La Vita

Sometimes all the best laid plans just fall through and it makes me super sad because I was going to do all these fun sorts of pictures and drawings for this Picture Saturday in preparation for Valentine's Day... and it fell through.

I don't know....

I know sometimes artists go through these stages where their brain and their hands don't communicate very well, and even when they want to draw, the hand is basically just like, "Nope!"I know it's just something that artists go through, and if I'm gonna be an artist, I have to learn to deal with it, but it seems to be happening to me an awful lot lately. And there are fewer things more depressing than having a day off and wanting to draw and not being able to.

Like seriously, it's so irritating, because you know you know how to do this! This is easy art! And your hand won't art, and you just sit there crying like, 'PLEASE ART."

So you sit there, drawing and erasing, and drawing, and erasing and by the time you're done your paper is basically a crinkled giant smudge, and you're sitting in the middle of the living room eating nutella with a spoon and listening to Grande Amore. Because if anyone can make you feel better, it's Il Volo.

So yeah, that's why there was no Picture Saturday-- or Sunday, for that matter.

Lots of frustrations.

I might try to pre-schedule a post for this coming weekend, because I just know that if I don't, there won't be one..... Since I work at a flower shop and it's Valentine's Week. Which is fine, it comes with the territory, but overall the week ends up being kind of exhausting.

I'm consoling myself with the fact that MY ENTIRE FAMILY is going to Disneyland on the 16th,* and Sammi's gonna join us, and we're literally going to take Disneyland by storm and it's going to be epic.

*Reason #4455 why my brother is cooler than your brother. 

Speaking of which, we're going to be gone over that weekend. Would one of you fabulous people like to guest post for that Picture Saturday? You could do a photodump, or just one picture that you've worked on, or you could talk technique or which medium is your favorite. It's up to you.

Also, the first bit of this year's going to be fun, because we have Disneyland in February, I'm going to visit my sister and her family in March, (!!!!!!!!!!!!) and in April there's Joe's wedding.

Life can can be so chaotic and insane and for people like me, it's hard to deal with it sometimes, because A.) I don't like change and B.) I literally stress out over everything. It's so stupid! I'm aware it's stupid! I know that normal people don't live their lives with a perpetual sick feeling in their stomach, but that's just the way my life is.

*I need to go to work? Sick feeling in my stomach.
*I need to go grocery shopping? BY MYSELF? Sick feeling intensifies.
*I need to find another job? Develops ulcer.

Actually, speaking of ulcers, I have a jury summons for the 29th of this month, so if I could get everyone to pray that I don't have to go, I will love you all forever.  

We had some friends come up over night on Saturday and we stayed up late watching Ip Man and Leverage and basically partied like old people. We always forget to take pictures, but we all get along so well, we literally have conversations like:

Us: STATING A THING VERY LOUDLY.
Them: OMG RIGHT? RIGHT?
Us: YOU AGREE WITH EVERYTHING.!
Them: WE KNOW! AAAAAGH.

And then we proceed to yell at each other about fandoms and books and self-defense and it's great fun all 'round.

I don't even know, guys, this post is super rambly.

There's this song that mah guys sing, called La Vita, and when I looked up the English lyrics, it was like a perfect representation of my mood and so I'm going to leave you with this rough translation and call it a night.

Life
Is there anything realer in the world
And we almost never notice it
Almost never, almost never
Sometimes we have a sort of fear of life
because there are many things
That aren't okay in life

What do we expect, what do we expect from life?
No, it's impossible to waste this life

Life
Nothing's as wonderful as life
And maybe many people don't know

Life
Is there anything realer in the world
And we almost never notice it
Almost never, almost never

Life. 

 And it tripped me up a little, because of reasons.

So there you go. I'm sorry there was no art this week. I shall do my best to make sure there is art Saturday morning next time!

I love you all!

So we need a little Christmas, right this very minute...

Candles in the window

,carols on the spinet,

Yes, we need a little Christmas,

right this very minute.

It hasn't snowed a single flurry,

but, Santa, dear, we're in a hurry.....

La, mein peasants!

I promise next week to do a Picture Saturday.

