Thursday, January 28th, 2010 11:58 pm
Today’s fave five were:
- Waking up to a phone call that made me smile…it wasn’t the call that made me smile, it was the voice on the other end of the line that made me smile…
- The great people that I work with…the inside jokes that I can share, the space for silence, the space for laughter…it’s all kinda a good thing. I’m sad my girl B isn’t around as often anymore, but at least she is still a solid part of my life, and Amanda is just a total laugh riot! Super smart, but sometimes just plain silly= a winning combination!
- Getting a really good waxing. Today (not that you really want to know this but) I got my legs, under arm and full bikini waxed. I FEEL LIKE A MILLION BUCKS…or pretty darn close. At the very least, I don’t feel like a hairy gorilla anymore. If you need a good waxer and you live in the Chicagoland area, Lola at Mario Tricoci on Michigan Ave is the woman to see…she’s THE BEST! For serious.
- First week of school being done. And it went well. Class was good and better still it wasn’t a big hate fest, but rather a happy “welcome back” fest. Good times.
- Better still was celebrating the birthday of a most talented friend Heather Bella! Her actually b-day is Saturday, but after class most of us went out for drinks. And it was great. I love my class. For a good solid year I was away from everyone, and the year before that I was kinda in the bell jar, but this year I’m closer to where I was when I ENTERED the program then where I have been most of the time they’ve all known me. I’m starting to feel like part of the group again and I LOVE my group. They are the best. WE are the best. There is mutual love and respect among us all that is hard to find in normal every day life…with my peeps, we’ve so totally got it and it’s the best. I genuinely love every single member of this thesis class…and appreciate my classmates that support me even without my knowing it. What great stuff. I feel so…happy.
Bottom line people…it’s a Thursday night, it’s kinda late in the world, things are CRAZY all around us and the economy totally blows, but one thing I know for sure; despite all the bad stuff, I still remain happy. This is the best place I could be in starting the hardest semester of my life. I hope I can maintain this momentum…we shall see! Cheers and GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!
Also, I just have to add something. Tonight someone told me how another person had mentioned to them about reading my blog. And I have just GOT to say, unless you are actively responding to my posts or telling me in person that you read my blog, I don’t know that you are reading it. And so at times I think I’m just recording this all on the “off chance” that someone stumbles upon it. For those of you out there, who don’t actually know me, but that do read this, this is for you; THANK YOU. Seriously. Thank you for even having an incling to care. Thank you for considering some strangers life interesting or important enough to pay attention to. Even though I don’t really know you are out there most of the time, to learn that you DO exist and that you DO give a rats ass really means something to me. I don’t just blog because I’m some self indulgent twit. I blog because I want to SHARE with people…be it to share my story, my heart ache, my optimism, my enthusiasm, my artwork or whatever…it’s to be part of something larger than myself. Knowing there are others out there that will get these messages, without my prompting them to do so, reallllllllllly touches my heart.
So again, this message is straight up for you – I appreciate that you take the time to follow me, and I thank you for it. I’m sure that your positive energy helps fuel me along along the way when times are tough. We might not have met yet, but I still think the world of you!!! Hopefully, our paths will cross in real time some day.
Cheers, Happiness and Love,
Devin
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Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 11:58 pm
Today’s fave five were:
- Emailing back and fourth with a friend who tends to be a bit…funny on email.
- Getting rated on Swap-Bot with 5’s and hearts!
- Having people ask you for commission work! WOO HOO!!! Someone wants to PAY me for my work…AGAIN! It’s been happening so much MUCH this past year, and it’s the loveliest feeling I can describe in my art making experience. I don’t even know when I’ll be able to fit in all the commissioned pieces with thesis, but it’s just nice to know you work is not only liked but WANTED…
- ePortfolio’s class totally rocking my socks. Will Devin have a new flashy awesome site in a few months time? Stay tuned to find out…
- My man. I gotta say it. He’s really just the sweetest. I promised myself I’d always remain “relationship neutral” on my site, but I can’t help it…this man makes me smile from ear to ear and it’s because HE IS A GOOD PERSON. This good person also happens to be extremely attractive (go me), funny, charming, 100% comfortable with himself and willing to compromise when it’s right to and stand his ground when he should. He’s kinda awesome, and so I just can’t stay mum about him 100% of the time…
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Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 11:58 pm
Today’s fave five were:
- Waking up to my apartment and its good heat. It’s freaking COLD outside in Chicago this week!!!
