What I have learned from Mary Higgins Clark

While I do artwork, I listen to books on CD. It is ridiculously fun! You should probably be jealous that I get to come home from school and not only draw all afternoon long for my homework but also at the same time, listen to endless books on CD. I get through several books every week. I especially love Mary Higgins Clark mysteries; her books are not especially thought-provoking and don’t really introduce new mind-boggling concepts or anything like that, but what is not to like about trying to figure out who the murderer is long before the police in the book ever figure it out? And Mary Higgins Clark has taught me some very useful lessons that I am sure I will be able to use throughout my life. In case you are ever a murder threat victim, I'll share these useful tips with you:

1. If there is more than one person who is romantically pursuing you, then all but one of them is either a murderer or stalker and plans to murder and/or stalk you. By the time all has been figured out and the bad guys have been caught there will only be ONE romantic interest left in your life, which makes life much easier because you don’t have to choose between them all.

2. If there is a person trying to kill you, it is very likely that you are a very attractive defense attorney and you are absolutely perfect with no flaws, you always are patient and soft-spoken and also have a streak of independence. Everyone loves you, including murderers.

3. Also, if there is someone trying to kill you, most likely your ideal breakfast is a single scrambled egg with a slice of unbuttered and unjellied toast (which means that if you do not want to be a murder victim, keep on eating those delicious waffles and french toast, hash browns, and all that other food that makes breakfast the most wonderful meal of the day. I mean, who eats unbuttered toast, really?)

4. All murderers are male. I know, that is a very sexist thing to say, but 100% of Mary Higgins Clark's murderers are male and so therefore, it is fact.

5. Whoever the police suspect of being the murderer is never the murderer, ever.

6. Guys are attracted to girls who are receiving threats of murder. It is probably their protective instinct. If you would like to attract many guys to you, you should become a murder threat victim. But be aware of lesson number one.

7. If you are that attractive attorney, don’t you fret, you will never actually be killed, the police will get to you before the murderer accomplishes his task, works every time.

I like to think that I'll one day be this good at art

I am taking a history of illustration class right now and it is absolutely glorious! We spend the entire class period looking at the most gorgeous art pieces. Here are some that I am in love with (I'm sorry they aren't bigger, I just use whatever I can find online!)

First: Edwin Austin Abbey

Cordellia’s Farewell. King Lear has just disowned his daughter, Cordellia, dividing the rest of his possessions between her two sisters, who gained their father’s approval through lies and deceit, and in actuality consider their father an old fool. Cordellia is the one being pulled away by the Kind of France, who is kissing her hand. Someday I will have this piece in my house.

The Penance of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester

And now some of Coles Phillip's fade-away girls:

There are no edges to the dresses, but you can tell right where the edges are.

Mucha's art nouveau:

Jacob Lawrence

I think this is Disney's Mary Blaire:

This is definitely Mary Blaire:

James Christenensen:

I have no idea who this is, but I love this piece!

I mean, what on earth do you think is going on in it? This girl is floating down to some hats on sticks! But the image has a very content, dreamy feel to it!

Jack Vettriano:

What I like about this piece is that you can't see their faces, it's completely anonymous, so the viewer can put him or herself into it and be any of those people. I like that the dancers are in their own world, with no other cares, they don't even notice the rain.

Kay Neilsen:

And then of course, JC Leyendecker. I cannot get over how fabulous he is! Think he looks like Norman Rockwell? Rockwell began his career copying Leyendecker's stuff, which was definitely a smart thing to do when you see how lovely Leyendecker's work is!

The Arrow Collar Man, the guy depicted in the picture above and in a lot of Leyendecker's other work for the Arrow Collar company, got more fan mail and pleas for marriage than any other movie star or famous person at that time-- crazy! He's not even a real person!

This Leyendecker piece looks a lot like Rockwell

My Obsession's Name is Nigel

You know those people who have an obsession that you simply cannot understand? Whether it be a tv show or a particular card or computer game, or a color that they’ve decked out their entire bedroom in, whatever it is you simply cannot fathom why on earth they would waste that much money and time on something so ridiculous! And all they want to do is tell you more about this obsession that, honestly, you could care less about? Well, I have become one of those people. And my obsession? My fish, Nigel. And now I am going to tell you about him. He is downright adorable, like SO cute. I know, he’s a fish-- fish are not cute, they have faces that have a permanent expression of complete grumpiness pasted onto them and never reward any of your actions with a smile, and they don’t do anything but eat, swim, sleep, swim, and poop. But all of that does not matter one little bit, I absolutely love this little fish. Every time I walk through the door of our apartment I holler out, “Nigel, I’m home! How are you doing little Nigely-Nige?” But you would do the same thing if you had a fish who eagerly came rushing up to the edge of his bowl toward you, grumpy face and all, and fluttered his little fins in sheer excitement and love (in all reality he probably is coming over to see if I will feed him, but I like to think that his crazy fluttering is out of pure love for me).

I found this little useless container lying around my house and I washed it out and stuck it into his bowl and it has now become his home. At night he goes in there and sleeps, his little purple nose just poking out. As soon as he sees that we are up in the morning, he comes rushing out of his house, pushing his nose up against the part of the bowl closest to where we are, fins whirring at their highest speed-- ah-dorable! And because I know you are just dying to know more about my fish, when we feed him, he cannot simply eat his food in one gulp. He grabs a “betta-bit” with his mouth, chews on it and spits it out, swims around the bowl for a couple of laps, grabs the betta-bit again, chews some more, spits it again before heading around the bowl another couple of times and so on until finally the food has disappeared. We even took a family picture with Nigel in it; I don't think that is not normal to count a fish as a member of a family. So, as you can see, I have an unexplainable obsession with a little fish named Nigel, but at least I am aware of how ridiculous this obsession is, even if that doesn’t change how obsessed I am about him.