I am so committed to learning how to crochet again. It's a little ridiculous, I learned how to knit out of a book...taught myself how to purl, to knit on double pointed needles, knit on circular needles......do all sorts of interesting knitting things.

So knitting on four needles? No problem. However, manage to connect a chain of crochet to itself, with one hook? Yeah right. Its SO IRRITATING. Book after book, I'm still crochet-tarded.

However, I believe I may have some free hours on Friday next week (Columbus for my Bday, yaaaaaay!) So I may finally buck up and try to get it together. Cause there are some cutieeeee crochet books out there now!

Test from phone

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Back from the dead.

Or just back from Artomatic, getting a piece done for the Chuckwa show, and making 100 buttons for Seth's band.

It would be really amazing if one of you wanted to come over and photograph all freakin 50 of the pieces I had in Artomatic so I can list them on Etsy, because I seem to be absolutely remedial in "good photos with white backgrounds."

I'm also remedial in "clean your damn house" but we're not going to talk about that.

Must go to the Multiple Personalities 2 show at Lift this weekend on whatever day I don't work at the bar!!

I actually had a much larger blog update planned then I realized I had to jump in the shower for work. Oops!

Sexy People.

New obsession: Sexy People

Chuckwa show!

So it's absolutely official, Rsin and I will be entering the Chuckwa Skully show under the Team Awesome moniker. And it will be amazing, and you are all already jealous, even though you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Except for Rob Viktum...he was already jealous because of my Coraline Dunks. ;)

TEAM AWESOME DEBUT MAY 09!!!

Going to be so rad!

ARTOMATIC 419!

Where you'll find me the next three Saturdays...I'm space C-32.


If you went......who were your favorite artists???

Caroline? No, CORaline.

So....remember that little "password" at the end of Coraline? "For those in the know, 'JERKWAD'??"

Well, guess who's a big jerkwad? ;)

ME!!! Yep. I was one of (I think 1000?) the winners of the insanely amazing Coraline Dunks...got them in the mail two days ago! Even better, they actually fit. I've had this paranoia that they wouldn't, and I would be forced to a) just sit and look at them or b) have to sell them on Ebay for an insane amount of money.

Looooooove them <3

Isn't it super exciting when you find someone you can have intelligent conversation with, and it's not all highbrow intellectual, but at the same time you know you're not trying to be "cool," and you know they're not either? It makes me so happy.

First off, let's talk about things no one cares about, but we're going to bring up anyways.

I HAVE TERRIBLE CRAMPS AND A HORRIBLE MIGRAINE AND BOTH OF THESE HAVE BEEN GOING ON ALL DAY AND I HATE MY LIFE.

Okay sorry. Had to get that out of there.

My boss has started insisting that I was born to do standup comedy, and that he can't believe that I have never tried it. I explained to him that it's not something I could think about, and formulate a routine for...it's more that our patients provide me with an...ahem.."special" kind of inspiration. One that compels me to say things like "yeah, this is normal wear and tear if the kid was a triceratops" and "Amy, can you go watch the front? I need to go give myself a hysterectomy with a spoon." I don't see it as comedy....just well-filtered anger hahahaha.

I really want alfredo sauce for my chicken. And a new composition book to use as my guestbook because I don't want to use any of my "saleable" journal bases. However, I really don't feel like leaving the house because I can hardly stand up due to Awesome Cramps 2K9, April edition.

Pete and I are going to see Haunting in Connecticut tomorrow and I am Stoked. On. That.

Going to print pictures this week and get my scrapbook on! Woo!

The looking forward to list.

Things I can not wait to do in the very near future (aka once the Artomatic install is done)

