Versailles

That one time I got to spend my birthday like a royal

This year I turned thirty years old and I got to celebrate my birthday like a princess. My birthday fell on Easter this year and I got to spend the day in a palace and not just any palace, I got to visit Versailles. I had been dreaming about getting to see this beautiful place for most of my life and I finally got to see it with my own peepers. It was a lovely day and I feel very lucky to have spent my birthday in such a magical way. Let me tell you about our day!

Versailles is quite a bit away from Paris so we took the train and got there in about an hour. When we arrived we spotted our first actually French french bulldog who immediately made a beeline to me for pets (and I was happy to oblige). When we got to the palace we were pretty grossed out by the size of the line but we knew it would be worth the wait. Everyone was being herded into this massive snaking line so we just followed everyone else. After waiting for about 40 minutes we noticed a sign saying "TICKETS" and it was pointing to a building adjacent to the line. I told Melissa I'd hold our spots in line if she wanted to peek in and see if we were supposed to buy tickets inside or at the end of this queue. Good thing we checked because everyone in line had already purchased their tickets and were just waiting to get into the palace. We ended up waiting 2 hours (barf) but while we waited we played a game where you say the name of a band or vocalist and whatever the last letter is of that group or person is that's the first letter of the next band you have to guess (For example, if you said Vampire Weekend the next person would have to think of  band whose name started with D). We totally effed up by not bringing something to eat while we waited in line so we started dying after an hour and a half (it was lunch time by then). Melissa went back into town and got us some food while I waited, though (bless her). When she got back we noticed that there were different people in front of us than who had been there this whole time. I was NOT happy about that. This entire German family cut in line while we were eating our lunch--SO RUDE. I was not having it so I just walked right in front of them and was like "HELL NAH!" Do not cut in front of Courtney on her b-day, people.



Versailles Palace

Once we finally got in we were pretty excited. The palace was humongous and it took several hours to walk through it even though we were being shoved from room to room. That's one thing that I didn't like, there were just too many people in this place that you were being pushed constantly and you didn't get to spend more than 2 minutes in each room. I like to take my time and go at my own pace but that really wasn't an option here. But if they had a limit to the amount of people they let in and we hadn't gotten in I would've been hella pissed.



You can call her Queen Bee

My favorite room at Versailles was naturally the Queen's room. I'm a huge Marie Antoinette fan and she's the main reason I wanted to visit. I wanted to walk down the same halls that she walked down and get a feeling of what it must've been like to live in such a place. Her bed was beautiful and had a lovely flower print motif. All around the palace there were portraits of her. I didn't manage to get a good picture of the King's bedroom because it was really dark but it was all red velvet. The Hall of Mirrors was cool but it looked pretty different with 10,000 people in it than it did in my textbooks. All of the pictures we took in there weren't great and we just look really tired. One neat thing that Melissa pointed out was all of the graffiti. You wouldn't expect the Hall of Mirrors to have graffiti but it did. People had scratched their names into the glass and some of the names dated back almost 200 years ago. It was crazy! I'd never EVER think to do that!



The Queen's bedroom

At the end of the palace tour they had a gift shop so I picked up a few things. I got a fleur de lis key chain (which I turned into a necklace), some postcards and a Marie Antoinette jewelry box. Afterwards we went out to the gardens and took a break. I was kind of surprised to see they were doing a ton of construction on the gardens. You don't think about things like that when you visit historical landmarks that they have to be renovated constantly to keep them from falling apart. Anyway, we sat in the grass and people watched while I finished the last bit of my veggie wrap from earlier. We watched this handsome man play with his adorable baby more than we looked at the gardens, haha! The moment I finished my snack a security guard started booting everyone off the grass. From there we decided to walk to Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette's estate. In retrospect, we should have started our day there because it turned out to be so much more our thing than the decadence of the palace. Petit Trianon was like a very beautiful dream. It was one of my most enchanting places I've ever seen.




Petit Trianon

First we went inside her "cottage" and walked through all of her rooms. Compared to the palace this house was quite small and cozy. We could understand why she felt more comfortable there. The rest of the estate was just lush countryside with huge trees, meandering pathways and flowers blooming everywhere. I got to sniff fresh lilacs and it was one of the most delicious scents I've ever smelt. In the center of the property she had a little village built and there were adorable thatched houses with cute gardens. The Queen would host plays in these cottages and entertain her guests. Our favorite part of Petit Trianon, though, were all of critters! We saw a muskrat eating grass by the lake as well as sheep, goats, cows, dogs and donkeys. I got to pet two of the donkeys and they were so sweet.

