A helping hand (and some new art too)

Hello all! It's been a while.. but I'm back.

In the midst of all my freelance work I'm doing, I like to break off and do something different. Yesterday, I was frustrated with a portrait. So instead of hauling the entire thing to my parents house to work on, I brought something else to work on. And in a total of 1.5 hours, this is what I completed:

This is Mary Kay Ash herself. She is, obviously the founder of Mary Kay cosmetics. Unfortunately, she passed on Thanksgiving day in 2001.

It's amazing what I can accomplish sometimes when I'm not doing the work I'm supposed to be doing!

Here is another drawing that I completed a while ago. This is Rich Franklin, the UFC fighter. Todd trains with him every now and then and we often see him when we go out for sushi. He's a great guy - very down to earth. This drawing is for Todd!


Rich is drawn on an 11 x 17 piece of bristol board and Mary Kay is drawn on an 9 x 12 piece of bristol board.

Also, look for me in the December/January issue of Cincy Magazine as their featured local artist. My drawing of John Wayne will be in there! To get a free subscription, go to www.cincymagazine.com or look for it on newstands.

Playing catch up!

Wow! I have a few things to fill you in on!

First... my sweet kitty of 17 years had cancer. She had a tumor on her leg for a while, and I thought it was nothing. So, it started bleeding, and then I though... "Hmmm... maaaaybe I should take her to the vet!" So I did, and alas, it was cancer. Sarcoma, to be exact. But I decided to put her into surgery to have it removed, and she's all better! She's back to her normal self! Except her shaven leg and 10 stitches :) Those come out next week..

For your viewing pleasure.. lol


And my baby Missi fast asleep....



Next, I enrolled in hip hop dance classes... I think I start Monday... I'm so excited!

And I also signed my 2nd team member in Mary Kay! One more away from Red Jacket! I'm sooooo excited I can hardly stand it. Her name is Melanie and we went to high school together - we also danced on the Dance Team together. She's going to be sooo great! I'm so excited for her!

So I decided it's time to redesign the website. I'm ready for a new look and I've been researching other websites and brainstorming ideas to incorporate into my website. I want kind of a sketchy, hand drawn look and feel to it... soo, as I was sitting in the doctors office lobby today, I drew up some words that'll be used for my links and such.. here's a preview:
So that's what I have so far... I'll keep you posted!!

Frank and I got into an arguement. We're not speaking.

So no trip to New York. The morning I was supposed to leave, my boss called and told me she had the flu. So bummed!! But Todd was there when I found out and he really cheered me up - he is so great.

But I did go to Destin! That was amazing! It was in the high 50's low 60's, but hey - there wasn't any snow! We were in t-shirts and flip flops and you could so tell that we were the tourists! The locals were in hats, gloves, earmuffs, scarves and winter coats! I couldn't believe it. I was running on the beach barefoot, jumping for joy - yay upper 50's!!!!

The trip was for Mary Kay, so it was awesome. We had a lot of awesome training and I met the 'who's who of Mary Kay'. Gloria Mayfield Banks, Allison Lamarr.. the most amazing, positive women you'll meet. Not to mention how awesome it was to spend 3 days in Destin, Florida with a bunch of your close girlfriends!!


Ok.. onto the art world.
I had last Wednesday off work - snow day!! It was so awesome! So I got bored and decided that I was tired of living in a white walled apartment (it reminded me of an asylum or something). I got some paint out from my previous apartment and preped up!

It's a beautiful sage green, and well the plan was to just paint the one wall in my art studio (aka dining room) but I got a little carried away.. here's what I did...



I know I know.. I need curtains.. it's a work in progress! But I had a lot of fun doing this - and it didn't take me that long!

I have finished Frank Sinatra.. sort of. We're not talking right now, me and Frank. I've tried and tried to get his face just right and I can't get it!! It's so annoying.. so I had to put it aside for a bit and recharge.

Next up: James Dean!

Todd bought a poster of James Dean last night and brought it over as a surprise! I needed a good photo reference before I started painting and Todd decided to take this upon himself to find one. So, I'll probably start James before I completely finish Frank.

I need to get on the ball - I have an art show on March 22nd, down in Covington at Fat Shannon's Pub. Actually, I might have to check on that: I just got word that the owner is selling the bar to someone else. I'm not sure if the new owner knows... I'll keep you posted on that!!

