Saturday, January 30, 2010

34 years

To my favorite parents in the whole world.


Happy Anniversary, Mum and Dad!

I love you guys!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Grampa

I was walking into the kitchen just a few minutes ago. Grampa was sitting at the counter. Usually, I say "Hi Grampa" or give some other greeting to announce my presence so I don't startle him. This time, I just walked quietly by on my way to get a drink of water.
I didn't startle him, thank goodness. But he greeted me and then said:
"You walked so quiet, I thought you were an angel."
It was such a simple thing to say and it made me feel absolutely beautiful inside.

Monday, January 25, 2010

New Paintings!

I thought I'd do some blatant self-promotion for my painting mini-business.

I did these paintings as Christmas presents for my two best girl friends. They turned out amazing! They are both done on 16x24 canvas with acrylic paint.



This one is from Lord of the Rings, Return of the king. It is a picture of Eowyn and Faramir in the houses of healing.




















This one is of Peter Pan in front of the Jolly Roger.
























Don't forget to email me if you have a question or would like to request a custom painting. You can find my email address in my profile or visit my Climbing Ivy Designs blog.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Implements of Torture

I'm walking down the street, my brow creased with acute concentration: take another step, then another, then another. Walk on your toes, it'll all be over soon. Small steps now, nice and easy.
I can feel tendons stretch and twist like a rubber band. Nerve endings pop like tiny firecrackers and the balls of my feet feel as if I have never walked on any other part of my foot for the last twenty years.

Still, I walk.... focus, Ames, focus. You must not look like a drunken giraffe.

Oh how my feet are killing me! But oh, how hot they look.



The things we ladies put ourselves through to look beautiful. Ugh.
Keep walkin. Remember, ballerinas do this all the time.

Friday, January 22, 2010

I feel so hard core


I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but I'm partially soaking wet. It's not from sweat, it's from RAIN! I went jogging this morning in the rain and it was FUN! I was a little worried about my ipod but since I didn't have any pockets, I did what any other red-blooded female does.
I put it in my bra.
Kept it nice and dry.

The rain hit my hot face and cooled me down. Of course, my shoes got soaked and my clothes got all wet and yucky but I had a ball. During my cool down I had a super awesome song playing on my ipod (Gates of Dawn by Secret Garden) and I couldn't help it: I began to skip down the sidewalk, twirl in circles, and splash in the rain puddles like I was five years old again.
The neighbors probably thought I was the weirdest little chica they'd ever seen.

But I don't care! I went jogging in the rain which made me feel like a big ole empowered super-woman.

And big ole empowered super-women can do whatever they want.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Yay! I'm Blonde again!


I actually had this done last Tuesday, but I didn't have a chance to blog about it until now. No more dark roots, hooray!! Being what I call a "bottle blonde" is hard because it totally fries my hair. I tried going darker since the upkeep is so much easier but it's just not me.

Here's to being the butt of all blonde jokes.... on purpose!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Happy Double Birthday!

Happy 7th birthday to my awesome nephew and 2-somethingth birthday to his mommy! (I won't disclose the age even though it still has a 2 in front of it. I'm nice that way)

Crazy kid!







She's the one on the far right.

Hope you have a great birthday, guys! I love you both!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Picking myself back up

In the past, recovering from rejection has been easier, especially when I had four or five or ten others lined up.

I'm not talking about boys, I'm talking about Agents/Publishers. I know what you're thinkin.

But the last few letters have been hard. It seems like the more I get rejected, the more worthless I feel about my writing. It's not original enough, it's not captivating enough, it's not break-out-sweep-the-market-make-grown-men-cry-and-teenage-girls-scream enough.

I keep wondering, "why?" instead of "what do I need to learn?" little plug for you, mum.

For a few hours, I kept thinking that I need to just give it up and find a new dream. It's never going to happen, no one is going to listen to me, and I've been sucked so dry that I can hardly get a word down on paper, much less write a decent book.

Now I assume that you are sitting there, reading this, expecting some brilliant pearl of wisdom to come bursting out of the rainclouds; or maybe a softly drifting, miraculous little snowflake of irony to come rest on your nose and you'll think...

ah. that's what it's all about.

But I got nothin.

I'm not even sure any of this makes sense.

All I know is that I have to write. I can't give it up. Even if I try, it's only going to come back again like a chocolate craving, or the holidays, or a jury summons.
So no matter how crappy I'm feeling right now, how defeated, wilted, tired, frustrated, or hungry for a milky way (it's that chocolate craving thing I mentioned. It's really starting to bite me.) I know that something will always come knocking in my brain.

