Its been a while

Well, Steve and I got married almost two years ago now! It's been fun, the wedding was awesome and full of drama (not on my part this time!)

I've been using my time since to try and launch my business with the Illustration, doing shows with the amazing and talented Katie, selling online and currently helping out with a fellow Etsy shop owner running a laser cutter!

Since I posted we've been to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Mexico 2x, Iceland and Japan! Hot damn!

Cooper Gerbil Sidekick has passed over the rainbow bridge, as have Tamale and Fajita. I also had a super sweet blazed girl named Nacho who departed, but still have the naked Chalupa, Torta and Quest the rex. Sweet sweet girls! Pickles and Castor Troy Nicoli Tesla are doing well, being jerks and what not. The garden got severely neglected, but I have been resurrecting it recently and Bam! More spider plants then ever! I nearly lost the fern but have some shoots, lost the wondering Jew, but I had given cuttings to Teri and Don, who gave Cuttings to mom, who gave me new cuttings! Jen's plant lives!!! Joann's beasts are still going strong.

I'm actually happy :3 like for realsies. It's kinda nice. I need to post more happy shit!

Working Again and ENGAGED! to be married....

So first things first, IM ENGAGED!! Handsome Gentleman Friend is Handsome Gentleman Fiancee! We went to our favorite place Elevation 66, to try their new menu, and he totally surprised me on my way to the bathroom ;3 lol!! The ring is titanium and redwood, cause im a california girl, and on the inside it says "Remember, I love you!!" Because hes a big sweet sexy enchilada (so spicy and cheesy). The food was also awesome, I had morraccan chicken over roasted vegis, and holy COW. HGF had smoked gouda mac n cheese and of course there were delightful beers and after the proposal the waitress brought us champagne. Desert was ice cream with stout brownie and salted caramel, and of course tears of joy because I SAID YES but I think you figured that out. Now I have to plan not one, but two weddings because really all my people are here, and all his people are in Utah and what ever we just wanna party and eat nachos and get drunk. Yes, I want a nacho bar for my wedding. Your Welcome.

Next up, I have a job!! Im working for a company who does gift shops for special events, aquariums, zoos, and attractions, My position? Sales lead for the Hunger Games Exhibition!! Now when I started i knew NOTHING about the HG but now I do. its pretty cool, A bunch of origional costumes, interactive displays, plus all the butter cup plushies you can stand. Also my boss is awesome and the company seems super cool. Makes corporate petshop and corporate retail seems like...slave labor,

Now enjoy some pictures of HGF on the coast as we celebrated engagement and heart shaped pizzas for V Day!

I'm an Aunt!!

**So this never posted apparently**

My sister had the baby! His name is Everett and he is adorable. We drove up to see him in sac, and his mother was...unpleasant... but his dad was awesome and sweet, and I got to hold him in the NICU unit.

He also came down for Christmas and it was amazing

Thats a hell of a family there

Happy Near Year!

What a year it has been! my first year since I was 18 that was retail management free! Holy cow. Handsome Gentleman Friend and I have been on so many adventures (which you can check out at Dr Mookie Loves Blog) and I have never been so grateful. My family is amazing and helped me through school and helping me not be devistated by debt of said school and that also falls into my gratefullness. (not a well constructed sentence but what ever!)

I bought a goldfish, his name is Tuttle and he is adorable. I started him a blog (the old goldfish experiment blog) and it has ruffled some feathers. People are so quick to assume that someone has no idea what their doing or is out for evil without even reading or looking into the matter. /its amazing and would have been devastating to me before but now I guess I'm finally growing up because they can all suck a huge bag of dicks. Anywho, Tuttle is adorable and Im watching his growth, and posting pictures to show how fast a cute little comet can grow out of a 10 gallon tank. Why a 10 gallon? Well 10 is the most common sized tank available. This also makes it the cheapest tank to get. The common lore is goldfish live in bowls, which I'm sorry is wrong. get a betta.*bettas do better in bigger tanks too but will be much less of a hassel and fewer tears then a goldie*

Many goldfish enthusiasts and keepers go by 2 gallons of water per inch of goldfish. This is the school I tend to subscribe to, and have had many goldies live to be over 10 years and over 10 inches long. Now many keepers spout the "Goldfish love 20+ years and grow over 12 inches".I have quoted this. But in my experience and in polling true goldie keepers, this isn't the truth. I'm not saying it CAN'T happen, it totally can and you need to be prepared for it, especially is the fish you won at the carnival ended being a koi hybrid, but if your a pet owner who's PET passes away at 6 or 7 years and was only 7 inches long you may feel like a failure, and this is far from the truth. You are a great keeper and honestly your pet had ordinary genetics.

This leads back to the 10 gallon tank. I recently heard a smart man say "If you have a solution and people aren't willing to do it then its not a solution." So true, People scream at new fish owners "You need a pond!""!00 gallon tank per fish!!" "Its just gunna die anyway" and this is a horrible way to try and educate people about the MOST POPULAR PET IN THE WORLD. I agree the bowl is not a way to go, but perhaps I can convince a bowl person to switch to a 10 gallon tank and see how beautiful and healthy their pet can be!and yes, most of the fish will grow out of it. but by then their owners will hopefully be hooked on the hobby and be ready for more tank space. Or they find them a pond to live in, Either way a 10 gallon tank is cheaper then many of the critter keepers and so is easier to convince an owner to get, and is more space for the pet.Win win? I think so.

