hi elephant

Well, I guess I haven't blogged since April? We'll just address that elephant immediately. Hi elephant. Nice to see you. You're looking good, have you been working out?

People would nicely say hey, you haven't blogged for awhile. And I'd be like, well, I guess you're right. And then later someone would more bluntly say, you need to blog again. And I'd be like, well, I guess I do. And then my hubs would say BLOG. YOU SHOULD BLOG. BLOG ABOUT THAT! BLOG ABOUT ANYTHING, DO IT, DO IT RIGHT NOW.

And now it's July? Well, I guess you're right about that too. But now we're in one of these situations where too much time has passed, too many pictures have been unshared, and I'm so completely behind that I need to start over. You know, one of those kinds of things?

The past few months have been a whirlwind of crazy. We had some trips, some sicknesses, some parties, some haircuts. For everyone, haircuts!! And we were rained out of a picnic, but we had a blast. And we saw kittens at a mini farm, but Paisley tried to sit on them. And we rode on a pontoon, and Paisley kissed the fish we caught. And then there was the time I forgot to order decaf at Starbucks and I nearly leapt out of my skin that night while trying to fall asleep. Because caffeine is not my friend. It's not even my frenemy.

Oh, and we're moving. So there's also that? Selling a house while also attempting to buy a new one in a city that is two hours away has been slowly sucking the life out of me. Inch by inch. Centimeter by centimeter. All friends and frenemies and extremely caffeinated iced lattes aside.

But we're making it, we are! Moving next week, and then the fun of arranging a new house starts. I'm thinking my blog inspiration will come rolling right back right around then. Because new house! And because honestly I shouldn't let this happen again. When I signed onto blogger today I could barely remember what to do in order to start a new blog post. I was all, "Wait, HOW DO I BLOG POST???"

The two loves of my life, right there. Doing "surprised face." It's a big hit around here.

I'll be back dudes. Don't even worry about it.

Recent Work - Pastel Lion

Here's one of my most recent naptime pieces! A big, burly, hairy, growly lion. Mufasa, probably.

"AARRR" as Paisley would say.

When was the last time you watched the Lion King?

Is it worth setting up your old VHS player so that you can watch it?

Who's better, Timon or Pumbaa?

And whatever happened to Jonathan Taylor Thomas?

These are the questions you ask yourself when you are lion-drawing.

Ok I just googled JTT. Turns out he doesn't regret taking a break from the spotlight after Home Improvement, and spent lots of time at school and likes to watch movies at home and is interested in directing and writing.

Maybe he likes drawing lions?

38/52. Also, Dogs.

Baby girl's silly little personality is starting to show itself more and more. Like when she and her daddy sneak up behind me so they can poke me and laugh when I pretend to be surprised. And when she wears my sunglasses all over the house like a necklace. And when she spends incredible amounts of time organizing her bibs. And when she smiles shyly while giving out kisses. And when she squeals and flails her arms with delight each time that I agree to lift her onto my lap and read whatever book it is she is requesting via high pitched little grunts and squeaks and points. I'm just having so much fun with it all! I think I'm realizing that I may be a bit more of a toddler person than I am a baby person.

She also likes to blow raspberries while she swings. It's all just a big joke to her, this life we live.

There is, however, the thing about toddlers and repetition. More swinging! More books! More strawberries! More pattycake! More poking Mommy! And of course all these things are fun! But you know, repetitious. And I realize that it's all because her little brain is working hard to learn things but really, I can only read Go, Dog. Go! so many times before my eye starts to twitch.

Which, by the way, brings me to another thing. Dogs. She loves them. LOVES. She just can't get enough and so I have this growing little fear inside of me that she will be begging for a dog as soon as she is able to verbally express her dismay that many people own such marvelous creatures but we do not. Our cats will not satisfy and she will call them "old" and "boring." And that little fear grows a bit bigger because what if we give in? And actually get a dog? Which she will soon tire of and move on to wanting a hamster or something else rodent-y (I know these things because I was also once a little girl who's lovestruck eyes yearned only for those pets which I did not have) and then I will be responsible for letting it out and pooper scooping it's business and I will want to go places but won't be able to because WHO WILL WATCH THE DOG?!?

Shhhhhhhhh

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

There there. I can't worry about such things now.

