Omdat YouTube vrolijk mijn video blokkeert in NL omdat er muziek aan zit van Valravn (waar ik overigens schriftelijke toestemming van heb van de band zelf!) staan mijn videos nu dus voortaan op Vimeo!

Silke - a Cardigan Welsh Corgi Puppy from Journalicious on Vimeo.

My spot by the water yesterday...


I'm in love! This is súch a cutesy! And so merry!


For Illustration Friday today's theme was "Tango"....so....

I don't easily commit myself to long-term projects. I'm not really good at it, you see.
So, I thought I'd start out with a project that lasts only one month...and I picked the shortest month...LOL

So, what's the plan?

As most of you know, I have this art journal. Recently, I lost all inspiration for it because of life's hassle. Such a pity to let all these ideas evaporate into thin air. So I decided to make at least one page a day.

I'll show you the pages of the past 5 days...


Me doing homework for Art School...recognize the background? Yep, it's totally copied. But I love the Oilily teacup design so much, and the cups are so unaffordable that I decided to give myself a page to drewl over!

And more pages can be seen ( under this cut...so, clicketyclick! )

Hang in there Nevynn, just another 11,5 weeks until you can go to elementary school!!! We're counting!

I'm in the nag position today. Just feel that the holidays were over too soon. And I'm just as tired as I was before the holidays. But I know very well it's a state of mind rather than fatigue.

It's very hard being home with a child that wants to go to school and play with kids. She's bored to death at home and quite frankly, I don't know what to do with her to make her happy. I should get out into the world more...walk, cycle, sleigh (today was wonderful snow!!!), shop, go visit people with kids, etc. She likes going out and I bet we'd both feel better. I don't know why I don't do it. Too little energy, I'm afraid.

Anyway, it's 22.31 right now and my hubs is building our closet...I'm occaisionally called to be the handy third hand. They're huge!!! I'm so tired and want to go to bed, but can't because our bed's still covered with his clothes and he's hammering away here in the living room. I'm going to fetch matches to stick between my eyelids to keep them wide open!

Hurray! My scanner is working again!!!! I'm soooooo happy! Now on to installing Office and some photo editing programmes...then copying the data from the harddisks in our old computer (I screwed them out and built them into a casing so that they can function as exterior hard disks, they are still good, so why waste them?).

I guess I'll be having my system up-to-date by tomorrow.

This afternoon the 40 boxes for our new Ikea closets will be delivered. 40 boxes!!!! Can't imagine how they should fit into our house, but anyway. We've been camping on our couch for three nights already, because all of our clothes are stacked onto our beds.

I really hope the delivery will be complete so that we can build the larger part of it up this evening. Again, fingers crossed! hehe.

My new system is running! And how! It's absolutely fabulous!

I'm already about to edit my first video.

What's not so great is that my scanner does not install on Vista. Canon does not provide Vista drivers, so I sent them a mail asking for a solution. Let's hope they will provide one so that I can start working on the Art Journal book! Fingers crossed.

So, we've thought about it hard...compared specs and reviews and decided to go for a windows system. Apple is coming a long way in compatibility, but not for the things I do with it. Moreover, if my hubs works at home, he must be able to work on line on the firm's network, which is not yet compatible with Apple. Not to mention the fact that software is harder to get because there are fewer programs and often there are no cheap or free ones for the Mac.

Mac is hip and slick...and the Mac OS Leopard interface and workability almost seduced me. But practicality must come in the first place. So, we're almost on our way to shopping Sunday. We've picked a fairly quick system, good for amongst others video editing (oh, boy, what am I going to do with that? still keeping it hush hush hehe). I so hope it's in stock. Fingers crossed.

[update: we just got back and the second store we visited had it!!! So, hubby is installing our hardware onto it as I'm typing and this evening I can enter the yet virgin realm of my new pc!!! Gosh, such luxury! To be able to afford a new computer the day after the old one died! At first I was gutted that all the money we got for the old closets would be spent within two days. But with hindsight it all fits so well that it must have been meant to be. There's too many coincidences in the list of events, starting with the idea of purchasing a camcorder. We have been very fortunate in many ways...like today: the system we went for needed a video card extension, but when we got in the shop, we found out that the newer version of this system already had that update and has a superduper fast gaming video card...so we're pretty confident it will hold up to video editing.

Anyway...this entire holiday consisted of purchasing expensive things and doing a lot of research for that...a new central heating system, a camcorder and now a computer. So, we don't exactly feel like we've been able to get some rest. But like I said, we feel very fortunate that we managed to get everything done. And guess what? Thinking isn't over yet, because we're going to have our house fixed.

We never managed to get our house finished due to time pressure and once we lived in it, with two kids, it was next to impossible to get it done, especially with a husband working way more than 40 hours a week. So...we decided to have the house painted, have the roof over the garage and my office replaced, have two new windows made in our attic roof, have the hallway refurbished and have the garden refurbished as well. And I can tell you one thing...after two, almost three years of house-stress, we are so looking forward to looking around us and smiling that all is fixed and in order. Finally. We never had an open house for my hubby's colleagues (a tradition at the firm) because he was ashamed of how unfinished our house was. But maybe we'll be able to have that little party this summer then?

