sleepless nights

so for what seems like forever I have been having a terrible bout of insomnia...you know the kind where you fall right to sleep because you are so tired, but then wake after about an hour or two and cannot go back to bed.

Now, I blame this pattern on equal parts allergies, panic, too much caffeine, and an imagination that wakes me with stories playing through my head, even at 3:00am.

After a few weeks of this pattern things start to get strange, noises seem both louder and further away, colors are brighter....that bright spring grass can seem almost menacing even during the day.

All that being said....I sort of like it, those hours when it seems no one else in the world is awake and you dream or you think you're dreaming even when you are awake.

Anyway....that's what the pieces posted today are all about, that fine line between awake and asleep, between madness and dreaming.

They will be posted in the shop later today.

xoxo
j

what's this....two days in a row???

morning y'all

hey thanks for welcoming me back to the blogosphere with open arms (or open laptops as the case may be), it really did make me feel good to realize that I was missed.

Also big thanks to those of you who sent me little emails wondering where I had gone to and if I was coming back. I did receive a funny one from someone saying that the Internet rumor was that I was with child and that is why I was not blogging.

in answer to that question.....NO, NOT WITH CHILD.

my body and babies are like oil and water, they definitely do not mix.

so the burning question being, where was I? Why the blog sabbatical?? Well to be truthful many of you know about the nasty comments I was getting on a regular basis, well they got the best of me and I stepped back for a while.

Not to get into it again but the breaking point was when "someone" left a mean note saying that they hoped my sick dog was taken away from me because it was obvious I did not know how to take care of him.

it sort of broke my heart, my dog was sick for months, it was hard to go through and a constant worry in my mind and to have that said to me...well, you know.

So I became a blog recluse, I did a lot of reading ( I plowed through the whole Twilight series in no time....I am really obsessed and counting the nanoseconds until the movie) focussed on art, and even started drawing again, hell I even opened a new etsy shop for my illustrations, it's called Painted Sketchbook.

But...though I kept busy, I missed you, I missed my blog. I found myself saying things like "wow if people were filled with the icing that you put on Toaster Strudel, I would totally be a vampire"...and after saying such profound/ridiculous things I realized that I should be blogging those things, not pestering my bubs at 6:00 in the morning with them, right?

so there you have it...a little of this and a little of that.

see you tomorrow.

xoxo


PS- I have tons and tons of new stuff in my shop, including new blank note card sets, you should go look.

the other side of the weekend

good morning

How are you?? Your weekends? Marvelous? Mine was low key but great, well great except for the couple hours yesterday when I started the long arduous journey that is my taxes....seriously, I have no idea how one little person (that's me) can amass so many receipts, between the post office and supply receipts I must be responsible for the death of so many trees just to make the receipt paper.

So, here's the deal, my taxes are a huge undertaking that I plan to work on little by little lest I go insane. So, if I am not posting quite as often, please know that I have not abandoned you all for a glamorous life, in fact if not blogging or painting or doing the etsy thing, I will most likely be wither 1- on the stationary bike peddling my way to hotness, or doing my taxes.

I am still going to really try to keep up with blogging at least 3 times a week but just in case....

so, in just a couple days I am going to see the Dancing With The Stars tour in all it's glorious over the top camp. I am so excited you see the way most people feel about going to see concerts, well that is how I feel about this, or going to the ballet or theater, they a very rare treats these days, but when it happens I am though the roof.

you see my mum raised me on a healthy diet of dancing, dancing, theater, more dancing and more theater, now...mind you I was NOT one of the bratty theater kids I would eventually work with when I was on the stage...no, I was a student of dance for many years and a lover of theater...we would get dressed up and her and I would go and sit in the cheap seats of the balcony and just lose ourselves in that world.

she would whisper quietly to me...."that's going to be you someday"

and it was, I can say that, for a brief while I lived the life of flood lights, dressing rooms, and curtain calls....and I would be lying if I said I did not in occasion miss that...

but it's a hard life, and the people...well some of them or more than wonderful and then there are others....well I'll just leave it at that, the others....and frankly my skin is not thick enough to deal with that, and the health of my poor bedraggled body also cannot deal with that rigorous schedule....so instead my new stage is my studio, my new actors are my collages...acting out the most wonderful stories, plays, dances...each one giving the type of performance that when they are done they feel a piece of them has died.

but in a good way.

wow...hell of a lot of babble there, and I am not sure if any of it makes any sense at all, can you tell I am putting off working on the receipt pile.

photo today is of a new(ish) piece that is available for sale in the shop.

Is this it? Is it over??

So all you other online artsy types...is the Christmas rush over???? The past couple days there have been actual tumbleweed blowing through my shop.....I am afraid the rush is over and it's still a good 9 days before the shipping cut off date for Priority Mail in the United States....

hmmmm.

ok sorry I am wondering out loud again, and by wondering out loud, I mean worrying out loud.

So, how are you all?? Are you good? All busy preparing Holiday good cheer???

Oh, the other night my bubs and I went gallivanting in town and we stumbled into a bookshop that we had never been in, I swear the bookstores in Westerville keep multiplying (it's fabby) and I swear it was like a little wonderland, my bubs found an old copy of a Lone Ranger novel, I left with an Amelia Earhart bio.

