Going on Vacation

Hi, I'm an over-thinking worrier. I am preparing for a trip on Wednesday. I am flying to see my family and go to my high school reunion (I'm still baffled I agreed to do go to the reunion) and am very anxious about the trip.

I've always been a homebody, every since I can remember. I would have a really hard time staying overnight at my friends houses for sleep overs. I mean, I could do the first part of the night (playing, watching movies, eating candy, building forts, etc) but when it came time to sleeping I would long for being home and in my own bed with my own stuff - and sometimes the parent would have to drive my sorry butt home in the wee hours. As an adult, I still have these tendencies. I think that is why I over pack to bring as much along with me to keep my surroundings familiar. I'm a baby, I know. But oh well, it's how I am and I make do.

I've been running around shopping for a few new things to wear, digging out correct size carry-on bags, finishing projects, mentally psyching myself up that I won't die in a burning, flying tin can falling from the sky. Right now, I'm mostly a bit freaked about packing and doing it "up to code" with all the new FSA regulations. I don't want to have to empty my bags and be stared at by other folks because I didn't realize my leg hair shaver could aid in my terrorist plan. So I started putting all my beauty "condiments" in their little 3 oz. containers and I purchased a few travel size products. These are all tucked away in a clear Ziploc as instructed. Then it will be like passing a test if it all goes smoothly once I'm at the airport. I hate being tested.

But with all those worries, I decided this weekend I was going to wrap up any projects I had and get mentally ready for my trip. Instead of worrying and running around buying new this and that, I decided to spend the day with my favorite person and see Inception, get some Mucho Gusto burritos, pick some wild blackberries by our house and dink around doing nothing much. It's been nice and much needed. I'm feeling much more mentally prepared for the trip and ALMOST looking forward to it. I might just be the Super Kelly that can fly :)

P.S. Posts will continue to be spotty until my return at the start of September. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. :)

Tweet Follow @kellymedina

A Book of Image Awesomeness!

(image from Amazon.)

I've been buying lots of new books lately. I LOVE receiving books in the mail. Most of them have been educational reads, but this week the new Print and Pattern book arrived and is one of my favorites. This book is packed with inspirational images of awesomeness! Delicious eye candy!

This awesome collection all started with Bowie Style's - Print and Pattern blog. I'm sure most of you know of this site. But if you don't, and love surface design or just like looking at wonderful artist's work this is the blog to bookmark.

I'm resisting the desire to add it to my bag every day when I go to my day job. I tend to over stuff my bag with books, notebooks, magazines, you name it. For now it is sitting right next my desk at home. :)

Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Lovely Video

I just have to share this today. My twittering chum, Amanda Chronister, linked it today in Twitterland. Thanks for sharing this Amanda!

And now I share it with all of you. It is absolutely lovely. *sigh*

Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Ouch! My foot

I hurt my foot really bad yesterday and have been hobbling around since. I stuck around the house today with ice on my foot. It is feeling a bit better this evening - thank goodness! I need to get back out to walking and keeping the good mental mojo flowing.

I hope everyone else had a nice Monday!

Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Cat Skills

Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Ha!

From this link.

I'm a total cat person and man did this crack me up. It is sooo true, but I love the little furry monsters all the same. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

The Cuddlers

Aren't they just adorable!? It's taken a while for Ollie to wear down Kivan to be cool with this sort of thing. But seems he is winning her over more and more. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

The things we keep

This is going to be a bit of a random post, but I tend to do those kind often. I am currently doing some slow packing - we are going to be selling our house, more about that another time - so I am cleaning out drawers, closets, cupboards, etc and tonight I was looking at all my mugs. I have quite a goofy selection, but tonight I wanted to show the ugliest but most cherished mug I have.


I got this beauty from my boyfriend in the 9th grade (we are still close friends to this day). He had it custom made for me, he requested all of my favorite things: mallard ducks, emerald green and my name spelled with an i. (I went through a short phase of spelling my name with an I - it didn't take obviously.


I got geese and some color of green that I just can't quite name.

But don't we all just have at least one thing that no matter how many times you look at it and think "I should get rid of this" you just can't. This is one of mine. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Cup-o-Work

I brought home work from my day job, as I am on the last week of February and most of the materials need to be released in the next few weeks - which includes lay out, proofing, review, print time and distribution. I am anxious to get things squared away, so to get a bit ahead I brought some work home. It is so nice to work at home - I control the distractions and don't get interrupted by other projects or people. I like listening to This American Life (I love this podcast) and just plug away - so that has been part of my Sunday. So nothing much to show but the files and the cup of coffee that woke my brain up on what would normally be a lazy Sunday.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Purging

I have been getting the purging bug lately. I am a bit of a gatherer - being a passionate believer in re-using/recycling old things, I tend to get a bit of a build up of containers, old clothes/socks, paper, string/ribbon, boxes and more. One weakness I have is hanging onto magazines for far too long. I always think I will use them for inspiration, but I realized I had very old (1999-2003) magazines boxed up in the closet. So about a month or more ago we pulled them out and I have meant to go through them since. I finally did today! I drank a double shot of mocha, put on a movie for background and began flipping through each. I clipped out illustrations/photos that I liked for putting in my Inspiration binders. I am going to save the organizing of the clippings for another day. I took 3 huge loads out to the recycle bin!

