Watercolor Landscape

I wasn't going to post this one since it is crappy , but here is my first attempt at watercolor - and a landscape.

Gracie Sublime

I wanted to post a pic of my final project for drawing II. Unfortunately it got smeared, smudged and bent as it was moved several times - otherwise I was really happy with the way it turned out. I used 9 sheets of paper as one big one, but plan on framing them individually in glass-clip frames and displaying it as one picture. If that makes sense. I think I'm going to try to work out some of the smudges as well - or maybe add more texture and depth to her shirt and her face. It might not be for a couple of weeks since I have four more finals to go until I'm DONE!

Happy Easter

Daddy and baby grace

Mark and I really enjoyed our first easter with Gracie. She had fun playing with her new wooden puzzles this morning and then had even more fun playing in the cupboards most of the afternoon while Mark and I worked on dinner together. We had a beautiful day and look forward to more days spent together with our little family.


Gracie has the best sense of humor and she cracks me up all day!


And Gracie LOVES to snuggle with her soft animals and cozy blankies!

Designer jeans

I'm really coveting a pair of straight or skinny leg designer jeans. Is it so wrong that I want ONE awesome pair of jeans!? I have one pair (non-designer. in fact, i don't even know how I came about owning these jeans) I seem to wear over and over and it is really the only pair i like. So I need another. It isn't the fact that they are expensive...if i found a pair at goodwill, i'd buy them! (that'd be awesome, right!?) Have you ever tried on nice jeans? They feel like your second skin when they fit right. Like they were tailor made just for you. And when I wear something I'm proud of, that I love, then I feel really, really good. Who wouldn't? I think this is normal...it isn't that i lack confidence or self-esteem...i just really like looking good. haha. :) And it doesn't happen too often.

I saw JT on Oprah last week. He sold me on his jeans. Owning a pair of William Rast jeans would be,..would be... my greatest accomplishment! Okay, okay, so not really. But I'd die an go to heaven (or hell) if I found myself owning a pair.

Graduation present anyone? I hear their sizes run big, so I'd be happy to own a size 4 (please! No, i'm not really a 4). Any takers?

Sweet chickadee and winter tree

This is the drawing I did yesterday for Gracie's room. Watercolor and colored pencil. I'm still working on the birdie, and I may do another wash along the background to make it smoother. It seems like I saw something like this somewhere- so i don't feel like I can take full original creative credit. This isn't my best, or my fave, but it's cute and sweet and will look good in the baby's room.


Here is a part of a landscape drawing i've been trying to get underway. This is the pond/lake at GMU. I concentrated on the tree closest to me, as you can tell from the drawing since it is the only part close to complete. I don't know when I'll have time to finish. All of the trees are blooming now anyway - and that changes everything when it comes to doing a winter landscape.

Hirshhorn Visit

Marilyn Monroe's Lips
Andy Warhol

Gracie and I visited the Hirshhorn in Washington, D.C. this morning. After driving around and around the mall looking for parking I finally found metered parking just to realize that I only had a $1 worth of change on me! err. But that gave us an hour. We spent the majority of our time in the Strange Bodies exhibit since that's what my assignment was about. I've visited the Hirshhorn a multitude of times, but I enjoyed taking Gracie with me this time and she was a trooper. She was happy, funny and patient. I found that I was actually inspired to create more abstract pieces and to think outside of the box in my artwork. I believe I always limit myself to drawing exact replications of what I see, and i think it will be liberating to let creativity flow with no boundaries or wondering what the limits or rules for what i'm working on should be. Today I'm working on a sweet chickadee drawing with pepto bismal pink sky using watercolor and colored pencil - it's a start. I'll post a pic when it's complete.

who knew? Brussel sprouts!

I've been following a couple of vegan blogs (vegan planet and what the hell does a vegan eat anyway) and have been experimenting with a few veggie only meals. So far, sooo good! Today I came across another awesome blog, barefoot something - i added her to my blog list - and she had some good recipes and ideas too!

