National Lampoon's European Vacation

So I haven't written in a while (been working a lot and ya know, hanging out and stuff) but I have pretty big news so here I am.

Today I officially applied for my PASSPORT! AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! My squees today could probably be heard in OUTER SPACE.

Having never been out of the country this is extremely huge for me. Like, life-changing huge.

Luckily my skin was having a moment of clarity so I zipped up to Costco and got my picture taken. If you ever need a passport photo, I'd highly recommend going to Costco. They took a great picture and it only cost $4.99. Also, you can enjoy a nice slice of pizza for $1.99 while you wait ;)

So anyway, today I went to the Municipal Court to apply for my passport and was prepared to have to wait all morning but was in and out in about 5 minutes! It was awesome! Even got told I was "gorgeous" by the security guy, haha.

Next month I'm going to buy my plane ticket so that'll be HUGE. I'm kind of nervous about the flight but hopefully my excitement will overpower my nerves. I've never been in a plane longer than 6 hours and I think I'll be flying for like 13 hours that day (total travel time was estimated at 17 hours- yikes!)

I'm so ready to start getting stamps in my passport. I'll be getting 4 on this trip so that's a good start. Ideally, I'd like to start going on one big trip a year. I think that's a pretty reasonable goal. Here's a few destinations on my list:

*Hawaii
*New Zealand
*Bora Bora
*Canada
*Peru
*Japan
*Southern Europe (Italy, Greece, Spain)
*Thailand
*Iceland

Man, I can't believe I have only 3 1/2 months to go. It's so nutzo! I've been talking about finally visiting Europe for about 2 years and it's almost here. I think this is going to be a trip of a lifetime. 2014 is going to be one hell of a year. I think 30 is actually going to turn out to be a great time in my life. Maybe I'll finally find a boyfriend too (gotta stay positive!)

I'm ready!

I'll post images of my latest work (been super busy--drawing again too!) in my next post.

Good day, my lovelies!

Dancing Queen

I meant to blog about Halloween sooner but I've been feeling a little yucky this week. However, I'm happy to say that I had a wonderful time this Halloween and tried something NEW. Let me tell you about it. 

 The days prior to Halloween were a little stressful so I decided that I definitely wanted to go out this year and do something fun to take the edge off. I'd been meaning to check out Crescent Ballroom in downtown Phoenix for some time and so I asked my friend Hannah if she wanted to go dancing with me. When Halloween rolled around my friend Sharleen also found herself without plans so I asked her to join us.

At first the evening started out a little bumpy. Hannah had had a crappy day at work and was a little cranky. When we got to downtown she opened my car door a little enthusiastically and knocked a lower panel on my door off. I'm pretty protective of my car so I was pretty unhappy about that...but the evening got better. We got to Crescent pretty early so we only had to wait in line about 5 minutes. Usually when I go to bars or whatever I'm disappointed how no one (meaning boys) really talks to you but I guess since it was Halloween everyone was feeling more friendly. Plus, asking someone about their costume is a great ice breaker. We had fellas chatting with us all night but I must say we all were pretty babely that night.

I myself don't drink but Sharleen does so she had some liquid courage before we headed out to the dance floor. It was weird but I wasn't nervous at all. After the week I had I was ready to get out there. We danced for nearly 2 hours and it was so much FUN. A cutie tried to dance with me but I got too shy. What I learned that night was it's not the people who are dancing that look silly, it's the people who aren't who look LAME. There was a group of guys there that were all pretty cute but they didn't dance the whole time. They just stood there with their arms crossed or playing on their phones. It was like, "WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?!" And when you're dancing no one's really paying attention to how good of a dancer you are, they're just having a good time. So after a while I wasn't self-conscious about my goofy dance moves and just enjoyed myself.

We had originally decided we were only going to stay until 11:30pm since Sharleen had work in the morning but everyone was having so much fun that we didn't end up leaving until 1am. Aye carumba!

Sharleen's birthday party is this weekend and we're going out dancing again and I'm super excited. I'm so glad that I faced my fear and tried something that I've been avoiding my whole life. I had no idea what I've been missing but better late than never, right?

In other news, I've recently been working on a series of Animal Crossing embroidery hoops. Here's my latest pieces:







The Leif hoop has sold but the other hoops are still up for grabs on my Etsy. Check it out!

www.iggystarpup.etsy.com

Newsflash!