As it is, it's been like two or three weeks and I feel ashamed. (Or maybe you're all just like, "Hurray, she hasn't bragged about her drawings in a while! Wooooooooo!")

Whatever.

You know that song.... "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Eeeeeverywhere you go."

That's a load of bull where I am.

With us, it's more like, "Is hasn't snowed a single flurry, but Santa dear, we're in a hurry."

We were supposed to have a giant snow storm this week. It was all over the news, "IT'S GONNA BE HUGE. PREPARE YOURSELVES. GET YOUR SHOVELS. BUY TIRE CHAINS. YOU DRIVE, YOU DIE. IT'S GONNA BE EPIC. THREE FEET OVERNIGHT. STOCK UP ON FOOD, YOU COULD STARVE.

Wanna know how much snow we ended up getting?

What are we gonna do with all of it?!? Lucky we were prepared, right? Hate to be snowed in.

We could see the storm clouds, we could smell the snow. And the clouds looked down at beautiful Lake Tahoe and went, "Nah, I can hold it til the next rest stop." and passed by this particular turn off.


I'm grouchy about that. I stare at the sky like, "SNOW YOU FREAK."

Suddenly my inspiration for this post petered out.


Let's see. I've been aggressively trying to cram in all my favorite Christmas movies and TV show specials before the Big Day. I'm very emotional over them. Like, "Ohmygosh. He gave her a present." *grabs tissue* "This movie is just... so good."

Okay, so maybe I'm not that bad, but I'm definitely getting all sniffly over lame, cheesy Christmas movies. It's embarrassing, really.

Speaking of lame Christmas movies, Le Sammi Bender spent the night and showed us Santa Claus. (No, I didn't sniffle over it. I'm not that freaking emotional.)

That movie is dumb. But it had these funny bits that made me snortle like an idiot. And I like snortling.

Sammi, Kat, Le me

Of course, it helped that Sammi likes desert a lot, and brought two things of gelato and cheesecakes of fabulousness. You wanna talk sugar high at ten o'clock at night?

I literally started singing that song from Calamity Jane.

I've got two wonderful arms

I've got two wonderful lips, 

I'm over twenty-one, and I'm freeeeee. 

OH I've got a hive full of honey. 

For the right kind of honey. Bee. 

And Sammi just sat there looking at me like:

Yeah, that's why we're best friends.



 My niece made her First Communion today.

She was so excited, her veil was literally trembling, and it was so cute. And I'm sitting behind her like, "God is so good. I'm so blessed. I NEED TO BE HOLY, OH MY GOSH."

One of my favorite Christmas stories is The Gift of the Magi, but I like the version illustrated by PJ Lynch because it's beautiful. It's the cutest, sweetest Christmas story! You should read it.

......
............

Guys, I literally just took a break writing, because my family was having a folded-up-socks version of a snowball fight.

Imagine the setting: A cozy livingroom, a crackling fire, companionable company. And then BOOM, folded socks flying, smashing people's heads and breathless giggling because the Pater is sleeping we don't want to wake him up. Merherherher. Reasons why my family is better than your family.

*cough*

I wrapped loads of pressies the other day. I'm almost done with the shopping. I only have two more people to buy for, and a couple little side gifts I need to get. Everyone else is done, and it makes me so ridiculously happy. I dunno. There's something super fabulous about wrapping presents and singing along with Christmas music.

It's like:

*cuts wrapping paper* "Angels we haaaave heeeeard on hiiiiigh!" *tapes packages* "Sweetly singing oooo'er the plaaaaiins!" *fabulously sticks on ribbons* "Aaand the mountainsss iiin replyyyyy!" *aggressively writes labels* "Echoing their joyous straaaain! GLOOOOO-OO-OO-OOORIAAA, IN EXCELIS DEEEOOOO." *proceeds to next package* 

 It's fun. And I like the way my pressies turned out.

On the topic of Christmas music... I'm obsessed with Baby It's Cold Outside. I'd never really cared for it until last year. And this year, I've got it playing on repeat, practically. Even my three year old niece is like, "TRESSIE. NO." And then I spend the whole day, frantically singing both parts.

I really can't staaaaaaa--But baby it's cold outside!

