. (Quote: "you will require a lot of sleep . . . you tire out easily.") It's not because I don't exercise, Ma; it's in the stars!

Love and birthday/holiday cheer to you all,

Meagan

Oh yeah, and I have a website.

meagantoiaivao.weebly.com
It has a portfolio on it! Gasp!

My name is Meagan
I am an artist
I don't do drugs
So check me ouuuuut *sssss*

(Image copyright SNL/NBC. Don't sue me, OK?)

Meag's Top 4 Lady Loves

Youuuuu guessed it -- it's a post about girl-power picture books!
(And not lesbianism, as Uncle Marshall might suspect.)

I thought, in honor of my first post on my first-ever blog about art and all things illustration, I would highlight some of the books that I've loved since childhood. But today I watched a recent episode of Glee (one of my favorite shows) and was disappointed by its attempt to glamorize women as sex objects in one moment and preach self-respect at them the next. So that's when I decided I'd narrow my post to picture books that empower girls.

First off, The Big One: Eric Kimmel's The Four Gallant Sisters, illustrated by Tatyana Yuditskaya. Disguised as boys, four orphaned sisters become master tradesmen, members of the king's court, saviors, and dragon slayers, right under the suspicious queen mother's nose. Rousing, romantic, gorgeous, and clever. I wanted to be all of these sisters.

Next there's Jane Yolen's retelling of Tam Lin, an old Scottish ballad, illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak. Girl meets boy. Girl falls in love with boy. Girl is slightly dismayed to hear of boy's imminent murder by hell-bound fairies. I don't want to spoil the ending, but it involves holy water, a smart mouth, and a reeeeeally good grip.

The Paper Bag Princess (Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko) -- a more recent favorite. What fate would be worse than becoming a dragon's lunch? Marrying this girl's fiance. Mama didn't raise no fool!

And finally, everybody's favorite: Heckedy Peg (Audrey & Don Wood)! I saved this one for last because it's about a special kind of Girl Power: Mom Power! This multi-taskin' mama may not have given her children real names, but she sure as heck knows what they want, gosh darnit! Now step off, witch!

I hope you enjoy these books as much as I do. And let me know what your picks would be!