In the past 2 weeks I've accomplished 2 goals that I've been putting off for 2 YEARS. Firstly, I finally had some business cards printed. It's going to be so awesome to hand someone a card now instead of scribbling my contact information onto a post it note or God-forbid, napkin. Second, I finally made my own website!! This is probably the biggest news since you're pretty much a nobody in the art world these days if you don't have your own website. I will say that making the business cards was a lot easier than making the website. Mind you, I didn't make it from scratch but even using a template was a major pain in the butt. My computer would slow down like crazy every time I'd start to work on designing my website so it took about 4 days (and 3 template changes) to finish it. But I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and all of my friends have been telling me that it looks awesome so I'm happy. It you'd like to take a look, just go to:

www.iggystarpup.com

In other news, I recently did my first photo shoot as well. I know how important image is for an artist so I thought it was about time people start associating my art work with me. So I asked my friend, Mr. Daniel Funkhouser, if he'd be able to take some photos for me to promote my business and he obliged. Next on the order of business was to get the perfect DRESS. For ages and ages I'd been wanting a Wednesday Addams-esque dress but I had never been able to find one. I rarely order cloths online but I thought I'd take a chance this once since I wanted this photo shoot to be perfect. I did a search for black and white peter pan collar dresses and found the most amazing dress on Modcloth. It was a little more than I normally spend on a dress but I figured I'd wear it forever so it would be worth the money. Also, Modcloth has a handy dandy feature where real women post their size and how the dress fit them "in real life". Everyone concurred that this dress was true to size and that they absolutely loved it. That was enough for me so I went ahead and bought it. I am super happy with this dress and am now a forever Modcloth customer.

Anywho, I'd been working on one of my anthropomorphic animal illustrations of a kitty wearing a black and white peter pan collar dress sitting on a tombstone in a grave yard. Since I'm using "Courtney Doom" as my professional name I thought, "That would be a cool idea for my photos!" So I asked Daniel if he knew of any interesting cemeteries around town and he said he did. We got there around dusk and I was kind of nervous since I'd never really modeled for anyone before but he did a good job of making me comfortable. It helped too that since I was going for a gothic look I didn't have to smile for the photos. We only had about an hour before the sun went down but Daniel said he thought we'd gotten some good  shots. Since I had had to sit so long without moving though, I had become a perfect buffet for all the local mosquitos and went home with about 10 bites (but it was worth it.)

My friend finished editing the photos a few days ago and sent me over the best ones and I couldn't be happier! I love how they turned out. I'm very lucky to have so many super talented friends that are able to help me out with stuff like this. Very lucky, indeed.

So yeah, I hope that the combination of the business cards, the promo photos and the website finally being out there that I'll see an increase in my audience and ultimately in my sales. Being a professional artist isn't easy but I think I'm doing a pretty good job.

Wish me luck!

Mwah!

 

 

 

Time Capsule

Today I'm going to do sort of a time capsule post so years from now I can remember what I was into when I was 29. It's interesting to see how parts of ourselves tend to remain constant while others seem to be constantly changing.

My Life in 2013:

Favorite Films: The Big Lebowski, Amelie, Howl's Moving Castle, Bridesmaids
 What I was listening to: Phoenix, Two Door Cinema Club, Foster the People, Ellie Goulding, Florence + the Machine
What I was reading: 1Q84, Kafka on the Shore, Harry Potter (always), Game of Thrones, and Rebecca
Shows I was watching: Frasier, IT Crowd, Orange is the New Black, Adventure Time, Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory, Sherlock
Trends I was into: peter pan collars, bright colored tights, baby bangs, cat eye glasses
Trends I hated: neon everything, floral everything, long hair with one side shaved
What I was driving: Buick Regal
Who I was crushing on: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Aidan Turner, Richard Armitage
Games I was playing: Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Wind Waker HD
Best Friends: Ashley, Rosalynn, and Melissa
Favorite Restaurant: Krua Thai
What I was looking forward to: My Europe trip in April 2014 
What I was most proud of: my business/audience growing, getting active and healthy
Dream Pet: PUGS!!! 
Favorite color(s): turquoise, dark purple, mustard yellow
Most Used Words: dude, yay!, bummer, kaykay, cute
Favorite Food: Cashew Tofu
Pet Peeve: people being on their phone when you're hanging out with them
People I admired: Hayao Miyazaki, Jennifer Lawerence, Twinkie-Chan, Kristen Wiig


 

 

Return of the Were-piress

Ack! I've been really really bad about updating this biz. My sincerest apologies (to the two people who read this blog).

Ms. Doom has been pretty busy during this time of absence and has lots of new things to talk about! Let's get started!

There have been many changes since my last post. Firstly, I got a new job! I am happy to say that my days of retail are far far behind me. It's amazing how it all happened too. I had had a crummy day at work and decided it was time that I start looking for a new job. That same night I went on Indeed.com and stumbled across a job that sounded right up my alley. It was a part-time receptionist position at a retirement community 10 minutes away from my house. So I sent in my resume and the next day got a call for an interview! Two days later I went into said interview and felt it was my best interview EVER! The young man who interviewed me said he'd have an answer for me by the end of the week (it actually turned out to be the middle of the following week but whatevz). As soon as I got the good news I put in my 2 weeks notice and I was out of there! Just like that! It was really something. And get this...I actually LIKE my new job! I don't think I've ever been able to say that. It's like it was all meant to be. My coworkers are all super cool and the residents have been very kind and welcoming to me. Best of all, I finally get to sit down AND I get to read during my downtime! Party. Bonus. I really lucked out finding this job. I only work 4 days a week now so that leaves me plenty of free time to work on my art!

