Really In a Stew!

I googled ANGRY BIRD & found this image here.

Disclaimer: I am ranting in this post. I love many a person with free-time, stay at home wives, and/or mothers. I know we all have different priorities. I'm currently frustrated, so please refrain from taking offense to anything I type. Thank you.

If any of you pulchritudinous* people out there have read this old blog before, chances are high that you're aware of my tendency to overbook myself. To say I have a lot going on would be an understatement. I'm an artist, a secretary, and a program director. I'm slightly obsessive compulsive, and I have a problem saying "No."

All that being said, I'm not alone in my way too busy for a day-jobness. I had the following conversation recently.

BFF: I'm so tired of database work! I want to be at home sewing!!!
Me: Yeah. I keep thinking about things for etsy, the cake topper/guest book I'm working on, the book I'm illustrating. There's just so much to do that work gets in the way of, and it's insane! I even find myself being a little catty towards people who stay home. I know mom's that have kids in school have plenty to do, but I start wondering how they can have NO ARTSY CRAFTY ANYTHING! No hobbies!
BFF: Me too. It irritates me that other people have all this time on their hands, and I have none. When I do nothing - I feel guilty.
Me: I know.
Me: Why can't all the world be like us? It'd be a much better place...There would be biscotti and puppies...Starbucks and photography...
BFF: Warm woolen mittens, and brown paper packages tied up with string?
Me: Yes! Yes!! YES!!!

Now, this may seem a little off subject, but it's not. We have so much to do, and no time to do it! We're also ever so mildly insane, as you can see from the above conversation. If I were you, and I had free time, I'd come up with a hobby real quick-like. There are more of us, and we're likely to lash out eventually.

*That means you're beeeyooootiful. I used the thesaurus to find a new word for lovely to behold, and I thought that pulchritudinous was pretty interesting. Kind of an ugly word to have such a nice meaning, don't you think?

River Rats

A friend recently joked that my husband and I should just move to North Carolina, since we've been spending so much time there. You see, Mr. T, my husband person, has taken up white water kayaking. Like many of us do when we develop a new interest, he has a tendency to obsess.

We've always enjoyed camping, but it used to be an occasional thing. Now that he's attempting to kill himself learning to safely navigate white water, we go all the time. We've been so often, and survived, that I've gotten over my fear of careening over rapids. Well, I've gotten over my fear of careening over some rapids, and I get on the water every chance I get.

This weekend I'm going rafting with some friends, while Todd kayaks beside us. I may possibly take a duckie (an inflatable kayak that's a lot harder to flip that an actual kayak) down one of the calmer rivers, or try surviving on a Shredder with a trusted friend. We'll see what happens. If I live, I'll blog about it.*

Every trip, we stop at the Ocoee River, in Tennessee, on our way home.

We scramble down the side of the sun-warmed highway to the cool riverside rocks.

We crawl alongside the river to find a cozy, shady spot to watch passing rafts and kayaks.

Smushing together on a comfy-ish rock, and dangling my feet in the cold water, is my favorite.

If I had long arms, I'd take better pictures. Look at the distance he gets!

I'm not sure if we'll be moving there anytime soon, but it's definitely one of our favorite places to be. If we do decide to relocate, I'll have to take a few people with me.

You know who you are, and I'll let you know, so you can pack.

*See that healthy amount of fear?

Art Finds

In honor of this month's Art theme, I figured I'd share a few Etsy finds. There are so many talented artists out there, and Etsy is where you can find a lot of them. Beneath each image you'll find a link to the artist's etsy shop. Click away, friends.

Denise McMurray

Amber Alexander

Kite Flyer Art

wostudios

MadShiny

For those of you that don't know, that last one's mine, and you should totally buy my art. I had to throw a little shameless self promotion in there. ^_^

Sex Bob-omb!

image credit

I know I'm a little late on this whole Scott Pilgrim vs. the World thing, but my, my, my. It was fan-tas-tic. My dear cohort, Ari, and I can assure you all that it was well worth the wait.

Bryan Lee O'Malley and Edgar Wright are totally my heroes. How can you go wrong with a comic turned action romantic comedy with an amazing cast, soundtrack and chocked full of pop culture references? You just can't.

Did I mention the amazing soundtrack?! Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck, Metric, Broken Social Scene, Cornelius, Dan the Automator, Kid Koala, and David Campbell all had their glorious hands in it, and it totally made the movie. Must. Have. Immediately.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is one of the most creative/quirky films I've seen in years. If you were at any point in time an overly dramatic, angst-ridden, insecure teen that had a crush, dated, got dumped, played video games, listened to music, played in a band, loathed sell outs or swallowed your gum and worried about it's seven year exodus through your intestines...then Scott Pilgrim is for you. It's. Your. Life.

P.S.
My little camping trip into the NC wilderness screwed up the whole NaBloPoMo thing, but I'll still be posting predominantly about various artsy things this month, so come back, m'kay?

