My neighbor saw this sunset the other night and had her camera handy – she e-mailed this photo to me and said she thought of me when she saw it.

A girl couldn’t ask for a better compliment than that.

Beautiful, wonderful photograph. Gorgeous radiating sunset. I’m glad she took the time to stop and appreciate it, and photograph it. And then she took the time to send it over to me so I could appreciate it, too!

Thanks, neighbor!

This is what I’m waking up today. Great colors, huh? This is a beautiful sky to see at 6:30 in the morning! It almost makes me want to enjoy fall – a little!

I put together three design mockups over the last day and a half. My eyes were burning lastnight, but I’m up bright and early (thanks, Tucker) and ready to code. One of my girlfriends (ahem.) is one of those theme flip-floppers, you know, the ones that change their design every day? Yes. She’s one of those. She sent me a .psd file to put a stylesheet together for her, so count that as my fourth design to put together. At least things are starting to get checked off my list!

The stuff that triggered my sensitive side on Thursday? Well, I think I’m going to clue in all of the people I attempted to defend on Thursday, I’ll make that announcement at the Hub. I know a lot of people just don’t think anything could happen “behind the scenes” of a meme. It is, after all, just a meme, but really – it’s not. There’s a lot of stuff that happens, a lot of it is piddly little stuff – a lot of it makes me want to throw in the towel. I’m relieved to have co-hostesses to help with some of the little things that, when combined, grow into a nice supersized headache, but I still feel very much responsible for every. little. thing. So with that in mind, I have some spilling of the guts to do to all of the participants.

I am still contemplating the blogging thing. My entries have become more sparse because I’m starting to not feel like I have something important to contribute to society every day. Personal stuff is much more personal, and business is something I can share because it’s not about my family. It’s just me and my creative stuff. I see a lot of business bloggers who try to have a personal blog attached to their business, but blog specific things that are content rich just to get traffic. Well, good for them. This is an honest blog and an honest blogger – I’m not in it to gain every freaking keyword on the web. That’s what my gallery is for. I can’t believe someone would pretend to be emotionally attached to a blog when they’re in it for the keywords. Whatever. I don’t want this blog to become that kind of blog – but I also don’t want to step over those boundaries I set for myself when I decided to remove the family chatter I was so used to – that had to go away to protect our privacy. I should use the dang features I installed here. That’s what I should do.

I’m rambling again. Woops.

Oh and for anyone who felt like you were being served up on that platter, or rather asking for it to be served up on a platter, that’s not what that was about. It was about folks who want it all their way all the time, regardless of guidelines and procedures. And then when they don’t or can’t have it their way, they openly gripe about it, like the guidelines and procedures are all wrong, and the hundreds of people who don’t have a problem with them are wrong – and they’re right. Urgh.

Back to work I go – where things are more colorful than the sunrise – and more peaceful than 6:30 in the morning!

I took this photo of our sweet little Wheaten Terrier pup, Tucker, a week or two ago. As soon as I opened the image on my computer I wanted to paint it – but on the other hand, it makes a great photograph, too. I always have a tendency to turn a great photo into a great oil painting, so I expect you’ll be seeing our sweet little boy on canvas at some point over the next couple of months. (I do have a spring exhibition to prepare for!)

Our Tuckerhead is doing well. He’s 5 months old now, needs a fur cut and sometimes a muzzle (we haven’t actually bought one, he could just use it sometimes!) – but otherwise he’s a good boy. I try to spend as much time with him as I can, especially now that the girls are in school and he seems to behave well when he’s just hanging out with me here in the office or out in the studio.

He gets a lot of attention out on walks, too – not many people are familiar with Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers, and everyone just loves him to pieces. (Including me, when he’s not yipping and yapping, that is!)

I just had to share this pretty portrait of my boy while it was fresh in my mind – I must get back to work now and finish up an illustration I’ve been working on!

Have a good one!

Brett Frieman was the kind of guy you just don’t forget. His contagious laugh, his bright smile. There was a sparkle in his eyes, and everyone around him was drawn to him and smiled because of him.

He had a sense of humor. Since high school, it seemed his mission was to make people around him laugh and enjoy life.

He was a kind, loving guy who watched his sister get married just a few years earlier, and adored hanging out with his two nephews, Jacob and Bryan.

