I mean really honestly I can say that when certain peeps aren’t around… even work feels like a vacation. Which is great because I haven’t taken a vacation day since my family came into town in May. And I needed a stress free day or two.
I had to stop myself from bursting out into “La Isla Bonita” right now. I am just that thrilled. I feel like a penguin on Holiday… which is the best segue I could think to get to this little dude:
I feel like a summer penguin.
And also I know the trouble that I got into the last time I started photoshopping a coworker… but maybe this time it will end up differently. And with that I present to you my newest coworker, Thon in a Mara-thon:
This is my new favorite thing to photoshop. And in his hand is obviously a bud vase… never a solitary glass..
Today I am very excited to share the majesty and sheer joy that it is Zelda Fitzgerald’s birthday!If your counting she would be 113 years old today.
And with all the F. Scott Fitzgerald hubub that happened earlier this year I think Zelda is due some time to be adored…
Last year when I decided to take up things that excite me even though I was feeling old, I found Zelda. A free wheeling, funky socialite… who was more brilliant and scathingly delicious than our current vapid Kardashians socialites . I immersed myself in knowledge of this lady who is the same age as my Great Grandmother, but lived such a different life than someone who lived on a farm most of her days. The more I read, the more Zelda and I had in common, drinking a little too much, partying just a little too long, painting without being so serious, and being a flapper (haven’t I told you guys I’m a world famous flapper???) . I found myself completely stunned by a lady who at 27 decided to become a professional ballerina.
So I studied her, read her work, and can thusly say… Zelda Fitzgerald was amazing.
And she would like to be told that in all forms of art, and since I cannot write as well as others… I certainly can doodle:
Happy birthday Zelda Fitzgerald!
She was also known to have said the following:
“She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring.”
I use that saying a lot in my life… in my head… when I know I should be doing something better with my time.
Anyways, I hope everyone is having one of those days that they wish they could remember forever. While I try to figure out how to spend my time…
I’m like living the life of a doodle-less spinster… and I’m not into it.
So I have been trying to get into writing again. And I can’t even think about what I want to share… Does anyone want to know about me spilling all my ice cream all over me and my coworkers car like a small child? How about falling so quickly out of like with someone that my head feels like its spinning round like a record? Or that when I was threatening one of my coworkers during lunch I started laughing so hard I snorted in front of 3 of the jerkiest people on this planet?
But that is no excuse. I love making posts, that is why I’ve been doing it so long. It just seems like so many other things are pre-occupying my time…
Like British television shows, trying to figure out why my hair refuses to look like I combed it, and the mystery of what ants are doing in the restroom at work…
And then there is all the things I would rather be doing. For example, in Sunny So-Cal there is this thing called Comic-Con happening. And I as you know am a fantastic nerd, and this place has Bruce Timm, Marvel, DC, Sherlock, Community and basically so many comic’s and artist’s I could die on cloud nine while strolling through it’s aisles. Fun Fact: I am notoriously good at strolling. Also, a bonus to that is I can stroll ever so happily because I have a horrid sense of smell and do not mind the smell of comic collectors, who are not always big fans of hygiene.
But I am not there right now.
I am at work.
I mean, I know I’m getting paid. But I’m thinking of the thrill of dressing up like a super hero for no reason, and eating pizza near the ocean, while collecting so many buttons about obscure comics and British television that I could coat my bed spread in them seems so alluring. I am allured by nerdiness.
So I made this doodle today on my computer while waiting for my prints to come. (I am not sorry for that printing pun.)
I’m just going to sit back, smile… and day dream about being dressed like Wonder Woman.
Have a super great weekend everybody. Dress like a superhero if you need to… I think I will tomorrow.
♥Lauren
P to the S: If you went to Comic-Con tell me about it… so I can live vicariously through you :)
So in the Jolly United States. It is the days where we celebrate not being a weird large satellite of England. And yesterday the Fourth of it all, every inch of green space from coast to coast was filled with joy, barbecue, friends and marginally illegal fireworks.
