continuing with the awesome theme

 

due to some scheduling/timing errors last weekend, i ended up going to see the california celts on saturday instead of friday.  this meant i had to go alone since no one else was free saturday afternoon.  but this almost worked out better since i could bring my camera and stay for the whole time without having to worry about someone else either not liking the music (doubtful since they're awesome) or getting bored watching me take like five hundred pictures (totally possible). picture wise this worked out way better as well since i had natural light the whole time (it was an outdoor show).  the show was a lot of fun, the music was great, and because i'm me i ended up with a lot of pictures.  after it was over and i was getting ready to leave, chris stopped me because he had noticed me taking pictures and asked me to send them a copy.  i was more than happy to oblige, so after i had everything upload i linked the album to their facebook page.  and this is where it gets awesome.  they have about twelve hundred followers on facebook, so that is a lot of potential exposure for me.  chris (singer/drummer/random other instrument player) and patti (the harpist) are now fans of my photography page.  patti shared my album on her own profile.  they used (and credited) some of my pics to announce some up coming shows.  and chris has one of my pictures as his profile picture on facebook.  so i'm pretty stoked about all that.  it's always a good thing when someone appreciates your art, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and such.  click here to see the rest..

behold! the awesomeness that is nikki's artwork

so a while back one of my friends was bored and looking for some ideas for things to draw.  i put in a request for a portrait of the fail ninja.  what i got was this:

most. awesome. pic. EVER!

this is also the friend who wrote me the choose your own adventure story a while back.  and this is why i less than three her.

behold! the awesomeness that is my artwork

so way back when in college, melanie and i took freshman math together.  melanie recently unearthed a rare and precious artifact from that time.  basically, the teacher bored us to tears.  in order to stay awake we decided to do it up high school style and play a MASH game.  i honestly only remember who one of the guys was on it, and most of the other stuff is just totally random.   like she was a vet and he was a lawyer and the lived in a shack with twenty two kids.  this was the end result of the that game:

i decided that there was way too much randomness going on there and things needed to be taken one step further.  i also may have just been ridiculously bored.  either way, i determined that it needed to be illustrated.

  

i also figured that parts of it needed explaining.  like they live in a shack and have their truck on blocks even though they make good money because they need to feed twenty two children.  their last name is hyphenated three times just because (but i blacked it our here for privacy).  melanie had a shoulder problem at the time, so her stick figure likeness has a sling as well.  so does her only daughter because she takes after her mom.  the guy has little questions marks above his head because he was kinda clueless, and the one son matches him.  the rest of the sons are named billy something.  one is also part goat just because.  he eats paper and grass so they don't need to feed him.  and the horse is named bo diddly because it's awesome.  and because bo diddly is awesome, i later decided an english class that he needed to go to a horse show.  this was a lot harder to pull off than the first one, mostly because of class size.  there were about four hundred in our math class, so it wasn't like the professor would notice.  there were about twenty in english class, and we had to both keep stifling giggles.  at one point the teacher asked us what was so funny.  this is why we were laughing:

 

melanie is riding her horse with her sling.  i'm on my horse who likes to pretend he is still a race horse.  you can tell this from the "action lines."  some stupid little kid on a pony wins the class because that seriously always happens in real life.  the jumps are the most random sizes i could think of.  the confused kid who takes after the dad is actually being used as part of a jump because he wandered onto the course.  half of the rest of the kids are melanie's cheering section.  the other half (plus two neighbor kids that they hired to help*) are pulling the horse trailer because the truck is on blocks. 

so yeah, this is the kind of stuff i do when i get bored.  kind of a little insight into how my mind works here.  oh and i do take requests.  i will illustrate al la stick figures almost anything.  so if something would just tickle your fancy to see it in stick figure form, let me know in the comments below and i'll see if i can't make your stick figure dreams come true.