Oh...and I'm looking into holidays already...yes, everything at the same time. Can't help it, it's my ADD nature, I guess. One of the advantages of being ADDish. Anyway...I'm looking into Great Britain right now...the land of King Arthur and I think I'd also like to see crop circles for real. We know people who say they have felt some kind of energy when in such a circle. Even though I think it's a matter of the imagination, I still want to see them for myself. They also say that when you see them for real, you KNOW they couldn't have been made by man. I don't believe that anything else made them, so it has to be. But still...it's kind of mysterious and I think worth spending a holiday to.

Right...I'm chattering away the time my hubby needs to fix the new system, but it's a little nonsensical to bully you all with an even longer entry, so for now...bye!]

You won't believe this!

Just when we'd built in our new DVD buner (our old one had died) and our new firewire gate, our computer died!!! Seriously!
And it's dead, beyond salvation. We're gutted!

I have this laptop, but it's good for no more than e-mail, browsing and light work. But photo editing and video editing...no, that's absolutely out of the question!

Can you believe it? Just when I was ready to start working on my book (the Journal project that I'm going to publish on Lulu), I'm without a computer. My belly aches, my head aches and I'm in such a foul mood...better not come close right now. We're deliberating...having our computer fixed, having a new computer built with components of ours that still work (our computer was pretty top of the bill) or buy a new complete system.

I'm so in favour of tha last option...that way I get to work tomorrow anyway. But guess what my hubs wants? Re use our working components. I don't think it's a wise option for those components are already 5 years old and they will break down sooner than the rest of the new system. So...sigh. Yuk! This evening was meant to be our game evening, with wine and some healthy snacks. Now we're discussing buying a new computer. Yuk!

And what's even worse...I have 640 gigs of data on the harddisks in our old computer...and tons of software that I need to install again. Bleh! At least two days of work to get that back in order on a new system. Yuk!

But hey...it's a new year. Let's keep our chins up. At least we caught a lot of money for our closets today, so we can use that money for a new system. But then we're broke again...second day of the new year. That'd better not be typical for the rest of the year! I think I'm going to prepare our summer holiday...imagine that all those obligations and hurdles are far away in a distant world.....

zoooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..................................

...can become poetry when photographed.
>

After a very short day at the Academy yesterday, I finally have my two-week holiday. And we started it fabulously, I must say.
We went to Den Bosch today, to do some shopping (Silvester comic store for our quarterly stocking of comics, Lush for some gifts, the market for fresh nuts and dried figs and the book store for a pile of new books for the kids and me). We had a late lunch at Voltaire, a really awesome lunchroom with eco friendly products only, ran by my friend Ria and her partner Ria. It was such a pleasant experience...we'd never ever been made a dish full of treats so far...but today we had it...a lovely plate full of eco-friendly cheeses (and wow, I LOVED the rucola, pine seed cheese!!!), veggies and Roquefort sausage...hmmmmmmm, sooooo good!!!

I bought a thing or two today....things I like to share with you. Not to boast, but to just give really good tips in case you don't know what to do with your cash!
What you really must dash out to buy if you have a bath, is Christmas Kisses by Lush.
 they smell SOOOOOO good and make you feel so Christmassy and gay!

When we were out to find "Volle Maan", a book for Isis, I found myself a really great magazine-like book for the youth....DUF.
It's an artsy magazine for teens. I bought it because I find myself writing for kids and teens more and more...I like the design of the book and I like the straight forward language in the magazine. I guess it inspires me for my own writing and design. I would really like to contribute to a production such as this.

Last, but not least (except for the lovely dried figs I bought on the market) I bought a travel diary...in comic style...it's SOOO great! 
Carnet de Voyage by Craig Thompson. A travel diary about a journey through France, Spain, the Alps and Morocco. I don't only love the drawings, but I love to see the elements diarists pick out to write and draw about. It's marvellous to see how different everybody's perspective is.

I also spotted "Hongkong Dagboek", a travel diary written and drawn by a couple...one I really want to have, one day...as soon as my wallet has grown in thickness again...hehe.

And to almost round off today's report, I've seen a comic artist of whom I definitely want to try a book or two (Gradimir Smudja)...and he set out to do something rather fabulous. He portayed the life of Van Gogh in a comic. It was pretty impressive. He made other books based on the lives of artists he admired as well and they all seem very inspiring and taunting.


Oh boy, we're discovering a new realm of art and literature. We each appreciate a totally different kind of comics...where I am smitten with diaries, sketch book series and art journals, my husband fell in love with typically boyish comic series, one of which he treated himself to today:

The stereotypical images are kind of funny, in a way. But then again, it may be my ironic sense of humour that just can't see these images without the twist. I guess men look differently at these sexy ladies and machines of power...hehe. To me, it is hardly feasible to think of any more boyish kind of book than this. It's really great that my husband is developing a passion again, outside his job. I really like to see the fire in his eyes when he tells me about how wonderfully the books are drawn and all. Hmm...I'm gonna drag him back to Silvester loads of times...and spoil him rotten...and then have lunch at Voltaire!!!

But not this holiday anymore. We're going to recover from our spend thrift (well, we had to do something to keep the economy going, didn't we?) and spend a little energy in our house...and hopefully in the woods. Oh, and behind the stove, of course, for I have a Christmas dinner to prepare!

And I really hope I find time to work on the Academy's assignment. We're working on towers at the moment and I got a really good tip from our teacher yesterday...will carry it out and show you here soon. Yesterday evening late I had a really great idea for it...and I can't wait to get started. Anyway...loads of ideas, loads of visits planned...let's hope we'll have time enough to do it all! For now I'm going to hit the sack and fall asleep knowing that tomorrow I don't have to get up at a certain time...hmmm...such luxury!