icky monster

i'm back, really (probably)

2011-12-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

Whoops, what is my blog? A forgotten and abandoned pursuit of the past? It's beginning to look that way! But not for long. I can now with confidence say I have recovered from a somewhat grueling semester, with another set of really-not-too-bad grades to add to my pile of accomplishments as a psuedo Good Student (really, fake it till you make it; I swear it works). I have really missed the blogosphere and I hope to be welcomed back into its arms, as I promise I'll be commenting and posting regularly again.

For now, here is a present to all my internet pals:

Yes, you can make a brownie in a mug with ingredients you probably have lying around all the time! I made this unfortunate discovery a few weeks ago and have been fighting the urge to eat a brownie a day ever since. But hey, it's the holiday season. A brownie a day is one thing--but a brownie per week? Not so bad...and I'll keep telling myself that straight into the new year!

another photodump

2011-12-06T07:41:00.000-08:00

It's finals week and I'm drowning in research and review sessions, so I only have time to share some pictures. Once my brain is functioning again I'll do more here than just flit by and drop off some photos captured by my phone.

wacky plate found out work // another work treasure // mess hair // pomegranate massacre // spoils of the massacre

Well I set out to make this post not realizing the severe lack of photos I had to offer. It's probably because I've been constantly on the go, as usual, but moreso lately with the semester wrapping up. I'm also still working hard at CrossFit, and loving it more than I even thought I would. I think I'm going to put together a post about CrossFit soon, and maybe even start taking body photos to show the cool new muscles I'm collecting. You guys totally want to see my muscles, right?

Today I'm taking a little break from studying to hang out with my sister Nanner, and then to go with Hans to some vaccination dinner biologist gathering?! The joys of dating a scientist.

I hope everyone is enjoying the last little bit of 2011. I know I will once I am finally released from the sticky clutches of another demanding semester.

asking for a better veganism

2011-11-29T10:36:00.000-08:00

I'm not excessively vocal about it here on Icky Monster, but it's not a secret that I am a vegan. I know some of you guys are veg*n too and I know plenty of people out there are curious about veganism and still others are completely turned off by it. I want to address that last bit real quick. Sometimes, I am completely turned off by veganism, too. Why would a movement I'm so attached to sometimes make me want to hide in a corner? Because sometimes, we don't represent this movement very well. We make ourselves look bad. I have been guilty of this in the past, and I'm only just beginning to realize it. Now you won't catch me slinging the word "vegan" around with claims of its value as a cure-all health diet, or with utopian visions of a perfect vegan future world attached. Though certainly any deviation from the Standard American Diet including less animal products and more vegetables is quite healthy, and reducing reliance on animal agriculture can probably ensure a better future for the 7 billion people on earth, if we run wild with these ideas a few bad things can happen. We start to miss the point of veganism (the animals, duh!), we start to look a little crazy (c'mon, admit it), and we may even suffer physically if we begin to follow silly belief systems and sacrifice healthy eating as a result. There has been a trend lately of vegan bloggers announcing a return to omnivorous diets when vegan diets (typically poorly planned vegan diets, that is) failed them. I think this a sign that we need to make some changes within the movement.

I am constantly reading about food and its relation to animal rights. I don't just read vegan blogs--I read blogs opposed to veganism as well. This has lead me to take a new approach to veganism, and I think more of us should be moving in this direction. If we don't challenge our beliefs now and then, how can we strengthen them? If we aren't honest with ourselves about how to maintain a healthy vegan diet, and we get sick as a result, how does this support the animals? If we get wrapped up in pseudoscience and repeat whacko claims as facts, how can we expect this movement to have longevity and credibility? We don't want to look like a bunch of skinny lemonade-drinking cultists, do we? We ought to strive to represent ourselves as healthy, ethics-driven critical thinkers, because that's would we should be.

To hep out my fellows, I've put together a short list of some of the blogs I've been obsessively reading lately. Maybe this will even help a doubter see we're not all a bunch of crazy fantasists after all.

♦Carpe Vegan: a group of vegans advocating for "veganish" ideals
♦Paleo Vegan: a vegan paleontologist providing an abundance of eye-opening scientific insights
♦Pythagorean Crank: the blog of Dave D, former vegan who still follows a plant based diet, but has left the movement for bigger and better things
♦Vegan Skeptic: A skeptical approach to veganism
♦Skeptical Vegan: another skeptical approach
♦Speciesist Vegan: we love to throw around the word "speciesist", but what are its real implications?

We can do veganism better. For ourselves, and for the animals.

lately in monsterland

2011-11-22T08:12:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love most about blogging is its ability to make memories more concrete. I keep paper journals to remember things and write out my feelings, but I've never been much of a scrapbooker. My blog is at least 1 part digital scrapbook and I'm excited to look back on this years down the road (even if I end up finding some of it cringe-worthy!). I hate when I have long gaps with no posts, but living life gets in the way of recording life sometimes. Luckily, my cell phone knows what I've been up to!

colorful dinner at work // doin' the messy bun thang // Phoenix anticipating her ball being thrown // obligatory mall bathroom mirror picture

Hans bottled his first home brew! // cuddle time // taped wrists for CrossFit // my handsome man on Marta returning home from some ATL event or other

we grew our own delicious mushrooms thanks to Back to the Roots. These were so good!

Of course I'm the most forgetful person when it comes to photographing things I'd like to remember, and this is all I have to show for a handful of eventful weeks. ♦Hans and I visited ICE Atlanta this weekend, a handmade craft show, which was full of great vendors. I met Mary from Mary Rebecca, who was great, and Hans bought me a real pretty bow from her (again, picture fail). ♦I've started doing CrossFit and I am completely addicted. I've always like to work out hard, but nothing I've done previously can touch CrossFit. I already feel stronger than I ever have. ♦We recently won a war against a flea infestation in our house (thanks, Cold Weather, I hate you)--fingers crossed this really was the last battle. ♦School is continuing to kick my ass but I have a blissful few days off to celebrate that most murderous of holidays, Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to a vegan feast with my loved ones. ♦And the most important thing going on in our little house lately? Skyrim We have been playing this game for extremely inappropriate lengths of time, nerd-flags flying high.

ouroboros pit

2011-11-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

Hey blog! Remember the wishlist I recently posted? I have successfully obtained the last item listed, and I have a[n incredibly awkward] video to reveal it!

I love the ouroboros symbol (Clive Barker turned me on to it) and decided it would fit perfectly in my armpits. As I said in the video I've been craving armpit tattoos for years! The extra ouch of such a sensitive spot was totally worth it (I usually handle tattoo pain really well, but this had me squirming toward the end). I'm stoked to finally have started this piece, and I can't wait till both my armpits are filled with self-sufficient serpents.

this time last year...

2011-11-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

Winter is a particularly exciting time for Hans and I this year. We celebrated our first anniversary in September, and so for the first time in our relationship we can say, "this time last year..." and recall those happy (but cold!) moments we spent together in 2010. I appreciate this time of year in a new way now. It feels magical, the aromas and tastes and sights all bursting with memories of falling in love. In light of all these happy reminiscences floating around my head, I wanted to share some of my favorite moments spent with Hans in winter 2010.

creep-eyes // the first picture of us together // Hans trying to convince me I'm a Hufflepuff // what is it with me an mustaches? at a Halloween party // kisses on Halloween day // apocalypse war-paint // Hans lookin' handsome in my old apartment // the snowy apocalypse which inspired the warpaint // adventures in the frozen wonderland

I'm really having too much fun with all these memories as we enter our second year together. "Hey--remember how much Silk Pumpkin Spice we drank last year?! Remember how you made me hot chocolate all the time?! Remember how I was poor and afraid to turn the heat on so we froze to death in my apartment all the time?!" Hans may be secretly perturbed at my enthusiasm, but he's at least pretending he's having fun reminiscing, too.

I'm looking forward to another round of holidays shared with him, insane amounts of holiday-themed beverages and desserts, more crunchy hikes through leaves and snow, and hell, even more cold nights spent huddled together under a stack of blankets.

must-haves

2011-11-07T11:25:00.000-08:00

I am feverishly eager to have a few things in my possession right now.

The first thing, obviously, is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

I'll be purchasing the Bluray to experience all its high-def glory. I am going to watch this movie every day for months, I can feel it. Sure, I'll do house chores or homework while I watch, but it will be constantly playing in the background. No shame.

Second, is Tree of Codes, the newest book by Jonathan Safran Foer.

If you haven't, read all of this guy's books (including his non-fiction work Eating Animals). Do it now. I mean it! He's one of my favorite authors and such an inspiration. All of his books will make you cry, but each one is wonderful. Tree of Codes is a funky thing, comprised entirely from words he found in another book, with an architecture and artistry unlike that of any other novel, and has a big price tag as a result. But come pay day, this beautiful book will be mine.

I'm trying not to spoil myself too much on the book's interior, but here's a tiny peak:

source

Third, tattoos. I've had some crazy tattoos planned for a while now, but I'll save the details on them until after I've gotten them. This should be happening in the next few weeks and I won't lie, I'm kind of really looking forward to people's reactions to my placement choice.

I don't really splurge and buy myself things very often, especially in light of my six month stretch of unemployment which only just recently ended (thank god!), but I'm going to spoil myself with these three things. I've earned it, and it feels good to say so.

halloween recap part two

2011-11-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

I think my months-long battle with AT&T is finally over, which means at long last I have unwavering internet access, and I'm stoked to get back into regular blogging. I haven't had this blog very long, but it's already important to me and it's starting to feel like my own little home on the internet.

I have something fun to share with you guys today: Halloween costumes! Hans and I were controversially an roller skating white trash gay couple from the 80s, because that's the sort of travesty that comes about when you wait until last minute to make your costume.

Luigi?

this one is my favorite!

Lamely, we did not get any pictures while we were actually wearing our skates, but you can bet we were rolling around the house like maniacs.

Also, this was the third year in a row I portrayed a man for Halloween. I think next year I'll be a girl. Perhaps even a pretty one.

What were you for Halloween?

halloween recap part one

2011-11-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

Hans and I hosted a little get together in celebration of the spookiest day of the year, but I haven't gotten pictures back from my sister yet so I'll have to post on that later.

Though I failed to get any pictures of my own from the party, I did snap some photos of the decorations around my house. I wanted to share them yesterday but AT&T yet again screwed me over and unjustly knocked us offline for four days. So we'll call this my better-late-than-never Halloween post.

bleeding candles

We thought about buying Phoenix a costume, but we knew she would just eat it

Kenya, on the other hand, is in costume year-round

We handed out candy (and pretzels!) together for the first time. I felt old but also awesome. Other than giving candy, our Halloween was less than festive: While I cooked dinner, Hans fixed the pilot light, which had gone out and left us in a very cold house, and then we watched the Misfits seasons 3 premiere (did anyone else watch? Thoughts?) and then some episodes of Planet Earth and just enjoyed each other's company. It was rather calm in contrast to last year's trip to Atlanta's Zombie Apocalypse haunted house, but it was still a great Halloween.

Now I'm off to continue overdosing on candy and to get ready for work. I hope everybody had a fantastic Halloween!

P.S. For more Halloween goodness, check out my guest post over on Mary Rebecca's blog.

watercolored heart

2011-10-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, watercoloredheart was a lame screen name I used when I was like 14, but whatever, I'm reusing it as a blog title because today I want to share some of my watercolory artwork with you guys.

It's probably apparent that my weapon of choice is the ballpoint pen, but sometimes I use ballpoint or india ink pens and watercolor paints.

reminiscent of much of my high school era stuff

I made this Colossus for my friend Ryan ages ago

flower girl in a moleskin

The Joker, for an old coworker

All of these are a two or more years old, whoops! (I listed them oldest to newest, so this is a tiny glimpse at the evolution of my work--fun for me to see!) Check out more of my older art here. Some of my newer watercolors have been featured in Moleskin Monday posts here (this is a very Halloween-inspired moleskin post!) and here.

I have been a busy bee! I started a new full time job and school is trying its best to kick my butt. I'm keeping my head just above the water though, and I'll be back later in the week with some fun Halloween DIYs. I hope everyone is having a great week!

DIY sweater resurrection

2011-10-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

When debating what to wear today I picked up a frumpy old sweater and had an idea.

I forgot to take a "before" picture of the sweater because my mind does not yet shout "get your camera!" whenever I wish it would (seriously, I miss so many photographable moments because I haven't trained myself to think of taking pictures yet). So, it DID have sleeves, but I cut them off, making the sweater that once made me feel like a giant blob into a cute short sleeved sweater I could style with layers.

But what to do with those sleeves?

Leg warmers!

