Just Doodlin’

Sentimentally Me

| Viciously Sweet

Do you ever think about what’s important? Like what means the most to you in the whole big universe? Would they be important to another person from the other side of the world?

Mine are nearly 100% sentimental, I’m a sentimental kind of gal. I always think, “things” shouldn’t be your in your lists of favorites. But as much as I enjoy the sun popping back up after a few grey days and seeing kids play with bubbles, or watching old chunky dogs giggle down a sidewalk… I still can’t help some of my favorite things being tangible objects.

A few examples, my navy sweater from my high school… I still wear it, and every time I wear it I feel sentimentally fantastic (also, a little bit like a nun from the 1950s.) My favorite toy from my childhood, is a stuffed animal of Littlefoot from the “Land Before Time” and he resides on my sleek modern desk chair… and I smile every time I use it and see him sitting there. Also, I smile because I imagine Herman Miller does not design their fancy chairs to shelter my childhood memories…

I still have loads of letters written from my high school friends and even a few spectacular ones from middle school… full of stories about the cutest boys we went to school with, teachers who were a little to attentive to our teenage existences, and one of the funnest word games you could ever fathom.

And if I were to come home and find them gone, I would be beyond devastated like on par with people stealing my car and my computer, or stealing the crown jewels from the Queen. I’m that serious about my silly junk, okay. But the thing about these objects (and unlike the crown jewels) is that and when someone else would have them in their possession, they would have none of the feeling. They would see a thick navy sweater from a Catholic girls school, a dinosaur toy with a really worn neck, and a pile of useless paper.

Not that I’m equating my worth to a sweater, dinosaur and pile of paper… but going through my belongings I understand that most people outside of my brain just wouldn’t understand why a notebook of drawings is more important than a pair of fancy earrings…

And that brings me to this… my first attempt of making wordy art. The quote is from “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” and it is Mr. Magorium explaining his records to his new straight lace accountant. Also I think it sums up 82% of the paper discovered in my house… as everything has a doodle on it:

 

Have a nice weekend, and enjoy something really, really simple… and don’t be embarrassed about it. I’ll be working on a few projects and pretending to be fancy, personally.

♥Lauren

My Cupcake Caper

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I realized my joy is getting braggy. And I’m not going to unpack the brag bags… because that is annoying. And my Inner Pam Beesly told me “Take it down a notch, the world knows about your joy.”

So I took a cue at not to make myself a real life Mary Sue, and to look at my sketchbook and pull a drawing from my archives that I already should have shared. (Hehe, I have archives!) A few months ago I was not feeling the joy, and much like the friendship of Turk and J.D. from “Scrubs” my Lady Turk counterpart (Nancy) told me to drag my booty to her house to experience the “WORLD’S GIRLIEST WEEKEND”. And we did, we watched teen movies until we passed out, we ate fancy hamburgers, we made crafts, we packed goodie bags for children, we went as lady dates to a wedding…

And

then

we

tried

to

make…

red velvet cupcakes…

from scratch.

Being our first go of making red velvet cupcakes from scratch we pulled out the recipes, and not wanting to risk making a horrible huge batch Nancy decided to cut the recipe… in 4s. And most impressively she had all the math all figured out, but that wasn’t the difficult part. The most difficult thing  was attempting to mix .375 teaspoons of baking soda with a 1/2 an egg. But we were in it. We were committed. Everything was going on the good side of moderately strange until I had to add the red dye to the mixer…and like most things that were happening to me at that time, the mixer decided to stage a mutiny, and it exploded in my face, and hands and all actually over my person.

My face was red… with more than embarrassment.

However the cupcakes were then baked and finished… and were fabulous except for 2 small flaws…

1. They were burgundy and pink, like a weird steak.

2. They were crunchy on the top.

We covered that stuff up with frosting like crazy! So we may not be opening that cupcake shop like the “2 Broke Girls” afterall:

♥ Lauren

You are worth every penny!

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Today was a very interesting day. I fell back into an old pattern. A pattern that made everyone feel at ease… except me.

This is because I have changed. And I want better. Now for a moment, in the moment when things were how they used to be my inner young Pam Beesly was thrilled. (My inner Pam Beesly is also thrilled with candy on a desk so we try not to listen to her.) However, the more confident New Lauren/Pam Beesly that I have become stepped in and said. “NO”.

