Happy Valentine's Day

I wanted to wish you a happy Valentine's Day.  

Actually.... I just gave myself the most prettiest festive V-Day manicure and

 no one noticed it today so I wanted you to compliment it.  

So I took a little hipster picture of my ugly mug flashing you a peace sign.

Compliment away....

Then the doodle interrupted to give me some Valentine's day puppy loving.

And then the Neener came in and we took some more horrible family photos.

But we ended up with this half decent one. 

(You can compliment it if you want.)

Happy Valentine's Day my bloggy friends!

And my real life friends who read this blog.

And my real blog friends who are pretty much real friends.  

I hope it is filled with peace signs and puppy kisses and no bitterness!

Even if you're single - cuz you're a hot single betch. 

Paris Hilton says... 

you can judge how hot you are by looking at your friends.

Juding by these shots - all my friends are hotties. 

Wooo hoo!  You sexxy things you.  

Also, we went to the movies tonight and we saw Paul.

I know I have puritanical American values,

but seriously, I have NEVER seen so many people making out at the movies.

And seriously, an alien comedy movie is not exactly romantic right? WTF?  

ps.  I thought it was funny.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all my blogging friends!  

I am so excited for 2011.  Mostly because 2010 sucked. 

But hey, so far, things are looking up, especially since I will end my year long stint of unemployment in two weeks!!!  So so excited for that.  

So I've been wondering what your resolutions are?  

Mine didn't go too well last year.

But this year, this year is going to be different!  

Right?  Right!

My overall goal is :  be more productive.

Problem with this is its largely unmeasurable, 

and I like goals that I can CROSS OFF a list.

Have you learned that about me yet?  ha!

So here are a few more of my goals for 2011....

• Ride bike enough to pay for itself - (more on this later, but I got that super cute bike from my mom for xmas!!)
• Volunteer
• Get back to my happy weight (not my skinniest ever, just the one I am at when I'm being healthy)
• Complete 30 tasks from my Day Zero list.
• Finish decorating our house.
• Do the dishes right after dinner.
• Make British friends
• Go on a honeymoon
• Get to bed by 11pm 
• Start our art collection
• Go on a cool date with Nick once a month (we are alternating months, he is planning this month... and I am planning next month - any ideas?)
• Annnnnnnnnnd, last but not least - Explore the Peak District (the national park which we basically live in ) once a month!  

All these pictures were taken in the Peak District over Christmas.  

It really is a pretty place.  

Good luck with your resolutions if you're making them!  

I'd love to know what they are!

How to Paint Crappy Portraits

Hi Friends,

Those of you read my 100 Things To Do List may have noticed one of my goals is to have portraits of everyone in my family.  Well let's get real, those things are expensive!  Since money is not something that we're swimming in over here, I knew I would have to paint these myself.  Maybe like me some of you have too much free time and want to give it a go...

Start with a picture you really like.  I chose one of my sisters.  Print it out and draw a grid on the photo.  Then blow up your grid on the canvas.  It is important to be careful with this part because if your grid is off it will throw everything off.

Then, in pencil, sketch out your portrait.  The grid will make it 100 times easier since you can focus on smaller parts of the photo.  After you draw it, start painting it in watered down shades of brown.  It seems like an extra step, but think of it as a map.  It really will help to guide you when you start putting color down.

Then for the fun part!  It's kind of like a coloring book for adults at this point.  It's best to start with the background and work your way forward.

Voila!  I know it's not gonna win any awards, but for my first painting since high school art class I don't think it's too bad.  Hope this inspired you to get your creative juices flowing!

Happy Friday!

Happy Easter!

Nick bought me a mini tripod the other day and today I insisted we take a family portrait when we took Heidi for her walk.  I put on a pretty top and skirt, and then realized it was freezing outside.  I think I do this every single Easter.  It's always colder than I want it to be.

But I still insisted we make an attempt.  We only got one shot before one of Heidi's friends showed up and she was totally out of commission.  Hopefully we can try again when it's warmer and we can wear pretty spring clothes!

We didn't think this was Heidi's best angle, so we took off her new gentle leader (great for stopping her pulling) and Nick took a picture of us and my new purple rain boots!  Love them!

Trying to set up a tripod and get into the picture before the countdown is over is pretty tricky.  We need to make a photographer friend to get a good shot!

We've been spring cleaning and eating egg salad in true Easter fashion the rest of today.  We also went on a wild goose chase yesterday to get lots of Easter candy for each other but didn't have much luck.  I was seriously missing Walgreens as we trolled multiple supermarkets and could ONLY find large stocks of Cadbury eggs (sister Dani, you would be in cadbury egg heaven).  I'm sorry but there is SO much more to Easter than cadbury eggs.... like peeps, for example.  Peeps are MY favorite Easter candy.  However, I have two major problems with peeps...

1. Peeps are nowhere to be found in England

2. Peeps are NOT vegetarian

But I found a recipe on Martha's website!! God love her, and I am going to make them myself.... except Nick won't let me until I get a candy thermometer.  (He says it will be a disaster and I kinda believe him).  I would love to go out and get one, but the bus only runs once an hour on Sundays, and the shops closed at 4pm... oh life in the country..  But my dear readers and vegetarian peep lovers, I promise you that I will be producing lots of peeps sometime before the week is up.  You have my word!