New painting, nature, and gadgets

I finished a painting today. It is not the one I was commissioned to do. This one I have been doing in between that one.

It is titled “Dracula’s Castle”
The painting is on 9x12 canvas and done in acrylic paints.
Painting is of Dracula's Castle at sunset.
Debating on whether its finished or if I want to add the small black trees on either side of the castle… For now at least it is finished unless I change my mind.
I will take better quality pictures later.
Yes this painting will be available for purchase. Let me know if you are interested in buying it.

I have gotten a lot more work done on the commissioned painting as well. So lots of painting has been going on recently. It’s not over yet either. there is still more to be done.


We were able to make it out to a small portion of a forest the other day.
Lots of beautiful things to be seen there. The greenery went along a river with small ponds along the path that I am told house tadpoles at times.
This tree had really beautiful roots. The picture does not do it justice. I could not get a wider shot to show it all sadly. I am still happy with the picture I was able to take.
This is a large tree near the opening of the forested area that I took a picture of as it was getting dark out. I love trees like this with large twisting branches that look eerie at night.

This is a picture of a small abandoned old beaver dam I found. There were two of them but this one was in better shape than the other one was.

I was able to collect fern leaves, moss, pine cones, and various other items during our little adventure. I hope to go back soon as well as visit other forests and desert areas. Lots of things to explore now that it has warmed up.

Speaking of nature… My garden is growing in nicely. I have been putting the trays in the sun now that the sun is actually around. *laughs* Many more pots have sprouted up since they were planted. I got the things I needed to plant them outside when the time comes.

Pictures of the two trays I have planted. I would plant more… but I have pretty much found all the seed packets of herbs and flowers that would be useful to me around here, and do not really want to go through the process of ordering more packets online.

Been working hard on shop products and formulating new ideas for future items. Still have more items to type up descriptions for and list. It will all get done in due time.
I may have another booth set up here in a couple months, maybe sooner… Need to figure out the date(s) but so far its a go.

My writing has been put on hold to make way for all my other works. It is still on my mind of course but not being worked on at the moment.






I will be upgrading my phone soon and I am not sure which phone I want… I have two I am thinking about. The Droid 2 Global and the Thunderbolt. Both have features I like about them. I wanted the Droid 2 Global because of its sliding out keyboard. The phone I have now has both a keyboard and a touch screen that I can use with my nails and not just fingertips. They have not made any phones with a touch screen that I can do that with that I have seen. The Droid has a 5 megapixel camera while the thunderbolt has an 8 megapixel. Though the thunderbolt does not have a slide out keyboard like the droid 2 global does. The droid is a 3g and the thunderbolt is a 4g. It is a big plus for the thunderbolt with it being a 4g phone… I am just not sure how I could handle not having a keyboard that slides out. They aren’t making many phones with keyboards anymore so I guess I would have to get used to an all touch screen phone at some point but still, the choice is tough. The thunderbolt costs a bit more but it also just came out and is 4g rather than 3g. I honestly am torn.

On another gadget note I do like the new tablet they came out with, the xoom. I might honestly like it more than the galaxy tab… its got a lot better… well everything.. ram, processor, memory.. etc, though the galaxy tab still has the side benefit of fitting in a purse which is handy for business and portability. The xoom is not too much bigger but a bit big for a purse, well my purse at least. I am sure there are purses it would fit in. I also like the bluetooth keyboard you can get to go with either. Both are spendy though.
The galaxy tab can be less expensive now if you buy the tab with a 2 year service contract. I however did not want to put service on it and would have used it with wifi connections. The xoom does not have a 2 year price to it yet and is up there price wise as well.
The xoom while a bit larger is still really easy to handle in my opinion. I still like either better than an Ipad or Ipad 2. 


