Preliminary Maddie Sketch

OH. EM. GEE.

The moment has arrived!  (And a lot sooner than I anticipated!)

I have finally created a preliminary Maddie sketch.  I find it's a lot harder for me to draw something I'm not directly looking at, or that I've never imagined before, so I expected that this process would take a significant amount of time.  But today I came home and said, "Eh, let's see what comes up on paper."  And away I went!

I can't draw without BLASTING my iPod and singing along to every song (since I am the human karaoke machine), so I'm sure my neighbors looooove me right about now.  Whatevs.  When Maddie makes me famous, they'll be saying, "Mollie TOTALLY lived above me back in the day!"

lawlz.

ANYwho, drum roll pleaaaase!

(commence drumming on desk)

MADDIE!!!

Sooo???  Whatcha think?!??!  Look like her??

she looks thrilled

I think it's pretty good, I'm happy with it :)  And if you hate?  Well, haters gon' hate.

And if creativity strikes again, I may recreate her or give her more "moods" (draw her angry, sad, etc.)

Happy "tails"!
-Mollie

The Case Against Orange Barrels

I hate orange barrels.  You know, the "state flower of Ohio"?

I don't hate them because they are everywhere.  That's not my issue.

My issue is that they were invented.  Somewhere once upon a time, something like this happened:

"Hey Ted, Jeff and Andy got run over while trying to divert traffic away from potholes.  That's the 45th injury this month.  We gotta come up with another way to do this."
"Hmmm... hey I know!  I have a couple kegs sitting in my garage... what if we painted them orange and put them out on the roads so people would know to move lanes?"

And orange barrels were born.  And someone is sitting pretty with all the cash-money they made... FOR DREAMING UP AN ORANGE BARREL.

So I'm sitting here, trying to think of some really cool, never-done-before technology thing that could rival Apple (especially now that Jobs is gone).  Thinking that that's the way to go.  And SOMEONE invented an orange barrel.  So simple.  Yet they're EVERYWHERE!  (I'm totally not bitter...)

Anywho, I got this book and I'm reading it, and it's telling me that inventions, ideas, etc. don't have to be revolutionary or anything monumental.  They just have to be.  So somehow I related that to posting my drawings here online for your enjoyment/my creative, inspirational outlet.

I don't claim to be awesome.  I don't think I'm bad, either.  All my elementary teachers tried to get me to become an artist.  But I never wanted to do what I love for a living - I was afraid I would hate it eventually, if I took that road.  I took lessons when I was younger.  I remember my teacher becoming frustrated with me whenever it came time to pick out what we would paint that week... I'd always pick out a picture of a dog.  "Mollie, you need to branch out; to learn how to draw landscapes and people," he'd say.  I'd cave, and I'd hate how they turned out.  But now I'm older and I can appreciate that my artistic ability is limited to animals - and I call that my niche.

So without further ado, here are some of my better(?) drawings.  My medium?  A trusty sketchbook and a pencil - colored pencils if I'm feeling adventurous.  Sometimes they are fully completed, sometimes they never are.  Enjoy.  (Warning... I love dalmatians)

Pongo 

Lucky

This is from Fall Out Boy's album artwork for Folie a Deux (shown below)

Jack Russell Terrier

Like I said... I love dalmatians.

Love them?  Hate them?  Want more? Wondering where are Maddie's posts?

Until next time,
me

Maddie's Five Things!!!

HI IT'S MADDIE!

can't forget me!  i'm glued to mollie squeaking hedgehog (i think i'm up to 184 squeaks...per minute!!!  she looks happy...)

five things i love about me??

#5 - my ears!
they flop!  they stand up! they are triangles!

#4 - my freckles!
i have freckles all over my body!  back, face, paws, tail, legs, everywhere!

#3 - my toys!
forget treats, i love my toys! i know that's not really about me, but i still love them!

#2 - i'm goofy!
i make mollie laugh all the time when i play all by myself and bounce and run all around the place!  i'm uncoordinated too, so everyone laughs whenever i bump into the fridge or get my head stuck under the blankets!  i'm such a smiley puppy!

#1 - i'm super lucky!
a bed and good food and puppy play-dates are so much funner than being in a shelter!  boy am i a lucky pup!  i love giving kisses and cuddling... and i'm pretty good at it, too!

i love my friend james!

thanks for listening, gotta run, there are games of fetch to be played!!!!

-Maddie

Five Things I Like About Myself... or something

OHAI!

So Sarah (this girl) tagged me in a post.  The challenge?  Find five things about myself I like.  nnnngh.  I'll consider it a success if I don't have to ask people for help (cough SARA cough).  Excuse my cold.

While I am loud and have horribly un-politically correct humor and can goose call, I typically steer clear of talking about myself all that much.  You know how they tell you to highlight your accomplishments in interviews? Yeah, I'm the girl that keeps saying, "Well, we did this and we did that."  I'd rather listen to what other people have to say.

