This is the End

So here it is. My last post of the year. As a whole I'd say 2014 was a dang good year, in fact, I'd go as far as to say it's been one of my best years on this planet. This year I got to spread my wings and finally see the world. I got to meet my bestest friend face to face and spend 3 unforgettable weeks together touring Europe. My business continued to grow and I sold more art than any other year and doubled my revenue from last years numbers. One thing that also happened this year that is very important and that I'm very proud of is that I truly started to love myself and my body. For years I've struggled with insecurities (the majority of my anxiety stems from being insecure and worrying about how I'm perceived by others). But this year with a lot of encouragement from positivity blogs on Tumblr  and some very dear friends I finally was able to see myself clearly. I may not be perfect (and honestly, who is?) but I'm a smokin' hot babe and I'm proud of my body and the way I look. For the longest time if I were to see or meet a girl who I felt was prettier than me I would get so down on myself and feel inferior to them. But now I'm able to see a cutie and be like, "Wow she's pretty but I'm pretty too. We can be pretty together!" Just this simple thing has helped me so much. The media and the fashion industry have such a limited view on what beauty is and it's pretty messed up. Beauty comes in all shades and sizes! I wish I could go back and hug my past self sometimes and tell her how lovely and perfect she is exactly the way she is.

So yeah, many good things happened in 2014 and it makes me hopeful for things to come in 2015. Already, my life is starting to change. My job at the retirement community recently became full time so that's going to be an adjustment. I got kind of used to only working part time and having the rest of my time free to work on my crafts. But I knew that that was only temporary until I could find a full time position. Now I'll have to work on my time management skills and find time to make art after work. Ideally, I'd like to get one hoop done a week but we'll see how it goes.

My dad plans on retiring sometime next year or possibly early 2016 so I'll most likely be living with them until then to help take care of my mom. By living at home another year I'll be able to save more money that I would like to put towards my first home in 2016. I've tried living with roommates but it's just not for me and I don't have any plans to move out of state in the near future so I'd like to buy a condo. My original life plan was to move in with my future life partner but since I'm starting to realize that that may not ever happen for me, it's time for me to start planning for my own future and how I'm going to take care of myself. I don't want anything large, just a cute 2 bedroom condo with a small yard big enough for a pug or two. And it'll be so great to be able to decorate and paint the place how I want to and not have to ask anyone for permission. So I just need to make it one more year and not let my parents drive me completely insane.

What I'm most excited about in 2015, though, is getting to travel more. In just 4 weeks I'll be leaving for Thailand and getting to see Asia for the first time. Then in October I plan on visiting London for a week to celebrate Melissa's 23rd birthday. Originally, we weren't going to see each other again until summer 2016 but since I'm only visiting Thailand for a week and get 2 weeks of vacation time from work, I might as well use that time to get to see my favorite human on her birthday. We only got to see London for 2 days this past spring and that just wasn't enough time so it'll be awesome to have a full week to explore.

Alright, well, I wish all of you a very happy and healthy New Year and I'd also like to thank you for reading this blog and supporting me. It truly means a lot! Mwah!

Duchess Gummybuns
9 inches
*SOLD*

Your friend,
Courtney

Things have been going pretty good lately. Last month I sold more art than any other month before and this month seems to be following suit. I've gotten lots of new fans from Tumblr, Instagram, and DeviantART recently and am so happy to see my art getting more exposure. Speaking of exposure, I also recently got scouted by a show director at the Monarch Gallery and got asked to join RAW Artists. The director saw my embroideries on Etsy and now I have my first show post graduation this March! I'm so so excited! I have to sell 20 tickets to friends/well-wishers but then I get to show my work at the gallery for free, they'll put my profile on their website (and my interview), I get to keep 100% of the profits I bring in AND I get to show my work at several other RAW events around the country if I want to. Pretty sweet deal! I'm so jazzed about this show that I already bought the perfect dress for it (a velvet green dress from Forever21). I don't know how much space I'm going to be allowed but I want to have at least 10 hoops as well as some felt brooches and prints of my animal illustrations. I might even do a raffle for a free hoop!

Some more exciting news is that I managed to score front row tickets to see my favorite comedian, Aziz Ansari, next month!  He posted on Facebook that he was doing a show in Phoenix in January and that if you wanted to be notified for pre-sale tickets to sign up for his text alerts. Naturally, I signed up because I've been waiting forever to see him live again (I first saw him in Central Park in 2006) and on Monday around 11pm I got the text. I only have a flip phone though so I wasn't able to click on the link to buy the tickets so I texted my friend Rosalynn to see if she could buy us our tickets. Luckily, she was still awake and I about lost my mind when she told us we got in the front row! I've never been in the front row for ANYTHING so I'm beyond thrilled for this show! He might even talk to us since he usually talks to people in the front row! :D

Another bit of good news is that my older brother (the bane of my existence) finally got a real grown-up job and is MOVING OUT! Christmas has come early for the Doom family this year! For anyone who knows me irl, you can understand what a huge relief this is. I couldn't have asked the gods for a better gift this year. Peace and lovely lovely quiet. I'm hoping to land myself a real grown-up job in the not too distant future as well but I'm not in a huge hurry. Living with my family allows me to concentrate on my art and building my business as well as giving me the opportunity to save money for travelling. There are some downsides of course to living at home but it's only temporary and soon enough I'll be working 40 hours a week and making house payments along with all the other smallfolk out there. Being a grown up isn't as great as I thought it was going to be. Let that be a lesson to all you kiddos out there, enjoy being a kid AS LONG AS YOU CAN! Or if you absolutely have to grow up, don't let anyone tell you you're not allowed to enjoy the things you did as a kid. I'm going to play video games and watch cartoons for as long as I live. FTW!

