{"id":2094,"date":"2011-03-13T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T06:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2094"},"modified":"2011-03-13T00:01:43","modified_gmt":"2011-03-13T06:01:43","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-210-featuring-amy-june-bates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2094","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #210: Featuring Amy June Bates"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

I’m keeping things very simple this week. I’ve got one image and one kick. The one image you see above comes from illustrator Amy June Bates<\/a><\/strong>. I’ve always enjoyed her work, as I made clear in this 2008 interview<\/a><\/strong>, another one of my favorite interviews, since she sent tons of art. Incidentally, she currently lives with her family in Japan, and I’m very relieved to hear they are safe after the earthquake, as well as Tarie<\/a><\/strong> in the Philippines. My heart goes out to those amidst the destruction in Japan.<\/p>\n

At Amy’s blog, Drawing a Blank<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, she shares sketches and recent creations, and this one made me laugh outloud. I believe the first day of Spring is next Sunday, so this image is fitting today. I’m eager for Spring to make a premature arrival, how ’bout you? That cute fluffy bunny agrees. You can<\/em> read the small print, right? So funny. <\/p>\n

I also like this<\/a><\/strong> that Amy posted this week. <\/p>\n

My one big kick? Oh wait…Should I follow tradition here? <\/p>\n

First. Ahem. “As a reminder, 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you.”<\/p>\n

Gotta post that weekly for any potential new folks. <\/p>\n

Secondly:<\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
<\/center><\/p>\n

Okay. Where was I? My one big kick:<\/p>\n

My oldest turned seven this week (SEVEN!), and I still—yes, still<\/em>—get teary-eyed on her birthday, remembering the day she came into my life and changed it forever. I’m a big sap. <\/p>\n

On her birthday, I always like to play her The Innocence Mission’s<\/a><\/strong> “Happy Birthday.” (You can see them play it here<\/a><\/strong> on YouTube if you’re so inclined.) The last verse goes a little something like this: <\/p>\n

“Oh, undeserved sweetness and light, \/ stay by my side. \/ We will go out in the morning now, \/ a crown of maple leaves, a crown of flowers \/ circling your sweet head. \/ Happy birthday, beautiful, \/ in the streets of this day \/ play a song, play a song.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I know I’m biased and all, but she truly is one of the coolest, neatest, funniest people you’ll ever meet. She’s gooftastic. And clever. And kind. And fun to hang out with. <\/p>\n

And, because I’m getting ready to party down with her—as I type this, pre-weekend—and friends will be joining me to do so, including one sweet out-of-town friend I can’t wait to see, I am keeping this post short and sweet today. <\/p>\n

(The other kicky news of the week, as I mentioned on Friday, is a new writing gig for Kirkus<\/em>—here’s<\/a><\/strong> the low-down—but, even though that’s fun for me, Piper’s birthday pretty much trumps everything.)<\/p>\n

And, even though I named only one major kick (though a pretty great one in my world), please do tell me all<\/em> of yours. You can also weigh in on whether you’re ready to join the cute, fluffy bunny and open up a can on winter. <\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

Image is \u00a9 2011 Amy June Bates. Used with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m keeping things very simple this week. I’ve got one image and one kick. The one image you see above comes from illustrator Amy June Bates. I’ve always enjoyed her work, as I made clear in this 2008 interview, another one of my favorite interviews, since she sent tons of art. Incidentally, she currently lives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}