* or that i accidentally draw two extra kids and needed an excuse to cover up that fact

literally falling apart

i don't know why, but my body is rebeling against me.  first it was the random bouts of nausea.  those have mostly gone away, but still creep up on me sometimes.  and no, i'm not pregnant.  there are plenty of other things that can cause nausea other than pregnancy.  but that's a whole different can of worms, so moving on now.  there is my general on going issues with my shoulders.  lately they have been really bad and making it really hard to sleep.  if i lay on one side for too long, something in that shoulder pinches and causes my whole arm to fall asleep.  not fun.  so i'm constantly turning over and switching sides throughout the night.  and i think the lack of sleep is only exacerbating the problem.  and for whatever reason my lower back keeps tightening up on me.  i think i'm in need of a really good back massage (hint-ity hint hint hint).  and to top it all off, i have either broken or sprained my second toe on my right foot.  i may or may not have tripped going up a step yesterday when my flip flop jammed on it.  and this may or may not have caused me to majorly stub my toe.  only thing that's really weird is that it didn't hurt at all yesterday past the initial ouch.  and then when i woke up this morning it was crazy swollen and sore.  i'm leaning towards a sprain since i can kinda sorta still move it.  either way i figure it's pointless going to the doctor since there really isn't much they can do for it anyway.  i'm just hoping it's better by thursday.  i already missed dance last week due to a pulled muscle in my leg.  really not wanting to miss it two weeks in a row.  stupid toe.

more goodies!

so i went over to costume capers today.  which means more goodies for my costume!  i decided that i would need some false eyelashes.  i was originally just going to use blue mascara, but i figure with all the costume make up i'm going to have around my eyes, my real lashes just aren't going to stand out enough.  so i got these:

they look pretty damn awesome, but they make it a little harder to see.  they are super long, so they are constantly in my line of sight.  so between these and the creepy ass contacts, i figure i am going to be partially blind.  maybe it's a good thing i can't find a white tiger.  i would probably end up tripping on the damn thing because i couldn't see it.  thankfully there won't be any small children that i need to worry about falling over at blizzcon.  now if only i could figure out a better way to keep the inner corners in place, i'll be set.  pretty sure i just need to practice since this is the first time i'm using fake eyelashes for the intended purposes.  but if anyone has any pointers for me, please share in the comments.

as for goody number two, i finally got my body paint!  now i can be purple.  i just did a test area on my arm, but i'm really happy with how it looks.  it's also really easy to apply.  can't wait to do a full body test run.  i'll be sure to post pics when i do.

it's half way to st patty's day!

well technically that was last saturday, but whatever.  it's close enough.  and it's also a song title.  which is why i'm bringing it up now.  because i'm going to see california celts tonight!  so while i go make myself look sexy, enjoy a little preview of what i'll be watching.

my little pony

so i was stupidly bored tonight.  some one in my guild was talking about my little ponies as a happy meal toy and how they were sad that mcdonalds was out of them already and they didn't get one.  so i said i would make them one.  well, one thing led to another, and the end result was this:

my very hastily edited effort to turn prince into a my little pony.  just don't pay too much attention to his front feet.  and yes, he did have to have glittery stars on his butt.  because that's the cool thing to do. 

lack of creativity = crazy cat lady time

so i got nothing for tonight.  i do not have any more back stock of post for the week because quite frankly i have not been in a creative enough mood to really write anything and i used them all up.  between a two day headache, tons of stress that mostly relates to work, allergies, back cramps, my usual shoulder pains, and a fuck up elbow, it doesn't leave much inspiration to be clever and witty and all that jazz.  that should all return next week.  so until then, here's more pics of my cat being silly.  and yes, i am slightly crazy cat lady-ish, but at least i only have one of them.

she really does wake me up like this

apparently all my shoes are belong to her

this should be like her kiss audition photo

this is her annoyed look because i kept making the flash go off

and that's all folks!

 

i'll take that as a no

so i really want a dog.  i have several good reasons for this.  they're cute.  it's one more thing to cuddle with.  i was in way better shape when i had a dog because i would go running with him every morning, between two and four miles depending on the day.  running alone is really boring for me.  but running with a dog is actually enjoyable.  and dogs are a great way to reduce stress.  but part of the problem is that i know that the fail ninja isn't super keen on dogs.  she's tolerant of the little ones, as long as she is still bigger than they are.  but she is less than found of the big ones.  it took her about ten minutes to come down off the rafters after melanie and her dog hank stopped by.  so i figured maybe i should talk to her about it first.  her reaction?