But let me tell you, the place was a treasure trove the walls filled with vintage lovelies for sale....I almost left with an autographed photo of Merle Oberon (she starred in Wutherng Heights with Lawrence Olivier), anyway....we have to go back, because at the time we were being the customers from hell...you see the store was closing and here we are gasping and squealing over the books.

I need to go back because they had a splendid almost falling apart collection of Hans Christian Anderson Fairy tales complete with illustrations including one of The Little Mermaid killing herself....yup the good old days before Disney convinced little girls that the prince loves her and they live happily ever after....call me crazy but I like it when the stories are a tad darker....

anyway so that is really all I have been thinking about, books and reading, books and reading, why oh why can I not be paid to curl up and read books, I mean I don;t want to review them or anything just read them and maybe tell all of you how dreamy or not dreamy they are.

I guess that's kind of a review.

for example, the last book I read was The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (finished it 2 days ago) it was dreamy.

there, review done.

read, for serious you will love it.

one last thing before I stop blah blahing (see I am putting it off I swore I would draw today, actually I swore I would draw yesterday but I put it off) the picture today is of a new set of prints I have in my shop, they are very different than my "normal" pieces and are digital collages I did in an old Victorian silhouette style.

hope you enjoy.

when is the last time you....

had a day off, I mean a real day off.

Are they rare? Or are people having them. You see I can hardly remember anymore.

For 2 years I owned the comic shop with my bubs, which means we had no time off ever, even holidays we either worked or did something that had to do with work, even if all it was, was worry.

Now that I am doing art full time, I feel like it is the same. Now, don;t get me wrong, I am not complaining at all....but it just got to me today, well really last night, that I could not remember a day when I did not do something work related.

now even on "day offs" before I do still check etsy repeated times a day (by check etsy I mean worry, deeply worry....why haven't things sold, and oh, so many things have sold....) I will also list or renew my listings on etsy just to be seen, and this is on a "day off".

On days that I have no time to create it is usually because I am packaging things etc. Now, this is when I begin to worry what it is doing to my brain, why is it I feel guilty when I am not doing "something", I think part of it is because I feel bad that I don't earn a "real salary" and we can never really count on what I make, as sometimes it fluctuates so greatly.

Last night my bubs and I ate dinner and then zoned out in front of the TV, and it was nice, we were playful and relaxed...I did still dash up to my studio a couple times to do the etsy thing, but I wonder if the night would have been just that much better if I did not run off like that.

what am I saying in this long burst of babble, well....maybe I am feeling a little burned out, not in that crazy dog day afternoon kind of way, but burned out enough to need a day where I do nothing at all, I just watch On Golden Pond and weep, or watch a thousand and one episodes of sex and the city.

I will say, I don;t think this fabled "day off" will happen until after Christmas, and that is fine, but it will happen, I am going to plan on it. The odd thing is, is that I remember having real days off when I had a day job, years ago....I would guilt free watch movies all day or just go shopping and out to dinner. I am wondering if that is what I essentially gave up in order to be able to do the art thing for a living.

so, the question was posed, when was your last real day off, where you did nothing except relax or hang out with friends and be social.

OK...babbling has commenced for the day, thank you for reading and humoring me.

ps- images today are of a new collage in my shop that I just love, I am hoping the colors look right on your monitors, I got a new monitor last week and the colors are way different on this, so I am having a hard time judging what is what online.

pps- um............I am "this close" to reaching 1600 sales, so I am offering 20% off all purchases until I hit 1600, and the lucky one who is my 1600th sale just might get lots of extra goodies!! Just write holiday07 in the message section and wait for a new invoice before paying.

:)

um....

SO I could not even think of a snappy title, a catchy little something that grabs your attention, makes you giggle and then read on...

so without a snappy title, really, that does not bode well for the rest of this blog entry, what's a girl to say when a girl's got nothing to say.

Wait................I just want to say thank you (I do a lot of thanking you on this blog), thank you all for the great response to the aceos that I am doing for The American Cancer Society, all the ones listed are once again sold out, but there will be more today, it really warmed my heart that they sold so fast, you know it's the little things like this that restore my faith in humanity.

So, last night was a rough one for me, I was up most of the night with breathing problems, but seem to be doing better now, things seemed to calm down around 3:30am for me and I got a couple of good hours rest. My poor bubs though every day time I would cough he would wake up and rub my back, see THIS is why I hate getting sick at all.

So, do you all have fabulous plans this weekend?? Now that it is really starting to feel like fall around here I am so in the mood to go walking into town for some sort of hot alcoholic beverage and antiquing...you know?

Like, hot cider with whiskey....now, I know I can just make that in my own home, but there is something I just love about going out and about on cool nights...

with that I will leave you all...as I drift into daydreams about fall....have you noticed the colors I am using are getting very fall like???

these are some of my newest pieces, the first one id a small framed aceo set,and the other is a diptych done on stretched canvas.

They are both available in my shop

Finally...new work!

good morning all!!

