8 Years!

Yesterday we celebrated our 8th anniversary!  I was at work of course but I was trying to decide what my wife would like most of all for an anniversary gift and I decided what she would probably want was time, so I arranged for my parents to pick up the two older kids and take them away for the morning, where they had a grand time playing with cousins (thanks again, Mom and Dad and Auntie Elise and cousins!), and then I came home a little early from work with flowers and so-so sushi from Walmart so that I could take over when they woke up from their naps so she had the rest of the afternoon free too, and then surprised her with this:

Still working on likenesses, but you get the idea.

Then we hired a really fun babysitter and took to La Jolla Groves for a delicious dinner with a little plus-one:

Such an adorable tagalong, and he didn't make a peep.

Then we went home and I sabotaged my own food dehydrator gift secret and then we shared some amazing cupcakes from the shop downtown and watched Psych until we couldn't make it through two episodes and crashed after a long and fun day.

The kids told us this morning that they want to get married (not to each other), and if that's not a ringing endorsement of how we're doing, I don't know what is!  It's wonderful to have a partner who's clever and lovely and takes care of so many things and makes me laugh.  All the love to my Juliet (as in O'Hara, not Capulet).

The real deal.  Smoldering back when it used to be called (yikes) smizing.

Lucky 7

Quick, before it's more than a full calendar month late!

We had our anniversary and even actually celebrated it!

On the Saturday before we dropped off the kids at Mom and Dad's house and went to do sealings:

Kissy kissy

 And then we went to lunch at the beloved Asian Buffet:

walnut shrimp *DIES*

 And then on the day of I surprised The Wife with this little number:

Like I do

Detail because sexy shoe in sexy toe point

And then we went to a work party celebrating our anniversary the new office:

He hasn't stopped talking about working at Daddy's desk ever since

And all in all we had a nice evening of free and delicious barbecue and then put the poopsies to bed and probably fell asleep on the couch because they do wear us out. XD

I do so love that wife of mine.

Lucky me.

The Poppy's First Month

As of last week The Poppy is already a month old!  It has gone by very quickly.  She's a good girl and has been doing great (as has her mommy).  She eats well and sleeps well and she can get squirmy and grunty and seem like she's a bit cranky but she gets it out of her system and snuggles up and is as sweet as can be.  The Wife posted a great update with stats and photos here, so I'll just get on with some Instapictures.

Clearly the most comfortable way to recline

I was singing to her one night and she smiled right at me.  No, it wasn't gas, IT WAS SMILING AT MY SINGING.

I was trying to get a snuggly post-bath picture but I was doing it wrong.  The second try worked much better.

Such a sweet baby burrito.

General Conference notes.  It's getting there.

Siblings on Easter Sunday.

We three love our little girl!  She's already grown so much, but we can't (and also can) wait to see her keep growing.

Arts!

A major part of the equipment the company sent me for my new home office was a glorious new (expensive) tablet.  Unlike other tablets, where you draw on the tablet and it corresponds to the screen ahead of you, this tablet actually IS the screen, and you draw right on it. 

 

This thing is... amazing.  It is also really great for producing completely digital art.  You can adjust your settings in Photoshop and other such programs and the stylus is pressure sensitive, so it's just like drawing on paper.  I had had problems trying to draw and paint using a stylus previously, but that turns out to have been primarily because I didn't realize that the tablet I was using was kind of... inadequate.

SO, I have decided to finally share some new artwork right here on my blog!  These are just a few samples of things I've been doing as I've been growing accustomed to my new equipment and programs.  Enjoy!  

Naturally, my first project was Jasmine, which I tried last fall to much disappointment.  This one turned out much more to my liking.

 

Then, of course, came the Boy Who Lived...

And of course I decided I was finally confident enough with the equipment to do a tribute to my muse!  This one was started early on, but I just worked on it here and there for the last several days.  It's not perfect, but it has the feeling of her.

Then Julie and I had a little art party where we took turns coming up with a random idea and we both had to draw it.  It can be a challenge to come up with interesting and original ideas, but the results can be well worth it.  (I'll leave it up to Julie to post her versions at her own discretion.)  Observe:

First, we each had to draw the adorable and tiny redheaded girl we saw racing around on her scooter when we went to Classic Skating last weekend.

 

Then Julie requested we draw any kind of sea creature:

 

Then I wanted each of us to draw a character inspired by the movie we were watching, which happened to be Napoleon Dynamite:

And finally, Julie suggested we each draw ourselves as a character from Avatar.  Now, as most of you know, I have little to no love for this movie (way too long, kind of boring, visually interesting at times, but it seems to be showing off and trying to make up for bland characters and a blatantly unoriginal story), but the idea for this drawing was kind of intriguing, and two days later finally turned into this finished product, of which I was actually pretty proud.  It's basically a reflection of how I would feel if I were forced to live the way of the Na'Vi.