I'm all about revamping old clothes, which is kind of a bad thing because I'm a borderline clothes hoarder. But I often reconstruct or restyle something and think so this is why I've been keeping this! That makes it okay to save old clothes, right? If you have some old sweater you don't wear but can't part with, try this easy DIY. People will admire how crafty you are. Actually, they'll probably think you bought it like that, but do it any way!

moleskin monday: a cage to you

2011-10-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'm actually not particularly fond of this sketch. To be honest, I had nearly forgotten about it. But I decided to feature it today because at some point I must have gotten bored and adorned it with song lyrics, and I happen to love the song. I've actually had it on repeat quite often lately, so it was a fun surprise to flip through my moleskin and find the all but forgotten sketch. It seems this time of year I always have Right Away, Great Captain! playing. So, the sketch and, more importantly, the song.

This was the first Right Away, Great Captain! song I heard and I was hooked immediately. Apparently so hooked I decorated my drawing with its lyrics, high school style.

what does a vegan eat?

2011-10-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

I love to cook, and I love to take pictures of what I cook. I've got a lot of these food pictures lying around so I thought I'd share a bunch of them! I personally LOVE food porn and I could stare at glorious food pictures all day. My pictures may be less than glorious, but they can help me answer a question I get asked all the time because I'm vegan, which is what do you eat?! Well, here's a little taste of the things I eat!

I don't know if this is exactly representative of my diet, because while we only have a few staples around here, I hardly photograph things I make all the time--that's not exciting! I try to make sure I make nutritious, healthy(-ish) meals and I try new dishes all the time. I'll be happy to provide recipes if anyone is interested!

octolantern!

2011-10-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

Who has several hundred bucks to throw down on Photoshop? Not me! I get by with free alternatives. While they're nowhere near as powerful as Photoshop, photo-editing apps like Picnik and Fotoflexer are great for prettying up your pictures. But a lot of us do more than edit photos! I have two Wacom tablets and I never use them because I don't have pricey painting software. Okay, so we may or may not have all stolen Photoshop at one time or other, but I feel sort of guilty showing off a drawing I made ~illegally. This dilemma drove me to discover GIMP. As the website says, it's "like Photoshop, but 100% free". Need I say more?

I played around with the program the other day and drew this Halloweeny little guy. (You'll never catch me boasting of any computer art skills, I just like digital-doodling from time to time!)

Octolantern! Or is he a Jacktopus?!

GIMP is super easy to use, especially if you're already familiar with Photoshop. I definitely recommend trying it out if you're looking for a worthy alternative to popular (and expensive!) programs.

P.S. I gave the blog a tiny make over. Check it out!

make this: hummamole

2011-10-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

Hi, blog! Right now it's a bit difficult for me to pull my head out of the book I'm reading, Abarat: Absolute Midnight. (It's the third installation in a really fun series by Clive Barker, one of my favorite authors, and I waited seven long years to read it! It does not disappoint and I want to do nothing but read it. Whoops!) But I reluctantly left its pages to drop by the blog and share this awesome recipe with you guys.

(see, told you I can't leave the book alone.)

Hummamole! If you are anything like me and you obsessively love hummus and guacamole and make them all the time, you will not be disappointed by this recipe, which is from Quick-fix Vegan and can be found here. It may sound weird but it's actually a great combination. Hopefully you're luckier than me and possess an actual food processor instead of a blender and a magic bullet, the combined efforts of which are nearly futile with making hummus. I didn't have the pinch of cayenne but it did fine without. I also think next time I'll substitute lime juice for the lemon to play up the taste of the avocado a little more. I made pita chips (easy: bake lightly oiled pita bread in the oven at 400 for fiveish minutes) to eat it with, but I think it would taste really great with plantain chips, too.

So make this tasty dip and enjoy!

birds dress are the best dresses

2011-10-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

I found this dress at a thrift store and I knew I had to have it. Anything covered in birds belongs in my closet. The belt is also thrifted and the tights and shoes are from Target, I think (I am bad at this). Since I wore this it's gotten much colder and It looks like it's finally time for layers for the rest of the year.

Today I went to school but apparently I shouldn't have. This semester I have the worst professor I've encountered so far. She teaches an elective anthropology course (a required elective, mind you) and by "teaches" I mean she stands in front of the class and demands our attention so she can look down on us haughtily and insist we Google words like "coercion" since we obviously are too young and naive to have come across such a word before. Unfortunately the torture doesn't end there. She dresses so unprofessionally I really can't stand to look at her (once she wore a see-through shirt, I kid you not) and she assigned an advanced text containing only essays written by anthropologists for anthropologists. All of the assignments are turned in online so I'm not exactly sure why she insists we meet twice a week, but she does, so each week the students diminish in numbers and lately we refuse to take part in her misguided discussions. As a result she has been dismissing class earlier and earlier and this morning she released us in a fit of rage after five minutes and stormed out of the class room. It's hard to convey how insufferable she manages to be, but it's becoming far less difficult to convey how unprofessional she is.

I'm really starting to feel like going to that class is a waste of time, but at least she freed up my day so I can hang out with the animals and get things done around the house.

moleskin monday: tree vomit

2011-10-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

It's Monday and that means we dive into my moleskin and look at a thing I drew!

This is a bit of an oldie but I recently added the color. I used to shade my drawings strictly within the gray scale unless I was using colored pencils or pastels (so rarely, because I almost always use pens), but then I realized pens totally come in a variety of colors and I should be utilizing that. Now I love making colorful drawings, even if they're still largely black and gray with splashes of brightness. My favorite pretty-colored ballpoints are all running out of ink, and I think I'm going to invest in an even larger selection of colors soon.

This is one of many trees I have drawn (though it is the only one being puked out of a mouth). Is anyone else obsessed with trees like I am?

happy october

2011-10-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Every year on the first of October I like to get silly and dress in black and orange and jack-o-lanterns to let the world know, "hey, Halloween is here and it's not over till November!" because yes, I absolutely subscribe to the belief that Halloween is every day. And it's ESPECIALLY every day in October. So, on to my October uniform!

I guess I confused "walk like a zombie" with "walk like an Egyptian", whoops

Of course when my brain finally decided to differentiate between zombies and Egyptians Phoenix infiltrated the photos...

Jack-o-lantern earrings

While sporting my festive clothes today I traveled to a far off Barnes & Noble (RIP Borders, I will always miss you) to purchase Abarat: Absolute Midnight, a book I have been waiting to read for seven freaking years. I'm trying not to let myself devour it just yet, because I know once I begin I won't be able to do anything else (read: sleep, eat, or breathe). Other than buying a horror-laden kid's book, blasting silly Halloween tunes (listen above!) and wearing my pumpkin suit, making monstery cookies, carving pumpkins, and scattering jack-o-lanterns and spiderwebs around the house to celebrate my favorite holiday. What are you doing to prepare for Halloween?

when there's no more room in hell...

2011-09-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

I have been "killing myself" since I was a young, horror-obsessed teenager, so when I heard about the virtual zombie walk I was stoked for the opportunity to get back to my blood-loving roots. I thought I'd share some photos from my zombie escapades over the years as well as my favorite blood recipe.Now, some of these pictures are from when I was very young and more than a little dumb, but I am unashamed. Teens obsessed with the flesh eating undead, holler.

But first, here are some tunes to get you in the brain-eating mood

with Nanner

out of character with Dottie

Zombie for life! Left: Age 17; Right: Age 21

Now, as for my blood recipe, if you make this you're seriously in for a treat.
Chocolate Blood:
-Water
-Coco powder
-Corn syrup
-red food coloring (the vegan-ness of red food dye is debatable, as it is sometimes horrifyingly made out of beetles, so do some research on the brand you buy)
-optional: black paint
-optional: green food coloring

I'm not including proportions because I just wing it every time. If you want thicker, scabbier blood, use more syrup and coco powder. For thinner more liquidy blood, use more water, obviously. I throw in the paint sometimes just to make it a little darker and grosser, and green food dye has a similar effect. This blood congeals like real blood so it's great for making gory wounds. The best part about this blood other than how realistically it behaves? If you skip the black paint, it's pretty tasty! If you decide to try this out with your Halloween costume or just for fun, let me know!

&& be sure to check out the rest of participants in the "walk", listed below:

Ghost Hunting Theories / Above the Norm: Bizarre Arizona / Zombies Everywhere / Holly's Horrorland / Little Gothic Horrors / Anything Horror / Katy Bennett Horror Writer and Poet / Bubba's Place / Horror Smorgasbord / Gnostalgia / Monkey Man / Words and Music / Red Shoes Chronicles / The Wolf's Eyes / My Day in a Sentence / Pixie's Horror Galore / Strange State / The Misadventures of HalloweeNut / Halloween Blues / Kweeny Todd / The California Blogging Massacre / Horror Shock Lolipop / Vanessa Morgan / Improbable Frontiers / No Really, You Can Eat It / Art By Living Dead Girl Nicole / Two Gory Chicks / A Dust Bunny in the Wind / A Ghoul's Best Friend / Zombies Are Magic / Cherry Neko Saves the World / Tall Tales / At the Mansion of Madness / The Haunted Rose / The Rotting Zombie / Halloween Overkill / Out of the Shadows / Creepy Glow Keyhole Gallery / Creepy Glowbugg / Bifocal Univision / Haiku-Koo-Koo / Sherry Soule / Anchors and Roses / Paranormal Researchers Group / Whispering Pines History / Lovely Miss Megs / Sean Thomas Fisher's Blogwash / Rise and Fight / Stump Town Horror / LoliClown's Little Blog of Horror / Zombies Can't Love / Books and Beyond / The Grave Bandits / Screaming Goregasms / Lazy Daisy Life / Icky Monster / Pretty in Fiction / Ivy's Closet / Justine's Halloween / Annie Walls / Just Johnny

moleskin monday is back! ...on tuesday

2011-09-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

I'm rubbish at keeping up with weekly features, apparently. I like my one little feature though so I'm going to try, once again, to keep up with it! This week I have a masky man to share.

I suppose he's a little bit inspired by the season. He looks like a Halloween mask after all. I've been doodling him during classes and I think I'm finally ready to call him finished.

because gifs are fun, right?!

Yeah, I like to just hang out with monsters all day.

yard sales, thrift shops, silly animals

2011-09-24T16:45:00.000-07:00

Hans and I went to Our Pal's Place's yard sale today. Our Pal's Place is a local no-kill animal shelter and they held a big yard sale today, with all proceeds benefiting their adoptable pets. We were very happy to go support rescued dogs and snag some pretty great finds as we did so. Even better, Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe (which has a showroom here in Georgia and sells vegan goods online internationally--check them out!) donated vegan baked goods and vegan hot dogs to the event, so we got to eat delicious food and rescue animals at the same time, which is basically my one true passion in life. My mom and my sister met us there and we had a great time browsing and laughing and spending money on good causes and such.

These are just some of the goodies we picked up at the sale. Yes, that's a holographic Jesus plaque. And all of Planet Earth was only $5! Okay, it's missing one disc, but still. I used to own the whole thing on Blu-ray, but what do you know a stubborn ex refuses to give it back to me. Anyway, I'm pretty excited to watch the series again! Oh, and why would we be interested in a holographic Jesus plaque? Because we collect silly plaques and decorate our guest bathroom with them, of course!

So far we have some wolves, and unicorns, and this evening Jesus happily joined the bunch. I think our guests appreciate this merry crew keeping them company while they do their business. No one can ever call me a bad host!

After the yard sale, we had had the itch to shop some more, so we went to a couple of thrift stores, WHERE WE FOUND THE MOST GLORIOUS COUCH I HAVE EVER SEEN. Here is a picture of it kindly modeled by Hans and a stuffed bear:

I have never more wished we had room for a love seat!

We also finally found a perfect shelf to go in our dining room, which Kenya immediately decided to live in, because cats are weird. I can't wait to decorate this shelf with pretty things.

Oh, and we got these funky grooming gloves at the yard sale. It may be a blurry picture, but it fully captures Phoenix's feelings about the gloves.

With autumn finally starting to creep out from behind the heat waves, this day spent with loved ones (and dogs! and food!) was a great way to ring in the new season.

we are going to eat you: blogger zombie walk 2011

2011-09-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

I may seem girly with my affinity for pretty colors and dresses, but once you get to know me then you know despite girlish tendencies, I like playing in the dirt and drawing scary things. And if there's one thing I love more than getting dirty it's getting bloody and acting like a scary thing. Yes, I have been "zombifying" myself as a hobby since I was 14 or 15 and it never gets old. That's why I was so pumped when Megan turned me on to the Zombie Blogger Walk. Megan described it perfectly, "On Friday, September 30th a group of 50+ bloggers will be posting really cool zombie related posts then link to the rest of the blogs participating so you can sort of walk from blog to blog, learning anything and everything zombie related." Sounds like an awesome time to me. I can't wait to see what kinds of undead-related things people decide to share.