So finally this post has new work....I know, it's been a while, but I swear to you, I have been productive, I have made lots of new things as well as been hard at work on a large commission that I finished late last night, I have no photos of it yet but will say, that it is really something...I hate to be egotistical but...I love it, I can;t wait for her to get it, and I can;t wait to show it off.

Yay

Oh and (finally) I was able to start listing the line of art cards (aceo) that I do for Charity, many of you who are long term readers and buyers (and friends obviously) know that my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer a few years ago, she fought and won her battle, but not a day goes by that I don't fear that I will get a phone call from her saying it is back....with that in my mind I have started a line of cards in which a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society.

The theme for this year's cards are classic film stars, I have already done a Marilyn, which is listed in my shop, and an Audrey Hepburn which will go up later this morning. I am going to keep up with the cards for the rest of October and beyond, I am hoping I will get a great response to the cards, crossing my fingers!!

The other picture I featured today is a new small collage called "I Dreamt I Went To Manderly Again" there was something haunted about this piece it reminded me of "Rebecca" hence the title...

well, I hate ti post new work and dash, but I have a lot of computer things to do and some packaging today...oh, and paying bills, lots and lots of bills, lol.

Yes, this is the glamorous side of being an artist.

xoxo
jenn

so, I'm "it"

Happy Friday!

so, several days ago I was tagged by the ever so lovely Jen Vecc, the mission this time if I choose to accept it was to reveal 6 unusual things about myself.....

so, here goes 6 unusual things, the "little kid edition"

1- I am allergic to evergreen trees, so yes...Christmas Trees. This was an unknown allergy for many years. Growing up in NH we always had a giant real tree in our house, that was put up immediately following Thanksgiving, and then taken down after New Years.

So yeah, the tree was up for over a month every year, and every year by the time Christmas would roll around I was sick, sinus infection, lung infection, and so very tired.

Every year...the same, my parent chalked it up to me being "overly excited" about the holiday and what not, the my poor little body was just worn out, that is until the year I ended up in the hospital and there were tests done.

so, yeah now I am a fake tree girl, this year I think we are going to get a giant neon blue tree, like Elvis had in Graceland.

2- when I was little I took all the family photos out of the albums and replaced it with my sticker collection, which was then quickly replaced with my collection of images I cut out of fashion magazines, I remember buying Vogue and Bazaar off the news stand when I was really small, starting at age 5 or 6, I loved them so much!!!

3- In 2nd grade I decided to sing in the school talent show, though I was too shy to actually go to the auditions, I did have a private audition and was accepted (um, they accepted everyone). They had little faith in me as I backed out of the talent show the year before at the last minute due to extreme fear.

I was very shy, most of the people probably thought I was a mute, or an idiot savant, so when the time came I did get on stage, and I did sing, it was "Maybe" from Annie...Annie was huge that year.

anyway, long story short there wasn't a dry eye in the place and I got my first ever standing ovation. I blame this moment and the Brady Bunch episode where Marcia plays Juliet in the play on why I went to school for acting and did theater for years.

(I kid when I say blame....I still love the theater)

4- I went to a Catholic School growing up, yet I was not allowed to make my first communion with the rest of the kids, I had to have a priest do it on my own, I was not baptized as a Catholic and the church did not think of my birth as being "holy"...

like I was a devil baby or some such nonsense, when in reality it was because my parents eloped, but times were different then, and that was a big deal, this was of course before the Catholic Church was overrun by the bad publicity of pedophile priests.

lol, can you tell I'm not Catholic anymore?

5- one summer I spent all of my time writing a play, it was a courtroom drama with a twist ending, when I was done I had my mom act it out with me, I got to play the hot shot lawyer in the play, she got to play the "real" criminal and everyone else...the big twist was that the "real criminal" was actually the star witness for the prosecution, it was so cool.

in reality I know it made no sense, as I remember being small I knew it made no sense, but I needed the twist ending...

SO that is that, all the nit wit, tid bits from me being a little kid. I am now supposed to tag people, but it seems that when I tag people most don't want to do it, then I have guilt because I feel bad, blah, blah...

so, consider this an open tag to any and all who want to do it, you don't have to do the little kid variation that I did, just your own thing.

ok so that's that....Craftin Outlaws is tomorrow, so if you are in the Columbus Area please plan on coming to visit me and saying hi, I enjoy it when people buy my stuff, and or buy me drinks (the pros to doing a show at a bar), for those of you who are far away this means that everything in my shop will be going into edit mode, and may or may not be coming back....so if there are things you just "have to have", get them now.

The photo in today's post is of my latest piece, it's called "My Black Eyed Rival"

warning this post contains complaining

good morning people!!

I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend, and thank you for reading Petite Heights yesterday (oh wait...Sunday).

Sorry for the impromptu blog day off I took yesterday, I am fine (thank you for the emails and such), just needed a day off, life in the public eye is so hard sometimes....blah blah blah whatever, I hope you know I am totally kidding. Truthfully I just took a day off due to laziness and allergies.

yes, I said allergies.

Now, I know....allergies are not really an excuse to not do something, but hear me out....my allergies are horrible at night, so bad that sleeping has become an issue, so....I stay up late with the sneezing and then morning rolls around and I am groggy, and lifeless....also I am sans frappio, I''m out...there is none left, none....and a part of me is dying inside with out it.