So hopefully this week won't be a bunch of posts with pictures of my crazy mess - but then again it just might, I have to embrace it when the urge to purge comes. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Pretty Stamp

I love stamps, and stickers, and obnoxiously cute band-aids, and.. woops went off on a tangent there, but I think you get the point - I like cute, sticky things.

So I recently saw these pretties on the US Post site and will have to pick up a couple of sheets. I love putting a unique stamp on any envelope I send out. I don't just use any, I really think about who I am sending it to and what they might like. Though I do have those regular ole flag ones for bills. :) Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Poppy corn and a movie...

I love watching a movie with a big bowl of popcorn and my sketch book in hand so I can draw while watching. Tonight is that night. I got the movie Once, due to Mushroommeadows recommendation. I was excited to see it arrive and am off to watch it and draw. I hope everyone has a nice evening as well.

(update: Great movie. Wonderful music. Wow!) Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Color Class

After getting inspired to use gouache again, I thought I would dig up some of my old design projects. This was a color study from my Color class. I remember this took a lot of time and was a really enjoyable project. My favorites are the newsprint and monochromatic.

Can you tell which famous actor it is? Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Relaxing

After the big rush of last week I am finding myself wanting to just draw, lay with the kitties, watch movies or tv series and enjoy the long holiday weekend. I have a few things I would like to work on during the weekend, so hopefully I will have something to show.


This was taken a few weeks ago when we went on a hike. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Fortune Cookie

Got this today at lunch. Looking forward to 2008! :) Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Early Bird

I am not normally a morning person. This morning I randomly woke up at 5AM - I think from worrying, oh, the joys of being a worrier! When I woke up I looked at the closed bedroom door and saw light coming through the door and frame. I was a bit weirded out because I remember turning the lights off when I said good night to my dog (aka black dragon or Popsicle). I got up creeping my way out to the living room and turned off the lamp. Nothing jumped out or made a grab for me - phew!

I went back to bed and told Chris about it. He, of course, had some good logic, but the spooked feeling didn't really leave me. So I got up, showered, turned on my computer, made some eggs with toast, ate, read blogs, and drank water. I started getting tired about the time I would normally wake up (figures!) and remembered I didn't make any coffee to kick start my early morning. Coffee in hand - well on my desk, because I'm typing afterall - I'm enjoying writing a few emails and this post.

It is such a shame we have to sleep so much - can you imagine how much stuff we could create, observe, enjoy if we had all that time awake! I hope some day my body clock sort of clicks and gets me up naturally so I can enjoy these nice leisurely mornings. They are wonderful.

Woah! It is already 8.. yah I'm gonna be late for work. Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Five Random Things

This post is 5 random things about myself. I was tagged by the talented and inspiring Flora. I wanted to think of unique and humorous things to share, so hopefully no one thinks "what a wacko!" after reading this :)

1. I have an uncontrollable knack for coming up with random pet names for the people and animals I love. Usually the pet name doesn't make any sense, a few examples: Noodle or Nud (Chris), Popsicle (my dog), NeeNee (my black cat), Minnie Moop (another cat) and Puddle. These are not their real name names, just little nicks, that have no reasoning behind them, except they flow from my mouth and stick.

2. I feel naked without a soft scarf during the fall and winter. I looove them. (reminds me I need to start knitting a new one!)

3. I have an insane sense of smell. I consider it a curse at times.

4. I tend to have conversations with my little NeeNee (my black cat) about how her day was. She is very chatty when I get home from work. So I listen to her and tell her I'm sorry she has such a hard knock life - at this point I usually sing "It's a hard knock life for ya!" a few times. She also likes to tell me what Chris has been up to that day and it is never in his favor - it is a lot of fun :)

5. I love my back scratched - I've been known to drool slightly when I get really relaxed from the scratching.

Now, here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well
as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I was only able to come up with 4 names, these are my lucky picks:
Curt
Alicia
Danielle
Silvia Tweet Follow @kellymedina

Things I like

A quick post for this wonderful Wednesday. I recently got my dining table completely cleared off and have started playing with centerpieces to have in the middle. I bought these two little vases, 6 or so months ago and they haven't been getting the center of the stage treatment I had envisioned. Now they are. I really love them and I love the placemat as well. So simple and just so pleasing to look at. I'm not sure if they will stay there, but till I have a better place they are the stars! Tweet Follow @kellymedina

So funny!

I absolutely love Bill Murray and Chris found this short movie to show me. I loooove it! I must share it with everyone, anyone and someone! :) Check it out.

If you like this video, definitely check out their site peteandbrian.com and watch their videos. They are real goofballs and quite entertaining! Tweet Follow @kellymedina