*Easter church
*Painting my bedframe and having a real bed again, instead of sleeping on a matress and box spring on the floor.
*Finishing the studio
*Quilting my Chocolate Lollipop fabrics, and thusly being able to buy the entire Good Folks fabric collection, guilt free.
*Quilting Zoe's sock monkey quilt
*Painting Mia's shoes and hoodie.
*Actually having time to go to the gym again and tan again
*Being able to vacuum my living room floor because it will no longer be serving as a staging area for my artomatic wall
*SCRAPBOOKING. I know this severly reduces my cool factor, but honest to god...you have no idea how badly I miss scrapbooking. It also doesn't help that in moving 50% of the art supplies from downstairs to upstairs, I realized that I have procured about 15 mini book blanks. Ooops.
*Binding my own journals (Because 15 mini books clearly isnt enough)
*Cleaning and organizing the closet room and figuring out a solution on storing my 60+ pairs of shoes. (I'm too scared and shameful to perform an accurate count hahaha)
*Pruning my bookcase and repurposing all getting-rid-of hardcovers into altered books (again. because 15 mini books and handmade journals CLEARLY isn't enough)
*Getting my freaking roots done
*Getting hundreds of photos printed at Costco
*Knitting without feeling like I should be painting


Well. That little moment of happy fun fantasy time was nice...but now I have to put hanging hardware on about 40 teeny pieces of art. Now I know why people paint huge canvases.

Ugg-less.

So it's no secret that I am SO OVER this extended winter we've been so "blessed" with. Also no secret that I love Ugg boots and have no problem shelling out $140 for winter boots in the middle of august, because they're just so cute.

With that said, I just pulled on my mauve crocheted Uggs and got a little sad, because I realized my days of being able to wear them will eventually end in the near future. These are my favorite Uggs, aside from my moccassins. I think it's because I've always had a love of how dancers wear those really slouchy legwarmers...and since I am, ahem, not exactly the dancer type in the body department, these still give me the lovely slouchiness in boot form. I also don't end up looking like I'm suffering from delusions of being tall and graceful and lithe.

This past weekend I worked till three on Saturday, and then had Sunday and Monday off and raged like I was unemployed and never had to wake up early again. It was awesome and honestly, I think it brought back a little of the flicker my soul was missing. I stayed out till 6am Sunday and it felt like old times, which I took completely for granted and never realized were numbered.

Two important lessons learned this week:

*I'd rather go through my days super tired but knowing how happy I was the night before than spend my days hating my life because I was too concerned about being "grown up" and going to bed by ten pm. I've spent too long refusing to make memories in the name of being "responsible."

*No matter how much you want something...when the opportunity is placed in front of you, you shouldn't always take it. Some things are better off not knowing.

The best things about the last eight days:

Oceano

From the Pawn

Dave

Dia los Muertos inspiration

Chipotle

Super long dresses and flip flops.

Mcdonald's sweet tea

Tuesday night TV painting night

Almost being done with the raspberry yarn hat

Chipotle sauce from Vito's

Seeing my grandparents

New art supplies

**********

There's definately been a fair amount of bad, but I'm going to stick with the good.

Brokedown Blogspot

So this should be a pretty awesome and ghetto fabulous update. My card reader has decided that this whole "card reading" nonsense is really not it's calling in life and therefore, has just stopped working. So in lieu of crisp, lovely, well lit digital slr photos.....you get my camera phone. Yay go team!






Artomatic painting. Not finished


Something on the side that I'm working on. Nothing is glued down yet, I'm still trying to decide if I'm into it.



I've added a lot of graphite detail since I took this. I kinda love this one.




Mini Munny Booty!


FINALLY all done! Hooray!


Hat I've been working on for ages...I just can't bring myself to knit when there's Artomatic to be worked on.


Wall in my house.


Silly little painting I finished last week.


Ghosty painting


Ha. I wear a super old Mushroomhead hoodie when I paint. It's so comfortable!



Mmmmm paint spinner that I waited so long for!



Conversation with my mother today:
"Did you hear who's performing on Idol tonight?"
"Kelly Clarkson?"
"Yeah, and...Keena. No, Keny....um. The guy who's always mad at the Grammys."
"Kanye?"
"Yes, him!"

Oh mom. Only her.

God bless it, I am the worst blogger around. Geez.

Until I figure out if its my port or my CF card, no more pics.

However, things I can not live without right now:

Coraline

SmartWater

Liquid acrylics

Airbrushes

DIY Munnys

Two cuts for free on lumber at Home Depot

Doors as makeshift tables

White Createx airbrush paint

Facebook

Strawberry + frosting bubbles

Cap'n Crunch Frappucinos

Paint chip possibilities

LESS THAN ONE MONTH TILL ARTOMATIC STARTS INSTALLING GIANT FREAKOUT but not really.

Valentines Day so lame.

