testing, testing 1 2 3...

just wanted to see how it was, blogging from my phone. it seems to work ok but it looks like I can't upload photos. hmmmm... will have to figure that one out.

happy easter! (and why i hate white chocolate)

i love easter. i have a sweet tooth anyway so you can imagine how i feel about a holiday involving chocolate bunnies and cadbury cream eggs! however, easter is also the reason that i cannot stand white chocolate...

as a kid i would wake up easter morning and there would be a huge basket of goodies at the foot of my bed. my mom was pretty strict with the amount of sugary things in our house so the baskets were mostly toys and maybe a small chocolate bunny and some jelly beans. i can sympathize now, i'm a parent and i also put together easter baskets for my nieces and nephews (5 all together). less sugar, more toys for all the kids is perfectly fine by me! but i grew up in a house where coca cola was such a treat that my brothers and i would mix it with milk to make it last longer (seriously!).

there was one easter in particular that sticks out in my mind. i was probably around 7 or 8, young enough to feel the magic and surprise of finding that easter basket in my room when i woke up but old enough to know that my mom had snuck in my room and placed it there while i was sleeping. that particular morning i tore right into that basket and immediately found what i was looking for - my chocolate bunny! i remember it distinctly, it was white and shiny and the box had an alice in wonderland theme. that was as much as i saw before i ripped open the box bit the ears off. it took me a few seconds of chewing before i realized something was wrong. i had ever eaten white chocolate before but it was chocolate just the same, so why did it taste rotten? i spit out the huge bite, picked up the discarded box and actually read it... alice and wonderland SOAP!!! wait, what?!?! ok mom, first of all, why would you give a kid SOAP as any kind of gift anyway. second of all, if you are going to give a kid soap in an EASTER basket, why would you chose the MARCH HARE?!? i wouldn't have bit the head off of alice! if you put a bunny in my easter basket, i'm going to eat it! i've tried to eat white chocolate since then and it still grosses me out. which is fine, it's not even real chocolate anyway...

welcome...

i never start a new sketchbook on the first page. i tend to flip it open and fill the pages at random so i don't "wreck" that first page. i mean, that first page sets the tone for the rest of the sketchbook. if it's just some ugly doodle, what motivation is there to look any further? 

i have started and deleted so many posts because here i am, at the beginning and it's so much pressure, finding the perfect way to start. i mean, i'm not quite sure what i even want this to be. i know i want to show photos of my invitation work and tell the stories behind them. maybe i'll talk about new tools i'm excited about (pointed pen calligraphy - yay!), give helpful tips that i wish someone had told me or just talk abour life in general as a 30-something mom, wife & artist. so this me, diving right in, starting in the middle and working my way backwards and forwards...

OK, i better post this before i chicken out and delete it...