But I'm trying to get a lot of work done so I have enough to show. My friend Marley is going to be there as well. She's a fashion major at UC in the DAAP program. Very talented!

As soon as I find out if I'm still able to show at Fat's, I'll post it up on here!

Go to work and give God something to bless.

I heard something last week that really just stuck with me.

'Go to work and give God something to bless.'

So I made a big 'ol decision this past week: I'm going back to church.

I've been fighting it for so long, and I've decided I can't anymore. My life is better when I go to mass. It just is. And the thing is, when I made that decision to go back, things in my life have gotten better. My Mary Kay business has somewhat flourished; just this weekend I sold $400. I've been just happier all around and my relationship with Todd has just been amazing. I couldn't ask for anything more right now. God has blessed me and I'm just so amazed at what it has done for me in the past week.

I finally found a church that I want to go to; after moving to KY, I haven't found anything that really stuck out at me. It just hit me like a truck one day: St. Rose Church! It's so beautiful, and I was baptized there 23 years ago.

It's so old fashioned on the inside.. I love it.

My boyfriend Todd has been the most amazing support system with my Mary Kay business. Not only is he cheering me, helping set my goals for how much I'm going to make in 1 week, but he's also wearing one of my pink Cadillac 'Drive the Dream' bracelets. That's huge. He's been my sales rep, recruiter.. you name it, he's it! I have a feeling he's going to be one of my main driving points to getting my Cadillac and full time career with Mary Kay. I'm so glad that he can be a part of it. Yay you Toddie :)

So, I've gotta keep on keepin' on.. lots of goals to accomplish before the 24th! I leave for New York on the 25th!

Wish me luck people! I'm movin on up!!

Recharging the batteries... well almost.

Just when you think you're on top of the world, some mean lady says some not so nice things to you over the phone and you get thrown right back down to the ground and you gotta start all over. Recharge the batteries and keep your chin up.

That was my night last night. Except that when I tried to recharge the batteries (which in my case is reading a book while taking a hot bath), the hot water ran out before I got enough water in the tub. So I sat there, with the water barely covering my thighs, too uncomfortable and cold to even pick up my book. Such a bust.

Earlier that night, I sat down and got out my customer profiles and started getting their referrals together and making a list of women to call. I called 17 women and of those 17, 9 said no, 7 didn't answer and 1 booked. It was a little frustrating, I'm not going to lie. Especially when 2 ladies I talked to were somewhat rude. It's the law of the numbers though.. so oh well.

Then came the bath issue... whatever, I'm over it.

Anyway, I called my wonderful boyfriend and he made me feel so much better about everything. I felt better after that and I fell asleep on the couch reading.

When it was still December, I couldn't wait for the year to be over. There was just too much of everything happening. Too much stuff going on, too much money being spent, too much food being eaten, too much, too much, too much!!!! It was insane. So after Christmas was over, I felt relieved. I finally had time to do nothing. Just catch back up on some stuff at home, nothing with a deadline. But then, the first week of January, everything kicked back up again and I feel so let down about it. I kept thinking, "I thought I was going to have way more time to just relax and find myself and get myself back on track with my jobs and my life and my spirituality! And I totally don't have the time anymore!" At least, that's what it feels like. Maybe I've just told myself that so many times that I believe it, when it's probably not even that bad. Who knows.

My Wonder Woman is almost done, so I'll be posting that soon. And maybe one day, if I'm lucky, I'll finish Frank Sinatra too. Here's hoping..

I hope everyone had a great New Years! Mine was perfect, so I can't ask for anything more.

Oh! And I just found out that I'm going to New York at the end of the month for work! I'm so excited! I'm going with my boss, who is super cool. So I get back Wednesday night, and Thursday morning I leave for Destin until Monday! 2 places I've never been before, and I'm going to both in a matter of one week! Crazy!

Anyway, back to work... until next time...

I am the Queen.

Well, where to begin... lots has happened over the holidays. Procrastination, accomplishments, friendships were lost, relationships were started... among other things. And oh yeah.. it's New Year's Eve! It's been a little hectic.

