biggest news ever

Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?

I couldn't decide between being a veterinarian or an artist. I decided I would be a vet that also did art, and I would hang that art in my vet office. Genius, right? 

I loved to draw and paint and doodle and just create stuff in general as I was growing up. I took art lessons after school when I was younger, and continued with them in high school. I was able to design several t-shirts and set designs for dances and pep rallies. 

In college, I naturally decided on a design degree. Right before I graduated, I moved to Birmingham to do an internship at an Interior Design firm. It was around this time I designed an invitation for a friend. Then a coworker got me to do one. Then another friend for a save the date. ADDICTED. I started my little Etsy shop soon after.

After my internship, I couldn't find a job as an interior designer, but I was qualified for the help desk position at an advertising agency (I have a business administration degree in addition to the interior design one). I have learned so much there. From SEO to social media, all of it helped while I slowly grew my little side business. 

Right after I started there, I bought my house and started this bloggie. I became addicted to DIY blogs, and began doing tons of house projects. Some of those turned into pieces I added to my little side business.

Little side business grew into pretty good sized side business. Etsy orders grew, and I decided to do an art show. I was instantly hooked. Someone suggested I get my stuff into some stores, so I did. Doors just kept on opening. It didn't take long before my plate was slam full. All of a sudden, I was doing only two things: going to regular work from 9-5 then coming home and working on art stuff from 5:30 to 2am. Everyday. My weekends were full of doing art as well. I would take stuff with me if I went somewhere, like the lake, to keep up with the orders that were coming in. Pretty soon, I only had time to fill orders. No time to make new things or try new projects. 

Something had to change.

I just told you the story of my life so you would know each little brick that has been placed has created this path that has lead me to

GO FULL TIME WITH MY DESIGN BUSINESS!

OHMYWORDIMSOEXCITED!

I put my notice in at work! I have tons of stuff setup, like more shows and stores for my art! I can.not.wait. to get started. I am so so so excited!

I know some of you are thinking "is she nuts?!". I probably am, but I figured I'm not married, I don't have kids, and if I don't do this now, I will forever regret it. 

I've been toying with the idea for a while now, and when over a dozen orders came in at once, I had a small meltdown to my mother about how I didn't have time to do everything, and I wanted to go full-time with design work. She said I should wait until the end of the year. I brought up that the holidays were more than likely going to be nuts with orders coming in. She told me to talk to my dad. He has owned several businesses, so he knows a lot about starting up something new. He told me this: 

"When I would start something, sometimes my dad would think it's a good idea, and sometimes he wouldn't. And sometimes it would fail, but he would always let me try. So I say go for it." 

I felt like a huge balloon of pressure had just popped in my chest! I was so relieved!! I told my ma, and she couldn't believe he was all for it. I was so nervous telling work I was going to be leaving, but everyone there has been so supportive. In fact, everyone in general has been supportive! I honestly thought people would give me the ol "are you sure about this?" kind of talk, but it's been the complete opposite and I could not be more thrilled! 

Who gets to be (almost) exactly what they want when they grow up?! 

ME! 

(minus the whole vet thing.)

Get ready for a lot of new projects and art! I've got some very exciting things coming up! EEE!

the good, the bad, and the ugly

A lot has gone down this week, and it's only Wednesday! Let's start with the good:

My cousin Dewey is a new daddy! His precious little boy was born Tuesday, October 23rd. As of now there is still no name, so we called him various versions of "baby".. like little nugget, bb, baby boy, etc. 

My ma came up here for a doctor's appointment and she brought Neanie, my grandmother, up so we could go see the new baby in Tuscaloosa. Here's Neanie and Ashley (the first grandchild) and the new nugget (the first great-grandchild). How schweet! Neanie was SO excited! She held him for awhile, then I got my turn, and after a few minutes she said: OK, it's my turn again! She's so funny.

Here's me holding him between Neanie's turns. I was a little nervous, but he was just the sweetest thing! He didn't cry the entire time we were there. I think the last time I held a newborn on their birthday was when my younger cousins were born years and years ago. This new nugget is just perfect! His skin is so pretty, and his little face is just perfection. I'm sure we'll be heckling each other about football in no time! (He's a future bama fan)

Ahhh I can't wait to see him again!