- My really awesome Pilot Varsity pen. I’ve got it in black and in blue ink and it’s awesome. I think with all my swap-bot swapping, I can warrant purchasing the whole set of 7 colors!!! It’s like a calligraphy pen, only no dipping and even flow. Also, you can take it with you easily in your purse without fear of it spilling or leaking. Pretty darn cool. It’s the little things people…the little things.
- Having a REALLY great run this evening, despite the freezing cold temps that with windchill felt like 6 degrees. Uhhh, yeah. Cold. Mike kept joking that we were crazy to do it so we shouldn’t, but of course we did and the run went really well. Officially his 7th run, and my 7th of the new year and all around good. I FINALLY kept us at a very solid (slower) pace and we still did the three mile run in 28:32:02 (a few second less actually) which puts us at 9:30 minute mile pace – INCLUDING our 6:1 walk break ratio. Yeah baby! That’s good stuff. After we ran our three I felt like I needed a bit more, so my handsome partner let me run off to do another quick mile before calling it a night. I ran an 8:30 minute mile and can honestly say it felt really good. I wasn’t pushing hard at all and think if I had pushed a little, I could have done an 8 minute mile for sure. I’m so excited about this because I recalculated what I need to run in order to Boston qualify and the time is scary. I thought an 8:30 m/m would get me a 3:30 marathon time. WRONG…in order to achieve a 3:30:00 marathon time, I need to be able to run 8 minute miles flat for 26.2 miles. Eeeeeek. That’s the time at least Mike needs to qualify. For me to qualify is a little better – I need to be able to do 8:23 minute miles. Woo hooooo. Not. Boy, that’s fast. But, I’m hopeful. Tonight’s training run was good for the both of us and I think it’s early enough in the season for us to excel before we even hit May (when the official marathon training begins). In any case, we had a great run and it made me feel good and those happy endorphins swam happily in my blood stream elevating my day from pretty crappy to happy!
- DEVON MARKET! After our run we hit up Devon Market for some fresh produce and goodies for food this week. Since classes begin tomorrow, I need to have breakfast (my bananas), lunch and dinner all ready to take with me each morning before I leave. So tonight I made Thome Style Chili. YUUUUUUMMMY! It’s simple, delicious, pretty low in calories, filling AND very affordable to make! While at the market I picked up all kinds of fresh fruit like strawberries, raspberries, black berries, oranges and pomegranates! Everything there is soooo affordable that it makes buying good for you foods a little less of a burden on the pocket book.
- Banana bread with chocolate chips. I think I may have finally re-figured out the perfect recipe. Secret ingredients include: yogurt, chocolate chips and Kerrygold Irish butter. I’m about to pull it out of the oven now and it smells good. I hope it tastes even better!
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Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 1:52 am
Today’s fave five were:
- The whispered words from someone who thinks I’m special followed by a funny story and a “ditto”.
- B96 having someone from the RP give a shout out for loving the “commercial free hours”. YEAH BABY! ROGERS PARK REPRESENT!
- Today’s most fortunate fortune cookie from my favorite Chinese food restaurant (Yummy Yummy- that DID bring love to my tummy) said, “You will have a bright future”. I hope you are right fortune cookie of fate…can that bright future be within the next 3 months while I finish up thesis? Thanks…
- MORE MAIL BABY!!! Swap-bot is the freaking best! I send two to three out a week and get two to three items through the mail in return. It’s just so addictive! It’s keeping me motivated to work in my studio on these cold nights as well! Today I received one of my 3 of Spades APC. Thank you TrishGray17!!! The timing on this particular APC seemed a little ironic (in a humorous way) and is DEFINITELY perfect for the upcoming Hallmark holiday – Valentine’s Day. Thanks again – it’s great!!
"I love you" APC, 3 of Spades by TrishGray17
- This weekend I finished up my two APC’s, the 3 of Spades, but never got around to posting them, so since I sent them OUT today, I’ll also post them today! I went for a different feel with these two cards compared to my first two, but I like them just the same. I think they are a touch more fun and light hearted – appropriate for playing cards I think! Anyway…I’m excited about these little projects, they are definitely helping me to stop over thinking my work so much and to just GO for it without worrying all of the time. (No time to worry, I just must do!) Who knew Swap-bot would be such a great thing for me? I get fun goodies in the mail, it keeps me going to my studio at least three times a week AND I’m having a blast building my collections and making new connections with various artists and crafters. I’d say that’s just a pile of wins!!!
