No Fear

Partly out of necessity to finally finish my most challenging portrait yet, and partly because I was feeling extra artsy and confident, I did something crazy today. I made it up. GASP.

I draw from photographs. I'm a little obsessive about getting it right, recreating the picture exactly. I have endless hours invested in teaching myself how to replicate (measure it! I dare you!) photographs in pencil. The process is downright tedious, but relaxing. And the result is rewarding.

I can only think of a few people who will appreciate the significance of this, mostly my Mom :) but today, I did something nuts, inconceivable! I used my artistic license to make an educated( I have spent hours and hours starring at my subject) likeness of little miss A, that is not exactly like the photo I am working from. I let the creative juices flow and got to it. No Fear. It sounds silly, but this is huge :) The drawing is still, unfortunately, a work in progress. Getting there.

A birthday.

In other, more exciting news that I should have reported weeks ago, SJ is one. On his birthday, we celebrated with dinner, cake and beer at Hooter's.

The boy knows how to celebrate, he ate a hotdog, two sides of baked beans and a good chunk of this giant piece of cake.

The following weekend, we partied in the back yard. And the boy ate a cupcake, or two.

It's like he has to shove it in, and let it squish between his fingers and smear on his face to fully appreciate it. And I can totally dig it :)

Our first year with SJ is over, and it went by quick, just like every other parent told me it would.

I'm proud of us. I feel like Shaun and I kicked this year's ass(The year before kicked ours!). We had fun. We snuggled our babe. We saved our house. We lived in hotels for weeks at a time. We bought diapers. We made big decisions. We got closer, better.

And now, we are looking forward to our second year with SJ. Bring. It. On.

No Fear.