So.

In the meantime we will be content with feeling ecstatic with every dog we see in the park, perk up our ears any time we hear the neighbor's German Shepherd barking, love on all of our friends' puppies, and read Go, Dog. Go! over and over until I start questioning my sanity.

33 & 34/52

Oh but how behind I am on blogging! The past two weeks have been filled with birthday parties and cleaning and planning and guests and trips to the zoo and cat festivals and to do lists and sleepovers and vacations and the exhaustion that ensues after you get back from vacation (that builds on the previous exhaustion from all the other things that happened directly before the vacation).

But what a grand couple of weeks they have been!

And now we are in recovery mode. I'm slowly catching up on laundry as the hubs and I watch The Hobbit.

So tense!

So dramatic!

Who do you like better, Gandalf or Dumbledore? I think I'm more of a Gandalf gal myself although I can't quite think of why. The hubs votes for Dumbledore because he teaches kids.

Which I guess is as good a reason as any.

Well here are some pictures of our kid! One from her birthday party and one from our vacation. Both of which I plan to blog about, hopefully in the near future.

And that's all I have to say about that! I have to go to bed now.

This is my pile of random thoughts for the week.

The following is a list of unrelated thoughts that ended up together in this post. (See unrelated duck photo above.)

>  >  >  >  >

In the whole of my lifetime I have had the good fortune of never having anyone puke on me (besides myself.)

Until I became a mom.

What do you do the first time someone pukes on you? It's like time was frozen and I had a surreal moment of clarity. This is what my life is like now. I'm a mom and I get puked on sometimes because that's what happens. And there is no one around to clean it up except me.

>  >  >  >  >

Something that I did right this week: cutting up a ripe juicy nectarine and eating it with cookies and cream ice cream.

Something that I did wrong this week: eat pizza rolls for lunch three days in a row just so that they would be gone and out of the house and no longer a temptation.

Something that I did right this week: ate all the pizza rolls so they are no longer around to tempt me.

>  >  >  >  >

Here is a word of advice. If you are alone in the car with no baby in the back seat, riding down the freeway on a cool night, and "Linger" by The Cranberries comes on the radio as you are channel surfing, then you should most certainly roll down your windows and crank the volume and shout/sing along with the words even if you get most of them wrong. It will help you regain your youth.

That is, if you are a nineties child like me.

>  >  >  >  >

You will be shocked to hear this but we turned our heat on last week. Just for one half of a night. Minnesota be crazy like that. JULY.

>  >  >  >  >

I've been taking out my sketchbook every day lately, which is something I haven't done for at least a year and a half, when I used to do the Daily Animal Doodles. It's been nice, but also a bit discouraging as I can see that my drawing skills have gone into hibernation after not being used for so long and it's going to take some time and effort to wake them back up. But I'm trying this new thing where I am gentle with myself instead of beating myself up for not being perfect? A good thing to work on, right? Yes, I knew it. So keep drawing I will.

>  >  >  >  >

Never go to the mall in your work out clothes, even if you only have to run a quick errand. You will feel like a frump, because the mall is a place where people go to look their very cutest.

I'm patting myself on the back right now.

I have several goals in life. 

One of them is to some day make it to yoga class on time so I don't have to stomp in with my snowy, squeaky boots like a fool while everyone is already quietly into their downward dogs. I try not to make eye contact with anyone so I can avoid the evil eyes that might be looking my way.

Another is to go to a Mumford and Sons concert with my sis. And get lost in the music and forget about the rest of life for the night. So hey. M to the Sons. Come back to Minneapolis puh-leeeaase.

Another is to find my camera so I can share something other than phone pictures. Because, obviously.

And another is to not have eaten a whole pan of brownies just two days after I made them.

That happened recently.



Anyway. Until last week the list also included finishing the curtains in my basement. But.....

...not anymore! Because TA-DA they are finished.



I am liking how they turned out. While most definitely imperfect, they are nice enough to look at and I must say that I am preeeeeettttty proud of myself. Would I do it again? Maybe. I think I saved plenty of money by buying the fabric and doing it myself...but was it worth the angst? The complaining? The many angry words with my sewing machine (although we became friends by the end)? The despair when the fabric pieces I so painstakingly cut out WEREN'T THE SAME SIZE AS EACH OTHER?



