I have been cleaning AAAALLLL day in anticipation of our BFF house guest, and as a result I really really want to lay down...so I drewed things laying down instead.....



Dinner Times!!

Been watching a lot of shows on Mayans and other lost civilizations lately......


Good golly, I'm not quite sure how my FUNemployment got so busy! Today I have the deadline for a week long freelance that I've been on. Thurs our BFF is arriving for a long weekend of house-guesting (SO EXCITED OMG). Then next week we head down to the in-laws for a week! It's madness! SO uch cleaning and packing and prepping needs to be done.

ALSO there will be PUPPIES!!! My parents will be getting a new Pom/Chi puppy this weekend, which I will meet on Monday when we stop by on our drive down, and once we get to SC, Matthew's sister's shitzus just had a litter of pups!! OMG BABIES Y'ALL!! I am determined to lay down in the middle of a pile of wriggly fuzzy lovey puppies and not get up until it's time to go home.

In other news:

Can I just say how much I LOVE True Blood? OMG it is SO EMBARASSING BUT I LOVE IT. Plus, is it me or is there alot more shirtlessness this season? I SWEAR, the boys on that show must have pec implants or something, I can't imagine having a body like that and having any time to leave the gym!

So I think it's safe to say...I'm kinda super in love with my new Mac..... I am also super in love with my new Mac-friendly Adobe CS3 Suite, the last version of PS I owned was 5.0, so there you go... It's a brave new world, folks. XD



More updates later when I'm not freaking out about my freelance deadline ;)

LOOK! I did draws! On PAPER! It's craziness!


( MOAR!!! )

Just some gals that have been in my head as of late, trying to get back into this "drawing" thing ;) I even resorted to paper while I make my transition from my old PC to the new Mac... I have to split my baby this week to install windows on her sos I may do some freelance, and the thought of ruining her pure Mac-ness TERRIFIES me! She's too pretty! I don't want to install anything on her!

What I did this afternoon:



Life Update: O HAI "HIATUS"!

If anyone wants to, ya know, employ me in some fashion, just give a holla! XD

Otherwise it's FUNEMPLOYMENT for meeeeee! XD

I suppose I now need to update my LONG NEGLECTED portfolio site..TERRIFYING PROSPECT! Updating my reel and portfolio always makes me nervous, I constantly feel like I'M DOING IT WRONG...

I'm beginning to think I have a problem...



I cannot stop staring at Apple related websites, and searching for more ways to Mac-i-fy my ilife. A lot of this is probably due to the fact that my poor Imac is still in it's box since we haven't been able to finish our office yet (SOON! I HOPE!)

Top of my obsession list is the iPhone. Matthew and I are already pretty much set on getting one when our Verizon contract is up in July, but OH MY GOD GUYS THE ANTICIPATION IS KILLING ME. We went to the Soho Apple Store yesterday and spent WAY TOO MUCH TIME playing with all the pretties. Esp. the Apps...OMG the Apps!! OMG I SWEAR THEY WILL CHANGE MY LIFE! I wish I currently had an App to list all the Apps I want to get!

So tell me stories people! What are you favorite Apps? What are the most useful? Which ones do you ADORE, which can't you live without... I wants to KNOW! Give me something to dream about for the next 2 months... ;)

DOOD what the SHIT is THIS?!




Archie proposes to Veronica?! How could this BE?! My heart breaks for poor tweenage Lauren, who naively believed down to her very core that dear sweet Betty would eventually triumph on behalf of 'good girls' everywhere. ALAS! Oh Archie, why must you be so...so...TYPICAL?

The world, and Riverdale, is a colder place kids....a cold cruel place.

Why can't every weekend be a 5 day weekend? I could seriously get used to this.

I lost a lot of hair on Thurs:


Apparently I had enough to donate to Locks of Love! Pretty sweet... And let me tell you I LOVE my new hair do, photos will be forthcoming... I will just say for now, I could REALLY get used to 10 min. showers. David at Arrojo is a MIRACLE WORKER for srs!

Hall/Office project: Progress was made! Alas, not painting/Macing process...but the walls have been prepped and the gross brown paper is up off my floor. Next weekend will hopefully be putting up molding and painting...

I think I shall go bug Matthew to take me out to one more not Weight Watchers friendly meal before the holiday officially ends.. ;)

First, look who I found sleeping in the laundry today!



Due to the Holiday weekend and a comp day earned by some overtime last week, I now have a 5 DAY WEEKEND OMG!! Weds should always be Fris, man...so AWESOME. I am looking forward to this VERY much, because it's been a rough month and PMS is kicking my ass right now and a break will be very very welcome.