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Sunday, January 24th, 2010 11:49 pm
Today’s fave five were:
- Getting to sleep in after sleeping veeeeeerrrrrrrryyyyyy soundly. Woke up craving PANCAKES!
- Having the perfect running partner to motivate me to get out the door for our run, devising the perfect plan to get our run in, hit The Bagel in Lakeview for PANCAKES, Starbucks on the way back for a Signature Hazelnut Hot chocolate all in time to be back by the start of today’s football games! BRILLIANT!
- Adding a new fishy friend to the mix – her name is Black Eyed Susie (Susie for short). She’s the cutest little speckled fancy gold I’ve seen in a long time. One of her eyes is white around the rim and the other is black around the rim thus the name. Currently she’s living with MU’s fish, but I kinda wanna bring her to work to live with Tangerine (my totally awesome Betta). Time will tell if that happens or not…
- Meghan having nine lives. I got a phone call from her today while she was being taking to the ER in an ambulance. Her message, “Can you meet me at the hospital? I think I’m ok, but want to make sure. There isn’t any blood. IT WASN’T MY FAULT DEV!!! It wasn’t my fault!”…Aw Megion!!! She is FINE – totally ok, but very lucky. Her car took a big ass hit. Some new driver clearly should not have his license for he was headed north bound, than in an attempt to make a U Turn heading south bound, freaked out, popped the curb then (my assumption here) hit the gas instead of the break which propelled him forward while still having the wheel turned causing him to crash straight into the drivers side of Meghan’s car. She got some pretty bad whiplash and will probably have a bruise on her left hip in a couple days time, but no cuts or anything worse fortunately. The car? Not in such great shape. Poor Meg…She kept giving me lip about if I was ok…apparently I was a little flushed in the face. Uh yeah…won’t/can’t deny it. Hearing my baby sister is in an ambulance on her way to the ER after a car accident sends chills down my spine. In the moment I was fine – hopped into action, called Terra to inform her of everything I knew, got to the hospital and was fine. Late on tonight? Eh…maybe I wasn’t quite so *fine*. I keep repeating, just so happy it turned out the way it did and no serious damage was done to her skinny little body!!!
- Coming home after what ended up being a crazy night dealing with ER stuff, making sure Meghan got to fill out the report with the cops, waiting for her car to get towed and then taking her to get an el pass for the week, I was exhausted. So I kinda treated myself to an 830 calorie McDonald’s meal. OH SHAME ON ME I KNOW…I couldn’t help it. Then I noticed I had missed a fun piece of mail, another swap-bot swap! Thank you Sam Jowers!!! My “La Muerte” 2 of spades is AWESOME! I absolutely love it!!
"La Muerte" APC by Sam Lowers
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Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 11:59 pm
Today’s fave five were:
- Waking up feeling well rested, toasty warm and content. No better way than to start off your day with a smile on my face, and the *thing* that puts a smile on my face doesn’t cost a dime…
- Remembering the late night fun I had sucking SO BADLY at darts and having my ass handed to me FOUR TIMES while trying to win at least ONE GAME of Cricket. First game I managed to pull a triple 20, a triple 17? or 18? and a few doubles…but couldn’t close out my 16’s in time…then it became a race for the bulls eye. Obviously, I lost that race. DAMMIT! But hey, we’ve got good days, and we’ve got bad days…I still had a blast and thinking about redemption almost got me out of bed this morning. Almost.
- Taking a much needed mental health day. Today, I didn’t do much other than sit on my ass, laugh, goof around, cuddle watching tv and play the ever addictive Bejeweled on MU’s iPod of power…damn him, he’s beat me at every game on that thing…every.single.GAME! I WILL prevail!!!
- Going away parties for my lovely friend Hillary. In a couple weeks she ships off to England for two (possibly more?) years enjoying the country she so loves and helping people through her profession. Yeah, she’s kind of a big deal. I WILL MISS YOU MY GORGEOUS FRIEND!!!
