Magic Boys, Wombats, and the Power of Love, Oh My.

My husband and I try to do "date nights" every week. One week we decided to turn on Crunchy Roll and watch the first episode of about a half dozen animes we had never seen before. These included Sword Art Online 2, Kill La Kill, and Cute High Earth Defense Club Love

. There were others. I don't remember their titles (clearly did not make an impression on me). This blog is going to be devoted to the last of the three listed series. I really had no idea what to expect from this, although I had high hopes that it would be silly because it was one of those nights after a long day and a long week, and I really needed a laugh.

Did it live up to that hope. Yes. Yes it did. Magnificently. I saw a lot of references to Sailor Moon--this may or may not have been intentional. The series starts with a group of boys, most of whom are lazy students who are looking for an easy way to get extracurricular credit for doing nothing. They encounter a pink wombat who engages them, along with a hyperactive boy who loves wombats, to become Battle Lovers and fight the forces of hate.

Whether it was intended to be funny or not, I found the series to be hilarious. I could not take this seriously even if I tried (and needless to say, I was not interested in taking it seriously when I watched it). It's worth a watch--at least one episode. Will I watch more than that? I don't know. I haven't yet. I guess we'll see.

Magic Girl Archetype

So this looks much better in person, but it is finished. This is going to be the first in a new series. I am coloring this coloring style "Noir." It's technically not part of that artistic style, but it's to differentiate it from my normal coloring style. This is the style I used for the Nintendo Noir set and the Mare Do Well picture I did last year. There is a definite art nouveau influence. That is one of my favorite art styles.

A Little Something WIP

I'm just going to leave this here. Any guesses as to where this is going? Here's a hit, it's not just a group pic of random Attack on Titan characters. It will be so much more.

Code Geass

Code Geass is one of my all time favorite animes--right next to Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I love this series for so many reasons. I've seen it all the way through maybe 3 times. I'm working on a 4th.

Why is this anime so awesome? There are a lot of reasons, but for me, it is the characterization. I love the variety of characters. I like that Lelouch is not a standard "hero." That role actually falls to Suzaku. There are a bazillion side characters, which, if you know me, makes me the happiest of fans. Although a series doesn't have to have side characters, I think they help flesh out the world because, well, most worlds don't revolve around the lives of half a dozen characters; they tend to be limited. You can still have a good series with just a few characters (Madoka Magica), but I find I do tend to like the stories that include larger casts of characters. My two favorite characters from Code Geass are actually side characters: Lloyd and Rakshata. And for once, my favorites don't die (OMG).

Most people have heard of Code Geass, but for those who haven't, let me throw in a little caveat on what the series is about. It's a postapocalyptic styled future roughly; most of the world has been conquered and falls under the imperial control of a country called Britannia. Lelouch hates the Britannian Empire and meets C.C., an unusual girl who gives Lelouch the power of Geass. This power allows him to give one command to any person who has eye contact with him (but it only works once on a person). Geass gives Lelouch the power to fight against Britannia. The rest of the story pretty much follows Lelouch's war on Brtiannia. The plot is actually a little more complicated than that, in how it's told; that is really a very basic synopsis of the series premise. I like the more complicated plot. Some of the story is predictable, but there are plenty of surprises too. It kept me entertained, and I like how I can sit down with friends and hash out plot points or character choices and break it down on a sociological or political level.

This is just gorgeous. It's from one of the art books.

I also love Code Geass for the costume design, and for anyone new to my blog or to my taste, yes, I will watch something or play a game simply because I like the costume design for the characters. I suppose the same also goes for not watching or not playing something. Maybe this makes me strange, but whatever. =P Given unlimited resources, I would cosplay several variations of C.C. and I love Euphemia's formal gown from the art book. It is a political drama with a side of mecha. If this is your thing; watch it. Even if it's not, watch it. =P It's not really my thing, and I did not really expect to like it. It's a little like Game of Thrones with technology but with less sex, and maybe a few more people make it through to the end... maybe...

