Persistence

I'm a persistent kind of person. I will work and work and work at something until it's what I want it to be or I'm so frustrated I want to chuck it through the window. Sometimes both. But when someone ELSE is pushing and poking at me? I dig my heels in. That's just how I am. This is a Kellyism, because she's the same way!

Remember Angry Caterpillar? He's resisting the urge to become a butterfly! 

Kelly's BIRTHDAY!

Heading over to deliver presents and Whoopie Pies!  :)

Analytical vs. Artistic

Artists are flighty, unreliable people who rebel against scheduling and live life by the seat of their pants. Right? Right?!? RIGHT???

I am a very analytical person. 1+1=2. I don't see signs or miracles in things, I don't believe in god. When I look at a sunset, I see colors. Yes, they're "pretty". No, they're not miraculous. Rainbows are a refraction of light, not a promise from a mythical superbeing. Babies are functions of the human reproductive system, not miracles. TO ME. My beliefs are not yours. This is how I cope with my life. You can choose to cope however you wish.

But I know one thing. A lot of people look at something pretty - a painting, a rainbow, a quilt, etc - and they say "I wish I could do that!" but they don't. Not that they don't wish for it, but they don't DO it. I will never be Mozart. But that doesn't stop me from playing his music on my clarinet.

People are WRONG about artists. Artists are NOT dreamers, they are DOERS. I went with Suzi, Kelly, and Carolyn (a new friend) to the Rembrandt exhibit at the MIA for Suzi's birthday. We wandered around separately and studied his paintings and paintings of his students. It was AMAZING. My first real museum experience. I got yelled at for getting too close to a painting and Suzi was appalled, but Kelly giggled.

But when it was over and we were leaving, I said "I want to do that", meaning I want to paint like Rembrandt. And you know what Suzi said? "Let's take a class." And you know what Kelly said? "I'm in."

Dreamers, in my mind, are the people who think that Rembrandt's work is beautiful but beyond them. Will I paint like Rembrandt? Probably not. But knowing that isn't going to stop me from trying. We've researched classes, and Suzi, Kelly, and I will learn to paint like Rembrandt together. YOU can do it, too. All you have to so is stop telling yourself that you can't.

Look out world, these friggen people are coming at you with OIL PAINT!

Best playdate ever!

First there was dirt drinking:

Kelly is chasing it with water, clearly it didn't help:

Then some art:

Three-way collaborative painting - step one:

And Suzi telling Kelly she wants to take a serious picture:

Believe it or not, we also watch True Blood, got Caribou, carved stamps, drew and colored other faces, made dinner (OK, Kelly cooked, but I chopped stuff), and painted about a zillion layers of our collaboration. 

Feet?!?

This is how you know you're friends with EXACTLY the right people. Hubby got me these shoes for our anniversary. I took this pic and texted it and the words "Anniversary present" to two of my friends using an app called WhatsApp - it allows us to ALWAYS have a group conversation going on. It's sort of glitchy, so the pic sent but not the words. All they got was this:

And in return I got this:

And this:

No questions, no comments, they just acted like it was COMPLETELY NORMAL for me to send a picture of my feet and they sent pictures back. Now, honestly, feet are not that surprising of a photo round robin for us. Sometimes we send really close up pics of our eyeballs for no reason other than we can. (No, we're not bored. We have each other!) It just really cracked me up. My friends are super awesome.

C-Faces Play Date

A Lovely Mess

Another page making skart date with Kelly :) 

27th letter of the alphabet

Yes, it's a school project. A slightly ridiculous one, I think, and I have NO idea what I'm supposed to learn from it, but there is is between R and S. It's called "pist" and sounds like "psst". The name and sound were provided by my friend Kelly, because she's awesome like that. I think it's the weirdest assignment ever but it's done and I'm turning it in tonight and "finished" is the most important part of school work.

Christmas with the Heggems

Usually Tim works Christmas, this is the first time in YEARS he's been off. For the past three years, Liam and I have just hung out with our friends who moved away two months ago. I pictured me and Liam sitting home alone this year - like we do for most holidays. Even after Kelly asked us to come hang out with her family, I didn't think we'd be able to because Tim ALWAYS works. Well, he DIDN'T! He didn't work and we went to the Heggem House and it was AWESOME. It was the best Christmas I've had in years!!

Here Tim and Kelly are doing weird things in the kitchen - see the open window? It's so warm this year!!

Liam made a gingerbread house with some of the little boys and then they ate it. OK, Liam mostly ate it.

Tim forgot he's not a frat boy anymore and challenged Joey to a chugging contest. He lost!

CHristmas ATCs :)

I LOVE how these came out. I got the idea from Christy Tomlinson. She did a canvas with all her toys and stuff while mine is just leftover paper scraps, but they make me happy and several of them are in the mail, on their way to surprise friends right now! 

This is what I used for the background. Remember this page? It's from YSM Brain Dead Journaling. I loved the page, but I always want to DO something with my backgrounds. I'm trying to not have that need - to just be able to fling paint around and say it's done, but I can't. A background needs a foreground. So I cut it all up and used it and now it has a purpose!

I also made this little canvas for Kelly:

Dont' worry, I already showed her :) I'm not good at those kinds of secrets!!

Friends makin' art!

The other day this little bug had the nerve to tell me about something he'd done at HIS friend Kelly's house!! Bratty McBratster, isn't he? That's MY friend Kelly! 

GRID!

Look what Kelly helped me with! She has the best paper stash, but even so when it was JUST papers I was like "gross". But I brayered and stamped and now I sort of like it! Every time I look at it I like it a little more.

 I'm still kind of confused by the "want to keep everything in one journal but can't make myself write my grocery list in my 'good' journal" mentality...working it out by trying NEW journals. I just got a new Moleskine and a small sketchbook that I'm using as a slap journal. Maybe.