Lots of things to plan, create, and do… And still I want to do more *laughs*

Anyways I believe now is a good time for some tea so I will end this post now.
~Lotus

Gardens, the welcoming of Spring, and paintings

It has been pretty busy for me for the past little while.  Been slowly stocking up on new shop supplies like bottles, jars, wire, etc.
There was a beautiful Super Moon out Saturday night. I was able to take advantage of the full moon and blessed all the little herb and flower seed packets I got recently under the moon. I planted those seeds Sunday. This is one of the trays of herbs from my garden which I am starting indoors.
Its a horrible phone snapshot but I wanted to show you what I have going on.


It has been a long time since I have had my own garden to tend to. Too long if you ask me. I did have two pots of herbs and some potted flowers last summer but I don’t really count that as much of a real garden. Almost no harvesting was involved, though yes I still had to water them.

Last years flowers.

I loved all the bright mix of colors. It was kind of a spur of the moment garden.
This one I have planted yesterday was a bit more planned out yet still a very spur of the moment thing since I had only thought about wanting one and then one day just decided to get the stuff to do it while I was at the store. I am glad I did :)


All the thoughts about different gardens reminded me of some beautiful terrarium pictures I had come across awhile back. I had thought of trying this at some point if I ever came across the right plants to put in them.

Here are some of the lovely pictures I came across.

 


They are all so very beautiful and inspiring. Most require you to spray them with water every day… while the ones in the boxes at the top I believe have air herbs in them and only require you to spray them once a week. They are lovely and I would love to have a bunch of these scattered throughout my house.

Putting them in large apothecary jars is defiantly something I would like for obvious reasons.


One of the things I love about the Spring and Fall seasons is all the extra creativity and inspiration. My muse and I are a lot more active during these months. I get more paintings done, more things made, get to enjoy all that nature has to offer.
In saying all of that, I have been working on the painting I have been commissioned to do again. Lots of work getting done on it now rather than small little bits and pieces. I knew it might get put on the back shelf during Winter. I am just am more inspired to paint during the Spring and do not wish to force creativity to flow when there is none for that subject. I have yet to train my muse to be there on command. I am not sure I will ever be able to… but at least I know when to predict it to pop up and help inspire me in the right ways.
Not only have I been working diligently on this painting, which is turning out quite wonderfully, but I have also started working on an old unfinished painting of mine. I had put it on the back shelf for quite awhile not sure what to do with it… I decided today that the lotus needed to be repainted. I already knew the yellow was not the color I wanted but was not sure what color I DID want. I decided on two purples and letting a bit of the yellow peak through. That’s what I worked on today. I also added a little bit of dark green to the outer edges of the lily pads.
This is what resulted from it. The painting is in no way done yet.


I am a lot happier with this color than I was the last. I did not even take pictures of the yellow lotus I disliked it that much. Everything is trial and error. It turned out it was good that I painted it yellow at first since it helped with the peek-a-boo color effect I really like.
Everything on this painting was done in acrylics except for the dragonfly wings which are real and from two different species of dragonfly. Dragonfly expired naturally and was not killed for the sake of the painting. The dragonfly’s body was painted, only the wings are real.
I still have not mapped out everything that will go on this painting yet. To be honest it is just kind of coming together piece by piece. I have ideas for what I would like to add to it but nothing is carved on granite yet. Fixing the lotus really does help me to think of more things that I could incorporate into it though.

I am sure I will get back to work on my Funeral Home for the Strange and Deranged this Fall. It is a Fall themed painting and was started but unable to be finished during the season.
This is a picture of Funeral Home for the Strange and Deranged. I need to take better pictures during the day with a better quality camera at some point.

There is a lot of detail to this painting that you cannot see with this picture sadly. Like all the different colors in the bark of the tree. Even this photo does not show it well enough but still better than the one above for the tree.

I recently  got some more colors of acrylic paint which will help with blending new different colors together. I have already started using them. I also got another brush I am having fun using as well.