Alright, my lovelies, thank you for reading! And I hope y'all are enjoying this holiday season!

Friendsgiving

SHARP TOOTH!

Yesterday was my first ever Friendsgiving. I've heard of people doing this before but had never been to one myself so this year I asked my friends if they'd want to try it. Everyone was down with it so we all agreed to bring a Thanksgiving-esque dish to the party. My actual Thanksgiving was pretty sucky (majorly sucky) since I had to work that day (and was completely by myself I might add) so it was nice to get a do-over yesterday with my girlfriends.

For my contribution to the potluck I got a Trader Joe's turkey-less roast and it was surprisingly a big hit! Their mock-turkey roast is ONE BILLION times better than Tofurkey's roast and I look forward to it every year now. I wish they carried it year around because it's oh-so-good and super easy to prepare. It's also, quite a bit bigger than Tofurkey's as well. One roast was enough for 4 or 5 of us compared to the Tofurkey which barely feeds 3 (if that). Sorry to rip on Tofurkey so much but TJ's version is far superior. In addition to the roast I also made homemade cranberry sauce. Once you try homemade cranberry sauce you can never go back to the canned stuff and it's SUPER EASY to make. All I used was one 12 ounce bag of cranberries, 2/3 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1/2 cup of water and a pinch of cinnamon and salt. Easy peasey.




Maddie, Jenika, me, Jackie, Heather, and Michelle

I wish I'd taken a picture of the whole spread but we also had a candied yam casserole, a green bean casserole, Pennsylvania Dutch corn, mashed potatoes, biscuits, chocolate pie and apple cider. It was quite the feast! I hadn't eaten so many delicious things all at once in ages! It took me a while but I managed to clean my plate. Sharleen arrived a little late but in time for pie and my favorite party game, Cards Against humanity. It was great to see her and hear her super cute laugh again since she moved to California to go to grad school. This time we decided to throw a random card into each round and it was so funny when the random card would win. I think I'll play with a rando thrown in from now on. :)

Another cool thing that happened this week was when me and Michelle visited the Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ. I had never really been to Tucson before even though I've lived in Arizona most of my life so it was fun to go on a little excursion. If you do happen to find yourself there, I'd highly recommend the Desert Museum. We had so much fun there and it was a beautiful day. We saw a mountain lion, bobcat, fox, river otter, javelina, coati, porcupine, beaver, mule deer, big horn sheep, and countless birds. It was funny when we went in the aviary I knew more about the birds they had than the people who worked there. My dad and I are massive birdwatchers so my bird knowledge is pretty vast to say the least. I don't really have any friends who share my passion for birding but I can say that we birders are an eccentric bunch. I've never met another bird watcher who wasn't quirky ;)

After the museum we went back into town for lunch. We went to a vegan restaurant that I've heard many of my vegan friends rave about called the Lovin' Spoonful. I was pretty impressed by all of the options they had on their menu but the item I chose was a bit of a dud. So that was a bit of a bummer. Next we thought we'd walk around downtown and do some shopping, however, once we'd parked the car we found out that there really isn't any shopping (or anything) to do in Tucson. We kind of walked around in a circle until we found a place that had ice cream called The Hub. The ice cream was reallllly good (I got salted caramel) and for whatever reason all of the boys who worked there were super cute. What the heck?

Other than that I've been SO BUSY with orders this month! It's been my busiest month ever so I'm totally stoked about that. Hopefully, December will follow suit because Mama needs to save money for my upcoming vacation! ^_______^

 

 

Livin' the Craft Life

Puppycat "Flawless" (SOLD)

Today has been one of those rare days where everything seems right with the world. I've gotten so much love for my artwork today and it's put me in a lovely mood. Since I was in a really lazy mood for the majority of October (not to mention being sick for a week and then going on vacation) I decided that November was going to be a super productive month for me and so far it has been. I've been working on new pieces day and night and am really pleased with my most recent work. As an artist, nothing makes us happier than knowing our hard work is appreciated so to everyone who has supported my business or simply said something nice about my art THANK YOU SO MUCH! It means the WORLD to me! I can be a bit insecure about my art and how it's received so when I go through dry spells it really wears down on me (yes, artists need constant validation). But this month has been awesome! I've gotten loads of new fans on Instagram and Tumblr and have had two people ask me if they can feature my work on their blogs! YAY!