Archetypes Coming to Society 6

I am going to be moving my archetype collection to Society 6. I am in the process of phasing out all of my badges including my archetype badges. I will be cleaning up the chibis, since some of the earlier designs for this set were drawn some years ago.

In the mean time, as you saw in my last WIP post, I am working on a new set of larger prints for the archetypes as well. The prints I will have at my table will be full color and awesome (in my opinion). Since all prints I make now will be limited print runs, the full color design will not be available anywhere else but my art table (and maybe Etsy, but I really want to find a more cost effective way to ship before I list them there). I will be however posting a monochrome color variant of the design on Society 6. The monochrome variant is going to be exclusive to Society 6. The Magic Girl is available now as an art print, phone case, or phone skin. We will be formatting it for other products, eventually.

Acceptance

So, this probably has nothing to do with what you might have first thought of when you looked at the title.

I just got my acceptance letter from my local community college for their nursing program. I get to start this fall!

I am learning to balance working on both of my businesses (Gothic Panda Studios and Holistic Birth Care) and keep up with my school work and the needs of my family. It helps that I have an amazingly supportive family. It helps that I am somewhat ADD--it's why I have a bazillion craft and art projects going on simultaneously and why I keep a lot of things going on in my life. I actually get twitchy if I don't have anything to work on. I'm also a big fan of life-long learning, so if I want to learn more about something, I will pursue it.

Anyways. I'm excited.

Magic Girl Art WIP

I have a lot of things in progress. This is because I have some form of ADD. It really is amazing I ever get anything finished. XD

For this point, I'm going to give you a sneak peak at one of my archetypes. One of my current projects involves drawing my archetypes in a style inspired by art nouveau and noir. This is in addition to adding new archetypes to the collection (my goal there is for a total of 52, so I can make a deck of cards featuring them). The first three archetypes that will appear in this set are the Magic Girl, Evil Overlord, and Steampunk. The reasoning behind this is that I am working (very slowly) on a comic for the archetypes, and the first story arc features these three.

I have really been enjoying working on this one. It has been nice to step away from the computer and work with traditional art mediums for a change. This art will be 11x17 and done entirely with pencil, ink, and markers. Pictures are taken with my phone because I do not have a large scanner at home.

Pencil with Original Badge for the design 

Ink added and some shading

RWBY

I have a new love. I finally sat down and watched RWBY--my cousin has been trying to get me to watch it since it came out. I really meant to watch it sooner. I'd seen the trailers and wanted to but... you know... life and stuff.

Can we talk about how awesome this series is? Ok, the story is mediocre, and animating in Poser is definitely not as smooth as what I'm used to watching. I'm still enjoying the story, and once I get used to the style, the animation isn't bothersome. In fact, the action is truly amazing--some of the combat scenes, I feel, qualify as absolutely brilliant. The characters are fun, and as usual, I find the side-characters especially interesting.

So, what's RWBY about? It is about four girls (and some others) who attend a school for hunters and huntresses, people who fight monsters called grim and otherwise protect the civilian population. The characters follow a color-theme (Red, White, Black, Yellow--Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang). Each has a unique fighting style in which they are very skilled. That's the basic premise. The series is fun, and fairly fast-paced. Episodes in the first season average 6-7 minutes and increase to 12-13 minutes for the second season. Check it out on Crunchyroll. It doesn't take long to watch, and if I can manage to find some time to get through it with everything I
have going, then so can you. =P No excuses.

New Website!

My website at gothicpandastudios.com went down because of issues with hosting--not their fault (we were going through some personal family stuff that was expensive and could not afford the hosting renewal fee, so we let the site go). Since the site had to come down for a couple of months, I thought it might be time for a redesign. It's had the same look and feel since 2010, so it was about time for an overhaul anyways.

I have put together a new site. I also have a new domain name! For now I still own gothicpandastudios.com, but I'm probably going to let that expire, since I now have gothicpanda.com. =D I was incredibly excited to see that domain was available. It had been owned by someone with just a placeholder site there for the last several years (since 2008). Nothing ever went up. So, you can now visit my new website at: http://www.gothicpanda.com. The old domain will redirect to the new one for the next little bit--at least through this fall. Well... it'll redirect once I get it set to do that. XD I'm slow about doing these things because honestly, managing websites and whatnot really isn't my thing, so it tends to get delegated to the end of my to-do lists.

