All About New Year's Eve

HAPPY 2014, MAH BABIES!

I'm really really stoked about this year. I have all kinds of positive feels for this year. I think good things are going to happen, which is rare for me but I dunno, I just feel it in my bones that this year is going to be awesome.

But before I start fangirling 2014, let's wrap up 2013 first. So my New Year's Eve was pretty good. Not great, but still good. I met up with my friend Ashley for dinner at Pita Jungle and I must say for a place called Pita Jungle their pitas kind of (really) suck. All of their other dishes are great but c'mon guys, let's work on making the pita bread edible. My jaw seriously hurt after choking down one pita.

Me and Ashley

Anyway, we finished eating around 8:30pm which was still super early but we had nothing else to do so we walked down to Crescent Ballroom. They didn't open up the actual ballroom until about 9:45ish so there was a lot of standing, eye rolling at creeper guys attempting to talk to us, and evaluating other folks outfits. When they finally let us in to the ballroom there was an opening band that's music wasn't very memorable for me (sorry, guys) but soon after a DJ came out and everyone started dancing. The first hour of dancing was pretty good but then it got SUPER crowded and kind of nutzo. It was just a wall of bodies in there and everyone had spilt their drinks EVERYWHERE so the floor was wet and sticky and we kept stepping on empty cups. I kind of don't get why they let people drink on the dance floor. You should have to drink your drink in the bar and when you've finished it THEN you can come out onto the dance floor. But that's just me.



I saw this dude who I was very briefly interested in but later rejected and he saw me too so that was kind of awkward. He kept dancing nearby wherever we were too so that made me feel a bit weird but at least he didn't say anything. I hate that. After midnight people got really crazy and were like shoving each other and we thought we were going to die. Ashley managed to plow her way through the sea of sweaty drunken bodies but I wasn't aggressive/strong enough to navigate my way through so I got separated from her for about 3 minutes and it was TERRIFYING. I kept thinking, "SHE LOST FRODO!!!" And I don't have a cell phone so that made it extra scary since I couldn't just text her. But Ashley had the good sense to wait for me outside so I wasn't lost for too long. When I found her I said, "Don't you lose him, Samwise Gamgee." and got no response u__u

After things had calmed down a bit we went back inside and danced a bit more but decided to leave at about 1:30am. By the time we got home it was a bit after 2am and I was friggin' exhausted but still didn't fall asleep until around 4am. Although I didn't work until 2pm the following day I awoke around 8:30am and couldn't fall back asleep. My work day was easy though since it was a holiday and it's usually pretty quiet on holidays. One of the residents at my work even brought me a whole plate of food! It was a FEAST!

I got out of work around 8pm and made a beeline for my friend Heather's house so we could watch episode one of Sherlock Series 3. I don't know if it was due to our lack of sleep (she had only gotten 2 hours of sleep that day) but we found the episode to be all over the place and hard to follow. Sherlock is our favorite show and we'd been waiting to see this episode for 2 agonizing years so we were pretty bummed that things didn't go the way we'd hoped they would. I don't want to spoil the episode for those who haven't seen it but I'll just say I hope the next two episodes will be better.

Alright, I guess that's all for now but I wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year!!

xoxo,

Courtney

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

If I ever feel better

Today I am trying to motivate myself to draw. I haven't done a serious drawing in over a year and considering I went to school for drawing...that's pretty bad. However, since it's been that long since I've drawn anything I'm kind of scared to draw again. What if I can't draw anymore? What if I never really could draw in the first place? What if this is all a dream?

I'd like to do a drawing of Bag End so I've been looking at a lot of cover art of the Hobbit. Ideally, I'd like to draw it in a van Gogh-esque style but that might be a little tricky with pastels. All of my acrylic paint dried up years ago (I used to be a painting major) and I don't have the funds to buy new paint so that's out. I do have some watercolors but I've never been very skilled with wet media. Maybe if this pastel drawing comes out okay I'll try it with watercolors. Maybe.

In other news, I went to a party on Friday with all my mates. It was a mustache themed party. There was a game where you had to identify the celebrity just by their mustache and I won. I guess I'm a mustache expert. I'll have to add that to my list of talents. As usual, I was the only one not drinking since I'm the quintessential "wet blanket" at parties. By about 11:30pm everyone was pretty smashed and before I knew it they were all singing at the top of their lungs and dancing to Ke$ha. Being a hipster, I'm not that into "popular" music so I had never heard any of her music. Me and my friend Heather aren't really into dancing so we were both sitting on the couch looking uncomfortable. It wasn't very long before everyone grabbed her and made her dance and I worried that my turn was next. For once my worries were justified because soon enough I was being dragged off the couch and thrown into the center of the dance party. At this point I had no other choice--I had to dance. For the first time in my 29 years on this planet I danced in public and I wasn't that bad at it. It's not like I don't ever dance, in fact, I dance quite often but only in the privacy of my own home. At least I wasn't forced to sing. That I cannot do. It's not that I can't sing, it's just that I won't. So don't ask.

Anywho, tomorrow I'm going to see one of my favorite bands. I haven't been to an actual concert in ages. I've been to plenty of shows but not concerts. I'm usually too cheap but I figured since my birthday was coming up that I'd treat myself to a real concert. It should be fun. 

Now back to the drawing board for me--LITERALLY!

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!