 

By then it was just about dusk and they were closing for the day so we had to leave. I thought we weren't going to make it back to the train station. We had been walking all day long and so exhausted that we got a bit turned around walking back so it took us about an hour to get back to the station. We had had a great day but we were super tired by the time we got back to Paris. When we did get back it was close to 8pm and Melissa had arranged for her brother to meet us for dinner. I don't have time to tell the whole story here but her little brother has been doing this amazing walking tour across Europe by himself for the past year. She hadn't seen him in 9 months and he was pretty close to Paris when we were there so he got on a train and came to meet us. When he arrived we all went to dinner at the same pizza place Melissa and I had been to the night before (pizza forever!). Melissa and her brother are both total cuties and it was fun to watch them interact and speak French to each other. I was pretty full after my pizza but ended up eating most of Moray's tiramisu anyway ;) It was a  great end to a great day and a birthday I'll never forget.



photobooth at Versailles station :)



Paris: Part I

Little Baby in Paris

We wanted our trip to end with a bang so we'd end our journey in Paris. This portion of the trip would fall on my 30th birthday as well. How lucky am I to have gotten to celebrate my 30th rotation around the sun in the City of Light? Very lucky. Very very lucky! To this day, I still can't believe that it happened and I actually went there for 3 days. I'd been dreaming of visiting Paris since I was an itty bitty girl and that dream finally came to fruition.

Since our flight wasn't until two o'clock in the afternoon we got to sleep in and have a nice, quiet last morning in Copenhagen. We made sure the flat was just as tidy as it had been when we arrived then we had some breakfast. Since it was still pretty early we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood since we hadn't gotten to do that yet.



Our first peek at the Eiffel Tower. We got a little excited.

We got to see some critters including a some snails, bumblebees, lady bugs, birds and a gorgeous Siamese kitty in addition to a plethora of flowers. Even though I was very excited about Paris, I was sad to be leaving Copenhagen since we'd had such a lovely time there. After our little stroll we grabbed our bags and went into town so Melissa could send a postcard to her mum. Unfortunately, we got stuck behind a guy with two IKEA bags full of packages (must've been an Ebay seller) and an Australian woman who talked the teller's ear off. What should've been a 5 minute post office visit turned into half an hour and when we finally got out of there we'd just missed the train to the airport that would've gotten us there on time. Once again we got there late and had to haul ass through the airport. It was not fun times. If you know me well, you know that running is not my jam (I'm more of a fast walker) so it was a nightmare having to race through the airport again with my suitcase in tow. The airport had countdown timers painted onto the floor telling you how far you were from the gate and I remember thinking, "I CAN'T RUN FOR 3 MORE MINUTES!" I'm honestly surprised we didn't die. When we got to the gate I could see an Easy Jet pulling away and thought, "Welp, there it goes! We missed it!" but it was only pulling into the gate. We'd later find out that when our tickets said "no check in later than such and such time" it meant no security check ins past that time, not gate check ins so we actually had plenty of time and didn't need to kill ourselves running. -______-



I'd been waiting to take this picture my whole life!

Our flight was only about 2 hours so we arrived in Paris around 4pm, however, the airport was kind of far from the city so we didn't end up getting to the flat til around 6pm. Our host didn't think we were arriving til 7pm so he was napping when we finally reached the apartment. The flat wasn't as large as it appeared in the ad but it was cute and centrally located (we were literally a 5 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower). As soon as we got settled we walked down to see the tower. It had started drizzling by the time we got to the park but we didn't mind. We were just so happy to be taking selfies in front of the Eiffel Tower! Everyone was taking goofy touristy pictures of themselves "holding" the Eiffel Tower so naturally I wanted one too. I did give myself quite the fright taking one of these pictures, though. Melissa was trying to get the angle right to look like I was holding the tower and I kept stepping back without really looking where I was going. When I did glance behind me I was ONE STEP AWAY from a 12 foot drop onto concrete! I'm surprised they didn't have a rail or anything at that spot and I wonder how many people have fallen off that ledge taking silly pictures. The fact that I almost fell and broke my neck would haunt me a bit for the remainder of the trip (and that I could've died the day before my birthday--yikes!)