Yes, that's totally me. Scary, right?

The "walk" is being hosted by Ghost Hunting Theories. If you like bloody, brain-eating fun, you should totally join up!

30 days of lists, finally

2011-09-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

I'm finally ready to share one of my lists! I hated the first few I made and then stopped making them. Then I realized trying to make beautiful decorated lists isn't my thing, but I do dig just writing them out.

I know this is yesterday's list, but I wanted to share this one especially because I'm still really bummed out about the death of Andy Whitfield, who played Spartacus. That show was my jam, guys. I'm a sucker for hilariously extravagant sex and violence, I won't lie. I thought the show was top notch and Andy was so great in the title role. It was really heartbreaking to hear he lost his fight with cancer this month.

On a lighter note, I bet my other two choices made it into a bunch of people's lists! I still feel gypped about their cancellations.

farewell to summer

2011-09-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

I loved summer as a child, fake-detested it through my angsty teenage years, and embraced it all over again in recent years. My connection with the sunshiney months is deep. I was born in June and I'm covered in freckles: I am a summer child. Of course, I do adore autumn because after all, the layery fashion is fun, Halloween is the best day of the year, and the changing leaves are beautiful. But I can't just let summer slip away without a proper farewell, and obviously nothing is PROPER unless consecrated by the internet, right?

First, this playlist I made over the summer which I brilliantly dubbed "Summer!" for your enjoyment.My feet went so beautiful many places. I seriously made a different fruity, agave-sweetened lemon- or limeade every day, you guys.Lots of time was spent with this charming man.There were some waterfalls (Hans is may kill me for posting this).Turtles were saved.Of course, this summer was extra special because we adopted Phoenix. This is my favorite picture of her and her daddy from when we first brought her home. She has grown so much! And note the post-spaying shaved tummy. Naturally, with the addition of Phoenix, many dog adventures were had.Well, you get the point. I like to spend my summers exploring the beautiful world around me, in the sunshine, with my dog and the people I love. Now summer is over, I'm busy with school again, but I'll still try to squeeze in as much fall-, winter-, and springtime exploring as I can.

What's your favorite thing to do in the summer time?

cave lovers

2011-09-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

On the 15th I had my wisdom teeth removed and I have not been having such a fun time with the recovery (who could? This sucks!). My face looks precisely like a round little fat boy's and the pain has been a little worse than I expected. I'm the type who never takes any medicine--even pain killers--so there have been some pretty rough moments throughout the healing process. Yesterday I finally felt at least partially normal and today I'm thinking I'm more than halfway there. The swelling has gone down substantially (though now one side of my face is covered in a massive yellow bruise) and I can open my mouth almost all the way. I am so looking forward to having a feast when all this is done!

Anyway, I definitely feel like the blog is overdue for a proper art post. I always have fun sharing some of my older artwork on the blog, so today I've got series of drawings (and one painting) that were very near and dear to me for a while. (One of them is featured in my sidebar!) Not so near and dear now, I still dig the concept I came up with. Meet the Cave Lovers: These guys like to pass their time chilling in a cave a loving each other. I created these over the course of around two years. I recall dubbing the first one "the cheesiest thing I have ever drawn."

Today is my first day home alone since the surgery. Hans and my mama have been taking great care of me, and I've definitely needed to be babied. Let's hope today I'm not a big wuss and I can fend for myself (read: watch tons of Netflix and sleep on and off all day). Wish me luck!

anniversary in asheville

2011-09-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

Hans and I just celebrated our first anniversary!

We have had a wonderful year together, and to celebrate we took a little trip up through the mountains to one our favorite cities, Asheville, North Carolina. My dad was born in Asheville and I have family living there, so I've made trips up there all throughout my life and the city long ago stole my heart. It's such a perfect place: the mountains keep it cool instead of humid, everybody smiles, art galleries pop up on every corner, the street musicians are actually fantastic, and it's so dog-friendly businesses have to put a sign on the door to indicate if dogs aren't allowed. Not to mention, the best damn vegetarian restaurant I've ever been to (The Laughing Seed) resides in the heart of Asheville on the coolest street in the town.

Hans and I would love to move there if we had the chance, but for now we'll just use things like anniversaries as excuses to visit. We spent the first day of our trip enjoying the city and the second day driving up crazy winding roads in the mountains. The mountain drive was fantastic! Spectacular scenery, and we even discovered a little trail that lead to the coolest place I have ever eaten lunch...I'll let the pictures do the talking.

(Hans's seitan curry and my pistachio-crusted seitan marsala, the best food ever ever ever) And I realize I took only a tiny amount of city-pictures with my real camera, but more are on my phone. Perhaps a separate post for those is in store? But here are many more pictures from the mountain!
The road up the mountain had so many neat tunnels. We found a trail that lead to the top of one of them (the one pictured) and we ate lunch there!
Vegan breakfast burrito, eaten atop a tunnel. The view was incredible!
I seem to have started a "where my feet have been" series of photos. I love taking these, especially in my vibrams!

Throughout the trip, we ate at The Laughing Seed a total of three times (dinner, breakfast, and then lunch to-go), saw everything from a street magician to a human statue to a man dressed as a nun riding a sparkly high-rise bicycle, enjoyed some (read: so much) chocolate, ogled at a lot of beautiful dogs, and smiled endlessly. I'm so happy to have spent the past year with such a lovely man, and to have ended that year in such a wonderful place! I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for us in year two!

buggy beauties

2011-09-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a break from my marathon of cleaning and Pawn Stars (thank you Netflix) to share with you guy my love of buggy pictures. I absolutely love bright colorful photos of bugs. These are some favorites I've come across while on tumblr and pintrest (and unfortunately since I found them through these sites, I don't have the sources. If anyone knows the sources, please let me know!).

Insects are absolutely fascinating and gorgeous. I met this cicada on my way to school the other day and snapped a couple of my own (significantly less impressive) bug photos.

So colorful! He had just come out of his shell (I totally used to collect those shells when I was a kid). He was still there by the lamp post when I was leaving school, only he had moved onto the sidewalk. I was shocked to find him hanging out in the same area hours after I first sighted him. I couldn't stand to leave him in such a risky position, vulnerable to so many stamping feet, so I picked the little guy up and released him into a little collection of trees. Happy ending!

P.S. I'm using Blogger's new interface and it's weird! I'm not sure how I feel about it. What do you guy's think?

P.P.S I'm keeping up with 30 Days of Lists just fine! But I haven't made any pretty enough lists to share yet. I keep seeing some of the most beautiful lists floating around. It's puts mine to shame! I need to step up my listing game.

phoenix & wylie

2011-09-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

One of Phoenix's BFFs is Wylie, my sister Nanner's dog. So when Nanner and Wylie visited me the other day I had to take some photos of this irresistible pair.

I adore these goofballs. Not many things make me happier than the sight of Phoenix and her silly lolling tongue (except maybe the sight of Phoenix AND Wylie with their silly lolling tongues). I recently watched a documentary which included some evidence that owning a dog makes you live longer--I believe it. Dogs are magic.

business casual?

2011-09-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

I had to go out and buy some business casual clothes for a job interview recently. I am definitely not a business casual type of girl, but I actually had a lot of fun getting all dressed up. Probably because it was such a divergence from my usual style (I hate pants so I'm almost always found in shorts and a tank top or a dress, and I usually wear boots).

I'm probably not girly enough to do outfit photos. I mean, I completely forgot to photograph the (really awesome!) shoes I got to wear with this. But I definitely wanted to document this outfit since it's so out of the box for me.

So, did the outfit get me the position? Yes! Long story short, the interview (a group interview with 13 other people), went really well, and I got the job. The job, however, went horribly, and I quit after one miserable shift. (I refuse to bus tables under the misleading title "customer service representative", sorry). So I'm back on the job hunt but I'd rather be hunting than throwing away dead chicken bones every night.

Oh, and I can't resist sharing this outtake,

Phoenix just HAD to make an appearance.

hello september

2011-09-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hi blog-o-pals, I'm dropping by the blog to make a few ~tiny announcements . First--that my absence has been due to the the Universe's apparent hatred of me, and I have been living caveman style without internet for over a week. Now, after 2 or 3 hours of phone calls with AT&T, I'm back online and ready to finally bring my blog to life again. I'm working on some exciting projects that I can't wait to share with you all, and it won't be long before I can.

One project I can mention is 30 Days of Lists, which I am really excited to be participating in, thanks to a nod to the project from Melissa over at Millie Bell. I'm one day late to the listing shenanigans but I'm starting today and I'll be sharing my lists on the blog. It's not too late to register, so if you're interested, do so! It should be a great time.

And I can't welcome the month of September without tipping my hat to the second best season of the year! Fall is just around the corner and I'm admittedly very excited. I'm definitely a child of summer (June birthday and everything), but I do adore fall, and I count October as my favorite month (thanks to that most special of Holidays we celebrate at its end). So in celebration of the approaching season change, and the Holiday I most look forward to, here's a little preview of a mask-inspired sketch I've been working on.

creepers gon' creep

say hello to kettle

2011-08-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

Fall semester has started, I've snagged a new part-time job, autumn is approaching, and we've brought a new member into our little family.

Meet Kettle. He was living in the crawlspace at a friend's house, and I just could not let him continue living out his life that way. I instantly connected with him (he kept staring intensely into my eyes and wouldn't shy away from me until I just just too close), and I knew I had to bring him home. It took hours but we finally caught him using some tuna fish and a kitty crate (I felt awful trapping him that way but I knew it was for the best). I had discussed it with Hans and we both agreed that we could either keep him or take him to a shelter to be adopted and either way he would stand a much better chance in the world than if he kept on living in that crawl space.

He seems to have had very little contact with humans so he's extremely skittish, but he is warming up really well to Hans and me. He was making this extended, high pitched little meows that sounded just like a teakettle going off, so Hans dubbed him accordingly. We like the alliteration of "Kettle & Kenya" and we're hoping they'll be pals (which is doubtful: Kenya is a demon).

He has a vet appointment tomorrow and I'm crossing my fingers he's a healthy little boy. Kenya and Phoenix have all their vaccines but we're still keeping him quarantined in the bathroom until we've had him checked out. I'm trying not to get too attached to him because even if he is perfectly healthy, there is the chance that Phoenix and Kenya just won't accept him and we'll have to find him a new home. But who am I kidding, I am totally in love. I'm just happy knowing I'll be changing his life for the better no matter where his final home is.

As far as we know, he has a good many brothers and sisters who are still living in the crawl space, so if anyone in the Atlanta/Woodstock area would like to adopt a precious little kitten, let me know!

obtaining my leg lady

2011-08-16T05:45:00.000-07:00

This is from a few weeks ago, when I had the itch to get some new work done and I just couldn't resist. Drew Mitchell at Stoneage Tattoo in Georgia does all my work.

robogirl sketch

2011-08-15T06:17:00.000-07:00

walctopus

2011-08-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

I should not make puns.

An octopus painting I did, which hangs in our dining room being all tentacled and bad ass.

joining the august break

2011-08-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

I've been a busy bee and I'll probably get a whole lot busier with fall semester starting up next week (eep!). Life has been throwing obstacle after obstacle my way and the blog has taken a backseat, so this will be a great way for me to carry on with posts through August. I swear one day I'll have enough time to really get this thing off its feet. But for now, August Break 2011, here goes!

dog adventure

2011-08-02T06:23:00.000-07:00

When I'm not home, I can often be found out in the wilderness with my dog. If I could, I'd spend all my time going on adventures with her. She's such a great companion. Off the leash she stays right by my side, or else runs a little bit ahead and then waits for me to catch up. She's such a mama's girl.

I have a goal of taking better pictures while I'm out on these adventures, but I'm usually too busy jumping in a river or walking treacherously over a gap across a fallen tree. So for now here are some cell phone pictures of a recent romp at a park with Phoenix and her BFF Kota.

Kota loves swimming. Phoenix on the other hand likes water but hates swimming, so that's why she's sitting like a goof with only her front paws in the water (since these pictures were taken, though, she's started begrudgingly swimming with me). I love this particular park because it's got all these broken old structures (part of a mill or a dam?), miles of woods to explore, and swimmable "lagoon" sections of the river.

Oh, and yes, Kota and Phoenix are black and white on purpose.

cupcakes and pikachu

2011-07-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Hans's birthday. He had to work most of the day but I'd say he came home to a pretty sweet little gift...

Miniature black cherry chocolate cupcakes!
Okay, so Hans's sister and I wanted to make him cupcakes, but we didn't have a cupcake pan so we used a tea cake pan. You can't tell because I'm a failed photographer, but they're in all kinds of fun shapes--hearts, stars, roses, etc. We used black cherry preserves instead of icing, I think they're adorable! Bitesize is always favorable. Also, we made about a thousand, not six.