In other news, I was recently blessed with another addition to my little family. On September 24th I became the proud owner of a LIMITED EDITION Wind Waker WiiU! Originally, I was going to wait to buy a  WiiU until Christmas but when I found out about this bad boy I HAD TO HAVE IT! And everyone knows that if you wait until Christmas to buy something they never have it in stock so Christmas came early this year! This has been a big year for me Nintendo-wise, very very big indeed. I've only gotten to play my new WiiU a little bit but so far I'm lovins it! The new Wind Waker HD is absolutely GOREGEOUS! I'm very impressed by the graphics. It's such a great game too and I'm excited to play it again because I think the last time I beat it was in 2004. Dang.

In other news (and this is the BEST news) I have decided to move my Europe trip to April of next year instead of October. At first I was apprehensive because I was worried that I wouldn't have enough money but now that I have this new job going in April shouldn't be a big deal. Also, my new job is waaaaaaaay more flexible about issuing time off and said that me taking 2 weeks off for my trip shouldn't be a problem at all. Just to be on the safe side I'm going to put in my vacation request soonish.

Having never been out of the continental USA I couldn't be MORE excited about this trip. I've been dreaming about visiting Europe my entire life so this is a dream come true. And since I'm going in April I'll be there to celebrate my 30th birthday. Yes, I'm going to be 30 next year. It's absolutely nutzo that I'm in the last leg of my twenties. But I've been very fortunate to have remained youthful despite my years. People are always flabbergasted when I tell them how old I am. They always guess 20, which I find hard to believe but it's this damn adorable baby face of mine.

Anyway...back to Europe! What I'm most excited about is that I'm finally going to meet my beloved pen pal, Melissa! We've been friends since 2007 so this is a very much anticipated meeting! It's amazing how someone I've never met in real life is one of my favorite human beings. My friendship with Melissa has truly enriched my life and she means the world to me. It's going to be so unreal to get to hang out and travel together. I know already that I'm going to be totally comfortable with her since we already know everything about each other. AHHHH! SO EXCITED! This is the tentative plan so far:

Day 1) -Fly from Atlanta to Glasgow. Meet Melissa and pass out on her floor and/or couch.
Day 2)- Cruise around Melissa's turf and talk some serious trash.
Day 3)- Fly (or train) to London. See the Eye and maybe some museums.
Day 4)- Go on the Harry Potter London Tour and then go on a bus tour.
Day 5) -Visit Baker St. and take picture in front off 221B (after that I don't care what else we do)
Day 6) -Fly to Amsterdam. Rent bicycles. Cruise around for babes.
Day 7)- Visit the Van gogh museum. Cry forever.
Day 8) -Train to Cologne. Meet my friend Nick.
Day 9) - Train to Berlin. Meet up with my friend Diane.
Day 10) - Do other stuff in Berlin and look for babes.
Day 11) - Fly to Paris. See Eiffel Tower. Sob uncontrollably. Eat everything.
Day 12) -Go to the Louvre and Notre Dame. If time permits, visit Montmarte.
Day 13) -Visit Versailles palace. Roll around and cry somemore.
Day 14) -Fly back to Phoenix. Be sad that I'm not still in Europe.

So, yeah. Pretty exciting stuff. And now I have something to look forward to instead of worrying about my impending birthday.

Day Trippin'

Me, Jackie, Sharleen and Heather

Sometimes you have a truly fantastic day and this past Saturday was one of those days. I had gotten the elusive Saturday off from work and thought I should make the most of it so I asked my girlfriends if they'd be up for a day trip to Sedona (Heather had never been). Everyone thought it was a good idea so we all met at my house Saturday morning. I thought it might be fun for all of us to wear a fandom shirt since we're all about our fandoms so we did! It was funny because all day people kept complimenting us on our shirts and would say, "I like your shirt...and your shirt and your shirt...I like all of your shirts!", haha!

I volunteered to drive since it was my idea to go on this little excursion and also because I've been to Sedona a bajillion times and know my way around. However, driving still gives me a little bit of anxiety so my stomach was feeling a little iffy for a while. When we got to Sedona Sharleen told us about this place called "New Center for the New Age" and said there was a "healer" there who looked like Sauruman (pictured on the right). So we pulled over to check it out. As fate would have it, he was available that day for a reading so we all agreed to have a 15 minute session with him. This was my first time seeing someone like this so I was a little nervous/giggly and didn't really know what to expect. He was really soft-spoken and weirdly enough, I felt super calm as soon as he started talking to us. He had to do an accelerated session for us since there were four of us and we only had 15 minutes. He did a quick palm reading (Jackie got skipped for some reason) and he told me that I was going to "make a lot of money doing what I do" so that was cool since I've been poor for most of my adult life. Party. Bonus. Heather got told that she dwells on the past too much and Sharleen needs to exercise regularly. For the most part, he mainly talked about himself which was a bit of a bummer but he did have some good advice for us. For example, we need to drink more water, eat more fruits and vegetables and we need to think happy thoughts because we all create our own realities. You are what you think. My old man is one of those "New Age" types so I've been hearing everything this dude said my whole life but I dunno, he said several times that we need to practice being happy and having more fun and after our session I didn't feel any anxiety for the rest of the day. Weird. We had wanted to take a picture with him but sadly, he declined.

