New silly avatar for '10 & Tuesday's accomplishments

A week or two ago I was pondering the idea of creating a new avatar for my Flickr, Twitter, and every other social networking website that is linked to A Tea Leaf. I mean it's a new year, that should mean a new avatar, right? I'm a lil' sad to leave behind the "I Can Has Plum" pic; it sure was a silly one. This year's avatar includes a pretty sweet coffee mug that was just filled to the brim with Yerba Mate. I love this white glass mug, it's fantastic. It has a lot of sentimental value to me; it use to be my grandmother's. I remember when I was a wee one, watching her pour coffee into it and thinking to myself, 'why would anyone drink coffee', blergh. Obviously, in present time at the ripe ol' age of 27, my taste buds have changed. As many of you know, not only am I a bit obsessed with Hello Kitty and Norwich Terriers, but hot beverages as well. Mmm... Yerba Mate.

I've been hyped up this week. It sure has been a productive one. Sometimes I wish I had my own chopper on the roof, though, so I could get to point A to point B uber fast and be so much more productive.  I decided that I'd try something new in the sketchbook. Since I love documenting and all, I doodled Tuesday's accomplishments. I used one of my favorite mediums too... Gelly Roll Moonlight opaque pens. (Click on image to view larger.)

I had a ball drawing this. I'm definitely up for another one in the next month or two.

Giveaway is getting a lil bit sweeter

My first ever giveaway is getting a lil' bit sweeter. Now you can win 2 prints of mine– Coriander & Poppy Seed!

I'm also extending it. The winner will be now contacted and announced on Monday, November 9th.

To win all you have to do is write a comment below, along with your name and an email address!

Self Portrait Thursday

I joined this nifty group on Flickr called Self Portrait Thursday. What a cool idea!

Here's my first submission!

Yep, that's Gretel! She's hanging out at the A + J pad for the week. She loves jumping on my lap while I'm at the computer. Lol. She's such a sweetheart. Check out my new goldfish necklace, it's so awesome. It was made by my new pal Little Bear. Oh boy, I gotta get going! I need to start packing up my art for today's event, Last Thursday on Alberta. Hope to see you there!

PS: A new addition will be making an appearance in my Etsy shop tomorrow. I'm super excited for it to join the others. So do check my blog tomorrow! Yay!

Oregon State Fair

Over Labor Day weekend my hubby & I hit the open road. We decided to make our way down to Salem for some Oregon State Fair action. Those galoshes that I received for my birthday came in handy for sure, walking around those muddy fairgrounds. We both had cravings for some prime, deep-fried, fair food. We chowed down on corndogs and elephant ears. I took a lot of snaps of amusement rides and game booths for inspiration for a current project of mine. Maybe I'll share them at a later date with you. I feel like I'm about to bombard you with other snaps that I took. Subject... Oregon State Fair animal cuteness & silliness.

There were so many bunnies, I wanted to take a nose-scrunchin' character home with me. This furball stuck out among them, he's a French Angora rabbit. It was as if my Ragdoll cat was transformed into a hare.

What is there not to love about an Alpaca?! Look at those ears! I got some good footage of him munchin' for my September documentary video.

So I learned that this lil' guy is a Pygmy goat. He was under 2 feet tall! I've kept my distance away from goats, due to a past incident. A traumatic incident of a goat chasing & bucking me at camp when I was 8. We'll let this one fly under the radar.

This one I couldn't resist submitting it to Cute Overload. Check out that dopey lower lip!Okay, last one... I posted a short clip on Flickr. *Suspense*

Now I gotta do some "getting ready for this weekend's Crafty Wonderland" work this evening.

The Virgin Suicides

78, that's the page I've made it to thus far... of The Virgin Suicides. Recommended by a close friend back in Nebraska, who has also recommended The Bell Jar. Do you ever have those moments when you are fully engaged into the world of reading novels? I think I have reached that point for the first time in my life. Thanks to Multnomah County Library and cold evenings, I'm currently reading three books: The Effects of Light, The Bell Jar, and alas The Virgin Suicides. I've been this way about art and design books in the past and now novels have taken their role. I think I'm becoming a book worm, seriously. I look forward to when the day grows to an end, throwing the tea kettle on the stove and sitting on my comfy chocolate suede couch, sipping and reading. Speaking of tea... over the weekend a friend and I made a drive up (in rush hour traffic I might add), to Ikea. I purchased two sets of these darling mustard colored coffee cups and saucers, they are perfect in every way. I'm a little persnickety when it comes to mugs.

image source: Barnes & Noble

Anyway, back to the Virgin Suicides, I had watched the film years ago... visually it was beautiful, with warm colors and sun bursts. Now absorbing the story in another media... the words of Jeffrey Eugenides is so extraordinaire. I am fearing the melancholy ending, I know it's not very pretty. I remember turning my eyes away from the television and asking whoever I was with to tell me when that scene was over with.

image source: Amazon

The soundtrack lives in my music library, I highly recommend listening to it. Anything that has to do with French music duo, AIR grabs my attention. On a side note, I hopped on over to Wikipedia and learned that, "The name AIR is a acronym for Amour, Imagination, Rêve which translates to Love, Imagination, Dream." Interesting.

Lastly I discovered a nice Flickr group tributed, take a look here. I'm interested to hear your experiences relating to the film and novel, feel free to comment about them.