I also painted him this cardboard portrait of Pikachu, because we're little kids at heart. I presented it to him first thing in the morning and I was dead tired so my memory is foggy, but he probably squealed with delight.

dream: skinny weirdo zombies

2011-07-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

Last night I had this funky dream. Okay, I quite nearly always have funky dreams. I used to always document them but I've stopped. I want to pick it back up again though, so here goes.

I was in the house I grew up in with Hans and my family. We were sitting on the couch, various blunt objects in our hands, awaiting the arrival of a zombie horde. The zombies were all bone-thin. In fact I don't think they were even anatomically correct. My dream must have added extra bones to achieve the level of skeletal creepiness these guys possessed. They'd arrive in small groups, and each group rang the doorbell. We'd march up to the door and open it to welcome our frighteningly thin guests, and beat their heads in (I was duel-wielding small baseball bats). Then we'd throw them in the basement where they still stood upright but we somehow knew they had been rendered useless and were no longer dangerous.

The shock came when we opened the door to a pair of our smiling neighbors, talking animatedly, but still clearly very much living corpses. Here my dream kindly flashes to a little explanatory scene which takes place in a mall. A girl is up high in a tiny elevator, which may or may not be part of a Space Needle replica, when a pair of the zombies below announce they know how to operate it and proceed to psychically force the girl to lower the lift down into the crowd of writhing corpses.

THEN IT FLASHES AGAIN, THIS TIME TO ALBUS DUMBLRDORE. Dumbledore is sitting in his study, writing a letter, apparently to me, and the dream kindly allows me to hear him narrate the letter as he writes it. He explains to me that if ever in life you taught a person how to do a thing--any thing, like ride a bike, use an oven, operate an elevator--then the person you taught, now a zombie, will be able to control you and by some psychic power, force you to do whatever action you once taught them to do. He tells me he is shut in his study and unable to leave, because he has taught everyone ever, so any zombie would have some form of control over him. He could therefore be easily overwhelmed. He goes on to tell me that zombies you were close to in life (like my friendly neighbors) will retain their personalities when and only when they are around you (or whoever else they were close to).

Flash! and back to my house, chatty zombies still rambling. I beat them over their heads but they kept talking, even with brain pulp showering out of their open skulls like confetti. We decided to just call them done-in and throw them in the basement, only to realize the basement was full. We decided to lead the harmless, broken zombies outside to make room for more. Throughout the dream refugees had been joining our number and in our mission to lead the bashed-in zombies outside, one of these refugees was found torturing one of the talking zombies. We all thought he must be some kind of sadistic sociopath because hey man, how can you be torturing a thing which is amicably carrying on a conversation with you? Yet we kept this psycho around because we didn't have the heart to throw him out.

We walked out into the backyard to see a bunch of animals wandering around, and suddenly the animals are the zombies and the zombie invasion is a friendly cuddly game which is part of a Disney MMORPG for children? Next thousands of shiny animal visages overlaying each other like a gigantic zoologist's kaleidescope keep flying at me, encompassing my sight entirely. Now the dream ends.

What. I love dreams.

babies

2011-07-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

Phoenix has grown so much since we adopted her! She looks like a dog now rather than an awkward puppy. And she is gorgeous.

Phoenix has developed a new hobby of chewing on Kenya?!!?! Hans and I are both at a loss. Kenya seems to sort of like it? What.

My baby beauty (and her goofy ear).

I so so adore my animal kiddies. I spend too many hours a day staring at them and that is just fine.

another venture into the realm of my ancient artwork

2011-07-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

Today has consisted mostly of cleaning house, eating sweets (after going 22 years of NOT being addicted to sweets, I am now addicted to sweets), "grooming" Phoenix, and reading Milan Kundera's The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. Kundera is my newest literary love--every one who hasn't done already should check him out. This evening my parents are hosting a family dinner shindig and Hans's parents are coming. Mom is making tempeh tacos, and I'm more than the appropriate amount of excited about it.

In blog news, I want to be posting lots of my art on this blog! Sadly, I've been suffering artist's block for weeks now but I'm happy to say it seems to have finally released me from its sticky grasp. I've been painting and doodling and coming up with some new stuff, but nothing yet that I'm ready to share. So for now, here's another of my old, old, OLD pieces of art (I have shared one other old-as-heck work, HERE).

This time around I have yet another sad humanoid...thing.

...I guess I wanted someone to shut up. I always have a lot of fun looking back at my old drawings. One of these days I may try to compile a year-by-year progression of my art skillz. That would be interesting, I'm sure (possibly to me alone).

cowgirl/princess

2011-07-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

I am a complete spaz and I probably shouldn't pose for pictures ever because all it does is capture permanently what a fool I am. But, I really like this dress I found at a thrift shop a little while back. Here are pictures of me in it, along with my favorite vegan boots and some necklaces, taken by my ever-talented sister Nanner, who would probably prefer a better model.

I AM an indian princess! I live in the jungle with my dog! I will keep make-believing this until I die.

These were taken up at my parents' place. They live on several acres with their dogs, cats, and horses. It's so beautiful there. Hans and I visit nearly every weekend.

Boots: Big Buddha Casi in Taupe
Dress: Thrifted
Necklaces: Leaf by Dottie and Octopus by random Dragon*Con vendor, sadly no links

hp7.2

2011-07-18T07:06:00.001-07:00

Hans and I went to the HP7.2 premiere! After weeks (okay, months. Okay, years!) of anticipation, the night finally arrived: the amazing, sad, beautiful, terrible, wonderful ending to my childhood.

sleepy Hans and dork-faced me at the premiere

We arrived hours early, armed with chocolates and candies (we need sugar to stay up late; we're oldies), and sat in the lobby reading Deathly Hallows until the moment came. Hans was right when he said the buzzing nervousness felt just like the fearful excitement of climbing the tallest hill of a roller coaster.

read read read

On Deathly Hallows Part 2, I can say I loved it. There were some little parts I didn't like, mostly having to do with what felt like choppy editing, but nonetheless the final film was incredible. Every actor gave a great performance, especially Alan Rickman, who has always done justice to my favorite character, Snape. And the film had me falling more in love with Neville Longbottom than even the book did (and trust me, in the book when Neville rises to such heroics, my heart throbs). I definitely cried more than I have ever, ever cried at any movie. Basically from Death Number 1 to the last death the film shows (we know whose that is!), I was sobbing. Sobbing! Movies don't usually get me like that! But this is more than a movie, these characters live in my heart and soul, damn it. Sobs and sniffles could be heard throughout the theater at the midnight premiere. It was touching, really. And, true to my dorky character, less than 24 hours after the premiere I was back at the theater seeing the film again (no lies: I will probably do so many more times). I have to see it more than once to get a proper analysis! And my analysis is that Deathly Hallows parts 1 & 2 are the best films in the series since The Sorcerer's Stone, and thank goodness, because how bad would it be if they messed up the ending?!

google+

2011-07-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hey blogalog, I'm just popping in really quickly to mention Google+, which I think is fairly awesome. I'm not an avid Facebook user (read: Twitter is where it's at), but I've been lucky to snag an invite to Google+ and so far, I totally dig it. It's a little empty over there though, as it's still invite-only. I'd love some new Google+ friends, and thanks to the ease of "circles", I've decided to keep my account largely public, so I'm welcoming all my interwebz pals to be my Google+ friends. Find me: Sara Shuford.

And! I'm not stingy--if you haven't been invited yet, I can invite you if you send me your email. Let's face it, we all want to be hip, elite users of the newest social network on the block.

Google+ party commence!

P.S. I'm still deep in my Harry Potter re-read/re-watch, thus the lack of regular blog updates, but I'll be back after it's all over (perhaps with my thoughts on the final film!).

I love you, Tallulah

2011-07-01T06:57:00.001-07:00

Hi, blog friends! I have long been away from my little blog. I must admit it's mostly because I can not tear myself away from the Harry Potter book series, what with the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows part II a mere week away. I'm so nervous and I'm reading the books in a fever. I'm a teensy bit emotional over the whole thing (read: I was totally crying while watching the London world premiere yesterday, oops). But, I'm breaking away from my reading spree to blog about the wonderful birthday getaway I went on a couple weekends ago.

I went with a troupe of my oldest and best friends to my favorite place in Georgia, Tallulah Gorge. We packed my mom's SUV (which she bravely let us borrow) full with camping gear, filled all 8 seats with bodies, and after a cramped two-hour drive we arrived in beautiful Tallulah Falls.

We set up camp and then headed down the gorge straight away (after signing wavers; they only let 100 people down per day). Traversing the gorge involves a lot of rock hopping, a lot of stairs, and a lot of wonder. But who wants words, especially when I can hardly do the place justice? I'll let the pictures to the talking now. (Sorry, picture heavy!)

(I almost chose to caption this, "besties!")

I am not tall/agile/brave enough to ever get up there...

Walking along this waterfall is one of the most thrilling parts of the journey for me.

At the end of the long trek, you can scoot out onto this natural slip and slide and be swept away into the icy pool below. It's mighty rewarding and tremendously fun.

While breaking camp I made friends with this little guy.

This was my third and most favorite trip to Tallulah Gorge, and I certainly hope to make many more trips back throughout my life. The sense of wonder and adventure I get down in the gorge is incredible.

P.S. For more about Tallulah Gorge and some of my other vacationing exploits, check out my guest post over on Erin's blog.

What are your favorite places to go when you want to get away from it all?

All photos taken by my talented sister, Nanner.

I turned 22

2011-06-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

My birthday has come and gone. I turned 22 on the 22nd of June, and I'm a kind of glad it's over with. I have grown accustomed to dreading my birthday every year. It seems something goes wrong, devastates me financially or emotionally (or both) and leaves me feeling rather awful about turning another stupid year older. Plus, I want to stay a ten-year-old forever, and now I'm 12 years beyond my favorite age.

This year was really no different as far as the universe throwing troubles my way. I've been absent from the internet for two reasons: my computer overheats lately, and my phone completely broke. Everything around me likes to break just in time to help me celebrate my birth. But it doesn't stop there. My car's check engine light presented itself to me a few weeks ago, so I haven't been able to pass emissions to renew my tags, and my car has been in and out of the shop all week. I'm pissed, really, because I stressed the importance of having it up to the standards for emissions by the 22nd, and they decided to only fix one problem instead of the two the light was indicating. So when I got my car back initially, the light came back on after I drove it just a few miles. Now it's back in the shop, and I'm overdue on my tag/tax and a few hundred dollars poorer. Thanks, universe! You know how to treat me on my birthday.

But I've spent a lot of time with my family this week, and I'm going camping this weekend with seven of my best and oldest friends, and I have received some really thoughtful gifts, so I shouldn't actually be complaining. My friends and family love me, and at least I'm not the annoying age of 21 any more. I've just been feeling defeated as things have been piling up.

But I think I ought to brag about some of my awesome gifts, yes?

Hans, prince that he is, spent a whole night crafting this Hogwarts letter, and left it hanging from with little snowy owl from the ceiling for me to find when I woke up in the morning.

I kind of died when I found it.

My sister knows my taste in jewelry and exactly which animals I adore. She was so excited to give this to me, which made it an especially wonderful gift.

Hans bought me a vegan cheesecake and my mom baked me a vegan red velvet cake, and both were exquisite. I've been eating cake breakfast lunch and dinner, oops. (also, I turned 10!)

My parents gave me a vegetable steamer, and I can't wait to end my birthday-induced junk food binge and steam some veggies. My friend Ryan made me a beautiful little journal, which I'm going to try to fill with worthy, equally beautiful drawings and things.

So, despite the computer/phone/car troubles, there were many bright moments of happiness with those I love.

the happening is happening

2011-06-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

The universe is treating me rather well, lately. I'm loving the way this summer has been unfolding. Though we keep pretty busy, Hans and I have found time for lots of lovely days spent in the sunshine, which our animal babies and our family and friends. My birthday is coming up very soon and we're even going to be able to make an awesome camping trip to one of my favorite places in Georgia, Tallulah Gorge, to celebrate. I'm buzzing with excitement. I've been trying to take a lot of pictures lately but I basically always fail at that...alas, I have a few.

Hans is a prince, and he came home from work one evening with these flowers. It's good to be a princess.

This is too funny to me. I desperately wanted to document all the dogs getting along (my parents' dogs, the three black ones, are usually huge jerks, but they tolerate Phoenix and Wylie), and right when I snap a photo with the five of them together, Phoenix pees. Thank you, my little darling Phoenbean, for always having class and being a lady.

My sister's dog Wylie is such a handsome fox. He and Phoenix are totally in love.