(says the sad pathetic frappio addict).

so, where was I...oh yeah, sleepy. So I have been sleepy and unmotivated in the mornings, which has been leading to lazy blogging and no working out.

Also my bones have been hurting a lot lately, especially in my bad leg....aaaggghhh, yes, I am having a little pity party, and it's pathetic, I know.

(did you like that alliteration? pity, party, pathetic...nice)

Which leads me to today...lots of complaining followed by packaging to do etc.

so....though I have been lacing in some ways...I have been wildly inspired in other ways, in fact my new latest obsession is making collages in sets, in fact I spent most of the day yesterday making this piece, that I have shown today...

in fact while restless and hurting last night I almost got up to work, but alas I was too sleepy for work and too sleepy to finish my Nancy Drew (The Bungalow Mystery).

So there you have it...that's what I have been doing.

I am beginning to go into (slight) panic mode, Craftin Outlaws is less than two weeks away, and I am easily overwhelmed with the idea that I don't have nearly enough stuff and the fact that I am petrified that I will not do well. On the plus side though Craftin Outlaws means that a certain NY etsy seller will be our first overnight house guest at the all new and improved Chateau Stiletto.

ok...thank you for reading the senseless (and frappio-less) post, catch you tomorrow.

xoxo
jenn

when is the last time I did work?????

good morning!!

Thank you to all my New York readers who read through my pile of hate yesterday, it is all tucked safely away inside my head again, so no fears.

How are you all?

So yesterday was a day off for Keith and I...well day off being all relative as there was tons to do, but there was also a bunch of time that I spent on the couch reading comics...

so this is how the day went.

Got up, wrote hate mail to Derek Jeter as my bubs got ready to go meet the UPS man and get our comics before heading to the old comic shop to see if they need help (they didn't...YAY) so he came home, we went through our order, dividing up what is just his, just mine, ours, and our friend Steve's. Once the division was done I noticed that on top of my pile was Strangers in Paradise #90...the very last issue of that book...ever.

This is when I start crying a little. I go to the couch and read the book, tears in my eyes the whole time....none of it even sinks in, so I have to read it again, then fully calm down, then read it one more time.

It was beautiful and a part of me will die every time I think that it will never come out again.

sigh....

We then read a bunch of other comics in a big binge (I never said I was not a dork). Once done I gathered up a small group of collages and headed over to The Frame Station to drop off work.

Once outside I realize it's hot...yucky hot...ugh.

So we make the trip over and once we get there, well I want to make an ok impression on these people, so I turn to my bubs and ask what I always ask..."Am I shiny" and his usual reply "I don't know what that means" (it means for the record...is my nose shiny, so I need powder). I flip down the mirror and yes...I am shiny, in fact I am sweaty....no good.

I quickly powder and we head in...my hair is both fuzzy with humidity and flat with heat...no, no no!!!

So I get there and the owner Melinda is wonderfully nice, and I also get to meet in person Megan from Moogan's Creations. Now, I read Megan's blog so I know she is funny, and smart, and I have lurked in her etsy shop so I know she is talented...but I did not know how adorable she would be...and there I am, with fuzzy flat hair, and all sweaty.

(yes, these are the things I think about)

So, work is dropped off, and then my bubs and I are on to the next errand, picking up prescriptions at the Pharmacy...and the usual "No, I don't have insurance" and the pity look from the pharmacy.

I know, I know, I need insurance but you see, I'm a starving artist.

so we head home for a bit, a late lunch and then I head over to the comic shop to meet Steve so we can be geeks for an hour or so...I know our conversations are probably only interesting tot he two of us, but trust me they are VERY interesting to us.

then Keith comes to the shop and we hang for a bit...he is going back and forth about playing at the Treehouse, he wants to and he doesn't...you see last week was not fun, and it was so hot...we would just go to bed.

But, we decide to go, hell...I could use a drink and I know he could too. SO we get there very early so we can ease into the night and that way my bubs can play early in the night and then we can leave.

So several drinks into the night I have this profound realization while reading the personals in the "Other Paper", more specifically I am not reading the Men Seeking Women, or Women Seeking Men, or Men Seeking Men, Or Women Seeking Women.

no I am reading the best part of the newspaper...I am reading "Other Variations" such as this little gem

"BABY ME, cross dressing adult baby willing to try anything new, open minded and willing to please"

or this

"Old Fashioned Spankings mature discreet PWM will administer to women of any age for discipline, stress relief, or pleasure"

I could go on and on....so my thought was, if the art thing does not work out, that I could read these ads to the blind, maybe that is my calling (or maybe that was the whiskey drinks talking...it is hard to say).

So my bubs played first and he was wonderful, and as we were about to bolt out of there, we noticed that the next act was not just a sad man with a guitar, but a three piece band out of Montreal (love the Canadians!) with a stand up base and a laptop.

we were intrigued so we stayed are were treated to the sounds of "Ghetto Pony"

they were fantastic, seriously I cannot rave enough, we even bought their cd. They were just 3 skinny white Canadians playing the coolest geek rock I have heard in well, forever....picture Weezer but more funk to it.