Soooooo a week ago, I had very fabulous plans for this evening. Joshy and I were going to get dressed up and go to Omni or Avalon, and it was going to be retarded and stupid, but still very fun.

Then I found out I had to work at the bar. BOO. I make Broc PROMISEPROMISEPROMISE me that the show will not cancel, since I'm canceling superawesome plans because I really need the money. He promises.

So fast forward to today. I find out at stupid 4:30 that oh, the show canceled. Hate ensues. I text Josh, knowing that there's no way he has an unplanned Saturday night, which of course was true. No hate for him tho, because he had really good plans.

So yeah. Lamezor Valentines Day, per usual. Making an art supply run for some airbrush paint and stuff, and getting a Happy Meal so I can get a Hello Kitty watch! Going to stay up all night and paint some DIYs and stuff for Artomatic. (or at least hopefully get a couple things done before I pass out!)

Because I swear, I AM working on Artomatic stuff. I feel compelled to post photos, which compels me to actually complete works. I'm finding along the way that opposed to my previous Artomatic display, I'm having a REALLY hard time reigning in the direction of where this needs to go. Fortunately, I have a ton more time. For Artomatic 1, I created every piece I showed in literally a week. I was unemployed, and I painted/etc from the moment I got up until I went to sleep. My whole display was Dia Los Muertos, so I had the luxury of throwing pretty much any item in it, as long as it held that Mexican folk art aesthetic. Nooooooooowwwww. Yeah. I have no idea where I'm going with this for Artomatic 3, and I'm really trying to put a lasso on it. I figure I'm just going to create create create from now until then, and once it's time to install I'll edit and choose my best and most relevant pieces. Anyways,


Tiny little plaster plaques. They're about 3-4" tall. They kind of suck to base coat, but they're going to be pretty rad when I'm finished. Little quickie pieces, but still pretty fufilling.



Ughhhhhh I'm so in love with this piece already. I've had it in my sketchbook for awhile and it's going to be one of those that I'll probably never even put up for sale cause I'm in love with its tiny cuteness. I'm torn on one little cherry on top element of it....I'm afraid it might be *too* much...but luckily it's the last thing I would have to add on, so I'll be able to see it all finished and decide if I want to go there.



This little dude was finished a couple months ago. Did I mention a feedback I got on Etsy? I sold a shrine like a month ago, and the buyer commented it was one of the best executions of a matchbox shrine that they'd ever seen. Score!



Again, one that I might not be able to sell because I'm so tickled with it. Honestly, it may just be this color palette.



Oldie, but still a love. I think it needs a zebra print ribbon bow in one corner to finish it?





So yeah. I understand that's kind of a cop-out, because I'm posted finished works that I didn't just complete like...three seconds ago...but still...I finally posted art on an art blog! ;)

Artomatic 419 space!

Here's my little baby space for Artomatic that I claimed yesterday! It's the red line in the middle of the floor with that pink piece of paper in front of it. My initial pics were those drywalled spaces behind it, but they were taken, so my mom claimed a space way back in that corner with the scaffold is....but when I got there, I found out they were building all these areas in the middle of the floors, so yay! I like this spot way better. There's no one at all on one side of me, and only someone to the right angle of the other side....since I'm rolling my whole background, I think it'll look way better than having this bigass 10' x 8' painted block in the middle of a row of displays. I can't wait!

Tonight: Outrun the Gun and Goodbye Blue Skies....with Dave (incidentally, ex-OTG) playing bass. Love Dave!






Also, why didn't anyone tell me all this time that I should have been watching Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia?!

Are one of you pesky monkeys forwarding my blog posts around? I only ask because Mr. 28 Missed Calls called me again last nite. Only once this time mind you, and I was sleeping, and no voicemail was left. How utterly bizarro.

My living room has turned into the creation station...Since I live alone and have virtually no local friends to come over and hang out, I felt obliged to shove the furniture against the wall and dropcloth the floor. Many reasons:
*Heat downstairs. No heat upstairs. This is fine when I nest myself into a sheet, comforter, blanket, and quilt at night...unfortunately, this is not an ideal arrangement for painting and whatnot.
*No water source upstairs. I'll admit it, I'm lazy when I have to change paint water every 20 minutes.
*There's cable, but not full cable upstairs....Also no DVR upstairs. And the DVD player is effed. Since there's no DVR, I can't catch up on Law and Order while I paint.
*With the dropcloth, I have now created infinite drying surfaces! When I need to switch to something else, I just sit it down next to me!

