misty autumn

Yesterday I gave my two weeks notice at softMirage and let me tell you, It was one of the hardest things for me to do. SoftMirage holds a lot of good memories for me along with fond feelings for an amazing group of people that I am going to miss dearly. But I am now at a time in my lifewhere I need to grow and expand. To learn and figure out what path I want to take in my career, and who knows, maybe ill be back.

This time of year always brings reflection for me. The last four years of my life have been filled with extreme sorrow and emotion. I lost a lot. First my Kona bun, then a week later my grandfather died, followed by two great uncles, my dog and to top that streak off, my other grandfather. Not to mention three more pet rabbits and finding my biological father. It was an emotional roller coaster! Almost all to much for me to handle and grasp. Relationships and friendships drifted away during my grief.  One, I miss dearly.

Not a day goes by where I don’t think about Hobie, Grandpa Donald or Papa. They were such amazing fixtures in my life and pieces of my heart are empty and missing without them. People tell me in time I will heal and the pain will feel less like salt in a fresh wound. But I doubt that. Maybe its because I feel to much, to passionately. People and animals in my life leave a permanent mark in my soul, they don’t just fade away. It shapes who I am as a person even though it feels as though the worlds weight is on my shoulders at times, I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. I like who I am as a person.

When I called my grandmother to inform her of my new life decision, one of the first things she told me was how proud she was of me and how proud Papa would be of me too. This instantly brought tears to my eyes. I always wanted to make my family proud, and right before my biggest accomplishment of graduating college, my grandfather died. I was heartbroken. We were both looking forward to that day, he always wanted me to accelerate in everything that I did. I hope my grandpa Donald would be proud also. Not having a grandfather in my life seems so lonely, such a part missing that can never seem to be whole again.

Now that my eyes are all teary again and my nose snuffelly, I will end this post with a toast to the weeks ahead and hope those I love that have passed on are looking down from their eternal spot in the afterlife with smiles on their faces. For me, this spring starts a new beginning, a new chapter, and it’s very exciting.

Filed under: daily, everything else on March 7th, 2008 | No Comments »

Back in the day, when I first discovered the internet, my screen name was Universe. Now I always had a picture in my mind of what Universe would look like, but not until now have I actually made a illustration. So here it is, one of those many projects that have kept me to busy to post these last few weeks.

This is only the Bust. A full body is to come shortly… errrr when I have time to finish her lol . My first digital illustration in some time, I am a little rusty.

Filed under: creative, daily on February 9th, 2008 | No Comments »

So I do have lots of posts that I have written, I just need to upload photos and color correct or take new photos.  Once again, my same old excuses, I have had lots to do.  I don’t want to talk about them now, but soon all will be revealed.  But to keep my blog going I really do need to speed things up a bit,  so expect a lot these next few weeks.

For now I give you this photo.  Once again taken from my grandmothers neighborhood in Dana Bluffs.  But the spot I am standing on to take the picture has a lot of meaning.  Its not just some park, or the place my grandpa would take me to play wood tag.  Its the place we held his memorial.  Everytime I see this park, I remember its where we said our last goodbyes to him, really bitter sweet.  His death is still a fresh wound with salt being rubbed into it, even after almost four years.  But seeing the things we both enjoyed puts a smile of my face, and we both loved to watch these sunsets.

Filed under: daily on February 7th, 2008 | No Comments »

So I have been way behind on posts, along with a few other things as well. Things are almost to busy right now, but maybe some better time management skills are in need.

I did manage to finish reading Mademoiselle Boleyn this last week, great book. Like I have mentioned before, I am a huge Anne Boleyn fan, so naturally I was more then excited to read this novel. Mademoiselle is a historical fiction of Anne’s life while living at the French court from eight to about fifteen or sixteen.

A little background on how Anne came to grow up in France. She originally arrived to France with Princess Mary Tutor, the aging King Louis XII new young bride in hopes to produce a male heir. Louis dies before he can impregnate the English Princess and she is sent back home while Louis’s son-in-law, the gallant Francois I becomes the new King of France. Anne and her sister Mary are allowed to stay in France under Queen Claude’s household… with Mary eventually becoming Francois Mistress.