So you have to go to their myspace and listen to them, for serious...they are that cool.

After that we meandered home...long day.

Today there are things that must be done...I must package stuff, I must make new things not only do I really want to but my shop looks sort of sad right now.

Oh, and for those of you interested in pocket mirrors, they were shipped out yesterday which means they should be here on Saturday....now we have the mean cheese but I might be able to list some on Saturday night, watch the blog for more details, I will lit a couple each day.

OMG this post is so long, I am dreadfully sorry but I am very wordy today...ok truthfully I know I should be working out but but if I am doing this that means I am not doing that.

no one likes to do Cardio when it is already very hot at Chateau Stiletto.

sigh...big giant sigh....

oh, and the picture today was a pendant I made a few days ago, it is for sale in my shop, and it is Virginia Woolf

xoxoxo
jenn

Saturday Night Special Sales

Once again, it is time for my Saturday Night Special...this runs until 6:00am EST


Please put SNS in the message to seller section and wait for a new invoice!

*******
Art Cards and Pendants BOGO SALE- buy one get one half off, mix and match if you want.

25% off all work in the sale section! I recently added new pieces to it.

Happy Shopping

xoxo~ Jenn

Snowy Saturday Night

Hi darling ones...

well, it looks like we won;t be going to Gallery Hop tonight as it suddenly got dreadfully cold and altogether yuck out side...

so, we instead are going to curl up with some movies....something we never ever get to do, we will be viewing The Prestige, which I am ridiculously excited about, and Hollywoodland, which I would be very excited about, but there is the Ben Affleck issue.

I will also be taking place in the Saturday Night Specials on Etsy!!!

The specials in my Etsy Shop will be...

30% off all items in my SALE section
20% off all paintings
10% off all pendants and art cards


Please write SNS in the message to seller section and wait for a new invoice….

I am adding new pendants and art cards tonight too!!! Here is my latest Marilyn Monroe card...isn;t she lovely?

(sigh)

I have no idea where the morning has gone...already it is quickly approaching 9:00am...

I have spent the morning pouring through the new Etsy Constitution and rules, and then all of a sudden on my second cup of coffee...I remember I had not blogged yet.

eeep.

ok so my morning started out like this...My bubs gets up a little after 6:00 in the morning, I sleep on the outside of our bed, so he has to climb over me to get out. Normally I can feel him coming over me, and I just lay back as he kisses me on the head.

This morning though, I must have been deeper asleep as I did not hear him, and just as he was crawling over me, I turned over and elbowed him right in the eye.

I am an asshole, the poor guy....he just sat there clutching his eye...and of course everyone knows of my eye phobia, so just elbowing him in the eye made me feel like I was about to throw up.

what a pair we were.

SO that was the beginning of my day, in all it's glory.

So, how are all of you? I could be better, eye incident aside, I am still fighting my way through this creative block, I have not been able to do anything for the Creative Challenge yet this week, which I have never missed.

I think I am going to work on some pendants today as I have not been doing those lately and I am almost sold out of them completely.

This weekend is preparing itself to be too chaotic. Keith is working tomorrow and hopefully tomorrow night we can go to Gallery Hop in the Short North, this is something in the 3 years that I have lived here that we have only been able to do one time, as we always have the mean cheese, or the weather is awful...so cross your fingers for me. It's not really Keith's scene, but he likes to go and be with me, plus, I go to Punk Clubs with him, places where the girls actually make out with the homeless people that they let come in and drink for free...

so yeah, we each make our little "sacrifices"...lol.

Then on Sunday we are doing a comic convention, it is small and local which is good, I was so not in the mood to have to make a 2 hour trip to Cleveland....It has been ages and ages since we have dine a convention as dealers (selling crap that's not our art), but it will be fun in a freak watching train wreck kind of way. Comic conventions are where all the pretty people hang out, right?

ok, I really must get some work done now, I am featuring a slew of my new art cards today, these are all available in my shop.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

The Most wonderful Day of the Year

morning loves

ok, first the business....today is the beginning of the slumber party weekend, yay!!! I am posting the people coming to the party so far, please feel free to visit them, many of them will be blogging about their slumber party related activities, also....please feel free to use the comment section almost like an interactive forum, talk to each other, I guarantee you will all adore each other.

I know there are a ton of you on my space who comment there too...don't worry, I will spread the love around.

I will be blogging again tonight with more slumber party news etc, as right now it is 8:15 in the morning and I have normal "stiletto" business to take care of.

ok, the guest list as I know it.

aimee
aaron
gillian
ben
evil kate
tara
michelle
vanessa
karin beth
jungle dream pagoda
rebekah
Kandeedo Bandeedo the artist formerly known as Cinderella's Revenge

that's it for now....I think.

ok, so yesterday while reading Ben's blog I noticed that he "tagged" me....so now it is my turn to tell you all three things about me that you probably don't know.

1- when I was little I slept with a little stuffed animal of a cat on a heart shaped pillow, in fact I slept with it until I was 28 years old, and its name was Kitty Cuddler. Not too original I know....people would tease me relentlessly about it and call it bad names like "kitty c#*t licker...I hated that and it made me very mad...I slept with that stuffed cat through my entire first marriage, in fact I cuddled that, and not my ex.

