Pale Skin Problems

For those of you who don't know me personally, I am extremely pale. I'm opting for an ivory wedding dress because if I opted for a pure white dress I would probably look like something that would descend from an attic and scare small children and housewives..

That being said, I drew a comic awhile back about how pale I am, and now I'm sharing it with you. 

As for an update on the wedding, I've already bought my dress and picked out bridesmaid dresses! This Sunday Justin and I will be looking at a venue in Lancaster, PA that looks promising. I'll be crossing my fingers during the entire trip. We really need to lock down a date because apparently, although I thought i was ahead of the game by looking at venues over a year in advance, I'm behind! Ahh!

A Common WNY Misconception

This is a common occurrence to those of us living in the Buffalo area of New York. When on vacation or out of town, people will often ask where you're from out of common curiosity. When we reply "New York", it's automatically assumed that we're from NYC. This is normally followed by a big let down when we have to break the news that we actually aren't from the city...and that actually the area we are from is quite lame on almost all levels. 

Sorry for the mix-up kids...

Sometimes I think that if I didn't grow up around here but chose to move here after graduating, I might actually like it more. Buffalo's a great city, but when you grow up an hour away, then go to college in a different state, then return to roughly that same area after graduating, I can't help but wonder how many people think I've "moved back home" because there's a big difference here.

It's almost as if it's programmed into my brain that "returning to your home area" is the same as "never leaving home" which translates to failure of sorts. I'll be in Buffalo for at least a couple more years, for multiple reasons (good job, new house, Justin's good job), but this is most definitely not a permanent situation. 

Why? Because ploppy-sloppy-wet-drippy-cold-icky snow is wonderful for December and January, but once April rolls around and I'm still brushing it off my car...it gets a little old.

Homeowners at last!

Okay, we really weren't looking that long. Can you believe we found a house we like in around 2 weeks?  I talked to a banker who prequalified me for a loan Friday morning, we put in an offer Friday midday, and our offer was accepted by 4 pm!

Boom.

Because this duo knows to look past the endless rooms of sponge-painted walls and see the true Buffalo gem that lies beneath...

More updates to follow. I apologize for the lack of posts, my mind begins to stray when I'm onto a new illustration adventure ; )

House Hunting for Beginners

And the beginners would be us. Justin and I have been working with a Realtor to invest in an income property multi-family home. We'd live in one half and rent out the other, and flip it as we go (thank God my dad is a carpenter). We looked at one yesterday that's got some potential...I'll just be happy to no longer be renting.

Don't get me wrong, I love Grand Island and the breeze that I can get there through my windows (not found in Kenmore). However, I'm paying every month to my landlord which is equivalent to flushing that money down the toilet. Not only will I never see it again, but it won't be helping my overall net worth!

Enough house talk. Justin and I have been wondering how we can incorporate drawings into our wedding, because we are both creative peoples. The hard part was incorporating it without it looking tacky, but I think I've come to a resolution: Owl, and Pigeon.

"concept drawings"

No, they don't have names yet. The owl will probably lose his attitude as well. What I'd like to do is have these two as "guests" at the wedding. You'll be introduced to them on the save-the-dates, then watch their story throughout the invitations, program, cake, placeholders, card box, etc., eventually ending on the thank-you cards. We're playing around with ideas, and one that we have is that the pigeon and owl don't get along but the owl invites the pigeon to come because he wasn't invited. The pigeon's jealous of the owl because owls are always considered a "cool" animal found on pillows, phone cases, the works, whereas pigeons...not so much. 

They bicker throughout the entire wedding, and greet guests to their seat with cheesy pickup lines ("Is that a new hairstyle Deb? It looks nice." --- you get the idea.)  and eventually in the end on the thank-you cards you see them hugging and crying over how beautiful the wedding was and you see that in the end they really are friends. 

They'll be simple, sketchy, and in coordinating wedding colors. I'm pretty excited, and I hope the guests find it entertaining at the very least. 

More finalized designs will be posted in the future when the colors are chosen, with proper names for each bird included. Any ideas for names? I considered Leonard for the pigeon for some reason...

For the Love of Food and Fitness

How Computers Feel

Ever thought about how we treat our computers? I had to draw a comic about it because one day I was thinking about how we give our computers a lot of crap for running slow. Usually when they're running slow, we're clicking a thousand things and trying to do too many things too fast.

Lets hate a little less on the poor machines with today's Toonsday comic:

On a side note, Justin and I are engaged! We're also looking into investing in an income property and we'll be looking at two places this Thursday.

It feels good to be moving forward in life. Last year's big step was graduating college and starting a career. Looks like this upcoming year promises big things as well, and I can't wait!