So, my website has a new look and a new name. It's not 100% finished. The galleries in place now are really just place holders for the new projects I'm putting together right now. If I haven't mentioned before, I'll just say it now. Almost everything you have seen finished before is going to be put on clearance. Things are changing around here. Ok, they're not changing that much--like I will still be doing a lot of parody work, and maybe a few things that are not as funny.

So, what is changing? Print quality is going to be better. Badges are going away. Prints will be available in multiple sizes (after many requests to do such). All prints will be limited. I will have a set number printed, and that's it. I will not be reprinting prints. Almost everything coming will be new sets. I am only keeping and continuing a couple of my older sets--actually only 3 (hint: they're the ones on the website). Out of those 3 sets, 2 will be changing formatting (remember the no badge thing and alternate print sizes). The new formatting will change with new designs to be added to those sets, but I'm not telling what those are going to be. Mwahahaha. You'll just have to keep an eye out. I'll slip some hints on the blog here... maybe on Twitter too.

Back in School

You guys may have noticed the lack of new things recently. There are many reasons for this. First and foremost being that last year sucked--had several family losses that made for a miserable year. Yes, this is why there were only 2 posts all of last year. Enough on that. Another reason is that I have gone back to school. 

A little over a year ago, I posted that I was going through training to be a doula. I'm still doing that, and I love it. Well, last summer, I decided that I would like to take a leap and start working toward providing medical support during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum, not just non-medical. I am following the (long) path to becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). Although there are Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) and I greatly admire their model of care, it is a felony to practice as a CPM in my state (go NC--can you read the sarcasm?). So, I am taking the longer route to be a CNM. 

The first step in this process is getting my RN (registered nurse) certification and associates degree in nursing. Subsequent steps will involve transferring to a 4-year to convert my associates to a bachelors and then completing a masters of midwifery program. So, right now I am enrolled in my local community college taking pre-nursing classes (since, you know, the last science related course I took was high school chemistry almost 20 years ago now). If things go according to plan though, I will be starting part time nursing classes this fall and finish in two years from that.

In the mean time, I'm going to continue working as a doula, and I'm going to keep working on my art. It may seem like a lot, but I really enjoy doing this work. In many ways, it's now what I do to wind down. Well, maybe "wind down" isn't the right phrase. "A change of pace" might be a better way of putting it. I enjoy my classes, but they can be quite stressful. I could probably get by with doing less, but it's important to me to take the time necessary to actually learn the concepts, not just memorize what I need to know to pass the tests. Life long learning ftw! 

There will still be new art and new things posted here. There just won't be as much as there was when I started this blog, back when I was trying to make this into a full time thing. Full time art did not work well for me; I ended up getting burnt out after about a year of it. I'm happy making it a part time thing now. I'm also learning to be more purposeful in the time I have with my art... well at least some of the time. I am sure there will be plenty more of the impulsive projects and whatnot because that's just what I do. 

Art WIP -- Bravely Default Buttons

If you read my review of Bravely Default, I'm sure you saw this coming. There's going to be more after this too; I'm just not going to tell you what just yet. *blows raspberries* Immature. Yes, but then I feel that maturity can be quite overrated (at times--all things in moderation, right... except cosplay. No need to moderate that).

But I digress. I have been wanting to make buttons for Bravely Default for a while. My problem: what do I put on them. I could draw just the main 4 characters. Then what outfits do I pick. Do I go with the basic Freelancer job or do I go with the special outfits you can earn through rebuilding Norende? Or I could just pick my favorites, but there are quite a few of those. @_@ I'm still not 100% decided. I'm not sure I could draw all of them, but I might try, since, you know, I'm a sucker for large impossible projects. If I drew every outfit combination for the main four, including the special ones, then I'd be looking at 100 button designs plus a couple more if I feel like including the vestal garb for Agnes, as an example. You can see my quandary. So for now, I have the characters drawn, but they're naked. Ok, not entirely... they have undies on because I don't draw nudity. =P Yes... I did draw undies so they can be decent until I decide what to clothe them in. Yes... that means I'm concerned about the modesty of two-dimensional fictional fanart characters. I never claimed to be in my right mind. 

