Unplugged

My whole family unplugged from Monday, 29 April to Friday, 3 May. The kids were surprisingly ok with it. I will honestly admit that I missed tv, I have a few shows that I like to watch, so it has been nice to catch up on them. My youngest had been obsessed with playing a My Little Pony and a Skylanders game on the iPad, so unplugging last week was a good way to get her to realize that she doesn't need to play those games, they are just for fun. We played card games and board games together as a family, the kids played together more, we all read more books, I did some knitting and lots of sketching. It was a very good thing.  For myself, I found out that checking facebook had very much become a part of my morning routine, so it was weird to not go there. I realized that, while I like to post things there, I don't really need to post things, I mostly like to see what everyone else is up to: I love to see all the cute kid pictures, hear about fun book news, stay in touch with friends and family, and the like... Since I work from home, the connections I have made with other kid book folks online have really given me a feeling that I have coworkers again, and places like fb and twitter are where we can hang out together and cheer each other on. Another thing I realized is that all the social media had contributed to that "I feel so busy" feeling. I have become very chill about blogging as of late: I was way into it at first and was really great about posting and visiting other people's blogs. Now, I just post when I can and try to visit other blogs when I can, and try not to worry about it as much. I'm going to try to adopt that same philosophy with everything else. There are only so many hours in the day, and I can only do my best. Here's hoping that my friends and family know that I'm always going to love them and be there to support them in good times and hard times, whether I comment or reply or repin or retweet or hit the "like" button... :)

In other news, I just finished reading The Light Between Oceans: It was very good, I am still feeling the weight of it. Here are some other books that I have read lately that I would heartily recommend: The One and Only Ivan, Wonder, The Three Triceratops Tuff, Maya Was Grumpy, The Night Circus, and The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot!. These are some of the books that I am looking forward to reading next: Bad Girls, The Hunting of the Snark, Iron Hearted Violet, The Quirks, Elvis and the Underdogs, The True Meaning of Smekday, I Capture The Castle, and The Busy, Busy World of Richard Scarry.

hodgepodge

Mailed off my book dummy on Saturday morning. 

That was a really great feeling!

Finished up a really fun project with my 4th grader's class, it is going to be auctioned off to raise money for the school at the end of the month. I am very proud of the kids, they made amazing chickens!

 I won 56 bucks playing bingo!  

Thanks to Sara, I am now addicted to and 

completely caught up on The Big Bang Theory.

Went to sunny Florida two weekends ago for a friend's wedding. It was so fun to catch up with great friends and celebrate Lori and Rusty's new life together.  Plus, I saw a wild iguana, tons of mini lizards, a flock of flying pelicans, swaying palm trees, and was bitten by my first fire ant. 

I hope that all is well with you, thanks for stopping by!

I made this for Joyce

Mel

This is Mel. I have been busy working on a little book about him.
He is quite a character.

Notes

This past weekend I was at the 38th Annual MAVT Convention.  I became a certified veterinary technician in 1997 and worked as a tech until we had our youngest and I became a stay-at-home mom.  I find myself feeling like I am between worlds now: I can't take my pets to work with me anymore and have to go to the vet as a civilian, and I still consider myself a new illustrator and am trying to learn and grow and enjoy the journey without having any expectations...  My hope is that my love for animals is evident in my work and that it also informs it. Even though it can feel pretty weird sometimes, the upshot is that I have been very fortunate to work in fields filled with compassionate, intelligent, and amazing people. For that I will always be grateful.

Flying Mermaid

My youngest asked me to draw a flying mermaid a while ago, and this is what I came up with... Wouldn't it be wonderful to fly? My head has been in the clouds a little bit lately, my book dummy is really (finally!) starting to come together and I am just having the most fun working on it. Wishing you clear skies and calm seas! nvc

SWISH!

Hey, There! There is another music book out there with little Nina pictures in it!

Spoiler Alert: Book 1 includes a little love story between a charming young squirrel and a lovely pig.  There will be seven books in the Energize Your Fingers Every Day series and I have had the most fun illustrating the first three, looking forward to working on the next four.