New Postcards

I've had little to no motivation to do anything today.

However, I pushed through and finished a second holiday post card. Yay! I've only been working on it for a month or so. I think it was the fact that it's Christmas-y and really I'm not ready for the holidays. I don't think anyone at this point is ready for the holidays. unfortunately, in the world of gift cards, and such things, holiday planning starts in about august. So really, I am far far behind.

Well, they're done!

I think they're pretty cute.

a co-worker gave me the idea of doing holiday post cards vs. a greeting card. First, it saves paper. No envelope to deal with. Second, it saves a little money. You can stick a post card stamp on it and save a few cents :) Brilliant! Thanks co-worker.

Unless, of course, you need to write a lengthy holiday catch up letter, I think post cards are kind of perfect. I never know what to say other than ,

"Merry Christmas! Hope you have a happy new year! -Michele "




So yeah. There you go.

Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas last week!

Nate woke up with a terrible migraine, which was a bit of a bummer. So, while he slept I went for a five mile run and watched movies for the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully the migraine dissipated later and we spent the day relaxing and eating!

Chloe is a big fan of Christmas. I believe she received more toys than an average kid! We both had lots of fun watching her ripping the paper off her presents. Luckily, this is the only time of year she tears paper apart...

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

21 Days!

21 Days until Christmas!

That's all.

21 days! I'm excited! I love Christmas.
I'm mostly just excited to have the day off, and get back to working part time.

ps. My soup turned out pretty good. Next time I'm just using vegetable stock, and not so much bacon...

I'd share pictures, but none of them turned out. So instead I will shamelessly promote the two new illustrations I finished yesterday :)

Hope you all had a great Thursday! Back to work!

pps. I am 50 sales away from 1,000!!!! eeeeeee!!!

Monday!

It's Monday!

I feel like I haven't written a blog spot in months.

It was kinda nice to take a break from it for awhile. I just didn't really have anything good to say. Not that I ever have profound, earth shattering, things to say...this last week was particularity uneventful.

Well, except for Christmas!! We had a good Christmas. It was very quiet.
We opened presents, ate a lot of food and candy, drank a lot of beer, played a lot of board games, and saw the movie Benjamin Button, or as Michael likes to call it, Benjamin Buttons.

We were both kinda hoping that we would somehow get iPhones for Christmas, so we've been holding out to get new phones for almost a year now. Since neither one of us got one, and since we decided that they were a little over rated, and way out of our budget...the $130+ phone bill is way out of range...we decided to finally upgrade our phones.

I am really happy with mine :D It's super cute, and easy to use.
I also got some more text messages so I can text my little heart out.

Michael's is cool too, but not as cute.

Saturday was really warm, and all the snow melted away, but I captured some shots of these icicles right outside our front door before they melted. So now there's no more snow! Yay! I better be careful about what I say regarding snow. We'll probably be hit with a severe snow storm tonight or something....

So yeah, that's about it.
New Years is coming next, and I can't believe it's going to be 2009.
I have a lot of plans coming up in 2009...lots of things going on...

Anyway, hope everyone is have a great Holiday thus far. :)

1.5 Days Until Christmas!

Woot woot!

Yes!! I can't wait. It's technically Christmas Eve in Australia and New Zealand. I don't think that reasoning will fly with Michael though.

Okay! So it's almost present day, and I can't wait. Michael and I are holed up for the next two days. We are pretty much snowed in, but that's okay. We went to the store and bought all the groceries we need, and there really isn't much else to to, besides laundry.

It's snowing like crazy right now! We are suppose to get a couple of inches today, tonight, and tomorrow. Tomorrow we are getting a bunch of freezing rain too. I am so so so happy that we don't have to go anywhere. We can stay safe and warm right here.

On another note, I have a favor to ask of my crafty sewing friends...if there are any out there that read this blog.

I have a great coat that needs a new lining. I have some fabric, I just don't know how to go about getting it done. I'd rather have it done by someone who reads my blog, or is on Etsy, instead of taking it to a tailor. I was going to place a request in the custom section of Etsy, but I don't know at what price I should start my bid...if anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it :) I love my coat, and don't want to get rid of it just becuase it needs a new lining.

Alright! That's about it!
Hope everyone is safe and warm and enjoying their holiday season :)

2.5 Days until Christmas!

Yes!

I love Christmas.
Love it.

I mostly love getting presents.
The family and friends thing is great too, but I love presents. I'm not going to lie.

I mean. Yeah. It would be awesome to hang out with my family and friends this time of year, but since that's not going to happen, I might as well get down right excited about getting gifts. Right?

More snow last night, and more tomorrow, and even more tomorrow night.
I ordered some cute boots on Piperlime last night to celebrate my 400th sale :D Yay!
That is pretty freakin awesome if I do say myself, and totally warrants a new pair of boots. Besides, these boots are pretty practical, so it's money well spent. They will also make really good rain boots for when I move back to Portland, and I think they'll look really cute with some knee socks and a skirt :)

It's just hard spending money on myself when I don't make a lot of it.
400 sales though. That's pretty cool.