 Next we drove to Oak Creek Canyon and hung out at the creek. It was hotter than I had anticipated that day so I was a little overheated and had to get in the water. It wasn't as cold as I thought it was going to be and I felt really refreshed. After that we were all getting pretty hungry so we drove up to Flagstaff for lunch. I rarely spend much time in downtown Flagstaff since I hate parking but I didn't have too much trouble finding a parking space and it was fun to finally get to explore the area. We had lunch at a really cute cafe/bistro called Macy's. I got a mozzarella sandwich and a fruit cup that were major nums. Flagstaff has kind of a Portland vibe and made me think about my time there and being on my own for the first time.

After lunch we walked around and did some shopping. We found a great candy shop called "Flagstaff Chocolate Company" where I bought some peanut brittle and some excellent salt water taffy (which I'm eating as I write this post). On our walk back to the car we saw a double rainbow which was a really nice way to end our day in Flagstaff. On the drive out of town it started raining like crazy and we got to see the entire rainbow and even where it ended in the trees (had never seen that before). Since we had left a little later than I had hoped I had to drive back in the dark which was a little scary. My car isn't good at going up hills so it would slow down like crazy and people would get right on my bumper. There was one guy who I thought was going to run us off the road. He even flashed his brights at me which was supremely rude and Heather flipped him the bird. When he passed us we saw his license plate said "GWAMMA" and Sharleen said, "You just flipped off Gwamma!". It was funny. Even though it was pretty intense driving down winding hills in the dark with crazy drivers afoot, I think I did pretty good driving-wise and am happy to say I got everyone home in one piece.

So although I didn't really get to go on holiday this summer, it was nice to get out of town even if it was just for the day. And I'm happy to have fun people to go on fun adventures with :)

Nintendo Brat 4 Lyfe

On July 12, 2013 I became the proud owner of a 3DS XL and it was a very momentous occasion. I had been wanting a 3DS since they came out but always felt guilty about spending such a large amount of money on myself (and on something strictly for play). Well, after much deliberation I decided that Mama had waited long enough and Mama was getting a new toy, goddammit. I had wanted the Arctic White version but since that one isn't available in North America at this time, I decided to go with the girly pink/white model. I christened her, Ms. Kitty, and she is my 5th bebe (my first born was my beloved N64). Since Target didn't have Animal Crossing: New Leaf in stock--the reason I HAD to have a 3DS--I had to shuffle over to Toys R' Us, which I hadn't been to in ages. It's weird how it still smelt the same as it did when I was a child (it's the same store I've been visiting since I was 3 years old). Scent memories are pretty powerful!

It's only been 11 days since my new baby came into my life and I can already say that I completely got my money's worth. The 3DS XL is beautiful and amazing! The screen is ginormous and totally worth the extra $30. In a way I'm glad I held out as long as I did to get a 3DS because I would've been bummed when the XL came out. Another cool thing about the 3DS are the apps that you can install on it! I've already installed Netflix (although I've yet to watch anything on my 3DS) and I guess once you buy new games you can download them so you don't have to carry the cartridges around. After doing some browsing, I'd also like to say that the 3DS has some VERY strong games available (much better than the current titles available for the Wii U). These are the games currently on my wish list:

*Ocarina of Time
*Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
*Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
*Mario Kart 7
*Super Mario 3D World
*The New Super Mario Bros. 2
*Donkey Kong Country Returns
*The Legend of Zelda: a Link Between Worlds

So, yeah, I'm basically going to be putting old man Amazon's kids through college this year. 

Back to Animal Crossing: New Leaf!! I am totally lovin's this game! I've been a massive AC fan since it first came out on GameCube so many years ago (I got a little crazy with that game and played it everyday for like, 3 years) and have been very much looking forward to playing this new version. What's new about this title is that now you're the mayor of  your town so you're in charge of building new public projects and enacting ordinances. Also, there's a main street in your town that is at first pretty run-down and only houses a few shops but as your town grows and becomes more prosperous, more shops will open. Another thing that's new is that you can pay to take a trip to a near island that the previous mayor, Tortimer, resides on and play fun little games. I've only been there once and it was pretty neat! Other than that, the game play is the same as in the previous Animal Crossing games, you can fish, catch bugs, design clothes, plant flowers, go shopping, visit friend's towns, and help out your fellow citizens. I've been playing AC every frikkin' day and I can't wait to watch my town grow! I'd highly recommend this game to anyone ^_____^

Besides playing a lotsa video games, I've been busy making new embroideries too! Here's my newest custom orders:

Both were requested from a super cool lady in Sweden so I'm really excited to be sending my work to Scandinavia (that's a new country for me). I've also had a lot of sales in Canada this past week and that was a new country for me too! 