Anyways, after that pet rant.This year has already been awesome! We went rang it in with an N64 showdown. On the first went to a fantastic party at Leo and Michaels, On the second saw Heather Cesar and KJ, and yesterday saw Dinosaurs with the Aunts and Teri and Don! Im a spoiled rotten girl and am so happy

Scary Movies, Art and Drawlloween

So First off, Happy Back to the Future Day! Its officially the day Marty McFly arrives! kinda cool :3 This is my favorite time of year! I love Halloween and Fall and Harvest and all of it.

So I did my first Convention! I participated in the Alternative Press Expo! Also known as APE. It was a clusterfuck to try and get into, and was super unorganized from the start. The tables were $300 a piece and the attendence was... lacking. people just didnt know about it. That Being said i cut my losses by splitting the table with Katie, Yi and Sandy, and the hotel room. The event itself aside from being a little empty was nice, and I broke even so encouraging!! Im looking forward to the next one!

Steve and I have been watching spooky movies for the season.I love monster movies and ghost thrillers. I no longer claim to love horror as I hate gore... and slasher films. Its easy and cheap to be afraid of a guy with a knife. You SHOULD be afraid of a guy with a knife. make me afraid of a guy in a monster suit. So we have been watching the Steven King movies, and basically 80s monster movies. Netflix is a gold mine!! Dr. Mookie Love Jr has all of the movies weve been watching on his blog so go check it out :3

October is also a special time for artists. Its both Drawlloween and Inktober! Last year i combined the two and did the same this year! :3 (check out my instagram for the updates untidyvenus)

A snipet of the first 15

Also check out my etsy, there are new things up including origional art, prints and more!!

Beer, Yosemite, San Diego, and an Art Show

Im terrible at keeping this up anymore... Sorry anyone who still reads! Since graduation I have had plenty of time but have been doing other things then blogging, someof which are:

Brewing beer- Steve and I have been brewing up a storm of beers such as Strawberry Hefe multiple times, a maple porter, Kentucky Common, a Barley Wine, and many more. so much awesome beer, and were doing the Strawberry hefe tonight :3

NHC- the National Homebrewers conference was FAN-FRICKING-Tastic!! San Diego was beautiful and perfect, we drank, shared the said Strawberry hefe, won tshirts and mugs and came home with so much swag. We got to see the White Labs brewery and taste just about everything. Then that handsome man of mine took me to the San Diego ZOO!! I saw Pandas!!! I also got a great collection of stuffies because Im a GROWN ASS WOMEN.

Family- Steves Family came to visit which was mom, grandma, and the niece and nephew. it was really fun and i got to do a bunch of awesome touristy things. Be a tourist in your town, do something you think might think is stupid and just do it with joy. Then Alicia came to visit and we hung out, did some shopping then headed to Yosemite for the Day!! So much fun, and absolutely stunning. The next night we had a Stuffy-Brave Little Toaster Party. It was great

My Art Show! My work is up at Elevation 66 until the end of October! Ya!! I spent like $50 on printing and another $70 on frames for 12 peices and consider that cheap... but Im so honored and excited and put a few new pieces in.

And My RedBubble store is up!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/izzycreates

Check it out! Thanks and I will have pictures and a pet update asap.

PS. Gunna see ZZTop on thursday!!

Beet Beer, Bears and Grad Party!!

So Handsome and I have been brewing quite a bit now for almost 2 years. I dont always post about it here because I dont always post. Also we have a blog for that (See Terrible Lizard Brewing Link) but this one was so cool I had to share. We brewed up a lovely batch of Beet beer! Thats right. With boiled and pureed BEETS! it sounds super crazy pants but I promise it actually turned out quite nice, and almost berry like with earthy undertones. Also it has the best red color you can imagine! We started with a basic pale ale recipe and added 2 lbs of beets to the boil. Then when we transfered into secondary we peeled, cubed and boiled 5 more lbs of beets. We then blended the mix and added it once it had cooled to the carboy. when we kegged it, we had to be careful of the 5 lbs of trube in the bottom. But totally worth it. We want to try letting it ferment longer too and try it with less sweetness, but for this party it was PERFECT!

 So as posted before in another post, I sleep with a bear every night. Mostly its my childhood bear Binky. But Bink is getting old, and I have been reading horror stories of comfort animals splitting in half from old age and use. I also sleep with Chutney my other childhood bear, and my "New Bear" whom my dad had got for me to take pressure off of Binky... But in 1994. So Chutney isnt a spring chicken either. With the stress of finals and graduating I have been needing a comfort animal more lately and so my search began for a new sleepy animal. I tried my awesome Anteater plush, Octopus and Giraffe, but Giraffes neck kept getting tweeked even after 2 nights, and anteaters nose was getting mushed after 4 nights, and octopus just was the wrong shape. I was using Handsome stuffed African Wild Dog Kunta, and Wolverine (the animal) Logan. Logan was the best shape but he's not mine.
So I did some research and found they still made a childhood bear of mine that my mom has kind of kidnapped. Snuffles the Bear by Gund. Most people will remember the polar bear, which is what I had had.

Stock image of Snuffles 

I then asked Handsome if I could have one since Im not working and am a broke bitch. So guess whos got a new bear!!

He's really super cute. And is the right size and squishyness to sleep on! Plus he looks like a sunbear. I named him Waffles. Im a grown ass woman.

On that note, this last weekend I threw my gradubirthday party. it was a ton of fun and a bunch of people came who i didnt think would and i was way to busy to take many pictures. But it was wonderful and my heart is full of love and wonder.