So yeah, that was my weekend.
I decided to extend my sale a little bit, so it's still going on.
Here's a link to the sale section.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday.

I Hate Snow

We are suppose to have a snow storm here tomorrow. The same day as the Detroit Sounds and Spirits show.

Argh.
Why can't it wait until Saturday to storm??

Oh well, I am going to wait and see what happens. Maybe it will all blow over us! :)

Anyway, today has just been a weird day.
I haven't gotten a single thing done. Well, I did make some cookies for the crossing guard, Janice, down the street. She bought Chloe the cutest stocking filled to the brim with treats and sweaters! She also bought toys for all the kids that she helps cross the street every day! What a sweet lady. So Chloe and I made her some cookies, and gave her a Christmas card :)

Speaking of Chloe...guess who has been immortalized once again? Yup! Baloney and all.
Leigh Jackson of Noisy Dog Studio painted Chloe from one of the pictures I have on my Flickr page! So cute! I think I may have found my Christmas present to myself :)

Anyway, hope everyone is having a good Thursday!! One week to go until Christmas!!

Mark Your Calendars!

I'm going to have a sale!

Yes, this Saturday December 2oth I will have a special section in my Etsy shop with items 20-50% off. Yay! I want to make some room in my shop for the new items I'll be adding in January.

Also, if you live in the Detroit area you should check out the Detroit Sounds and Spirits show!
There will be two stages with bands playing your favorite Christmas songs along with their very own. Also, I will be there along with Comfortably Lovely, City Bird, and a few others, selling some last minute Christmas gifts :) It's $15.00 at the door, and all proceeds go to the Detroit Coalition of Temporary Shelter.
An organization that provides emergency shelter and transitional housing for single men, women and families with children who need assistance in becoming economically self-sufficient.

The Magic Stick
December 19th
$15.00

Yup!

Lots of snow today. I think we got about 4" last night.
I think I can safely say that if I never have to drive in snow again, I can die a happy woman.

I can't believe that Christmas Eve is a week away! Wow. There are lots of presents under the tree for me, and I can't wait to open them. yay! I love presents.

That's about it!
Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday.

Exacto Expert

Alright, I am more than half way done with my project. I think I have put a total of 24 hours into this thing. I don't think I have worked on anything so frustrating since I was in high school algebra, but even then I figured it out in a couple of days. I also didn't have to spend a lot of money every time I messed up.

I think the most frustrating thing about this project was when I would be doing really good, no mess ups, almost done, and then something stupid would happen, like my exacto would slip and I's scratch the main piece. The worst was when the rubber cement would dry too quickly and when I would go to pull up the area that I had cut out, the illustration board would come with it. Argh.
I realize that you have no idea what I am talking about, but if I tried to explain it here you would be more confused, so just go with it.

So all I have to do now with my four designs is mount them on some railroad board, and be done. Now if I can just measure and cut those right I'm in business. I had to stop for the day though. There is only so many times you can mess up and not lose your mind.

It's MLKJ day! Hooray for that. I heard this really great This American Life last year, and now I think of it every time I think of Christmas and MLKJ day.
It starts out with this man talking about his little girl. When she was 4 or 5 she was really curious about why we celebrate Christmas. When her dad explained to her that we celebrate Christmas we celebrate the day that Jesus was born. She then became really interested in who Jesus was. She would ask her dad all these questions about him. He wasn't religious by nay means and tried to answer as best as he could. When it came to his death, his daughter asked him why people had killed him. He simply explained that it was because he had a lot of beliefs that other people didn't agree with. She replied with "Oh." And that was the last of that.

The next month he didn't have to go to work on a Monday. His daughter asked him why he didn't have to be at work that day. He told her it was MLK day and that it was celebrating his birthday. She immediately thought of Christmas and Jesus, and asked him if MLK was still alive. He told her no, and she asked if he was killed because he had different beliefs like Jesus did.
"Yes. Yes, I guess you could say that," was his answer.

Needless to say, I was in tears at the end of the story. This American Life is good for that. It can have you laughing, crying, and pondering the mysteries of life all in one hour.

Wow!

I haven't posted a blog since December 17th!
I am so behind...

Well I went out of town for a couple of weeks. I went to visit my mom and step dad in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was so nice getting out of Pontiac, Michigan for awhile. Michael and I were actually able to walk to coffee, and little shops. There is this great little coffee shop there called The Ragged Edge. Everyone that works there is very nice. The weather was pretty nice, not too cold. There was a great place on one of the battlefields that I could have a nice quite morning run.

Michael and I went to Washington, DC the Thursday after Christmas and we had so much fun. The weather was warm, I think the high that day was in the mid 50's. We went to the National Gallery where there was a Turner exhibit, a Hopper exhibit, and a Rauschenburg exhibit! The museum was a little crowded, but we had fun. We also went to the Natural History Museum and got to see the Hope Diamond and a bunch of old bones :) And it was free!! All the museums in Washington are free! I was amazed, and I still can't believe it...