Cosplay WIP -- Princess Serenity 2

A couple of weeks ago, I posted that I was going to be making a Princess Serenity cosplay based off of the Pullip doll design. I've actually started this project beyond just collecting images and whatnot. I spent an afternoon attempting to learn how to make fabric/ribbon roses, since there are 4 of these in the dress (minimum--I may adjust based on sizing so that it looks right, like 3 per arm instead of just 2) and one in the hair. Here is my first attempt:

It looked better before gluing it together, but for a first attempt I'm pleased. I am going to try a couple of different patterns, and then I'll select one that I like.

This weekend I will also be getting my ex-sister-in-law's wedding dress to cut up for fabric for this costume. FYI, she was given an opportunity to come get the dress, but it's been more than a year now, and my parents want it out of their house; I volunteered to take it off their hands. Who am I to turn down free fabric, especially nice fabric. Once I get my hands on that, I will have plenty of fabric and I'll be able to make a lot of progress on the costume. I may stop though beyond basic pattern designs because since it is for a toddler and I'm not planning on having her wear it for a couple of months. I'd hate for a growth spurt to throw a kink in those plans. We'll see.

I have a lot of cosplay ideas for Sophie: Sailor Jupiter, Rapunzel, and Daphne... among others. Those are just at the top. If I ever get around to making the Asuna/Kirito cosplays for my husband and I, Sophie will definitely be cosplaying Yui. I also have odd plans to make a Hughes/Alicia cosplay for my husband and Sophie because...it honestly seems obligatory, plus I have an awesome idea for it, so yeah... but more on that later. Maybe I'll do a post some time on all my cosplay dreams. There are many.

Fantasy Life

Since I finished Bravely Default, I have picked up Fantasy Life. This was a game my oldest son (Ty) had gotten a while ago. My husband had been playing it, but I confiscated it from him. I'll give it back eventually.

Fantasy Life is a fairly standard RPG game. There are times where it almost seems like it's parodying the genre. As far as game play goes, it is pretty easy, at least so far. I'll admit I'm not very far in the game--following my standard style, I'm moving through it at a snail's pace. It almost feels like a game designed for younger children, except for the vocabulary. It periodically throws in words that are probably not in most adults' repertoire.

My favorite part about the game is the different classes or lives as they are called in this game. I especially like the crafting jobs. There are 12 different jobs to choose from: four combat related (Paladin, Mercenary, Hunter, and Wizard), three gathering professions (Woodcutter, Miner, and Angler), and five crafting jobs (Cook, Carpenter, Blacksmith, Tailor, and Alchemist). My favorite within those is the Tailor (no surprise there). I like that you are encouraged to play several different jobs, and I especially like that you can craft from outside your profession as long as you've started it at some point. So, if my character is currently a Blacksmith, I can go to the tailoring area and craft fabric. This is very convenient as several of the recipes require items from other crafts. I could go buy those craft items, but I'd prefer to make them myself. If I had to change jobs every time I wanted to access a particular craft, it would get very cumbersome.

I would have to say my least favorite part of the game is the main story line, which, so far, seems pretty weak. Again though, I am not very far into it, so maybe it'll improve. I also dislike the Butterfly that is the driving force behind the story, which may also tie into why I dislike the story. I guess I have a thing against small annoying sidekick-like characters (Navi from Legend of Zelda being the most well known character of this type). Incidentally, although Bravely Default has one of these characters as well, [spoiler]I at least got to kill her in the end![/spoiler]

The overall design of Fantasy Life is very cutesy, which I like. So far, I'm enjoying it. I'll pass judgment on the game as a whole once I finish it... assuming I finish it, which could be next month, next year, or never. =P I'm fairly notorious about picking up games and never quite finishing them.