Lately I've been up to no good, and by that I mean I've been really, really embracing my inner dork. This is wonderful but it does make me a smidge less productive than I ought to be when I can't tear myself away from whatever silly fandom has its grip on my soul. What obsessions have me in their clutches?

Hans and I took the plunge back into childhood...we're playing Pokemon again. (My DS is the gigantic first model that looks like it was made in the 80s by a giraffe. I kind of desperately want to buy a new DS when I compare mine with Hans's, but hey, mine was free.) So we've been journeying along, filling up our pokedexes. Like adults.

I have also been shamelessly playing Neopets again. If anyone else is strangely addicted to this virtual pet website, my username is icky_monster and yes, we can definitely be neofriends.

And of course, in anticipation of the seventh and final film, I have been obsessively re-reading the Harry Potter series.

I'm currently on book three, and delighting at reliving every moment of the story. Hans and I have actually been taking turns reading out loud to each other, which has been especially wonderful. I'm so, so nervous about the final film and how it will feel when it all really comes to an end. Who is with me?

Seriously guys, it's a problem. My mind is just harrypotterpokemonneopetsharrypotterpokemongogogo but, I have also had some work pop up, which has been great. Recently I was PA for a Chic-fil-a online spot (which slightly broke my little vegan heart) and for an HGTV product spot, both shoots done in one day. Boy, was it a long day. I was the slate dude for the first half of the day and spent the latter half steaming pillows and sheets and curtains that were the HGTV products. I even had to rush to a dry cleaner to try to de-wrinkle two massive comforters. It was my first trip to the dry cleaner. I felt like a city girl then. I'm hoping the PA thing will pick up enough so I won't have to find some little cashiering-type job to hold me over. Fingers crossed..

moleskin monday: helium girl

2011-06-13T08:09:00.001-07:00

This little lady has got some balloons, so I call her helium girl.

She's made of ballpoint pens in a classic moleskin. I actually plan to have her reincarnated as a tattoo some day.

Today I'm planning mostly to dork around (pokemon, Harry Potter, and more, oh yes), but also to go to the post office and to the gym and do laundry! (We haven't been able to do laundry in ages for fear of boiling some little birdies who live in a nest inside the steam vent. Good job, birds). I'll be a regular super hero today completing all these tasks.

I feel like blogging about the goings-on in my life, so I'll whip up another post for tomorrow.

moleskin monday: neat animals edition

2011-06-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was rather eventful. Phoenix and I went to visit my parents and their motley crew of dogs. My parents' dogs finally accepted Phoenix (begrudgingly). We were all thrilled! Five dogs is a beautiful number of dogs. My dad made vegan artichoke dip and my mom made vegan buffalo ranch sandwiches, and I stuffed my face blissfully until I felt like dying.

Next I went to meet up at a restaurant with my wonderful friend Joel to celebrate his graduation from SCAD. A bunch of my oldest and best friends were there and we had a wonderful time. I tried to be good there and only ate an avocado and ample chips and salsa (aka not good).

Then the lot of us packed up, grabbed Phoenix and her BFF Kota and headed to the Etowah River to jump and play in the water. Three members of the group decided it was a good idea to let the river sweep them away, and Kota (recently a master swimmer) decided to follow. Joel and I were left tossing sticks to Phoenix and trying to convince her water is her friend, and wondering whether our friends had met their watery deaths. Fortunately everyone returned safely and the dogs only caused a few disasters (such as covering themselves completely in sandy mud, and puking up a pretty pile of rank mud on the car ride home).

We came back to my place and Hans had made it home from work, so he joined the adventures. After dancing around like fools (some new wheelchair dance?) we decided to go to an all-night diner like we we have no responsibilities or something. After carefully navigating the menu, and inquiring for further knowledge from the server, I found my three vegan options: a plate of fruit, french fries, and sauteed eggplant. Each came out in serving sizes large enough to feed ten people and I ate nearly all of it. Whoops! We spent a lot of the night recounting stories from our very young childhoods, which I have discovered are the funniest sort of stories (and too embarrassing to repeat!).

We didn't get home until close to 2 a.m.! It was like being 18 again. I never stay up late, but it was worth it, even if I felt utterly like death this morning.

And I failed to capture a single photo of any of it!

But, it's moleskin monday so I do have some fun pictures lined up!

This little ink&paint doodle is of an animal who long ago stole my heart, the thylacine (or Tasmanian tiger). These guys were unfortunately hunted into extinction back in the 20s, but I am totally fascinated by and in love with them.

They're like snake-zebra-koala-dogs! They're marsupials, can open their jaws to an impressive angle, have pretty little stripes, and they're extinct and I'm sad about it. (Also, you may find the inspiration for my layout with this guy.)

Now, I can't share my love of the thylacine without sharing my newest animal love (I have myriad animal loves floating around in my heart and soul), the maned wolf.

Take a look at this guy! He's actually not related to wolves, or even foxes. Instead he's in a class (er, genus) entirely by himself. I want to meet one and give him a high five. Maybe I'll make some art about him, too.

I feel like I gained 10 pounds from the ridiculous amount of food I ate yesterday. Today I'm going to eat significantly less food and do chores around the house in my bathing suit, because it's summer time?

If you know of a super neat animal, please share pictures/facts with me!.

my monstery art, way back when

2011-06-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

I spent a lovely morning lazing about in bed with Hans. We never sleep in. He's always up at six so he can go for a run and then pop off to work, and I usually roll out of bed shortly after. But somehow this warm Saturday we shrugged off our early bird suits and had a sleepy party all morning (this is kind of a total lie--we both woke up at 7 to tend to the animal babies, but went back to bed. Still, I was still up by 9am to read (currently Pontypool Changes Everything) while Hans slept in. But a couple hours later I crawled back in bed with him and the lazy party commenced!). It was lovely to have a little time to ourselves, acting like goofballs.

We also went for a short walk with Phoenix, because apparently we're crazy and we thought we could withstand Georgia's stifling heat (Hint: we couldn't).

Now Hans is off to squeeze in MORE work over the weekend (boy's a workaholic) and I'm whipping up this post in between doing some chores.

I thought it would be fun to share some of my older artwork, because I have come a long way and it's fun to reflect on how my style has changed. I had a pretty rough time in high school, which is when I started to take art seriously, and the pieces I churned out back then certainly reflect that struggle. To say the least, they're pained. Take this little gem for an example...

I had a long relationship with smeary india ink and drippy water colors, and my "Fix It" lady is one of the children born of that messy affair.

I'm actually still fond of this one, though I'm happy to say I produce much more optimistic pieces lately. I still draw monstery alien humanoids, but happier ones.

a to zee

2011-06-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

I have seen this around and I decided to fill it out, BECAUSE I'M TOO BORING TO COME UP WITH ANY CLEVER AWESOME CONTENT. Actually, I'm suffering from this neck pain still, and I'm achy and lonely and this seems like a fine way to pass some time. I think this will be the final day of my torment, but we'll see. Fingers crossed! I may have to cut my neck off if this doesn't end pronto...

So, alphabetical Sara, go!

A. Age: 21. My birthday is this month! Finally I don't have to be this dumb age any more!
B. Bed size: When I moved in with Hans I inherited his queen. Yes!
C. Chore that you hate: I hate dusting and I hate folding clothes. Everything else, set me to it.
D. Dogs: Are my soul mates! I adore canines and count them all as my pals. Right now, miss Phoenix has the staring doggy role in my life and makes all my days brighter.
E. Essential start to your day: Cuddles with Hans before we begrudgingly role out of bed! This is our prime snuggling time. Then I usually whip up a smoothie and bid him farewell when he goes off to work.
F. Favourite color: I love every color, but I have an intense love of orange.
G. Gold or Silver: I like silver but I'm also beginning to like worn, brassy looking gold.
H. Height: I'm a shorty! Five feet and three inches.
I. Instruments you play: Guitar Hero D: Maybe one day I'll play a real instrument...
J. Job title: I'm recently unemployed and I hate it. But I've been doing odd jobs in the film business, so we'll go with production assistant.
K. Kids: I will never have human children. I am against having children, actually. But I love my animal kids.
L. Live: Yes, please? I live IN Georgia. I try to live well.
M. Mother's name: Nancy.
N. Nicknames: In high school people called me Spunkmeyer or God (terrible, I know). Since then I don't really have a nickname. Well, Hans calls me bumblebee.
O. Overnight hospital stays: I haven't ever even been in a hospital at all and hopefully never will. I probably wouldn't even go if I was dying. I have a senseless fear of hospitals and a complete lack of trust with doctors.
P. Pet peeve: If you don't replace the toilet paper after finishing a role, I do not like you.
Q. Quote from a movie: I'm choosing two! "I think you prefer when the world 'together' means not 'a million,' but just two." from The Dreamers, AND "To know death, Otto, you have to fuck life IN ZE GALLBLADDER!" Thank you Flesh for Frankenstein.
R. Right or left handed: Right handed.
S. Siblings: I have a younger sister Nanner and an older half-sister Whitney.
T. Time you wake up: Typically between 7 and 8:30.
U. Underwear: Usually I skip wearing it, even though I have a tendency to obsessively buy it. I make no sense.
V. Vegetable you hate: I hate zero vegetables. Feed me veggies!
W. What makes you run late: The first thing my brain said was "ducks with x-ray vision" so we'll go with that.
X. X-Rays you've had: I have a fake memory of getting my skull x-rayed. I'm pretty sure that never happened. I can't remember any real x-rays. I hate doctors.
Y. Yummy food that you make: According to Hans all the food I make is the best food ever. I like making quesadillas, stir-frys, and pastas if I'm eating indulgently, and smoothies, veggies, and salads if I'm on a health nut kick. All vegan of course.
Z. Zoo animal: VEGAN RANT No! I hate zoos. There is no such thing as a "zoo animal." This is the most ridiculous term! No animal's natural habitat is a zoo and no animal should be defined this way. "Zoo animal" means "imprisoned and mistreated animal" and I count this among my least favorite distinction of animal. /VEGAN RANT

So there you have it folks, me from A to Z.
If you fill out this alphabet meme, link me to yours!

bangin'

2011-06-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

While Hans was off doing his science thing in New Orleans, I went a little stir crazy and made a rash decision: I chopped my hair right off so I could sport bangs for summer. So here are some silly webcam photos I took trying to look fly and show off my new 'do. Bangs: Good decision or bad decision?

They're kind of uneven, but my hair is curly so it's undetectable. I'll probably be visiting my salon to have m hair all fixed up once I feel like dropping some money on that. So far I'm loving them. I've never had had quite such straight across Betty-esque bangs before.

Now I'm shacked up at home feeling like a cripple. I woke up yesterday with an ache in my neck so severe I couldn't turn my head. To make things especially lovely, my head was stuck at an odd angle, so I spent the whole day lying around, staring off to my left, completely unable to turn my head to the right. Luckily my sister stopped by with a heating pad and her Dog Wylie, so I was a little more at ease and Phoenix was kept busy.

TODAY my neck is still tender, but I've regained most of the mobility of my head (not enough to drive or do anything remotely active, though). I'm not a couch potato type of person, so this bed-ridden stuff has really got me down. I've been stuffing my head with Netflix and NBC (everything from Hercules, to Valhalla Rising to America's Got Talent and The Voice) and trying not to fall into a depressed rut. My wonderful mom and sister came over today to baby me, which I really appreciate but I'm ready to be up and taking care of myself again now, please!

I think I'm just suffering a bout of bad luck...I've been having issues with my phone and managed to split my baby toe open accidentally kicking a wall this morning. So send any spare good luck my way, I could use it!

home tour

2011-05-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make a post like this for a while, and I can't wait any longer. This one is going to be incomplete, because the upstairs rooms of our house aren't as pretty or complete as the downstairs, but here is a little tour of my home. I didn't tidy up before taking any of these photos, so you're getting the real deal.

Our living room is a bit of a tricky spot to arrange. It took quite a while for us to find a set up we really loved. This is perfect and cozy. Our fireplace and the beautiful coffee table my mom gave us are the centerpieces. I'm definitely looking forward to cozy winters. Who else has a love/hate relationship with Hans's decorating sense? Swords, light sabers, an ax...the mirror in the middle of it all reflects my taste. It has kind of grown on me. And of course, no room would be complete without Miss Phoenix.

Kenya is always hanging out in this cozy chair, growling and hating on Phoenix from afar.

Phoenix doesn't really mind.

Our kitchen, with more sword decorating by Hans. We have a billion cabinets and ample counter space. Cooking here is so fun! I hated cooking in my cramped apartment's kitchen with its one square inch of counter space. Here, I feel like a domestic goddess. And our dining room, underused but still important to me. Hans fails to see the purpose of a dining room. Actually, we ate in there just last night...I'll have to point that out to him.