For starters, I was Queen of Sales again last week in my unit for Mary Kay. Go me! I sold over $700! Unfortunately, meeting was canceled last week because of the bad weather and we were able to celebrate.. bummer. But that's ok... I'll just be queen again soon!

I have some doodles I was working on at my art show this past Final Friday. It's Wonder Woman. She's not finished yet, but as soon as she is, I'll scan her in and get her up here. I do, however, have a drawing of Hawkgirl. I started her a while ago, but had to stop because of my freelance load, so I finally finished her this past week. Here she is:




(And just for the record, the scanner does my drawings NO justice in the shading department.)

So I think February will be my last month at the Pendleton now, not January. I'll be out of town the last week of January, and I want to be there for my last month. I'll keep you posted with any details.

That's all for now, back to work...

Proud Mary, Keep On Burnin'

Yesterday was an absolutely amazing day. It was a day that made me proud to be who I am and do what I do.

In the Pink Bubble: I interviewed 2 ladies, and for once, it didn't bother me that they didn't sign. I mean, I don't need them. It happened for a reason. I had a 6 person skin care class and sold my first roll up bag, not to mention it was around a $500 class. And I got quite a few second appointments scheduled with the guests. BIG deal.

I finished that painting up - of the CEO and the COO. And I just wasn't completely happy with the end result but I couldn't look at it any longer. I stared at it for too long and I just couldn't work on it any more. So I did what small changes I could and sealed it with a protectant. I loaded it up in my car and prayed. Prayed that she'd love it even though I wasn't happy with my work.

Well, I met up with her and she loved it. Thank God. It was a great project for the experience, but I'm glad it's off my plate - it was causing me a lot of stress, because I knew it was important that it looked like the actual people. So check that off my list! Done!

I had drinks with my parents last night; that was fun. And then I saw Twilight! For the second time! I was going to go again tonight, but I don't think I'm going to. I just have so much to do before I leave for vacation on Wednesday and I'm going to my parents for dinner. I asked my mom to make my favorite meal for dinner - she did - and I don't want to seem rude and rush through it just so I can see the movie I've already seen twice this weekend. Bummer, but it's not the end of the world.

Now I've got 2 house portraits to do before Christmas. So hopefully I bust through those, and I mean fast.

Work? Well, sure!! I love it!

I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And I can't thank anyone but Denise, my director. Last week was pretty hectic. I was busting my butt trying to get 10 appointments on my calendar for Mary Kay, trying to start/finish 4 freelance projects, working my 9-5:30 day job and all the while having issues with my friends, especially the best of my friends. It was rough.

I sat down with Denise last Tuesday and just let it out. It felt so good. Finally, someone to open up to. We talked about many things; life, my best friend, my job. Specifically, my Mary Kay business. It turns out, I was working my business like a full time business. Holy crap! No wonder I was exhausted! I already have a full time job.. I don't need another one on top of it!

So I spent the rest of the week just being steady with my life and it suited me just fine. Go me :)

Next up: Freelance World

Ugh. Let me just start off with that. This painting is kicking my butt big time. It's a painting of the CEO and the COO of a local construction company. The one guy looks ok, but the other looks all wrong. Like a muppet, if I had to get specific. ;) It's due by Saturday afternoon. Which is no big deal, but I have to work on it MORE tonight to get it to look like him so it'll dry in enough time. Oil paints... take... forever.... to dry...
I'd post a picture to get feedback, but frankly I'm too embarrassed! When it's done I'll post it up.

In the middle of all this, I decided to take on 3 more freelance projects. What was I thinking? Someone better stop me next year before I say yes too many times. I'd like to spend my Thanksgiving vacation not working.. but apparently, subconsciencely I like to work over vacation.

It's not that I don't like working- I mean I guess you technically wouldn't call it work for me. It's drawing, so I like it. But I like to have some down time where I can just relax for a few days.. as everyone surely does.

So the projects I have are a logo design and 2 house portraits, one of those will be shrunk down into Christmas cards. So those have to be sent out sometime. Good thing the printing company I use has a 24 hour turn around. Thank you OvernightPrints.com! I'll get them done... as I always do. I've noticed that I work better under pressure anyway :)



This past weekend was my friend Mary's wedding. It was sooo beautiful! Her affianced blog is on my list of blogs (to the right). Check it out; she has some fun entries. Her wedding was Wizard of Oz themed; she even had red shoes!! She also had a little photo booth in the back with Wizard of Oz props and a polaroid camera for her photo guest book. I've included a picture of my good friend Captain and I rockin out to AC DC (I think...).