Totoro "Brush Your Teeth" Hoop (SOLD)

I think another thing that is adding to the lift in my spirits lately is that I have some neat things to look forward to. First being my upcoming Thailand trip (it's only 2 1/2 months away now), then there's Friendsgiving coming up on the 29th (my friends and I are celebrating Thanksgiving together) and finally my trip to London next October to visit Melissa. As a person who suffers from melancholy, I've noticed that it helps me to get through difficult periods or times of sadness when I have some things to look forward to. I try not to live in the future (or the past) too much but it does give those bad days a boost when you're able to daydream about good times to come. I'm really excited about 2015 and think it's going to be a great year for me. If I'm lucky, maybe it'll be the year that someone special will enter my life (not going to hold my breath, though, haha!)



Jake Ice Cream Hoop

Oh, another thing that made me smile today was my internet friend, Jenny, including a pic of me in her Selfie Project 2014. Jenny is a doll (inside and out) and one of my favorite bloggers. She put a post out on Instagram asking people to send a selfie and a short caption saying something that they love about themselves. If you'd like to see mine and the other lovely ladies who participated in this project, please visit Jenny's website at:

www.shelovesdresses.com

It's just so nice to see so many gorgeous girls loving themselves. I'm all about self-love and positivity these days and encourage everyone to be kind and nurturing to themselves.

Okies, well, I'm going to get back to work but here's a few more of the hoops I've made lately. If you'd like a custom embroidery for yourself or a loved one this holiday season, please contact me on Etsy! www.iggystarpup.com



Stitch "Ohana"
 



Everything's Coming Up Milhouse!


 



 

One Night in Bangkok

Today I went to the doctor to get some vaccinations for Thailand. I got a tetanus booster and a hepatitis A and B shot. Oh, man! My arms are SO sore! I thought they'd at least spread them out across a couple appointments but they were down to do them all today. Surprisingly, the tetanus wasn't nearly as bad at the hepatitis. Those two really took the wind out of my sails. Besides having two practically dead arms I feel really yucky and tired. Bleah! I guess it beats getting super sick on my trip, though. Luckily, I did my research on what shots I would need because I need two round of hep B and you need a month in between shots. Once I get my final shot next month I'll be able to just concentrate on planning the trip itself.

One positive thing about today's doctor visit was that it didn't cost me one red cent. Thanks to our president, my immunizations were 100% covered by my insurance. I didn't have health insurance for the past 6 years so I am so grateful to finally be covered again. Being a starving artist is already stressful enough without having to worry what the heck you're going to do if you get sick. If I hadn't had health insurance my visit today would have cost me about $400 which I really couldn't afford. So say what you will about Barack Obama but I'm think he did a great thing by helping all of us without health benefits. I'm hoping that this country will someday go one step further and mandate universal healthcare to all its citizens. But, hey, I'm a dreamer!

Anywho, I leave for Bangkok on February 1st and will return on February 9th. The journey there is going to be INTENSE to say the least. We leave at 7:15am and won't arrive until 11:15pm THE NEXT DAY! I think it's 26 hours total. We'll have a layover in LA for an hour then another in Tokyo for an hour and a half. This time I used my noggin' and got us both aisle seats the whole way. I learned my lesson when I was trapped next to a sleeping 80  year old Russian lady for 13 hours back in April. NEVER AGAIN. NEVER EVER AGAIN. If the journey there doesn't kill us, I think we're in for a really amazing adventure. Bangkok looks like such an amazing city and Thailand is a beautiful country.

I haven't had too much time to plan out an itinerary yet but the things I know I'd like to do are:

*meet my friend Shong (who I've been online pals with since 2007)
*spend a day at the beach (it'll be summertime there)
*go on a river tour
*visit lots of Buddhist temples
*ride bikes to the markets at night
*rent a scooter
*visit some art galleries
*go dancing
*and eat lots of yummy things

I'm SO EXCITED! OHMYGOSH! And it's sooooo soon too! Only 86 days to go! ACK! It's amazing that a year ago I'd never been out of the USA and now I'm about to scratch another continent off my list.

Halloween

Sadly, another Halloween has come and gone. At least I was able to squeeze in three costumes this year. Last weekend I went to my friend's daughter's party as a skeleton. I'd been planning on being a skeleton for quite sometime and was going to make my costume myself when I realized that oops! I already had everything I needed in my wardrobe. Beneath my breast beats the heart of a goth girl, I guess. However, one thing I didn't plan out too well was my makeup. I had bought some zombie makeup last year (when I was entertaining the idea of going to the zombie walk) and just assumed it would come with some white makeup that I could use this year. About 30 minutes before I'm supposed to leave for the party I get it out and there is NO WHITE MAKEUP. UGH! So I rush over to the drugstore and pick some up but when I put it on it A.) is too sheer and B.) is melting the moment I put it on. It was such a disaster! I had to go to plan B at this point and just used my winter foundation (for my pale vanilla-strawberry skin), black lipstick, eyeliner and dark gray eye shadow. I  guess it turned out alright but it wasn't how I'd wanted it to look so I was a little disappointed. The children thought I looked "too scary" so I suppose my costume was a success. My friend's toddler thought I looked so scary that she ran away from me the whole night :(