My A Grave Night painting is obviously done and available for purchase. Its on 11x14 canvas done in acrylics. Email me at Lotus_Moon@hotmail.com if are interested in possibly purchasing the painting and would like more information.

Sick but still productive

I caught a cold this weekend which is not a lot of fun but has not stopped me from getting some things done that I have been needing to work on.

I have been getting a bit more writing done in my book.
Got about 7pgs written the other day.
Not quite as much as I usually do when I am sick, but it is a start.
I am hoping to write more soon.
I have around or just over 250pgs written now which isn’t too bad.


I have also the past two or three days been working on a rough draft of a painting I will be doing.
It is so interesting to see how each piece I add to it makes the whole thing evolve into something more or different from what it was when I started.
I would post pictures of it but I cannot yet considering I have been requested not to understandably by the person who commissioned me to paint it.
Mostly so that a specific someone will not see it before it is finished.
I haven’t started it on canvas yet being that I wanted to make sure that the colors would not clash once on the piece since there are a few which I cannot name.
Wanted to make sure I got the brush stroke pattern that my client and I liked for a few portions,
And basically so I could see how it would all be laid out and not in pencil.
I don’t mind doing the bit of extra work and think it will be worth it in the end to do it this way rather than find out something just isn’t clicking that would be hard to fix later.
That way when it comes time for canvas, I can know where everything goes and how it is supposed to look that would make everyone happiest.
I never want to paint something that someone is only moderately happy with,
Especially if it is something they have come to me to paint for them.
It is their vision, their idea.
I am just putting it to canvas as best as I can see it
to give them a physical representation of that vision.


I finally got what I think will be just about all I will be able to edit from the photos we took from the Dec 2010 photo shoot I did with one of my friends.
Her camera was malfunctioning so it would say it was getting clear shots, show clear shots, but in reality it was really blurry…
Most of them I could not fix at all, which is really sad, but oh well.
I did get some of them fixed up and edited.
(my editing skills are horrid haha but I made do… A few of them I had help with :)
I had a lot of fun on that shoot and going through and editing a good handful of those pictures tonight makes me think about the next shoot and what we will have planned.
Hopefully with a better working camera next time.
I might be able to fix up a couple more of the pictures, but so far I think I have about 14 out of I think it was 103 shots we took.
Which really is not that many shots for a typical photo shoot but we were kind of on a slight time cap and it was a spur of the moment thing.
If we had taken more, it would have just been more to throw out most likely so its not a big deal that we didn’t get many. Just wish more of them would have come out clear.
It was more for the adventure and a good time than it was for the shoot this time.
I only had about 30 minutes to get ready and leave from being in PJs to fully made up.
Don’t know how I did that one when you count in that I had to also piece together my dress as well….
Katie (photographer and my model for part of the night as well) was quite happy with the shots that did come out.
That made me happy since I really liked a few of them and hoped she would too.


During my relaxing I watched some shows/movies.
Ghostbusters (always a good choice)
Gingersnaps (love)
Iron Man 2
(first time I had seen it, thought it was hilarious. Especially the coconut line)
New Vampire Diaries (one of my favorite series)
New Nikita (really starting to like this show more and more)


Not too recently but a month or so ago I saw the Grindhouse movies.
Death Proof
&
Planet Terror
(Loved them both)


I have been slacking on my Apothecary work but there isn’t a whole lot I can do in my shop right now until I can pick up more supplies at some point to make more products.
I always feel antsy when I go long periods of time between making things.
I am a crafter and an alchemist.
I need to keep busy in some way or another…
I know I am writing and painting, but its not always enough for me to only be doing a couple of things. I need many things to keep my attention and from being antsy.
Which I have been feeling recently when it comes to my shop stuff.
I want to make more tree of life pendants and possibly some herbal massage oil soon if I am able to.
Just not sure what kinds yet.
I hate it when I feel like my shop is kind of dead at the moment.
Its not super dead but it could be doing a bit better than it is, I just haven’t been able to do much work wise on it recently to get the word out there about it since it is still newly open to the public.
Its a slow growing process that has been giving me a lot of good feedback on my products thus far which is great but I would like to bring in more repeat clients, new clients, and sales, just need to do a little better marketing which takes time and effort.
Once I am feeling a bit better I might look that over again.
Being that I make my own products and run the business by myself solely;
it can be hard to do everything at once.
Sometimes things take longer because of this but I expect that and have no problem with it.
I am patient, most of the time ^_~