A fabulous time was had by all! We both made some new friends and had plenty of free beer (Thank you Mary & Chad!) Congrats to them!! They are on their honeymoon right now.. I'm so jealous.

Anyway- 5:30 is just right around the corner. Time to go to the gym and work off those couple Reese's Peanut Butter cups I had earlier.....

Weekend getaway

Do you ever have those days when you're just down? When nothing seems to go right, everyone seems to be avoiding you and you just can't get that smile on your face. You mope around the house, looking for chocolate, waiting for someone to text you, just to give you something to do to keep the bad mood off your brain. Well, that was my night tonight. I don't know what did it, but something just brought me down from the clouds.

So I started to paint to get my frustration out. It did help for a bit. I got pretty far on the commission piece I'm working on of the CEO and the COO of a construction company to be hung in the front lobby of the business. It's turning out ok, it'll be my first full color oil painting of people. This is definitely an adventure for me. A learning experience.

It's 1:13 in the morning and I need to go to bed. I have a big day tomorrow. I took the day off work to go down to Bowling Green KY for Shaw Area Advance. It's a Mary Kay thing. Pam Shaw is our national so myself and a bunch of others in my unit are road trippin' it down to BG tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait; I love to be in the space of these women. Very positive. No backstabbing. It's awesome. So hopefully while I sleep tonight, my bad mood will get wiped off my slate and tomorrow it'll all be better. I'll be coming back late Saturday night, so it'll be a nice weekend trip.

It definitely felt good to write this all out. My cat isn't exactly the best listener.

A little crazy

::Sigh::

That's the first time I've been able to really breath all day. Or week, for that matter. It's been absolutely insane. Parts of this weekend kinda sucked. Not to mention Monday was the worst day I've had in a longgg while. Not only was I stuck at work from 9am- 7:30pm, but I had a bunch of interviews for Mary Kay cancel on me. That was frustrating. So I pushed through it and went home, went to bed and started over the next day.

Tuesday was a little better. Even though my guest couldn't come to my Mary Kay success meeting that night, I took it as a nice break. I could just relax at meeting and catch up with some of my unit members. Denise and I were able to talk about some things that I’ve been meaning to talk to her about. But something happened last night that gave me hope. It was small and maybe nothing that anybody noticed but it put a smile on my face.

I was given the opportunity to stand up in front of everyone at meeting and present our guests to everyone. As I was standing up there in front of everyone, asking the guests questions, I could see myself in the brown director suit. I could see myself leading my own unit and leading my own success meetings. I want it so bad, but I know it’s going to take some time. I’m ok with that.

Later that evening, I was talking with Denise and I told her about that vision I saw of my as a director. She told me she got chills. I love her, she’s just an amazing, motivated women.

I can’t wait to show people that I succeeded at this endeavor of my life.

We’ll see how it goes.. who knows what the future holds for me. When I’m old and gray, and I look back on my life, I’ll know that everything that happened was supposed to happen. For some reason or another. He’s got a plan for everything.

All I'm asking for is a little respect

Last night, I was making phone calls for Mary Kay, booking new customers. I had 13 names to call, and even though I was tired and the couch looked so comfy, I sat at my desk and called every one of those names. I could tell my discipline was starting to kick in. I got a lot of answering machines, but I got 4 new bookings and that’s enough to put a smile on my face.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being involved with Mary Kay, and ultimately, just great parenting on my mom and dad’s part, it’s to respect people. And to treat them as I would like to be treated. Thankfully, Mary Kay Ash founded her company on the Golden Rule, and she also taught us that our lives should be in this order: Faith first, Family second, Career third. A week or so ago, I was making more booking calls, and 2 girls scheduled facials with me. I had them booked, and I told them how every thing would play out. When I called to confirm with them, they never picked up. Their facials are this week, and still no word. It’s just rude that they would choose to ignore my phone call and messages. It will not hurt my feelings if they decided to cancel. But please let me know, so I can open that time slot back up for someone who is more willing.

