Back to School

So after graduating university I've decided to go back to my old high school! Working there will definitely be interesting. I'll be working at the boarding department that I myself boarded at for two years, so it will definitely be a little strange to be going back there as a member of staff. The thing is...  I had the most fun when I was breaking the rules there (dorm raids were my favourites!) and I'm a bit worried that I'll end up rooting for them when they break the rules too!
It will have to be silent rooting, under the disguise as sternness, I don't want to be getting into any trouble myself and when I think about it, I'm sure I'll get a little cranky when they don't shut up and go to bed!

In other news I have been drawing, not quite as much what with packing/job applying but at the moment my camera's out of battery and my chargers some where in the midst of my suitcases! I thought I'd take a  leaf out of Paiges blog and do a little back to school post! Stationary shopping before school starts was my favourite thing to do, so here's some pretty things from Etsy:

Pencil Holder from Less and More

Linen Pencil case from Hello Violeta

Mini Notebook from Wit and Whistle

Leather Canvas Backpack from DuDu Leather

Science Chalkboard Notebook from Newton and the Apple

Trees again

I haven't had an awful lot of time to draw lately as I've been spending a lot of time looking and applying for jobs so this has all that I've had the chance to do really. I've also been trying out some sketches for a children's book that my friends writing, it's been quite difficult but it's good that I have a good excuse to push my self into drawing things that I would usually shy away from (by that I mean people, I'm terrible at drawing people.) I'll post more about this next week though.

I actually don't really like this drawing of the turtle playing in the leaves. Don't get me wrong I like the idea of it, it's just the execution of the idea I have a problem with. I wasn't going to post it but then I thought, why not be honest? I know I'm not exactly Da Vinci here but sometimes my little drawings can be particularly underwhelming.

One of my best friends is coming over tomorrow so today my day shall be full of tidying up and food shopping. I'm going to be a nice little hostess and make her some sweet potato soup, I haven't seen her for bloody ages so I can't wait to catch up with her! I should really get packing this weekend actually, as I'll be moving to Belfast on Tuesday! I'm pretty excited, yesterday, when I was handing out C.Vs there, I bumped into another one of my besties who was with a friend of hers so we got some coffee and chatted for a bit (well they chatted, I felt a bit ill for some reason - but I'm fine now!) This is what I've missed the most about Belfast when I've been in London, sure it doesn't quite have the culture or the awesome museums but it is nice and small. You could never just bump into a friend whilst in London (actually I did actually bump into a relative once!) and I'm really happy that it'll be much easier to see them now!

So what are your weekend plans sexy reader? I am very nosey and would love to hear them!

Drawing Challenge: Trees

I'm worried that last 'o' looks like an 'e' I'M NOT THAT BAD AT SPELLING I PROMISE.

So as you can see my challenges are just so damned complicated (they aren't) but when all you draw are silly animals, drawing pretty much anything else can a bit daunting.

I thought I'd do trees this week because they're are just great aren't they? That and the other day I was really bored so I just parked myself at my desk with a pen and paper and told myself to just draw SOMETHING... So I drew some trees. There are loads of different kinds of trees in Greenwich park and I regret not taking some pictures whilst I was there because some of them were so cool! I ended up using the ones around here in Ballyclare as a reference instead.

Poor guy!

Of course I had to incorporate a penguin in to my drawing challenge again, I just can't get enough of these guys. I'm glad I did though because I really like the drawing above.

I didn't paint or draw as much as I would have liked this weekend as it was really busy but also really fun and exhausting. After going to a friends BBQ a small group of us took a trip to the Mourne Mountains, I wish I had some photo's but rather annoyingly, I forgot my camera! But to be honest, it's probably for the best as we didn't get to the top of any of the mountains! In our defence, one of the guys was an hour late and we had to make sure we got back down in time for the bus... It was still loads of fun though and now we've reminded ourselves what it's like up there we'll be better prepared next time.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Penguins under the influence

What started out as a nice little plan to incorporate some floraly goodness in to some drawings turned into an idea involving some messed up penguins. I think it happened because I thought their bellies looked a little trippy and I kinda just ran with it...

