Archive for October, 2007

painting the guest bedroom

Here is the guest bedroom painting nearly done. This room is farther along than the master bedroom because there are less closet doors to paint (the master bedroom has three closets) and no giant beam in the middle of the ceiling. This room, similar to the master bedroom, has the edge painting half done where the ceiling and walls meet. And of course, the doors and trim need to be primed and painted as well.

painting the tall stairway

There is the all buff and strong painting machine that is my mom. Hi Mom!

Notice how this stairway does not have the darker gray paint color on the walls. It was decided that it would be impossible to get up there while on a ladder that was standing on the stairs to paint the edges. I had already climbed up there to get the popcorn off the far wall and ceiling edge, it was scary, and there was no way to reach the rest of the wall/ceiling junction for future painting. So we painted this whole area the ceiling gray color, Gentle Rain.

Currently this area is almost done (I took the photos too soon), thank god for extendable paint roller poles and moms and dads. The only thing left is to tape a brush to the end of the pole and slap paint on the edges.

playing keepaway

It’s always interesting what kind of items people leave behind when they move away. In our attic we found an old electric guitar from the 1960’s, a stereo, a tape deck, and a mirror. There is probably more stuff up there too, but I don’t like walking around in there (I’ll make David clean it out sometime).

In our garage we found a small tan colored figurine of a saint (I have no idea which one it is). I was in the process of throwing it out when I first saw it, (why would I want to keep around more useless junk?) when David took it from me and said that he would hide it around the house, moving it every once in a while so that I would never be able to find it and throw it away.

You can see it above the fireplace in the top right square. Now I just need to step up on a chair to get him. Don’t get too comfortable little saint, you’ll be gone in no time!

painting the dining room

The dining room wall was painted Gentle Rain (after I took this photo), along with the ceilings (also not finished in this photo). The Gentle Rain color will continue into the kitchen on the walls and ceiling so prevent any abrupt color change where the dining room wall and kitchen wall meet.

Hi Andrea, Andre, and Dad!

painting the living room

The living room and dining room paint has made the most difference, so far, in bringing this house back to the current decade. Most of the touch up paint is done here, only needing to paint the edges, trim, doors, and stair banister which has been primed.

Now that we have some of our furniture moved in, it looks like a completely different house than the one we first saw when we decided to purchase. It is now our home, and I can’t wait for the day when I can call it completed.

open arms fly high

I created the Albatross card in the same set that included the Cheshire Cat card. These are so fun to make, each little character took three hours with Prisma Color Pencils.

new family

I flew back into the states sometime late Friday night, tired from traveling internationally but feeling content at the sudden increase in my family size. The wedding was beautiful. Andrea and her family are so warm that I feel like I have been a part of them for years. They seemed very excited, my dad was thrilled, and I was also happy.

The rest of the vacation was very relaxing and fun, except for the fact that I couldn’t keep any food down. I didn’t drink local water, I only ate what everyone else was eating, and yet I was the only one who got sick. Thank you, overly sensitive stomach.

We had a lot of fun snorkeling in underground caves with little fish, visiting Mayan cemeteries, and being surrounded by nature and wild life the whole time.

What a nice way to spend the week.

goals for future tina

Fall brings many reflective thoughts, with the year coming to a slow close and the weather starting to change (umm, excuse me, Tina, but it’s still really hot out. Shhh! Damn it. It’ll cool off soon. Soon, right?). As I start the last quarter of 2007, I think about all of the changes that happened this year and everything I want to accomplish for the next year. Maybe things like, oh let’s say, not buying nine additional pieces of furniture when the initial plan was just to get one entertainment center! Also, I want to stop feeling guilty for making occasional purchases because I rarely spend money on myself.

Some other goals:

• Become more tolerant of music and eventually learn to actually like more songs
• Make more time for freelance and commissioned work
• Stick with a healthy routine that consists of more fruits, more home made meals, and exercise
• Watch less TV (nnnnnooooooooo)
• Finish all of the house projects currently started, within three months (interior paint, lighting, some hardware)
• Get out of the habit of touching my face and skin in general, during the day when I am not paying attention. Because, Hello? Hands are the dirtiest part of the body
• Stick with a routine for doing a small amount of chores every day
• Get out of the habit of overloading myself with unachievable goals and unrealistic time frames, hmm

so ridiculously busy

Well, MB (that’s Mr. Bee), I’ve been so busy at work and not been getting home until really late at night. My week, outside of work has consisted of going to a dinner party, starting to putting together the (10) pieces of furniture I bought, going grocery shopping, and cooking, for the first time, in our new home. Not that I have had much time to sit down with my laptop, but I also have not been able to think of what to write about. My brain felt like a filled water balloon, full of stuff and none of it was getting out, still squishy though.

oh snap, bees

Do you know what another beautiful thing about Mexico was? They had honey bees at Xcaret (an eco theme park) that had no stingers. Their hives were beautifully carved out of wood, and the entire area smelled sweet like flowers.

