friday i'm in love...

February 23, 2018 Arlene Giddings

♥♥♥
i have finally seen the movie Wonder
and i will tell you right now,
it did not disappoint.
i am not going to lie
i sobbed my way through most of it
but...a good kind of sobbing...
if you know what i mean...

♥♥♥
week 2 of 52 drawing labs book project...
check in on Sunday to see how it went

♥♥♥
yoga with adriene youtube videos...
for those days when i just can't make myself leave the house.
(cause, you know...winter.)

♥♥♥
neil gaiman.
i am seriously crushing on neil gaiman.
i want to be neil gaiman.
really.
my obsession with him right now
could qualify
as unhealthy.
(and if, by some cosmic twist in a bizarre but benevolent universe
he happens to read this blog post
or comment on the associated tweet,
i will most likely self combust from happiness...)

♥♥♥
i feel like a lot of us should read this...
more than once.
or ok...i feel like i should be reading this...
like once a day...as a reminder....
because i do all of these things.
i try to balance but
it's so easy to slip back into old habits.

♥♥♥
maggie's getting married! are you going? you should!
(and sidenote...i really miss not being involved in a play this year...
i was surprised by how much i missed it.)

wordless wednesday - the bokeh edition

February 21, 2018 Arlene Giddings

tuesday truths...

February 20, 2018 Arlene Giddings

■
I just realized there is no diet coke in the house.
None.

■
My hip hurts. My hip has never hurt before.
I am not liking it.

■
I went to a writing group on Saturday.
This was my second time going.
I think this is exactly what I need in order to make myself
actually sit down and work on something...
I need that accountability.
And it is obviously not working to pretend that
I will hold myself accountable
because apparently, I have a very soft heart
that believes every sob story excuse I tell myself.

And the great thing about this month's session
was that I admitted up front
that, while this was the start of a story,
there is a very good chance
that I will never finish it
because I have never finished ANYTHING in my life.
They kindly pointed out that I had indeed finished the story
that I shared the week before
but...that was like
1900 words.
That kind of story I can handle.
A snippet. A page or two. A scene. A scenario.
It's putting a bunch of those together
and calling it a cohesive story that I struggle with.
But after I read the group my story about Bernadine,
they told me I had to write more
because they wanted to know
what was going to happen next...
(and...to be honest...so do I!)
and that they would be expecting to hear more
at next writing group.
:)

whatcha readin'? {2018::book 5 - goal 24}

February 19, 2018 Arlene Giddings

The only thing that I love more than a good book
is being totally surprised by a good book.
I knew nothing about this author.
I knew nothing about this book.
I just picked it up on a whim because
I liked the cover and the title caught my eye
(which, in all honesty, is how I pick 3/4's of my books).

But it was so good.

Like.....sooooooo friggin' good.

(I really am at the top of the list
when it comes to classy intellectual book reviews.)

The thing that struck me funny about this book
was that there was not one character
that I did not like...
I had empathy and understanding for every character.
Which struck me as odd
and kind of refreshing.

Go read it. I bet you like it, too!
:)

5 ♥♥♥♥♥'s out of 5

NEXT UP: THE LAST TUDOR - PHILIPPA GREGORY

i should also mention that the link above is an affiliate link which just means
that if you happen to use any of my Amazon links and make a purchase while you
are there, I will get a small credit at no extra cost to you.

Trying something new...

February 17, 2018 Arlene Giddings

So.
I thought I would try something new.
I usually do robots and little girls...
I thought I would try flowers...
big flowers...
on a larger canvas than what I normally work on.

I was inspired totally by alisa burke...
and by this specific tutorial

I am actually pretty happy with how it turned out
and, more importantly,
it was SO fun to do.

Kind of like zentangling but on a larger scale...
with sharpies...
and watercolors.

I think I might try this again.
It might actually be just a little addictive!
:)