Fairy Tales

| Viciously Sweet

Okay, I am aware that I am a grown up.

But isn’t the idea of something magical just kind nice? When do we decide that we’re too cool to smile at a big lollipop, or for spinning around in an a-line dress, or even just eating a really good cookie with a chilled glass of milk. I think that we all deserve a chance to enjoy something for no particular reason, or with no explanation.

And no one should make you feel weird for it.

Today I saw my coworker had this game and the name of his city in the game was “Etopia.” What a serious name! It’s a city you are playing with in a game… it can be named anything!!!

He told me, “I’m sorry its not Pegasus-rainbow-flower-anthia.”

Now this could have been not nice, in fact it is a kinda a backhanded compliment.

But this comment only made me happy… I mean isn’t it good that he thinks of flowers and rainbows and fictional flying creatures in association with me. Anyways, quickly–I will add here that I still don’t like knowing how magic tricks are done… and try to forget about “reality” when I see them. I mean, if it’s a fantasy why not just get caught up in it?

And now onto the sketchy part… simply I dedicate this drawing to all the people I know (in real and online) who make me happy. Regardless of any bad times, when I’m really in  a happy moment:

And I thank you so so much for it!

♥Lauren

Here comes the fear

| Viciously Sweet

Sometimes I look around and wonder when it will be better? Not that I don’t appreciate my current existence. I mean the wondering and future-casting is just a normal thing. It’s something we all do, because we all aspire to more. I mean I’m not a Disney character, so my wishes are more than like becoming a ‘real girl’ or putting an end to the terror of Rattigan.

(On an interesting sidenote: I’m super preparing for my family’s visit here this spring, trying to find movies that won’t terrify my nieces– Great Mouse Detective… probably not interesting to a 4 year old.)

Anyways, I have a friend who is really actively decided to change their life majorly. And I super respect that… it’s just makes me think that maybe I should be doing some things in the world. More than helping cashiers find a pen, or sending thank you notes to people who cut my hair and sell me flowers for my hair. I just don’t know what to do first… get my architecture license? Work on selling my doodley-crafts to people? Become an entertainer at children’s parties? Hire a private investigator to find every Waldo (just to get my bases covered)?

There is just so much to do. But tonight, I think I’m going to try to learn how to use my new camera… so I can take unblurry pictures with it.

 

(Bonus Points for people who know where I borrowed that background from!)

♥Lauren

The Big 10,000

| Viciously Sweet

Okay I was super prepared to make another post. I was in it, I was going the distance.

And then I didn’t hit post. Because it just really wasn’t happening in my gut. I felt like there was something better I could share.

And then when I was driving home I realized what it was. Last week in my silly adventures I ended up on this Date Duration Calculator… and I found out today is my 10,000th day!

Because you know I’m a bit of a sappy girl I bring you this doodle:

I’m so happy I got to share some of my 10,000 days with you. Also thanks for making my days super amazing.

And in my super 10,000 day knowledge I have decided I totally am going to live my next 1,000 days like Dolly Parton. Who I have always adored… but the more I learn about her the more I see her as a force of absolute goodness in this world. And really don’t we need more of that? I want to help with that!

Also thanks to Jonathon who understood my joy of 10,000 days. Just to let you know I ate Ice Cream and wore a very sparkly necklace to celebrate it… and did I mention there was a new Mindy Project? Well there was, and my whole day was just wonderful :)

One more thing. Use the calculator and calculate some of your special days. I’d like to see some of your numerical triumphs!

♥Lauren

 

Stress, Potato Salad and Happiness

| Viciously Sweet

Happy April Fools Day/ First Day of April/Kris Marshall’s birthday/ 88th Anniversary of the Formation of The Royal Canadian Air Force.

Today I have had a lot to deal with:

-really stressful deadlines! I mean I was already running late today and then I come in and everything is the worst and due at the same time… Um give me a moment to panic:

I already didn’t take a lunch! I can’t find extra time!

-Trying to set up appointments so my car can look less crunchy from behind. Never a problem for a Kardashian… but, it’s a problem from my car’s rearside.

FUN FACT: I drive a candy bar. And… well summers are very sticky.

-making my stapler fancy:

It’s costume is so cool it’s now in the Justice League in the corner of my desk… The Scurvy Stapler of Justice is here!

