Class

I love the painting classes that I have been going to.  They are just so much fun and I always feel soooooo good afterwards.  It is a natural high for me.

You know that feeling when you leave a sporting event and your favorite team has just won?  Well that is the feeling I have when I paint something I am proud of.  Maybe it's pride.  Maybe it's adrenaline.  Maybe it's happiness.  I don't know, but I love it.

Here are my most recent.


The Peacock!

The Lighthouse

 The blues in the color of the ocean look so much better in real life.  Come by and check it out if you don't believe me!  Haha!  I was unimpressed by my sky, but I'll work on it. ;)

 I was really impressed with my shading.  And other people in the class were all talking about it.  The original was very cartoon-like.  It was outlined in these huge black lines.  I just couldn't handle it.  I don't really like my red dome though, but I decided I was over it.  It's not that bad.

That First Day

I love the winters here in Texas.  They are amazing.  It almost never gets at or below freezing and it's just chilly enough to wear comfy clothes and not freeze to death.  It stays in the 40s and 50s.  I am good with that.  I think I have come to enjoy this weather so much because every other season in Texas is just hot.

Hot, hotter, and hottest!

And I don't love that so much.  Well, I hate it.  But I suffer on.  So in those "winter" months I really try to soak it up.  It's sort of weird reading everyone's status about how much they want winter to be over and they "just want Spring to come!!"  And I get that.  I really do.  I lived in places like Indiana and Idaho for all of my winters previous to moving here.  So I really get it.  And I use to mentally cry over those dark days in February when the cold just wouldn't quit.

Today was pretty chilly here.  It was in the low 40s.  And it reminded me of those long dark winters, and I once more felt sympathy for my northernly friends.  But, it also reminded me of another time.  A day every year that comes.  A day that reminds me of hope.  A day that tells me that the sun has not forgotten who we are and will come back to us once again.

It's that first day when it is truly warm.  That first day of the year when you tilt your head back, push your chin towards the sky, close your eyes and the sun warms your face.  There is nothing like that moment for me.  It's like 100% pure magic.  It is a moment filled with hope not only for sun but for a future and for good things to come.

Now maybe I am being a bit dramatic, but I most often remember this day every year when I was at Purdue.  When I would be walking on campus, tired and cold.  When I would be crying on the inside from studying for midterms and just wishing it was Spring Break.  A day when I would be mentally planning my summer and wondering what magical details it would hold.  And then, I would feel it.  I would feel the sun beating down on my face, and I would know.  I would know I could make it through the next few months of tests and homework and cold.

Because the sun was coming back.  And that made it alright again.

I don't get that here in Texas.  I don't think anyone in Texas knows that feeling.  They/we don't have to suffer through long winters.  This is our break.  (Or at least that is how I see it.)

This makes me think of trials and how they often feel long, and horrible, and they just come back to hit us over and over again.  And it feels like there is no end in sight.  Sometimes our trials can seem so unbearable and we wonder why Heavenly Father can't just ease up on us.  Not even make it go away, but just lighten the load, right?  But would you ever fully appreciate the sun if you didn't know what a freezing cold day felt like? And wouldn't you appreciate it that much more if there were lots of freezing cold days in a row?  Or would we ever appreciate the sacrifice made on the cross if we were never tempted and fell short at times?

So sometimes I miss that feeling of magic on the first warm day after a bitter cold.  Don't curse me too much for my "nice" winters.  Your day will come.  It will come sooner than you know and every bit of hope for your future will be right there waiting for you.  And it will be fabulous!

Carry on my cold and shivering friends.  Carry on!!

50 + 1

I have add a #65 to my bucket list: Visit all 50 states (and DC).

I made a list of all of the states and the ones I have already been to.  Of the 51, I have only been to 19 states.  19!  That is almost shocking how low that is.  Now of course I'm not counting just driving through a state on my way to another state.  Or if I have just stayed in a hotel for a night and gotten back on the road in the morning.  Or if I was too young to remember.  Or if I have just had a layover in the airport.

I want to VISIT each state.  See what I'm saying.

So I have a new mission people.  A mission to visit all of the states.  Let's do this thing.  Who wants to go on road trip? or a new vacation spot??

Here are the states I have been.  I hope I haven't forgotten any that I have been to.

Florida
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Michigan
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington DC

D-Day

In the past V-day (as in Valentine's Day) has often felt like D-Day in my life.  I was always bitter and angry and hateful to people.  Mostly because I was perpetually single on that "special day of love."  (I say that last part with the most sarcasm I can muster. lol) But anyways, that is a thing of the past.  I have learned to like the day, and it no longer feels like the day that destroys every ounce of self esteem I have.

Maybe it's because I have just grown up a little.  Maybe it's that I can finally see the good.  Maybe it's that I am simply happy for other people and their love for one another.  Or maybe it's because I have seen that love can find you on the most random of days when your hair is messy and you have no makeup on or when you are making a fool of yourself and singing karaoke. Love is a funny thing like that.