Brett’s father had been retired for several years when he lost Brett. He worked at the World Trade Center, too.

There’s not much information to be found about Brett, but what I did find was touching. Former classmates honored his personality and verve. Fraternity brothers with nothing but fond memories of him. He seemed like the kind of guy you don’t forget, whose laughter and smile lingers in your memory.

I’m glad that he brought that kind of happiness to people. I can only imagine the grief his family still feels every year, thinking back to five years ago – and it seems like just yesterday that he smiled and said “see you later” to people he loved.

Brett was a shining example of how to live life. Laughing, smiling, and being good to the people around you. May the memories he left his loved ones with continue to warm their hearts through the hard days, when I know he’s missed like crazy.

Rest in Peace.

Source, Obituary

Don’t you hate it when you accidentally get superglue on the tip of your right index finger, and it dries and you can’t peel it off, and then when you go to use your trackball mouse you realize that the superglue has temporarily disabled any and all nerve endings in the tip of your finger, leaving you aimlessly scrolling your mouse and staring at your monitor hoping you’re rolling it in the right direction? Then when you stop in frustration and start to try to pick that invisible layer of superglue off you end up tearing your skin in the process? And the thing that you superglued? Still busted. Don’t you just hate when that happens?

Yeah, me too.

P.S. I’m like a full week behind on e-mail now. I’m not ignoring you, I promise.

• Kids. First day of school. Today. YAHOO!
• Physical Therapy. Today. Not what I expected. Cool. We’ll see. Pelvic tilts are interesting!
• Project (-2) days until launch. Negative Two. I wanted to launch on Wednesday. I’m working on it!
• Behind on e-mail. Very behind. I need to launch, then get caught up on everything else.
• Totally still reeling from the Peacock.
• Hubby got a promotion & raise. Congratulations, honey!
• Another one of my photos is featured this week: WeAreQC. You can see it a little bigger here on my blog.

TTFN!

It’s probably no surprise that I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. Stuff happens, stuff that hits the core of who I am and what I do. I pull up into myself and that’s just how it is. I wonder sometimes if it’s worth pushing forward, the cost and losses involved along the way are extremely difficult for me to process.

That being said, I’ve still been pouring my heart and fingers into a project – I’ve spent well over 40 hours on it already and have a little ways to go before its done. I’ve been learning so much, teaching myself, picking up tidbits here and there, and I’m anxious to get it further along so I can share it with you. I’m hoping it will just be another day or two, since I do have clients waiting patiently for their projects, too.

I had a chat with my sister yeserday about some of the e-mail forwards that I receive. It’s one thing to get the occasional forward from someone I talk to regularly – but it’s quite another to get forwarded mail from people who only ever send me forwarded mail. I cannot tell you how fast I hit delete. It doesn’t even get a chance open in my preview pane, people.

PUBLIC NOTICE: If you’re going to take the time to select 30 people out of your address book to forward mail to, you could also take the time to copy and paste the thing into a new e-mail, or take off all the prior forwards. I am NOT going to open 20 attached to’s to get to the message in Outlook Express. NOT. If it’s not RIGHT THERE when I open my mail, I delete it. Unless you have a history of poor forwarding etiquette, then I don’t even subjects with a “Fw:” in the subject.

I’ve decided that if this continues on, I’m going to take action over the holidays. Retribution, you might call it. Please, if you’d like a set of these cards, do let me know. Let’s Stop the Fw’in© Madness!

Custom Designed
Stop the Fw’in Madness© Holiday Greetings
by Leanne

Addressing the Envelope:

(Intended Recipient); Bobby Jo; Grandma; Kelly Sue; Tink; Emily; Picknboogers@aol.com

Address

City, State Zip

The Card Front:

A beautiful snowy scene, moonlit glow, sprinkles and glitter, “Holiday Greetings” verbage.

The Card Inside:

Wishing you, and everyone else, a Wonderful Holiday Season.

Please forward this card on to 10 important people in the next 5 1/2 minutes. Just leave it in the original envelope, put it in a bigger one, and send it on.

If you don’t, Santa isn’t going to bring you a dayum thing.

Love, (your name)

There. Now if you happen to see these pop up somewhere this season with someone elses name on the copyright, don’t be alarmed. It’s just my luck.

