Here’s a cute little photo of a chipmunk from our zoo trip last week. I forgot to upload this with the rest so I figured why not add it today! Though I don’t think he’s thinking “Happy Wednesday!” but instead “food, food, food, food…”
This past weekend Molly hosted an adorable Blythe Ice Cream Social! It was a nice little get together of girls who collect Blythe or just like them (and should collect them!). There were loads of sweets and ice cream toppings plus a bunch of different ice creams and custards. My lactose intolerant self even indulged in some.
She also provided a bunch of sculpey and cute faux food craft books so we could make little sweets for our dolls! I kinda viewed the day as a break from making teeny things, so I didn’t make much. But it was neat seeing everyone else working away! Like look at that mini lipstick and donuts Lindsay made?! super cute!
Heidi also brought some of her doll customizing tools so I was able to see how a few of those processes were done. If you look above you can see some of the hair she plans on adding to one of her girls scalps. It didn’t look too hard, but seriously tedious. I really want a girl with black and gray hair, so I THINK I may try.
I think it’s neat how all of our dolls are basically from the same mold, but each of them has such different looking personalities! The top one above is one of mine, the second one down is one of Heidi’s and the last one is one of Molly’s.
Anyway, back to the get together real quick! As always it was great seeing everyone. It’s nice to everyone and have a some time away from CT. Some months I REALLY need it! Thank you Molly!!
This was supposed to have posted yesterday but apparently it didn’t! Technically I’m not TURNING 31, Today I AM 31, but the deal is still the same!
I have had a sale during my birthday week since I started Art School Dropout 10 years ago. Each year the percentage off is whatever age I will be. My husband says I should probably stop at some point because the discount will be HUGE soon (not too soon, it’s not like I’m aging faster than everyone else or anything) but that doesn’t concern you guys now!
I have updated a few more smaller pieces to the shop and am quietly working on more. So if there’s something you have been eyeing now is the time to get it!!!
Oh and the coupon code expires Friday at midnight EST!
My 31st birthday is coming up in a few days! I have already received an early birthday gift from my husband, and it was pretty awesome! Its not like I need more, but If I Had Unlimited Funds, in the form of birthday gift cards or something, I’d buy…
1 – Swedish Hasbeens Women’s Lacy Platform Sandal (or any of the designs similar to this! I notice I walk comfortably in the mid heel height clogs, and I really want a pair of T-strap shoes!)
2 – H&M Decorative Plates from their new Home Line!! (I want all three above! I imagine they would look great on my dining room plate wall. They are technically in my price range since they are only $4 a plate, but I’m afraid if I try to purchase just a few of the new home items, I may want even more!! example below…)
3 – Deer Head Wall Decoration from H&M’s new Kids Decor line (um, its a faux mounted deer head, of course I want it! It would look great with my dozen other faux deer pieces) /// 4 – Doctor Who Matt Smith Portrait by Lizustration (Do I need to even explain why I want this one? haha)
5 - HUSKYLOCK s21 Serger/Overlock Machine (I have been dreaming about making an entire new wardrobe for myself, and I feel like this machine would make everything last longer and look more professional! It’s a serger with a coverstitch option!!! Since I finally bought a new sewing machine, this is the next thing I’m saving up for.)
6 – LAPPLJUNG RUTA Rug by IKEA (I keep seeing the square version of this all over the internets, and even though it’s everywhere I still wanted it for my morning room. Well I went to go get the photo for the square one when I saw the rectangle one completely in beige and black! I squealed and called my husband!! It’s even more perfect and fits the space way better!! IT WILL BE MINE! SOON!) /// 7 - STRANDMON Wing Chair by IKEA (We need more seating in our living room for upcoming holidays and parties. This chair is perfect b/c it accommodates my tall husband AND fits our current decor)
8 - Seize the Daytime Party Dress by Dear Creatures on Modcloth /// 9 – Foxtail & Fern Dress also found on Modcloth (these lovelies have been hanging in my shopping cart for awhile. It’s been hard justifying dress purchases when I can just make one for half the price!)