It all started innocently enough...

Then BAM he's gone off the rails!

I think I might make this in to a little comic strip (I've been thinking... GANGSTA PENGUINS) or something, it's something I've been thinking about trying for a while since Will mentioned I should give it a go but i'm going to focus on that another time. In the mean time I've been drawing manatees:

I'm very aware that I spelt 'woah' wrong, but apart from that blunder it was fun to do some silly drawings again. I love Malcom the Moustached Manatee... I love any fat animal.

In other news, I'm actually letting myself do something this weekend! (I'm trying to be good and make sure what little bit of money I have spreads out over the month!) So I'm off to a birthday BBQ and to a trip to the Mourne mountains which I'm excited about, hopefully I'll get some good pictures!

Hope you enjoy your weekend,

A

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Ramblings: Confessions of a secret Twihard

Source

So the other night I watched Twilight breaking dawn part 2,  got totes emosh and preceded to watch part one straight afterwards. The day after I tried and failed to watch part 2 again and my obvious reaction is to have a look around for the first Twilight  to watch. I'm also reading breaking dawn by Stephanie Meyer.

But why? What the hell is wrong with me? I'm pro choice, of the feminist way, I'm not sure if I could ever promise anyone that I will love them for ever and the thought of an eternal life sounds scary and boring to me. Whilst I believe in the possibility of the existence of a divine creator, I don't associate myself with any religion... When my best friend told me that she wished her boyfriend at the time was more like Edward Cullen I  disagreed with her massively because personally I think Edward is boring, lacks a sense of humour and is incredibly controlling (Whilst we're on the subject I think Jacob is just plain annoying). 

So you know...  SHOULDN'T I BE SMARTER THAN THIS?!?* Pretty much all my views on life go against message that comes along with the Twilight Saga.

Always love a mean girls reference
source 

Why then, do I feel the incesent need to have this series in my life? 

I think that the main reason why is because I tend to go through Twilight phases when I'm going through a break up. And as luck would have it i'm going through one now (kinda/sorta it's a bit complicated but long story short I'm in Northern Ireland he's in London and neither of us are going to be moving to each others country any time soon). Despite the flaws I think Twilight has, I always feel the need to imerse myself in that world when I experience any form of heart break. I think this is because I'm going through a time where i'm very confused about what I want and Twilight is about two people who are so damned certain about what they want romantically it ocasionally (or you know, regularly) drives them to the brink of insanity.

I think another reason why I go a bit nuts over it is  because falling out of love with someone or coming to the realisation that, realistically, you don't have a future with someone you truly love has so far been one of the worst feelings I've ever felt (I realise this mean's i'm very lucky and I fully expect to feel much worse in years to come). You meet this amazing person, have such wonderful times with them and then suddenly, completely out of nowhere you realise you don't feel the same way any more and it is SHIT. Especially when the person you're with literally hasn't done anything wrong. Sometimes you just can't help the way you feel and you need to be honest about it.

So for me the Twilight world is the perfect antidote to those confusing feelings. Those vampires stay in love for an infinite amount of time. They find their true mate (whilst staying celibate till they find them!) and apparently are so unchanging in their nature that they stay in love with that person for ever. Even the Werewolves are in the whole serial monogomy game with their ability to imprint. Which is all fine and dandy until a couple of them imprint on babies (Stephanie Meyer herself could try justifying this to me but it is just. Plain. Weird.). So when I feel the many shitty and confusing feelings that occur post break up I feel the need for those crazy vampire lovers.

And god dammit I'll probably read and watch them all again next time.

*update** A silly post about Twilight sparked the need to draw silly things about twilight... And Manatees:

Manatee Edward

We should probably get back to school FOR ETERNITY.

What get's you through a break-up? The more embarrassing the better!

A

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* I realise that's a little offensive to Twilight fans (and myself) and I realise that liking twilight does not necessarily mean that you're stupid... At least I really hope it doesn't.