Kenya again, scheming as always.

So much love pours out of these puppy eyes.

I love this little corner of our house. My favorite lamp, a pretty mirror (can you tell we like mirrors?) and, well, an empty picture frame I WILL fill, when inspiration finally strikes. Aand of course, my favorite part of our house, the back yard. It's big and fenced in and Phoenix can run around like a crazy person all she wants.

foxy shazam

2011-05-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm going with some of my favorite people to see my favoite band, Foxy Shazam. This will be the seventh time I see Foxy and it certainly will not be the last. I see them every time they come to Atlanta. Hell, once I even road-tripped to North Carolina to see them when they skipped my city. I've met most of them a few times and they are super friendly guys, so I feel great about supporting them.

Foxy's live shows are what really sold me on the music. Actually, the music is almost irrelevant: it's good, but I'd probably like them anyway based solely on their performances. Their vocalist is Eric Nally and he's a scrawny little thing, but an insane ball of energy. Eric usually ends up upside down, climbing on top of something he shouldn't be on, telling ridiculous stories in his high pitched voice, and eating several lit cigarettes. Sky White, the keyboardist, often plays his keyboard with his feet and smiles eerily into the crowd from behind his giant beard. Another band member to watch is the horn player Alex Nauth, who has been wearing the same tight black pants with bones bleached into them every time I've seen them.

The music itself is high-energy, dancey, hilarious, and frequently even beautiful. I'll let it speak for itself...

Foxy Shazam!
Dig 'em.

moleskin monday (on tuesday): creepy edition

2011-05-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

It's day four of no Hans. He comes home tomorrow and I'm more than ready to see his smile. But between adventures in dog parks and swimming in rivers (Phoenix is scared of rivers) and doing household chores and sustaining a pretty bad bite from the cat (thanks, Kenya), and blasting The Offspring (weirdly all I want to listen to right now), I have been keeping myself busy.

Yesterday I had an art party with a friend. We drew pictures while watching a marathon of Ghost Adventures and alternately laughing and screaming hysterically.

Probably because of Ghost Adventures I made these cutesy spooky ink&paint doodles in my water color moleskin.

I haven't been in the mood for painstaking ballpoint shading, so I've been doing lots of little ink&paint sketches like these. More to come!

lonely lunch: agavemustard & a dessert smoothie

2011-05-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

Hans left bright and early this morning for New Orleans. That's quite a haul from Georgia and he's going to be gone for five days. It's day one and I already miss him. Silly! He's off to some science convention to present the research he's been doing. He's such a fancy pants, and I love it. Eating without him is lonely business (we're obsessed with food), but I'm trying not to miss him too much and instead eat to my heart's content like always.

So today I threw together almost every random scrap of food we had in the refrigerator, and I was impressed with my results.

I have always been a honey mustard lover. But, I also love bees, so now I choose to refrain from eating honey. I've switched to agave nectar when I need that sweet, syrupy fix (and even to replace sugar, the stuff's a miracle). Today it dawned on me that I could probably make something very like honey mustard if I used agave nectar, and this recipe was born.

I don't like to rely on mock-meats very often, but when I do Gardein is my jam. It's the tastiest stuff out there. So I had a few of these beefless tips (hate that name!) left over from quesadillas a few nights ago, and I decided they would taste great with an agave mustard glaze.

So! Do it up like this:
Mix equal parts agave and mustard (I prefer raw agave and organic mustard, but use what you will).
Fry up Gardein tips in a pan with some oil, and when they are almost-almost done, pour the agave mustard glaze over them to finish them up (but save some glaze for dipping!)
And you're done!

And in my household, no meal is complete without a smoothie, so I whipped this one up, inspired by the tasty treat I had at The Loving Hut last night (Hans took me out for dinner before he left for his trip. My boy is a sweetheart♥)

For this one I prefer to use peanut butter without any nasty hydrogenated oils in it, and of course vegan chocolate chips. I also added a hint of agave nectar for sweetness but I think it may have been unnecessary. Now, Hans swears chocolate chips are pointless in a smoothie but I can totally taste them and I don't know what he's talking about. But if you want to take the healthier route, nix the chocolate chips and feel good about this protein-rich and tasty treat.

I heated up some frozen veggies and stirred some Earth Balance and pepper in with them and called this meal complete. This was delicious friends. I highly recommend you try it out.

re-launch: introducing icky monster

2011-05-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

I love blogging. I have been having so much fun with it, designing and coming up with content and expressing myself internet style. It's such a fun and positive creative outlet. But ever since starting, I've been trying to find my niche in the blogosphere and it just hasn't happened yet, until now. Although I totally dig it and the girls who keep it going, I realized I'm not quite a cutesy hipster/indie blogging queen and I just can't quite fit into that mold. But now I think I've finally found my real internet soul.

I'm proud to announce the re-launch of my blog, which I am now 100% proud of, as icky monster. I finally feel comfortable in my internet skin. I will now be http://ickymonster.blogspot.com and I am staying here. The name Icky Monster was inspired by my drawings because mostly they’re icky and mostly they’re monsters. I have also changed my tumblr and pintrest names accordingly (twitter user ickymonster already exists! fail!). I'm going to let my artwork influence my blog a lot more from here on out. I'm pretty excited about all this. Oh, and be sure to check out my new arty layout, which is probably still a work in progress.

ick·y
–adjective, ick·i·er, ick·i·est. Informal.
1.
repulsive or distasteful.
2.
excessively sweet or sentimental.

mon·ster
–noun
1.
a legendary animal combining features of animal and human form or having the forms of various animals in combination, as a centaur, griffin, or sphinx.
2.
any creature so ugly or monstrous as to frighten people.
3.
any animal or human grotesquely deviating from the normal shape, behavior, or character.

So, hi, from icky monster.
I hope every one likes the new direction! I'd love some thoughts.

back after accidental hiatus!

2011-05-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

Whoops! Well, the website was down for a while, and my computer was broken for a while, and I've been sort of silly-busy, thus my long and sad hiatus from blogger. But, I'm back! To commemorate my return to blogging, here's a dump of all the recent photos I've taken with my cell phone!

Life excerpts!

This is one of my favorite places to go. From a park, you can walk to where a railroad crosses a river (large creek?) and hang out on the tracks.

A friend and I tried out this anime eye makeup tutorial with sort of okay results. It was pretty ridiculous.

My animal family :)

Our good child.

Our demon child.

And somehow they are coexisting?!

Phoenix with her BFF Kota, having some sleepy time after a run through Piedmont Park in ATL.

Hans is always picking Phoenix up for some reason.

Or doing this...

How about some amazing buildings?

This is an abandoned building in Atlanta. It was built in 1911, 100 years ago! Now it's a crack house or something, but it's so dang cool.

This is on a little street off of the road where my parents live. The company ran out of money before ever finishing their 15 houses. This one wasn't even ever completed on the inside, but man is it gorgeous. We sneaked up to it and peaked inside while out walking the dogs. Want!

Oh, and Hans's idea of a hilarious joke...

He came up behind me the other day and instructed me not to turn around or look while he pressed something huge and damp against my back. Guess which tattoo is real!

While I was away, Hans graduated from college and I attended the ceremony. His name was severely mispronounced, sad/hilarious. He's now working full-time at a job he loves, and I'm so proud. I finished out the semester acing my classes. I just realized I should bake myself a cake for that. I'm home alone a lot, and Kenya and Phoenix have been alternately driving me nuts and overwhelming me with love. I've been keeping busy with housewife duties and looking for more PA work. Many walks with the dogs have been happening and I also started p90x so I can get insanely fit. Summer is finally really here and I can't wait to see what adventures the warm weather takes me on in 2011.

What are your summer plans?

foodz: easy as heck pasta salad

2011-05-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

This is an old favorite of my family's. It's really simple and easily altered to suit individual tastes. We used to do it up with feta cheese and such but now I do it vegan style and my family does, too. So here it is, the easiest pasta salad ever.

Shorten or lengthen the ingredient list as you wish. My mom always adds tomatoes but I'm a tomato hater so you'll find none in this dish I cooked up for lunch the other day. Also, not pictured are the noodles! I used angel hair this time but I've used anything from bow-tie to fettuccine.

To make it, easy peasy: boil water to cook noodles. Rinse cooked noodles with cold water to chill. Add italian dressing (a little bit goes a long way) and set aside to cool (or refrigerate to speed things up!). Chop up two stems green onions. Peel cucumber and then cut into chunky cubes. Add the cucumber, olives, and green onions to italiany noodle mix, and tada! Tasty lunch time pasta.

Yum!

moleskin monday: disease man, again

2011-05-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

I was so busy last week I skipped Moleskin Monday, but this week I'm back on track.

I have featured this guy in my blog before, but now he's shaped up quite a bit. Maybe enough to call him finished? I can never decide.

Hans's home renovations lead to old toilets sitting on our back porch...we have a lot to do this summer. But I thought this would be an appropriate place for Disease Man to sit.

He didn't used to be so angry. I wonder what happened... Probably a pretty female icky alien told him she wouldn't be his date to the prom.

We pick up Phoenix from the shelter tomorrow! I'm beyond excited.

meet Phoenix

2011-05-01T06:46:00.001-07:00

I have been absent for too long now. It has been quite a busy week! I have been working as a production assistant since I quit the liquor store. My dad is a successful lighting director and he's been hooking me up with some jobs. Yesterday was my first paid shoot! I was assisting the art department and had a blast. The job included some fun things like throwing a beach ball at a drag queen's face. As my dad said, in the film industry you never know what you'll be asked to do.

Moving on, this is the exciting news I have to share. We have a new addition to our little family. Her name is Phoenix, and I'm in love.

Hans wanted a goofy lab type dog. I wanted a regal shepherd type dog. Phoenix is part lab part shepherd. She's built like a shepherd but has a bit of a silly demeanor like a lab. Plus, I wanted a white dog to contrast our black cat. She's perfect for us and we can't wait to bring her home.

We can't bring her home until after she is spayed Tuesday, but that actually worked out perfectly because it gives Kenya plenty of time to heal from her surgery. (By the way, We think Kenya will be fine once we introduce a dog to the house because she doesn't like to be the center of attention anyway. She prefers to be invisible, so if the puppy steals the spotlight she won't mind.)

We look good together. Excuse my hair.

Big feet! She is only 5 or 6 months old. Apparently she is going to be an 80 pound dog. Huge monster wolf baby.

Perfect ears.

I have been visiting her at the shelter every chance I get. We already taught her to sit!

We're soul mates. The day I took Kenya to be spayed, I had a feeling I should go to the animal shelter. I tried to ignore it but eventually gave in and went with my mom and sister. Phoenix was in the very last door of the very last row of cages. I knew instantly when I looked at her that she was my dog.

So the next day Hans and I went to see her and sure enough, she was still there waiting for us and we decided to take her home. Hans instantly consented when he saw her. I had expected to have to beg a little but Phoenix did all the work for me ;)

I have an attractive family.

I'm so looking forward to going on a million adventures with her.

I told my mom all of her grandchildren will have four legs. I love my two kids.

photo dump: naturey things

2011-04-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

Commence photodocumentation of what I've been up to for the past week(ish).

I have taken to walking to school now that the weather is warm. It's a 30 minute walk through a pretty neighborhood and I love it.

I found this bird's nest sitting in someone's front lawn. Birds are pretty crafty.

I also met this colorful caterpillar. There are so many of these little guys running around Georgia right now.

While walking to home from school one afternoon a friend and I rescued this turtle from the road. We named him Dead Space II after the game Hans is religiously playing.

I went to this gorgeous park with a friend. It's one of my favorite parks. It's a series of trails with a creek running through it and always populated by dog-walkers. It also has this beautiful field which is a great place to just lie around and talk in the sunshine.

And seriously, I love my Vibrams so much.

I conquered a tiny mountain.

I'm a big fan of this fallen tree. It gives me a crazyface.

This is my poor baby Kenya is recovery mode after being spayed. She's ACTUALLY curled up with me right now, acting like a friendly cuddly cat for the second time ever. I love my child.

I have some really exciting news I can't wait to share but I'm going to save it until I have some great photos to go along with it.

cat snip

2011-04-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

Today I took Kenya to be spayed. We were able to afford this on our tight budget thanks to Project CatSnip, which is a traveling clinic offering vaccines, spay and neuter procedures, and other health care to cats at very discounted rates. If anyone in the Atlanta area needs affordable treatment for a feline pal, I definitely recommend CatSnip (kind of an cringe-worthy pun, huh?).