I am saying this from experience. I lived the fourth of July dream that Thomas Jefferson was all about. I drank, I saw fireworks, I chatted, I wore a sweater, and saw people running through alley’s with launchers and scads of fireworks that are safer in less arid areas of the US.
Since a Holiday this year was on a Thursday there was many a possibility for a 4 day weekend. In fact, 93% of the population is still traipsing around in luscious weather, eating expensive sandwiches and drinking before happy hour. I am not a part of that majority. I am the people who had to go to work. Getting here this morning was legitimately one of the hardest things I have experienced in the last week. And I did bootcamp bellydance snake arms for 40 minutes. But once I got here I convinced myself it’s not too bad because I didn’t have to use my vacation time, and I am technically making money on a day where no clients would call at all…
But still being at work when you would rather be someplace else leads to things like this:
All of these things are so good to be doing.
And I am inclined to think that nearly anyone would rather watch TV in a fort of legos while eating waffles is better than making PDFs for hours straight.
Happy 5th of July to everyone in every part of the world.
The title of this post seems a little sexier than my posts probably are. So how am I going to combine “subliminal messages” with clothing and my blinding optimism together? Well brace yourself this blog is about to get *snaps fingers together* thrilling.
Well, let’s just say I discovered based on the way I dress to work, I can control the conversations had in the office. It’s happened a few times in a few outfits, and I think its hilarious. My clothing has caused long discussions of the Wedding Singer, Wonder Woman, 80s teen movies, and 13 going on 30. Basically my wheelhouse of interests since I usually try to avoid talking to my coworkers about anything resembling my personal life (sorry Amber, this is why I enjoy my corner seat… I only talk to you!)
Anyways a few weeks ago I went shopping and got found this dress. It made me feel like singing about how pretty I feel. Basically I was like channeling Maria from “West Side Story.” When I left the dressing room this other store customer told me sassily “That dress is all you.” I was thrilled. I bought it and I felt pity on any girl that wasn’t in that dress (not really, that’s a little harsh.)
So I finally got the time in the morning to wear my dress and make myself look like a human. I got to work and by 9:30 Johnny was snapping his fingers and talking about the gangs in “West Side Story.” Only an hour and a half in and I was a success. We discussed Bernardo and his purple suits… and then we pondered why any gangs would pick orange and purple as their colors. I mean those are like soda colors. Like Kool-Aid flavors. And really nonthreatening, btw. I mean imagine being accosted by a man in a purple well fitted suit. What can he really do to you… give you a makeover? Not let you go to the dance?
I feel pretty witty and bright too!
And just in case you want to put on a red dress and sing this song… you don’t even have to go far:
A well known fact about me is I am a big fan of people named Jen.
If not known to you. I can indeed verify that this is very true. Under my work blouse I have a shirt that says “Go Jen!” pretty much every day.
Just as true, and slightly off subject my first cat was named Jenny. She was gray and stripey.
But not all the Jen’s I know are gray and stripey.
Some of them are just fabulous people, I have encountered in this big old world.
One of these Jen’s is a craft-inspiring, whimsical, imaginative, brain twin of mine. She not only is the magical creator of this website she has not updated in a while, but she also makes fancy jam. (disclaimer: I can say nothing about updating blogs because well I have not updated this sucker is a bit.) I however, am just lazy… Jen has a reason, she is working on a very big project.
She’s having a baby!
And I have been thinking about her on and off this week, because it’s nearly time that she is going to bring her baby to the world.
And I thought I should send her a hello… But, it just didn’t seem special enough. So, a hello with a doodle will have to do.
Jen, I hope everything is going fantastic! Also, I am not a great face-booker… I should send you hello’s and such so much more often. Anyways enough with that and well…. Congratulations! You are going to be the best mom ever, and your impending little boy is just the luckiest duck.