A dream come true!

By this point it had started to rain pretty steadily so we decided to go look for something to eat for dinner. Melissa asked me what I had wanted to eat and I went, "Ummm..." and she said, "Just say it. You want pizza again." I TOTALLY WANTED PIZZA AGAIN! We found a pizza place right down the street from our flat that was pretty busy so we knew it had to be good. We got a little table for two and ordered another veggie pizza. I got to hear Melissa speak French for the first time that night and I was so impressed. She'd been telling me the whole trip that her French was rubbish and that she could barely remember it but as soon as she started speaking it I guess it all came back to her. I had to sit there in silence and just nod my head and throw in the occasional "merci". I had been worried since I hadn't practiced any French prior to the trip but I was able to get by with only knowing:

*thank you
*yes
*hello
*goodbye



Pizza my Heart

Everyone in Paris knows enough English to communicate with American tourists but I still wish I was able to speak French. I've just never had a brain for language (minus my mother tongue). While we were waiting for our pizza we spent the time drooling over one of the waiters. Since the place was so packed there wasn't much room to move around so every time he'd walk past our table his bottom would be inches away from me and I'd really have to suppress the urge to smack him on the butt. It was a good bum. We must've been annoying the two guy sitting next to us with our English jibber jabber because after about 5 minutes of listening to us, they got up and moved one table down. However, one of the guys continued to stare at me through his whole meal. Weirdo. Our waiter must've thought we were a lesbian couple because he brought our pizza in a heart shape. I did appreciate the cute factor but I feel we were cheated several inches of pizza with this shape :/ For dessert I ordered the tiramisu (my favorite) for my birthday eve treat and it was the BEST tiramisu I'd ever had. It was more of a pudding-like consistency than the cake-like version I've had at home. It was heaven and well worth the 8 euros. After our meal we waited for ages and ages for the waiter to bring the check. I kept giving him the stink eye but he still continued to ignore us. Finally we started putting our jackets on and I guess that was the unspoken symbol in France that you're ready for your check because he immediately brought it after that.



The River Siene

We walked back to the Eiffel Tower after dinner to see the lights and it was sparkly and beautiful but by the time I took my camera out it stopped! I guess they only turn the lights on every hour for 5 minutes after dark and I got my camera out at 9:05pm. Merde! So that's why I have no pictures of it at night. When we got back to the flat my feet were pretty tired from all of our adventures that day so I had another soak in the tub. We turned in around 11pm that night and went to sleep dreaming about VERSAILLES (and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau fyi). My birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year and I would get to spend it like a Queen in the royal palace!

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,
Courtney

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.

Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown!

 

Today I turned 29 years old and so far it's been WONDERFUL! I have the most loving, supportive, and amazing friends a girl could ever ask for! Let me tell you a little bit about them!

Yesterday afternoon I was stressing as I was getting prepared for my birthday party that evening. I got up early and baked the World's Most Hideous Cake (pictured below) and was running all over the place grabbing last minute things. When I saw my mom she said there was a giant package at the door. My first thought was, "Oh, SHIT! What did I buy? I don't remember buying anything giant!" 

When I opened the door there was indeed a giant package there from my friend Madeline. I lifted it up and it was surprisingly light for such a large package. What could it be? I eagerly opened it up and it was filled with balloons. My first reaction was, "I don't get it!!!" But when I took the balloons out of the box I noticed that each contained a small note. So I popped them one by one and inside was a special message from each of my girlfriends! It was SO AMAZING! I'd never gotten a gift like that and it made my heart burst! I'll admit I got a little emotional reading all of the nice things my friends wrote :)

Later that day Maddie and I drove to Jenika and Ryan's house (they were kind enough to host the party). When we got there Jenika had balloons, snacks, and decorations already set up! It was sooooo sweet! While we waited for everyone to trickle in we drew faces on all of the balloons. The first game we played was Mario Kart; I will even admit that I only got second place this time. My friend Joe had secret Mario Kart talents that I was unaware of. After Mario Kart we played one of my favorite party games, Telestrations. For anyone who isn't familiar with this game, I'll describe it to you. It's a combination of Telephone and Pictionary and it's pretty hilarious. You take a blank sheet of paper and start off by writing down a word or a short phrase (ie: batman eating an ice cream cone). Then you fold the paper away from you and pass it to the person next to you. That person then has to draw whatever you wrote then they fold the paper back so their drawing hides what you wrote. Then they pass it to the person next to them who then has to write what they think the drawing is and so on. By the time you get your original paper back it's transformed into something completely crazy and ridiculous. For example, "Trees" turned into "Broccoli Party" which turned into "Broccoli Overdose" which, sadly, ended with a man overdosing on broccoli. Be warned though, this game induces a scary amount of laughter (my throat still hurts from laughing too much).