Sneak Blogging

This whole NaBloPoMo Art theme has really got me to thinking about how much I miss art school. Don't get me wrong, I thank God every single day for sparing my sanity throughout all those studio classes, but I miss assignments. Your professor gives you a problem to solve, and there are endless possibilities. I've been missing someone else laying the rules out for me, and thinking about saving up to take a class again.

Well, to my surprise, the art club at the university I attended is about to offer uber cheap life drawing classes! Score! Ari (the-happy-cactus.blogspot.com) and I are totally going to play art school, and you will be seeing some fresh drawings/paintings. Squee!

P.S. Please excuse the lack of pictures/links, as I'm on a camping trip & sneak blogging on my DROID. Shhh...

How Do You Do & Shake Hands

image credit

Are there any brave souls out there that have stuck around long enough to notice that I'm incredibly outgoing, but terribly insecure?

This is where I pretend a ton of you are nodding your heads, and I feel all warm and fuzzy.

Ahem. You know the type of person that will talk to a complete stranger, right? In line pretty much anywhere? Yeah, that type. Well, that's me. I'm all smiles, and great at striking up a conversation. I'm curious about people, and I love communication. Adore it, actually. However, immediately following any given spontaneous exchange I start dissecting the entire interaction, and doubting myself.

I start wondering if I made a funny face when I said that my grandmother was German, and forced me to eat cow tongue as a child. I begin hoping that the business man didn't notice me noticing the crusty stain on his tie. I end up feeling really bad about how I made the chick in front of me uncomfortable by telling her I loved her bra, because you could totally see it was polka-dotted...through her shirt. I have no filtering system, people. It's bad. Why in the world can't I just take my own advice and hush?!

Anyhow, I'm rambling. My point is that my outgoing/insecure personality flows right into my artwork. I'm all about creating. Another form of communication? Yes, please! I can't keep from making art. The problem is what happens after it's made. The audience comes in, and I start spazzing. It's exactly like an actual, physical conversation with someone. I start over-analyzing immediately. You'd think the Studio Art/Art History degree I worked my rear end off for would make me a tad more confident, but no.

Anybody out there with any handy dandy advice on building confidence, or how to communicate normally? I'm all ears eyes attentive and stuff.

Vers-ART-ile *evil laughs persist*

Versatile?! You want versatile?! Well...oh, who am I kidding? I had this entire post ready to go when I hit Ctrl Z, and the entire thing disappeared. I spazzed, refreshed and my heart broke. I'm brain dead from working all day, and, to tell you the truth, I don't feel very versatile right now. However, I still wanna thank Barry for thinking I am. Thank you, Barry.

The plan was to display my alleged versatility by simultaneously covering the bases of this award, and this month's NaBloPoMo theme. Basically, I would be amazing, yet humble, and you would all ooh and ah. I could carry my Versatility Award high above my head, and all would be well with the world.

Then I deleted it. So...yeah.

The Versatile Blogger Award has a few simple rules.
1. Be polite, and thank/link to the blogger that nominated you.
2. List seven facts about yourself.
3. Pass it on to some other wonderfully versatile bloggers.

I may be a moron, but I'm polite, so rule one is already covered. On to rule two. It might not be the most insightful list, but I'm brain dead from working all day.

1.  My first crush was David Bowie. It was 1988, and I was six.
2.  I have really, really curly hair.
3.  My eyes are green.
4.  Night swimming is one of my all time favorite things.
5.  Gustav Klimt is my favorite painter.
6.  I've been a vegetarian for 14 years.
7.  I'm an artist.

Aaaaand for rule three, I choose the following versatile blogger ladies.

- Ari from The Happy Cactus
- Amanda from My Life of Spaz
- Mel from Melanie's Randomness
- Shannon from Tattoos & Cupcakes
-Awmber from Awbviously Awmber

P.S. In order for this to pass as Art themed y'all have to check out the Gustav Klimt Wiki link, or peruse my Etsy store. I mentioned art, so that counts, right? *mwah*

A Theme After My Own Heart

Any of you lovely readers ever participated in a NaBloPoMo? Are you perhaps wondering what the heck I'm blathering about? 

For those of you who may not know, NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Posting Month. It's a month long writing exercise inspired by National Novel Writing Month, Or NaNoWriMo. It's pretty simple. You simply post once a day every day for a month. You can follow a theme, or just post willy-nilly. It can be anything your little heart desires.

That being said, I probably have too much going on to be dedicating myself to posting every day this month, but what the hey. I just couldn't pass up September's theme. 

Check back every day this month for your daily dose of ART! I'm starting things out today with a little shameless self promotion. I've overhauled my Etsy shop, and added more of my incredibly affordable water doodles a.k.a. hand drawn watercolored illustrations. Feast your eyes upon some of my newest listings!

Percival Pinfeather

Escape II

Love Bird

To The Moon