The sweet smell seeped out of the wood, everything had soaked it up. There was no one else around, so it was just David, Mr. Bee, me, and the Mexican honey bees. Mr. Bee and I were in heaven, David also enjoyed it because he saw how happy we were.

Their lack of stingers, allowed us to get as close as we wanted to the hives. We walked into their area and stood with our faces three inches away from their hives, watching bee after bee come in and out of their beautiful entrances.

Mr. Bee was all like “¿Cómo estás, amigos?” and we just giggled. It was perfection.

new portrait, alina

This is little Alina, my most recent portrait, finally finished! You may remember the Zara baby portrait from April, she is Alina’s little sister.

the art of Onion Head

Today is a truly beautiful day. I woke up later than usual, the sun was shining, and I felt wonderful. As I stepped outside to start my day by heading to work, I felt the wonderful 55° F temperatures that told me winter was coming. (ok, even though it is going to be around 90° F for the high today, I have to remember that I live in Texas) Today my heart is filled with happiness and love, unlike most days when it is filled with a black coal hatred so deep no light can escape it.

Anyways, I’m getting sidetracked, the happiness reminded me of these crazy little Chinese animated icons, that I adore, called Onion Head. I use them for my messenger, and proceed to crack up with each use.

I wish I could read their website, because I’d love to learn more about how they started with the series. These little animated characters evoke a wide range of emotion (and unbridled cuteness) that is far more advanced than other animated icons I have seen.

Onion Head works really well at displaying my emotions on my blackest-black-heart days as well.

All Onion Head images courtesy of The Onion Club at blog.roodo.com.

furniture, faucets, and fun

I’ve been doing a lot of shopping recently, buying new stuff for the house, it’s really pulling everything together and making a very cozy home for us. Yesterday we got the cutest kitchen faucet, I know it’s just a faucet, but I love it! I feel compelled to comment on its cuteness each time I walk by. It has “Hot” and “Cold” written on the handles!

David got a Japanese Elm bonsai tree, we hope that he has more of a green thumb than I do.

Aaaannnnddd here is a bunch of other stuff I got.

mission beautify smile: complete

Back in May of this year, I started having cosmetic dental work done to create the beautiful smile that I always wanted. Yesterday I finished with the last step, I’m done, it’s pretty, I’m happy.

I’m grateful for being in this stage of my life, where I can change the things that I am unhappy about. I am totally behind cosmetic procedures because I truly believe they can change people’s lives for the better.

illustration, design, and marketing

I recently interviewed with marketing professional extraordinaire (and good friend) Andrea Stout over at MarketingVirgin.com. We talked about illustration, design, and marketing of course! A little removed from my usual casual writing, but informative!

Graphic design is typographical functionalism. A visually pleasing layout of information that guides the viewer through your message in a specific order. This is a crucial tool to have in marketing. Unlike the uniqueness and individuality of illustration, graphic design is often times more anonymous, catering to the clients branding needs. But, illustration usually does not exists without graphic design, the latter being the vessel which enables illustration to tell its story. In the recent years, photography has replaced the use of illustration in many functions, because of the rise of image stock houses and cheap prices, this has opened up new opportunities for companies to start using custom illustration again to gain an edge over their competition. Even though is it usually a less expensive option, photography is bound by the tangible rules of the world we live in, this is a very limiting fact, and illustration will always be able to take you to places you have only dreamed of. It is truly limitless.

Read the whole post on What is Illustration?.

My love for advertising translates right into my passion for learning more about marketing. I am very excited about the launch of MarketingVirgin.com and using the lessons covered to boost my projects. Posts such as the Search Engine Marketing run through can be used by anyone with a website, not just marketing professionals! I think that all of you who work in marketing, and even those of you who are interested in marketing your own business, or just learning more about it, will find MarketingVirgin.com to be a super useful blog.

trick or treat

I created the Kraken card in the same set that included the Cheshire Cat and Albatross cards. This card game also includes extra cards on how to create each costume worn by the card characters.

painting as exercise

What a productive weekend! I painted all of the wood baseboards, trim, and the banister a high gloss white, in the living and dining room. My body also feels like I did squats for eight hours, which is pretty accurate. David was in charge of organizing books, movies, and the second bedroom. That second bedroom/office is now put together and usable! I no longer have anxiety attacks as I walk by it, no more giant indistinguishable pile o’ crap! So, good news all around.

anger management pumpkin

I’ve never carved a pumpkin. I feel like I have missed out on a very American childhood tradition. Last year, David and I got a pumpkin carving kit but we never got around to actually purchasing or carving a pumpkin, because you know, we had much more important things to do, like watch TV. Maybe one day. In the meantime, I’ll just daydream about taking out all of my aggressions on a poor blobby human-head-shaped vegetable.

welcome future tina

Oh, what? I’m not really 94 years old? Why is it that I want to purchase this little beauty then?

I want to put it under my desk at work. But, it didn’t help that the product reviews were filled with stories about how people bought this for their mothers and grandmothers who have had knee replacement surgery and can’t really go out and walk around. Oh well, hopefully I won’t start yelling and waving my cane at little kids to get off my lawn tonight! Happy Halloween!