Tomorrow my parents are coming in to give me my long promised Birthday present. I've been DYING for a haircut for AGES and back in OCT my mom said she'd take me to the salon of that guy on "What not to Wear" because she LOVES that show, so I said why the hell not! So tomorrow we'll be heading down to Nick Arrojo's Studio to meet David to get my hair did. I am excited, because my hair is so long that it brushes my elbows and freaks me out. Dinner and sightseeing will hopefully follow.

Friday I am HOPING that Matthew can take off to and we can have fun together. The goal for this weekend is to finish our front hall, put up molding, paint and assemble my new desk so that we can take my poor Imac out of it's box and let it BE FREE!

And also I want to see Star Trek or I will cry.

Heres hoping for a productive/relaxing/ happy fun times weekend! Why is it not 6:30 yet?

Okay guys, I am seriously considering doing this, because if theres something thats worth possibly going into debt over, it's probably this.

I think I might try to seriously plan a trip to Japan. But I don't know where to start!! I know some of you guys have been already, do you have any advice for a newbie? I'm thinking of going in the fall, possibly Oct. or November since the prices seem good, and if I can work some paid vaycay into it (Thanksgiving) all the better!

Also, I think I'd like to focus on Tokyo and Kyoto...possibly Nara if theres time and it's worth it. I want to see the shiny awesome craziness of Tokyo, but we're both art/history dorks. Basically I want it all, crazy shopping, toys, fashion electronics, art, history, traditional culture..not a big order eh?

So here are my newbie questions:

Is the Fall a good time to go?
How long should I plan to stay? I doubt I can get more then 2 weeks, but I don't want a fly by night rushed stay.
How many days each should I plan for Tokyo and Kyoto?
Is it hard to get around? Will I become a horribly lost tourist, because my High School Japanese has all but left me at this point (I don't feel "Thats Cute!" and "My name is Lauren and I am 16" will help me get around much)
Is it difficult to get between Tokyo and Kyoto?
Any websites/books that I should be looking at for deals/advice/planning?

This trip just seems SO HUGE I'm FREAKING out just thinking about planning it! O.o

OH MY GOD I WANT TO GO ON VACATION WTF!! I am DYING here...tons of my friends have been traveling lately and seeing their photos popping up on Facebook has been driving me MAD!! Now I know I am going to visit pals in Seattle in Sept, and gonna see the in laws sometime this summer...but those don't properly count as a "vacation" in my book... I want some time just me and Matthew seeing the world etc etc etc. but the problem is, I don't know where to go! I can't decide if I want an exploring type vaycay (ie like going to Europe where there lots of history and sight seeing) or a relaxing vaycay where you lay around in some tropical place for a few days.

My requirements are as follows:

~ Fun, relaxing/exciting
~ Easy enough to plan
~ Cheap!

Places I want to go:

- Prague (oh so much PRETTY)
- England (went when I was wee, but we skipped the museums due to my baby brother's intolerance for such things)
- Paris/some other part of France (went for a about 6 weeks in college, but theres always more to see, and a lot of day trips I didn't get to take)
- Rome (but it sounds EXHAUSTING at this point)
- Ireland
- Turkey/Egypt/anyplace in the middle east (I group them together because there is an equally slim chance I'll be seeing any of them at the moment)

or

- some place warm and sunny and beachy and tropical stateside or otherwise

The alternative to all of this is JAPAN...because I've seen some super cheap airfare to Tokyo lately, and it has always been a lifetime goal of mine to go there. I'd LOVE to start with Tokyo and Kyoto and maybe Nara if theres time/money, but OMG GUYS, the thought of planning that kind of trip TERRIFIES ME!! It just seems like SO much work, and I wouldn't know where to start! Is the fall a good time to go (I've seen some deals around my B-Day in Oct)? How do you find a reasonably priced hotel? I would LOVE to stay at a traditional Japanese hotel, esp in Kyoto, but I'm not sure my joints could take sleeping/sitting on the floor after walking around all day, but I'd feel so LAME staying a a Best Western or something.

Of course I'd also probably have to wait a bit and see how this year seems to be shaping up work wise before I go about thinking of putting myself into debt again, but OMG I WANT TO GO!

So tell me guys! What were your favorite trips? Where'd ya go? Where would you LOVE to go? Have you ever planned a beast of a trip like Japan before? Any tips? How'd ya do it? I wanna know! XD

Golly, I haven't posted in ages. Happy May everybody!!! Things have been crazier then usual here, on SO many levels...but I feel surprisingly good about everything. I don't want to let out a breath JUST yet, but I have hope that things are on an upswing at least. If nothing else, I feel I have had my priorities reordered, and now I'm optimistic that I'll be able to take little bumps in the road more in stride. I've had A LOT on my plate this month, if I don't say so myself, and the fact that I seemed to be able to just keep moving forward and balance it all has made me feel a lot better about my ability to deal with shit and help the ones I care about. I hope this means I can be more of a help to myself and others as a result...