It was a BIT of an ordeal, but overall I was satisfied with the care Kenya received. I had to arrive at the clinic (the "clinic" is literally a traveling clinic: a bus in a parking lot) promptly at 7:30 am. So we were up and crating Kenya at 6 this morning. Once I arrived the veterinarian on site gave everyone the run down of protocol and the different options for treatments. This was great and informative, but unfortunately the vet was very brisk and borderline rude. When I went to turn in my paperwork to her, I had to warn that Kenya was feral when we adopted her and that she's a mean little kitty. I tried to make a joke about it but couldn't even get half a smile out of the vet. I can understand being stern when instructing people, but one-on-one? C'mon, be friendly.

I was supposed to pick Kenya up at 3:30 pm but the clinic called and said I could pick her up early at 1. I had been hanging around at my parents' house since it was close by, and my mom and my sister accompanied me to go pick Kenya up so we could do a little thrift shopping on the way. When we arrived to get Kenya, the vet opened the door, thrusted a crated Kenya at me and said "she was very bad" in a rather rude manner and retreated back into the clinic. This irked me a little but I let it go without saying I told you so. I mean, I DID warn them. Meanies.

Despite the rudeness, I think Project CatSnip is a great service, especially when so many cats are never spayed or neutered because their humans simply cannot afford it. I am definitely going to be spreading the word about CatSnip to do what I can to help reduce kitty overpopulation.

And I am going to close this on a completely unrelated note, which is this

HOMEMADE LIMEADE SWEETENED WITH AGAVE NECTAR.

I am drinking it right now and it tastes like PERFECT. Fill a cup halfway with water, then juice two limes and add the juice, then add copious amounts of delicious gift-from-heaven agave nectar and stir. And if you want to be fancy, throw in lime halves to make it look pretty! Yay delicious limeade!

tentacle♥

2011-04-23T14:58:00.001-07:00

As I have probably made obvious, I love sea creatures, especially those with tentacles, especially octopuses. Probably too often I find myself hunting down awesome octopus-themed crafty things, mostly to wear but also to decorate my house with. Here are some of the prettiest tentacle things I found in my searches today.

This beautiful tentacle ring, oh my goodness, do I love this! It comes from this Etsy shop, Leviticus. It is available in multiple colors and sizes, and 50% of the proceeds to go Japan disaster relief. I die.

This gigantic so awesome hair piece, which I would totally wear every single day on top of my lion's mane, oh yes. Plus, it can double as a brooch! Utter brilliance. From the SteampunkCouture Etsy shop, and hopefully one day residing comfortably (and permanently) on my head.

This octopus lamp made of a coconut?! How neat is this guy? He is especially neat because I own him. He lives in our office and the way he casts light through his many holes is pretty great. He was a Christmas gift, but I found him on Amazon here.

This octopus style pink grapefruit soap! Who doesn't need octopus shaped soap? I know I absolutely do. The best thing about this soap, though, is that it is cruelty free and vegan! I definitely do not like to hurt anybody when I take a bath so vegan soaps and such are essential. Found here from The Charming Frog on Etsy.

And finally, this incredible abmer octopus lamp. Now, maybe I already have one octopus lamp, but two can't hurt! I love his big metal tentacles and I'm sure the light emitted from that big amber head is just gorgeous. Aaah, need! I found him here along with quite a few other fantastic lamps.

More tentacles, please.

my beautiful life

2011-04-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Hans accepted a pretty prestigious award from our university. He was the Outstanding Senior in Biotechnology. When I read his little write-up in the program, boy did I swoon. He's accomplished quite a lot. He goes so above and beyond and he's obsessed with his field. He really deserved that award. Also, hilariously, he was the most under-dressed person at the ceremony, which was honestly fitting.

My dream man is real and I am so proud of him.

I'm basically in love with my life, and what my life is evolving into. The past few months have been a bunch of out with the old, in with the new. New home, new major, new job (hopefully!). My life is beautiful. I keep seeing all these patterns--or it feels like patterns--things are folding and overlapping and intertwining and opening up in the most wonderful ways. A hundred things I have wanted have just come to me, like all I had to do was desire something and the universe twisted and convulsed and wrapped itself around my life and spat out the things I needed. That's not to say I haven't worked hard. I have worked damn hard and I don't think I'm undeserving, but it also feels like what, is this really happening? Such synchronicity has never existed for me before. The future feels like a warm place. That the future even feels like a place is a wonder: it used to feel like a big fat nothing. A hole. I am excited to find out just what things are going to fill up the hole.

And have I mentioned we love our cat?

Because we love our cat.

vanity post: nautical style

2011-04-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

I made the idiot decision to buy myself a new outfit the other day. Sure, I'm recently unemployed but spring has sprung and I can feel the summer heat already infiltrating the days. I definitely needed this new outfit, yes? Yes.

All I have is a silly mirror picture because sometimes I'm too lazy to balance my camera properly and find the perfect angles to use the self timer. Oh well! This fun frilly tank top was only $7 and these shorts (with an elastic waist which is wonderful in light of the dumb winter weight I'm still working on shedding) are so comfy and cute and were on sale for $14, half off. The shoes are some of my old favorites for the stripes and fun twine soles, and went perfectly with this outfit.

I braided my hair for the first time since I was a kid and it was pretty wonderful to wear braids again. I think I'll do it more often.

I realized I looking pretty nautical so I threw on red accessories and sported not one but two sea creature necklaces. Because sea creature necklaces are rad. The raddest. And as if the octopus and seahorse weren't nautical enough I added one more little touch, this beautiful bracelet my friend Dottie made me.

Yes, I am such a necklace fiend and I totally go to that obnoxious level and wear two at once.

I love dressing like a sailor. I'm honestly thrilled it's trendy and I buy it up. Who else loves the nautical style?

Khols shorts
Khols tank top
Target shoes
Octopus from a vendor at Dragon*Con
Seahorse pendant from Michaels

renaissance!

2011-04-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Hans and I ventured to the Renaissance Festival with our friends Joseph and Dottie. Once we were there we got separated from our friends and then couldn't find each other again until the very end, so it ended up being more like a single date than a double date, but we all had fun anyway. Hans had been a little bit of a pouty face, worrying that he shouldn't be taking time away from his studies to go to the fair. Once we got there, however, his worries disappeared and he was reduced to a ten-year-old (a ten year old dork into swords and fantasy). We had a blast! I forgot my real camera but I snapped a few pictures with my cell phone.

Pixie hat?

I guess it really turned Hans into a pixie...

There was a beautiful bird sanctuary there filled with rescued and adopted birdies!

This guy totally posed for the camera.

This was a mommy and daddy and their baby. The baby was sitting right there with them but I guess he decided to sabotage the adorableness of my photo.

Hans had to shoot arrows in the archery range.

Yeah, he wears that Gryffindor shirt pretty much every day.

Hans bought me this beautiful ring! It's coiled metals with spinning little ditties in the center. I am in love. Can't stop staring at it on my finger. Orange is my favorite color so it is perfect. The lady who made it was super nice and all her wares were gorgeous! She had a coily metal octopus necklace I would have died for but I couldn't pass up the ring. Her etsy shop is here but she said she probably wouldn't stock it till after Ren Fest.

And, being the amazing man he is, Hans sneaked off and bought me this fantastic handmade wand!

You can bet I spent the rest of Ren Fest shooting spells after him. I'll never grow up.

So, the Renaissance Festival was lovely this year. If you're in Georgia, check it out!

moleskin monday: pink haired and broken

2011-04-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

I just have time for a quick Moleskin Monday post, and as a result I'm even cheating, as this sketch doesn't come from a moleskin. Eep! This little girl resides in a regular old nonmagical sketch pad. She'll have to do, though.

Her page is bent and imperfect, but I don't really mind. I'm thinking of just tacking her to the cork-board above my desk and letting her hang out there for a while.

I have this new habit of writing whatever comes to mind all over a page in cursive because (I'm practicing. I CANNOT write in cursive) and then drawing over top of it. It's like sealing off the thoughts I had, keeping them private and packaged within the drawing. So she's a consequence of this.

farewell to dixie

2011-04-15T05:44:00.001-07:00

Well, last night my coworker started acting viciously toward me, again, and I ended up leaving work early and in tears. Awesome! My boss called me later in the night to check that I was okay, and apologize (see why I love my boss?), and he told me I don't have to finish out my last two days. After discussing it with Hans and my dad and my boss, I think it's best if I just don't go in. Unfortunately, those two days make up for 19 hours of my paycheck, and I missed a 9 & 1/2 hour shift last weekend too due to an ear infection. So, I was hoping for one last awesome paycheck and instead I'm getting a measly one. I'll just have to make due until I start making money elsewhere. I hope I start getting paid PA jobs soon!

pink!

2011-04-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely day with my dad yesterday. We met up at my house and then drove down to the city (Atlanta) and spent some time in the sunshine. I had a little meet-up/interview with a local production company my dad often works with (my dad is a lighting director: very awesome job). It went very well! I hope some good things come out of it. After the interview, we headed over to Little 5 Points, an part of town which is probably the closest Atlanta comes to resembling my favorite little city, Asheville, and grabbed salads at Little 5 Pizza. It was fun hanging out in the city sun and talking. I really, really love my parents so I always appreciate the time I get to spend with them. We're all very busy so we have to jump at opportunities to get together.

Once back at my house my dad did some fine-tuning on my bike (he's a bike-enthusiast and I'm a wannabe). I can't wait to ride my bike to school next week!

When Hans got home we went on a long walk and it was beautiful! I don't want to gush but that boy is a prize. Tonight we are going to a midnight release party for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one and you can bet I will be totally dorking out. I pre-ordered just to get myself a free movie replica wand. I am going to cast so many fake spell with that thing...

To wrap this up with a little spring time fun, I am so in love with the color pink right now. So I nearly fell on my face when I came across this beautiful sight while out for a walk the other day,

A sea of pink petals on the sidewalk!

Beautiful.

moleskin monday: flower child

2011-04-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

I want to try to post sketches from my moleskins every Monday. I'm hoping this will not only be fun for the blog but also motivating because let's face it, sometimes I just don't find the inspiration to draw. So! First Moleskin Monday! Ready, go:

Because I think progress shots are fun!

I've been working on this little lady for a while now. I'm almost almost almost done, but not quite.

She resides in my favorite moleskin. I love these books. They feel so earthy and magical to me. I find more inspiration in their pages than in any others.

I'll be sure to follow up with the completed flower child, whenever I get around to it. I'm always skipping around between sketches so it sometimes takes me months to finish a single one, though I amass great piles of unfinished pieces.

I walked home from school today upon realizing my class was canceled. (I LOVE that I can walk home from school now!) Walking was a lovely thing. I can feel the sticky Georgia summer right around the corner, but I'm enjoying every ounce of spring time I can soak up. Once I got home from my walk I sent off an email to a prospective job. I hope I get to do something entirely new and exciting. I'm really quite tired of being a cashier, especially within the same walls for so long. I don't know, someone pay me to go on adventures, please?

Last night Hans sang to me while we drove home from a lovely day spent first with my parents and then with his. Things are really beautiful right now. The stars and planets have aligned. The universe is in order. I am ready for anything.

changeling

2011-04-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

BIG changes are in the works for me. I have been working at my job for two and a half years, and Thursday night I put in my two weeks. I love so many things about my job. My boss and his family are wonderful. I have learned so much from them, and have had so much fun with them. They have also shown me how delicious Korean food can be. Unfortunately, I have been harassed by a coworker, and it has gone on for far too long, so I'm taking my leave. Hopefully onto bigger and better and better things. I have an internship in the works, which I'm very excited about, but I don't want to say too much before it's set in stone.

I also officially changed my major from art to english, and I'm excited about the classes I have lined up for fall semester.

These are certainly welcomed changes, but scary nonetheless. Just a few months ago, I was stuck at my job because I was tied to school bills and my apartment, and having to suffer through the crazy antics of my coworker. It was pretty miserable at times. I worked very hard at school and earned a scholarship, which takes care of most of my tuition. And I suddenly find myself living a magical dream life in a house with my boyfriend, instead of trapped throwing all my money into that apartment. I am finally in a position to make big changes, but I can't help but have tiny fears, mean voices in my head telling me it will all come crashing down.

And now I'm getting a stupid earache what the heck!

Anyway! Here is a picture of some geese I took on campus the other day.

Because I like geese.

chronicle of a former hair dye junkie

2011-04-08T06:23:00.000-07:00

I used to change my hair. A lot. We're talking twice a month, here. I have been growing out my hair (I want long beautiful princess hair) and letting my natural color grow back for about a year now. I mostly love it, but sometimes I am attacked by urges to chop it off and dye it some funky color or other. One of those urges struck me last night, and inspired me to compile a bunch of pictures of all the hair colors and styles I have worn.

