supernatural atc's

I have a client who loves the tv show Supernatural. I'd never seen it, so my sister and I watched a few episodes together. I am super-squeamish, so my sister helped me out by telling me what was happening while I looked down and drew. I was just doodling, but these are what happened. And if you've ever watched Supernatural, I don't think you'd be surprised.

Charcoal is delightful.

#100happydays day 12

Took a quick walk down the street before it got dark. It feels like it might rain. I didn't take my phone with me, went back after to take the photo.

So grateful I live here. That I have 5000 acres of wilderness behind me, and trees and green and beautiful homes in front.

And then this big dog who welcomes me home.

Family time!

Dinner with mom, sister, aunt and cousin! No good photos were taken. At. All.

Paleyfest take two!

Had my second experience with Paleyfest today. My sisters, mom and I enjoyed a pretty great view of Marvel's Agents of Shield from the mezzanine of the Dolby theater.

Felicia Day moderated, which was fantastic. The audience asked pretty good questions. Phil Coulson lives.

Also we got to see the next episode ahead of time, so, nanananaaaaana.

100 things that make me happy

I am using day zero project as a wonderful master-goal list. The idea is that you list 101 things you want to accomplish in 1000 days. I'm finding that this is the perfect amount of time for me -- less than 3 years, so it doesn't seem like big giant vague-future, but still enough time that I can have some lofty goals.

One of my goals on the dayzeroproject site is to identify 100 things that make me happy. This blog post is going to be where I do that!

I might not be able to do all 100 in one sitting... so I'll just be updating when I do.

2. Persie dog

1. Crossing off to-do lists
2. Persie dog
3. Talking about tv shows with my sisters
4. New sock yarn
5. When I see an actor on a tv show, and figure out what else they've been in.
6. Sitting by a fire in my living room
7. Having a Christmas tree in my house
8. The smell of home grown tomatoes

9. Rommel dog and 12. Waking up in a tent

9. Rommel dog
10. Feeding my fish every morning
11. Watching hummingbirds swoop down on the front lawn
12. Waking up in a tent
13. Painting walls new colors
14. Getting things I bought online in the mail
15. Text messages from my dad
16. Soft pillow, made bed, turning off the lamp to go to sleep
17. Guppies
18. Being able to identify plants, and know some of their uses
19. The smell of chlorine

20. Santa Barbara Island

20. Sitting on the bench at the top of the hill on Santa Barbara Island
21. The smell of sunscreen
22. Accomplishing something many days in a row, like drinking water or spinning the sparkwheel on sparkpeople.
23. The color pink.
24. Having people at my house. Especially to bbq or sit around the bonfire in the backyard.
25. Wearing cowboy hats.
26. Watching tv with A - especially our silly shows
27. Lighting a candle in my office
28. Having a clean kitchen counter
29. Listening to a book while walking through my neighborhood
30. Going to wholesome choice Persian market
31. Feeling my baby move

socks made for husband and I by Jill P.

32. Sleeping in a hotel bed
33. Being a part of a book club
34. Being in a theater
35. The Secret Society of Unschooling Moms
36. Apple cinnamon oatmeal with crunchy peanut butter
37. Making jam
38. Drinking ice water with berries or mint
39. Farmers markets
40. Wearing handmade socks made by other people
41. Walking across the grass at school when everyone else is taking the cement
42. Anything written by JK Rowling
43. Getting my hair washed and cut
44. Doing errands I need to do right away, as soon as I realize they should get done
45. Having a made bed

55. baby blanket I made from sock yarn

46. Having flowers in vases at home
47. Cooking on a camp stove
48. Being in the middle of a new, good book for the first time
49. The color combination of turquoise and red
50. Driving to Sacramento every summer
51. Maintaining my 30 Day Challenge group on facebook
52. Bamboo double pointed knitting needles
53. Alpaca yarn. And alpacas in general.
54. Videos of goats. Multiple goats.
55. My barn raising quilt knitted blankets - the baby one that's finished and the big one that is still in progress.
56. Driving through rural parts of California and imagining living there
57. Stirring rich, red marinara sauce in my new blue cast iron dutch oven
58. Buying things at fruit and nut stands
59. The smell of chlorine on my skin
60.

on your way

Some of these are magazine cut outs, most are actual photos of mine. I was cleaning out my art supply room and found a theme among some of the photos I didn't want to get rid of, but didn't know where to keep... 

The stuff that happens on my lawn

I love what random things happen on my front lawn.

Today I looked out and there's a small film crew and an...ice cream truck.

They are filming a promo for samsung, so if you see it... that's my house!

Happy new year!

Today my family celebrated Naw Ruz, the Persian New Years, the first day of spring!

We get dressed up in pretty clothes, and eat really good food... usually salad shirazi, baghali polo (rice with dill and lima beans), fish, mast a chiar (yogurt with cucumber), dough (minty yogurt drink) and lavash (bread).

The haft-seen table has been set up with a lot of symbolic objects. Haft = 7, Seen = the letter S. So our table has... sabse (greens), persian coins, colored eggs, sombol (hyacinth), sumac, senjed (berries), samanu (wheat pudding), sib (apple), sir (garlic), serke (vinegar), sekke (coins) and also rose water, colored eggs, a mirror, gold fish... and lots of yummy persian candy and cookies.

Date day in los feliz

Had a nice little date day in Los Feliz with my sister in law.
Nails done at Suzy's on Hillhurst. Cheap, and now my pink toes are sparkly.

Yummy, yummy dinner at Home, my fave Los Feliz restaurant (and home to thenbest jalapeno cucumber bloody mary).

Then adventures in Costco, where she was very very excited about her purchases.

Being a teacher

I teach in the Recreation department at California State University, Long Beach, and love it. This semester I am teaching Leisure in Contemporary Society. I get to expose this class to so much. It ties in so well with my unschooling background.

Today I had them do this activity where they thought about the benefits of three activities.  The first, something they did through school. The second, something they did on their own time. The third they picked from a short list of activities I gave them that people tend to be disparaging about and demean (playing video games, sunbathing, etc.)

For each one they listed the social, emotional,  physical and mental benefits,  and how it impacted their future.

This made me happy.

This is my way of decreasing shame, depression and guilt, and my way of increasing self worth, esteem, value.

Unexpected freesia

Last year when we moved in, there was this giant stone planter on the feont porch that work crews had used as an ashtray and garbage can. I cleaned it out and planted... oh so many things, but one after another they died. I planted freesia last year that lasted for about a week.... and this year I decided I should plant something a little sturdier so I chose aloe.

A few weeks ago I noticed something unexpected. .. last year's freesia are back! I didn't know they were the returning kind of plant.

This is what I see now, every morning when I leave, and every night when I get home.

Painting the baby's room

100 days of happy, you are easy today :) having the best sunshiney sunday... husband and I painted the baby's room. Once it has time to settle I will be putting up some tree decals. I love how it turned out.

The whole time I was painting it smelled like redwoods and summer,  from the trees in the backyard.  Someone nearby was barbecuing,  too.

Good day, and it's not even four pm yet.

therapeutic atc's

I use a lot of collage in my therapy practice. There's something about it that helps bring the subconscious forward, and not having to draw or paint anything original can do wonders for your feelings of insecurity or anxiety. Also I like cutting things up and putting them back together.

So in any case, I collage. The atc's here used to be one large collage, but I didn't know what to do with it, so I turned the collage over and cut it up into atc size cards. There's a theme. There's sadness and longing and wanting and grieving and hope and now that it is cut up into pieces it's a little easier for me to handle.