My next costume on the other hand came out ABSOLUTELY perfect! About two weeks ago I was making a Puppycat embroidery hoop when I thought, ya know, I'd be perfect as Bee AND I already have a yellow sweater in my closet. All I needed were some pink shorts and then the rest I could make myself. I found the perfect pair at Forever21 (and on sale) then I handmade the bee patch and a peter pan collar. Then I just tied some pink ribbon onto my boots and I was all set. All I needed now was somewhere to go. None of my friends were having a party (no adult parties) and for a long time no one really seemed that jazzed to go out. I had wanted to go dancing and last year I went to Crescent Ballroom so I thought I'd just go there again. A few days before I found some people who wanted to go out--thank the gods. However, when Halloween finally came it was still SUPER hot. I didn't wear my Bee costume to work because I knew no one would know who I was and I definitely wasn't going to be a skeleton since I work at a retirement home and a skeleton would just be too much of a reminder of everyone's mortality. So I opted to wear my new Slytherin tee (it has a detachable cape) and go as Pansy Parkinson. All night at work I debated between which costume I would wear out but wound up sticking with Pansy since I figured it would be hot as heck once I was dancing inside (it was).

Last year we'd gotten to CB around 9:30pm and had no problem getting in so I had planned on arriving again early. Anyone who knows me irl knows that I'm punctual to a fault and being late causes me to go into a bit of a panic so I wanted to get there early rather than risk not getting in at all. However, my friends don't share my planner type personality. By 8:45pm I was ready to roll. My friends had said they'd be ready by 9pm but 9pm quickly came and went. Then 9:15, 9:30 and so on. Long story short, we didn't wind up getting there until nearly 10:30pm. I was one unhappy pappy. On our drive there our friends who were meeting us there texted us saying security was about to cut off the line. Merlin's Pants! When we pulled up Jackie let us out so we could give Maddie her ID and luckily by then they'd made it to the front of the line. The folks who worked there said as soon as people trickled out that they'd let more people in. I was pretty bummed but we only had to wait about 10 minutes before we got in. Classic case of me getting worked up over nothing :/

I was shocked how popular this Costume Ball had gotten compared to last year. It was completely nutzo. There had to have been 500 people there. I had fun dancing minus not knowing any of the songs they played. I don't really know what the dj was thinking by playing music that no one except him had heard of. I enjoy dancing so much more to music I can sing along to. It was fun dancing with my wand, though. I had forgotten to leave it in the car and it kept falling out of my purse so I figured I'd just go with it. People seemed to enjoy it too; I got lots of thumbs up from my fellow Halloweeners. There was this trio dressed as characters from Lord of the Rings who kind of followed me around for  most of the night. Especially Bilbo. Bilbo kept smiling at me and dancing as close to me as possible. I wanted to tell him that witches don't dance with Shire folk, haha. Anywho, we stayed until a little after 1:30am when I abruptly ran out of steam. I went from dancing my face off to ready to be back in my bed in a few seconds.

I was off the next day from work so I took myself on a date to see "Horns". IT WAS SO GOOD! I LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! I personally think it was Daniel Radcliffe's best performance to date. I know it was a horror film but it was more funny than scary. I liked the silliness of the movie. I hope it'll be spreading to more theatres in Phoenix soon so more people will go see it. Today or tomorrow I'm finally going to get to see "Gone Girl" since I finished the book yesterday. I think I'll like it. I was really excited to see "Before I Go to Sleep" since the book was so good but the movie got really crummy reviews so I might just wait to see it on dvd.

Anyway, almost forgot about my BIG NEWS! This February I'm going to THAILAND! I'm sooooo excited! I'm going with my friend Michelle to Bangkok and we're going to stay with her mom who is teaching English there. Last week we bought our plane tickets. The flight will be hell but it'll be great once we get there. I'll tell you more about it when I have more details :)

National Lampoon's Disneyland Vacation

Just hook it to my veins!

This past week I went on holiday to Disneyland and California Adventure and had a fantastic time. I've been going to Disneyland nearly every year (sometimes twice a year) since I was 5 months old but this might be my best trip ever. I went with my friends Heather, Jackie and Maddie and we met up with their friend Krista who works at the park.

Jackie had made a Disney playlist for the trip so on the car ride over we had a 6 hour Disney sing-along (which had every track from the Lion King in like, 5 different versions, haha). The first night I went to Downtown Disney while everyone else was off doing their thing and did some perusing. Krista got a 40% off employee discount so I wanted to get an idea of what I wanted to buy later.



Giant Mickey-o-lantern

We got to the park Monday morning at 8am (my half-birthday btw) and would end up staying all the way til close at 11pm. 15 HOURS OF DISNEY. It was a LONG day but a really good one, blessed even. The lines were super short all day and we didn't have to wait more than 20 minutes on any ride; most rides we only had to wait like, 5 minutes. I had heard about days like this from other people but had never experienced one myself. I think the reason why the park wasn't so crowded was due to the fact that it was "closing" at 6pm for Mickey's Halloween Party which ran from 6-11pm (Krista had gotten us tickets to that too). We went on all the rollercoasters at least 3 times each and pretty much got to do everything we wanted to do. We even had time to catch a few shows, parades, and the fireworks as well. One of the major highlights of the day, though, was I saw my very first DISNEYLAND CAT! I had heard about the feral cats that lived at the park about 5 years ago and in all the years I've been going to Disneyland, we'd never seen one. That morning I had been telling Heather about them and said that anyone who spotted one got 1 million points. About an hour later we were over by Big Thunder Ranch Barbeque when I see this massive black and white tomcat!! I whipped out my camera just in time to snap a pic of him looking right at me before he scurried away. It was totally unreal!