I've got to go 'waaaa--But baby it's cold outside!

This evening has--Been hoping that you'd drop in--

SOO very niiice--I'LL hold your hands, they're just like--

My mother will start to wor--BEAUTIFUL what's your hur-- 

You get the idea?

We plan to paint the windows sometime next week.

We're having Midnight Mass at our house, because we're a mission parish, and we has no church to use at midnight.

I'm excited.

I getting distracted by my sisters and mom having tickle fights.

Yeah, we're weird.

That's all.

Bai.

Picture Saturday - I suddenly like colored pencils

Two weeks between Picture Saturdays is too much.

Because then I have a dump of pictures and it takes for freaking ever to edit them so they look the same on screen as they do on paper. (*Treskie drools a little at her laptop*)

But anyway, yeah. My latest art endeavors for your perusal.

I don't tend to do colors. I'm not good at colors and I'm too lazy to take the time to learn, so I usually eyeball the colored pencils with a look similar to this:

And then I turn away and stick to my good ol' black and white, because black and white is my fave.

But when I decided I had to draw a scene from Dandelion Fire, I sort of knew that black and white wasn't going to cut it because Henry is fiery and fabulous and not black and white.

So with dubious fingers and a great deal of eyeballing, I came up with this.

1.) THAT SCENE FROM DANDELION FIRE  WHERE I LITERALLY SQUEALED WITH HAPPINESS.

and I'm a little shy of it because colors aren't my thing. So be kind.

2.) And then we have the couple of pictures that I drew for Hannah, because Hannah's awesome, and I luff her. (so like... the characters and the snippet are copyrighted. Don't. steal.)

3.) Siblingggggs.

4.) And then I was like "Haaaaiiii, colors don't suck." And since I was listening to Superheroes by the Script on repeat, I figured what the heck.

5.) And then I realized I wasn't a superhero.

6.) But like... the Doctor is a superhero in a way, so I drew him to cheer up.

Eleven is MAH FAVORITE and this is the best quote of ever. 

7.) And then I came up with this character that lost her memory and drew her. I think her name is going to end up being something tough like Madison or Bobbi.

8.) And then I drew how I was feeling at the time, because there's nothing more frustrating than having time to draw and getting artist's block. 

9.) And then we have the long goodbye which I like, but it's got weird lighting and that bugs me.

10.) And the mermaid/water fairy/thing I did which was basically just an excuse to use blue and purple for hair.

11.) And boom! DANCING. Because I freaking love dancing couples. So yeah. I drew this.

SO BIG GIANT QUESTIONS!!!

Do you like the colored ones even though I think colored pencils and I aren't exactly friends?

Do you like the colored ones more or less than the black and white?

DO YOU LOVE DANCING? (I think I would, if I knew how. But I don't, so I just love it from afar.)

I love you all. Goodbye.

We’re supposed to pull out his eye with a spoon?

Let's talk Grimm!

Just.... Grimm.

It is fabulous. It has become one of my top favorite TV shows. It's up there with Doctor Who, and Psych, and Leverage, and Crossing Lines and Supernatural. LIKE SERIOUSLY! It makes me flail in fangirlish glee. 

Fangirlish glee is a thing, okay, people?!

Summary

Nick Burkhardt is a police detective in Portland, who thinks he's seen it all. Until the day that he starts seeing regular people transforming into monsters. Come to find out he's a descendent of the Brothers Grimm, and has inherited their ability to see mythical creatures, and he has a responsibility to keep the balance between mankind and the mythological. With the help of an unexpected werewolf ally, he discovers that there's a lot more going on in Portland than he originally thought.

Ehehe.

So, like always, we have the bad.

1.) There first season was the cleanest, I think there were two awkward episodes.
2.) The second and third had several intense kissing scenes (people are very in love.) And then there's this girl who is pregnant in season three, who has a fetish for finding a full length mirror and examining her stomach in nothing but her underclothes.
3.) Some sweary words.
4.) People live together and they're not married, but it's not in your face, and it's handled really well.
5.) Adalind is SO ANNOYING.

And then we have the good!

I'm going to start this with kind of an explanation of the show.