I call it, "OMG, it glows.  My life is so boring."

And now, to give you just an idea of the kind of graphics I do for work, here are a couple of samples, to be used in training presentations for school administrative programs.  I don't know exactly what copyright laws apply, but, you know, don't use these for anything or whatever.  If you need any drawings done, just ask me and I'll do them for you anyway, no need to use these old things!

And there you have it!  Thumbs-up from us on this moste excellente product!  We call it Steerforth.

(This graphic: Drawing by me, coloring by Julie)

Changes

Time passes, and as it does things inevitably change.  Of course there are some things that remain ever unaltered, such as the undying devotion I feel toward my wife of now over eight months, but some things can and must change, and lately two very significant things have evolved for the better.

#1:  The living situation

I guess I never really addressed our big move.  After almost six months of unreasonable and vexing issues in our first apartment involving space and housing quality (read: disgusting creature infestation), crazy neighbors, questionable neighborhood, infuriating management and spotty maintenance (the details about which I won't bore you here), we decided it was time to try to sell our contract early and seek new accommodations.  We did some research, showed our place and within a matter of weeks we were out of there forever.  The poor fellow who finally bought our contract did so sight-unseen, but we decided that we felt good about giving our contract up to someone, especially a single guy because:  It's actually a pretty good sized space for a single man, even if he does, as we were led to believe, have a sometimes-child with him; most of the management issues would have been solved, since the property had recently been purchased by a different company (who have been giving us real problems as far as getting our deposit back is concerned, but that's for another blogpost...  Just beware of REMS, Inc. is all I can say); the bug situation was reportedly on the mend; the neighbor situation had been improved considerably; the contract only went until August, so if it was bad the new tenant could just put up with it for a few months (heck, we did) and then opt not to renew.  We had a lot of good memories at our old place, including our first winter and holidays, but it was time for a change.  And even though we only moved about a mile and a half away, the situation is decidedly improved, and considering other circumstances (see #2 below), we decided we could afford a few more dollars a month for such an upgrade.

#2:  The working situation

As I said, certain circumstances led us to feel that we could afford to move into a better situation.  Julie found work after several frustrating months of searching, and was quickly welcomed into her employers' good graces due to her high productivity, positive attitude and fun personality (not to mention that nice Masters degree...), and they have been encouraging her to apply for promotions and other such opportunities.

Hot on the heels of Julie's employment success, I experienced a little of my own.  Since last May I had been working as a graphic designer for a local company that creates and prints phonebooks for publication and distribution in Arizona, California, Wyoming, Arizona and Utah, and while I was grateful to have a job to pay for wedding and honeymoon necessities, and to live on while Julie looked for work, it was always a temporary situation until I found something a little more profitable and relateable to my education.  There were times I was so frustrated that I was ready to walk out immediately, but I knew I had to stick it out until something else came along, and I never stopped looking for new opportunities.  When the supervisor for the Hmong interpreters at General Conference indicated that his place of employment might be looking for a new/additional graphics man, I told him to definitely keep me informed.  Just two weeks ago I talked to him in length about the job, and he said they would definitely be looking for someone new.  I had been waiting for something else to come along, and along came something!  I submitted by resume, complete with link to my online portfolio, and by the next day I had been contacted and scheduled for a phone interview.  Within the week I was offered a job making much more than I currently was, working remotely (at home!) and doing work much closer to my field of study!  They wanted me to start immediately, but I insisted on giving the office some kind of notice, however minimal.  The company is Pearson, and their work is largely products, presentations, programs and websites for use in every level of the education system; the job is graphic designer/animator, and the atmosphere is fun and creative; most of the interaction is via web meetings and phone calls.  The only drawback is that the job was initially listed as temporary, but the company is very optimistic that it will turn permanent in the next few months.

By the end of the week they'll have me set up with a killer home office, including a new Mac and fancy tablet, and I'll be learning a lot and adjusting to new things, I'm sure.  I look forward to and welcome the challenge.  I've also worked out a deal with Dad to rent some of his unused office space so I can spread out and have a more roomy studio space until we have more room at home.

So that's what's been going on!  We love our new apartment, and I'm looking forward to some new work.  It's not my dream job of course, but until Disney calls me up, I'm glad to expand my skill set, build my resume and do some creative work on the way.