Welp, I'm off to the post office to send some embroideries off to their new homes. Hope you have a great week!

Adventure Time!

Yesterday was a really fun day. I went on a photo adventure in downtown Phoenix and had a swell time.

I've mentioned it in a previous post, but I've been working on a photo project called "Camera Swap" with my three very cool pen pals, Melissa, Adam and Nikolaus. I bought some cheap disposable cameras and have been taking random, kookie pictures of events and places I encounter in my day-to-day life. 

I've lived in Phoenix for most of my life but I'd never really taken the time to explore the downtown area so I thought that this photo project would provide a perfect opportunity to really look around for unique/cool spots in the city. Also, the weather was nicer than it's been all summer (it was overcast and only about 98 degrees instead of 118 degrees we had last week).  It was kind of challenging juggling the three disposable cameras and also remembering to take a few with my personal camera but I think I did okay. I had never really noticed/appreciated how colorful and lively downtown Phoenix is since I'd only really hung out there at night.

 In retrospect, I wish I would've taken a duplicate photo of all of the things I photographed with the disposables since I'll be shipping them off soon and won't get to see the printed pictures (that's the point of the swap, to take pictures of your life, then to give those moments to someone else). However, I'll most likely be doing this project again since it was so much fun and now I know to take backup pictures so I'll know what pictures I took. At least I got some photos, though.

 After I took most of the photos on the cameras, I stopped for snax at Treehouse Bakery. It's a vegan bakery that's right around the corner from Trunk Space and Bikini Lounge. I got a Spicy Hot Chocolate cupcake and an Iced Tea and it was HEAVEN. I had no idea vegan pastry could be so good! And the store is owned by two girls, so next time you're in that area and find yourself with a sweet tooth, pay them a visit! (I should've taken a picture of our cupcakes!)

Anywho, I'm really looking forward to seeing the pictures my friends take, especially since they all live in cities I've never been to. Melissa is from Glasgow, Adam from Plano, TX and Nikolaus lives in Cologne, Germany. As an added bonus, all of these peeps are talented at photography so I'm pretty much guaranteed to get some rad photos. I need to make a friend in France now, haha!

In other news, I've also recently become OBSESSED with the show, Adventure Time! In less than two weeks I've watched all 5 seasons and made 3 embroidery hoops of characters from the show (and I have a list of more characters I'd like to make into hoops too). Here's some pics, they're pretty math if I do say so myself!

All of these hoops are currently up for grabs in my Etsy shop, so take a gander at www.iggystarpup.etsy.com

I'm so happy I finally gave this show a chance because I absolutely love it. The writing and voice acting is brilliant! I'm even thinking about going as Marceline the Vampire Queen for Halloween now.

Okies, well, I better get some biz done before I have to go to work. 

I'll see you in the Nightosphere, you sick freaks!

Iggy and DeviantART

Just a quick update about my art work. Today I logged into DeviantART and to my confusion I had 300 feedback messages (if you don't use DA- feedback is when someone comments, favorites your work, or follows your page) which is a buttload for me. I thought this seemed fishy so I read through all of the comments and everyone was congratulating me on my Daily Deviation. I was like, "What the math is a Daily Deviation?" It turns out that on DeviantART, each day staff members or volunteers pick about 22 pieces to be featured that day on the Daily Deviations page. Out of the millions of amazing pieces on DA, my itty bitty sloth hoop was chosen (left). I'm very excited and honored to have my work featured. I've already gotten several messages asking me to remake this piece :)

In other news, I got an order for a different sloth design (yes, sloths are very popular right now) and I went down to Joann's to restock on hoops. I get there and they had NO 6 or 7 inch hoops! I was pretty pretty pretty mad. When I got home I called every craft store in Phoenix (and a few in Chandler and Peoria) and NO ONE HAD ANY! What the hell? So then I went online and looked at a crap-ton of online stores so I could order some hoops in bulk. There were only 3 stores online that had them in the size I needed. I could NOT believe it. This craft has gone completely NUTZO! I tried to get them directly from Darice, the manufacturer, and they didn't even have any that size in stock. Retarded. I did manage to find a shop that had quite a few for a fair price so I stocked up. It was super scary to think I might not be able to get my hands on any hoops for weeks. I hate telling my customers that I don't have enough supplies and they have to wait. Time is money, man! Okay, that's the end of my craft rant. Here's some new hoops I've done recently:

All of these hoops are currently up for grabs! Find them here: www.iggystarpup.etsy.com

Super Moon Super Fun

Yesterday was a crazy day but crazy fun too. First me and a few girlfriends went to a jewelry party. Since I'm perpetually broke I didn't buy anything but chatted a lot. We started talking about how by never having kids or getting married that we're going to be able to retire early and have a buttload of savings to travel with (I think that it costs about 300k to raise a child to the age of 18 in the United States these days). I then mentioned how I had seen this story on Inside Edition (yes, I occasionally watch Inside Edition) about this group of single lady friends who were renting a fabulous foreclosed mansion and living the good life. I proposed that if all of us stayed single that we should consider pulling our money together and getting a Spinster Mansion. Everyone was really keen on this idea. It was really funny ^_____^

After the jewelry party we had planned on going to see a band called Harry and the Potters at the Burton Barr Library (we're all huge HP fans). I had never heard this group's music but the show was free and I thought it might be fun. We all dressed in our Harry Potter gear and were really excited. Here's us when we first got there: 

 We felt a little awkward being the oldest people there (who didn't have children) but whatever. We're all young at heart and being huge dorks makes us happy. There was a pretty big turn out and we got spots really close to the stage. All the kids were super funny and at one point in the show one of the band members came out into the crowd and wanted the kids to shout "SPEW" into the microphone. All the little kids kept introducing themselves when the mic was in front of them instead of shouting "spew" and one kid said, "My name's Sage--AAHHHHHHH!!!" and screeched into the microphone! It was horrifying! 

A dude that I had met in Seattle when I lived there was playing drums for the band but I was too shy to say hello to him because I figured that he wouldn't remember me since we only met once and it was over a year ago. However, he kept looking at me like he knew who I was. Since all of my friends had such a good time at the library show we decided to go to the second show at the Trunk Space afterwards. While we were waiting for Harry and the Potters to play that dude came up to me and was like, "Hey Courtney!" and I was like, "Oh, hey! I didn't think you'd remember me since we met like a year ago." and he said, "Of course I remember you!" So that was cool :)

Since we had gone from one show to the next we didn't have time to eat dinner so we were all DYING the whole night. Also, none of us had worn comfortable shoes too (we wound up standing for nearly 5 hours) so that part sucked. Near the end of the show Heather said, "We're just going to stand until we die." The band turned out to be the headliner and played last so we totally would have had time to eat first so that was a bummer. We were all totally out of it yesterday and none of our brains were working. I kept seeing people I knew at Trunk Space since all of the same people go to all the shows there so it was funny how my friends were like, "You know EVERYONE!" I really don't, it's just that Phoenix has a pretty close-knit music community so if you go to a few local shows you're bound to see the same people. 

 The last song the guys played was about love and how that's the greatest power of all and during that song Heather turns to me and said, "We don't need love. We have Spinster Mansion." and I totally laughed out loud like a freak. I was so tired and light headed from not eating that I couldn't stop laughing. Spinster Mansion, haha! After the show we all looked at the Super Moon, which was crazy bright and really beautiful. We all had to cram into Jackie's car and poor Hayley had to sit in the trunk. I felt bad for her but she was a good sport about it. So yeah, if Harry and the Potters come to your city, you should for sure go check them out! I guarantee you'll have a killer time! 

Always.

Barrels out of Bond

Today I went on an ADVENTURE! 

For the first time in nearly 20 years I tubed the Salt River with all me mates and it was great fun! The last time I went I was 9 or 10 and I remember it being very frightening; I was always the one who would float away or end up in the reeds. But I had this Saturday off from work and I figured it might be cool to do something that I don't normally do. I asked my dad for some ideas of stuff we might do and he suggested tubing. I wasn't sure if my friends would be interested but I asked anyway and everyone was super stoked! 

So we all met up this morning and after packing up the cooler and applying waaaay more sunscreen than was necessary, we were on our way! When we got there we couldn't believe how many people were there. It had to have been THOUSANDS. The shuttle over to the river was pretty intense too! The speed limit kept shifting between 35-40mph but it felt like our driver was going at least 60mph and when you're not buckled in and going up hills and around corners that feels hella fast! Good grief!

Jackie had had the good sense to bring rope to tie all of our tubes together, if she hadn't one of us would've floated away for sure (and it most likely would've been me). We put the cooler in between all of us for easy snack access and also to make sure it didn't flip over or anything. The water was cold but since it was hot as ballz outside we didn't mind. At the first rough patch of water, Michelle fell out of her tube! Poor thing! There was kind of a pile up at that spot and people were falling out right and left and the girl ahead of her thought she was her friend and said, "Don't worry! I'll save you!" then when she realized Michelle wasn't her friend she was like, "Wait! I don't know you!" It was funny ^___^

For the most part the river was pretty smooth and relaxing and there were lots of laughs had. However, it did get pretty rough again and we floated over to the edge of the river and had to dodge a bunch of tree branches. I almost got sucked under water at one point and being the drama queen that I am, I kept yelling, "WE'RE ALL GUNNA DIE!" But luckily, none of us did. I think Michelle and Maddie fell out of their tubes a few more times but nobody drowned, which is good. We heard quite a lot of funny comments from fellow tubers throughout the journey but my personal favorites were:

"That rock just poked me in my butthole!"

and

"Hand jobs aren't really that great."

and

"One time I fell asleep tubing and woke up at an Indian reservation and there were lesbians everywhere."