Saturday is space choosing day for Artomatic. I will take pictures and show you my little baby space that I got! Cross your fingers that I get one of my top choices!

Ann Arbor goodies + stuff.

First of all, my hair only looks this good on absolute accident when there is no one around to see it. So irritating.






Delighfulness as promised.


Hello Kitty blind box toys! (as Cody would say, on "Sale status) And a French Dunny thrown in for good measure.


Mischka New Era. *drool* I finally found one that was a non-sports team that I could justify spending the money on.


The latest knitting project. It's a hat, I swear. Consider it a hat embryo? Fetus? It's gonna be cute, promise.


I was dying for this vase, then I got to Urbn and they were on sale for ridic cheap. Naturally, I bought two.


Oh hey, look who's using their blog for its intended purpose! :)

This morning, this day, this evening.

Trips to Ann Arbor, contrary to priot track records, are not always awesome. In fact, some times (ahem, today.) they can downright suck.

However, I bought a New Era that's some Russian brand, and I'm more than a little in love with it.

And I got Hello Kitty toys.

I was pretty sure we were going to end up in a ditch on the way home, but we didn't.

Urban Outfitters clearance was ace this time around. I got some fabulous stuff I had been pining for, but couldn't justify at full price.

I Am Abomination was amaaaaazing per usual. Attack Attack was good, but not awesome like I had expected. Who knew so many little kids were claiming SXE nowadays? It seemed like every time I turned around some kid had an edge shirt on. So odd.

Joshy and I had one of our moments when he remembered to ask me if I saw that someone had guessed perfectly on The Price is Right, and had won both showcases. Both showcases! Things like that remind me how much I adore that boy.

I really want to do something fun tomorrow since I'm totally free after 3. The weather is probably going to be too atrocious to really do anything tho. Wouldn't it be nice if we got all this snow and had a grown-up snow day from work tomorrow?

I'm cultivating a crush on someone (I know, this is such a shock to you dear reader!) and as usual, I'm stumbling all over myself. I'm never going to get a date, I swear.

So I thought it was 8:30...and it's 7:30! I have loads of time before Matty and Jutin get here, so I technically could do much more cleaning and make the house look presentable....but like I told Matty. ....it'd just be me hiding stuff, because there's shit all over the house while I'm sorting/trashing/organizing the art room/getting rid of more stuff. And really, they're going to be here just tonight, we get up tomorrow and go to Ann Arbor, then when we get back they're leaving. I'm not spazzing myself out cleaning for them to see it for a total of like....three hours. Plus, Matty already knows I'm a mess.

Things that are rad:
It's a pay week.
CAT SHOW WEEKEND!!! I am going to love on so so many munchkin kittens.
Red heart shaped sunglasses tomorrow. And bubble tea.

Not rad things:
I love the product they put in my hair at the salon...like the *effect* of it...but it totally creeps me out when I touch my hair.
My eye is acting up. It's not ulcered, but it did stain the other day when Jerry looked at it at work. :(
Matty's mittens are turning out atrocious and like....giant sized. I DO NOT KNOW WHY.

Picture post tomorrow or Saturday of all the Ann Arbor fun-ness!

Picciuto's amazing fucking video from New Year's Eve. I'm at the :50 mark after Jackson from Grand Buffet. Despite the fact that my evening was not so rad, this video somehow makes me think it was :)


What's Your New Year's Resolution from David Picciuto on Vimeo.

I just had this grand epiphany that I could only have Bravo and Food Network on my tv and be completely happy.
But then I realized I'd also need TNT and USA to get my Law and Order fix.
New Years Eve was lames. I worked, which was totally fine, and my outfit was awesome, but just really lame stuff happened that put a downer on the evening. However, I pouted and pleaded and Grand Buffet played the Kitty song for me :)
I slept till 3:30 today tho and it was AMAZING. And since I worked last night and had today off, I can't stop thinking that its Sunday.
I can't stop reading Charlaine Harris books. Im getting ready to start my fourth one and theres four more left...I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm all done!