Big Thunder Railroad has been my favorite ride for a long time and I was so thrilled to get to ride it for the first time since its reopen. I loved the new explosion part near the end but was glad that they didn't change anything else. Being a Taurus, change isn't really my thing. My least favorite ride of the day, sadly, was Splash Mountain. I volunteered to sit in the front since no one else wanted to and I got more soaked than I've ever been. I think they raised the water levels on the ride when they renovated it because in 24 years of sitting in the front of the ride I've never gotten so drenched. It was like I'd had a bucket (a large bucket) of water dumped over me. It took the rest of the day for my to dry off. It was pretty miserable and I think that'll be the end of my days of sitting in the front on Splash Mountain.

The next morning we went to California Adventure, which I had never been to. It was perfect for a second day park but if I'm only there for one day, I'm going to choose the Magic Kingdom. They didn't open til 10am so we got to sleep in a little. Krista was totally on top of scheduling and getting fast passes. I was really impressed! We made sure we got our fast passes to the Cars ride since it's new and really popular then we walked over to the ferris wheel. This ferris wheel was cool because it has swinging carts; I'd never heard of swinging carts and it was really neat! Next was "California Screamin" which was their big rollercoaster. It was pretty intense and made me think of "The Demon" in Copenhagen.

One category that CA beats the Magic Kingdom in is FOOD. We ate SO well there. I had this delicious pesto 5-cheese ravioli with pine nuts for lunch, a frozen lemonade for my snack and a mandarin orange tofu rice bowl for dinner. Yum yum yum! Some kiddy rides that I enjoyed were the Toy Story Midway Mania, Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Silly Symphony Swings, and Monster's Inc. At dusk we went to see "Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular". Usually I don't go to any shows or watch any parades when I visit a theme park but I'm glad that Krista talked us into it because I think everyone really enjoyed them (plus it was nice to sit and relax for a while). The boy who played Aladdin was cute as heck too so that might have been the reason I enjoyed the show so much ;) I also liked Tower of Terror a lot. I'd been on it at Disney World but this one was better. Oh, and I forgot to talk about "Cars", which was awesome. The outside part of the ride where you race was designed I think to look like Zion National Park and it was just GORGEOUS!

My FAVORITE thing at California Adventure, however, was the World of Color. I hadn't heard anything about it so I didn't know what to expect but it was one of the most beautiful shows I've ever seen. It was a water and light show on Paradise Pier and they projected images from lots of Disney films onto the water. It was so lovely that I got a little emotional (I think all of us did). It just made me think of my childhood and how these films were such a huge part of my life ever since I was 5 years old. The Little Mermaid was the first Disney movie that I became absolutely OBSESSED with and it was also the same film that taught me how to sing. Next time any of you visit this park you MUST see this show! I demand it!

The last day of the trip we went to Newport Beach. I usually go to Huntington Beach when I go to California with my dad so I'd never been to this beach before but it was really nice. For it being October, the water wasn't really cold at all and I had so much fun playing in the sea. I just felt so happy and free. It was so wonderful. After the beach we met up with our friend Sharleen who's going to CalArts for graduate school. We hadn't seen her since August so it was so nice to see her face. I miss her a lot :(

I'd been a bit stressed about this trip since I'd never traveled with such a large group before but I'm happy to say that everything turned out great and I had a fabulous vacation. Now I'm super stoked about my next trip coming up in February. It hasn't been finalized yet so I'll tell you all about it once I have my plane ticket. Stay tuned!

Time Capsule 2014

Me in 2k14

So it's already been a whole year since the last time I did a Time Capsule post. This year feels like it went by faster than any other year, well, ever. Maybe because so many good things happened in 2014. Of course this year has had it's low points (that's part of the whole human experience) but as a whole it's been a fantastic year.

Now let's get into what Ms. Doom was into in the year 2014!

My Life in 2014:
Favorite Films I saw in the theatre: What If, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Pride, The Wind Rises
 What I was listening to: Phoenix, Taylor Swift, Vampire Weekend, Florence + the Machine, the Frozen soundtrack
What I was reading: A Song of Ice and Fire (books 3-5), Harry Potter 1-7, Before I Go to Sleep, Gone Girl, Pride and Prejudice, All Men are Jerks (until proven otherwise)
Shows I was watching: Game of Thrones, The X-files, Orange is the New Black, Adventure Time, Parade's End, Girls, The Big Bang Theory
Trends I was into: peter pan collars, rompers, wing eyeliner, high waisted shorts, jellies
Trends I hated: acid wash denim, pointy finger nails, 90s grunge fashion
What I was driving: Buick Regal
Who I was crushing on: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Kit Harington, Daniel Radcliffe, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Games I was playing: Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Hyrule Warriors, Ocarina of Time, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask
Best Friends: Melissa, Rosalynn, Michelle , Ashley, Heather
Favorite Restaurant: Tea Lite Noodle Café
What I was looking forward to: My Disneyland trip and my trip to Thailand!
What I was most proud of: travelling all over Europe with my bff, being featured on the 100 Creatives List in the New Times, drawing again, and selling lots of art!
Dream Pets: tea cup piggy
Favorite color(s): mustard yellow, hot pink, turquoise, moss green
Most Used Words: omg!, bb, wowzers, bananas, so cute!
Favorite Food: Veggie Eggrolls on rice noodles with veggies and Hoisen sauce (yum!)
Pet Peeve: misogyny
People I admired: Melissa Winning, Chelsea Bloxsom, Kelly Anne-Boylan, ALB, Lauren Crow

