Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I'm BAAAAACK!

So, a few things of note happened in the last 7 months; the first major thing being the one that made me stop posting...but things are changing now and I want to get back to my old internet habits.  So, I will try to briefly sum up my life since January.

Less than a week after my last post in January, I had a miscarriage.  It was awful; enough said.

Shortly after that, I started working three jobs:  my main part-time job in the custom frame shop at Michaels Arts and Crafts, a more sporatic part-time position as a birthday party host and occasional art teacher at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences, and one night (Friday) per week at BK.

My dad helped me get a car in late February, early March for easier commuting...a blue 95' Chevy Corsica that I call Dimples cuz of the hail damaged hood.

My sister Jessica and her husband Matt had their baby girl Ella Marie on April 7th, one week late...I was actually able to be at the hospital when she was born; the first family member other than her parents to hold her, even see her.

My brother Aaron and his wife Terri had their son Zidane Thomas on April 13th, three weeks early.  A brand new nephew and niece within 6 days made for a super proud Auntie Ashley...

I've made a few good friends since moving back to Sioux Falls.  My fellow framer from Michaels, Angela and her boyfriend Matt, a sales associate.  Both are artists and kindred spirits.  We have periodical art nights at their apartment and frequent local bars to see local bands.

Though new friends are great, old friends are awesome too.  I flew out to Los Angeles in mid-June to visit my hetero-lifemate and best good friend Holly.  Also there was her boyfriend and good college friend of mine Kelly and his old roommate Dacklin.  Our friend Chris from Long Island flew out to visit too making it basically a freshman year reunion.  We all had a blast and it went way too quickly.

My baby brother Jonathan (Jon) tied the knot with his sweetheart Marcella (Marcy) on July 30th...It was a beautiful wedding despite the heat, humidity, and bugs at the park and the karaoke dance party at the reception, though small was totally awesome.

A few weeks ago, the amount of rain that we'd gotten throughout the summer finally became too much for the foundation in my folks' place to handle and we got serious leakage in the basement.  It wasn't sewage like some folks in town, but all the same it was gross and a whole lot of work to clean up.  I was still living down there until last weekend.  Aaron and Terri closed on their first home and have allowed me to move in.

Now, I'm settling in.  I've started watching Zidane on Monday, Tuesday and Friday each week (the days they both work) in exchange for rent.  In the next few months, I plan on getting my 2 Etsy shops back in good working order, resetting up my website (which has been idle since March), and potentially posting some recent work including a detailed and intricate nursery mural I painted for Ella and portraits I painted of Zidane and Jon and Marcy on Craigslist in an effort to bring in commissions.  I had my last day at BK last Friday and I'm still working at Michaels and the Wash Pav.

In short, I'm in a very different place right now than I expected to be the last time I posted.  However, for the most part, life has been good and fair and now it's time to reconnect to the art world online.

Produce Pic of the Day

And now to finally finish my produce picture series...