Tonight's dinner was my own rendition of the barefoot blogs twice baked potato casserole (except no cheese in mine, white potatoes and diff vegs!) and totally tasty. As a side dish to complement the yummy casserole I decided to use a bag of organic brussel sprouts I've had in the freezer for a few weeks. I picked them up intending on using them in some recipe or other, but then I couldn't find the recipe. So, since my oven was on I thought I'd thaw them under some cool running water, toss them into a roasting pan - drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and nestled them in the oven next to the casserole. I don't know why I didn't think of making them this way before (i'm sure i've probably seen this somewhere). My little baby couldn't get enough of the brussel sprouts! She was so cute. I mashed some up for her and she ate and ate! mmmm! Tonight's dinner was so simple and so delicious. Who knew brussel sprouts tasted so good! I realized tonight that I'd never actually eaten them before. i will more often now, that's for sure!

Crocheted Headbands

I started crocheting back in December, and I'm totally into making these adorbale baby headbands. I made this purple one for our little friend's 1st birthday. She's a purple girl and her mummy always dresses her in purple, so I put together a purple-themed gift. I tried the headband on Miss Gracie and she loved it! she would wiggle her head and look in the mirror and laugh! Soooo cute. Mark told me i should make a bunch and keep them with me when I'm out and about so if someone asks where I got it I can tell them I make them and have some for sell! Good idea. I've seen these type of headbands for sell online, but never in a store or mall here in virginia so that's why i decided to make my own. I know they have them in Utah...and probably elsewhere. I'm working on the next one already. I have many girlfriends with little girls who i'd love to send these to as gifts.

My husband

Mark wonders about my email address that I created and use only for this blog. He asked me if I was trying to meet men. Lol. Maybe I'm naive and dumb, but when I thought about being an anonymous, lonely mom, I only thought about how being a mom is a hard job, and often a lonely one. And as far as the anonymous part, I had originially wanted to blog anonymously. I still don't think he understands it - or me for that matter. But that's okay, we have a lifetime to understand one another. He's dying to have another baby and I've been avoiding him like the plauge! haha. I'm just not ready yet. I told him maybe this summer I'll think about it. I'd rather be pregnant through the winter anyway. My sweet mark...I miss him when he is gone and he's gone all the time. He works too much overtime to buy me things. Or so he says (I think he is just teasing me), but I don't feel like I really get to buy anything. I think he uses all of the money to pay off our mortgage in a couple of years ... instead of 15 or 30 we have a 5-year plan.

I wish I could post a picture of him, but he takes awful pictures because he's always making a face of sorts...or he closes his eyes to avoid the flash (so annoying). Well, actually, I found one that is semi-decent. I think I look awful, and it isn't focused, but here goes anyway.

Naners

Gracie and I picked up her favortie food (bananas) at Wegman's today and while she was taking her afternoon nap, I was inspired to draw! just a little quick charcoal drawing for fun. I'm still working on this - the shadow is strange looking.

Overwhelmed

I always put too much on my plate and try to do everything all at once. One of my classes this semester is completely and totally overwhelming. My instructor goes a mile a minute and expects a lot. :( Boo. And I'm trying to be social w/ gracie's playgroup, so that keeps me busy. I guess that is a choice, but it's been great having friends to hangout with and girls nights out etc. Also, trying to keep up with the gym is proving difficult as Gracie doesn't like to be left in the daycare and screams and screams until they have to come get me from my workout. So I have to try to go around Mark's schedule - which sort of defeats part of the purpose of going (being able to go and have something fun to do during the day!). And last but not least, I've been trying to eat more vegetarian/vegan. It's a slow transition as it is a lot of information to take in. Reading "Skinny Bitch" was just the start. The USDA and FDA scare me when I learn about the ridiculous, asinine, grievous deeds these companies allow to come to pass as they look the other way and put people in danger.

I went grocery shopping yesterday and I literally almost threw up when I passed the ground beef, ground turkey and ground chicken section of the meat department. Ground turkey in particular used to be a staple in my kitchen.

