The one of Tuck.

I was digging around in my one of my old college sketchbooks and found this drawing of our old family dog, Tuck.

Not to date myself, but I would have drawn this is 2003. Or 2004, or something. Finding this sketch brought a smile to my face.

Oh, Tuck.

Tuck was our family dog since I was in 4th grade. A beautiful golden retriever who loved EVERYBODY. And that face. Velvety soft and adorable. A sweet, sweet (albeit stinky) pooch. COMPLETELY happy and satisfied if he could be near (read: laying or leaning ON) the ones that he loved. 

But....he was an idiot.

Oh Tuck, let me count the ways of your idiocy.

- Afraid of water.  Yes that's right, a golden retriever who was afraid of water.

- Could not catch anything for the life of him. Things simply bounced off his face.

- Walked to the window to growl every now and then at NOTHING, but wouldn't notice if someone actually came to the door. (And no he wasn't deaf. .....Except towards the end of his life. When he did in fact become deaf.)

- Peed when he got excited. On guests, when they came to visit. One time in someone's face. Try to figure that one out.

- Licked everything constantly. Things like the curtains. Or your jeans.

- Ran away EVERY SINGLE CHANCE HE GOT. Oh Tuck, how many times did we chase you around the neighborhood trying in vain to lure you into the car with treats? (Let it be known here that Tuck had no reason to run away. We were perfectly wonderful doggie owners, I'm just sure of it. He just, really liked running, I guess. Can I get a Forest Gump?)

- And he shed A LOT. Oh Tuck, that hair. That hair everywhere.

Ok, that last one didn't have anything to do with his level of intelligence. But I thought I should still mention it.

But Tuck was greatly loved by our fam, all the same. He passed away a few years ago now, at the ripe old age of 15. I remember as a teenager having to wake up at theeee most ungodly of hours in order to make it on time to school, and I would usually pass through the living room towards the laundry room to try and find something to wear. On the way I would see Tuck curled up on the couch and in my zombie-like state I would find myself lured to his warm body. AND more often than not I would end up laying down and using him as a pillow for ten minutes or so before working up the will power to continue my journey to the laundry room. Life is hard when you're a teenager.

This one's for you, Ol' Tuck. Because of you, I will probably never have another dog. Love ya.

Good Things

I have compiled a list for you of some of the good things happening around here lately.

- Banana oat smoothies for breakfast. So tasty.

- Indulging in my current obsession with the new Black Keys album. Frequently. 

- Eating at Arby's with the hubs. Roast beef sandwich with special sauce and cheese, curly fries and chocolate croissant thingy HEY-OOOO

- Lunch with my mom and sister, who afterward gave up their precious afternoon to help me clean my house and do my dishes. Because I was feeling lazy and discouraged and they are just awesome like that. But first we did a little bit of thrifting. Because that's the most fun.

- The three kitties getting along for long enough to all sit on the coffee table together. (Unfortunately we didn't snap a photo of the great event. But here's Daisy looking regal while relaxing on the couch. For your viewing pleasure. And because I don't have any other photos to accompany this post. I'm not doing so good with the picture taking lately. IF you hadn't already noticed.)

- A fun and relaxing few days away with friends this past weekend. Where we mainly just relaxed, ate awesome food, and played awesome games. It was nice.

- Reading through Mockingjay with the hubs. We have been loving this series (Hunger Games, HEY-OOO), but one of the phrases that most frequently comes out of our mouths these days is, "Stupid Katniss."

   

   "Hunny, what should we do tonight?"

   "Want to read about stupid Katniss?"

   "Ya!!"

But if you look past Katniss' stupidity, we definitely recommend reading about her. If you like reading. And all that.

- Making progress on my new project for the shop. 

Thankful for happy things. :)

New Stuff!

I'm excited to announce that I will soon be listing a select group of my Daily Animal Doodles in my Etsy shop! They aren't in there quite yet, but I will be selling both prints and note cards.

