Cute Stuff

For this Memorial Day weekend the hubs and I headed out to visit his parents in Wisconsin. It was quite the good time, especially since his brother and sister also came out. Much fun and laughing was to be had by all! Brian's parent's work at a camp called Camp Forest Springs. Brian was raised there and also employed there for quite a few summers, and I even worked there for a summer. So it's a familiar place with many a familiar face. We caught up with dear family and friends, walked around a lot, tried the new rock climbing wall, got some campfire action, laughed, caught up with more dear family and friends, and then some more, and ate more than our share of ice cream desserts.

Oh, and we also went to the mini farm.

Which just happens to be one of my favorite things ever.

First of all, there are these funny guys. My friend Melody said they looked like broccoli.

Get that grass out of your mouth. Have some self respect.


These were Brian's favorites.

He tried to drape one around his neck like a shepherd. It didn't work. (Don't worry, no lambs were harmed.)

There were these little wide-eyed creatures.

This one had funny floppy ears and I liked that.




But this was my happy place, with these little guys. I could have spent all my time here. 

Brian pretty much had to drag me away.




Oh and look at this! A man after my own heart. 

Ya, I'm glad I married him.

Twitter Bug

My name is Liz Points and I tweet.

Ya, but not too much. I guess I haven't quite gotten the hang of what I should tweet yet. I always mean to tweet something, but then I will think too hard about it and come to conclusions like, "oh nobody cares about that" or "you're trying to hard to be funny" or "that's dumb." So I usually don't tweet anything at all. Lame, right?

But I'm trying. Really.

Well kind of.

So. Do you tweet? Maybe you could share with me the secrets to your tweeting skills. How do you think of those little witty things to say so easily? And so frequently, in a way that feels as though you are talking to somebody and not nobody? How do you decide which little snippets of your life are worthy of the masses?

Please tell me that I'm taking this too seriously.

AND I'm embarrassed to admit this but, I really don't understand hash tags. 

Like I kind of do a little bit, but mostly I don't. Help a girl out?

The Small Triumphs in Life

Well I finally made it to the post office with my package samples - I left early enough in the morning to stop by before work. Now that's a pretty great feat, because I'm NOT a morning person. Mornings are just hard, you know? I always have the best of intentions to get super productive things done before I leave for work, but I usually just end up...not doing anything productive at all and barely making it to work on time as it is. Most mornings you can find me sitting on the floor still in my bathrobe (having fed the cats 20 minutes earlier) completely zoned out and staring at the wall. 

Charming, aren't I?


Just ask my husband. My poor poor husband.

Anyway, embarrassing morning rituals aside. The post office went without a hitch. I got there with plenty of time (thanks to the prompting of the ever helpful and understanding hubs):

Brian: "Remember how you wanted to make it to the post office this morning? Come on, start getting ready!" (pushes me off the couch)
Me: (Incoherent whining)


Things moved along quickly at the ol' P.O., and I miraculously did not show up late to work. I am just feeling pretty proud of myself. And now that I know how much to charge for shipping costs, all I have to do is write up my product descriptions and then list my products! Jolly good.

Well, I guess that I also have to try and start selling my products, which is probably the hardest part. Time to get my marketing skills on! When I was in college my graphic design professor advised me to take some marketing classes. That advice sounds pretty good right about now.

Note to self: Elizabeth, always take the advice of people who are wiser than you no matter how boring it sounds or how full your class schedule already is.


Anyway. I am SUPER excited. This has been a plan in the makings for a very long time. I am so happy to finally make it happen!

Homemade Oreos

Let me tell you something about the hubs.  He LOVES oreos.  Double stuffed, to be exact.  One time I bought him oreos to try and appease for the fact that I convinced him (read: BEGGED) to let me buy an overly priced water bottle at REI. Needless to say, he was not pleased. So at Costco later, I see a huge multi pack of oreos, and think to myself, Elizabeth, get him oreos and he will be happy again!  So I did, only to realize later that they were NOT double stuffed but merely regular, and the points I thought I had earned back were immediately taken away again. Bummer deal man. 

Anyway, I digress.  Yesterday I made homemade oreos for the hubs, because it was his birthday recently and because he is the best.  (Don't worry, the water bottle / regular oreos debacle has long since been resolved.)  They are fabulous, and taste a lot like the real thing!  But better.  Because they are made with love and not prepackaged by a cold and hateful machine at the oreo company.  I got the recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs.

The last time I tried to make these my friend Jorgen was over to help me.  She is very pretty and also a great cook, so it was easier that time.  This time around I had to fend for myself, but I think they still turned out semi presentable.  And I stuffed them nice and full.  Have a looksie.

Here he is getting ready to enjoy his precious treats. 

Here's Gepetto trying to steal a taste. Bad kitty!

Sorry they were late this year hubsy!

Big Bad Madge

Progress report on operation open Etsy shop: it's getting closer! I just finished my banner that will go across the top of the shop page:

That's Madge poking her head out, so that she can keep a grumpy eye on everything that goes down in there. I know I can count on her to keep things honest.

