My friend Susan requested a new piece of art for her birthday on February 12. She sent me some ideas and I chose to replicate this painting by Etsy seller Mincing Mockingbird.
I painted this using acrylics on a 5×5″ block of wood. After the paint dried, I tacked the strips of text in place with a glue stick and clear-coated the entire block.
Now I just need to make one for myself…
My boyfriend’s mom asked if I could draw an eagle carrying a set of scales to promote a social gathering for legal professionals. I like it when people give me unique ideas for things I wouldn’t usually draw.
As a side note, I discovered that there is a white gel pen product that does not suck. This thing draws over Sharpie and colored pencil. I used it to draw the Ruth Bader Ginsburg collar on my eagle. Here is your link to THE Uni-Ball UM 153 Signo Broad Point Gel Pen.
I’m not really what they call a professional reviewer. I receive no compensation other than the joy of giving good reviews for my fave art supplies.
Last night I taught a painting party at Flanagan’s Harp and Fiddle in Bethesda, Maryland. Our theme was a sunflower, but I spy a Luigi and two elephants!
Flanagan’s meets my ideal restaurant trifecta of great service, convenient parking, and optional outdoor seating. I guess it’s important to note that the snacks and drinks are great too. 😉 Needless to say, I will be back!
Today I submitted my application for graduation from UMUC. I will officially have my M.S. in Marketing Management this December. I felt exactly like this:
But I know that when I have that diploma in my hand this December, I will feel like this:
In the meantime it is finals week, so this is how I feel right now after 24 consecutive weeks of taking two courses (one of which is a dystopia of work overload) on top of work:
Resolutions are lame but here are mine. I am a day late, but yesterday my ability to look at a computer screen was decimated by a migraine and it’s my blog so I can backdate if I want. Here are a few goals for the new year.
• A.B.M. (Always be Moisturizing)
Seriously. Everyone knows that white people age worse than everyone else. Have you seen me? It’s as if a white porcelain toilet left out on the lawn is reflecting sun into your face while you drive without sunglasses at high noon.
• Finish Graduate School
I have five classes left until I can complete my M.S. in Marketing Management and have my life back. If I maximize my suffering I can graduate this winter. Then if I really hate myself I can take the three extra six-credit courses to earn an MBA. Either way, prepare for more epic poop emoji-related posts after graduation. 💩
• Pay Off My Student Debt
Prepare to lose a revenue stream, federal government. I am on track to pay off my undergraduate student debt this year. Seriously, take your 6.8% interest and stick it, because this year is my year!
Paying off my student debt will also set my Murphy’s Law plan of getting Bernie Sanders elected into motion, because we all know if I finish paying off my $25,000 in student loans, Bernie will get elected and forgive all of the student debt. You’re welcome, America! 🇺🇸
• Take Better Care of My Body
I’m writing this in my iPhone notes at the chiropractor’s office. Right now it is week one and my spine wants to die but it’s supposed to get worse before it gets better, right? Right?!? 😭
• Use Up All of My Yarn
Don’t be surprised if you receive a potholder, scarf, or similarly rectangular hand-crocheted item from me this year. I hope I know your favorite color.
I don’t have the literary aptitude that it would take to describe life as a full-time worker and part-time grad student. All I can do is sit and marvel at the basket cases who do both of those things while running a household and being a parent. I do, however, have the ability to make a lot of lists, since that is how I keep track of things now that the capacity for short-term memory retention has been burned out of my brain. Presently I am in Week 10 of “Finance for Decision Makers,” and on the cusp of losing any semblance of sanity I might have had, so here are the three most important lists in my life right now:
Things I miss about not being in school:
-shaving my legs on a regular basis
-doing laundry before all I have left are hole-y sweatpants and granny bloomers
-cooking healthy food
-eating healthy food
-exercising to relieve stress
-thinking that I knew was stress was, but not really
-reading for enjoyment
-sleeping
-not feeling compelled to binge-watch Doomsday Preppers while longing for life “off the grid”
Things I want to do when I finish school forever:
-sleep for two weeks
-eat food that wasn’t sourced from a drive-thru
-go to Costa Rica and look at lizards, birds and monkeys
-finally figure out what is wrong with my car stereo (a.k.a., replace the car stereo)
-take more dance classes
-stay up after 10pm
-not have night terrors about cost allocation analyses
Things I need to do today but don’t have time for:
-dishes
-laundry
No matter what happens in the last two weeks of this semester, I am going to see The Book of Mormon on August 5th. I just need to hang on!
What are the things about life that you miss when you are buried in school-work and work-work? Dig deep, you may surprise yourself.
Because taking two classes and working full time decimated my creativity and free time over the past twelve weeks, I haven’t been sharing much. Here are a couple of Wine and Cheese party e-vites that I made for work. Which one do you like better?
As a high school junior from 2004-2005, I took AP Art History at Delmar High School with Mrs. Judy Hearn. If you really want to expand your knowledge of art and see the world and its historical events in a brighter light, take an art history course. However, I will mention the importance of having an instructor that makes the subject come alive and cares about your outcome in the class. They should care to the point where you wonder if they secretly think you’re retarded based on the notes you receive on the tests you get back. In college I took Italian Renaissance Art History, but my instructor failed to capture the magic and her class became my twice-a-week afternoon siesta (I still earned a B).
After a lot of scrimping and saving (at least on my family’s part), our class took off on the inaugural Hearn Art History Extravaganza to visit various locales in France and Italy.
I will never forget the feeling of leaving the east coast of the United States and traveling by air for the first time, and seeing everything we had spent the entire school year learning about in textbooks come to life before us. I am hoping that one day again I will get to see the Eiffel Tower and police officers on rollerblades in France, and enjoy a view of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy after tracking down that restaurant where I bought the most incredible sandwich of my life in 2005.
Randie Hovatter 