I've been experimenting printing on note cards and I'm really pleased with how they are turning out - it looks so close to the original pencil!

I still have to decide what type of paper to use for actual art prints - I'm excited to try a textured paper instead of just a smooth matte to see if it makes it look even more realistic.

There are a few more animals that I also will be adding, and I have some tweaking to do now that I can see how they print. But I'm so excited to soon be getting new items into the shop! I do hope that this means that my productivity has made it's return.

Sketchbook - Tiny Dancer

I've been wanting for a long time to start drawing dancers, as I don't have much practice with "movement," I guess you would say. I love drawing human faces and I've (obviously) been in an animal doodle kick lately, so I'm excited to try something new.

I definitely don't have all the proportions and movement exactly right, but it was a fun first try!


In other news.


Do you ever make a perfect meal and then all you can think of for the rest of the night (and admittedly the entire next day) is how good it tasted and how you would like to eat some more? How you wish your stomach was five times bigger so you could eat five times more?


Or is it just me?


The hubs and I have been making these black bean tacos with lime slaw for awhile now, but last night we completely superly perfected them. And I can't stop dreaming about it.


Perfect. Black bean tacos. mmmmmm so good.

goofiness.

Remember my post from a long time ago about how Gepetto is bad in front of the camera? (If you don't remember that post and you like funny cat pictures, then here you go.)

Well here we are again.

The hubs and I had a genuine laughing attack after snapping this shot. Much to Gepetto's annoyance and dismay.

Sketchbook and my ninja moves.

Here's another couple of bird buddies.

Today I slept in entirely too late (and loved it) and realized that Minnesota January weather has finally arrived (and didn't love that) and went shopping at the new Aldi near our house (and loved it) and slipped and fell on our sidewalk which was covered in slick invisible ice (and didn't love that.)

Don't worry I fell gracefully and caught myself in a stealthy ninja position.

AND More Confessions.

A few more late night Sunday confessions.

27. I hate microwave popcorn. But movie theater popcorn is preeeetty good.

28. The hubs thinks that I'm addicted to chap stick. But I'm NOT. It's just that I really can't go without it and if I forget to put some in my pocket for the day then it's just a really bad day. That's all.

29. I am perpetually late, it's the story of my life. It's tough for the hubs, as he is a perpetually early sort. I always think I have more time than I actually do. Or it's as if the idea of being on time (or heaven forbid, early!!) is frightening to me. Or something. "Oh. I have two extra minutes? I should clean out the cat box and then change my outfit and quick check my email!" 15 minutes later I am furious myself for leaving so late AGAIN.

30. I'm a big scaredy cat. I hate horror movies and scary stories. One time I got tricked into seeing The Ring (most horrifying mishap of my life) and I couldn't shower for like, 3 days. Not because that movie had anything to do with the shower...but because I was too afraid to be in such an enclosed area without being able to see if there was a creeper well girl about to attack me.

But for some reason alien or vampire movies don't scare me much. Just mostly murderers, psychos, creeper well girls.

31. I didn't think I would like greek yogurt but it turns out that I love it.

32. I am (not so secretly) happy that we've had a crazy warm winter so far. Yes I was disappointed about the lack of snow for Christmas, but now that's it's already passed anyway I am perfectly pleased with this 40 degree weekend that we're having in JANUARY.

33. I pretty much know Ace Ventura: Pet Detective completely by heart. And I'm not at all ashamed to admit it.

That's all for now! Hope everyone has had a fabulous weekend.

Good Things

I'm starting a new weekly post over here called Good Things. Basically it will be a few things from throughout the week or so that have been good, beautiful, hilarious, or have encouraged me. You know, so that I can be more purposefully aware of the many great blessings in life, because I so often overlook them. And also to encourage myself to take more pictures because, well, I want to.

And also to bring a little bit of organization and consistency to this blog-o-mine.

So without further ado, a list of good things from this past week. Or so.

