P r e t t y S k e t c h y

Bi-polar Blogger's 10 Things

So Nathan says I've been really up and down emotionally in my blogging. It's true, I have, but why shouldn't I be? It's the way I am feeling. At least I've been blogging, unlike others (you know who you are).

What I've been up to...

1. Computering. I'm continuing my graphic design work for my site overhaul. It's slow work but I kinda like it.

2. Letter writing, I wasn't feeling so hot one day last week so I spent the entire day on the couch vegging out and writing letters. Note the stack of mail to be posted beside Oliver.

3. Being a creep. I took the following picture  yesterday when I was walking home from a sketching session at Starbucks. I took it with Travis in mind because we both share a love for tall, skinny hipster/nerd boys with good glasses and tight pants. I had to take a picture so Travis could see him, this may have been his soul mate.

 

I actually took three pictures to make sure I got a good one and he didn't even notice, ha. Sartorialist here I come.

4. Reading Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. I bought a whole bunch of used Coupland books off of Amazon for $25 a few months back and life got a little too busy to get them all read. I didn't realize before I started Microserfs that the story takes place in Seattle, go figure. I think this is my third or fourth Coupland book and I really like him a lot.

5. Scouting art stores. I finally bought some canvases so I can start on work for my show this winter.

They were on sale so I ended up spending $185 dollars on canvases but I'm set for a while.

6. Breaking in my room. I've been trying to de-Granny it a bit so it feels more me-ish, ha.

7. Buying a feather necklace. Cute right? $8, yesss. The postcard is from Beth, I blurred my address so you don't stalk me.

8. Picking lavender. It grows everywhere here and I picked a stem and threw it in my sketchbook the other day and it made it smell A-MAZ-ING. So I picked some for my room.

9. Rediscovering sun dresses. I've been reading outside a lot and am trying to erase my Bolivia tan lines from over a year ago. Sorry about the blurry photo.

10. Talking to Nathan on Skype. We both have super good computers so the video chat was actually kind of awesome. We talked for a while and then had this idea that we should watch a movie together so we both popped in the first Harry Potter movie, synchronized the timing and watched while making smart-ass comments (as we tend to do). I worked on a painting while we watched and he ate chips and crunched them into the speaker really loudly so I could hear.

It was nice. The thing with it being a video thing though is that Nathan felt the need to perform for the camera so there was some plays involving airplanes and paper robots as well as some of this...

yes, this is Nathan dancing to 'Stacy's mom'. Note the Britney headset.

So yeah, Nathan and I hung out last night and watched a movie, and I'm an emotional roller-coaster. Deal with it, ha.

My days have been filled with bike rides, sleeping in, lots of Adobe editing (I'm re-doing my website), working on my tan and Starbucks sketching. I was looking through old picture files on my computer today when I came across this...

It's from a weekend trip Nathan, my Mom and I took to Seattle for a concert a few years ago. That's my aunt on the left and Molly (her cute but somewhat evil dog) and Nathan. It made me laugh really hard and miss Nathan a lot.

I am feeling very solitary and have been having a hard time making myself go to bed at night because I just lay there and feel alone. So I've been working on graphic design projects until 2 or 3am until I am so exhausted I just fall into bed and sleep. I have such effective coping mechanisms, ha.

I'm going to go bike down to the ocean now, at least I won't be morbidly obese and lonely.

Saturday

So as I had mentioned in my previous post, Saturday was a full day. My sister Rebecca and her friend Bethany came down and we went to the Pike Place Market. I love the market and before yesterday I hadn't quite made my way down there since I moved here. We spent the morning there but I only managed to take one photo of us when we went and ate fish and chips at a place on the waterfront.

It's kind of a horrible picture but you get the idea, ha.

I bought some ridiculously beautiful peonies for super cheap at the market...

after our market-ing Beck and Beth then went off to their friend Phil's place in Port Orchard. I wasn't quite ready to go home yet so I wandered over to University Village taking pictures of this beautiful city on the way...

First stop, of course Anthropologie... as is my custom I took tons of pictures. My favorite thing about Anthro is the changing displays so I like to check them out every so often, I rarely buy anything.

A-Z letters with a moss background...

Porcelain sculptures and mirrors. 

A cabinet of curiosities...

Spy glasses... or something, I'm not sure what they're for but I like them a lot.

Cabinets, chandeliers and glassiness...

Kitchen wares and another cute cabinet.

Anthro is so pretty, sigh. It's probably better for me not to have a lot of money to spend there. After Anthro I walked around and discovered another cupcake shop, I also checked out Barnes & Noble because I love books. I am having to exercise restraint in spending since work doesn't start up for me for a while.

Today I went to a different church, I liked it so I think I'll try it a couple times. Then I spent the rest of the day painting the sign for my Granny's condo complex. I know riveting, ha.

I am currently contemplating bed time.

Perfect.

This evening I biked down to the ocean. Wait, I need to say that again... I biked down to the ocean. Wow. I can't believe I live in a place where I can do that. But before you all go getting jealous you must remember that the ocean serves as a small consolation when one considers the fact that I am entirely without all of my favorite people. Now that we have that settled I will move on.*  I don't think I even told you guys that I bought a bike last week but I did. Here it is...

I bought it off Craigslist from a girl who was moving to Israel. When I showed my Granny the picture of it her comment was 'oh, it looks small', ha. It fits my 5'4 stature fine though and it came with a basket for the front that, despite my fear of being judged by cooler bikers, I have been putting to good use. You cannot tell from the pictures but it is a hybrid, I like it a lot. FYI - I bought a scanner the same day as the bike and the former cost more than the latter. 

It is a fair way to get down to the waterfront from where I am living. I didn't have a watch so I can't say how long it took me to bike it but I know it takes about an hour and twenty minutes to walk it. The thing about it though is that it is downhill all the way there. This has it's advantages: I arrive presentable enough to go into Starbucks and get a latte. It also has it's disadvantages: the way home is entirely uphill. I'm talking San Francisco uphill, Bolivia uphill, so so sooo steep and long. Despite the fact that I have been biking quite steadily all year it was pretty rough and I was very sweaty and exhausted at the end of it. I am proud to say though that I did not once get off my bike and walk (although I did pass a boy my age who was walking his bike, ha).

Once I got down there I stopped in at Starbucks to get a chai latte and then I sat and watched the sunset over the ocean. I was so overwhelmed with how lucky I am to be alive and able to experience moments of such perfect joy.

Then I went home and checked all of my friend's blogs whom I miss greatly. No one had posted so I was left with nothing else to do but post myself. Sob.

I did many other things today of which I took many pictures but I must leave them until tomorrow. For now I must go to bed. I am church shopping in the morning.

*Editor's note: I am currently listening to an audiobook version of 'Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell' that I began on my drive down here. It is set in Europe in the 1800's and I lately I have found myself unintentionally mimicking it's locution in my speech, thought and writing. This may account for the change (if any) in my writing and will most likely pass with the conclusion of the novel.