Like I said, it is overwhelming to rethink and retrain your whole way of thinking. I have to learn new recipes and combinations. Change my grocery shopping habits and all the staple ingredients I keep in my pantry. Vegan obviously means you can't eat anything that is derived from animal products (so no gelatin, whey, caesin, etc...) That is why it is a slow transition. I believe my mind and body will reap the benefits and it will all be a worthwhile journey. This is just one of the things that is part of my journey of happiness. eating healthy makes me happy. I don't think it's so much that I disagree with the idea of eating meat at this point, its more that I don't feel its necessary or even safe. Even free-range meat products and organic meat products still have to be slaughtered. which I know is part of the food chain, but I know our ancestors didn't eat meat the way we do now. They butchered animals to help get through the winter, and men went off to hunt as occasion allowed while the women toiled in the garden (blah blah blah), but again, they killed game (if they were lucky) and ate it fresh w/ out hormones, anti-biotics or harmful chemicals and detestable ways of killing.

I found this somewhere online...sorry i can't give proper credit.

Anyway, got a little off track there. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed tonight. I'm tired and I have a long list of things to do. I guess I better get going so I can see my pillow sooner than later.

Little Dancer

Edward Degas, in Bronze. In person she is beautiful.

My version...charcoal. My first attempt - I was sitting on the floor to avoid the glare so I had a different angle than the picture shown. wish I could have spent more time at the gallery with her. I drew her legs a little short, and I couldn't figure out her hands because i had to finish at home. Otherwise, I'm proud of her.

Thought I'd share.

Valentine Happiness

so I decided to stop calling gracie miss monkey or miss princess or whatever and actually use her real name...who cares. and mark is mark. and i'm katie. there you have it, i've come out of hiding. Now I need to venture out to other blogs and start making blogger friends. I've done it in the real world - only recently - and now I need to try it on here.

Gracie had a fun valentine party today. we had two actually. The first one was with our playgroup and the second one with my neighbor (we just had lunch together). She was clingy as always at the playdate and screamed as soon as I set her down and walked out of sight, but she was so cute in her little outfit and playing with the other kiddies. She does so much better with just one or two people and babies. If it gets too crowded she flips. She's freakin hilarious lately...always cracking me up with the funny laughs and noises she makes. She's been sleeping from 10 PM to 10 AM and I've been thrilled. So no more morning nap since she sleeps so long and usually just an afternoon nap.

Life's been good to us. My little family is happy, healthy and looking forward to so much this year! I forgot to take my camera to the playdate so I was only able to take a pic of all of gracie's valentines when we got home. I'll start posting more pics of her and us soon.

Random thoughts:
I've been reading Skinny Bitch...I'm thinking of trying to go Vegan after reading about how animals are treated and killed in slaughterhouses and about how full of hormones and crap it all is. I try to eat healthy anyway, and I actually eat a lot of beans and legumes and leafy greens, but my meals always center around a meat. this week i've tried to not focus our meals around meat, but we've still had some here and there.

I've been going up to the national gallery of art in D.C. for a drawing class on saturday's. There's nothing like a sunny saturday morning in DC. I'm thankful for my mom (affectionately called MiMi) being able to come over and watch Gracie for Mark and I. Since mark doesn't have off regular days or nights, this has been such a blessing!

I love the freedom Mark gives me with making choices. he works so hard and provides well for gracie and I. He bends over backwards to make sure I can come and go as I please and do things that keep me sane. Not that I'd be insane because of being a mom...not yet anyway -i only have one baby and she's so easy going, but just because I'm a busy body and like to go and do things and do girly things and go to the gym and etc., etc. I hate being stuck at home and most all of the responsibilties of house and baby fall on my shoulders because mark is gone all night most every night 6 or 7 days a week and he is asleep during the day. Yet he goes out of his way to stay up longer and wake up earlier so I can do things for me. It makes me feel selfish, but at the same time very grateful.

Why oh Why?

Today was such a terrible day. I finally made it to my classes just to find out they are all terrible. My biology class I thought was going to just be 4 tests and that's it. Nope, way more work and way harder than I had anticipated. Next is a stupid Stat's class that is such a piece of cake with the most boring slow professor ever that I want to kill myself sitting in my chair listening to him drone on and on. And then my dreaded history of psych class. I had enrolled in this class 3 semesters ago when I first found out I was pregnant. I ended up (STUPIDLY) dropping all of my classes that semester and here I am taking it again. This time with an ugly, nasty, hairy, monster who's always trying to be funny and always says "whatever." She's a beast of a woman with seriously mad sideburns, khaki pants, small sweater, white tennis shoes, messy hair in messy ponytail, big thick glasses and constantly getting off-subject (and not in a good way). And this is my teacher. Of course, she's a grad student who is the same age as me, who has 3 cats and vows she will never get married nor have children. I suspect she feels this way because no man would ever even contemplate looking in her direction because she is so scary. I hate to judge, but i'm pissed because i pay a lot of money and I get these shitty grad-student instructors every semester. I even go online to ratemyprofessor.com but end up having to compromise to get the schedule I want.