My friend Jason had brought his little girl who couldn't stay out too late so after two rounds of Telestrations we had the cake. I was hoping to fool my friends into thinking I baked said cake from scratch. It turns out my friends aren't so easily fooled. Rats! But at least everyone ate some! After cakey I opened my gifties. I wasn't expecting any gifts so I was surprised by all of the lovely things my friends got me. Did I mention already that my friends are the best ever? I got a amigurumi kit (never crocheted before but I guess I'll have to learn), a giant book on sewing (just got my first sewing machine from my mom and pop), a lovely Hobbit journal, a giftcard to Michael's (I drop alotta cash at Michael's), a hand-drawn Spirited Away card, and a gorgeous hand-embroidered pendant from my bestie, Ashley.  

 

After gifts we played "Cards Against Humanity", my other favorite party game. There were about 12 of us by then and that's a pretty big crowd for this game so it was really hard to pick the best answer. I unfortunately got a sucky hand of cards but it was still really fun and everyone laughed their butts off. I'm glad that people had a good time. There's nothing worse than having a boring birthday party so I'm happy that mine was fun for everyone ^___^

This morning I awoke to a letter from my pen pal,  Melissa, who lives in Scotland. Getting letters from her always makes my little heart very happy and it was extra special to receive one on my birthday. Having a pen pal has been such a joy in my life; even though we've never met face to face, I consider Melissa to be one of my closest friends and she's also one of my favorite people in the world. We tell each other everything and it's awesome having someone in your life who you can share anything with. And there's something very special about writing and receiving handwritten letters. Communication in today's culture has become so quick and easy that along the way it loses something. An email (or glob forbid, a text) can never compare to a real letter. If you don't have a pen pal, you should definitely try seeking one out. Places like Okcupid and Facebook are good places to look for a long-distance pen pal.

This afternoon I had lunch with my friend Hannah and her mother at Whole Foods followed by some thrifting at Goodwill. I found an awesome afghan just like the one Bret Mckenzie has on his bed on Flight of the Conchords for $3. I also found a rad green and white polka dot dress and a Gemma Correll pug shirt. Half off days at Goodwill are the best days :) 

When I got home from shopping, I had a package waiting for me by the door. It was from my boy bestie, Nathan. He had said that it was fragile but I had no idea what it could be. When I opened it up I got a little emotional again! GAAAHHHH! He had gotten me the Bilbo Baggin's fairy door I had said I wanted AGES ago. It's so adorable! I love it soooooo much! I'm always amazed by Nathan's gifts because he'll get you something you mentioned that you really really wanted like, a year ago. He's the best!

ALL OF MY FRIENDS ARE JUST TOO GOOD!!

My family is the lovely too. My mumsies and I went to dinner tonight at one of my favorite restaurants but before we left she gave me this gorgeous sapphire ring that I had wanted for about 10 years but was too young for at the time. I still look a little bit too young for it but it's gorgeous (it's designed after a ring Princess Diana had) and I love it! My mom is a sweetheart and I'm really lucky to have such great parents. 

In conclusion, I had a MARVELOUS birthday and am feeling very loved right now. I think this is a perfect start to what will be an awesome year! I'm gonna kill it this last year of my twenties! WHOO!



It is time!

 

Me and Maddie

The Birthday Approaches

Yesterday was a fun day. I attended my Harry Potter bookclub (although I've read them loads of times but I'll take any opportunity to talk about Harry Potter). As usual we didn't discuss the assigned reading very in depth. Mostly we just talked about random topics including but not limited to cats, food, shoes, etsy, lion king, crafts, tobogganing, and okcupid. 

Maddie found us a Patronus test since we're currently reading "The Order of the Phoenix" and my patronus was a Snowy Owl. Not too shabby. The best part of the meeting was looking at Harry Potter book cover art from its various translations. Some were pretty wicked but others were just...strange to say the least. Anyway, I must say that I'm very happy to have met all of these lovely ladies. I don't think I've ever had an entire group of female friends. I usually hang out with one or two friends at a time and they usually belong to separate social groups so it's refreshing to have a whole gang who are all friends with each other. I'm also happy that these girls are active and like to go out and do things. I've always been a bit of a homebody and it's gotten a little stagnant over the years so I'm really enjoying going out more and trying new things. 