Now, without giving to much of the story away, there are parts I totally did not agree with in this story. First was that Mary was forced to become the “English Mare”, I don’t buy this. First of all not only was she Mistress to Francois, but also many other men at his court. After leaving France, she then became the Mistress to King Henry VIII of England while married to her first husband. This leads me to believe Mary is anything but innocent.

After reading this book I also had a few questions in my mind. Could have Anne really been friends with Leonardo da Vinci? Also I know Diane de Poitier was in and out the court around this time in Claude’s household, was it possible that Anne also knew her fairly well?

So, over all, read this book! Its a delightful read and will give new insight into what Anne’s life might have been at living in France. How she became so headstrong and fashionable before gracing the Court of England.

Filed under: books, daily on January 30th, 2008 | No Comments »

Living in Orange County has its perks and drawbacks, but this sight is definitely one of the greatest things about living in the OC. These are the hills from my house, I could not take a photo before the snow melted but I found this picture on the OC Register website.

Being able to wake up and see this is amazing.

And then drive down the street and see this (now this picture I did take).

Well thats it for today, enjoy.

Filed under: daily, photography on January 26th, 2008 | No Comments »

So I take out my camera to download pictures of my newest project with Miss Bu… but being the forgetful person I am, left the battery charger at my grandmothers and the battery is dead. So those pictures will have to wait until either Thursday night or Friday. I really piss myself off sometimes.

So I have to have a post and why not have another one on Nero =] As I type he is in the bedroom with Koko, terrorizing her during her out of cage time. But its ok, she can defend herself from the annoying dog. Nero is really fascinated with the rabbits and does mind himself around them. Sometime I have to tell him to chill the f out, but once he hears my voice he knows its time to behave.

Below is a picture of Nero at my parents house, he was posing in the sun. I think he likes to have his picture taken, hes a stud in his own little mind.

So thats it for today, a pretty short and boring post. Perhaps tomorrow’s will contain more excitement.

Filed under: crazy pups, daily on January 23rd, 2008 | No Comments »

Ok so I am not a huge fan of Rachael Ray’s but I have to post this video, It talks all about mona.vie and its health benefits. So take a look and if you are interested in the product, contact me or visit my mona.vie online store at:

www.mymonavie.com/mistyam

Filed under: daily, mona.vie on January 19th, 2008 | No Comments »

I think its now time to introduce Mr. Winston. Winston has a verity of nick names, Mr. Stain, Wind Stain, Stainers, Windstain Foni, and Cujo. Cujo you ask? Well I should start with how I came about this little bitting bunny. Well about two and a half, maybe three, years ago I wanted to rescue another rabbit. So I contacted the lovely folks at www.bunnybunch.org. A lady volunteering at the Orange County Animal Shelter (nasty nasty place) got back to me and said she had a rabbit who was in direr need of adoption, otherwise he would be put to sleep in a few days. The words flew out of my mouth faster then I could think about them and I found myself with this scared cuddly little bunny.

Well this cute little act didn’t last long. A few day’s later Winston’s (I named him Winston, I believe his name was Butterscotch at the shelter) personality did a 360. He started to bite and attack when you opened his cage. This was tough because I couldn’t let the poor guy out. I contacted the lady who hooked me up with this wild animal and she informed me he had been adopted once and brought back due to aggressive behavior, but did not display any aggression at the shelter. Well no kidding, he was to scared. I later found out he had an abusive past.

So here I am with this little bunny who I can’t pet or play with and my heart was breaking for him because of his past, how could you hit a rabbit? Seriously?!. I did not know what to do, I didn’t know how to handle an aggressive rabbit, I had no idea rabbits would even attack. After much deliberation I decided to keep Winston and thought, well if I take him back he will be put down and I could learn how to handle him. Learn what he likes and what sets him off. This turned out to be a very long process.

First thing I did was place him in the big hutch outside. Living in Southern Orange County, it never gets to cold for a outdoor bunny. This would give him the space he needed and give me space to figure out how to treat this poor little guy. A few weeks after this move I warned my parents “DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT try and pet the rabbit outside. He will bite”. Now my dad can’t resist petting a bunny, he has a secret soft spot for these little guys. After coming home after class I hear what has happened to my dad. He tried to pet the Winston, who in turn bit my fathers inner arm and latched himself to my dad and hung on for dear life. My dad, pissed off as all hell, tried to shake the rabbit off and finally flung him down the yard.

