Happy Halloween!
Hi there! In the spirit of knocking on the doors of strangers and looking like a fool for candy, I wanted to say a couple things.
1. If you signed up to get emails from me and haven’t been getting them, it’s not you, it’s me. A couple people even told me they weren’t seeing my emails and I thought that was just them being un-tech-savvy or having an extra hungry spam filter on their inbox, but no. It was me. I paused my feed and didn’t even know it. Because that is the sort of genius I am. Hopefully things will be back to normal but feel free to tell me otherwise.
2. If you were wondering why I slowed my posting in recent months and was worried I was going away, rest assured, I’m not. You can’t get rid of me that easy! You can, however, expect that I’m feeling like a dinosaur these days trying to keep up with all the new fangled ways to be a blogger and this ever expanding constellation of internet opportunities. Two years ago the scene was very different and everyone kept their content on their blog and everyone got paid a healthy a mount of ad revenue…but now people pay attention to other stuff. And even for folks with great numbers say the ad networks pay rates are a fraction of what they were, sites are shuttering left and right, and now I get emails everyday from 17 years olds wanting to know if I’ll hire them to snapchat for me. This is what it has come to? I hardly even know what a snapchat is, but it sounds like something you get from sitting around in a wet bathing suit too long, not something I want to pay teenagers to do for me. But you have to admire the Millennial gumption, right? Errr…right.
Like I said, I’m officially a dinosaur.
I keep thinking WHY CAN’T I JUST MAKE STUFF AND POST PRETTY PICTURES…which is equally spoiled and lazy, and why you will find me on Instagram a lot more often. It’s mostly pretty pictures. And people are nice. That has not been my experience across all social media platforms. At all. Especially this week. I don’t know about you, but I find myself dreading Facebook the week before every election. This year is particularly bad. It squeezes all the weird juice and stuff gets ugly. Fast. We are all capable of producing weird juice, but something about Facebook and an election season brings it out in a big way. Suddenly your nice neighbor and your third cousin stop posting about sports and baby pictures and replace it with political rants and conspiracy theories AND NOBODY CAN BE RIGHT ABOUT ANYTHING BUT THEM. Want to see grown men and women get into a fight over something they already agree about? Chances are it’s going on Facebook right now.
Anyway. I digress. This post is sounded like me making up excuses for keeping my head in the sand (<it is totally that) but I wanted to show you around what I have been up to here. Ill tell you: flowers!
Yes indeed, it is all flowers, all the time. A friend of mine was speculating that my compulsion to make flowers is some sort of attempt to offset the ugliness in the world right now, and although it is not intentional, I think she might be sorta right. When you work alone you start feel like the radio is your friend. Nobody complains to me about office politics or what their kid refused to eat for dinner last night…instead the radio tells me that someone got shot, someone got beheaded, and a bunch of folks got crushed in an earthquake. And that was just this morning. Anyway. I’m trying to shift my focus to podcaasts and audiobooks (recommendations welcome!)
Last minute update: Just got this email. If you like podcasts and people talking about elections without crazy pants, listen to the 10/31 epsidoe of Politico highlighting my cousin John being a total data gangster. Hear how the election sausage is made from both sides of the aisle. AND NOBODY CALLED EACH OTHER NAMES OR ANYTHING. Can you even imagine? Go John!
Anyway. Back to my navel gazing….
Most mornings I wake up early and work on stuff for graphic design clients, but then head over to the studio in the afternoon. Painting is a gift and a blessing. As much as I enjoy it, what it does for my mental health is unmeasurable. It untangles my brain. Not only does that help me feel better, I’m more productive with my other non-painting time. Years ago I thought of painting as a luxury that was only allowed after work was done and the house was tidy…now I see painting like I see taking a shower. It’s just something that gets done every day, regardless of what else is going on. It can take very little time, but if it doesn’t happen, I start to feel it. And if I let it go more than a couple days, others around me start to feel it too. I’m not a nice person when I don’t paint!
But, I’m also still crafting. This is my latest. Tassel topped pumpkins.
You won’t see a tutorial because I stole this ice a from Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Also, it’s pretty easy to figure on your end – just wrap the stem in yarn and add some tassels. I’m using tassels leftover from last years Granny Christmas tree, but there might be a good tutorial on that somewhere (ahem).
The skeletons are still up. Still looking like pole dancers. Again, one of those things that wasn’t intentional, but I’m okay with it. Don’t ask the neighbors. Speaking of neighbors…story time!
When I was a kid there was this one house in the neighborhood who handed out full size Snickers bars on Halloween. It wasn’t the fanciest house in town, and nobody knew anything much about the people who lived inside, but everyone knew that was “the house with the full size Snickers” and the words were spoken in whispers with reverence. Well, folks. It took me 30 something years to get there, but today is the day I am the house with full size Snickers AND DON’T IT FEEL GOOD.
Hashtag: life goals.
Other stuff going on: Back to painting –I just launched an art sale. Mostly big canvases that have been in the works for months. But also some prints of previously sold work, like this one “Tea for Mrs. Norris” who now lives with Kristin in Canada.