Wishing you so much joy and happiness! Also I can’t wait to see all the crafty fun things you will make for him in the future!
It’s all work and well more work… and work on the weekend to make deadlines kind of work.
Needless to say the sun is not the only thing burning me out during the 8-5 of it all.
In fact all this work has made me feel uber dull. In fact I was feeling like when Spongebob stopped being silly and devoted his life to becoming more normal:
I felt like I lost that silly spark of mine.
I had this terrifying dream on Monday night of me being in a beige blazer in a cubicle, doing spread sheets and i couldn’t get them to print right on my 80’s dot matrix printer. Basically I was Jane Fonda in 9-5 and I was hating my existence:
I feel bad that she had to wear this outfit… I feel worse that I was wearing it’s beige cousin in my dreams.
And I felt trapped. This horrible amount work is controlling everything do. I mean is was even in my dreams!
I was only really resuscitated yesterday by a day of severe office goofing off… my deadlines were over and the new guy is really fun to be goofy with.
This is kind of what yesterday was like… but more like this with ruler jousting.
… and making bottle launchers, and playing pranks on Amber. (Who I think secretly enjoyed the weird screensaver and Rick-rolling.)
So in a better state of mind from a less stressful work load. I decided to get back into a doodly state of mind. I looked in my vast archives to find a doodle I made when I was a completely joy enraptured state.
And I found this stunning brainstorming cloud up in my fancy notebook. It explains the perfect storm of my personal happiness:
Just some things that put a smile on my face.
And reading all my silly joys just brought me right back to my giggly self.
I am sitting here thinking about vinyl records, the beach, how very nice the blanket I have stuffed in my work desk feels. I have a feeling the rest of my day may just be awesome.
Also I think I have a great idea for a series of things that make me and others go “Oooh.” Be prepared. Tell me things that make you go “Oooh” too… and you never know what can be doodled from that!
♥Lauren
(All images that are not mine are courtesy of Tumblr)
I have been gone for a while. But I never stay away too long. I actually I get really bummed when I don’t get to blog or draw for a while and well it’s time to get back to doodling!
Today I have to share something that has never happened to me in the nearly 7 years I have worked for this company.
I actually have too much light in my workspace.
You see I’m used to working in a space with no natural light :
This is pretty much my old cubicle space [image courtesy of imgur]Before you say… Hey Lauren, I remember you totally wanted a window when you moved offices? Well yes, I do remember this. And having a window is really great! I get to see hummingbirds, and squirrels galore (better than just seeing wasps and spiders). But I was just not prepared for all the light. I guess all 7 years of mole like office conditions, made me forget how serious the sun can be. It is in fact so serious, that in the afternoon when I look at my west facing window my computer screen seems as if I am staring into the pearly gates of Microsoft Excel.
Hey Girl, welcome to my pearly gates… have you got that color board sent out to my homie Jim? He really needs that thing.
At a few times after I had to put on sunglasses to see my emails… I thought maybe I was on my way to the pearly gates and I still had a work deadline. Only I would be working until the end. And I hadn’t even seen the rest of season 4 of Arrested Development… I just couldn’t deal with that thought. But I could deal with the thought that heaven is probably full of really good food and I was kind of hungry.
And now I have come to the conclusion… that I may be the office vampire. I mean I like being pasty, I am always wearing sunscreen (even at work) and I am quite skilled at adept at avoiding sun beams, and well I’m not a big fan of being stabbed with wooden stakes.
My boss thought I was exaggerating when he came out of his office to see me typing with my sunglasses on. The when he came over to my cubicle he realized I was in fact not exaggerating with my Stevie Wonder like wardrobe change. He then told me I could get extra blinds because when he came into my cubicle space and couldn’t even see the work on my computer.
I knew I wasn’t exaggerating that badly… and plus working with shades makes me feel cool, like Lenny Kravitz, or Shades from “That Thing You Do”.
I am a mole person in Malibu Barbie’s work space. Like totally.
Viciously Sweet 