I first dyed my hair when I was 12 or 13, in middle school. I put pink streaks in it because I was super cool. Curiously, there are no pictures of me from this time period. My parents swear it's because they were making the switch from analog to digital cameras, but I remain suspicious. So, we'll begin with no one's favorite era, high school!

These pictures are from 2007 and earlier, wow. I had long hair, dyed black and with only a few long layers. I wore it with kinky curls or stick straight. My senior year, I got a wild hair (I went there) and dyed my hair bright orange, as I'd been longing to do for years. I walked at graduation with a traffic cone head! That raised unfortunate controversy...

After high school, I wore my hair short for the first time ever, and briefly sported fire-hair again before somehow turning my head the ugliest green and then donning every possible shade of red, ever.

A billion shades of red later, I landed an awesome job (my current job: liquor store cashier) that let me look however I pleased, and I ran back into the arms of rainbow hair, this time blue and purple. Bleaching this out meant I spent a fun few days platinum blond. (also fun to note: I became a vegetarian and started working out after high school and what a difference that made!)

I sported my "super hero hair" with a dumb blonde streak, then decided to begin the journey to rediscovering my natural color and dyed it a dark brown, which looked black for a while, much to my horror. I denied my nature and straightened it a lot. I also got adventurous and tried wearing short bangs.

This brings us to the present! I kept growing it out, chopped it off one last time, which meant my hair was 100% my natural color for the first time in so many years, and now I've been fancying messy wavy hair for a good while. I'm proud of my self restraint and how long my hair is getting! (Past my collar bones now?!) Princess hair here I come.

smoothie criminal

2011-04-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

I make smoothies. Lots of smoothies. Hans and I have smoothies for breakfast, smoothies for lunch, smoothies for dinner. Sometimes we accompany them with other food, but sometimes just a big ol' glass of delicious smoothie is enough. I never make the same smoothie twice, and I never follow a recipe. I just throw a lot of complimentary fruits together and add some coconut milk and blend away. Here's one I whipped up the other day!

Coconut milk, mango, banana, orange, and canned pineapple because I don't have the patience for the real deal. (I always make sure I get cubed pineapples canned in pineapple juice, not that sugary syrup crap).

Juice the orange!

Slice the mango!

(Hans has peculiar decorating sense. Thus, a sword above our sink)
I added the orange juice, mango slices, and a whole banana, along with about half the can of pineapples (and a little of the juice) with a bit of coconut milk and a few cubes of ice, then blend!

And done! Beautiful, tasty smoothies, served the classy way in Hans's SweetWater glasses.

vanity post: mollusc tree

2011-04-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

I love this dress. It's super colorful and fun.

Two of my favorite necklaces. I am a necklace fiend. I got the octopus from a vendor at Dragon*Con and the tree from a hippie store called Earthbound.

I wore this outfit over to my parents' house Sunday, and my sister and I decided to shoot some photos for fun. Here are some of my favorites, taken and edited by her.

Seriously, I'm the weirdest vegan. Gimme bones.

a mostly successful endeavor in plantain frying

2011-04-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hans and I mostly buy fruits and veggies from the grocery store. We live off of smoothies, really. But the other day we decided to buy plantains, knowing we both loved them. I had never cooked them myself, though. I decided to go the easiest route and fried them up with some vegetable oil in a pan.

First I peeled them, which I thought would be like peeling bananas and which turned out to be nothing like peeling bananas. I had to slice them down the sides with a knife and then wrench off the peels. A tricky, slightly slimy task. Then I attempted to slice them lengthwise, like a pickle, so we'd have nice big tasty pieces. This was tough but manageable. Plantains are also harder to cut than bananas! Next I threw the pieces into a heated pan with vegetable oil, and kept them on low heat, turning them until both sides were golden brown. I sprinkled a little sea salt over them so they wouldn't be bland, and that was it. Pretty easy!

They looked pretty but didn't taste quite as awesome as fried plantains I've had before. I think I sliced them just a little too thick and they didn't cook all the way through. Over all though, they were quite good and I'll definitely be making more (and slicing them better!).

The plantains were the appetizer to our big Friday lunch. I also heated up some veggies (frozen, we're busy bees (and poor bees, too)) and covered them in random tasty spices and a little earth balance. He ate a veggie burger and I had a spinachy salad smothered in Goddness dressing (totally my fav right now). I was too busy stuffing my guts to snap pictures of the entire meal, though. Oops!

Dog blog

2011-03-30T07:53:00.001-07:00

I can't stop wishing I had a dog. Lately my life is filled up with a little bit of schoolwork (this has proved to be a very easy semester), many hours spent working, nights with Hans spent cuddling or playing video games, early mornings with sunlight pouring in through the windows, and tasty vegan meals I make up as I go along. Our cat, whose name is Kenya because Anne Frank never stuck, is in heat right now and meowling (that's meowing and growling) at a loud and creepy pitch day and night, but we love her nonetheless. She curls up with us on the couch and sleeps at the foot of the bed, and always, always hangs out in whichever room we're occupying (she doesn't like to show it, but she loves us, too). We say goodbye or hello to her when we leave the house or come back home. She makes me feel like i have my own little family. Still, I crave some canine company. I'd love to rescue a friendly little mutt from the local humane society and give him or her a happy home. I'm crossing my fingers I'll get to adopt a dog this summer. It doesn't help that three lovable pooches have my heart already. They live with my parents and ever since I moved out about a year ago I have missed them dearly. I think I'll introduce them here!

First up is Oreo. This lovely lady is "mine" because I picked her out of a litter of four pups at the humane society when I was in the fourth grade. Oreo has one of the funkiest personalities, with so many little quirks. Example: when she doesn't want to be seen (after snooping through cat food or committing some other no-no), she walks in slow motion thinking this renders her invisible. She is afraid of hardwood floors and thunder, and taught herself how to "shake" when she was 9 or 10.

Next is Rose, Oreo's sister who my sister chose from the litter. Rose is kind of a snob, but secretly wishes she was a lapdog. She hates baths and growls at horses (and has been known to go after unwanted trespassers), and seems to be the most sane of the motley bunch. In fact, when Oreo or Avery are being silly, you can almost feel Rose's disdain toward her immature peers.

Avery is the newest addition to the family. I found her in 2008 after road-tripping to Tennessee for fireworks. She was sitting skin-and-bones in the parking lot, and I was helpless against her. The friends I was with agreed we couldn't leave her so we loaded her into the car and brought her home. Then a timid skeleton of a dog, now a fat, slightly obnoxious, attention-grubbing little beast, Avery is the happiest dog I have ever known. She sleeps on her back, feet in the air, snorts like a pig, and will claw the heck out of you if you don't pet her to her satisfaction.

These doggies own my heart, but I think there is room for one more (okay, I have room in my big animal-loving heart for all the dogs, ever).

Who else loves dogs?

Doggie photos courtesy of my wonderful sister, who takes brilliant photos, which can be viewed here.

Bones & Toes

2011-03-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

I went for a walk with a couple of friends the other day near a local lake.

I was sure to wear my Vibram Five Fingers. These funky little shoes are amazing. I am oddly a shoe enthusiast but also a hater of wearing shoes. I'd much rather run around barefoot when on some outdoor adventure, but I have tender soles so I'm usually stuck in a pair of clunky shoes. I finally broke down and bought a pair of Vibrams just in time for the warm weather this year, and I absolutely love them! They feel natural and I'm never afraid of losing my balance as I still have access to all my toes, and I feel totally protected so no ground is unsafe. I do feel a little like a duck when I wear them, but that just makes them more fun!

Along the way we found a dead something, perhaps a fox? Poor little guy was right by the side of the road so he was probably hit by a car. My love of bones lead me to snap a couple of pictures of him (I'm a weird vegan).

Skulls are so fascinating.

(I'm still obviously loving the Vignette app on my phone.)

This was my first romp through nature of 2011. I can't wait to discover more places to explore this year.

Applicationz

2011-03-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

I can't stop playing with this photo app on my phone!

If you've got an Android OS phone, download Vignette. There is a free demo version but I loved it so much I bought the full version (the first app I have paid for!) so I could take full-resolution photos. It's a lot of fun and saves me the hours I spend trying to make photos presentable with photoshop. Man, this smartphone is helping me find all kinds of new ways to be lazy.

Forgetting

2011-03-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

I keep basically forgetting about blogger. This makes me sad because I really like blogger! Things have just been busy, I suppose. I moved into an awesome home with my boyfriend. I want to make a post about my house with pictures and such, but I'm currently sitting in the living room in slight misery because surrounding me is the dumbest, rainiest cold day. It's spring break right now and this is one of my few actual free days and it's cold and pouring and dumb dumb dumb. I haven't taken many pictures of my house really, and today certainly isn't the day to do it since it's so dark and nasty.

In our bedroom we have hung a painting of Snarf from Thunder Cats above our bed. You can see a little bit of him behind me here,

Boystory

2011-02-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

I am going to blog about my boyfriend.

ready for war

My boyfriend's name is Hans. He is from Germany which--I can't lie--is part of what drew me to him. It's the whole (sexy) bilingual thing. We met in 2009 at Dragon*Con through a mutual friend. I was seeing someone else at the time but apparently I caught his eye even then. Turns out we go to the same college and we started hanging around together in the dining hall with our group of mutual friends. Skip ahead several months and another semester, when I'm newishly single after 2.5 years, and we grab lunch together at the school. I suddenly realize just how adorable that German boy from Dragon*Con is, and a couple days later I invited him over to my apartment. We have been inseparable ever since.

We temporarily live together and have been for a little over a month now while he's in between his old house and the one he is currently renovating. It's pretty swell and we even carpool to school together.

3 fun facts about Hans!
1)He is a scientist.
2)He actually does that thing where if you speak two languages, and you hurt yourself, you curse in the lesser used language (the first time I heard him speak German was in this manner).
3)He is the hottest guy I have dated, no lies.

in the snow-apocalypse of Atlanta, still with leftover warpaint

Doodlin'

2011-01-30T07:33:00.001-08:00

This is Disease Man. He is made of ball point pens and he lives inside a moleskin. He is an ongoing work who fills up the boring parts of classes.

Hellcat

2011-01-26T13:45:00.001-08:00

I have adopted a cat. She is black and small and I named her Anne Frank.

The thing about my cat Anne Frank is she isn't a nice cat. She hates I think everyone, especially Hans. We have adopted her on a trial basis. She has a week to win our hearts. She has already won mine, of course. Every animal has won my heart. She just has to work her way into Hans' and she won't have to go back to her previous owner (the streets). C'mon, Anne Frank! You can do this.

Here is a webcam photo of Anne Frank.

Here is Anne Frank revealing her true nature (evil/bad ass).

Actually she is sitting in my lap purring and cuddling and being awesome right now. I love her, oops.

Farewell, Hellsemester

2010-12-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

Today I completed what I have deemed my "Hellsemester." This stupid semester I decided a great (idiot) idea would be to take six classes! My brain said something like "Sara, you are so smart, you can make six As, go on--do it!" And then in response my brain said, "Yeah, good idea! Okay!!" So I signed up for this stupid number of courses and I've been suffering ever since. Really, I took six classes so I could rack up enough credit hours to qualify for a scholarship and thus go to school for close-to-free (up until now I have been paying out of pocket). It has been a tremendous amount of work, but now my fingers are crossed as I await my grades. I think I made all As and Bs. If this turns out to be true, I may buy myself a present (the present will probably be shoes or a feast).

Now I can fill my free time with anything I want! I chose Guitar Hero, books (currently Imajica by Clive Barker), Hans, and sitting on the couch doing nothing!

I have photo-documentation of that last bit:

I love this shirt. It cost me four dollars and it has a big saggy pocket.

Sometimes I feel like I'm a ghost haunting this place.

Life Blog

2010-12-08T11:26:00.001-08:00

I decided I wanted to make a blog about my life. I have had a livejournal for years but it's messy and private and nothing like whatever I imagine a "blog" is.

So this will be what I imagine a blog is! It might even be interesting? It will probably include photos and sketches and my thoughts about food.

So, an introduction.
I am Sara and I'm twenty-one. I'm from Georgia and I still live here. I go to college for art. I work a full time job as a cashier at a liquor store and I live by myself in a little apartment. I don't have a lot of free time but when I do I like to spend it outdoors or reading a book or playing a video game. I am vegan and I am obsessed with food. I draw a lot of stretchy monsters, and lately some tentacle-girls have joined my monster army. I have a boyfriend named Hans and I'm pretty crazy about him. I fantasize about owning a dog. I love trees and some days I'd rather be a tree than a human.

I named my blog after a typo I made in a text message where I spelled "sold" like "sould". I felt it was a symbolic, meaningful typo about how I put my whole soul out there, and now my blog is called Sara Sould Out which is also a reference to how I've started a "real" blog aka I am cheating on my livejournal.

Here goes.