Anyways,
I just uploaded a few new photos to the “Paintings” page.. so check it out if you can. I’d like to hear what you have to say.

Tonight is the Perseids Meteor Shower. We will be joining our friends out in the fields where they bail hay all summer. I can’t wait.

  Like this cup of tea on a rainy, cold summer morning.

It’s August but there is dew in the air (it might even be rain..?) and it’s about 55 degrees. If you ask me, I think it’s a bit refreshing. However I do realize that I will be required to pretend like it upsets me just for the sake of small talk today. No one lets you get away with your opinions when you work at the front desk of a successful real estate agency- not even when it comes to the weather. So I find that it is best if I just agree when someone says, “What’s with this rain, huh? It’s summer, where’s the sunshine?”

People really do ask me these silly questions and it’s as if they always expect me to actually know the answer. I spend a hefty chunk of my day just listening to people complain about things that will never matter in a week. But it is my job to stay positive and to keep these people motivated. Afterall, they’re the ones signing my pay check every month. But what happens when I don’t have any motivation? And what happens if I don’t feel like being positive today? I guess that’s just what I’m trying to figure out.

   Title: “Lazy Days In Los Angeles”

   Acrylic on Canvas

   Painted with a little help from my friend, Jordan. Not too bad for someone that’s never touched a paint brush before.

I’m not complaining, though. It was a little rough waking up this morning because I didn’t go to sleep until almost 3. I had to be to work in Corvallis at 9 and I made it, but just barely. Margie brought me Starbucks for breakfast and that was definitely the best part so far.

I feel accomplished today. I worked my hands to the bone yesterday both at work and at home. Mostly at home. Let me take a minute to just reflect on my evening:

I walked in the door at exactly 6pm and as I pushed it open Jacob was on the other side about to leave. He informed me that my roommate, Alex, was asleep so he was just about to head out. He then decided to hang around for a while longer and we got food. He also came with me to pick up some band-aids and hydrogen peroxide so I could nurse the razor wound on my ankle. Once we got home I immediately decided to start sketching in my new sketchbook (photos to follow) and he left.

No more than half an hour later,  Alex woke up and we hung out a little before he decided to leave to go do laundry. So I was home alone once again and I couldn’t even complain. I ran through the apartment picking up clutter and trash until I was satisfied. I rounded up all the t-light candles I knew I had and I spread them out across the living room. I lit each candle as well as two incense sticks and turned it to Feist on the iHome. I have a very large canvas hanging above my couch in the living room. It’s not blank but I’ve only just begun to lay down the background. So I dumped out my bag of paint and started to go to town on the canvas, all the while it was still hanging on the wall. This way I won’t have to tamper with that cheap easel. I think I’m going to do that more often.

After about an hour into the painting I decided to put on a pot of tea. I served myself a mug of chamomile and Elderberry and sketched a bit more in my book. By that time the guys had all arrived. At first I was a little embarrassed to be caught listening to classical music, drinking tea, and basically meditating. But I was surprised by their reaction… Lately they show a lot of interest in my hobbies and I feel that I am connecting with them on several different levels. It’s very refreshing and you would understand if you saw me a year ago. But of course I will not go in to that right now. I am in a beautiful place right now. For them to understand me and let me in last night was flattering and I am finally feeling secure.

A Mothers’ Day Present

When I started this painting I never envisioned it this way. I’m so upset with my camera though because the fins and the scales look extremely dull. In reality it’s actually metallic bronze and gold, as well as some silver in the lilly-pads.

I then literally rolled myself out of bed. I’m not necessarily running late though, mind you. I commute about half an hour to work everyday and if I leave at exactly 8:00am I never have any problems. Usually 15 minutes isn’t a very long time to get ready but in the last year or so I’ve really channeled my inner-hippie. Spray my hair with dry-shampoo, wet my face, change my clothes, leave. It’s easy.

This morning, however, didn’t feel as easy. As I make my way across the room and into the bathroom I can’t help but mumble under my breath about the laundry all over the floor. Which then reminds me that Derik still hasn’t picked up the mail key nor has he paid the electric bill. I’m so consumed by these thoughts that I have to snap back to reality, and as I do I realize that I am staring at myself in the mirror.  How long have I been standing here? As I study my own face my eyes go back and forth to each other, then drift off to every other part of my body. It looks tired.

It almost felt pointless to do anything about my appearance because, frankly, I didn’t care. How I looked was how I felt. I brushed out my hair, skipping the dry-shampoo for once. Good enough, I thought. Tossed aside in yet another pile of clothes were my favorite Guess work pants. Both the button and the clasp are broken off so I fastened it with a safety-pin, knowing very well that I will get stabbed in the abdomen atleast twenty times throughout my day. It didn’t stop me though and I was out the door.

I opened the car door and rolled my eyes because I was upset with myself that I still haven’t picked up any WD-40 to fix the gnarly squeak in the hinges. My iPod just happened to be playing Metric when I plugged it in so I just left it how it was.  With Emily Haines singing to me in the background I grab for my pack of smokes. Two left. I light up and leave the apartment complex, all the while I am sure not to go too fast over the speed bumps. Grandma taught me better than that.