In other news, I'm currently planning my 29th birthday party. Since this will be my last year of my twenties I've decided to have a "Kid Party" theme. Everyone will dress in kid's clothes and we'll play lots of games. I might even buy an ice cream cake :p

I'm still in the midst of my job search but in between I've been working on inventory for my Etsy store. Here's my most recent embroideries: 

I guess that's all for now but if it's not too much to ask, keep your fingers crossed that Mama finds a good job soon. Thanks, lovelies!

A Girl of 28 Summers

So a lot has happened since my last post. For starters,  I celebrated my 28th birthday. This birthday started out a little rocky but it ended strong. Gather 'round and let me tell you a tale...

Tuesday, three days prior to said birthday I received some sad news. My bestie's former roommate (who had been very supportive of my art) passed away on Monday. I couldn't help but feel an extreme amount of guilt upon hearing this news because we all knew this girl had been troubled and was headed in a bad direction. Since I didn't know her very well though, I didn't feel it was my place to suggest to her that she seek help. I never would've thought that in 2 1/2 weeks since I last saw her that she would be gone. I just hope that maybe now she'll be able to find the peace that she was unable to find in this life. 

So yeah...week prior to birthday off to a bad start. 

Then actual birthday arrives. I had requested it off from work ages ago (because who wants to work on their b-day?) but hadn't really made any plans since I'd been putting all of my energy into getting ready for my party that weekend. So Thursday I'm like, "Shit! What am I gonna do tomorrow? I can't just sit around and do nothing!" I then proceeded to contact all of my close friends to see if they'd be able to get together for a last minute dinner thing. When I woke up the next day I sprang out of bed hoping to find a homemade card or maybe some balloons from my family. 

Nope.

My dad had been having some car trouble the day before so Friday afternoon he had to have his car towed and I guess there was drama because when he got home he had FORGOTTEN it was my birthday. This was a major blow and considering the epic meltdown my dad had the week previous about me moving to Seattle, I expected at LEAST a card. Yeah...so I got a little cranky on my b-day. To add to my current crankiness I had to run all over town in the blazin' heat buying food for my party. I really hate shopping at multiple stores. There needs to be one store with everything that you could possibly want to buy in it. That would make me happy. 

Anyway, so I'm crankypants and still have no plans yet for my b-day when my friend, Maddie calls. We had gone to trivia at George and Dragon the night before and had talked a little bit about maybe getting together for my b-day but she didn't get off work until 5pm. So she calls and is up for hanging out. Night starts to get better. Then my other girlfriend, Heather, calls and asks me if I'm doing anything for my b-day. Night continues to get increasingly better. So we all agree to go to Krua Thai (my favorite thai restaurant). Heather meets me at my house and surprised me by bringing our other friend, Jackie, along! All of us are very giggly/excitable girls so imagine all of us being together in a somewhat small/quiet restaurant...I'll just say the other patrons didn't find our conversations as entertaining as we did. But it was my birthday, so fuck 'em! After dinner we took lots of goofy pictures then went back to my house and watched Demetri Martin's special "Person" on Netflix (which I highly recommend).

So birthday Part 1 turned out successful. Next was birthday Part 2. I love me a theme party so naturally this party had a theme. Since I exploit any opportunity to dress up super fancy, I chose to do a "prom" theme.

Fun Fact: Courtney didn't go to her prom and has been haunted by this fact for many years. (even though she probably would've hated it if she had gone)

I got a super cute dress from Forever21 and a bow from Claire's. Here's a photo!

I'd have to say this was my best birthday party to date. All of my favorite humans were there which made me really happy since this was a Birthday/Going Away party. Although I won't miss Arizona, I'm going to miss my Arizona family more than I could possibly say. For the first time in my life I have a rock solid group of friends who I all love dearly. They've been so supportive and wonderful and will always have a special place in my heart. Here's a few more pics from the evening:

Alright, my hand is getting crampy from too much blogging but I'll post more info about my upcoming move (and new art pics) soon!

Laters!