10 & 11 – Anything from the Two String Jane Shop! (I love the simple, yet bold, designs and all the comfy shapes! I especially want the above two, they would fit perfectly into my wardrobe. Which apparently will have a lot of navy and rust if I keep finding pieces like the four above!! Not normally my “goto colors”)
The best part about this list is I actually plan on purchasing each piece for myself eventually. I’ve been working really hard lately and almost every penny has gone back into the business. I am going to start budgeting better so I can buy myself something nice every so often, and this will be my shopping list!!
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I took so many pictures of flamingos at the National Zoo this past weekend, I felt they needed their own post! They have always been my favorite exhibit. They are just so colorful and pretty!
When I was younger the entire bird exhibit was hard for me to get to, they were up a huge hill and I have pretty bad asthma. The temperature and humidity level had to be just right for me to make it up without an attack. I was so excited to find out that they have remodeled a few parts of the zoo and have made it super easy to get to the birds now. No huge hill! Just a nice little bridge that goes over the new elephant exhibit (which is cool and all, but now they don’t have giraffes and hippos, the elephants took over. But I won’t rant about that now)
I think we caught the flamingos during naptime, because most of them had their heads hidden in their feathers and had one leg up. That means naptime right? They also seemed a bit cranky, because a few were fighting non stop. Maybe CT’s loud voice was irritating them during their “naptime”?
I hope when we go back in the fall I can get even more photos of them, I seriously LOVE flamingos!
This past weekend we took a short vacation! My husband was already off for 5 days because we had originally planned on going to Busch gardens or Raleigh. Both plans were cancelled and we were left with a 5 day weekend!
I have been working a lot more than normal lately and we haven’t really done much this summer due to colds and other illnesses. My husband, JC, thought we needed to do SOMETHING! So he used some hotel rewards points he had and booked us a hotel about a half hour outside Washington DC at no cost. It was only 30 mins away from our house, but it had an indoor pool, lots of neat restaurants close by and IT WASNT HOME! We spent the first day there kinda wandering around the local mall, eating good food and relaxing! For me relaxing meant reading the new Martha Stewart’s Living and sketching and for JC and CT it meant swimming. It was nice.
The second day away we spent at the National Zoo in Washington DC. One of my favorite places! It was supposed to rain, but apparently we had some luck for once and it was just a bit overcast. It WAS super humid, even though it was only 75*F out! My lungs hated it, but I pushed myself to keep walking. It was also CT’s first time visiting the zoo, I wanted to make sure she saw as much as possible.
Oh and of course I took a load of photos, so prepare yourselves, there are a bunch…
I treat my trips to the zoo like photography challenges. It probably has something to do with the yearly field trips my photo class took to the zoo in high school (and the few times I chaperoned my siblings trips later on) We were let loose on the zoo for an entire day and told to take photos certain ways of certain subjects. I loved it! One of the nice perks of living near a big city growing up. We also did Baltimore trips, but nothing beat the zoo!
My personal challenge this time was to only use my 75-300mm Lens and the largest aperture my camera would let me. Nothing else. Its obviously not a hard challenge, but I still like the limits. This did mean that whenever I wanted to take a picture of something close by, I had to back up really far and look like a fool. The photos came out with such a nice depth of field that I don’t care!
(This ragged looking little bird wasn’t part of any exhibit, he was just wandering around. I just wanted to share a photo of him because he was so friendly and came right up to me!)
Anyway, back to our trip…
The zoo ended up being a huge hit with CT. Though her favorite part ended up being an orangutan who would throw up on the glass and eat it again. She’s STILL talking about that! I’m so happy we finally went. It’s hard to justify not going when we live so damn close to the city. I’m going to make it a personal goal to visit DC more often. We even live down the street from MARC train stop that goes into the city every weekday!!! No excuses.
The rest of our time away was spent wandering IKEA and thrift stores. I ended up with some Blythe furniture from IKEA and a sweet Pyrex bowl from the thrift store. CT found a huge wooden modern dollhouse for $10!! SCORE!
I’m so happy we were able to do this and its made me a little more excited, and less nervous, for our NYC trip coming up in October. I’m going for BlytheCon, my family is just going for fun. Any of you guys going too?