Yes, I'll probably do it again. Because I'm picky and stubborn like that.

(As the poor hubs looks down at the ground, shakes his head and sighs.)

 I'm not sure he has the energy to encourage me through any more sewing endeavors. 

Ear hairs

Hello blog.

I've missed writing in here big time. But whenever I think about writing a post, I realize I have no idea what to write about. My life was a lot different a year and a half ago when I started this thing. I blogged about a lot of art stuff, and sometimes posted drawings daily.

Now it's been a VERY long time since I've drawn anything.

Or posted daily.

But it's ok.

Don't worry about it.

Here's a little bit of what I HAVE been doing.

Hanging out with my two favorite peeps.

Putting babies in pumpkins.

Pondering how hard it must be to hold your head up when your cheeks are that big.

Aaaannnnnd here's one more.

Also I've been listening to the new Mumford and Sons album on repeat for like a month now.

Because, honestly. So. Good.


By the way. My baby has tufts of hair that grow out of the tops of her ears. (They are too delicate and shy to be seen in pictures, although we have tried.) Like a hobbit. Except hobbits grow hair on their feet, I think? Maybe an elf. I thought these little hairs would have gone away by now but she seems to be getting more of them. I think I will be sad if I ever discover they are gone one day. I'm not sure where she got the hairy ear genes from. I wish I could say it was me, but alas my ears are bald.

Sitting down to type.

I've been avoiding blogging as of late, mostly because I don't really know what to blog about. The ideas just aren't flowing but I decided to sit down to type and see what happens.

People aren't kidding when they say how difficult it can be to find time when you have a newborn. Some days I am super productive and work on new design projects, get emails sent out, dishes washed, the bathroom cleaned out while she naps, and still have time to load her in the stroller and head out to the park.

AND there's also the days when she refuses to sleep more than 30 minutes at a time and I spend almost all of it holding her and bouncing her and watching so many episodes of Parenthood I don't know how to think anymore, and my biggest accomplishments are keeping her fed and getting a load of laundry done.

There's a learning curve I suppose.

We're figuring it out. Me and the little sweetie.

I'm spending much of my time trying to figure out how to clean the lint or something that builds up in her neck creases. It smells funny and I don't like my baby to smell like cheese. And let me tell you, it's difficult to convince an infant to allow you to clean their neck creases. They don't like people getting all up in their neck crease business.

In other news, it's box elder bug season. They like to cover the front of our house (since it's facing the sun all day) and look disgusting. And since most of the screens on our windows have holes in them we are unable to open any of the windows on the front side of our house for fear that they will invade.

Ugh.

I mean, we should probably find time to fix the holes in our screens sometime so I can enjoy the fall breeze again. But as I mentioned earlier, time can be hard to find.

In MORE other news, my wedding rings fit on my finger again! It's a very very snug fit and I doubt I can get them back off, but it's nice to be wearing them again. Hopefully my digits still have yet to shrink down to their previous comfortable-ring-wearing size.

You can do it digits! I believe in you.

Over and out.

The problem with peonies.

Hi friends.

Can we just talk about peonies for a minute? Like, how they have poor planning skills? Or something?

Exhibit A. Growing oh so very tall. So far so good. (P.S. I did not take any of these photos at the same time of the day each day that I took them. So even though every picture looks different from the next, it is indeed the same silly plant.)

Exhibit B. Something is starting to go wrong. The blooms that are about to emerge are starting to get heavy and they begin to sag towards the ground.

Exhibit C. The peony blossoms and does many face plants onto the grassy floor below. Cue sad, silly looking peonies.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? (Granted I'm doing nothing except watching these fools.) But it doesn't seem to be just MY problem - all over the neighborhood I see peonies looking like this! It happens to this particular plant every year. Perhaps it's an epidemic.

My pink peonies stay upright for the most part, so maybe it's only white peonies that are dysfunctional. Obviously I don't know much about these types of things...anyone out there have some gardening expertise for me?

Gosling Sketch

The fact is that I have not been spending much time in my sketchbook lately.

This makes me sad and and a little ashamed. Sorry self.

BUT. Today I got the urge and drew this little dude - I've been seeing lots of them around the neighborhood lately. He's trying to overcome his fear and jump the small ledge into the water below.