But, since I'm feeling up to the challenge, here they aaaaaare (in no particular order)!

#5 - My Smile
Mom would be so happy I'm listing this, seeing as how her favorite thing to say about this body feature of mine is, "They cost me a lot of money!"  (Which is true, thanks Mom).  But I do, in fact, quite like my smile.  I put up with braces from First Grade all the way through Freshman year of HS.  Oh. My. God.  I had that face gear, I was a potential candidate for jaw surgery, and I gave up many awesome foods for straight teeth.  TOTES worth it!  I receive many compliments on my smile, and people say I smile a lot. :)

#4 - My Empathy/Listening Skills
I actually took a "Strengths Finder" test from a book (it's pretty cool, check it out:  Now, Discover Your Strengths), and I think it sums up this skill way better than I could:  "You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person’s perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person’s predicament—this would be sympathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings—to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life."

#3 - My Eyes
I feel like this is something everyone likes about themselves (I think my BFF is the only person I know who doesn't like her eyes), but I love my eyes.  Depending on what color I wear or what mood I'm in, they can be a grey-blue or a strikingly bright blue.  That is all.

#2 - I'm A Human iPod
If you can't think of the name of the song or who sings it, chances are I know the answer... and all the lyrics.  I know the words to so many songs and can bust them out at a moment's notice, it's ridonculous.  And I will sing them out loud with little to no shame (I'm singing right now - "Judas" by Lady Gaga - as a matter of fact... I cannot get that song out of my head!).  Who would go to a karaoke bar sober and get up and sing?  This girl.

#1 - I Can Draw
Like, actually pretty well.  I was coloring inside the lines at age birth.  I never drew stick figures - I always drew full-bodied people and animals.  My elementary school teachers would all be mad if they knew I wasn't an artist.  But it's something I like to do for fun, so I never wanted to make it my job.  I'm best at drawing dogs (shocking), I can draw a Pongo or Lucky from memory, and if I can look at it, I can freehand it.  So if you ever need a portrait of your pet, I'm your man... er, girl.

So there ya have it!  Five things I can tolerate about myself. Jay Kay, Jay Kay.  And now I am supposed to tag 5 people to do the same, but I don't have tons of Blogland followers whom I could tag.  But I'd LOVE to hear what your favorite things are about yourself!  I love learning about people :)

(again... still working on my sign-off),
Mollie

Tired

Hi Blogland!

So, here goes... my very first post!  Thanks for joining :)

As the title suggests, I have been very tired lately.  Like, I don't just mean the typical afternoon slump kind of tired (although that happens to me a lot).  I mean I could hibernate tired:

I even sleep just like that!

It's very frustrating to get 8 or 9 hours of sleep at night, only to still find myself dragging all day long.  Caffeine doesn't even help, and I'm not sure how I feel about downing one of those "five hour energy shot" things... that just doesn't sound healthy... or tasty.

Now, granted, being tired is a defense mechanism.  It's your body's way of telling you, "hey, slow it down, take it easy, will ya??"  So you shouldn't ignore it.  And believe me, I didn't.  Pretty sure I turned down invites from friends many a time due to lack of energy.  Pretty sure I've spent a few of my weekends sleeping away the vast majority of the day, awakening only to eat, which is awesome!  Except when you stop and realize that "omg, I'm being a huge waste of space right now."

This huge waste of space also probably gained all her weight because of it.  When you're tired, believe me, the last thing you want to do is go out and run a couple miles.  So I didn't.  And then people would say, "Well, you know, exercising actually gives you more energy."  Yes, I'm aware of that.  But it's a vicious cycle:  I'm tired, so I don't work out, and when I do I'm just too tired, so I end up more tired, blah blah blah.  (Admittedly, I was lazy half that time, too, and there's a fine line between lazy and tired.)  Or that's what I told myself...

Until now!

Yes, you heard me!  I don't know what clicked, but I decided that I'm making sleep and tiredness a mental game.  Kind of like running - when I get mentally bored, I find ways to occupy my brain to keep it off the pain or the mileage or anything else that could get me down.  When I tell myself I can't do 5 miles today, then I probably won't!  I'm mentally ending the workout before I've even physically stepped foot on the trail.  So when I'm feeling tired - when I don't feel like working out because I'd rather sleep in - I'm gonna start telling myself, "Just do it!"  (Sorry Nike)  Just get out there and pound some pavement!  Pump some iron!  Kick some...boxes?  I don't know, I was trying to be creative with kickboxing.  Clearly that worked.

But you get what I mean, right?  I'm tired of being tired!  I don't want to be tired anymore - I want to feel the rush I got when I had an AWESOME 10-miler!  When I ran faster than my pace because I felt GREAT, like nothing could get in my way!

Because honestly, while it has felt great to sleep in to past couple weeks, nothing compares to the feeling I get when I'm with my friends at 6:30am (gasp!) and the satisfaction of knowing I've done more in these early hours of the day than most people will do all day.

(Still working on my signature sign off...)

-Mollie