– Defeating the evil in my general area. It’s a real affliction over here. And for a few weeks I’ve retreated… but there is only so long I can be pushed around until I get all well Warrior Princess on you.

Your Nonsense: I will shut it all down! All of our office supplies will have faces!!! BWA HA HA!

-eating my potato salad while it was still cool from refrigeration .

It’s been out of the fridge since 9!!!!! And now it’s lunchtime!!!!!

(The last one was much harder than it sounded. It took about 45 minutes to get to eat it between all the work I was doing, and our office fridge is still not functioning.)

 

But today is just not a day I want to remember being stressed out for. Because, I choose no to! There has to be a silver-lining to this Garfield grumbling of a Monday! So now that I’ve finished 2 deadlines, some mildly cool potato salad, and set up an appointment for my car to get some reconstructive surgery… I can share something really wonderful with the people who read this blog:

“San Francisco” from the Mowgli’s- this song is like sunshine and love had a baby, and their baby became musical.

This song according to Amber is very hipster. It probably is, but I think it is 100% fun. And you can hear it blaring out of my car everywhere I drive lately. And I even have a horrible Polynesian/ belly-dance dance for it!

 

And here’s a little doodle to go along with all the joy in this post:

It is because you make it that way!

♥Lauren

(All images, besides mine are courtesy of the rad people who host thangs on IMGUR)

 

Oodles of Isabel on her 28th Birthday!

| Viciously Sweet

This is my second post of the day.

Can you believe the best day ever has 2 parts? And this post is dedicated to the one and only Isabel.

And of course there’s a story to go with her unbridled majesty. Isabel was the first friend I made in high school, she listened to cool music, was incredibly pale… and she drove to school in the most awesome station wagon this side of the rocky mountains. My story about her this year comes a few years after we met…When were seniors we had a class trip to Disneyland that lasted all night (A California tradition). Our parents both liked to terrify us, the way parents do… and told us not to fall asleep on the bus because we would certainly be molested. And being good Catholic girls we totally abided by our parents rules. We stayed up the WHOLE night, the entire bloody night. And we stayed up the whole bus ride back as everyone else slept, and out other friends boob popped out of her shirt. Thank goodness we were up because that sucker got covered up big time. Needless to say when we got back to my house we were delirious, and the worst part is that neither of us could sleep. So we decide to pass our still awake hours by watching “Center Stage” (which was lovingly borrowed from Christine.) We put the tape into my cool tv/vcr combo and let it play. And my mother assumed we would have fallen asleep in about half an hour once we were in my room watching this teen flick. Well, I can’t even tell you what that movie was about, I just know that we laughed the whole way through it like the delirious unmolested children we were. It was one of the most fun days ever recorded.

And I didn’t laugh that hard ever again until we watched the French Canadian version of “Bring It On” which was re-titled “Le Tout Por Let Tout”.

Happy Birthday Isabel you are really the best friend a girl could ask for and the best person to laugh through a movie with!

I am such a big fan of those awkward photos. And if anyone could take one, it could be Isabel.

And yes I still draw you in Weezer shirts after all these years… I would like to imagine you own like 40 of them. And you have them for all occasions. In fact I cannot wait for you to have your wedding day Weezer shirt… and since you don’t really have one, I will totally make it for you.

Happy Isabel & Christine’s birthday everyone!

♥Lauren

An Ode to Christine on her 28th birthday

| Viciously Sweet

Today is actually one of my favorite days.

No, not because of Good Friday’s meatless promises.

But because it’s my bff’s for life’s birthdays! And as always I would like to share a little tale about one of the best people I know. I am a very lucky girl to have met Christine in the freshest moments of the new century. She had an impressive vocabulary for a teenager, and at the same time she had the most unintentional orange hair I have ever seen. In fact at the moment we started giggling I knew that I had met someone of significance. And 13 years later we are still gigglier than ever. Now we don’t pass notes in class, but we pass texts during work. And we still play the same word games that tickled our fancy in our teenage years. We may have jobs, family issues, and bills to pay. But when we are together we can be as silly and girly as our hearts desire.

Happy Birthday Christine! You are the best co-conspirator a girl could ask for.

FUN FACT: The 28th birthday is the pirate birthday!

Have the best year ever, Christine. And Happy Christine & Isabel’s birthday.

♥Lauren

The Pajama Game

| Viciously Sweet

I’m going to make a confession.