Here's a link to the shop so far - yes it's empty, but not for long! I will start out selling just prints, but hope to add more items like stationary or notecards very soon down the line. And after that who knows! My next step is to make a trip to the post office with some sample packages of prints so I can get an idea of what I need to charge for shipping costs. I've been putting it off fooorrr eeee vvvverrrr because really, when is it convenient to go to the post office?  When you're not even sending anything?

And another next step is to list items in the shop, I guess. Well obviously.

I'm getting super excited. And mega nervous.  Play ball!!!

Sorry I know I said I wouldn't write that again but I still haven't thought of an awesome catch phrase and it just keeps coming out. Like, I can't stop my fingers from typing it. Whine.

All about me - the part where I talk about myself a lot

Well, here we go. Anyone who might be reading this probably already know these things about me but...just don't think about that. A girl's gotta start somewhere!

I'm happily married to my better half, Brian, a ruggedly handsome adventure man. We live in a little brown house on a hill.  

no this is not an updated pic and its not at our 

brown house on a hill, it's at the ocean.

We like to laugh, read, play outside, watch Scrubs or Lost reruns, play with our kitties, camp, play rock band, kayak, watch our movies in alphabetical order (10 vetoes each), bike, walk, have long talks in the car, rock climb, and laugh together. It's pretty great.

Living with us are our two cats, Pisica and Gepetto. They are sisters. Yes, we realize that Gepetto has an old man's name and that it's misleading and most people will assume she's a boy. But we are ok with that. And she probably is too. 

Gepetto & Pisica

You should know that I'm pretty much a crazy cat lady so there will lots more pictures of these two on this blog. It's just how I roll. I like cats. I really like my cats. We take lots of pictures of them. And we like to share them, because they are our babies. If we had an actual baby, we would probably share lots of pictures of it too.

Since before I can remember I have loved to draw. You could say that I was a drawing fiend. But when I went to school for graphic design, drawing fell by the way side a little bit. Not on purpose, but I had found a new interest. Now, I am combining both. And loving it. As I mentioned yesterday, I will soon start selling online. Yay! But also yikes. 
[ Update: the shop is open! YAY!! Have a looksie here. Blogged here on 6/4/11.]

Madge & Pat

I start with a sketch and then color it digitally. I'm creating for myself, for my own desires and purposes, not for a specific client. That makes me happy.


Not that I don't also enjoy creating for clients. Heeeyyy clients. In fact, a dear friend and I are in the process of starting a graphic design business. The website is not quite ready to be launched, but until then, if you have any design needs, please let me know! We will hook you up. With design.
[ Update 6/14/11: the website is up! YAY!! Have a looksie here. Blogged here on 7/3/11. ]

Here are some other random facts that I can feel you are just dying to know. Family is awesome. Friends are awesome. Music is awesome. Well, music that is good is awesome. By the way my sister and I are basically music soul mates. And no I'm not sucking up to her because she's one of the only people actually reading this and I want her to leave a comment. It's just simply true. I have also played the violin since the squeaky age of 5, and I teach violin lessons part time in addition to working a full time job. Sometimes I'm busy.

The most important thing about me is my faith.  I believe in a living and loving God, Jesus Christ. There have been times in my life where I have been broken. But each time He puts the pieces back together and I end up stronger than before. Cool. Sometimes I don't have all the answers, and I know my faith is on a journey. The one thing I do have figured out is this - I am on this earth to love God and love people. Simple.

Well, that ends the talking about myself post. Tune in next time! 

Look I even made a special signature:

But it's too big and I can't figure out how to make it smaller. I hate to break it to you, but for now we will just have to make do with humongous signatures with weird gray outlines around them.

It is time.

Well here I am, finally starting a blog!  I have been meaning to do this for...quite some time now.  I guess I've been putting off this first entry because, well, what do you write for your first blog post?  It's an awkward situation.

The main purpose of this blog (at least as I foresee it now) will be mostly to display current illustration and graphic design pieces that I am working on.  Feedback would be wonderful.  I have an Etsy shop in the makings (not open yet), and will be documenting the process of its opening here in some upcoming posts.  My eventual goal is to be selling my pieces online, to the extent that I can help support my family.  Wooo!  Just the thought excites me.  Play ball!!!

You know how some popular blogs have special little signature sayings that their readers know them for?  Maybe mine should be "Play ball!!!"

Key to success right there.

Besides art stuff, I imagine this blog will also have stories, ponderings, photos of life, deep thoughts, and what not.  


You know, the things that most blogs also have.


Tomorrow I will put up a little about me post, complete with funny pictures and stuff.  So that anyone out there reading this thing (all two of you - thanks hubs and seestor!) can get to know me better.

Well, now that the awkward first post is done, hopefully I'll be able to spit these babies out a lot more quickly.

Don't worry, I probably will never write "Play Ball!!!" on this blog again.  


I'll think of something better.