I looked at my dads battle wound saying “I told you not to touch him”. So from them on Winston was affectionately named Cujo. My dad always asks how Cujo is… I think he still has a soft spot for the killer rabbit.

Nowadays, Winston is much better. When I moved out of my parents home and into a two bedroom apartment, Winston got a huge pen to live in. This is when Winston started to change, for the better. He started to let you come a little closer and pet him on the head through the pen a little longer. Later, after moving into this current house and after Mocha and Blitz died, Winston had two pens hooked together to make a GIANT pen. He is in bunny heaven. Hes demeanor has changed so much. He now allows us to reach into the pen and pet him and even pick him up! He really needed time and space. Once he had both, he became the rabbit he always was deep inside.

Now when I think back on it, I am so happy I decided to keep him and not turn him back over to that hell hole shelter. I just think, he would have been put to sleep the day I brought him back or that not many other people out there would have been able to take care of him, who wants a crazy rabbit. He is such a happy bun now, spazzing out in his pen and playing tug-o-war with newspaper and paper bags. There was a little angel disguised as a devil.

As you can see now, hes as fat as a cow… its so cute.

Filed under: daily, little buns on January 18th, 2008 | No Comments »

I was just watching the trailer for The Other Boleyn Girl and I have to say I am VERY excited to see it. Although I have not read the book yet (working on Mademoiselle Boleyn right now) I know I will like the movie but I don’t think either the movie nor the book will be my one of my favorites regarding Anne Boleyn.

For those of you who don’t know, I am a huge fan of Anne Boleyn’s, she is one of my favorite historical characters. I have read many books, essays and documentaries on her, even wrote my own essay at www.madameroyale.com. There are some issues people have brought up in that I just don’t believe, I believe they were trumped up charges to make her look like the whore that she wasn’t. So I will be watching this movie and reading the book with a little more skepticisms then normal.

While I am on the subject of Anne Boleyn, after my latest research on her I am wondering if she knew Leonardo Da Vinci and Diane de Poitiers. If anyone has some insight or knows of a book with reference to this subject, please let me know!

I have always wondered how Henry felt after Anne’s death, after loving someone so fiercely and then send her off to the chopping block because she couldn’t provide him with a male heir. He divorced his first wife, would it really have been that hard to divorce a second? I think not providing she was so unpopular due to her capturing Henry’s heart away from Queen Katherine. And what kind of woman was Jane Seymour? Marrying a man who just beheaded his wife on false charges? It seems her death after childbirth would be considered karma.

Filed under: daily, movies on January 17th, 2008 | No Comments »

Here is a movie I absolutely loved!  Not only was it funny, but it also had many heartfelt moments… definitely one for my amazon wish list.

One thing that I did no agree with(warning from here down are spoilers) was how Jenna (the waitress) and her lover/doctor Dr. Pomatter don’t end up together in the long run, yeah yeah hopeless romantic, I know what I am don’t need to tell me.  But still who had an affair with a pregnant married woman with such passion and lets her walk away?! I don’t buy it.

I would have also liked to have seen Jenna visit Old Joe while he was in a coma in the same hospital.  They had such a special type of friendship, I would have been nice to see.

With that said, the most wonderful moment of the movie is the moment Jenna held Lulu for the first time, realizing she could take control of her life once more and begin to feel her emotions once again.  She was finally brave enough to tell that rat of a husband to get lost for good so she could live once again, a fresh start.

Oh one more note, the writer/director of this movie (who also played the character of Dawn) was murdered in her apartment office before the movie was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival.  You can read about her life and tragic demise here.

So watch this movie and let me know how you like it =]

P.S.  If you want to watch previews go to: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/waitress/

Filed under: daily, movies on January 16th, 2008 | No Comments »

I would like to introduce to you my new little bun, Fiona.

Fiona was to be Mocha’s new partner in crime, but sadly mocha died the day before we picked Fiona up. So I thought it would be a good idea for her and Koko to become friends… well so far, no luck. First Koko was being a little nerd nipping and grunting at Fiona, and I think the little one picked up on this naughty behavior. Saturday I had Fiona out playing and thought, lets try this Fiona and Koko thing again. Well it wasn’t Koko with the problem this time. As soon as Fiona caught a glimpse of Koko her little tail went up and she charged over to Koko with a big thump and a little grunt. I guess Koko finally got a taste of her own medicine… karma I tell ya, but it was so cute to hear another bun grunt. Koko is the only vocal rabbit I have ever had. Lexi will make soft little whimpers at times, but nothing like Koko. I think Fiona is going to turn out to have a personality VERY similar to Koko’s, to bad they don’t want to be friends.