Valentine's Day this year was pleasant.  I was happy to read people's statuses of surprise flowers and candy and all sorts of happiness being spread around.  I have to admit I secretly judged everyone's V-day outcomes to see who's honey did the best.  Ya know, of the one's that posted statuses or pictures.  Hey, I had to occupy myself somehow.  haha

I got a text from Abdoul that day too.  I hadn't heard from him in about six weeks and I was hoping he would forget that we met 2 years ago on Valentine's Day.  But he didn't forget.  And I guess that is nice that he remembered.  Except I really wish he would stop texting me.  It's not that I hate him or anything like that.  I just can't let him in emotionally or otherwise anymore.  And a simple text back will make him think we are talking again, which will also make him think he needs to come over, which would then make him think we need to get back together.  It's just a bad cycle.  So really as much as I would like to be a nice person and let him know that he crossed my mind that day too, I just can't.  And maybe that makes me the bad guy.  Maybe that makes me a jerk.  But really, it's what's best for me.  And that is what matters right now.

Civics

I own a black Honda Civic and apparently everyone else in the world does too.  It is a popular car to say the least.  I haven't ever counted, but their are at least 10 other black Honda Civic owners who work at the same place I do.  It makes me look really ridiculous when I walk up to a car and try to unlock it and it isn't mine.  But the other day takes the cake.

I actually got into someone else's car!! Yeah, I did.  You are probably asking yourself how that happened? And didn't I notice before I was actually sitting in the drivers seat?  And how did I actually get in?  Did my key unlock someone else's car?

Weeeeeeeeeeell, It did happen.  I didn't notice before I got in.  I hit the unlock button, and pulled on the handle and it opened. And no.  No my key didn't unlock her car.

Here's how it happened.

I see "my" car from across the lot.  I remember, "oh yes this is where you parked." So that is your car.  It all made sense in my head.  So I walk to it.  I am taking my time.  It was a nice day.  It was 5:00 and I was home free.  I get about 6 or 7 feet away and I hit the unlock button.  I can hear the car click unlocked.  It did however take just a half a second longer than it normally would have, but I thought nothing of it.  I walk up to "my" car and pull on the handle.  It opens.  I put my foot in and sit down.  But before I can close the door I hear an "excuse me." I look up to this cute girl and she is standing in the doorway.  Way too close for comfort for someone I don't know.

"That is my car." She says next.

I continued to look up at her.  Now, like she is crazy.  But she holds firm to her gaze.  So I take her a little more seriously.  I look to my right, and realize then and there, I am not sitting in my car, but HER car! My face turned bright red as I got out and apologized.  She just smiled and said she mistakes other people's car for hers all the time.

She got in and started it.  Now, I am not only embarrassed, but also puzzled, because I DO remember parking my car RIGHT THERE!  So I look around.  It's getting really awkward now.  (Probably only for me.)  And then I spot it.  MY actual car.  I was in the exact same spot as the other girl's car only one row over.  She had been walking right behind me the whole time we had been walking to her car and she apparently hit the unlock button at the exact time I had.  Weird, right??

At least she was nice.

Needless to say, I check every car a little more thoroughly before I try to get into it.  lol

Archives

If you look at your blog archive it will tell you how many times you have posted this month, this year, and every previous year you have been blogging.  Sometimes I stalk my own blog and I noticed one day last December that I posted more times in 2009 than I did in any other year.  So I went to investigate.  What could have possibly been going on in 2009 that was so exciting?  And better yet, what was more exciting than my life currently?  Well, I moved to Texas, that's what happened.  And that was a big one.  It's hard to top.  But I made a mental goal to spend more time blogging this year.  And to beat that pesky goal of 50 blog posts in one year.

Why, you ask?  Why do I need to beat my record?  Well, I don't really need to.  I don't know that my life will all of the sudden make sense and I will have it all figured out.  But I do enjoy blogging.  I feel like my time is being put towards something useful when I blog.  Even if the topic is silly or nothing special.  It sort of makes me feel like I have more control in my life.  Or maybe that I just simply have more of a life.  Does anyone else feel that way?  I don't know, maybe it's just me.  But I'm behind.  Really behind.  I need to be blogging about once a week on average and I am only on post like, what? 3? for this year.

So, if you see a wave of posts coming in or a steady incline in my archive history, you know what's going on.

Happy Blogging!! (And Happy Valentine's Day)

Alex's Birthday

Alex's Birthday was back in November.  I was making her something but if you know me, and I think you do, you know that I almost never give people a present on time.  It is just not in the cards for me.  I have accepted it.  I am fine with it.  Anyways. The NaNoWriMo happened in November and I just did  not have time to finish it.

But I finally did the other day.  And I gave it to her.  And she loved it!

Check it out.

I'd say it turned out well.  Oh, and she plays the piano.  Just in case you were wondering why I chose to paint piano keys.  :)