We also went to see Lincoln's Memorial, and we walked around the Mall. I wanted to drive past the White House and give it dirty looks..but Michael said no. We ended up getting a little lost trying to find the freeway home. I don't understand the city planners in the Midwest and on the east Coast. How hard is it to put up some street signs and some freeway signs? And why are there like 10 different freeways, including one that goes entirely AROUND the city? Why?

Alright...anyway. Vacation was good. I start school on Monday and I feel pretty nervous about it. I thought I was done with tests, and papers, and projects....let's just hope there aren't critiques...let's pray there aren't any critiques...

But I am excited about moving on with my life and studying something that could lead to a great career. I am also excited about meeting some new people. Maybe I might even make some friends. Maybe. It's so hard for me to make friends. I have this fear of talking to people. I am so worried about saying the wrong thing, or just saying something totally stupid. I know I should be over it by now. I am 27 years old, but I think it's one of those things that will always be an issue for me.

Merry Christmas!

Ok those of you who know me really well also know that I love Christmas.
I love the lights, the songs, the PRESENTS.

Well, I think I am done with all my shopping with the exception of a few things here and there...

I went to the mall this morning and it was so fun. I love to shop, especially for Michael, who I was shopping for today. I know I know you're probably thinking hey, "Michele, I thought you took the handmade pledge....dude, what's wrong with you?" Well, shopping handmade is a lot different for Michael. Trust me. The man is a complicated person to shop for. You see, he is one of those people where everything he owns has to be useful. It has to have like 30 different functions, and it should last about 50 years or more. So, you see I couldn't just get him a hat, or a scarf...he'd probably lose them anyway. (He's lost his wallet, that was handmade by Chikabird on Etsy twice in the last week...)

Anyway, the majority of my gifts this year were handmade and a majority of those gifts were made by me :)

So I'm at the mall. I have a gift card for Victoria's Secret that I have been saving for such an occasion. I'm by myself and I have some time. Trust me, you don't want to be with me when I have a gift card. I try to get as much use out of gift cards that I possibly can, even if that means spending two hours trying to figure out how I can get a pair of PJ's, some slippers, 5 pairs of underwear, and a bra out of $75.00. (I almost did it.)

As I am standing there in the big ass VS amid all the hot pink, blaring music, and highly obnoxious sales women I realize that I really hate shopping at VS. It's so hot. There is so much to look at. The music is so loud. I feel for those poor men trying to buy lingere for their wives, or girlfriends. Those poor guys really have no idea what hit them when they walked in and neither do I.
I almost have a panic attack whenever I go in there and at least I know what size underwear I wear...

Anyway, I did manage to find a nice comfy pair or lounge pants that didn't say PINK, or Angel all over them. I also managed to find a nice tank top that didn't have glitter, or stars all over them with the words I Love Pink all over it. It's nice and plain white, but there is a silver start in on the bottom corner. That's ok though. A little compromise never hurt anyone.

So I have about $15.00 left on my card. I really wanted to get some new underwear with the rest, but do you know how hard it is to find regular cotton underwear in your size in that god forsaken store?! All I'm asking for is some black, gray, white, or pink underwear in an underwear store. I don't like low rise hipster bikini thongs....

Ok, so that's my rant. I wish I never had to step foot in that store again, but I still have some monies on my card...and it must be used. If you're asking yourself why I didn't try shopping online, my answer is this; they charge you $15.00 to ship.

So ok, after my shopping adventure, I came home and did a lot of work.
I'll post the pictures even though I couldn't get a goog picture of any of them. There isn't any light that comes into this apartment when it's gray outside. But, I'll post the best of them.

If you've made it this far into my post, thanks.

Blogs!

My friend Angie has a blog now!
You should visit hers.
http://angimae.blogspot.com/

This is her with Mikey at one of our favorite breakfast retaurants, Junior's. They have really good food and coffee.

We put up our Christmas tree today along with some other decorations.
So now our apartment looks nice and festive.

I am almost ready to post some paintings on my Etsy.
I think taking pictures and posting the items is the most un-fun part of selling on Etsy.
I wish I could just hit a re-list button, but it's kinda hard to do that when you have original paintings...

Anyhoo...it was a good day. Oh! We went to this practically abandoned mall this morning. It's really weird. There is a JCPenny's, Sears, Kohl's, and a Macy's there. Then there are a handful of other stores, but the majority of the shops are closed. Just empty with some signage. It's really strange. There is a food court, but only one pizza place remains. There aren't a lot of people at this mall either. It's strange. It's like being in that movie Dawn of the Dead...

OK...we bought Chloe a nice red sweater last night. She gets really confused when we put it on her, but she looks festive! It's a little big, but seeing how she is growing so fast she'll probably fit into it in a few weeks. We also got her this thing called a Bully Stick which we promptly re-named the Crack Stick because if it's not in her mouth she's scouring the apartment for it. So if you have dogs, I highly recommend Bully Sticks. It keeps them entertained for HOURS.