winter shop update!

ahh! i can't believe i totally forgot to update this with the new winter/holiday stuff in my etsy shop ! i didn't even do anything this weekend-- in fact, besides some homework and papers it was the laziest weekend i've had in many many months! but yeah, i got this stuff in the shop last week but who cares because it was just so nice to take time to myself to create winter-y fun stuff. i do think that i will include some of 'em in gifts to family this year.

i cannot believe that thanksgiving is ten days away-- and going home to visit is only one month & three days away!! i can't wait. i only wish i wasn't going to be TOTALLY BALDY the first time seeing friends/family in over a year and a half :( ! i am sooo excited, and have already started the bulk of my xmas shopping through etsy. i can't post links for obvious reasons, but i have found some GREAT stuff ! and only on etsy could you get someone to ship to "JULIE CHRISTMAS DO NOT OPEN" at your mom's house in georgia. :)

anywho! here are some of the things i got to make last week...

two block, four color hand-pulled linocut merry cards! these were lots of fun to doodle, but a real pain to carve out !



block printed winter wonderland cloth dinner napkins!



winter wonderland notebooks (few other colors available)


hope everyone is well, and adjusting to our SUPER EARLY SUNDOWNs (it's dark at 5pm here! sad)

being a creeper

i have been CARVING CARVING CARVING all night long (it feels greeeat! i'll show new stuff tomorrow) but wanted to brag about knowing someone so talented... i know a handful of people that i'm really, really proud to even be in their life- one of them is allie w. and she makes the craziest most amazing stuff i've seen. i really wish i got to talk to her more when we were in class together, and i wish our schedules were a little less wacky so i could get to know her now. i don't take many people seriously (esp myself, HELLO i make ugly animal block prints) but all of her work just. makes me stop what i'm doing and wonder where she gets it all from. i wish i could articulate it better, but honestly her work speaks for itself much better than i can. just check out a few:





her blog is http://fishwithoutbicycles.blogspot.com/ -- for much much more. on another note, i hope she and i get to hang out very soon. and that she doesn't mind i just snagged her photobucket images :)

i just ordered 240 cans of cat food.

finally working on some new stuff... putting aside a little homework to allow myself creative pleasures. christmas-y creative pleasures-- i think i've earned it! i'll show you later this week, when i finally finally have a little time to finish up and take pictures.

otherwise. just health stuff, work, lots of class, trying to find something to cover up my head. here are some other pictures from boston.







how is your mid-november shaping up? i cannot believe how close the holidays are. i am quite ready for another vacation, sigh.

just saying.

i cant wait to tell my grandbabies how their twenty year old grandma sat in her unmade bed, alone, bald, bawling tears of joy because barack obama was elected 44th president.

ready for a long nap!

i've been MIA, haven't i? it's been kinda crazy lately. on top of the usual (school, walkin doggies, filling art orders), lots has been going on. of course, i haven't had the time to make anything new-- :( my favorite season is coming up and i have lots of ideas for it !

i had a short (but sweet)! getaway with ryan on the weekend of the 24th. we spent a day in salem, MA and a day (and a half?) in boston. our hotel was in lexington (i am partial to that area, plus it's a little cheaper and closeish to both salem AND boston)... more specifically, it was a totally hip new sheraton resort that was built over the classic sheraton i stayed at 4 years ago! anywho, it was super dreamy and wonderful. warmer than we hoped, but the leaves were changing so it was gorgeous.


last weekend was phillies insanity from them winning the world series (as was all of last week, now that i think of it) and halloween and stuff. i actually missed a lot of everything due to classes and poor timing... oh! and saturday morning i participated in my first craft fair thing, though it was SUPER small and SUPER last minute. it was outside of the whole foods at art museum-- the girl organizing it found/contacted me like 36 hours before, so i was running around getting packaging and pricing ready for that. it was like me and 10 other people, and i don't think anyone did terribly amazing- but i got to meet some people from etsy which was really fun! the weather was also super dreamy.

soooo that's been that. my weeks have also included the usual doctor's appts for this stupid alopecia areata... i had 45 more shots in the head, came off of my oral steroids, and am continuing my topical steroids. it's all falling out again just as bad when it first started, though. i made ryan run his hand through my hair tonight to see how easy it was, and he got a small handful. it's surreal. i have too little hair to hide my bald spots anymore. i think i am going to literally be 100% bald before it's finished, because i can't get to my doctor in time for a new prescription (work/class/voting tomorrow, i can't miss any more wednesdays for doctor's appts, so hopefully thurs! but it takes a few days)... even if i do get more oral steroids (which made me super nutty) they are only suppressants! there is no cure. so weird. i would say about 35-40% of my head is bald spots, and including the areas that have thinned i have lost 60% of my original hair mass. i went hat shopping but all of the hats for this season are that saggy beanie style for hipster girls with great big hair :( i am at a total loss at this point! i'm too scared to shave it off because i can't predict where will grow back, and it might be really gross to have a buzzed patchy head. yick. i guess it's really petty since my health itself is intact, but it's just been tough on top of some other things.

good news is, it's november. christmas is permeating the malls! the radios! tv ads! and i loooove it! i listen to christmas music year-round so this is my prime :)
okay well. hope everyone has nice weather for the long lines at voting tomorrow... please don't let a little rain change the course of history! i'm crossing my fingers (not to mention, shaking in my boots) for obama, and a group of us are going to get together to watch the count tomorrow night. i don't want to get political because i know everyone is tired of hearing about it, but i honestly don't know what will happen to this country without him. or more seriously, what will happen to the world and the animals in it.