Me and my lovely "soul friend" Hillary!
- Having a blast at said party and then getting back into the city without worrying how to get back to the highway with the help of a kind party goer…finding parking in Lincoln Park around the time ALL THE BARS WERE CLOSING and the streets were mobbed, and sneaking into the apartment without making too much noise. Then, curling up into the softest bed and snuggling into the warmth that soothes me to the best sleep I currently get.
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Friday, January 22nd, 2010 10:15 pm
Today’s fave five were:
- The fact that it’s Friday and “Happy 22nd” text messages.
- Justin Timberlake being incredibly talented and singing Hallelujah differently but just as amazingly as I’ve heard Damien Rice sing it…
- The fact that I am lucky to live in a country where the worst I usually have to deal with is cold weather and wind. My continued prayers are going out to the people of Haiti and of course their families…
- Running with my beau – I think it’s become my favorite past time. It’s the best thing. EVER! – I’ve always wanted to be with someone that wanted to be active with me, and it was always my secret hope that the activities would revolve around sport (running, volleyball, soccer) and the outdoors (camping, fishing, hiking, white water rafting…). But really, running was the big one for me because it’s something I can do anywhere anytime and it’s even more fun to do it with someone. Nothing better than doing it with your partner and having the opportunity to watch the, blossom into a kick ass marathoner. We’ve only been running for less than two weeks (5 runs total) and he’s already at 10 minute miles (with walk breaks). Yeah…the happiness it brings to my heart is kind of indescribable, but I’m sure I’ll keep trying to describe it.
- SWAP-BOT MAIL!!! I LOVE IT! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! Thank you to Chrisley B for my awesome “Color of the Rainbow” inchies. They are indeed, colorful. They are great. Thank you so much! Getting goodies in the mail is TOTALLY AWESOME!
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Thursday, January 21st, 2010 11:56 pm
Today’s fave five were:
- Today was Amanda’s birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA! To celebrate we got warm beverages from her coffee bar of choice, The Italian Coffee Bar in the old Playboy Building. I have to say, it was the best REAL latte I’ve ever had…it was the closest thing to real COFFEE (I’m saying there was minimal sugar in this thing people) I’ve ever purposefully drank, and I must admit, I kinda enjoyed it more than I suspected. NO, I am not ready to make the leap over to real lattes, but it was a good one that deserved mentioning…
- Space heaters. They are the best, and total life savers. All I do is freeze at work all day long. My space heater saves me. Thank you, space heater.
- Art show cheese and fruit platters! Today was the closing of the little art exhibit at the hospital I had a piece in. They had a little reception for the artists and they had this UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME cheese platter…there was this horseradish mustard seed type cheese that made me think I had died and gone to heaven. Add in the raspberries that were on the same tray and I WAS in heaven. For the show the organizer wanted to take my picture next to my sculpture. I declined. Then I remembered I have to suck it up and do this stuff in the future so I might as well practice now. Amanda was awesome, the photographer asked her if she would get in the picture and “ask me questions about the piece”…I was laughing, but Amanda totally did what she needed to, it was hilarious. I’ll be interested to see how the photos come out. But in any case, I DID get Amanda to pose with my paper sculpture, body of work no. 1 – self love, and I think the picture is pretty cute!
- I got more goodies in the mail!!! YAY FOR GOODIES! Today I received my ATC that was themed “Ex Marks the Spot”. It was supposed to be about one of our exes…I thought it seemed like a fun first ATC swap and one that I have plenty of material to draw from so I signed up for it. My partner ended up sending me two cards because the first one she thought looked a little to “stickery”…I get what she was saying, especially when you compare it to her second attempt which I really love more and more with each glance I take. Look at the expression on the sleeping girls face, it’s really engaging. Anyway, thanks B Monster, or is it TheBigB?! ANYway…THANKS LADY!! The ATC’s are really fantastic and I totally love them both!!!
- I CLEANED UP MY STUDIO!!! It was starting to get a little too cluttered in there and out of control. I put things AWAY and I cannot stop expressing how awesome it is to have an art studio to call my own. Everything has a home, it all fits in the space so nicely and it’s cozy (though occasionally on the cold side). I love my studio. It makes me very very happy to be in there and be creative and then to be able to leave my “work space” to come home and have a “home” space. So.Nice!