I still have a BOS that I have yet to finish and post up…
Mostly due to the fact that I am not sure what to do with it.
I almost don’t want to do anything to it at all since I like how it looks now but maybe it does still need something in the center of the oval?
I really don’t know.
I have been mulling it over for awhile now and have not come to a conclusion as to what I think it should look like once it is finished. I still love where it is going but the only thing I could think of that I would want in the middle of it I do not think I could do. I am thinking of other ideas so that the book will not be laying around my house forever and I can get it listed in my shop soon.

This is currently what the book looks like.
It has a detachable wand on the front left side of the cover near the spine as you can see in the picture. The wand which is maple, book, and book marker, were hand made.
All the flowers and vine like stems were gathered by me and are real.

Anyways, this is long enough and I think I shall go make myself a cup of tea.
Echinacea elder tea is helping with my cold.
I was happy to find I still had half a box in my cupboard.
I really like the stuff and drink it even when I am not sick.
^_^

New Zodiac Signs?

I have to say, I do not know what to think about of of this new found knowledge on the zodiac... I have not done much research on it myself but I was aware of there being more than 12 zodiac signs so there being a 13th is not the issue. Them changing the dates around however and confusing everyone (Including me) is... In reading the article below I have found that apparently my zodiac sign has been wrong all along as have a lot of others; though some will stay the same depending on which day they were born.

~The article~

A Minnesota astronomer confirms what many have suspected: Your horoscope is quite possibly wrong.

Earth's shifts on its axis over the past 3,000 years have changed the 12 zodiac signs. For example, think your sign is Aquarius? You may be a Pisces. (There's also a 13th sign, Ophiuchus, that's based on a constellation the ancient Babylonians threw out for symmetry thousands of years ago.)

So who's to blame for this scam on zodiac devotees?

The ancient Babylonians based the zodiac on which constellation the sun appeared to be in when a person was born. Since then, the moon's has exerted a gravitation pull on Earth, causing a "wobble" on its axis that has shifted the stars' alignment by about a month, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.

"Because of this change in the tilt, the Earth is over here and the sun is in a different constellation than it was 3,000 years ago when this study of the stars began," astronomer Parke Kunkle told the Twin Cities' KARE-TV.

The shift isn't new, Kunkle says -- the zodiac world just hasn't taken the wobble into account.

Here's your new sign below:

Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16

Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11

Pisces: March 11-April 18

Aries: April 18-May 13

Taurus: May 13-June 21

Gemini: June 21-July 20

Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10

Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16

Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30

Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23

Scorpio: Nov. 23-Nov. 29

Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17

Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20 

~End Article~

So the problem I am finding with this is that though I was iffy with some of the things my sign said about me (the sign I knew myself to be, not the new one), I could still relate to it. There was a lot I learned to avoid and could work on from learning about my sign. I then learned about rising sun signs and what mine was, which also explained why I did not act like most people with my sign. Not only that but a lot of my closest friends had the sign which was the sign of my rising sun. This new sign I have makes no sense to me. I know a decent bit about it being that another family member has/had it, and though I have a few traits, I would not say I have enough to classify me as being under that sign. It just does not fit. I am not the only one who feels this way. I am not saying there may not be a more accurate sign that may apply to me, but I do not feel this is it. Not to mention the new sign that family member would have... the old one fit far too perfectly for this new one to make any sense. What I wonder is if in discovering all of this, maybe the dates got overlapped the wrong way or some sort of time/date calculation is wrong from then to translate into the now. I am no astrologist or astronomer so I really cannot speak much on the matter I can only speculate on possibilities. There is just too much that doesn't make sense with too many people I am seeing. Which also makes me wonder, had we all grown up in a world where we had known this list above to be the zodiac would it still feel weird or would it just be our normal because that is what we know and are used to?