I can definitely tell that I haven't been drawing for awhile - my technique and speed need improvement. Hopefully today's sketch will inspire me to be a bit more disciplined with it again! PLUS. I've been saying for a long time now that I need to start drawing things OTHER THAN animals. Ugh, it's hard to break away from what's easy though. I know that I'll have to set aside way more time in my day to draw a person or human face than I do to sketch some leeeetle creature.

Too bad that this sweet leeeetle cheeping gosling will soon turn into a squawking honking GOOSE.

Those guys are annoying.

This post contains the biggest run-on sentence ever.

Today I...

Thought about how ripe mangos are probably the prettiest fruit around. Then I ate some ripe mango and thought about how they are also the tastiest.

Avoided the dishes piling on our counter. Yes that is my dirty kitchen bared to the interwebs. I must be feeling extra daring tonight.

Hung out with one of my favorite feline pals. She's concerned about something in this picture. It's very rare that she's not concerned about something.

Considered carpet samples for our basement.

Ate some oreo chocolate chip cookies and pondered their deliciousness. I'll be posting the recipe soon.

Not pictured: working out with a friend, complaining about lack of maternity work out shorts/pants (besides sweatpants which were making me so very hot ((and not in the hottie type of way. More of the pregnant and scary kind of way.)) ), said friend taking me to find some cheap workout maternity capris (scary hot pregnant problem solved!), loving this post from Beth Anne, watching lot's of old episodes of The Office while designing some super fun wedding invites (I'll post them here eventually!), remembering how I used to love watching Jim and Pam before they got all married and boring, and writing huge run-on sentences in today's blog post.

Well I gotta jet, but I'll leave you with this Dwight Schrute quote. Fellas you better take this seriously:

"Women are like wolves. If you want a wolf, you have to trap it. You have to snare it. And then you have to tame it. Keep it happy. Care for it. Feed it. Lovingly. The way an animal deserves to be loved...And my animal deserves a lot of lovin'."

-Dwight, of course talking about his Angela.

Friday Ponderings

A few things have been eating at me today.

Such as.

Why is it that when that new band One Direction comes on the radio, I don't change the channel?
Even worse, why do I turn it UP? It seems to go against everything I stand for. Could it be the pregnancy hormones? Is it because I saw them perform on SNL and was hypnotized by their boy band dance moves? Do they bring me back to my junior high days of The Backstreet Boys and NSync?

I am perplexed by this turn of events and am now listening to Wolfmother to try and put things right.

Also. Why is it so hard to pick out cards at Target? Does anyone else have this problem? I don't even want to think about how long I stood with a blank stare on my face in the card section today, the whole time having to pee. I just want something funny or witty, but also simple. With good design. Is that too hard to ask, Target? Without having to crawl my way through stacks of annoying ones first?

Also. Why have I never worn turquoise and red together before today?

And finally. Why do my cats do hilarious things but then stop as soon as I take out the camera? Can cats really be camera shy? Is that a thing?

But. On a different note. Here's the hubs using Gepetto (who didn't run away from the camera this time) to practice for the baby that's coming our way. I think Gepetto likes the attention.

Awww. I can already tell that he's got this fatherhood thing down.

Playing some catchup. With my mouth open.

Well suddenly it seems that I have not blogged for over a week.

Not to say that it hasn't been a week worth writing about! Lots of note worthy things have happened which include the Mall of America with some awesome gal pals, the start of a very epic bathroom closet re-organization, new baseboard and door trim in our upper level (everything is finally starting to match!!!), a visit from my father-in-law, an enormous (500+ families!) baby and kid garage sale with my mom and bestie where I scored SO many good deals for the growing behbeh, and getting some more new items listed in the shop!

Ok. So OBVIOUSLY my goal needs to be to take more pictures. Because I have no evidence to support the awesome productiveness that was my week.

Pretty much the only bad part of the week is that the psychotic pregnancy hormones, or symptoms, or whatever you might call them have given me a perpetually stuffy nose, it seems. Which has caused me to have to breath mostly out of my mouth at all times which happens to NOT be my favorite type of breathing. It reminds me of being sick and causes my lips to dry out much quicker than closed mouth breathing does. Therefore I have to apply chap stick MUCH more frequently, causing me to have to buy chap stick MUCH more often.