It’s been kinds chilly at night so lately I have tried to make sure I go put on pajamas before I go to bed. In true California fashion I usually just tanky top and pajama shorts. But sometimes I have to pull out the real serious stuff…

It’s like having my own personal Christmas every evening.

I feel like I should be more ashamed of this but…. they are just so so comfy.

♥Lauren

Another slice of Cake(s)

| Viciously Sweet

Hi internet!

Today I had a kinda crunchy day. No, that was not a typo. I was rear-ended when trying to get an affordable lunch. All  I can say is neither me or the girl have any serious problems, just some achiness. Also,the lunch didn’t really taste like the majesty of savings I had anticipated.

But… there is always a brighter side. So I tried to think of something I could draw on my salvaged work paper… Something that would make me smile as I drew? And then I thought of pretty much the best thing ever… I could draw an extra fancy drawing of one of my readers!

And today that person is the lovely, hilarious, and well written Cakes McCain of “Pasta For One”!!!!

Although I have never met her in real life, I feel like Cakes is a sister in the world of girly activities. I think she’s super amazing for running away from North America for that sunny peninsula of a country… Italy! In the land of the Pope, she set our to find love and fortune. I mean how romantic of a notion is that? Who does that nowadays? Answer: Awesome people. And although she has now re-graced the soils of America, all of her Italian adventures serve as a hilarious anecdote in the world of dating and being a young woman of the world. Some other quick reasons I adore her… She understands the importance of “13 going on 30” in a grown up woman’s life, she knows how to Wang Chung, she has given me some stunning advice about enjoying my own life… and most importantly, she shares her world in a Bridget Jones like fashion, with hilarious results.

I do suggest you READ HER STUFF! It’s really funny, and sometimes the visual aids she uses to describe things will make you snort in your cubicle, at lunch, or even while you are sitting in bed with a cat. It’s really happened. And it’s happened more than once.

Also, I have been trying out a few new drawing styles and I’m testing it out with this doodle. It’s a little fancier than my usual blog stuff… So, I hope you like it Cakes! It was very fun to draw. And it’s been really nice knowing you in type.

Illustrated Cakes was the best part of my afternoon!

Now that I know all of you have read her blog, and marveled at her illustrated spaghetti of love. I hope you totally get why I have such a good time reading and knowing this fabulash lady. And maybe the next time I doodle a reader it may be you!

♥Lauren

I got carried away…

| Viciously Sweet

I find myself prone to flights of fancy more than others. I don’t know if it’s a problem, but it happens every once in a while.

You look at me, and you realize I’m currently not totally there.

We were just having a striking conversation and I was just talking about Sandy’s shoes from ‘Grease’. Or how adorable Paul Rudd is and then… BANG it happens. I’m gone. Where am I???  I’m not exactly sure, but it is the place that all the doodles I draw live at. It’s a really great place, I actually highly suggest everyone should go there. But since you probably cannot I’m going to kind of give you a quick tour.

So picture it, I’m sitting right next to you… Someone interrupts and starts talking about tree triming…

And then I get really quiet… You look at me, and I don’t respond. Where in the world is my brain? My mind has made a daring escape to avoid all the boring you are now listening to. I may even be at the circus eating kettle corn and staring at the sparkly outfits of the trapeze artists. Just wishing I was flying through the air with the greatest of ease:

*smile, blink… continue to stare into space*

Then it shoots into space lands smack! I’m on the moon. I’m looking at the stars from here and boy do they look different. Is that a Jack in the Box all the way down there on earth? ***Checks breifly back into reality***

Are you engaging in this conversation about tree trimming? I have now reached a new level of not paying attention… is there any chicken on the moon?:

*giggles*

And basically if you are still in that conversation I’m ignoring…. let’s chart a submarine and splash into the briny deep. Yep there are fishes down here? I wonder if I could make a space helmet for a merchicken?

*Stares to the left of you*

I’m going to say my lack of attention for really boring things is not my fault… well maybe it is. I just have so many thoughts they all just jumble around until…

*fiddles with paper*

Oh my cats are just so fluffy. But we must return from my brain trip before I am committed. How long have I been gone? Oh, how did we get on the subject of politics? Wait, what? You are going to have to backtrack a little bit for me…

I’m so sorry I just got carried away with my brain thoughts

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd that is what happens to my brain at least once a day.

♥Lauren