September Wrap Up

(Doesn't have a title yet)
Pastel and paper
2014

Things have been a little bananas the past few weeks. I got the flu for the first time in a long time and have been a gigantic baby about it. I've been pretty healthy for the past year and a half so I was disappointed in my immune system for succumbing to illness. I called in sick to work on Wednesday (my first call-in since I started working there) and probably should've called out yesterday and the day before but since I'm only part time I don't get any sick days so I'd have to use up my vacation time which I'm not willing to do. That vacation time is MINE. And I already know what I want to do with it...(insert pause for dramatic effect)

My very dear friend Michelle has invited me to come along with her to Thailand this winter while she visits her mother. I am beyond excited about this! It doesn't even feel real. I've only had my passport for less than a year and I'm already going to knock another continent off my list! The flight will be hella long (24 hours) but it'll be worth it. I've always wanted to visit Bangkok; it's incredibly beautiful and from what I've read, there's lots and lots of things to do. Michelle's mother has an apartment there so we'll have a place to stay and a very good friend of mine, Shong, lives there and is going to show us around a bit. I'm SO looking forward to finally meeting him in real life. Shong was the very first fan of my comic strip "Marksville" and we've been internet friends for nearly 8 years. I've been wanting to meet him for so long and can't believe it's finally going to happen! Right now we're just waiting for Michelle's vacation time to get approved and then I'm going to talk to my boss about it. I should have more than enough PTO hours by that time (we plan on going the first week of February) so hopefully he won't have a problem with me requesting a week off.

Wedding Heirloom Embroidery (a gift)

Another exciting thing that's happened recently is my darling friend, Stacee, got married on Saturday and I was in her bridal party. It was my first time being a bridesmaid and I felt so honored that she asked me to be a part of her special day. The day of the wedding, though, we had a huge storm and it rained so hard I could barely drive. Michelle came along as my date and I thought I knew where I was going but as usual I had no clue and got us SO LOST! I realized things had gone awry when there were cows right outside the window. I had no memory of the venue being out in farm country when I'd gone there for the rehearsal. Michelle GPSed where we were and I had gone like 20 miles in the WRONG DIRECTION. Aiya! Luckily, we got there safe and sound (we saw so many wrecks and cars that had driven right off the road) but I felt pretty crummy being so late. But Stacee looked so BEAUTIFUL--OHMYGOODNESS! She looked like a princess. I wish I had pictures to post but I only took Instax photos. I'm usually the one taking 10 billion photos and get so busy with that that I don't really experience the moment as much as I should and I didn't want that to happen this time; I wanted to look at everything and remember everything with my own eyes instead of through a lens. So I'll just have to wait until Stacee's photos are on Facebook then snitch some. It was so nice being right there during the ceremony and getting to hear all of the vows and see all of the emotions and everything. I'd never been so close at a wedding before and you miss a lot of that stuff when you're sitting 20 feet away. It was so hard not to cry through the whole thing. I was so touched too when they brought me a vegetarian meal made just for me. Stacee is pure ANGEL!

In other news, I've been taking a bit of a break from my embroidery work the past 2 months and have been focusing on my illustration work. So far I've completed two full color pastel drawings in a series of kitten portraits (as seen above). I'm nearly done with the third and will be starting a fourth soon. I've been wanting to get more comfortable working in color so this has been a great opportunity for me to practice. So far I'm very happy with the progress I've made and feel like I'm learning more with each drawing. Once I have some decent photos of the rest of the drawings I'd like to start selling them as prints in my Etsy shop (www.iggystarpup.com) and then get them framed so I can perhaps show them around Phoenix. As much as I enjoy embroidery it's been a nice change to draw again. I love going to the art supply store to pick up new pastel colors. Soon I'm going to have every shade of Nu Pastel they have! After I'm finished with my kitten series I'd like to draw some other animals as well; right now I'm thinking a pug, bunny, and a deer. I could draw animals in pretty dresses forever to be honest.

I said in my last post that I was going to post some new hoops, so here's my newest pieces (they're all Adventure Time hoops). BUMPS!

Homies Help Homies
SOLD

Marceline the Vampire Queen
$33.00



Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum
$33.00

Earl of Lemongrab
$40.00

LSP "Every Party Is My Party"
SOLD

Melancholy Baby

I've gotta be real here, I'm still bummin'. The past few weeks have been all full of suck. I've been trying to keep a positive attitude but it can be really difficult when shitty things are happening on a regular basis. I've been stuck in a rut and not doing a very good job of hoisting myself out of it.