What a waste of money open mouthed breathing is.

Well anyway. There are sure to be more posts and PICTURES this week. Because it's now my goal.

Shouting songs.

Something that you may not know about me is that I really enjoy bands in which people are shouting in the background. They can be shouting anything, really.  I just like it. 

Not to be confused with screaming (although I won't deny that I went through a scream-o phase in my youth). But just good natured shouting. Some favorite bands meeting this criteria are Cake, Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, and Of Monsters and Men (the latter being a more recent discovery).

Which leads me to my latest find in my search for awesome shouting songs. This is The Lumineers singing "Ho Hey." It's a sweet little tune and the music video is delightful. (And I don't usually use that word.) AND the shouting is just spot on. I highly recommend you give it a listen.

On catching up with the rest of society.

I've had an excellent week and weekend, which included being very productive (yes!), getting to see our little growing sprout via ultrasound (incredible!), blowing through the entire season 6 of Weeds  (because it FINALLY! came on Netflix!), and hanging out with awesome friends and family (who are awesome!)

Yes, the baby bump is definitely coming along. Exciting times, I say!

In other news, I finally jumped on the Pinterest train. I had successfully avoided it for so long...because really. Did I need ANOTHER thing to take up my time? I think not, I told myself. Besides, it can't be THAT great, I told myself. But I have finally succumbed and joined the pinning madness. Of course, I'm a convert. As everyone told me I would be.

But. I did think that it was super weird that I had to request an invite and then wait forever for it to come instead of just being able to sign up. AND it took a super long time to come. More than a day!! What's that??! I guess that Pinterest and I have a lot of things to learn about each other.

And yes it definitely took up way too much of my Sunday afternoon today. Help!

Or. Want to be pinning buddies? Find me here!

Lots of exclamation points today. I must be in an excitable! mood!

You make me crazy Liz.

My 5 year old violin student the other day told me (after I told her to try playing a few lines again), "You make me crazy Liz." I promptly laughed super hard which caused her to think of herself as a brilliant comedian, and she said it over and over again for the next five minutes.

I like the funny parts of life.

I'm getting caught up on some projects around here, and hope to be back to my more creative endeavors soon. But I feel like I'm having trouble regaining my old work ethic and momentum.

Example.

Today I came home from teaching violin and ate some dinner. Then I ate a second dinner. Then I ventured down to the basement where the hubs is working on some electrical work. After unsuccessfully trying to lure him upstairs to hang out with me by using my swingin' prego moves and flirting, I wandered aimlessly back upstairs and wondered what to do with myself.

I was already caught up on any Hulu watching I might want to do.

I had finished my book and didn't have another one to start.

And I had already eaten two dinners plus some snacks and dessert.

"Dude, what am I going to do now?" I asked my faithful kitty companion.

Then I remembered how if this had been a time before we got preggers, I would have been excited about the opportunity to squeeze a few extra hours of work in. Editing new projects for the shop, making a sketch, or writing a post.

So then I wrote a post. This post.

And now I'm going to share a picture of cats. What else?

Look at them, plotting. They totally April fooled our sleepy hineys on Sunday morning. They woke me up at 6am to feed them. I went back to bed....and they woke up the hubs at 7am. And he fed them! Two breakfasts!

Dang, fooled yo.

The one where I awkwardly come back.

hark! avast ye! be still my beating heart.

And such begins the post where she (and by she I mean me, myself) unearths herself from the blogging rock she seems to have buried herself under.

For 2 months! Or a month in a half. Or something along those lines. The whole month of February passed by with nary a post!

For my absence, I apologize. And although I'm not too incredibly sure how many people noticed my absence, for those of you that did and checked in, I am grateful.

And now for my explanation. I am still alive. So are my hubs and kitties. And as it turns out....I'm totally preggers! Have been for a few months now. Surprise! The hubs and I found out on Christmas Eve and have been excitedly placed into the category of expectant parents ever since. Our baby Points is due at the end of August!

But as it also turns out...pregnancy so far has turned me into a sick, fatigued type of person who doesn't seem to resemble my usual, peppy, workaholic self. In fact, growing a child has completely stripped me of any motivational or creative thoughts, plans, and ambitions. It's kind of...a bummer. But in an excited, "we're making a human!" kind of way.

