very possibly over-planned

I am a planner; I absolutely love planning things out. I plan out my meals for the week, along w/the grocery list. I love to plan parties, and all the decorations, food, budget, possible costumes and invitation wording. I enjoy filling my calendar with activities and trips and hang outs and making sure I am not double-booked and even planning down time, or time to do chores. 

lately I have gotten some momentum in my life toward doing All The Things, and while I am thrilled to have so many opportunities available to me, I wonder if I am not over doing it. I also wonder that, while everything is planned out oh-so-loverly-like, 'm spending a large portion of my life figuring out what 'll be doing with my life. what about right now? 

I have started to back away from the internet a bit. it's still a huge part of my life (and my job is doing stuff online), but gosh it sure is nice to make things in real life, and see progress and change brought about because I did something myself. I didn't just pin another pretty photo to my inspiration board - I flippin' MADE something and it's awesome and I would do it again. I like irl things. irl is where I live - these dang screens suck away so much of my time... 

I enjoyed doing the monster girls challenge because it had me drawing all the time. I haven't really drawn much SINCE, and that was months and months ago. internet inspires me to draw, internet keeps me from drawing later... what a double-edged sword you are! 

'm not sure where I was going with this, other than I have started to do some things in my life that 've been meaning to do (and that 've been pinning things to organize/inspire me to do!), and I am very impressed w/my progress so far. funny how you can get there eventually if you just start walkin'.

just so this post still has something artsy in it, here's a shot of my nails that I just took, cuz I did 'em this evening! that's some neon pinky/red from american apparel, and the turquoise is... a new one that I got for xmas, can't recall the name just now. 2 of my fav colors, together on my finger tips! they're super-short right now thanks to hoopdancing last saturday - I grabbed at my heavier hoop at some point and it smacked the ring finger nail and snapped it. so, OFF WITH ALL OF THEMS. no having weird shorter nails for a time, not for me!

oh claw hand, you're such an awkward pose to take. also, that happy star in the photo is a gift from my husband for xmas this year. it's got glowy lights in it, and fades through all the colors of the rainbow when I turn it on. he's so HAPPY and he GLOWS! I loves him lots, and he sits next to me on the couch while I laptop internet away!

two blog posts in 1 week? what is this, a trend? :o

cheery on a cold sunday morning

we've been getting a lot of "wintry precipitation" here - which means anywhere from Official Snow to eensy flurries to drizzly cold yick. the weather's inspired me to update the background here to a lovely powdery snowy white. mmm, wintry.

this morning while I was getting coffee going (oh french press, you make magic happen!) I spied a dove on our garden window. she was sipping at the melted snow along the lip of the window edge, and hung out for a minute - long enough for me to snap a photo w/my phone before she fluttered off.

also, my orchids aren't dead - YAY! another plant that I haven't killed! oh garden window, you're like this super-shield against my black thumb of killing things. you give me confidence that I might NOT be a death threat to every single growing thing I decide to take under my care! :D

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I have been enjoying recipes from budget bytes for a few months now ('ve made the thai turkey meatloaf, chicken yakisoba, herb roasted pork dinner, and many more!) and last night while I was planning our menu for the week, I discovered her recipe for chai spiced scones, and I knew I had to make them for sunday breakfast. luckily, the recipe is simple and I had all the ingredients on hand already (I also liked the "30 mins" estimated time from start to finish). I have only made scones once before, probably 5-6 years ago for the first tea party I held; they turned out well, and I believe I made them with blueberries. hm, yes. anyhoo, the scones today took hardly any time at all to assemble (even with hand-mixing the butter into the dry ingredients), and came out super-pretty!:

awww, aren't they just pinterest-worthy in that shot? hehehe!! oh fancy phone, how I love your fancy camera w/it's fancy settings and filters. makes every shot I take look hipster-perfect.

now that 've had a hot scone and some coffee, I am ready to face the day with productivity in mind! 

there will be a trip to goodwill to drop off 3 contractor bags plus another box full of STUFF, as I am cleaning up and de-cluttering my guest room. its previous title as "that room where all the costumes and projects go to sit in piles" shall be wiped away, and instead it shall be called "the sewing room slash guest room, where we also keep the wireless printer and all my shoes". okay, still need to work on that name a bit, but - hey, progress! 

'm thinking of donating a lot of our books to the library that's around the corner, too, to make room on the shelves for craft/sewing supply storage (I have a box going already!). surely billy bookcases from ikea can do more than just hold books! once things are sorted stuff-wise, I would definitely like to paint in there before I set up all the furniture again. it's the only room in the house that hasn't been at least killz'd yet, and after almost 4 years in this house, it's about freakin' time. 

my big motivator is that once I get all this organization and housekeeping stuff done, it'll be time to bust out the etsy crafts, FINALLY!! ahhh - exciting!!!! all these ideas bouncing around in my head will come out and take over! MUAHAHAH!

wee tea cakes

I attended a tea party last night and in addition to bringing my tea cups, tea pot, and a basket full of teas to share, I also made a set of wee tea cakes, per Emma's Tiny Treats. Here's a shot I got of them, all decorated and pretty on a few doilies:

They're QUITE involved to make, but freaking adorable once they're finished. To make 12, I had to use 2 rows of Oreos - luckily there's a whole row left to dip in milk later on...

monster girl: feline girl

a quickie kitty lady. oh how I love drawing those feets!

monster girl: canine girl

still can't find my eraser, so this drawing got more shading than usual to hide possibly erased spots. :P all I could think was "lol furries" when doing this one... but hey, she's FOXY.

monster girl: satyr

oh man I had so many ideas for this one, and this just happened. I still have not found my eraser, so these last few have been done w/no erasings - gah! so many things I could add and subtract!! must commit! no undo button!

monster girl: cyclops

I couldn't find my eraser, so this one's done w/o any erasing at all. I started her a little too far to the left on the page, so her hammer turned into a backwards axe :\

she's like a spartan badass or something. not a cheerleader. but that would also be fun.