 

i'll take that as a no

guess what i started playing

that's all for today.  i have a new addiction fun game to play.

my envelope of happiness

remember how i did that scavenger hunt not to long ago?  and how my reward was to be an envelope of happiness from jrose, the author of the cheese blarg?  well guess what i got today!  first off, the envelope was stuffed with little heart confetti.  i have luckily learned to be very cautious when opening envelops, due to my family doing similar things, but using about twenty times more confetti.  and glitter.  which you can never get out of your carpet no matter how many times you vacuum.  but i digress.  i survived the cute confetti, and first thing i see is:

stickers!  the llama is made by jrose, and my best guess for the killer whales is that they have yet to make a sticker sheet of narwhals, so this is the next best thing.  but that's not the best part.  the best part would be the custom little sketch that i got.  behold the awesomeness that is:

 THE TEN BLUE STARS LLAMA!!!!!

it's ok if you're all totally jealous right now.  i would be.  but i'm not.  because it's mine.  now to find a little frame so i can share it's awesomeness with all who come to my apartment.  to the craft store! 

where i get my hits

so i check my blog stats like all the time.  i find it interesting to see where my readers are coming from, what key words are leading people here, what pictures get the most google traffic, things like that.  it's entertaining to me.  especially when i can see what phrases i got hits from in a google search.  because one phrase keeps coming up, and i'm pretty damn sure that the people searching it end up being very disappointed when they read that post.  especially since that post is called puerto rican blow jobs , and it ends up being almost entirely about shoes.  another funny one (to me at least) is how many people search for "sylvannas windrunner nude."  apparently there are a lot of horny WoW nerds out there.  really not sure why i come up in that search, probably just because i have a pic of a girl dressed as sylvannas from blizzcon last year.  

picture-wise, my blizzcon ones by far get the most hits.  not just the ones of myself, but the ones from last year's event.  that doesn't surprise me at all, especially now with blizzcon only about a month away.  people are looking for costume ideas, or trying to figure out what to expect when they go.  what does surprise me is how many people want to see my messed up foot  from when i fucked it up last halloween.  and it's usually very specific searches, which is kinda weird.  stuff like "blue bruising on foot like blood specks."  i've had like five searched for that phrase.  

oh and other than the united states and canadia*, where i actually know people, i'm pretty big in germany, the uk, and malaysia.  i have no idea why.  guess i'm just cool like that.

*totally spelled wrong on purpose because it is was more fun to pronounce it that way.  try it, i dare you.

fun with face paint

so i figured i should start trying to work out the face markings for my costume.  when i bought the ears, they came with some face paint, so i tried it out with that first.  i picked the darker of the two purples, and just did a quick free hand onto my face.  overall, i think i got the design pretty well,  but i am going to want a smaller applicator brush to use.  i couldn't get the lines sharp enough with the brush it came with.  also thinking i'm going to need a different color, because.  i just don't think this will have enough contrast with the skin tone i'm going for, but i'll find out next week.  overall, i'm pretty happy with the look, especially considering it's my first time using this stuff.  need to work on getting the coverage a little more even, but again i think a smaller brush will help with that.  i was originally thinking of making a stencil for the pattern to make sure i got both sides even, but i think i did ok without one.  and i'm sure i'm going to practice a few more times between now and then, so i should be pretty pro at it by the time blizzcon rolls around.  now i can add "make up artist" to my list of accomplishment.  ok, not really, but that would be pretty cool.

i'm sorry, you said fuck who now?

ok i'm pretty sure that by now most people in the states have heard how this punk ass little bitch who calls himself "soulja boy" got it in his little head that it would be a good idea to say "fuck the fbi and all the army troops."  apparently this guy has shit for brains, because he seems to have failed to realized that no matter what you political views may be, NO ONE says fuck the military.  and there is a damn good reason for that.  i will use myself as an example here.  if you know me personally, you know that i tend to follow more liberal ideals when it comes to politics.  i am not a supporter of either war we are in, because i do not feel like the US should be the police force of the world.  but never, in my life, would i ever think of disrespecting the men and women who make up all of our military forces.  they are out there every day risking their lives for people they have never met just because it is their duty to do so.  they don't owe me anything, most of them don't know who i am.  but that doesn't matter to them, because their first priority is to protect me and the rest rest of the country and protect our freedoms.  such as the freedom to be a dumbass, like this individual has so chosen.  i hold those who have served and those who continue to serve to the highest level of respect that i possibly can.  and i would say that the majority of the country is an agreement with me.  if you want proof of that, look at how many rebuttal videos there are on youtube.  these are from people in all branches of the military, and well as every day civilians.  because honestly, we're all pissed off by it.  and if those videos aren't enough proof,  look at his latest video and see how many dislikes there are.  i've never seen such a red bar before on youtube.  i'm glad that the reasonable people of our country have decided to let themselves be heard.  now hopefully this ass douche listens.