I still feel like there is a link missing in all of this and that maybe they released this old/new found information (because it is old information, just lost information) too soon without filling all those gaps and preparing answers for all those questions that would arise from all of this.

Currently I am hesitant to accept or reject anything until I have further information.

Obviously the zodiac does not rule ones life and can be quite off in some cases. It is more of a generalization than a pin point or mapping of your life, past or future. It does not guarantee you will have any positive or negative psychological/emotional/social aspects just because you were born under a certain sign; though it is helpful and can generally be correct on a more broad scale, with some on a more specific scale.

The zodiac has many uses for it which is yet another reason why this big change means a lot for some of us. For some it means no change at all, for others it means big change.

I do feel sorry for those (especially if it turns out that this is and always has been the zodiac we just weren't aware of it) who have gotten tattoos of their signs somewhere on their bodies... and then they turn out to be another sign... crazy to think is it not?

I am honestly not sure how much importance I hold to all of this, at least currently. Maybe once everything is researched and set in stone so to speak (which obviously  nothing ever is, its almost always speculation) It is just weird to grow up thinking one thing all your life and then one day be told not only has it changed, but it has always been the other way you just never knew about it. It's thought provoking. What does this really mean to me? What does this really change for me? It does not change who I am, what I do, or anything really... I guess everyone is so upset because it is like reading that someone is telling you, you are something that you are not. Especially if it is a sign that is not like you in almost any way. Whether this is true or not people have to remember, your sign does not make you who you are, it does not deem anything, you do. If you do not like something, you change it or take the steps to better yourself.
So just because you may have a new sign, does not mean it will change who you are...
Because if you think about it, if this is true, it has been your sign all along and you have been the way you are knowing your true sign or not knowing, right?
Anyways, point made.

Not really looking to start a debate on the topic being that I do not really have an opinion on it yet, so posting a comment stating one way or another will most likely get you an ambiguous/speculative response from me since I will not sway one way or the other as of yet. For matters like this opinions, though always welcome, without many facts are hard to say much on until more facts are gathered on the matter.
I am not doing any hard research on the matter at the moment but I will probably post something If I get any new information on the matter if it is different than what I have already shown above.


Also on a side note: Lets say your sign has changed but you have always found the correspondences within the old sign to work and do not find the new ones to work as well, keep working with the old ones or incorporate them in with the new ones. Your intuition is a powerful thing, if something is working then stick to it. If you know a certain stone, herb, oil, color, works best for you and its not in your sign, or has never corresponded to your sign, that does not matter at all.
Your body knows what it needs and will tell you.
If you feel drawn to it then stick to those, and don't worry about who's sign its attached to.
If it works for you that is all that matters.

Things on my mind and whats been going on over the weekend

I am pleased to find that my late night writing sessions have been paying off.
I realized last night that I have 15 new pages written (future chapters not immediate ones) 

I wrote 8 of those last night/early this morning & the rest not long before last night.  

I honestly only thought I had 3-5 pages since I had been writing it on OneNote & it looked like soo much less than it actually was until I transferred it to MS Word & actually saw the page count. Go me!
I hope to keep this up even though it keeps me up later than I should be, which is late even for me.
Writing is more important than sleep, right? haha.

