This past week, I wrote an article for xoJane and mentioned that I live with a large group of dogs. Y'all seemed pretty interested!
Here are three of the seven pups residing at our house. I wanted to take a big group photo, but these individual portraits turned out really well. So, without further ado, I present Red, Brie and Zelda...
Red, the chunky lover
Brie, Red's mom (!) 0_0 ^_^
Zelda, the talker
These aren't my babies, but I really love these guys <3
| |
|
Hey all! I know some of you are coming over from xoJane and I just wanted to say thank you for checking out my blog. I was nervous and excited for my article to go up because I know the xoJane community is fierce... and fierce! I hope y'all enjoyed (and don't hate me), and I hope to contribute to the site more in the future.
Also if y'all have any questions, just let me know! (Yes, our house sometimes smells strongly of dog. No, I do not particularly enjoy it. Yes, we do live in the country (on top of a little hill), so we generally get a lot of fresh air and some heavy winds. No, there is no way we would be able to manage this group living scenario in the city. No way.)
I'll post a pic of all seven pups on Sunday ;-)
In the meantime, this is my baby, Frida, at about four months old ^_^
Thank you again for stopping by! I really appreciate it. If you're feeling what I'm doing, I tend to post heavily on Instagram @artinarteries, so I'd love to connect with you there too <3
| |
|
Featuring Juice Boots & Meenty, circa 2011.
The arts are not for our instruction, but for our delight, and this delight is something more than pleasure, it is the godlike ecstacy of liberation from the restless activity of the mind and the senses, which are the veils of all reality, transparent only when we are at peace with ourselves. From the love of many things we are led to the experience of Union. The secret of all art is self-forgetfulness. - Amanda Coomarswamy
By definition the Symbol is magic; it evokes the form bound in the spell of matter. To evoke is not to imagine. It is to live; it is to live the form. -R.A. Schwaller De Lubicz
| |
|
My friend Caroline is a business owner, world traveler, champagne-drinking hottie and ballsy woman. I took this photo at the Amsterdam Hilton's rooftop bar before Caroline started a multi-project photo adventure in Europe. Yeah, she's a badass!
Fall is here and winter is steadily approaching! If you are anything like I am, this means it's time for homemade spicy soups, black suede boots (with gold-capped hard toes for kicking negativity to the curb), and using the approaching New Year as ammo for plotting general world domination. As part of the Bullish Blog Network, I present to you "Winter Ambition: A Reading List for Ballsy Women." I also recommend heading over to GetBullish.com to pick up Jen Dziura's "Design Your 2015" PDF for scheming over in your winter cave... bring your planner and lots of coffee!
Part One: Gaining (or Maintaining) Confidence and Courage
The biggest difficulty in beginning any project is building up the courage to go out there and get started… and then keeping that momentum going. For a psychology boost, check out Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now or A New Earth. Tolle catches flack for being an Oprah lackey/faux guru, but if you muster up the willpower to leave your irony at the door and get past the first few chapters, after reading this I swear some form of positive mental juju will result. The Charisma Myth by Olivia Cabane is also a good read with concrete examples of actions you can take (based on techniques taught at Harvard and MIT) to feel more comfortable and empowered in social situations.
Next level: For some inspiring HBIC stories, check out #GirlBoss by Sophia Amoruso, I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, Hard Choices by Hillary Clinton, Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff, and Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo (don’t be dissuaded by the Salma cover, the older edition had Frida on it).
Part Two: Getting Your Financial Ducks in a Row
Money stress affects everyone. When you’re dealing blindly with that shit, you are a lot less likely to go out there and chase big goals. In my personal experience, most people I know, including myself, have been gravely uneducated and/or negligent in regards to handling personal finances. We can blame that on the system, our parents, ourselves, whatever. Let’s turn that around! To go the more traditional financial planning route, I suggest Suze Orman’s The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke and/or Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny. If you have children or feel like going way back to the basics yourself, Raising Financially Fit Kids by Joline Godfrey is a good resource. For a more non-traditional and ballsy personal finance approach, check out Mr. Money Moustache’s blog on retiring early and smartly (so you can do the shit you really want to do).
Next level: Find a good tax lady/financial planner and copies of Family Wealth and The Cycle of the Gift, both by James E. Hughes Jr. and Philanthropy, Heirs & Values by Roy Williams and Vic Preisser - for motivational material or implementation strategies.
Part Three: Creating an Action Plan and Doing Something
There are two basic schools of thought when doing. One is to plan meticulously and ruthlessly before taking any action, the other is to dive in headfirst and reroute as necessary. Regardless of which technique you prefer, when tackling a project, you will probably need to write, whether you are pitching yourself for a job, creating a blog to position yourself as a leader in your field, or working on a novel. Blog, Inc. by Joy Cho is a good primer for starting a blog and Write. Publish. Repeat. by Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt outlines the "duh" for how to do it. How to Put Your Book Together and Get a Job in Advertising by Maxine Paetro, although directed to those in advertising, is a good resource for anyone job hunting (or job creating) that should put together a portfolio of work. Bonus: it includes resume tips. See also Jen Dziura's extensive Bullish archive for articles on becoming the gentlewoman you really are.
Next level: Taking action for yourself is gratifying, but acknowledging you have the power, no matter your means or time, to help other people (or the environment! or animals!) and acting on that is totally game-changing. See How to Change the World by John-Paul Flintoff, Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof, and Manifesta by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards.
Post for Bullish Blog Network. Join other lady badasses over at GetBullish.com!
| |
|
Typography Poster by The Watermelon Factory
Last night myself, the husband, the brother, a cousin and several other friends went to First Friday, a monthly event in which local galleries open their doors for free (and to party), in the Southtown area of San Antonio. We specifically went to check out the Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum because one of our Southwest School of Art teachers, Alex Rubio, is artist-in-residence there. The work was inspiring, particularly Jennifer Ling Datchuk's "Dark and Lovely," which examines her personal identity in relation to hair and race. She was brave and crazy enough to pluck out all of her eyebrow hairs, film it, and present it. Woah. Makes me want to create!
So here we go! More links to bolster our hearts and imaginations...
| |
|
My friends Tuesday and Ian recently got engaged. These photos were taken out by the small town of Harper in the Texas Hill Country. I have known these two for about 13 years. We were a little friend pack in high school and all started college together at Texas State. Tuesday and Ian (obviously) love their pups and wanted to incorporate the dogs into their engagement photos. When they first got together, they started out with one dog, added two that were sisters, and then fostered a mama and baby that were eventually absorbed into the pack. Five dogs! With great personalities. I wonder if they will try to incorporate the dogs into the wedding... ;-)
| |
|