- Delicious dinner with lovely friends.

- Re-discovering the 30 Rock episode where Liz Lemon breaks up with Matt Damon on an airplane.

- Kitties laying in the sunlight. (And the hubs' mad photo skizzles.)

- Buying a shiny new planner. I love that part of the new year.

- Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory for me mum's birthday. I got wonderful old Chicken Parmesan with a splash of Alfredo sauce. yummm.

- Yummy chicken pot pie at my grandma's house.

- Discovering my newly found love of yoga. (Ok so I've only been to two classes so there's no way to tell so far if it is TRUE love or not yet.)

What has been the best part of your week pals?

Two birds. Also, it seems that I like yoga.

Here's a little hubby and wifey. BF and GF. Bro and sis. Two besties. Whatever you might like to call it.

I actually drew these two awhile ago, a few months ago perhaps. Maybe more than that, I'm not sure.


I took my first shot at yoga today. I was pleasantly surprised. At how pleasant it was. 


Of course since I am entirely not flexible or strong and my legs are shaky, my body did not look like the graceful instructor's body at any given time during the class.


But it was pleasant and I think I shall go again.


So now I am adding another New Year's resolution to the (short) list and that is to get better at yoga.

I almost forgot to give this post a title.

I've been a bit MIA from the blog scene as of late mostly because of you know, Christmas, New Years, traveling, spending time with fam, hanging out with awesome pals, and ok I will admit it. Laziness.


But here it is the start of a new year and I am ready to tackle this blog and other projects again in a big way!


And today I'm going to recap my holiday season for you in somewhat of a list form today.


Because paragraphs scare me sometimes but lists are friendly and non-intimidating.


Christmas Breakdown:


-Christmas for just the hubs and I happened on Christmas Eve morning. (There should be a shorter way to say that.) A small gift exchange and then we relaxed while watching Christmas movies and baking cookies and wrapping presents for family. My favorite gift from the hubsidizer were these wonderful, beautiful, new heels.

I'm a horrible heels-walker. Truly. But I still like wearing them!


-Christmas Eve was at my Grandma's house where there was a delicious meal, singing of carols and reading of the Christmas story, and exchanging of presents.


-Then we all slept over at my mom's place where we ended up playing Rock Band until midnight. My favorite was when we all sang Bonnie Tyler at the top of our lungs, the hubs on lead vocals. Forever's gonna start tonight!


-Christmas day we checked our stockings, opened presents, watched lots of movies, played more Rock Band (my mom discovered how much she enjoys playing the drums!), and ate TONS of delicious food. It was a simply fabulous time.


AND THEN the Christmas celebrations continued this past weekend with the hubs' family! We got out there Friday at around 1pm and headed out to the camp that his parents work at. There was yummy food, a big air competition, chats with my sister in law and sister in law to be (!), and the hubs got to ski with his bro, who had time off before his next assignment in the Air Force. Here's the hubs with his brother (dressed as a pirate because you know, it's important to do that sometimes).

-That night there were gifts to be exchanged, carols to be sung, and cards to be played. And of course many laughs to be had.


-AND the next day the bro in law (the pirate) proposed to his girlfriend! Who is now his fiance! While skiing! While we were all watching! It was the most exciting of times.


And that's my Christmas update! As I mentioned earlier, I took pretty much no photos at all (besides what you see here, and I will be honest and tell you that I took the pic of those shoes just now) of all the festivities these past couple of weeks. I had the best of intentions! I carried around my camera everywhere I went and even thought about getting it out a few times. But I did not. And for that I am annoyed, and I apologize.


I'll be back this week with more sketchbook entries and hopefully some new stuff!


Oh. And so far my only New Year's resolution is to type a post about our trip to Texas which was already a couple of weeks ago sometime within the next 7 days.


Oh. And snow finally did come! Not in time for Christmas, but just in time for New Year's Eve. There's not very much of it, but it's beginning to look a bit more like a Minnesota winter around here.