Birthday

So last weekend Andrew, our friend Liz, and I held a group birthday party in and around the tiki office.

 

We had about a million different rums, plus homemade limoncello by me, homemade gin by Evelyn, homemade liquors by Tiff, this excellent root beer booze, and this!

 

In return for backing the Kickstarter for the Hawaii Bitters Company, I received a bottle of their very nice Manoa Chocolate and Ginger bitters.  I probably drank some at some point.  It was a busy afternoon.

Thank you, everyone, for an amazing tiki birthday party!

Just Amazing Developments

So it looks like at some point in the last few years I may have gone a little overboard with the whole tiki thing.

And now a large chunk of the tiki collection is in my office!

Including the tiki army!

We’re still a little short on furniture, and we haven’t moved in my desk and office equipment.  But that didn’t stop Andrew, a.k.a. the most patient man in the world, from putting his curatorial skills to work and hanging some sweet tiki art.

Art!

Masks!

Even a mermaid coat hook!

Andrew finished hanging in time for our birthday TIKI BARBECUE.  But I’ll post photos of that next week.

Bamboo

SO THIS HAPPENED

AND THEN THIS

AND THIS WAS A THING

AND NOW IT IS LIKE THIS

 

SWEET

Electricity

The office is complete!

With a floor and lights and everything!  All that remains, of course, is to convert it from a mere office to a tiki office.

I started small by replacing the ordinary non-tiki white electrical socket covers with unfinished wood.

And for the light switch:

I’ve had this excellent guy for a long time, just waiting for the opportunity to install him in the tiki office of my dreams.  He hails from the legendary Oceanic Arts in southern California, suppliers of tiki to the stars.  Now he guards my light switches and watches over my office.

The Greatest Tiki Mug Ever Made

The construction of the tiki office is very nearly complete!  It now has a floor and everything.  All that remains is the electrical hookup, and then we can start to tiki this place up.

 

 

 

But that’s not the only thrilling tiki development this weekend.  Remember last month, when  I drew tiki sketches for everyone who ordered Narbonic and Skin Horse books?  One of the people wise enough to take advantage of this offer was Tiff Hudson, who received this sketch:

 

I was pretty proud of that gerbil-face tiki mug.  And Tiff was definitely the right person to send it to, because LOOK WHAT HE SENT ME BACK.

 

That’s right.  TIFF HUDSON MADE A GERBIL TIKI MUG.  I HAVE A GERBIL TIKI MUG FOR MY TIKI OFFICE.  My life is now complete.

Thank you so much, Tiff!

Painting the Tiki Office

The tiki office is tantalizingly close to completion.  This weekend, Andrew painted the interior.  Join him, won’t you?

Putting up primer:

Touching up the exterior paint job:

And, finally, the application of tiki color:

My parents are in town this week, so my father joined Andrew for an assist.

Next up: floorboards and electricity.  Then the serious tikification begins.

Akua Tours the Tiki Office

 

This is my new guy, Akua.  He came from the Ashby Flea Market.

He’s a little scuffed and has clearly seen some hard times in his life, so I wanted to assure him that he would have a safe new home.  So I took him on a tour of my tiki office in progress.

Akua checks out the interior:

 

Akua checks out the wiring:

 

Akua checks out the skylight:

 

I hope he found everything to his liking.

Tiki Office: The Situation Has Deepened

This is scary, but work on my detached office and tiki bar has continued.  Now it has walls and a roof, even.  What have I wrought?

The exterior of the tiki office will be tasteful, betraying no hint of the tiki theming within.  Except for one small detail.  Behold: parrot carvings on the eaves!

AWESOME.

Meanwhile, I continue to draw tiki-themed sketches for all people who purchase Narbonic and/or Skin Horse books from the Couscous Store.  A few of the latest:

Thank you, I’m awesome.

Tiki Office: Now It Gets Serious

I’m as amazed by this as anyone, if not more so, but it looks like my long-dreamed-of detached office and tiki bar is actually becoming a thing.  In the last few weeks, the garage in the back yard has gone from this:

 

to having windows:

 

 

and even a door:

 

 

and a back wall!

 

This is all moving much more quickly than I expected, thanks to our awesome contractor Jody.  Tonight Andrew and I set out on a special fact-finding mission to the Kona Club on Piedmont to get ideas for the interior.  Andrew was inspired about walls.

 

 

To raise money for this project, I’m running a special on my cartooning group’s online marketplace, the Couscous Store.  This month only, any purchase of Narbonic or Skin Horse books comes with a tiki-themed sketch by me.  I drew a bunch of them at the Kona Club tonight.

 

Rad!

Valentine Tikis

My anniversary is on Valentine’s Day, because I’m gross, and, even though Andrew and I have only been married nine years and the tenth anniversary is traditionally the Polynesian Kitsch Anniversary, my family was kind enough to send tiki gifts.

The bar sign is from my mother.  The awesome guys are from my Aunt Kerry, who got them from her friend Polly.  The smaller guys are salt and pepper shakers!

 

 

And if that’s not enough for you, here’s a man and a cat who are friends.

 

Happy Presidents’ Day!