 I say this because my friends have been telling me forever that I am better than my nonsense. And it took years to realize that I actually am. I am better! And all the nonsense in your everyday life… you are better than it too. If you don’t believe me ask this guy right here:

♥ Lauren

Friday I’m a chicken… in love

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I don’t care if Monday’s blue…

Today I am so happy, I have to make a post. But I’m not exactly in the best position to be scanning doodles because I am making a set of drawings for work… it’s so hard to be an adult on a FRIDAY!

So to get to the meaty part of the post. I will say this doodle was inspired by several things… talking about drawing a Rooster in love with my wonderful sister-in-law, Season. And also by the department stores telling me that I should already be Christmassing (what is up with that?)

Any who, lets get to the first wintery chicken of 2012:

And a special request… if anyone out there does encounter snow.. can you make me a snow chicken?

Oh, and have a nice weekend… I’m going to!

♫Lauren

The Eternal Sunshine of My Spotless Mind

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Some people are happy people. I have a confession… I am one of those happy people.

I know many of you are gasping, because your like… can that really be true? Does that mean all her giggles aren’t lies? Does that mean her sketchbook is really full of kittens and an occasional unicorn? Do you really not sit around all serious like a … professional?

The answer my dear readers is… YES!

And above all, I hope you have gleaned that I’m a huge dork, and unapologetic for it. I realize that most people who had a job that didn’t pay them much, and living with your parents after living without them for 5 years would not be as chipper as me. But sometimes we have to just appreciate it, we may not have all we want but what we have is good. And I’m not talking about settling for what we have (we all know how I feel about settling.)

But sometimes we can wear really pretty shoes, listen to some tunes that totally rock our world (Shout out to the Cure) and just appreciate a nice fall day. And that is what I choose to do today. For some reason I feel that today life is extra beautiful. Maybe it’s because I watched my favorite movie this week, maybe it’s because I’m an “adult” cherishing my new Hello Kitty wallet, maybe it’s because tonight I’m eating chicken. Mostly, it’s because I am in love with how I feel, when I feel optimistic about my future. I hope you find something beautiful today that makes you realize how wonderful the world is:

And if you need a little boost to give you some more happy read this article. Every time I do, I find something instantly to be happy about. Friends, smiling, music and sex… you really cannot go wrong reading it. It will make you want to take the boat of happiness the world sends you and sail about with joy in your heart!

♥ Lauren

 

My inner Jenna Rink

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I have some art to work on after work so I’m going to make sure I have a Lauren-y movie to watch tonight and it’s all about “13 going on 30” tonight. No matter how many times I see it, I always get sucked in to all the fun and joys of Jenna Rink dealing with being a grown up.

I always find myself relating to Jenna. I somehow feel like the rest of me grew up and left my brain somewhere else. I mean I just learned today that Shepard’s pie is a meat pie, and not a pie made by a Shepard (and I’m envisioning one of the guys who hangs out with baby Jesus here.) And that is really just the tip of the iceberg of things I don’t get, that everyone already knows.

And that dream house…

Oh, I still want it. I don’t know if it’s because I’m working on being a licensed architect and I love movie houses… or just because I want some of that wishing dust, and to have a slumber party with my girlfriends where we sing Pat Benatar songs until we pass out.

Anyways I have some art to make and some Mark Ruffalo to watch. So just remember:

♥Lauren

The Love Triangle

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I am a clumsy person. Just ask anyone who has ever met me in real life. I fall while walking,  drop everything on myself (today a bucket of rubber bands)… and once almost poked out my eye with an x-acto blade because I had an itch in my hair and forgot I was holding it the sharpest of all blades.

Today I was quite happy to wear this really cute retro style polka dot dress (polka dots are my thing!) And in my I’m a hot mess lifestyle, I actually thought I was looking rather dorky chic. I went to the bathroom adjusted the top, and then it happened I realized that my full circle dress, perfect for spinning around in was actually stuck in my underpants. IN THE UNDERPANTS!