I hate to move on to the bad and ugly after his sweet face, but the show must go on!

Sunday afternoon, the bad happened. My gallant steed, Green Bean, was in an accident! She was parked in front of my house, and someone hit her head on. 

Good thing she's a tough ol' bird. It smooshed the front bumper in a little, and below you can see that the gray part is dangling a bit on the left. It busted what I think is the radiator because all that fluid was leaking out (it also could've been transmission fluid). I was able to pop the hood, but couldn't see down below (as if I would've been able to do anything about it..). Too bad I don't have a brush guard! 

I just happened to be walking by the window and saw it go down. The lady who hit her was fine, so that was good! It hit pretty hard, and my big girl was pushed back about 5 feet! The lady was driving a smaller SUV, and Green Bean definitely won the fight. The other car was smoking and the hood was dented up. The insurance company has been just splendid, so it's been pretty painless. One of my work BFFs, the glorious Sherri Ross, came to pick me up Monday morning. THANKS, GUH! 

By lunchtime, the rental car place had picked me up so I could get my new ride. I was able to get something comparable (aka a bigger SUV). They looked at their inventory, looked at me, looked back at the inventory and said: How about a minivan?? HAHAHA! I died with laughter and asked if there was anything else. I was eyeing the trucks haha! They ended up having a Suburban at another location nearby, so they brought it over. The new girl is quite luxurious! She's a white 2012 and has all kinds of fancy going on! I'm enjoying her, but I want Green Bean to get well soon! 

Onto the ugly, and it is quite a doozie. Remember the gold horse head bookends? 

Well I sold them on Etsy and shipped them off a couple of months ago to Canada. I just found out they weren't delivered, and in fact had been returned to the US. My phone number was wrong on the return address, so they couldn't get in touch with me, and it sat there for a MONTH! Well of course I was going to ship it back.. but before I did, I opened the box to check it..

BUSTED.

Both of 'em. I was devastated. How do you tell someone who paid you for something that it was destroyed, and was, as Beyonce so nicely put, IRREPLACEABLE! 

You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me! I can find another you in a minute..

And I did! I frantically drove to Ross, Tuesday Morning, Wal-Mart and FINALLY TJMaxx, and I found some that were similar! MIRACLE OF MIRACLES!

I sent them to the customer, and she is fine with these! I was so nervous she would be upset, but she was totally understanding! I still have to paint them with Liquid Leaf to make them that shiny gold color of the last set. 

Man, did we come full circle or what?! These will be good in no time! 

I have to guard and protect these so that they will not suffer the same fate of the others.

I'm off to bed! If you have time, please please vote for my art in the AuburnArt.com contest! I saw where a lot more of my friends on Facebook liked their page (which you have to do to vote), so a great big THANK YOU to each and every one of you who have voted already! EEE!

PS- I still haven't announced my big news. I am hoping to get that post out tomorrow night!

rock the vote

Hey knuckleheads!

I entered an art contest through AuburnArt.com! It's a store in Auburn (and yes, the store name is Auburnart.com) in a sweet location right next door to Toomer's Drugs. 

That is prime real estate, y'all. They had a contest where you could enter up to 5 pieces of art in three categories, All Artists All In, Southern by the Grace of Art, and Toomer's Tradition. I submitted several, including the Auburn heart string art, the orange and blue all over string art, the big ol' Alabama string art, barn wood bamas, and the you are beAUtiful print. 

To refresh your memory: 

I Heart Auburn string art

Big ol' Alabama String Art

all over orange and blue string art

barnwood bamas (I couldn't find the original pic.. this one is from my website).

And the ever popular print, you are beAUtiful. 

The winner gets to show their pieces in AuburnArt!!! 

And guess what??!?

YOU CAN HELP ME WIN! Just go like AuburnArt.com on Facebook! <-- the link will take you there. Then click VOTE HERE to vote! Mine are all on the front page. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. You have to like the page to vote! 

There is a share button next to the entries, so I will be sharing them on my Facebook page for easy access for all y'all. Normally I wouldn't be pushing this so hard, but I believe in a spirit that is not afraid (to self promote). HA! That's from the Auburn Creed, for those not in the know. 

