Jewelry: Update

More pretties for sale! I don't have everything posted yet. I'm waiting for my fabulous friends to come over next weekend and model them for me, but this will give you a taste of more to come!

Jimmy Longoria

Today I had the pleasure of meeting local artist and community advocate, Jimmy Longoria. We've been working on a project with him for the past few weeks - which perhaps I can get more detailed about at a later date, so it was pretty great to meet him in person and see some of his work up close.

Jimmy does a lot of mural paintings around the Twin Cities, so perhaps you already know his work with out realizing it. But for those of you who haven't seen, check it out below. (*images from artist's website.)

Update

Ok, so, I guess I'm not as good about daily blogging as I had hoped, but I also figure, if I'm out enjoying life, why should I stop doing so for an obligatory post about how much I'm enjoying life? Anyway, I'll make up for the last couple of days now.

Thursday was my good friend AJ's birthday. A few of us got advanced screening tickets to see the new Frost/Pegg movie, Paul. I had no idea what the movie was about going into it, but man was it awesome!



The trailer doesn't even begin to show how funny the movie actually is. Which, I suppose is a good thing so you don't see all of the jokes and then the movie is spoiled. All I can say is, if you enjoy crude humor and laughing your ass off, do yourself a favor and go check out Paul - in theaters March 18th.

On Friday, both AJ and I had the day off, so we had a friend day-date/Friday Funday. We ate lunch at The Local where we stayed for probably 2 hours just chatting and enjoying each other's company. Then we hit up a bead store so I could get more supplies for jewelry makin', and as I know AJ had a blast waiting for me to pick out beads and things, I made it up to him by taking him to a comic store afterward. Later we headed back to his place and I got my fill of some Little Big Planet 2, the best game since... Little Big Planet. (jk, jk)

Yesterday I helped out my friends at Letoile by doing some fit modeling for an upcoming magazine they're doing for MN Fashion Week. It was pretty casual and we were done in just under 2 hours, which then gave me plenty of time to make some more new jewls before I headed off to another friend's birthday party.

So today, after several days of birthday drinks, and jewelry making, and driving all over the city, I am just hanging out watching season 2 of CSI. A much needed break if you ask me. It's nice to have lazy days, especially when it's about 12 degrees outside anyway..

Well I'm off. This week I'll make sure to do a better job of keeping up my end of the bargin about blogging daily.

Cheers,
Karen

Weekend Update: Ice-Fishing

I didn't have much opportunity to update my blog over the weekend because I spent it up north in the land of snow and faulty internet. It was fantastic.

I went ice fishing for the first time. I am not usually one for winter activities, unless those activities involve drinking whiskey in an 75 degree room.. but ice fishing was pretty fun.

We piled all of the equipment into a sled and towed it behind the snow mobile out onto the lake. Snowmobiling out to the spot is one of the best parts! However, my face did get really cold from the wind - even under a giant helmet, goggles and scarf. (check out awesome photo below..)




Unfortunately, we didn't catch anything, which I suppose is fortunate for the fish. Regardless, I had a really fun time.







And as a bonus, check out my adorable puppy Wally! (Cue awwws from viewers:) Look at that face! You can't tell me you don't have a smile on your face after looking at him. :D



Cheers,
Karen

Blow Dry

Wally was pretty adorable this morning. As I was getting ready for work, he just quietly walked into the bathroom and laid down on my feet.



copyright Karen O'Bryan, 2011

Humanity

This morning on my way into work I witnessed a wonderful moment of humanity. I was stopped at a red light and I watched as an old man was trying to cross the street. We've gotten quite a bit of snow in the past week, and not all of the sidewalks have been cleared off.

The old man was treading very carefully as he inched his way towards the edge of the curb, trying to get over a snow bank. Right before the light turned green, a young man, who had been walking a head of him, turned around and reached out his hand to help the old man over the snow bank.



What a great thing to see to start the day off right. A little act of kindness that stuck with me through out the entire day.

Optimism

I've been thinking a lot lately about my personal outlook on life, which I'd like to think is fairly on the "glass half full" side of things, but of course, I too have bad days and chunks of time where I feel very.."meh.." for lack of a better term.

I know I am effected by weather - as cliche' as it sounds - but honestly, when it's below 10 degrees for weeks on end, it's pretty difficult to stay motivated. We recently had a glimpse of spring. For a solid week it was above freezing! We were rockin' a solid 50 degrees for nearly two days. Two whole days! For those of you who've never had to deal with sub-zero temperatures, let me tell you, 50 degrees is a BIG deal.

Don't forget that I said we had a "glimpse" of spring, for it didn't stay warm for very long. We are now back to the land of snow and ice, but that one glorious week of warmth re-awakened something in me: Motivation.

I recently found this article (*see photo above) which got me to thinking more about my outlook on life and it gave me a great idea.

For the next month (or however long this winter decides to stick around) I'm going to post something positive that's happened to me on a daily basis. I'm putting a cap on a month long period of time because for me to say I'll do this FOREVER is just not realistic.

I've seriously been lacking in my blog-posting as well as simply doing anything worth posting (drawing, picture taking, Friday Fundays.. etc.) so this is my plan to remedy the winter blues. Even if it's something as seemingly small as finding an awesome parking spot or hearing a funny joke on the morning radio show. I just want to take the time to be grateful for wonderful things and reaffirm positivity by illustrating or photographing happy moments.

For my first Optimism Post:
Today I've officially booked a booth for this year's Art-A-Whirl! (May 20-22nd, 2011) I'm pretty stoked about it.



For those unfamiliar, Art-A-Whirl is a massive open studio / art sale / street festival in NE Mpls. I will be outside behind the Modern Cafe and 311 Club.

I've never participated in an outdoor art sale before, so it will certainly be a learning experience. Anyone who has any fail-safe advice, I'm all ears! I've been researching other blogs for tips and I've found some really great ones: THIS ONE is great for display ideas. THIS ONE has great overall advice.

I'm really excited for the opportunity to reach a much wider audience (like thousands more..!) And talk about motivation to make new work! I have a lot of work to do in the next couple of months, that's for sure.

Well I'm off, but not for long! Check back for tomorrow's Optimism Post.

Cheers,
Karen