I have not slept with it since moving to Ohio and being with my bubs, all of a sudden I didn't need it any more.

2- I am incredibly self aware at all times, I cannot pass a mirror without looking into it, some think I am very vain and maybe to some degree I am, the difference being is that instead of vanity it is almost crippling low self esteem. This being the case, I am sometimes very hard ti be around, and probably even harder to love. I put so much energy into worrying about how I look it is exhausting at times., and also not good for me, in fact I can say with certainty that I would rather look good than feel good, which is why I will only wear high heels even though I have had knee surgery and am in pain most of the time. Wearing heels makes me feel thinner, because I look taller.

3- when I was in second grade someone tossed a very sharp pencil and it jabbed me in the eye, my eye bled and everything, I fainted and when my teacher, Sister Asunta, picked me up I threw up all down her back. It was mortifying.....that being the case, I now have a total obsession with eyes, I hate them, in fact if someone even rubs their eyes around me I feel like I am almost about to faint. Watching someone take their contacts out actually did make me faint once.

ok that's it for three things, I know some of you might have known these...but now you all do. So now it is my turn to tag three of you....now, who to choose....

I think I am going to go with Gillian, Tara, and Karin Beth. That seems like a diverse group.


So I have been incredibly busy the past few days in my shop, which has been wonderful, and a bit overwhelming, I am so excited for this weekend "slumber party festivities" and popping onto the the computer will be a fun little escape for me.

also...who can forget JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE on Saturday Night Live tomorrow night....really it can't get much better that that...can it?

and before I bid you all a fond farewell (for a little while, I'll be back later tonight) the piece I have featured today is called "When No One Was Around" and it is available in my shop, I have no good reason to tie it into todays post...as all the pieces I was thinking about using have sold....

I will be with any hopes listing at least one more Marilyn piece soon, as well as more art cards....finally.

till later strangers.

xoxoxoxoxox

the day after and the day before

good morning darling darlings

off to a late start again today, I blame cursed beast of a poodle that the Lord and Lady Ghetto have....though wait, I take that back, I swore to myself that I was not going to think bad thoughts about them, as yesterday morning my poor bubs was stuck in the ice/snow and could not move he was stuck half in the street and half out, Lord Ghetto in his fur coat and snazzy zippy work out pants came to the rescue and pushed him back safely into the driveway.

so, trying very hard for no mean thoughts.

On the other hand the hillbilly's on the other side entertained me with their quarrels yesterday....sometimes I feel like we are in the eye of a storm, or that we are just the kindly neighbors of the people that they always show on "Cops"...and yes I watch Cops, but only because when we have the mean cheese on the weekend and she demands that the TV is on all the time....

plus, I think she likes it, as the people on Cops look like her Mom and her mom's boyfriend...oh, so very mean of me.

So, did everyone have a nice Valentine's Day???? Comments were few and far between on my blogs yesterday so that leads me to believe that you were all having wonders...or you were all falling into depression, to that I say...snap out of it (like Cher in Moonstruck).

This weekend is slumber party weekend!!!!! Menaing tomorrow morning I will post getting ready for it, if you can make a little mention in your blogs about it.

so far the guest list includes...

aimee
aaron
gillian
ben
karin beth
rebekah
tara
vanessa
Evil Kate

I know there are more....but my brain is not working correctly, I am hoping the lovely risa will pop in too, as well as many many others.

ok, so yesterday was nice, though lonely for most of it because the bubs was at work, but once he got home...well there was niceness, just the us time that we both crave, sometimes I feel like we will never catch up on being together, that the 12 years apart will always make us miss each other all the time...even when we are just apart for a couple hours.

Other than that Iw as super busy yesterday in my etsy shop, I believe it was a record breaking day for me (special big thanks to those people who might very well be lurking).

I also hit a scary milestone, I got to 666 sales and 666 hearts (people that mark me as a favorite) and it happened within a few minute time window....creepy huh? (see Aaron, you were right Valentine's Day is a scary holiday).

I guess maybe my grandma was right about me all the time, I must be a "deviled girl"...she used to say this as she handed me platter of deviled eggs with red sprinkles on them (red sprinkles...I think it's paprika...not sure) she would say "deviled eggs for a deviled girl"....sounds sort of mean yes, but I knew that the red sprinkles on top meant she loved me.

And you want to know something adorable...now my bubs puts the sprinkles on my food too...sure I had to ask at first, but now he does it and says "see, I added sprinkles....

so cute...

Oh, the piece I have featured today (The Simplest of Moments) was the piece I did for this weeks creative challenge, the theme this week was to create something Valentine inspired....so instead of thinking of romantic love, I decided to do the love I have for all of you out there in cyberland, and those of you who are very far away and I miss so very much, so this is inspired by that...I hope you like it. It is available for sale in my etsy shop.

I fancy myself the one in the passenger seat, as I would be singing, and as many of you know me and driving, well that's just a really bad combo.