And I have another class on tuesday ... so that makes 4 on tuesday - 3 of which are also on thursday and then i also have one on saturday. :( My mom is coming over to tend the babe on saturday and my hubby is watching her tues/thurs. It is a nightmare. Oh and it took me 2 hours to get home - 30 minutes of which was just getting off campus. the engineer's didn't have the foresight to construct more than a small 2-lane road.

Ugh. I missed my baby so much while I was gone. I was FREEZING the whole time too. And like I said, the classes were terrible, traffic was horrible, and i came home and ate so much nutella i'm going to barf.

I also did something I didn't think I'd ever do...i actually told two people (my only two followers) that I was blogging on here. I thought I'd really keep this "anonymous" and journal like. Maybe I'll consider keeping a livejournal instead...since that is more of what I'm doing. Oh well, whatever. I guess blogging can be anything you want it to be. But I'm still insisting I'm blogging only for myself. :P

The Birth of Venus

I wondered why "the birth of" sounded so familiar. It's Botticelli's painting...the birth of venus! I think this is totally fitting and appropriate! I have finally decided on officially keeping my blog named as the birth of happiness. Thanks botticelli.

Date Night

I wonder if anyone else has changed the name of their blog a gazillion times? I'm sure I'll change it again.

My wonderful hubby surprised me by taking me on a hot date last night! Well, not so hot considering it was freezing and that we didn't have steamy sex or anything (which disappointed and surprised me). But hey! We went on a date for maybe the third time since last April when our little princess was born. We've been out with friends, or with family here and there - but it is a very rare occasion when it is just the two of us. We just had a couple of appetizers and two drinks each and spent some much needed quality time together. There is a new bar just a couple of miles away and we really like it. Plush velvet seats, lucious red carpet, old-fashioned tiled ceiling, loud and bouyant Karaoke Fridays, or laid-back quiet Saturdays. All wrapped up in a quaint Irish Pub! Great food, great service. All laughs and smiles as we snuggled in our booth. We had such a good time.

Mr. King's family is in town so when we got home we played Life with my sister-n-law until 2:30 AM! I can't believe we stayed up so late. She usually goes out with us when she's here, but the King said he wanted alone time with his wife (!). I was floored! He was so charming last night. Hmmm. I wonder if he made some New Year's Resolutions I don't know about? Whatever it is, something has sparked his flame-o-love!

Miss baby-doll princess sure is a sweetie. She's trying so hard to crawl and she's all giggles. All you have to do is give her a funny silly face and she giggles hysterically. She has such a good personality and spirit. What a beautiful blessing.

She was sooo wound up last night when our family got here! She's been staying up late and sleeping late for the last couple of weeks anyway, but last night she was up until 11:15! At least she sleeps in too. She'll sleep between 10-12 hours. Oh how I wish I was asleep right now too. I woke up at 6:30 wide awake with my hear racing. I'm feeling anxiety about having our late christmas with his family because really, we didn't get anyone ANYTHING. we got his parents a couple of gift cards (how lame is that!?) and his sister money and beer. I just don't know what to get them and hate guessing and being wrong. They came with bags FULL of presents - all I hope is it is mostly all for our little monkey-mo! Ugh. I think they secretly don't like me still, but that's another story for another day.

Ramblings

Hmmm...I'm still not diggin the name of my blog. It reminds me of "diary of a mad black woman." not that that is bad, just not as original as I'd like.