1.) It's based off Grimm's Fairytales, so it's darkish.
2.) Almost every episode is a twisted fairytale, based off a quote from the books. Like so:

3.) The monsters aren't referred to as monsters, they're called Wesen. (pronounced vessen, because German.)
4.) Calling Wesen regular names is too mainstream, so everything is German. Wooo! So say... you have a werewolf. It's not a werewolf, it's a Blutbod. Or a witch? Not a witch. Hexenbiest. It's complicated sometimes. Like what the freak is a Königschlange?

Oh, it's that.

5.) Wesen and Grimms are mortal enemies. So... yeah. 
6.) And most importantly, Wesen look just like humans, unless they want you to see them. A Grimm is someone who has the ability to see through their human disguise.

Okay, so why should you watch it?

1.) Nick Freaking Burkhardt.

Nick is such a good guy! He's brave, and sweet, and old fashioned, and clever. He's funny. He's a detective. He's loyal. He's just an all-round good sort of person, the kind you'd want to be friends with. He's nice, and I find it very tragic that all the bad people are out to get him.

And to top it all off, he is quite easy to look at, and he's really athletic, so his fight scenes are just.... so beautiful.

The sad thing was, I went into this show prepared for an attractive male, and I told myself I wouldn't become obsessed.

Le Me: "I will not become infatuated, I will not become infatuated, I will not become infatuated."
*Nick shows up in all his Nickish awesomeness.*
Le me: "I'm am so infatuated, I am so infatuated, I am so infatuated, I am so infatuated."

I think I'm just really shallow.

Or it could be that I just really like his character and his looks are just a bonus? (haaaa, stop laughing at me.) His character is really good though. I promise.

2.) Monroe. Because Monroe is awesome, and hilarious. I just like him a lot.

Monroe is a reformed Blutbad, who somewhat reluctantly joins forces with Nick and they become best buds and I LOVE best bud stories.

But seriously though. Monroe is so odd, and he's a really good friend.

3.) I actually liked all the side characters. (You know... except the ones you're supposed to hate, and man, I hate those characters.)

It's rare that I find a show that I like all the side characters. Usually there's at least one that drives me up a wall and over the side, but this one, I like all of them. Even the girls. Please note: MORE THAN ONE GIRL. And I like them all.

Captain Sean Renard I didn't want to like, and then I wasn't sure if I ought to, and I've just come to the conclusion that I LIKE WHO I WANT. He's really super awesome.

Nick's partner Hank grew on me a lot. He's also cool and funny, and he and Nick have a good friendship based on mutual trust and appreciation.

Juliette is Nick's girlfriend, and she is so cute. Just SO FREAKING CUTE. And she's not obnoxious, and I love that.

And Wu is hilarious. I like Wu.

Rosalee I wasn't sure about because she was odd and talked funny. (Okay, so yeah. I'm shallow and make snap judgements.) But she's awfully sweet and she knows everything about Wesen. Almost.)

4.) The friendships. Anyone who's read my blog knows that I am a fan of friendships. I adore them. And this has several.

5.) Cute romances. It takes something special for me to go, "Ooh yeah, I SHIP IT!" But this show has two couples that make me do that. They're not forced, they're just sweet. And when I say sweet, I mean like I-smack-my-sister-because-of-the-adorableness sweet.

I MEAN, DANCING!!! I LOVE DANCING.

AND THEY'RE COOKING. WAAAAAA!

6.) It's funny.

7.) It has really cool fight scenes with ninja kicks and general epicness.

8.) IT HAS THE COOL TRAILER WITH BOOKS AND WEAPONS AND POISONS AND SECRETS. 

9.) It apologizes for it's cliffhangers. It almost makes cliffhangers funny.

 

10.) It has everything that I like about Supernatural, minus all the religious problems. So, no warped version of God, no terrible angels. (No Cas. YAY!) Just good storytelling, fantastic characters, and good VS evil.

So yes, this is a show I recommend wholeheartedly, (though, maybe not for kids under 14.) It's just scary enough that it makes me nervous sometimes, it's fun, it's mostly clean, it has Nick......

YOU SHOULD ALL WATCH GRIMM.

Good bye.