I had to crop in slightly to accommodate standard frame sizes, but you can buy her now as a print called”Cookies for Mrs. Norris.”
Use code LOLA20 for 20% off this week. I also have a real website just for my art. Woot! Look who is adulting now?
Got to run. The Trick-or Treaters around here start mercilessly early. Happy Halloween to you and yours!
I used to listen to the radio every morning (so I’d know what’s going on in the world) but stopped last spring because it was making me too crazy. I have three podcasts I’m loving right now:
1) The West Wing Weekly – every week they watch an episode of The West Wing and talk about it. It is fantastic (if you like The West Wing).
2) Pop Culture Happy Hour – they talk about all kinds of pop culture from Hamilton to Pokémon Go to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Round table format with some regulars and some rotating seats.
3) Desert Island Discs – this has been a BBC radio program for years, apparently. The host interviews a celebrity about what 8 albums they would want with them if they were stranded on a desert island. So far I have enjoyed Tom Hanks, Whoppi Goldberg, and David Tennant.
I am also listening to Neil Patrick Harris’s autobiography, which is a choose your own adventure autobiography. Which is great and he needs to read more audiobooks.
WAIT WUT THERE IS A WEST WING PODCAST?????!!!!!
Omg. I watched the first 5 seasons before I decorated the White House last year. Thats like 100+ episodes. Now I’m going to go back and rewatch them AGAIN WITH THE PODCAST! THANK YOU CAROLINE! THIS IS THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED!
Those other two sound splendid too, and I love the crap out of NPH, so, yeah. Damn you have great taste!
I may have misread but I thought awhile ago you said you were working on a book.
Please, please tell me I’m not dreaming.
Would go out and buy it right away!
You are sweet. Yes, it’s on sale now but delivery is estimated at 2 months and I am not publicizing it. To tell you the truth, it’s no longer something I am proud of and regret getting involved. Can’t say much more than that without getting sued. But, bottom line – you probably won’t hear much about it from me. Sorry 🙁
Yup, please make the craziness stop, as in all the above bad news in the world and political junk you mentioned. I want to be aware but I have 13 grandkids that I would not share half of what I hear in the media. The good news is YOU, AUNT PEACHES! You tickle my funny bone and make me smile. Your Halloween story for instance…..my neighbor gave full sized Hershey Bars. You show the world that in YOUR little corner of the world, YOU CAN STILL JOKE, LAUGH, PRETEND, and make the good times roll. Keep it up please. I for one among many appreciate you. Karen
Karen you are too sweet! And I may switch to Hershey next year. Last nights snickers went over great but it was pointed out to me that every other child born after 1999 seems to be allergic to nuts. Not that you can cater to everyone, but, if someone doesn’t like plain chocolate it’s clearly their problem and not my lack of sensitivity. Those children will never know the love of a Reeses peanut butter cup, poor babies!
It’s not just you, Auntie. It seems as if it’s a LOT of people, lately, that have stopped communicating or taken a sabbatical (or something)…….even me….. I was on FB for a total of three whole weeks before I shut it down. I couldnt handle the negativity. Or the inability to express an opinion or just say something (nicely) without it being smacked down (not so nicely). Maybe that’s just me…. anyway, I missed your posts. And I am glad you are back. I dont listen to podcasts, but there is a show we started watching called “Detectorists”… about a couple of guys that use metal detectors in the English countryside, looking to strike hidden treasure. I think you would like that! Love Rook xox
The Detectorists sounds right my alley! And yes, Facebook is the weirdest thing. And not the good weird. I swear, people who would never sat rude things in person act it’s their job on Facebook…and then other people see them being rude and give them a thumbs up? wtf is that about?!
Thank you for the post! I have been missing you (and checking your blog an embarrassing amount of times for new stuff).
I used to have to drive for work and I got into audio books. Then I didn’t have to drive anymore and now I listen to them constantly, while I cook, while I clean the house, really any task where I use my hands but not my full thought. It’s the best for crocheting!
Anywho, here are some great audio books I’ve listened to- Justin Cronin’s The Passage, The Twelve, and The City Of Mirrors. Kinda creepy post apocalyptic, but really good. Ann Lee Huber- The Anatomist’s Wife (murder mystery solved by a painter/detective noblewoman in the 1700s!). Also, my library uses a service called OverDrive which is an ap for my Iphone, and I can check out and stream or download audio books through my phone, and I never have to go to the library- though I do! And it’s all free! I don’t know if you use that or something like it, but I can highly recommend it.
Thanks again for the new post! I too, am evidently a dinosaur, but rest assured that at least some of us still like pretty pictures and craft posts!
Oooooooo! Thank you for the list of audiobook recommendations – just typed them all into my phone. I had heard of The City of Mirrors especially. And I’m with you – pretty pictures and craft posts are always a thing 🙂
One more recommendation… I’m not even sure if there’s an audio book for it, but it’s so good, you should read it anyway. It’s called Geek Love, and it is one of the most bizarre, esoteric, wonderful novel I’ve read in maybe ever.
Thanks for the chuckles! Love it when you post.
Thank YOU Shanna 🙂