I think truthfully I am meant to live in another time period, when there were no cars...though in my fantasy land, that time period might not have cars but it does have electricity, running water, makeup, fantastic shoes...and stolen black market handbags that I could buy at the Foreign run mall....though they would of course be less expensive...

I will leave you with that...don't forget to let me know if you will be popping in over the weekend for the big party...I will update the list.

xoxoxoxoxo

(ps, one of the pieces I featured yesterday "Becoming Imaginary, has now sold....Becoming Alice is still available though...)

valentine's day

well...I am cheating, it is not yet midnight and I am writing my blog for the morning, you see I will have to dash to the comic shop tomorrow and was not sure how much time I would have to be thoughtful in the morning...

so with that I say....how are all you doing today, my dear sweet valentine darlings???

we have been blasted by ice and snow the past two days so I am feeling anxious, somewhere between The Shining and Doctor Zhivago....

at the current time of writing this 11:47pm on the 13th, our ghetto neighbors are playing some "music" very loudly...

that must be the sounds of seduction they are trying to hide....ewwww.

gross.

my bubs and I had a mini Valentine ceremony during the day, between shoveling breaks for him, he gave me a wonderful card and he melted chocolate onto a plate and put little heart shape sweet cakes on a little dish and presented it to me while I was online "working"....sure they were sweet cakes of the Little Debbie variety...but it was so beautiful, I gobbled them up so quick and then the plate was just a mess, I should have had some bit of self control and taken a photo of it, as it was beautiful.

he says he is not romantic, but he is, that proved it, as if carrying my photo around with him for 12 years didn't prove it...lol...(seriously he still has my picture....it was like I was Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain).

I will not go on and on about my bubs, though I could...and someday I will, I will tell our story, though some of you know it because you read my comic and some of you know it because you lived through it (especially you Aaron).

but that will be a tale for another time...

oh, seeing as today is Valentine's Day that means that this is the last "official" day for you to use the Valentine07 code to get 20% off in my etsy shop.

I have been filling my shop with lots of things, a new mini journal is in, as well as the second painting in my "Through The Looking Glass" series.

It is titled "Becoming Alice" and it is a companion piece for my Becoming Imaginary piece. They work as single pieces very beautifully and together they are wonderful. I have been re-imagining the Alice in Wonderland myth, thinking of who I would be if I were her...if that makes any sense.

I tried to capture a living breathing storybook.

oh, speaking of dreams.....I finally was able to get a Treasury list on Etsy...I have never been able to get one before, but I finally did. I got to pick beautiful items and put them all together to tell a story.

like a collage, anyway...I titled the list Day Dream and I attached a screen shot of it too (sorry this is just for blogger and typepad readers...as those on my myspace blog know....I can't do the picture thing, so you will just have to click on the links...

well that's it for now lovelies...as I hit publish it will be 12:00am and it will be Valentine's Day.

love you all!!!!!!

Blanket Of Snow a Blanket of Woe**

(** the title of today's post comes from an episode of Fraggle Rock)

Good morning snow bunnies!

We are getting clobbered by snow as I type this, and I have to say I am just so in love with the fact that I do not have to out to go to work...I have everything I need right here, tons of art supplies, a cool new French Magazine called Numero that I got during my emergency magazine run at the Barnes and Noble...yes it WAS an emergency, we're having a snow storm for pete's sake...plus, I love Numero, the images are so evocative....

plus, every time I "read" a French magazine I al always reminded of the movie Flashdance, because at one point Jennifer Beals was reading French Vogue, and when I was little and saw that, well, I just fell in love.

What's that you say....when I was little I watched Flashdance...yes, yes I did, but it was on tv and heavily edited, but I blame that movie as well as Saved by the Bell for my love of the movie Showgirls.

Ok before I go to far I just want to thank the ever lovely Gilfling for buying one of my pieces to help the Moxie Fund.

Well, what to do today, what to do....my bubs is home and playing the guitar in the next room, and I am click clacking away, soon to go forth into the big room to work on some pieces.

Oh, the one horrible thing about today is that more poor bubs will have to go out and shovel....you see our neighbors on either side of us will do nothing to help in the snow, the Lord of Ghetto on one side is useless and the Mister Hillbilly on the other side as well....you see neither of them have jobs, so it is hard for me to understand how their schedule can be so jammed that they can't work a little "dig the driveway out from a pile of snow" time.

But who am I to judge.

Speaking of judging, I am terribly afraid that I have somehow gotten a little snobby...not really sure how it happened, but I fear that I am morphing into the little princess I always tried not to be....

I notice this every time I go to the grocery store....and the people there....with their huge cartloads of meats and bad beer, their screaming children and the fact that they are all still wearing their jammies and house slippers...NO MATTER WHAT TIME OF DAY!!!!!!

I just want to scream...would it kill them to through on a little lip gloss, and maybe I don't know...shoes????

ok, done rant, sorry. I know I see a lot of this because of the section of the city I live in, very fringe white trash with encroaching wall of crime.

The problem is the parts of the city we want to live, well they are just to expensive...after all, I am a little pauper.

ok, yesterday during my post I was wondering what you were all doing on Valentine's Day....I got a variety of responses on my different blogs and through email...some even wanted some ideas of what to do...

so here they are in no particular order....