So, speaking of diaries, an old friend and love interest from high school found me on one of those online communities (you know the kind, myspace, facebook, etc.). Well, he was the LAST person I'd dream of having contact me, and honestly probably hadn't thought of the kid in 10 years. And low and behold, there he was! I had very vague memories of him and decided to see if I'd written anything about him in one of my old diaires. I have about 6 or 7 journals filled from cover to cover and it was just a matter of finding the right year. It was 10th grade. I found an entry talking about how we went to a football game! And I wrote about how tall and how cute he was, but that he wasn't the same religion as me. Apparently we had kissed and after we kissed he opened his pants up and wanted a little sucky-sucky action!!! Oh my. I didn't even remember any of that. I, of course, was APPALLED! Seeing as though he was the 3rd boy I'd ever kissed and such a good young teenager at the time I wouldn't have dreamed of coming near him or his thing! Oh my, how times have changed. I never went out with the young horny kid ever again, but wrote about how for the rest of the school year he and his friends all made fun of me and i got many-a-penis flashed at me! Unbelievable.

This little experience was a testiment to me that journal writing is really powerful and worthwhile. For some reason I have a terrible memory - especially when it comes to word-recall or useless-facts. I always lose when I play scrabble, scattegories or Trivial Pursuit... my husband gloats like a kid with no manners. I would normally classify myself as rather smart, but for some dang reason i just can't remember words, facts, or anything from my childhood or teenage years. Well, regardless, I have an amazing history written that I diligently and faithfully kept from age 11 to... well, to now, really. If my husband cared to learn anything about me he would dig in and read everything from cover to cover - he'd even find out "how many" ..., but for some reason, he has no desire. Not just to find out how many, but he just has no desire to read, or to challenge himself, or to learn anything about me. Isn't that strange?

Unfortunately 90% of the pages are about boys, boys and boys. One boy in particular, my first love. I met him when i was 15 and wrote about him until i was 19 when we met again and dated for awhile. I waited for him. I loved him fiercely. I moved, he moved. We wrote hand-written letters. Between the two of us, we had probably written thousands of pages of letters. He consumed my every thought. Which is really too bad. It is always so easy to look back, read and see what I did wrong and what went wrong. I hsould have lived my life for me. I should have gone to college right away, instead of stretching it out for 8 years. It was okay that I loved him, but I hsouldn't have put my every fiber of being into my love for him. Our love was real. So real that even now I'm not sure I could say I've ever felt for anyone else the way I felt for him. He, in the end, broke my heart. I think my flaw was in I didn't trust myself, know myself and hadn't worked through anything I needed to figure out in life. I pushed us to be together too fast and too hard. whereas if I would have trusted things to either work out or not, and just lived life - progressing to where I wanted to be - I bet we would have actually worked out. Anyway. I hope if my husband read this he wouldn't be hurt. I think it is natural to experience something spectacular and lasting when it comes to your first love.

Wow I've gotten pretty far off track here. In the end, my point is to WRITE! Write, write and write. Every feeling, moment, and experience after experience at home, work and school can't easily be remembered and stored in our endlessly thinking brains. I think I read somewhere that you think 16000 thoughts a day! That is a lot of thoughts, so write down the important ones so you can one day go back and relive the ones that made you who you are today.

Not so lonely afterall

I decided to change the name of my blog. I realized i'm really not so lonely - well not all of the time. Not today anyway. Haha. Maybe i've been feeling better since my hubby got me a gym membership for Christmas. Yay! I love going to workout and it is a nice little break from being mommy. Of course there is a daycare included, but as of yet I haven't had to take the little babe. Also, I decided to look for mom groups in order to make some new friends. The little monkey really isn't old enough to play with other kids, so the playgroups will be for me. I just care about making some real and lasting friendships. I'm not sure if i'm really that inadequate at making friends or if i just haven't met anyone like me who I want to be friends with. :)

Anyway, enough about the friend situation. Nothing unusual, exciting or interesting happening. The King (my husband) has been working tons of hours. He works 6 days a week and goes in early to work two 12 hour shifts twice a week. I feel like a single mom. tonight is his only night off and I told him I'm off duty too (haha)! I need a break from being the only one to take care of Miss monkey. We'll see if he really takes charge and gets her ready for bed, etc.

New Year's Eve he left for work at 5PM. It is the 2nd year I've spent new year's home alone! Last year I was pregnant and didn't really care because I was too tired to stay awake anyway. but this year I was pretty depressed and ate all day.:( I've vowed that next year I will not sit at home by myself simply because Mr. King has to work. I wish we could do something together and enjoy it. For a change.