Zodiac Designs on Society 6

Some time ago, I posted my Panda design from the Poor Man's Zodiac on Society 6. Ostensibly I did this because I wanted a mug with the panda on it. I also posted my Biohobbit poster there because I have yet to find a decent way to ship my larger prints. From what I can tell, Society 6 offers good print quality and they manage shipping, so it seems win-win to me, since dealing with shipping is one of my least favorite parts of managing an online store. Recently, we went ahead and uploaded the rest of our zodiac designs--from both the Chinese Zodiac and Poor Man's Zodiac sets. We originally intended to post them as prints, mugs, throw pillows, and tote bags. Since the throw pillows and tote bags share the design file with rugs, duvet covers, and shower curtains, you can also get them in that form as well. I admit, it is somewhat tempting to get the Narwhal as a shower curtain. All of the designs, except for the prints, include the haiku. We have some thoughts of releasing the designs for phone case and/or computer decal, but neither my husband nor I have had a chance to properly format the designs for either of those things.

     

Anniversary Aftermath

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my upcoming anniversary. Our plan was to do something to celebrate every day of our anniversary week, or at least Monday through Friday.

I thought I'd share a little about how that week actually went.

We ended up starting Sunday instead of Monday. We went out to eat at IHOP. Although this isn't my husband's favorite place, it is one of mine. I love getting breakfast for dinner. This is one of my all time favorite things. This time I got some amazing french toast with bananas and caramelized brown sugar with butter pecan syrup, and of course bacon because you can't have breakfast for dinner without bacon. Just saying.

Monday. Although we ended up doing Monday night's date Sunday night, we still did a little something Monday evening. Monday we went grocery shopping at Costco. Super romantic right? No. Not really. We did leave the kids at home though, and after getting February's groceries, we went to Krispy Kreme for some dessert.

Tuesday. We spent Tuesday evening watching Sword Art Online 2. I am thoroughly enjoying that series, but more on that later. I love that we can get Crunchy Roll on the big TV in our living room.

Wednesday. Wednesday we went to bed early because I was sick. I curled up with my husband and he read to me from the Lord of the Rings while I dozed. This is one of the most awesome things my husband does, and has done since our first few months married. Whenever I get sick, he reads to me. When he's not available, I watch A&E's Pride and Prejudice.

Thursday. I was still not feeling good and spent the day while he was at work watching Pride and Prejudice. Big surprise there right? We still followed through with our plan to play games, although we didn't make it through as many because I crashed early. We did play Ticket to Ride (Europe and Africa maps), Dominion, and Castles of Burgundy. We barely made it through a fraction of our games. Spending the last half of the week ill was frustrating.

Friday. We went up on the Parkway in Asheville to our favorite overlook. We talked about how things had changed, both in Asheville and ourselves. A lot has happened in the last 15 years. It wasn't quite as fun as we'd hoped, mostly because I was still sick. It was Sunday-Monday after this before I finally started feeling better. That really sucked.

Overall, I think this was a great idea. I think it would have been better of course if I'd felt better, but there's not much I can do about that. This is something we might do again some time. I don't know if it'll become a yearly thing though. This week has been kicking my butt, since I took a lot of last week off as far as keeping up with some of my work went.

Art WIP -- The Angler

I have high hopes that this is going to be a good year at Gothic Panda Studios. I am changing up how I do things, at least a little. One big change is going to be that I am not going to be doing 100% digital art, or at least not 100% digitally inked and colored. I have always preferred good old pencil and paper for designing and sketching my art. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned that way. I also prefer writing with pencil and paper, as opposed to typing, and I prefer books... real books... you know the print books with paper and stuff because I love the way paper smells. I also think there is something about a blank sheet of paper that gives me goosebumps. It's exciting. Sometimes it's terrifying or overwhelming. There's so much potential in it.

But I'm rambling there. =P What was the point I was trying to get at? Some of my art is going to be 100% traditional. I am experimenting some with different mediums and different styles. Now, my style isn't going to change enormously; I see this process as honing my style and making it better and more me. Personally, I'm really excited.

Design Sketch

So, anyways. This is supposed to be a WIP post, so here are a couple of sketches for a new set and a new original design.