- (sorry, there’s a sixth “fave five” today) I FINALLY finished my own Ex Marks the Spot ATC. I only made one, primarily because I spent a lot of time on this one and just don’t have a ton of extra time to spend…I think I probably take 100% longer to make something than most people. I’M SO SLOW MOVING! Ugh, but whatever, I completed it and I’m happy with it. (Click on the thumbnails below to see the photo enlarged.)
Posted in art, birthdays, crafty something, fave five | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 11:50 pm
Today’s fave five were:
- Almost getting to work on time.
- Getting my first couple of ratings on swap-bot (I got to fives – the highest number you can be given)…still waiting to get some verbal feedback though…
- Dinner with my England bound Hillary and a few fabulous women…can we say, sexy Hillary, in a hot civil war styled jack, yummy raspberry mojitos, guacamole & chips to die for AAAAANNNNNDDDD some of the coolest colorful art collections I’ve seen in a restaurant in a while? Yeah, the place is called Carnivale and I’d say it’s a Chicago must try! Love ya Hill…thanks for inviting me to come! xoxo
- My Argo Tea peeps hooking me up with another delicious Chocolate Biscotti Latte…it’s as if they all know how much I need them and that drink, and there they all are, smiling faces and love pouring out, overflowing into my cup and sharing their happiness with me. Seriously, I think these guys are the greatest. I cannot wait to be done with school so I can actually go hang out with some of them off work hours, shoot the shit and have some fun!
- To be honest today I was kinda crabby…no reason for it, so I have to thank everyone who helped try to pull me out of my crabby mood. For all of you, I am thankful and you are my favorites. The list: Miss Lossia, TK, Jaime/Marlana/Dan/Molly of Argo Tea, Hillary, Ivan and MU. You guys so totally rock!
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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 9:58 pm
Today’s fave five were:
- Not waking up to bad dreams.
- Being able to see sunshine most of the day long from an open office window!
- Looking forward to the goodies coming my from Swap-Bot in the mail. Today I received two of four I’m expecting: 1) my “free theme” inchies and one of the 2 of spades APC. Both were quite fun to open! CraftyWench you had made my inchies went with a vampire/faerie theme also incorporating a lot of green into the work which I love. She clearly had checked out my loves/likes list and drawing from that came up with something really fun and unique with me in mind. She glued the inchies down onto a giant puzzle piece which was so radically different than what I had done with the inchies I had made that I was surprised at first. But I think it’s really neat to see how she worked with a really solid theme and created an easily displayable work of art. THANKS CRAFTYWENCH (Christina)! My APC from Cocoa is really awesome too. I had checked out her website and actually was pretty sure I saw the two APC’s she had made. I ended up getting the one I secretly hoped would come my way, so that was pretty nifty. Anyway, a big thanks to both ladies for helping brighten my day and giving me something to look forward to in the mail! (click on the images below to enlarge them – my apologies the blurriness…I’m using my scanner since I can’t find my digital camera and it’s just not as clear as a camera would be)
- Having a running partner who is really working hard and kicking some ass! Way to go MU. Tonight we had our fourth run – what I was aiming to be a two miler turned into a three miler (accidentally) and we NAILED it! It was 30 minutes exactly and that was with a couple extra long walk breaks. It was not my intention to run quite that fast, but I felt like we were running at a comfortable (and slow enough) pace for a newbie. I’m going to work on bringing it down a notch, but really, we were doing a run/walk ratio of 6:1 so I guess I ended up feeling too rested and pushed it a bit to hard. Regardless, Mike did beyond awesome and I’m continuously encouraged by his natural ability. This is gonna be a great running season I think!
- McDONALD’S HOT FUDGE SUNDAE FOR DESSERT!!! Yeah, that’s right baby…I had me some Micky D’s. YEAH! I don’t know how many calories were in that bad boy, but it tasted so good…(there goes the work out from tonight!). I’ve been good all week though, taking the stairs at work, keeping a VERY LOW sugar diet (I’m killing myself with this) and being very mindful of what I eat. I think we both deserved a treat, and since I’m the only one who really has to work on slimming down, I think I’ll take the hit on the hot fudge as long as I work on being good the rest of the week. It tasted GOOOOOOD (almost as good as skinny feels
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