This has never happened before, and what can only make it better is that my coworker caught me correcting the problem. I felt like saying “Happy Monday everyone, my underpants are pink hearts today!” But instead I turned red, and sat as low in my seat as possible.

 

 

I caught my dress being stuck the next 2 times it happened in the remaining 4 hours of the day…. before I showed my coworkers my underpants.  Tomorrow I wear pants with pants on top of that.

♫Lauren

The Investment

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Have you ever met someone who makes your head wobble like a bobble head?

A person who would rather not get what they want because the have something already they are just to lazy to give up? A person who has no sense of adventure or desire to go out in the world and do what they really need to do to make themselves happy? A person that you constantly root for only to have them eternally disappoint you? A person who chooses to live “a life of quiet desperation” like an anecdote of Thoreau? A person who you have no reason to have an affinity for besides the fact that your gut tells you, you should? I have one of those people in my life, and sometimes they read this blog. I must say I find this person fascinating in all the ways they are not anything like me. And I like the way that this person uses logic to always make himself feel like he is doing whats best, but he’s really not living on anything more than a sense of duty. But what I don’t like, is that all time they make me sad.

You may be saying, those are some pretty heavy words for a gal like Lauren. And, I know that I am far from perfect. I laugh a little too much, have self deprecating humor, a head constantly stuck in the clouds, I believe in people and general goodness a little too much, and I am currently drawing a rooster at my desk as we speak. I am a weirdo, I am socially awkward. I wear dresses that never ever hide my cleavage, because I ran out of caring for the constant staring at my person. But I would like to think that try to be a good person. And that I have things in my life that I love and that I choose to have in my life because they make me happy, and I have weeded out things that just don’t. And yes I have made risky moves… like getting nearly kicked out of the program in college for challenging a teacher who was terrorizing non-white students, that time I wore a dress with polka dot underpants to work to find out at about 3pm that my dress was see through. Recently hiking against my doctors wishes… And more seriously ending a relationship of nearly 5 years because we were not suited to go through the rest of our lives together as a couple. And yes it sucked, and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done… but I think I’m better for it (and p.s. I have never worn that dress again with polka dot underwear.)

And life changes everyday, because WE CHANGE EVERYDAY. And that is important, because we are not Garfield comic strips (Urg. Mondays!). And some times we can get everything we want, especially and most easily when it’s presented to you. And sometimes we have to settle for not exactly the thing we need, but we get by. It’s important to know when to take the risk, and when to go for the gold. Frankly I’m 26 years old and I still go for the gold because I think life is too short to not be the happiest that we can. And I make mistakes, LOTS of them… but I learn from them. I would hate to be old and haunted by never getting what I wanted… because I never tried.

And now after all that mire of text you just got through. I present to you life lesson #2 presented by Amber:

Take my frequent buyers card, and now you can never ever get pizza.

Sometimes its as easy as buying a pizza, sometimes it’s as complicated as admitting you want to do something different with your entire life.

♫Lauren

Sprinkler dreams and Prank Nightmares

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Today at lady lunch (a lunch consisting of just Amber and me) I was talking to the waitress. And let’s just be honest, she’s our favorite in the history of ladies who bring us food. So I was telling her it’s been such a long work week. She told me “It’s only Tuesday.” And I responded “still being haunted from last week.”

And boy am I.

I pulled a little tiny harmless baby prank last week, and it did not go over well. I have a certain coworker who is now mad at me because he may have been made the background of our office laptop with a slogan about his *ahem* professionalism, and it may have even been this picture (which makes a stunning background, btw)… and fancy people may have seen it, even though he was supposed to be using it to measure a building… and not showing the computer about to people. *throat clearing sound* I mean was that really that bad? I would have joked the embarrassment away personally… *mmm hmmm*

Well, there isn’t a super lot I can do about that right now… but I can segue into a better subject with the help of my good friend the ellipsis…

…The weather is changing like crazy here, which is also something I have no control over. In California the fall can be incredibly hot, and then incredibly cold. Today is a mildly warm day and because I have been cramped in a cubicle for so long… I have a dream to get home, turn on the sprinklers… and then run like hell through those sprinklers:

And while I dash through that sprinkler I will listen to this song, and not melt the night away:

♫Lauren (the lady version of Jim Halpert)