This is my Angler Mermaid. She is based off of the Angler fish, and is going to be one of the first in a series of mermaids inspired by different marine creatures (mostly fish). My goal with this is to stretch my creativity and see what I can come up with. I would love for this one to be one of my 100% traditional designs, but I'm still deciding whether I can get the effect I want with the resources I have. I guess we'll just see how things work out. =D

I really want to have dead Marlin/Dory on her claws/nails. Would that be too dark?

Cosplay WIP Post -- Princess Serenity

So this isn't so much of an actual "work in progress" post as a "what's coming" in my cosplay plans. A few months ago, I was scrolling through my Facebook when a friend shared this image and it actually showed up on my Dashboard (because we all know how stupid Facebook is about making it so you don't see most people's posts ever).

My 2 year old, Sophie, was with me. When I got to this image, she pointed to it and said, "That's Sophie." I asked her if she would like that dress, and she said, "Yes. I want that dress." So, I will be making this cosplay for her, because, although I am good at saying "No" to my kids when it comes to a lot of things, I could not turn down this request. Why? Because, one, cosplay. Really, that's all the reason I really need, right?

Also, I have been a long time fan of Sailor Moon. How could I turn down the opportunity to share my love for the series with my daughter? Ok, so she could honestly care less about Sailor Moon at this point in her life, and she really just likes the dress because she has an obsession with princess dresses. But... I'm not going to think too much on that. Also, a toddler Princess Serenity would be adorable. On top of that, my cousin has agreed to dress her son as Tuxedo Mask--he's about a year younger than Sophie, but it's close enough. =P

This will definitely be happening for Animazement this year.

Bravely Default

Last summer, I started playing Bravely Default. I was stuck on bed rest for 3 weeks solid, so I needed something to occupy me during that time. I made it a little over half way through the game before I was allowed off bed rest. Yes, I am a slow player. I like to take my time and explore things as I go. I finally finished it last month. Being a slow player combined with having a busy life means it takes me forever to finish games.

I have to say, this game was amazing. It was a well done game in classic JRPG style. It probably doesn't hurt that JRPG's are my favorite genre of video game. I loved the characters. I loved the character design. I loved the costumes. I enjoyed the story. I loved the mechanics. I admit I was skeptical at first. I like RPGs, but I usually have a harder time getting into the ones that involve job changing, and Bravely Default's game strategies center around effective use of different jobs you collect. I was pleasantly surprised, however. Unlike most games I've played in this vein, you don't just pick one job per character. Each character gets a primary job. Then they can pick secondary powers and passive effects from other job classes. This encourages you to level up most of the jobs and explore different combinations. One of my favorites was Ninja and Samurai skill combinations. Another involved using Red Mage passive skills with the Templar. Those are hardly the only effective skill sets; there is an immense range of customizability built into this system.

I also liked how much of this game was a throwback to the earlier Final Fantasy games that I love so dearly. Since Bravely Default and Final Fantasy both belong to Square Enix, they could get away with overlap of themes and terminology. Did I mention I liked the costume and character design? That was a big thing for me too. I found the job list somewhere online before I started playing the game. It was pretty much a given that I would play it when I had added 2-3 designs to my want-to-cosplay list before I even had half a clue what the game was about. My favorites include: Conjurer, Vampire, Pirate, Red Mage, Spirtmaster, and Salve-Maker. I also really like Agnes's starting costume. Yes, I am a sucker for this kind of thing.

So, I've spent most of this post raving about the game. Were there any negatives? Yes. For one, I was not particularly thrilled with the ending. It was mediocre. I wanted a little more closure, and I wasn't entirely happy with what they did with some (well mostly one) of the characters. I didn't care much for the Groundhog Day narrative style that began around Chapter 5, but it did improve. Having finished the game, it is I think one of the best done of that type of story. I won't say much more on that because spoilers (not that most of you haven't already played through it and finished it ages ago--also I know that involved a double negative, and I don't care. =P). Leveling up the different jobs did get a little tedious at times.

Overall, though, there aren't that many negatives, and the positives far outweighed those negatives. If you like JRPG style games and have not played Bravely Default yet, then you need to play this game. Seriously. Go do it now.