Wild Wild Life

Jeepers creepers...again it's been an age since I updated this blog. But don't blame me. It' s not my fault...really! Since last time I posted someone new as come into my life, someone very special. His name is Netflix and I must say that we are very very happy together. Happy as clams. Peas in a pod. However, he takes up most of my evenings, leaving little time to update this sorry excuse for a blog. 

So...since last post I had my senior show, went to Disneyland, and had a birthday. Let's start with the show. Well, it turned out to be a GREAT success and I'm very pleased with how smoothly everything went. My children's bedroom installation came together just as I had imagined. Hanging my pieces was a bit tricky and I must admit that I had nightmares that entire weekend that involved my pieces crashing down but luckily that didn't actually happen. The opening reception was scheduled from 6-8pm and it was surreal how quickly the time zoomed by. I was very touched by how many of my favorite people attended; a support system is key to an artist. An unexpected thing happened at the aforementioned show as well...I attracted the attention of an AGENT who is going to represent my work! I'm very very pleased with this arrangement and am very much looking forward to creating new work. I've even decided to start selling prints and plushies on Etsy so I might score some extra cash this summer :) Here's some pics from the show:

So yeah...lots of exciting things going on these days. Let's move on to the birthday...To be honest, I was DREADING this birthday since I was transitioning into the last leg of my darling twenties. I know I don't look old and I certainly don't feel old but I guess I just don't feel like I've accomplished as much as I thought I would by this age. Don't get me wrong, I've come a LONG way in the past 7 years, in fact 7 years ago I never could have imagined I'd be doing all of the things I'm doing today but...I had dreamed of having a book published by now and had assumed that I would've found that elusive Mr. Right by the ripe old age of 27. But...some wisdom I've gained in my "old age" is that you can't plan your life. It just doesn't work like that. However, I do feel like I'm getting closer to wear I'm supposed to be and then the rest will fall into place. *Hopefully* Now back to the birthday.

Since I was feeling morose about my looming birthday I had an idea. I should have one last party. I hadn't had an actual birthday party since I was 18 so I was long overdue. Also, I wanted the chance to get as many of my friends in the same location as possible since my time in Arizona has become limited. For the theme I chose to do a costume party...an ANIMAL costume party since most of you know I am very found of the critters :) Since I have very limited funds at the present, I had to concoct a cost effective costume so I bought some bunny ears from the dollar bin at Target, fished out my face paint from Halloween and selected an adorable white party dress from my closet that had been anxiously awaiting to make its public debut. My lovely friend, Ashley, offered to host the party at her house since my house wasn't an option. I thought this was a very kind gesture and am very thankful to her for offering to help a sista out. We started the evening out with a little Mario Kart action. I chose my Mii and the Magic Cruiser if you're curious. As to be expected, I won all of the cups...minus one. Hannah somehow managed to beat me by one point at the very end. 

After that we moved onto Pictionary. We did boys vs girls and I'm proud to say that Team Estrogen was victorious. I find it very interesting to observe the variances in how men and women play this game. Men start shouting out nouns before you've even started to draw while the women wait patiently for you to complete your drawing before they start their guessing. Next we moved onto my very favorite party game. This game turned out to be the highlight of the evening and I'm still giggling to myself just thinking about it. We played a game called "Telestrations". It's basically a combination of Pictionary and Telephone. Everyone gets a sheet of paper and a pencil and you gather around in a circle. You then think of a word or a short phrase and write it down. Then you fold your paper and pass it counterclockwise and the next person has to illustrate your word. When they pass it along the next person has to then write what they think your drawing is. After every turn you have to fold over what you wrote or drew so the next person doesn't know what the first word was. Here's an example:

Nonetheless, it's a HILARIOUS game and if you're looking for a good belly laugh, which are hard to come by, I highly recommend this game. Just be sure to sharpen the pencils beforehand :) Here's some photos from the evening:

 

 

As for upcoming events, graduation is May 12th. I simply cannot believe how quickly the past 2 years have gone by. It feels like I just came back to Phoenix and in less than a year I'll be off again onto my next great adventure. But I'm very happy with my decision to come back home and finish my degree. It's been one of the best decisions I've ever made. I've grown so much and met so many incredible people since I came home. I'm going to miss everyone so much. Great...now I'm getting all nostalgic. Well, I must have some lunch and squeeze in some reading before I'm off to work but I'll *try* to post again after graduation. 

Toodle-loo!