Suffice to say, tubing attracts an interesting array of people. I saw way more skin than I cared to see and some of the world's worst tattoos too. But we had a blast and will most likely be making another trip to the river sometime later this summer. Here's a commemorative photo! Oh, and amazingly, no one got sun burned! Cheers!

 

Iggy and Tumblr

Just a quick little update.

I don't really know what's happening but in the past month, interest in my work on Tumblr has skyrocketed! My work has been featured on the site several times recently either under "gaming" or "crafts" and that has drawn a lot more attention to my art. Normally I have a few sales every month but since this rapid surge in popularity on Tumblr I've had several sales in just the past few days! When I post a new embroidery on Tumblr I include a link to my Etsy store so that has brought in a ton of new shoppers. I haven't had this many views on Etsy since I first opened it. It's pretty awesome!

I posted this sloth hoop yesterday morning and in 24 hours it got nearly 3,000 notes (a note is when someone "likes" your post or reposts it to their blog). And on top of that I've gotten nearly 100 new followers in 3 days (and some of these folks are artists who I admire myself). As an artist, you're always waiting for your art to start making waves and for people to start talking about it. It would be the bees knees if this was the beginning of my career taking off. I've worked really hard the past few years and struggled financially (and mentally). I really hope that my audience will continue to grow this year. I sincerely believe that my purpose in life is to make art that brings happiness to others and so far it looks like I've been successful in fulfilling that purpose. I've gotten so many messages from people telling me how much they enjoy my work and that really makes me happy. I don't expect to get rich off of my artwork but being able to just live comfortably without having to work a crummy day job would be a dream come true.

Anyway, back to Tumblr! After posting this Psyduck, it sold in about 3 days. This was a duplicate of a hoop I made last year. The first hoop took about 6 months to sell so being featured in Tumblr's "gaming" section really sped up the process. I already had so much love for Tumblr and now I wish I could give it all the hugs it deserves. I've been using Tumblr for 2 years now and it's becoming my Happy Place. Whenever I'm feeling shitty, I just go on there and before I know it I'm laughing like a crazy person. There's just so much good stuff to share and so many cool people too. So, thank you Tumblr and everyone who's either "liked" or "reblogged" my work! It really means a lot! 

Your friend,
Iggy 
www.iggystarpup.tumblr.com

I'm the one who knocks

So far this weekend has been pretty pretty pretty good. I've watched a crapload of tv but that's okay, as long as it's in moderation, right? In case you're curious I've watched "Our Idiot Brother", "Dirty Girl", "My Week with Marilyn" and some of season 2 of "Game of Thrones". I must say, I have some damn good taste in tv, I'll tell you what.

But I didn't just watch tv. I've gotten a lot of work done too. Courtney works hard and she plays hard. I finished a Breaking Bad hoop and it sold in less than 24 hours! Then today I got a commission for a Fancy Beasts animal portrait so I've been a busy little bumble bee. 

The buyer of the Heisenberg hoop (pictured below) was an old art school buddy of mine. He drove over to my neck of the woods to pick up the hoop and we got to catch up as well. Always good to get updates on other Herberger Institute of Art and Design alumni. While we were shootin' the breeze I bumped into another friend of mine who I hadn't seen in years. My friend and I had wanted to take a picture together with the embroidery when a woman offers to take our picture. I look up and I'm like, "Oh mah gawd!" I've known this girl since I was 12 and now she's a married lady who's just about to have her first baby. Time sure does fly, doesn't it? However, I feel like my life is more like the movie "Big" played backwards. I feel as though I'm becoming more of a kid with each passing year, haha!

Anyway, I've probably already said this before but it feels SO GOOD to sell something you made. For an artist, there isn't any better feeling. I've been meaning to buy a map and start putting pins in it to keep track of all the places my art is. It's cool to think that my art is all over the world now and that a part of me has traveled to distant lands and over vast oceans. Neat, huh?