So vote now and vote often (YOU CAN VOTE MORE THAN ONCE A DAY, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!). Share with people too! I would just EXPLODE WITH HAPPINESS to win this! Let's be honest, I need to have the excuse to use "winning" and "Auburn" in the same sentence again! THANKS THANKS THANKS in advance to everyone who helps out! 

EEEEEE! 

(^I really make that noise in real life when I'm super excited, btw)

weekend adventures

Howdy folks! I haven't been doing a good job at updating the ol' bloggie lately, but that's good for you because now you get a big post choc full of pictures! Woop woop! 

Two weekends ago, I went down to Auburn for the Arkansas game. Since it was a dumb 11:00am kickoff, I decided I would bring my nice camera along for some pics since I could walk it back to the house before going out (I'm very protective of that thing..).   

SAMMY! 

Gah I just can't get enough of Samford Hall. If you tallied all of the pictures I post of him on my blog, I'm sure the number would be in the triple digits.

SO the MAIN THING I wanted to get a picture of with my nice camera was the eagle flying. I was a crazy lady about waking up early and marching to the stadium to see the flight. If you know me at all, you know this was quite the task (waking up early that is). I usually roll into the 11am games halfway through the first quarter. I was so proud of myself for getting there in time. 

Well. Wouldn't ya know, THE EAGLE FLEW FROM A DIFFERENT SIDE!!!!! UUGHGHGHGHGHHH. The eagle ALWAYS flies from the ramp under the flag, which just so happens to be the one I walk up. I got there a bit early, so I found a good spot where I could get some shots of her coming out of the carrier. The announcer comes on and says something like "Ladies and gentlemen, please cast your attention to the center of the field for a special presentation!" And I was all like "where the eff is the eagle?!" and then the crowd started chanting "warrrrrrrrrrrrrr". To my horror, I realized they let her go on the complete other side of the stadium. How rude! This turned my "best place for an eagle pic" spot into "the worst possible place to stand for a shot of the eagle" spot. Curses! 

Oh well. We moseyed to the seats to watch the rest of the pre-game festivities. 

Gameday dates! Binky and Caroline came to sit in the "adult" section (aka, the non-student section). 

Murray was my gameday date! He's a bammer, but so nicely wore navy for the game!

My ma and her bff Francis. They wore pink for breast cancer month. How cute! 

'merica.

We didn't win the game, so we took it as an opportunity to take silly pics walking down the ramp.

"Take my picture"

So seksi. 

"Get a picture of our butts."

"Let's go to the baaaaarrrrr!"

And to the bar we went. We had to drown our sorrows somehow, now didn't we? We walked through Toomer's Corner on the way. So so sad. 

Maybe we're losing games to save the trees. No win means no toilet paper, right?!

One is looking a little better than the other. 

Sammy in the back!

The infamous Toomer's Drugs. 

I stopped taking pictures for some reason, but we went to the bar for a bit before heading home (I had to drop off my camera, duh) and watched the LSU Florida game. Siiiigh. Losing is killing me. Especially losing at home. LOCK IT UP, BOYS. 

The next weekend wasn't much better game-wise, but luckily I was preoccupied with the art show at Ross Park! EEEE! I bought a tent to use. She's pretty fancy with the windows..

My ma and Binky came to help since I had been sick earlier in the week. I wasn't suppose to be lifting anything heavy, so they were a HUGE help in getting everything setup. 

All the string art!

Cards, prints, and pet paintings! Ma brought some candy to help lure people over (it promptly melted). 

Aw wee, look at that cute little helper! 

I put a rope on the tin Bama that I made a few weeks ago. I need to make more of these suckers and paint 'em up pretty. 

Binky helped document me with all the goodies at the art show.

TA-DAA! 

Workin' the sell. 

The cards were a big hit! 

As I mentioned before, there were FREE wine and beer tastings! Bink documented me standing in line for some haha! 

My glorious helpers! Ma had her hand up, and when I told her to move it, I got the next few poses..

There were about 12 more I didn't put on here hahaha. 

Katie and Bradley came to the show! Katie's laughing at Bradley's hand holding attempt. What a creeper tehehe!

That's all folks! 

I made some sales and good contacts, and have already had several orders from people after the show! EEE! 

I have some big news. BIG. HUGE. I'm planning an epic bloggie post to reveal it, so be on the lookout for that this week! IT'S SUPER EXCITING!