progress shot

so i have all the main components for my costume now, minus that damn white tiger.  someone out bid me by a lot, and i'm kinda feeling like i need to set the fail ninja on attack mode now.  so in order to placate myself, i decided to pull out the stuff i do have and mess around with it.  and wow, is it coming together nicely.  i can't wait until the dress gets here next week so i can start tweaking with that thing.  until then, here are a few shots of the eyes, hair and ears.  some are stylized, some aren't.  enjoy! 

i think they are working together quite well

not going to lie, i love how this turned out

creepers

because i can't see worth shit with those things on

wtf was i thinking

so for who-the-hell-knows why, i decided to level up my archeology skill in WoW tonight.  all it is is the nerd version of the little kid game "hot or cold."  i'm going to go ahead and blame this on the fact that i've been nauseous like all fucking week and i've been having headaches that make me feel almost dizzy today.  because honestly, that is the only logical way i can explain why i'm doing this.  it's like the worst skill to level up.  EVER.  it's even worse than fishing.  while fishing in WoW is boring as hell, at least i can stand in one spot to do it, and don't have to fly all over the fucking map to work on it.  seriously, only three digs per site?  and i don't even get skill points for digging up parts anymore, i have to actually build the whole damn object.  which means for a piece of shit trash item that i'm just going to vendor off, i have to go to a minimum of like five different dig sites to get enough pieces to build it.  for a rarer (wow that word looks weird) item, i'm going to have to go to at least sixteen fucking dig sites.  and i'm not exaggerating, i did the math.  usually on opposite ends of the map, sometimes in an entirely different continent.  all to get some damn wind chimes, where the only thing they do is make a little tingly sound.  i swear if it wasn't for the badass raptor mount, this would be the stupidest profession ever.  and i already have that, so why the fuck am i doing this?  if i /wrist later tonight, you all know why.  

ren faire cherry

so my boyfriend has never been to a ren faire.  i plan on changing that very, very soon.  and the best part is, he's actually looking forward to it.  and he's totally fine if i go in costume as long as he doesn't have to dress up.  i don't really have time to change his mind in time for this upcoming faire, but there's always next year.  because manly men wear tights.  at least he's willing going with me.  it's always more fun if the other person actually wants to be there.  i've been giving him a few warnings as what to expect, because some of the stuff can catch you off guard if you aren't used to it.  especially since i'll be dressed up.  that's more or less like giving the actors there a free pass.  which i'm totally fine with, because i used to be one of them and all.  and i do sorta bring it upon my self what with the wearing of the horns and a dagger in my cleavage.  but for the unsuspecting people who happen to be accompanying me, well they don't always know how to react if the guy at the spear throwing game "kidnaps" me and won't let me go unless they play.  it's always fun to watch them try to figure out how to get me back without actually paying the guy to play the game.  oh and the puritans usually have a few things to say about me wearing horns (as do several drunk old guys).  

which reminds me, that is another really good reason to have a guy with you.  seriously, drunk old guys can be creepers, no matter if you at faire or at a bar.  one time melanie and i were all dressed up at faire, resting on a hay bale in the shade, minding our own business, when some creeper calling himself "robin hood" comes over and tries to hit on us.  we were like nineteen or twenty at the time, and this guy was well past forty.  he stumbles up next to me, and gives me some line about how i have the most beautiful eyes he's ever seen and how they pierce through his soul or some bullshit like that.  i refuse to make eye contact with him and tell him that i have a boyfriend.  so he then turns to melanie and give her they very same line, like exactly the same, word for word.  she tells him the same thing, even though i think she was single at the time (fake boyfriends ftw).  he then offers to buy beer for us, and we told him no and more or less ran away at that point.  i'm pretty sure this was the only time that my cleavage worked against me.  damn creepers. 