Fiona is fawn Flemish Giant a little over two months old and when she is full grown she will be bigger then Nero. I bought her from Laura at Double L Rabbit Ranch, she has such BEAUTIFUL RABBITS! I just want to buy them all. *full of rabbit envy*

Well thats all the photos for now, sorry for the crappy quality, It was dark in the room and I HAD to have photos for this post.

Filed under: daily, little buns on January 14th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Being obsessed with the show Ghost Hunters on the Sci-fi network, and obsessed with faeries, I hit the jackpot when TAPS investigated the Lisheen Ruins. This video clip I found on YouTube.com doesn’t really do the episode justice, but at least you will be able to get a good idea of what was aired. In about 50 seconds into the clip you will see three little things stalking a camera man… before you go on to try and disprove it (even though no matter what you say, I won’t believe that these are not faeries lol) just listen to what they have to say. This show will probably be aired again sometime soon.

Filed under: daily, paranormal on January 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

For the last few months I have been a distributor of Monavie. Honestly, I had my doubts at first. But once I saw the effects on friends and family, I have become a believer that nutrition (with antioxidants) is a key to good health and longevity. First of all my best friends dad is Diabetic. Life isn’t as easy as it used to be for him. He was taking loads of medications along with insulin and sleep aids, and nothing seemed to make him feel somewhat normal. Not long ago he was introduced to Monavie, a juice product that contains mostly Acai berries (along with a handfull of other fruits). After a few months of consumption of the product, Ed not only feels better, but his blood sugar decreased enough for his doctor to pull him off of some of his medications, and what is better news? He can sleep without the use of sleeping pills. Monavie probably isn’t for everyone, but its worth a try. People these days really need to focus on preventing their health from taking a turn for the worse, and with a regular regiment of Monavie, you just might be able to achieve this goal.

To order your learn more about Monavie and order your starter bottle, please visit: http://mymonavie.com/mistyam/

Filed under: daily, mona.vie on January 10th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Because I am a total post slacker, today I have… count them… two images for sharing. First lets introduce Lexi, the big black bunny:

Now besides stealing cereal from my bowl and pushing my bottles of water over, hes a pretty good bun. Here I walked into the room to find him crashed out in what he has now declared, his corner. You can always find him in his corner now. Lexi came as a Easter surprise in 2003, Mocha (R.I.P.) gave birth to four little kits early in the morning three our of four survived. I ended up keeping two of the one baby bunnies. Sadly Mocha and her daughter Blitz (I will go into Blitz’s untimely death in another post) have both passed on late in 2007. Mocha was old and Blitz had a tragic accident, so now I have Lexi left. Hes my little bunny angel and the only one left of the little bunny family.

Awww another picture of the Nero basking in the sun, Lexi’s best friend. Actually, Lexi and Nero like to hump each other, being unaltered males they think its necessary to have humping contests… Nero usually is owned by Lexi.

Filed under: crazy pups, daily, little buns on January 9th, 2008 | No Comments »

Well I am not one to post a massive amount of links, but I can’t help share some goodies I found while window shopping online this morning. I love growing things, if I could grow all my own vegetables and fruits, I totally would. But lacking space and proper sunlight I try to grow things indoors when the plant permits, key word here is try. So without further babbling check out these links to start a small garden of your own:

Organic Dwarf Meyer Lemon
Organic Olive Tree Topiary
Planetarium Garden Lab
Window Box
Year of Seeds
Herbes de Provence Growing Kit
Edible Flower Garden
Black Olive Bonsai
Living Grapevine Bonsai
Shiitake Mushroom Log
Magical Plant Garden
Grow Tomato or Bell Peppers in your appartment
Matchstick Garden Set
Garden in a Bag
Indoor Grass Planters
18 Piece Garden Tool Set

Sorry thats a lot of links, but also a lot of fun stuff too! Here are a few other things that I found that I have to have:

EcoSphere
Living Ecosphere
Cedar Tree Shadow Projector

Ok I think I got my link fix out for now. Enjoy!

Filed under: daily, nature, window shopping on January 5th, 2008 | No Comments »