Spoonflower MLP Prints

A couple of years ago, I discovered Spoonflower. It was love at first sight. Spoonflower is a website where you can have your own fabric designs printed. I have used the site for a variety of projects. Most of them are fabrics I’ve designed specifically for the project I have in mind and are unavailable for public viewing. I have branched out from these personal projects, however, and have created a set of six designs available for purchase featuring the mane six ponies from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I have fat quarters of each of the designs that I am just itching to make something with. I have been very pleased with the quality of Spoonflower’s fabrics so far, and their turn-around time has been excellent. They say to give 2-3 weeks. I usually get my fabric in less than a week—that includes processing the order, printing my fabric, and shipping it to me, so that’s one week from when I place the order until it arrives in my mailbox.

This year, I am going to reward myself at some point with a couple of yards of both Rarity and Fluttershy (my two favorite ponies).  I plan on making pajama pants out of the fabric because what could be more awesome than Fluttershy pajama bottoms? Ok, maybe this just appeals to me because I love pajamas; in fact, if I don’t have any appointments or meetings on a given day, then it would not be unusual for me to spend my entire day in jammies. Seriously, who wouldn’t? They’re super comfy. I also imagine they’d be great convention wear… it could count as professional attire at my table right? It is featuring my art.

Here’s a preview of the MLP fabrics. Click to view the fabric in my Spoonflower shop.

   

   

   

Anniversary!!

Next week, my husband and I will celebrate 15 years of being married.

Yes. Fifteen years!

To kick off getting this block back up and on its feet, I am going to share with you guys our plans to celebrate. Typically any anniversary ending in "5" or "0" could be considered milestones and worthy of extra celebration, although after year 5, the bigger milestones focus on the "0" years like 10, 20, etc. So, 15 isn't really that big a deal, although it is more impressive than 12 of 14. Of course, I'd love just about any excuse to go off on some super fun (and probably expensive adventure). However, as fun as that would be, we're going to save it for 20, 25, or 30, because... yeah... we're broke. Haha. Besides, I've got lots of anniversaries to plan in the future; our goal is to beat my great grandparents who celebrated 75 years together before they passed away.

So, what are we going to do? We aren't going to do anything super impressive, but since it is 15 years, we're going to do something to make it a little more special than a normal anniversary. We are planning to spend every day next week, Monday through Friday, doing something small to celebrate; it's kind of like a week of date nights. So, the itinerary:

Monday: We're going to go out for dinner--nothing fancy because then I'd feel obligated to dress up. Ok, so I'll probably do something to look nice. I hardly ever wear make-up or put my hair up in anything other than a messy bun. On evenings like this, I do go out of my way to look a little nicer, even if it's not super fancy, to show my husband that he's worth looking nice for. (Let's put this in perspective: since I work primarily from home, I don't bother getting out of my jammies most days--not that I'm lazy; my jammies are just super comfy.)

Tuesday: We're going to hang out at home, maybe order pizza, and curl up with Crunchyroll. We're going to pick something random to watch off our to-watch list, or maybe not. We might just watch something completely random. I'm leaning towards Sword Art Online 2, but we'll see.

Wednesday: Wednesday we're going to just hang out. Maybe turn on the fireplace (it's still weird to me having a gas fireplace; when I was growing up we had to do things the old-fashioned way... you know with wood, and paper, and the headache of trying to get the wood to catch). Maybe have a candlelit dessert (dinner will be at church that night, which means lots of good food, which means no room for anything but dessert or something equivalently small).

Thursday: We are going to empty our game closet. My husband gets home from work a little early on Thursdays so we can start earlier. We are going to attempt to play through every board game we own. I anticipate losing most of them.

Friday: This one's going to be extra fun. We are going to be up in Black Mountain visiting family for my grandmother's 80th birthday over the weekend, so we are going to drive into Asheville Friday evening and visit some of our old haunts from when we were dating.

I'm really looking forward to next week. We're getting a little bit of a lot of things that we enjoy. The best part: I get to spend the best part of next week with my awesome husband.