-tap, tap, tap-

And I'll say.... here we go again.

Monday, January 11, 2010

.....

I got another rejection letter today.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

The forgotten picture-wall project

So, remember way-back-when, when I decided to redo my boring picture wall? Well, I got it almost done right before hubby (I really need to think of a better nickname for him... any ideas?) and I moved in with Grandpa. Almost done because there were two pictures I still needed to get printed. You'd think the 5x7 would have been easy but I'm a procrastinator and I have a notoriously poor short-term-memory. (Seriously... i can quote movies verbatim but i can't remember what you told me five minutes ago. I think it's from tuning out most of what my boss is saying to me day after day after day after day....)
I digress. Here's the finished product of the wall:




The empty one on the top is going to be a 5x7 of hubby and nephew. I've posted it before but to save you time, here it is.

Oh my cute!

The next one, sadly, I don't have on this computer. (WHAT??? I thought when I couldn't find it.) It's okay, I have it somewhere else.
It's a picture of my nieces and nephew's feet. ADORABLE!!!! But it's a 12x4, so I have to have it custom printed. I'm going to have to wait until we have our own wall to put it up.


The picture wall. Fun while it lasted and sure to be fun again one day!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Only a little crazy...


I decided I wanted to take an online creative writing class because the "creative juices" have been running a little dry lately. So I found a free one. heh heh. Free. My favorite four-letter-word. It's at www.writesf.com and it's done by a sci-fi writer by the name of Jeffrey A. Carver. I had never heard of him, but I thought I'd give his free lessons a go.
Here was my first "assignment:" there aren't really assignments or grades or anything. writers are just a bunch of nutters who actually write essays for fun.

What makes me want to write?

I'm sitting here with my fingers on the keyboard and I have no idea how to explain. Is it because I have worlds inside me that are screaming to get out? Is it because I enjoy connecting with another piece of myself or exploring the human nature and trying to figure out what makes us tick?
I guess so. I like to create. I like to paint and sing and put things together. I like to astonish and inspire. I like to bring more beauty into the world. And if I'm really honest, I want the admiration. I want people to read the things I wrote, sigh, then pick it up and read it again. I want children to make my stories the center of their imagination and play- like when they find a stick int he yard to become their holly and phoenix feather wand or their sword called Sting.
I love to put things down on paper in the right way. I love making people laugh. I love touching each emotion like my finger in a still pond, then letting it spread and ripple until it has filled the entire soul with the same joy, sadness, excitement, or fear that my character is feeling.
I like to escape. I like to submerge myself in another place for a little while; places that are a little more beautiful or dangerous.

I was supposed to only write three things. That's the thing with writers, I guess. You get them started and they just won't shut up.

I wrote this last night. After I was finished, I cackled with delight and wanted to do another one!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Back-Tracking

Sorry, this happened last month but I'm catching up on all the blogging I've missed out on in the last...well, forever.
When Bret graduated from ASU (hooray!!!) his adorable co-workers put together this little poster for him. My sister Jess saw it and said "Blog topic!!!" So here it is.



he he he. cute huh? Oh, and at the credit union where he works, they have a thing called dollar dots, which makes sense if you work there. Thanks Arizona Federal Credit Union!! The hundred grand was delicious.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday to this gorgeous gal! Love you forever, Jess, you're the greatest! Hope you had an awesome day.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy New Decade

The end of another decade. Do you remember where you were ten years ago? I do. I was at Chelsea Milczarek's house waiting to ring in the new year with our guy friends. We were listening to Dixie Chicks. The boys made it to her house five minutes before midnight and all of them were drinking apple cider out of a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. They thought they were pretty hot stuff.

Anyway, guess what??? I have pictures! Yay!
Here's what I spent Christmas doing.


Look at our empty apartment!!!! I can't believe it. I thought I'd be so happy to get out of this place, which was only slightly bigger than a mail box. But I miss it. I sat in the bedroom for a long time, staring at the ceiling fan and trying to take in the moment before I'd never come back again.
I love living where I am now. I thought taking care of two men instead of just one would be so hard. But taking care of hubby and Grandpa is actually pretty great! I've felt a tremendous amount of comfort through all my emotional turmoil and I know that where we are is where we're supposed to be. Grandpa needed us. Or maybe we needed him.
Either way, I've got cable and internet now. And a pool.

Two words for ya:
Boo-yah.


Happy New Year!

Disclaimer: I did not actually move here just because of the cable, internet, and pool. I really am filled with gratitude that I have the privilege to get to know Grandpa more. Come on, people, whattaya take me for?