Other things that have made me happy:

I've officially lost 31lbs. Thats so insane I don't know how to compute it.
This week I bought an XL shirt at the Gap, it's been a LONG LONG time since that was even a possibility. Also, some of the smallest sizes in Lane Bryant (my old standby) are now TOO BIG on me..HOLY SHIT Y'ALL
I also bought a belt at the Gap, which is the first proper "ladies" belt that I've been able to fit into since I started this diet.
This weekend I plan on pulling all my old "fat" clothes out of my closet and giving them to charity, because there is NO WAY I'm going to let myself slide that far backwards again.
I'm planning a trip to Seattle later this summer to visit our BFF, and I'm keeping an eye out for travel deals for the winter/fall. I'm even excited about our yearly summer visit down South to see the inlaws. It's time for Matthew and I to get out of our apartment and see the world a bit more. We need some time to have some fun together.

So here's to the summer! I'm ready for some fun and adventure! XD

Some ball point pen doodles I did last night...I kinda like the lil girl character..



GAH! My Imac arrived at my parents house this afternoon...THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING MEEEEEE! Why isn't it Friday yet???

Quite possibly the best thing I've seen all day!!



Faith in Humanity = Restored (for the time being) ;)

(For those playing at home, my faith in humanity was shaken this afternoon when I heard that Heroes has been renewed for ANOTHER horrible season, sometimes it doesn't take much.)

LOOK WHATS COMING TO LIVE WITH ME!!!!



Matthew and I placed the order this morning (YAY Federal Tax refund!!)...It should be arrive at my parents house in NJ on Wed or Thurs (ha ha take that outrageous NYC sales tax!) and next weekend we'll drive down to pick it up (and also celebrate my Dad's birthday, of course)

OH MY GOD I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

Next step in apple-fying my life: Iphones in June, and perhaps an ITv (So I can control ALL of my entertainment devices at ONCE OH MY GOD THE SYNERGY!!!!)

Dood I am SUCH an apple-ho now, it's so pathetic. I admit it, I'm a horrible terrible hypocrite (though I did agree to get an imac solely because I can also run Windows on it)

Also...when I went to visit Tekserve to play with the imac in person, they also had a HUGE Cintiq on display to play with. OH MY GOD GUYS LAUREN WANTS. I have decided that my "ideal home office set up" MUST at some point include one of these (in a dual monitor set up with my Imac-y of course), because, seriously, drawing on it would be TEH SEX.

Gaaaahhhhhhooomgggggggggggg I'm just basking in computer-y geek bliss right now..WHY IS IT NOT JUNE! WANT MY IPHONE HOMG!!!

OH MY GOD GUYS OH MY GOD



THIS. MOVIE.

I HAVE NO WORDS!!!! I think I need to watch it a few more times before I can properly form sentences, but OH MY GOD.

Also...Was that Harry screaming "Ginny!!" and jumping through the fire? Because if so, this film might actually make an H/G shipper out of me yet...

Still mixed feelings on the R/Hr, but it looks like we will get LOTS and so I will not complain too much, ESP if the rest is as awesome as I think it will be!!

OH MY GOD SOMEONE UPLOAD AN HD VERSION STAT PLLLLZZZZ!!

Wow April just became SEVERELY CRAZY work-wise, so once again I have fallen off the doodle wagon. I did do this guy on a scrap of paper on my subway ride home last night. He was actually in my dream from the night before. He's some sort of big blue ox God creature. In the dream I was standing on a subway platform (the N line apparently) and he came out of the tunnel, walking along the tracks, and then he stopped in front of me and spoke to me in tongues. It was actually pretty creepy...



I wonder if they have a "Big Blue Ox God" listed in the Dream Dictionary....

Good Golly I forgot how awesome this sequence is. I love it..love love love it, the timing the colors the shapes, the animation, I can't stop watching it. It seriously gives me chills. Sequences like this are why I wanted to get into animation in the first place, no joke.



It's nice to be reminded why you love what you do. Watching this makes me want to draw like the wind! Now I want to re watch all my old fave Disney movies and remind myself why I wanted to do this in for a living in the first place... XD

How bout you guys? What are your fave clips (doesn't just have to be Disney now you know, alot of mine just happen to be ;))? What inspires you! :D

BEING RIGHT ON THE INTERNET IS SO AWESOME!!!! OMG BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!!!!!

(more coherent thoughts tomorrow, promise)

A quick doodle while waitin' for din din....I can't get cat/birds out of my head, don't ask me why...I'd kinda like to work more on them because I'm not quite 100% satisfied with their heads/construction yet..

This time Babies!!



Also, LOST TONIGHT OMG BEN-FEST GUYS I AM SO EXCITED!!! XD