it was a texas kinda night, y'all

how are you this morning?  i'm running a few hours behind schedule thanks to a late but amazing night last night!  chris and i finally woke up and got out of bed at 9:45 this morning, which is unheard of, and it made me think of my marine dad and when i lived with him; on the weekends or over summer break - the days a teenager wants to sleep in - he'd be in my room somewhere between 0800 and 0900 hours with my wake up call, "GET ON YOUR FEET, PRIVATE!"  i'm just surprised he didn't end it with a "HOORAH!"  anyway, my point is, i could have used pop's military alarm clock this morning because i'm not a fan of sleeping in!

our friend haley is in town from venice, ca, and since we all like the boobylicious gun-toting texans of GCB, she decided to plan a little GCB party and dinner at sharon's house (which sharon didn't know about until haley invited her to the event on facebook!) where we had to show up dressed as a character!  unfortunately my camera ended up staying in my bag (like it usually does), so i'm waiting for kerri to post her pictures of all the yee-hawing, butt squeezing, booby grabbing, and hugs so that i can steal them and share them here!  chris and i did take a couple pictures before we left though - him as pastor john, and me as gigi - so at least we have those to laugh at for now!

i hope you had a good weekend, and i wanted to remind you, a winner will be announced tomorrow for the girl + parrot custom watercolor portrait GIVEAWAY, so be sure to go enter if you haven't already!

the animals wanted in on it...

you know the good thing about only working away from home two or three days a week?  when you buy new clothes on a husband-suggested shopping spree, you get to wear something new for several weeks which kind of makes me feel like paris hilton.  or not.  this is one of my new dresses...

jacket: american eagle // scarf: gap (gift a few years ago) // dress: forever 21 // belt: forever 21 // clogs: lotta from stockholm // necklace: gift from beca

also, guys, i seriously can't handle this new blogger.  it's not just me being resistant to change, but my pictures are showing up in the wrong place, blogger is telling me the picture's URL is incorrect when it's not, it isn't allowing me to edit my html and then display it properly (and i know html, so they can suck it), and sometimes it won't even let me type anything in a post!  if my blog was newer and i didn't really have followers, you can bet i'd switch to typepad in a heartbeat.  no, faster than a heartbeat.  blogger should be punched in the face and stoned.  the old fashioned stoned, not the thirty-year-old-unemployed-living-in-his-mom's-basement-apartment stoned.

in happier news, sometimes flojo and kona just want to get in on the pictures, and of course that's fine by me, because i'd rather show you their faces than my own!  AND, WOW, i can't believe the response i've gotten to the giveaway!  thank you all for your kind words and support, and keep the entries coming!

some news... AND A GIVEAWAY! (now closed)

after going back and forth on how i felt about it, and not being sure i was confident enough to do it (because i really can't handle criticism or rejection AT ALL), one of my best pals, beca, finally gave me the push i needed to go ahead and open an etsy shop for my watercolor portraits.  i won't lie, i'm still super nervous, but it feels good to have a friend (and a few other friends, i won't forget about them!) who believes in you and encourages you every step of the way!  so the news is, here's the shop, and the exciting part is, here's the giveaway:

you won't receive a painting of beca's family, but you will receive a custom watercolor painting of any ONE person or animal you choose on 9x12 watercolor paper.  here's how to enter (please leave a SEPARATE comment for each entry):

-leave me a comment telling me who you'd like to have painted. (mandatory entry)
-visit my new shop and add it to your favorites (1 extra entry)
-follow this blog (1 extra entry)
-blog or tweet about this giveaway and leave me a link (1 extra entry)

please leave your email address with your entry or a way i can get in touch with you if you're the winner.  good luck!

hooray for friday!

i hope you're as happy about it being friday as i am!  i need to finish a painting, edit some pictures, update my website, and so many other things that can't be done when you know you have work hanging over your head, so this afternoon starts my FREEDOM!  i wanted to show you a few of my favorite birthday presents (and i also want to thank you all for your birthday wishes on monday), but guess who forgot about taking pictures until it was dark last night?  yep, i do it all the time.  but i do have something pretty funny to share with you, and i think if this ever happened at the book club i'm in i'd die laughing...




one more thing, have you guys been switched to this new blogger layout for posting and your dashboard?  i know i'm the last person to ever accept change, and i realize i need to give things a chance, but i don't think i like this.  it's too weird.  why can't things stay the same?!  anyway, i hope you have a great weekend!

sparkle, sparkle

i don't remember where exactly i heard that liking shiny, sparkly things was because of one's german-ness, but whether it's that, or that i'm part magpie, i can't deny my love of anything gold and sparkly. and that's why i had to have this belt (which i knew i was wearing before i had my clothes picked out)...

sweater: target // dress: forever 21 (it's one of my new dresses from our little shopping trip!) //belt: tj maxx // shoes: payless // flojo: aratinga solstitialis

can you believe i'm not wearing anything vintage or thrifted in this outfit? neither can i. i almost feel a little high maintenance about it, but then i remember i only paid $2 for that leather belt and all is well. also, i've decided i'm way too shy to have chris take my pictures anymore, so when the camera's taking a picture and chris is walking by, i instinctively make some weird face. case in point, photo number 3.