It seems that my muse likes the wee hours of the morning for me to do my best writing currently.
I am happy I am getting more done even if it is not on the chapters I should be on.
The book will come together how it comes together in the end.
I am having a lot of fun developing my new characters, though some are coming along easier than others.
I need a bit more character inspiration for a couple of them
to help develop how they react to different scenarios.
I believe I have finally come up with a last name for Iris (my main character) her last name had been a blank in all the old chapters since I could not come up with anything that fit.I am finding I am quite happy with her last name being Snow, obviously inspired by the 9 inches of snow we got here not long ago (which I wish had stuck but now we have thick fog) So as it stands now  her name is Iris Snow.

The next scene I am writing is a good one, or will hopefully be a good one.
I really do hate it when sleep will not be put on a back burner for as long as my muse would like it to be and I have to pass out right as I am about to type the good stuff.
Once I get going with my writing it gets kind of hard to stop sometimes.
Other times it is a big push to get through even a page or two, but I have to keep going or else I stay stuck for a long period of time. I am cheating by writing other chapters while I am stuck on a small scene in the current chapters. It is ok for me to do that because I am still writing and not letting the story get stagnant so to speak.
I have sent the first 216 chapters of my book (I have more than that now, but that's what I sent out that I was happy with showing) to a few close friends of mine to read over and get opinions from.
So far I am getting good feedback and have a good flow and progression to my writing,
which is good to hear.
I have a lot of friends who are either good with English or are writers themselves,
like one of my friends is who is reading it,
so I try to get feedback from knowledgeable people rather than just ambiguous likes or dislikes. 

I should note I do not mind negative feedback so long as it is constructive and not destructive.

I would post up small sections of my book for everyone to be able to read 

(I will not post the whole thing up for everyone because I may publish the book at some point in the future) 

but I honestly wouldn't know what parts to post up...
I am not good at chopping my book up into interesting tid bit parts since I see the book as basically a whole. Maybe I will talk to one of my friends after they have finished what I have sent them and see what parts they would post up for tid bits of reading here and there
so people can get a better idea of what it is I am up to all the time.

Another thing I have not been able to get off my mind recently is the udder,
can't say need so I will say want, to dye my hair blue again. 

The last time I had it blue it was this kind of blue underneath and dark green on top,
though you cant really see the green in my picture so it looks all blue. 

I would love to either do it all blue this time, or mostly the darker colbolt looking blue with some parts that are a lighter shade of blue or turquoise. To give it depth.
I don't usually like doing only one color in my hair.
I had also considered doing my hair blue and black with it done in the peek a boo style like this image I found is, but black does not like to stay in my hair long I find.
Though blue LOVES my hair and will stick for a long while.
I would also love to have matching synthetic dreads put in my hair like hers is done at some point.

The Macrame yarn hair falls I am making take forever for me to make.
I just don't have the time to put into them that I should..
Not to mention I suck at making my own synthetic hair dreads.
Tried once, failed miserably.

This is the color I want, but I want more blue and less black, if not all blue.

This is me in the below picture, when I had green and blue hair.

Sadly I did not take many pictures when I had my hair this color. Which sucks because this is my favorite color I have had in my hair out of all the colors I have had, which is many.
The picture sucks and so does the lighting
(super bright outside and no blinds) and was a spur of the moment thing.
Yes i had bangs at that point, I no longer have them now.
This photo was taken a few years ago too I should note. I cut my hair pretty short awhile after that and it has grown back since. Not as long as it was then (which was to my navel or hips depending on when it was) but long enough for me to like it again.

Only reason I haven't dyed my hair yet is A. I don't currently have the funds to go get it done professionally and I don't talk to the person who used to do my hair for free for practice since she was in cosmo school and wanted to mess around with fun colors; and B. I was waiting for it to grow out, which it is grown out enough now but that also brings me back to point A.
So unless I find another way to do it my hair is staying its current blonde color which it is naturally.