Oh! Another thing I wanted to mention is that today I bought a disposable camera and the reason I bought this camera is because I'm going to be doing a project with my pen pal called "camera swap". If you haven't heard of it (I hadn't til a week ago) let me explain it to you. So both you and your buddy buy disposable cameras and take pictures of your life and the things around you. Once the camera is full you mail it to each other and get it developed. What makes this a special project is that only your buddy will ever see the pictures you took, not you. It's like sending a part of your life to another person to share. I'm very excited about this project and am already thinking about places I want to photograph. I took 2 pictures today so only 25 to go. My friend lives in Texas, which I haven't really spent any time in but I'd like to do this same project with my pen friend in Scotland as well. That would be a super cool exchange since our environments are so vastly different. So yeah, you should try it with a friend :)

Okies, I better get back to work but I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening and have a nice holiday!

Take her easy!

"I am no ordinary woman. My dreams come true."

Today I spent the day with my friend Hannah. First we made the rounds at Goodwill since it was half off Saturday. I love that in Arizona all Goodwill stores have half off day--on EVERYTHING-- every other Saturday. Washington only had half off on certain color tags (and nothing I ever wanted had the sale color). I didn't have too big of a haul this time but I got some good stuff. My favorites are probably a hot pink t-shirt with a tiger on it and some overalls. I'd been wanting a pair of overalls for a while so I'm excited to have finally found some. 

After thrifting we had lunch at Pei Wei (I love me some Pei Wei) and talked about boys and stuff. I needed some more soft pastels so we popped in Arizona Art Supply on the way back to her place. Since it was still early in the afternoon by that point we decided to go see a movie. We decided on "The Great Gatsby" at Picture Show since they have movies for $5.50 with a student ID (I will continue to use my ASU ID for as long as I possibly can). 

The movie was just okay for me. The novel is one of my favorites so I'm a bit of a tough critic. I will say that I loved the original film adaption with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow but this version was just "meh". The style was weird, the music wasn't my cup of tea and I honestly wasn't impressed by any of the performances. I normally adore Carrie Mulligan but her Daisy just felt like a weak attempt to copy Mia Farrow's portrayal of the character. I also didn't like the accent that Leonardo DiCaprio decided to use for Gatsby; it was weird and made his Gatsby less likeable and charming. I will admit that the first time I read the book the ending made me bawl like a baby but seeing it in this film I was just like, "Eh, whatever." I didn't feel emotionally attached to any of the characters in this film. Bummer.

Anyway, it was still a good day. 

What else has Ms. Doom been up to lately? Well, I've been working a lot lately. Both on my art and at my job. I started back at my old job this past week and it was weird how once I was there it didn't feel like any time had gone by at all. I remembered everything almost instantly and it was as if I'd never left. I've been working on a self portrait lately as well and it's coming along pretty well. I hope to be done with it within the next few days. When I'm not drawing I'm working on an embroidery. Here's my newest works:

 Let's see...anything else? Oh! I've also recently gotten addicted to "Game of Thrones". The first time I saw it I did not care for it all; I didn't like the violence against women and I couldn't keep track of all of the crazy names of characters. But I was in need of a new show and so many of my friends talk about it on a regular basis that I thought I'd give it another try. I watched one episode...then another and another. By the fourth episode I was like, "AHHH! SO MUCH DRAMA! I HATE EVERYONE ON THIS SHOW BUT I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!" I finished the first season two days ago and now am on pins and needles waiting to watch season two at my friend's house.

Welp, I guess that's all for now. Mama is pretty tired and might tuck in early tonight. I hope you all have an enjoyable rest of your weekend. 

Nighty Night!

867-5309

I have been phoneless for nearly two weeks now. My phone had been acting weird since February and slowly got worse and worse. My friend is trying to transfer its memory to a different phone but if he's unable to I'm going to have to buy a new one. I'm not very happy about this since I've had the phone for less than a year. It's ballz.

I hate to admit it but I was kind of addicted to my phone. The first day without it I felt physically ill. Now I don't miss it that much, in fact, I feel like I have so much more time all of the sudden. However, it is a pain having to go on my computer to check my email (my computer is an old man and takes forever to start up). What I miss the most about my phone is Instagram. I can't help it, I sort of love Instagram...and #PugsofInstagram.

Yesterday I attended Harry Potter bookclub with my mates and since we had finished book 5, we watched the movie. I hadn't seen "The Order of the Phoenix" in a while and watching it again made me remember how much that movie sucks. I'm not crazy about the book either but the movie takes out so much of the story and they put in so many scenes that are completely unnecessary. We decided that the next time they make the Harry Potter books into films that they should be made as a mini-series instead of feature films. That would be soooo awesome. They made another one of my favorite books, "The Count of Monte Cristo" into a mini-series and although they still changed the ending (no film adaption has ever had the same ending as the book) it was so much better than the movies since they were able to retain so much of the story.

Another bit of news, I have recently acquired a new pen pal! This time it's a young man from Germany. I sent him my first letter yesterday and am looking forward to his reply. I know I've said this before, but having a pen pal is a very lovely experience. There's something about getting handwritten letters in the mail that's very romantic no matter if the sender is male or female. 

Oh, and here's my most recent embroidery:

Okies...I better get back to crafting now. Much to do today! Laters!