1- write a love letter, a real love letter, not email, not a note but a letter. This is especially good for people who have a love who is 9000 miles away ( I am looking at you Recy), this is also good for people who might have feelings for someone that they are keeping all hidden. Keep in mind that you don;t ever have to mail the letter...

2- have a date night, with yourself. Do the things you love to do, that everyone else sort of groans at, like reading French magazines while listening to Damien Rice over and over again...

3- if you are a hopeless romantic, go looking on ebay for old love letters...and then buy them, and send them to me, as I collect them.

4 - just treat the day like any other, no bah humbugs, just a day...Don't let Valentine's Day be the boss of you.

ok, that's enough self help nonsense from me...keep in mind you don't have to listen to any of it, I am no expert, just a girl in love...

ok, and in honor of the reason for the season...love and romance, I am showcasing one piece a day that is just dreamy and romantic, today I am showing "You are Only This Moment" a small collage on paper, it is encased in an acrylic case so you do not need to frame it.

it is available for sale in my shop.

until tomorrow...which might be cut short because I will have to go to the shop....but tomorrow nonetheless.

lots of kisses and lots of hugs.

morning morning

hi strangers

Very Happy Monday morning to all of you....I have been awake for about a half hour, drinking my mocha and trying oh so desperately to wake myself before I try the whole typing thing...

alas, this is about as good as it's going to get...sorry darlings.

How was your weekend? We had the little mean cheese so needless to say, I am still tired from that, in all of her precocious adorableness she really can take a lot out of you.

Plus she spent most of the weekend dressed like Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, but a bit cuter but even more dangerous.

So that was my weekend, bubs and I just manned the home front, and I got to work a littl last nigt on some things, I am actually making a companion piece to my painting "Becoming Imaginary" I am thinking of these paintings (of which I might do one more of) as my "bottom of the rabbit hole" series, with just a hint and feeling of Alice in Wonderland.

Oh and while I think of it....I have a couple items in my shop that are on special right now, with some of the proceeds going to the "Moxie Fund", the moxie fund was started this weekend as one of the Etsy Sellers (moxierings) husband was killed this weekend in a car accident, leaving her and her children in dire straits, so there is a fund started in her name, if you don't like my stuff but want to help out somehow, you can search on etsy for "moxie fund" and all items from different sellers will come up.

things are quiet right now here at chateau stiletto...my neighbors have been screaming at each other for days now....apparently lady ghetto is very upset with lord ghetto for "screwing my friends"....there has been an awful lot of screaming and yelling over this very touchy matter...though they recently when out and bought a large scary ass dog, so maybe this mean looking beast will be the glue that holds their beautiful relationship together.

Oh yeah and this large beast makes their little poodle bark even more than it already did.

I know, I know.....I live in the best place.

and speaking of all things ghetto, I tried to watch part of the Grammys last night (hello, Justin Timberlake was on) and I think I had it on for over 45 minutes when I realized I had not seen them give out ANY awards....what the heck is up with that.

The whole thing was like a really strange variety show capped by one lucky but seemingly tone deaf girl winning the chance to go on stage and sing with MY Justin....

it was sad....so I turned it off, not getting my fix of my longing for awards shows...I will have to wait for the Oscars I guess.

Do any of you have romantic plans for Valentine's Day?????? My bubs is going to have to work as his restaurant had like a jillion reservations, and I will be at the comic shop....we planned to have a pre-Valentine's Day, day on Tuesday, but of course we're supposed to get a snowstorm, like 10 inches.

And unlike in NH where I grew up, it is illegal to drive during "Snow Emergencies" here and Ohio, so we will be trapped at home, plans to go to the Columbus Museum of Art have gone out the window...though a stay at home date will be even more fun I think.

ok here are some updates.....

Don't forget we have 3 days left on the Valentine07 20% discount special in my shop, this is good through Valentine's Day.

Also, we are 5 days away from Slumber Party Weekend, which will be the most fun you can have at a virtual slumber party....

what you need to know is this.....the party will last Friday and Saturday Night into Sunday...thus giving you lovelies in far away and different time zones a chance to enjoy the fun.

I will update the guest list as the weekend progresses...

How will I know you're here? Easy, just leave me a comment telling me you have arrived and what you have brought etc, and if you have a blog or something, it would be fantastic if you could blog about it too. I will link all of your blogs/shops in the Slumber party thread...so people can visit you.

Which Stiletto Heights Blog is the party on? The answer to that one my loves, is all of my blogs, so people who don't want to travel to my blogger blog from myspace don't have to....

So this is where we'll be, getting our slumber and most of all our party on.

I for one am really excited.

Oh and....because this is Valentine's week I am going to feature every day, a romantic piece of art, not necessarily love...but just pieces that have rich and soft romantic and dreamy feel to them.

Today's piece is called "A Degas Dream" and it is a small 4x5 collage on paper, and it is encased in a 4x6 acrylic case, so it is ready to display...I am doing a small series of this size piece, and I am loving it.

they are all available in my shop.

ok, that's all for now loves, talk to you more tomorrow.

xoxo