One of the many reasons I have been thinking about dying my hair is because I had a photo shoot idea planned out in my head a bit recently. Which originally involved flat backed blue and green rhinestones for the mermaid scales on my upper body. I got a better more cost efficient idea today of using glitter glue in the blue and green to draw the scales on my body so to speak. I have been getting antsy since I have not done an erotic art photo shoot in quite sometime and I wanted to do one with a better quality camera. Which I believe I have a photographer friend who would love to help me with taking the photos.
In the past most of the erotic art photos I have taken were done with a horrid camera if not a web camera so it lacked the clarity I wish a particular set could have had.
Not to mention some of which I had to take myself which restricted pose options.
I would like to make it clear, I am not taking pornographic photos, I am not fully naked, and no I do not do requests. It is a form of art for me in how I can inventively cover myself and not be slutty about it.

Some people I find just do not understand this concept.

Anyways, I will not be doing the out of water (meaning no tail but still scales) mermaid shoot until I am able to somehow dye my hair since that is a big part of it. Having some seaweed colored sheer or textured fabric to use in the shoot would also be a wonderful addition.

I will say, the shoot I did recently (which wasn't in the woods as planned but still a ton of fun) will be awhile before pictures are posted. There is a lot of editing that needs to be done. When working in the dark it is sometimes hard to tell exactly how clear the pictures will turn out no matter how clear they appear on the camera. Some turned out really well, some really fuzzy and need to be worked with as do most pictures.
I know some of you are impatient and want to see them but you will have to wait for now.
No, I am not doing the editing myself, someone else is.
I am horrid when it comes to editing photos.Never learned much about how to do it, though I have had many offers to be taught how to, just haven't had the time to do so.
It wasn't an extremely long shoot and was rather unplanned all things considered so it will not be the quality it could have been had we had exactly what we wanted, so I will be happy if even a few pictures come out well since we did not take that many as far as photo shoots go.
Of course being treated to hot chocolate after being out in the cold was a wonderful treat!

Yay for hot chocolaty goodness!


Had to push some things around on short notice this weekend since I had a friend fly out to see me ^_^ it was well worth it though. I will catch up on the other stuff later on, no big deal.
We have been having a ton of fun since he got here. He took me out to eat a few times, one of which was to the Sakura Steak House which has my current favorite sushi rolls on their menu (The spider roll)  Watched a ton of movies late nights. We found that even though in the last movie Indiana Jones got raped, it was still funny to watch. We walked around all over down town and went to the Flying M for coffee. Haven't been there in ages, used to go every Wed I could back in the day
since that was the local hang out for most of my old friends.
He lives in Canada but was in the US for some photo shoots, and had a couple of days between shoots so he decided to come here to see me before going to San Fran for his next shoot.
I had a ton of fun getting to play around with his hair and makeup
...going through some of the makeup he brought with him.... >_<
Not to mention all the drunk dancing haha! good times.
I swear I was not the cause of this.
>.>
<.<


Anyways, I need to get back to things so I will end this now, though I am sure there is much more I could type about. Just felt like taking a break for a moment to type out whats been happening,
whats on my mind, and update all of you.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

~Lotus

Samsung Galaxy Tab

I have found my newest technology love, it's the Samsung Galaxy Tab. I had heard much talk about all the different tablets out there and I finally got to see both this one and the Ipad in person. Further proving my dislike for apple, I did not like the Ipad at all. It is vary awkward to use and I am just not a fan of how they do things. I loved the smaller but not too small size the Galaxy Tab had to offer. I love that it has swipe, a front and back camera (so you can do video calls on Skype) though I do wish it was a higher megapixel camera. The main camera has 3.0mp, the front facing camera is only 1.3mp.
The 7" display is perfect size in my opinion. Makes it easier to use one handed. It has wifi so I could use the wifi I have in my house instead of hooking it up to Verizons internet, as well as use it anywhere there is wifi.
I am very much in love with the idea of at some point owning one of these. It would be wonderful for doing my shop stuff on the go, taking it to the park to write portions of my book that require further inspiration I cannot get from within my home. Not to mention it's a pain to pack up my laptop... I would rather have something that could fit easily into my purse and would be convenient for working with clients on the go. You can't exactly walk and type on a lap top wherever you happen to be at, and I could take orders on the spot online with PayPal rather than someone needing to have cash on hand if they would like to purchase something I have in my carry kit. Could read books on it like a kindle or possibly look some up to read online, I do love a good book. There are a ton of uses I could see for this tab. It might take a bit of saving up since I do not currently have the $636 (which I believe it would be with tax) but if its do-able at some point I would love to get one unless another tab comes out in that time that has something I like better than the Galaxy, which is possible, but currently I am stuck on the Galaxy Tab : )