BUT. As I am now at the 15 week mark and the dreaded 1st trimester symptoms should HOPEFULLY be settling themselves away and the 2nd trimester is supposedly high energy and cute baby bump filled...I am hoping to become a productive person again very soon.

And so. I'm not sure if I am completely out from under my rock or if I'm just merely peaking out my head today, but as I was staring listlessly at my computer this afternoon I remembered something.

I remembered that I used to blog a lot, and that I really liked it.
And I remembered that I used to draw a lot, and that I really liked it.
And I also remembered about a note card project that I was about to put into my shop, and that I really liked those too.

And I remembered that maybe I would like to start doing those things again.

So. To sum up. I'm harboring a baby in my uterus. It's a very, very happy thing for the hubs and myself. And perhaps the cats too, although it's hard to tell.  And although I have been sick, lazy, absent, and without any life ambitions the past couple of months, I hope to be coming back very very soon.

Man. It felt good to write that!

Sketchbook Day - our little house on a hill

I don't usually draw buildings. Like, ever. Or anything with straight edges for that matter because...I'm bad at making straight lines. But I suddenly had the urge to depict our little home with our Christmas tree twinkling through the window.


So I did.

Please take notice of the...not straight roof.


The Christmas season has seemed to sap all my energy! I need to get re-motivated. 


I joined a gym. ahh!!


A quick Christmas recap post will be coming soon. BUT I neglected to take ANY pictures over the weekend so...we'll see how that goes.


Right now I'm watching The Great Muppet Caper and trying to keep the hubs awake throughout the whole thing. Because I don't like watching movies by myself. hehe. Miss Piggy is the star of her own synchronized dancing fantasy.

It's that time of year again.

The time of year when I stand for too long outside of my car trying to unlock it with it's remote but my mittens are too bulky and I keep opening the trunk by mistake.


The time of year when we put that weird plastic stuff over our windows with a blowdryer (that our cats will inevitably poke holes in at some point while they watch birds in the feeder) to keep our house warmer and cheaper.


The time of year when I daily thank Jesus for our glorious two car garage and that I no longer have to curse my existence every morning as I scrape ice off the windshield with freezing fingers when I am already running late.


The time of year when commutes are doubled every time it snows.


The time of year when we put huge cement blocks in the trunk of my grandpamobile so that it doesn't slip and slide as much. (Except that we never actually took them out from last year so...check!)

The time of year when my fingers and toes routinely lose circulation and become white and frozen.

Proceeded by the time of year when I stock up on the huge boxes of hand and feet warmers from Costco.

Wait. Please remind me. Why do I love Minnesota?

The time of year when I come to accept that my winter coat is staying out of the closet and won't be going back in for quite some time.


The time of year when I stop caring about my outward physical appearance and caring only about my annual mission: to stay warm.


Even if it means looking like a neckless marshmallow.

As I was telling a friend the other day, I take staying warm very seriously.


That's a pic of me a few years ago in our old apartment, about to leave for work. Which was only a five minute drive away. 


Don't be deceived by the smile on my face. Winter is not my friend.


Winter. There I said it.


It's here.

Let's be honest here.

SOMETIMES. I look for self worth in the wrong places.


I've only been doing this blogging stuff for about six months, but it immediately opened up new avenues for me to judge my overall success as a human being. Blogging, tweeting, followers, etsy, favorites, comments, stats. All have become ways to make or break my day.


And that's silly. Right?!?! Ridiculous, actually. It's a good thing that the hubs doesn't love me any better or worse on a given day depending on how many people read my blog.


And it's also a good thing that my mom doesn't love me any more or less depending on how many people favorite the new item in my shop.


And it's pretty nice that my sister still wants to go thrifting with me even when she sees how many followers I have on twitter.


And my friends still like me too! Let's be honest, lots of them don't even READ this blog!


And really, life already has enough obstacles without allowing my computer to tell me that I'm not as good as so and so over there. I mean, doesn't it??


So. After pondering this problem to the root, the long and the short of it is really just this: it's time for ME to start being nicer to little ol' ME.




"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." - Psalm 139: 13-14