First, I had a falling out with a dude who I really wasn't even friends with. I won't get into the specifics but he was treating me pretty shitty and when I finally spoke up about it he got all bent out of shape and pretty much cyber-bullied me. It was really childish and was another reality check of why I don't have any hetero male friends. It's just too complicated and weird. I'm trying really hard not to be a man-hater but the men in my life aren't giving me much reason not to be. I can count the decent men I know on one hand and that's really depressing.

On top of that I've been feeling pretty down about my career. As much as I love making art I'm at a point in my life where I need more financial stability that art just isn't providing for me. I'm not going hungry or anything but being poor for long has been pretty taxing on me. To be perfectly honest, I'm very unhappy with my living situation and would like to get my own place in the not too distant future. However, in order to do this my current day job would have to become full-time (and who knows when or if that will ever happen) or I have to start looking for a different job and the prospect of having to change my life around again has been pretty stressful. I hate looking for new jobs like the plague but then on the other hand, the idea of doing my current job at the retirement home 40 hours a week is pretty daunting as well.

My original life plan was to meet a man with a good head on his shoulders and we'd find our way together but that's the thing about plans, they never work out. I'm finding out that I'm on my own here and I need to start figuring out how I'm going to take care of myself. I can't keep waiting for some dude to come along and save me or whatever. And I love my family but I've gotten to an age where I just can't handle seeing them every single day. I've pretty much become my mother's care giver and she only really speaks to me when she needs something from me. Whenever I try to talk about how I'm feeling or what's going on in my life she turns up the volume on the tv and totally tunes me out. My dad and I get along very well but I rarely see him these days and when I do talk to him all he can tell me is that everything is going to work out and not to worry about anything. He's retiring this upcoming spring so he's been working as much as he possibly can to save money. It'll be a relief when he's home to take care of my mother so I can get my freedom back and won't have to feel guilty anytime I want to go out with my friends.

I don't know. Do you ever look at your life and wonder what the heck happened or where did the time go? It feels like I just got back from Seattle but that was almost 2 years ago already. I would've thought that by now I'd have some idea of what I want to do with my life but I feel just as lost as ever. If you would've asked me at 12 years old what my life would be like at 30 years old I probably would've said that I'd be a professional artist with a good husband and probably a kid or two (ew). Not in a billion years did would I ever have thought I'd develop social anxiety at 14 and it would completely turn my life upside down. I know I've made tremendous progress with my disorder but there are days where I still feel like a fuck-up. People like to say that we create our own reality; if that's true, I'm creating a pretty shitty reality for myself. I guess I just need to trust in the Universe and myself more. Things might be tough right now but life has a way of balancing itself out again.

The shining light through this bummer time of my life have been my friends. I might not have a lot of friends but they ones I do have are true blue. I'm very lucky to have found such wonderful people who really love me and understand me. It's comforting to know that I'm not completely alone in the world. I do have people out there rooting for me and who will love me regardless if I ever become a famous artist. I may be unlucky in love in the romantic department but I think I've done pretty well in platonic love.

Okies, well, I'm gonna try to keep my chin up and stay as positive as I can. But if any of you could spare some positive vibes, I'd really appreciate it! Take care, friends!

Love,
Iggy

"P" is for Positivity (and Pizza)

I've been pretty bummin' lately with all of the crazy things going on in the world (Gaza, Ferguson, the death of Robin Williams) so I thought I'd do a post centering around all of the positive things in my life. Sound like a good idea?

I thought so too.

So here's a short list of positive aspects of my life and things that make me happy:

*I'm healthy. I am so fortunate to have a healthy body and am so thankful that it takes care of me. A year ago I started exercising regularly after having an injury and it has really helped to strengthen my body and calm my mind. Taking care of your body is super important and you feel so much better physically and mentally when your body is well cared for.

*My family. Of course my family can drive me absolutely crazy at times but I really am lucky to have them (minus the demon brother). My parents are two of the kindest people I know and have been so good to me. They've supported me through every decision (good and bad) that I've been inclined to make and have shown me what it means to love someone unconditionally (even if they are a 30 year old spinster struggling artist babe).

*My best friend and soul mate, Melissa. This girl came into my life 7 years ago (thanks to Myspace) and over the years we've grown from internet buds, to pen pals, to best friends (forever). She is a delightful and beautiful human being and I'm so privileged to have her in my life. Even though we live an ocean apart I feel closer to her than anyone else I know. No matter how crummy I'm feeling she knows just what to say to cheer me up. I wish we lived in the same time zone but hey, you never know, someday we might!

*Dogs. Dogs have brought immeasurable joy into my life. Don't get me wrong, I love cats with all of my heart but dogs give their love so openly and freely and without judgment. Whenever I see a dog I light up like a birthday cake. Dogs seem to be naturally drawn to me and I to them (I like to think of myself as a modern-day Snow White). I loved how easy it was to communicate with all of the dogs I encountered in Europe; they took one look at me and they knew I was a friend. I'm very much looking forward to the day I can get my own dog (or two). I think it's going to be one of the happiest days of my life.