I wish more people had respect today. Whatever happened to treating people with courtesy and kindness? I make sure I do that every single day of my life, and you know what? It makes me happy to make other people happy. At the end of the day, I think back at my actions throughout the day. It makes me smile to know that I made someone else smile that day. If you have a positive outlook on life, I truly believe that it feeds into your everyday life and actions. You become like the 5 people you hang around, so choose them wisely. So if you’re hanging around cynic, pessimistic people all the time, you yourself will become cynic and pessimistic. But if you have a positive attitude and demeanor, one day, it’ll feed into the people around you.

Most people that know me, know that I can’t stand when someone doesn’t RSVP to an invite to something. I recently was invited to a party, that asked for an RSVP- regrets only. Well, the invite got lost in the jumble of papers on my counter, and I had forgotten all about it. I couldn’t make it to the party and I didn’t RSVP. I have to apologize to her, because it was wrong of me to not reply. No matter the reason. It’s plain common courtesy to RSVP or just give people the respect they deserve.

I’ve preached, hollered, and screamed about this stuff a thousand times over. Unfortunately the only way people will start to act on common courtesy and respect others is if you yourself set an example. That is what I do. Try to set examples for others, so that someday they’ll see that it’s just plain common courtesy to respect others and treat them how you want to be treated.

The point I’m trying to make is that, while making my booking calls last night, 2 of the women I had called, and left messages for called me back, like I had kindly asked them to. I couldn’t have been happier. They took the time out of their night to take a chance, call me back and book a facial with me. And I will take care of them and their skin, no matter if they buy from me or not. I finally had an ‘ah-ha!’ moment and realized, that this business is not about me. It’s not about the money. It’s about giving confidence to women who may not have it. It’s giving hope to women who cannot find it. It’s giving them a reason to become independent and have a way to reach their dreams. Whatever your goals may be, shoot for the moon, if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.

Remember, you were born an original. Don’t die a copy!

Corporate America

I just read an article about how a mob laid-off workers in India killed their CEO. Let that sink in for a minute. Can you believe how horrible people are sometimes? I mean, I know you lost your job, maybe the CEO was an ass, but that's NO reason to kill him! I was laid off back in February. It sucked, but at the same time, I was happy after I realized that it was all for a reason. I wasn't being creative enough and I was only staying there because of the people. I saw that this was exactly what I needed; some much needed time off and a new beginning.

With those 4 weeks off, I utilized my time well. I sent out lots of resumes, I did a lot of freelance work and I slept in.. a lot :) The 4th week of unemployment, I got hired on at the first place I sent my resume to and interviewed. But before I knew that would happen, I actually decided to walk down a completely different road in my life as well. I decided to say yes to the Mary Kay opportunity. I had the opportunity offered to me a few times and I declined politely every time, claiming I was 'too busy' to do that. What I've learned is that busy people will ALWAYS be busy. I love to be busy. When I said 'no' the first time, I was just as busy as when I said 'yes' the 4th time she asked me. And that was about 4 months later. Being busy is perfect for having a career with Mary Kay. You have many circles of people to build your business with. Not many people realize this. You fit Mary Kay in your life where you can.

Reading that article today about the murdered CEO, getting laid off at my job without any warning and not to mention the nightmares I have about corporate America just confirms that a career with Mary Kay is something I see in my future. That will give me the freedom to stay at home and do my artwork. Not to mention that Mary Kay is one of the 3 recession-proof industries in the world. The other 2 are alcohol/cigarettes and entertainment. Women will always wash their face and put some sort of makeup on. Did you know that in the 80's, when there was a huge recession in the economy, Mary Kay was at its peak. It was actually doing wonderfully well in an economy that was failing. Mary Kay Ash started the company in the 60's as a wig company. When she realized that wigs were not recession proof, at least not as recession proof as cosmetics, she starting selling makeup. And so we have Mary Kay Cosmetics today, 45 years later.

I know that in my future, even though I have a Graphic Design degree, I want to pursue my career with Mary Kay. I will be driving that pink Cadillac someday and I won't have to worry about making sure I have enough money for rent this month.

I can have a career in my art. That I know will happen. Someday I'll get my big break and have artwork hanging in a restaurant or my own gallery and hopefully that's what I'll be known for. It's my passion and I'll do whatever it takes to get it out there. Short term sacrifices for long term success.