I don’t doodle nearly enough. I should doodle more often.

It’s storming here today, and I’m always very cautious paranoid about my electronic equipment when lightening is nearby. So, while waiting for the orange blob to pass over, I doodled.

I started with the doggie, of course. Tucker was lying beside me and wouldn’t hold still for me to look at his nose, so I just guesstimated – it’s more of a caracature anyway. When he tore off the couch like a bullet, whipping around in the next room and using my face as his next launch pad to circle, I quickly finished his doodle and moved on to the cat. He kinda torqued me off, that little Tucker. (ahem.) He’s in his kennel now. Just in case you were wondering.

So, the cat. I do love to draw cats and paint cats. In fact, I painted a cat on Artpad once, did you ever see that? (Click Here) In case you never saw it. There’s a lot of fur, so you might want to watch it on high speed. Anyhoo, there’s something about cat eyes that I just love, love to paint, and love to make look glassy and glossy and dimensional.

Of course once you doodle a cat, you have to doodle a bird. Of course I doodled a hummy! I get to watch them so much, their little birdy bodies are embedded in my virtual memory.

Lastnight while I was hummy watching, Chickeymonkey came up beside me right at the window. I thought the little guy (actually, girl, I think) would have been startled off, but she just stopped eating, came down to Chick’s height in front of the window and hovered there as if to say hello. I’m talking inches. 3 maybe? Just the depth of the glass that separated us. Mouths dropped and eyes got big, as you can imagine. She did the same to me – when she arrived at the feeder I was already at the window, but I thought she was just looking at her reflection in the window. Guess not, huh?

So. Yes. After I drew the hummy I got to thinking about that, and started doodling the girl. The girl has longer hair than I have, and it’s curly, and in my head she’s a blonde. So I’m not sure what that all means, but hey. It’s a doodle. She’s also got one of those zookeeper’y nature type hats on (sans the net), and she’s wearing a shirt with my acronym. How cool, I didn’t know I sold apparel! Really. I don’t. Not yet, anyway.

Last, but not least, the wierd squiggly thing and the raindrop, because as I said earlier, it’s raining here today and the dang lightening bolt zig-zagged my retna.

There you have it, anatomy of a doodley doo by Leanne. If you’d like one of these doodles developed into a blog graphic or something just for you, just give me a holler. Actually, e-mail would be better. Yes, e-mail is good. No hollering, please. My head is still sorta reeling from being a launching pad.

Comes in nifty little packages that your husband gets out of the hotel vending machines.

Use precautions while swallowing.

You could choke if you don’t drink liquids after consuming these products.

Contains crumbs.

Not suitable for children. Parents only.

Yes, everything needs to come with a long explanation and a warning.

Lisa – you should only eat these after you sign the terms of use stating that you fully understand that you – and not anyone else – are solely responsible for whether or not you use common sense while consuming these products.

Lindsey – thank you. I sortof liked the whole mouse thing, I suppose I should have given apt warning that post was not for the mouse-weary.

Fruitful – they’re not so dry during the chewing process, so no need to add liquid at that point. However, if you inhale them whole, it is likely that they’ll become lodged whereby a swig of something (non-toxic, of course- common sense rule again) will prevent death.

Taba – Amos is just famous. Sortof like me, he’s probably a jack of all trades. Or at least the ones in the field of baked goods.

Robin – If you eat them while driving and talking on your cell, well, that’s just rude and irresponsible behavior. However, if the person on the phone doesn’t mind all the chewing and drinking, more power to you. I’m not sure how many hands you have, but perhaps you could hire someone to put them in your mouth and offer you a drink with a straw so that you don’t kill other people on the road? Also, I do hope you understand that Amos is not responsible for the deaths of the people you kill while you’re totally ignoring all those other people on the road, with all the talking and chewing and swallowing and drinking.

Laura – If they aren’t discreetly left behind by my husband after he’s purchased them in bulk out of the hotel vending machines, chances are I won’t buy them. I stock ice creams, but not other chewy individually wrapped goodies because I eat them all at once. There’s no warning label on those packages, so maybe I should sue?

Sallwood – Twix are wrong. They’re packaged all wrong – there should definitely be more than two in a package. I’ll consult my attorney about that, I bet I could sue.