*Art. Even though it has been difficult and the field is extremely competitive, I still believe that my purpose in this life is to make art. There are times where I feel like I've let my parents down by choosing art since I had the grades to pursue whatever career I wanted but none of those paths felt right until I ultimately followed my heart and chose to be an artist. I am a firm believer that people should do what they love regardless of how much money they'll make. Art hasn't made me rich and most likely never will but if you're just making art for the money, then you're in the wrong business. When I am working on a piece I become totally engulfed in the process and work into the late hours of the night often without even realizing it. Nothing else has ever captivated me as much as making art and I'd like to continue to make it for the rest of my life. Another thing I'm grateful for is knowing that my art brings joy to others. Imagine that something that brings you so much happiness is also able to bring happiness to other human beings. It's win-win! My fans are very special to me and have no idea how much I appreciate their support.



As a person who has struggled with depression and anxiety it's all too easy to focus on the negative parts of life. To be honest, Robin Williams death really affected me personally because I know from personal experience how hard it is to hide your true feelings and thoughts from others and conceal your pain. Often times people who have depression are the ones who are making everyone laugh and seem happy on the outside because they don't want people to feel the things they feel. I've made tremendous progress with my anxiety but dealing with depression is still something I struggle with. I've learned that self-love and acceptance are very important, though, and I'm working on finding happiness inside myself instead of seeking it through other people. I'm a work in progress, but we all are, right?

I recommend that you take sometime tonight (or whatever time of day you're reading this) to reflect on the good things and people in your life. And if you are struggling and need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. You are very important and we all deserve love and respect.

Thanks for reading this post and take care, sweet potato!

Love,
Iggy

Queen of Summer Time

Little Merbabe

It's crazy that it's already been 3 months since I got back from Europe. Mentally, I haven't completely come back yet. I find myself daydreaming about it a million times a day. It's also a bit of a drag coming back to your everyday life after going on an adventure. A week after I got home I was already super jealous of my friends going on vacation. Why can't I just go on all the vacations? Oh, yeah, because I'm an adult and being an adult SUCKSSS.

I have had some good times this summer, though. I got this adorable mermaid bikini and got to wear it to a waterpark. I hadn't been to a waterpark since I was 10 so I didn't really know what to expect but Michelle and I had a great time. We went to Big Surf in Tempe and after 3pm tickets were half price. I don't think I'd have the energy to go all the time, but it was fun. From an anthropological standpoint, it was very interesting as well. You see ALL KINDS of people at a waterpark and I love me some good people watching.



Sophie and Kiki

Another fun thing I did this summer was that I went to Phoenix Comic Con for the first time. I went as Kiki from "Kiki's Delivery Service" and was stoked by how many people knew who I was. I took pictures with people all day (so much that my friends were getting super annoyed by me being stopped every few minutes). I only went on Saturday but I feel like I got the full experience in that one day. I got to ride the light rail in full costume and look like an absolute freak to people who didn't know about Comic Con, I got to see John Barrowman and Nathan Fillion who were both really funny, I got to see TONS of great cosplayers, and I got to shop (I didn't actually buy anything but I do love a good browse). I'm already super excited about next year! I just need to narrow down which costume I want to put together...I've been wanting to get a Sailor Mars costume for a while since my hair is finally long enough but I really really don't want to wear heels all day. Maybe I'll go as Nausicaa. Who knows!



Michelle and I

Two weeks ago I went to an art show and that was cool. It's funny that as an artist, I never go to art shows. People ask me all the time if I ever show my work and I'm always like, "OH, YEAH! I SHOULD DO THAT!" and then I never do. I'm one of those artists who are more interested in making more work than showing existing work. It would probably do me some good to get some more local exposure but I'm just sooooo lazy about that stuff. I need a manager or an assistant. I'll just lock myself in my room and sew while I watch the X-files while some grunt goes out and shows my portfolio to galleries, haha. Anyway, my friend's bf was having a show at a venue called "Monarch" in downtown Phoenix so all of us girls went to show our support. Art shows are apparently also great places to people watch; they attract all sorts of weirdos (including me).




The Duce

I went dancing one last time at the beginning of the summer before it got crazy hot. We like to go dancing at The Duce but they don't have A/C so going in the summer months is no bueno. Even going in June it got a bit too hot for Mama.



#sarinotsorry

Recently, I went to a "Sari Party" at Sharleen's last month and that was a lot of fun too. Since I didn't have a sari I had to make do with a bed sheet, haha. Sharleen ordered Indian food for all of us and made these delicious drinks called "mango lassi". I watched my first Bollywood film and LOVED IT! It was called "Three Idiots" and it was SO GOOD! It had everything: comedy, drama, singing, dancing, and even a bit of horror. I don't think I've enjoyed a movie so much in a long time. RENT IT.

I probably did a lot more fun things this summer but these stand out the most in my memory. There's still a little over a month left but I'm pretty ready for fall. Halloween is so close I can almost taste it, haha :)

Next post I really am going to post some new art. Promise!