going out of business is good for me

so as most people know (or at least most people here in the states) the boarder's bookstore chain is going out of business.  and this works out very well for me.  you see, they are only going to be open until the end of this week.  so everything is like crazy marked down.  which means i got about $60 worth of books for only $17.  that's pretty win if you ask me.  one is a kids book to donate to my mom's classroom, but the other three are for me.  so here's a quick run down on what i got: scarlet spy by kage baker.  it is a part of a series called "the women of nell gwynne's."  it's a steampunk book set in england, and it's about a hooker that gets recruited as a spy.  royal blood by rona sharon is a historic fiction set in king henry VIII's court.  it's a murder mystery, with one of the victims being a lady-in-waiting for the queen, and the man investigating it keeps having crazy visions about the people who got killed.  the third is lord of misrule by jaimy gordon.  it's about a scam that's being run at a small time horse racing operation.  apparently word leaks out and too many people find out the truth.

so that's my current reading list.  i'm actually really stoked about it because it's been forever and a day since i last got myself a new book.  i can't wait to get started on it, because the books actually sound really good.  and if they turn out to be total flops, at least i didn't pay more than $5 for any of them.  

oh and if anyone is interested, the book i got for my mom is the monster bed by jeanne willis and susan varley.  i totally read it when i was a kid, and it has the most adorable little monster ever.  check it out if you have kids.  hell, check it out even if you didn't procreate. the pictures are worth it.

the most creepy/awesome thing ever

so i got my eyes today.  they are pretty damn awesome.  and also insanely creepy if i have them on without the wig and body paint.  as my loving mother put it, it makes me look like a deranged person.  thanks mom, love you too.  but actually, they are creepy as fuck when not used in the proper situation.  i think these pictures kinda prove that.  but once i have blue hair and purple skin, i think it will look a lot better.  pretty sure it will have that glowing eye look once all the make up is done right. so excited about it!  also, i found my dress tonight on ebay, and it's like crazy on sale, so more to be excited about.  i can't wait until it gets here. 

because the first pic wasn't creepy enough

so i sorta have this girly side

i need more piercings

so every once in a while i get the urge to get something really girly and cute.  as i mentioned in my last post, the seller of those arm cuffs had some really cute jewelry.  and i kinda sorta caved in because there was a really cute earring and necklace set.  and since i was already buying the cuffs, the shipping would be free on the set. the only problem now is that i can't really wear these are work because it wouldn't be that practical.  i would be like a walking cat toy.  and i already get beat up by the dogs, i don't need the cats coming after me too.  i'm going to have a hard enough time keeping the fail ninja away from it.

squeeeee!

i think that's the actual sound i made when i got my latest costume accessory in the mail this weekend.  i had ordered some arm cuffs off ebay, and since i got them on the cheap i wasn't really expecting anything of quality.  honestly, i would have just been happy is the silver hadn't all rubbed off while being shipped.  so i was quite pleasantly surprised when i opened the package and found these

the metal actually has some weight to it, so i'm not worried about it becoming deformed and not fitting over my wrist again.  and the detail on it is more perfect than i was expecting.  not necessarily in quality, but from a my-costume-really-needs-this aspect.  from the ebay pics i could tell there was a lot of scroll work on it, but i didn't expect it to be pretty much exactly what i was looking for.  from all my costume related purchases, i can honestly say that being made in china does not mean it's a crappy item.  oh and this seller also had some really cute jewelry and other accessories, which totally won over my girly side. yay for awesome finds!  check out their non-ebay store here, it will give you a good idea of what they sell.  but try to actually buy the stuff on ebay because i got mine for lower than the store list price. 

battle wounds

anyone want to guess what this is from?

so it seems like i get a new scar of some sort on a weekly bases.  considering that i work with animals and ride horses, this isn't a huge surprise.  what may come as a surprise is the source of most of my battle wounds.  lots of times i will become horrifically maimed and disfigured at work.  i may or may not be exaggerating a bit on that, it really depends on the day.  but when i show people those scrapes and scuffs, the most common question i get after is "was that from a cat scratch?"  and nine out of ten times, my answer will be a big, resounding NO! because nine out of ten times it was from a freakin little dog, typically some type of chihuahua or chihuahua mix.  if i'm lucky, it scabs up, scars over, and then  fades away into oblivion with my next sun burn.*  if i'm unlucky, it's still there nine freaking months later because that stupid dog decided to use my arm as a tree right before christmas and leave me with a nice purple scar on my left hand to show off in all the family photos. stupid little dogs.  this is why i want a great dane.

*if you haven't already noticed, i'm really, really white and i burn really, really easily.  stupid genetics.