"Why haven't you written?" (playing catch-up: cats, making art, demons, and other things that are fun)

My new blog looks awesome. No, I'm not tooting my own horn; it was renovated for me by web-designing, erotic-novel-writing, Amazon-best-selling, big-hair-sporting, wine-spilling, Fireball-whiskey-drinking, obese-cat-loving, mustache-obsessing, cute-frock-wearing, dear friend Jessica Manuszak (check out her website, by the way.. it's out of this world). Why have I been away, you might ask? I was bashful of my blog. The color scheme was awful, the text was repugnant, and I don't know how to code. I can now put on my fancy new patent-leather shoes and red lipstick, stick a thermos of wine and a couple of bananas in my backpack, and go out into this big wide world and blog without shame.

No, really... I just got busy, and I know that's a horrible excuse, but my life has become ridiculously, obnoxiously fun. Since I last blogged on September 13th:

Part of a new series I started from my travels in Europe

entitled "These walls we hide behind"; acrylic on 3 canvas panels.

I flew, bussed and train-ed my way across Europe for a month with my adorable musician boyfriend, my camera, and my sketchbook; started selling artwork like it's my job (which it is. Oh my god, it is!); created dozens of new pieces, both commissioned and otherwise (I now have a 6-month wait list for commissioned works-- imagine that); had work in several exhibitions, charity events and galleries around the country; learned how to make my own boxes for large, obnoxious pieces of artwork; spent a Saturday watching a marathon of Law & Order: SVU until I was afraid to leave my home; applied for a dozen juried exhibitions and residencies (some of which were fruitful, some of which were not, and some of which I'm still waiting for a verdict on); started selling signed giclee prints of several pieces of work through both my Facebook page and my Etsy store, and am running to the post office every other day to ship orders; traveled to the Bahamas with my best friend on a drunken booze cruise and consumed my body weight in free Bud Lite; ate at least thirty brats; ran a hundred miles to get those damn brats and Bud Lites off my ass; consumed hundreds of glasses of boxed wine; drove halfway and back across the country; celebrated countless happy hours and 2-for-1 drink specials with my friends, just because; cleaned out my refrigerator; organized four exhibitions at the small sassy gallery I work at; drank more sake at i-Sushi than I believed humanly possible on several occasions; and adopted the cutest darn kitten you've ever seen-- baby Olive, both the light of my life and the bane of my existence:

Oh my god, just look at her. She's so damn cute. Look again. 

Here she is, 'helping' me in my studio.

And here she is, suffering with mom and dad through a Sunday hangover. 

..but most of all, crazily, unbelievably, I've started making a living creating art. I've been working my hiney off, but I've been having utterly, ridiculously, so much fun in my life. Why? Because I actually am completely passionate about what I'm doing. I took a risk and crawled out of an emotionally draining, soul-sucking 9-to-5 hellhole and started doing what I love. I built myself a sticky spider net of the most amazing, supportive, and hilarious people in the whole wide world. I started saying yes to things I thought I didn't have time for (excepting this blog. Sorry). I cut people out of my life that made me feel mad, or dejected, or simply had nothing positive to say (goodbye, Facebook bigots-- I'll be speaking to you never, although it may be awkward when we run into each other in person in the cereal section at the grocery store after I've deleted you). I started smiling at homeless people (last night a homeless gentleman, assumedly not in his correct mind, called me a "demon mother-****er for this, which was not an expected response but entirely appreciated for the laugh). I started a "thankful jar", which is a pickle jar that sits on my bed stand-- every morning, I write down some thing that I'm thankful for on a slip of paper and pop it in the jar. This serves two purposes: I wake up every morning on the right side of the bed because I force myself to give a bit of thanks for anything, large or small, in my life, and I wake up every morning smelling pickles. I stopped worrying about what would happen if I failed at my dreams, was evicted from my apartment and had to join those same bums in the park and drink a 40 from a paper bag. And somehow... things just started to fall into place.

I don't want to blather on and on and on. I only wanted to say, I'm back. And I'm excited about what's going down this year.

Cheers! 

..and thank you, thank you, thank you. To everyone that supports my work, reads this blog, makes me laugh, gives me chocolate, drinks a beer with me. I love you.

Also, mad props to Ashley at The Middle Finger Project for being, hands-down, the best ass-kickingly inspirational blog out there for entrepreneurs. As I told her, I just want to pinch her cheeks and then buy her a shot. Get gutsy, people.