If you want to check it on further, you can go Here to the Verizon website.

I am also looking at getting a smart phone whenever I go to upgrade my phone in the next 6 to 8 months. I currently have an EnvTouch which isn't bad, I quite enjoy the phone really, but there are some features on the smart phones that would better suit me for what all I use my phone for. Hopefully potentially one with a camera that is better than 3.2megapixles which is what I have now.
I also don't like how almost all the new phones coming out nowadays that have touch screens are hard touch screens. I tend to grow my nails out rather long and its much easier to use those to touch the screen than the tips of my fingers which are wider than a nail obviously so it takes more concentration so I don't press 3 buttons at once. The phone I have now I can use my nails on, but a lot of the smart phones I am finding you cannot. There are some, but not many, and I am picky when it comes to phones. It sounds silly but it really does make a world of difference for use.

Oh well, if I keep talking about gadgets and such, I am going to start talking about other less practical gadgets I like... Like steampunk gadgets and spy gadgetry haha. Yes, I am a James Bond fan as well as I do watch Leverage and Warehouse 13 from time to time : D kind of hard not to be into all the gadgets that go along with it ha ha. Not to mention who would not love to have a flying pirate ship filled with interesting gadgets for the voyage? ; )

Snow

These are pictures of the snow around my house.

It snowed all day yesterday and then snowed through the night.

We got at least 8 inches of snow.

We measured 9 inches on our property.

The news said there was as much as 12 inches in some areas near here.

It was a snow day for more than 100 schools in the areas there was so much snow.
Mainly because the roads around here are horrid during winter.
The plowers are SUPER lazy when it comes to plowing and salting the roads.
They had 50 plows out today, when they should have had them out early this morning.
We are lucky they even got out today... most of the time it is days before they get out.

Of course my brother loved this, he is in the process of building a fort in our back yard.
Sorry about the picture quality for some of these, I had to take them with a cell phone camera.

My brothers fort from a distance.
He says its not done and he plans to build snowmen guards in front of it haha.
I think it was a snow day well spent.

My brother in his fort.
Bare in mind he is 15 and like 6'2

He got a ton done in a very short period of time.
It mad me smile.

Despite all of the snow,
Even with my tiny little car
(I have a 95' Honda Del Sol)
I managed to get out and run all of my errands today.
I was worried I wouldnt be able to.

It was actually a lot of fun going out today.

 The table in our backyard looks like the cream filling in a double stuffed oreo!
And
We have magic! the kind that can make tiki torches have snow instead of fire. We are cool like that ^^

 It really is beautiful outside

 Icicles that formed the first time it snowed.
It actually trailed up higher than this picture shows. Its like an ice sculpture.

 This is my favorite icecicle

Nature is amazing.
Nature makes its own art and I was just happy I was able to capture it in a photo.

Some neighbors have Christmas lights up already.
Snow gremlins showed up.
Wonder who could have made those >.>
haha

It is very much hot chocolate weather.
Turkey from Thanksgiving is almost gone surprisingly enough.
14 1/2lb bird. Many meals have come been made from the left overs.
It was a delicious Thanksgiving meal.
I went out and played in the snow late last night a couple of times and then watched
Nightmare Before Christmas.
It has been wonderful : )