Mother's Day

Before I embark on my endeavor to post five whole days in a row, I had to say something about the Mother's Day gifts I received yesterday. Now, I'm not one to demand diamonds or flowers or any kind of fancy gift, really. For me, the old standby of a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper, a candy bar and an "I appreciate what you do" will suffice. But, as I toted the kids off to church yesterday morning, I didn't even get a "Happy Mother's Day" from my husband, which could mean one of two things: 1. He was planning some kind of elaborate set up to surprise me with as I arrived home from church. Or 2. He genuinely forgot.
When I pulled into the driveway, I noticed on our front porch, the mop sitting in our kitchen trash can which was filled with soapy water. "OK," I thought,"He cleaned the house and mopped the floors with soapy trash can water. That's alright, it's the thought that counts." Then, he greeted me, mad, demanding the whereabouts of the mop bucket (on the back porch) and the video camera (also on the back porch-not my fault). With the realization of the location of the video camera, he ran to get it, pressed record, and led me into a house, which to my dismay was dirtier than when I left it that morning. I noticed the full laundry basket in the middle of the living room floor with a sign that read "I put the laundry all in one place for you!" On the counter, a bowl of nuked chip crumbs and cheese and an open, mostly eaten box of chocolates with the sign "Nachos and Chocolate!" On the table, a quarter of a dozen roses with a couple of water filters with the sign "Because I know how much you love water!" The counter housed every last spice we owned, a couple of cans of cream of chicken soup, a pot of boiling water on the stove, and this sign:

And lastly, my favorite, the card he "bought" from Wal-Mart which read:

**Just a bit of Jon and Ness history--Jonathan and I met at the beginning of our freshman year in college. After a year of randomly running into each other on campus, he finally asked for my number, only after almost calling me Valerie. I've never let him forget it. :)**

He explained as we drove to Jack in the Box for lunch that he had every intention to clean the house, run to the store to buy chocolate, flowers, and a Diet Dr. Pepper, and race to get my favorite rice/chicken/cilantro stuffed burrito, but ran out of time, so, he just went with the whole "messy house" thing.

I have to give him credit, he knows me well. I'll take humor any day over a pair of diamond earrings!

To all of the mother's, I hope your special day was as wonderful as mine!

ND

5 Days in New York City

It never fails to surprise me when I sit down write a new post to see the amount of time I've let pass since my last post. The last few weeks have been pretty busy with the end of the school year rush, a few commissions needing to be completed, and a vacation under my belt. "What vacation?" you might be asking yourself. Well, 3 weeks ago my family and I finally got to go to NYC after our trip planned for December had to be postponed. It was my first time in the Big Apple, and it was quite an experience, especially with two young children in tow. Thankfully, we had convinced my in-laws that they couldn't miss seeing their granddaughter's first time in New York City, so we had a lot of extra help with the kids. ;) There is much to tell, and many, many pictures from our trip and I can't put it all into one post, so starting tomorrow I'm going to post for five days straight....one for each day of our trip. I know, I know, given my record of a post every two weeks, there must be some doubt as to whether or not I can pull this off, but I'm determined. In the meantime, I will leave you with some pictures of some mixed media collages I have been working on this last month for a friend.

Until tomorrow,

Nessa Dee

IF: Wrinkles

I did this sketch way back in college, but it fits the topic, so I'm posting it. When I was in high school, my grandpa gave me a folder of pictures from various magazines, newspapers, church bulletins, etc. that he had gathered. They were pictures that he thought would make interesting and challenging subjects for art. This image came from those pictures. I still have the folder and look at it from time to time for references and ideas.











The elephant is a quick sketch I did tonight, just to get some drawing time in. He fits the topic, so I'm posting him, too!

ND

IF: Fail

Ok, Since I failed to post for the last two weeks, I was determined to post this week. Well, it's Thursday, and I have failed to produce an illustration for this topic, and with my schedule today, it looks as though I won't have time to complete any new illustrations. So, in order not to fail completely, I am posting an old sketch I drew a while back. It's sort of fitting for the topic. Have a good rest of the week!

1000 words

And Sprint!


And snooze.


Hmmm, what could he be thinking?









He will be the death of us yet :).

Look Who's 2!

It's hard to believe it has been two years since Finn came into this world. It's an odd mixture of emotions when I look at my son. It feels as though the past 24 months have flown by, but at the same time, I can't remember life without him. It's like he's always been a part of our family.

(The rocket cake...notice the missing M&M. Hmmm, seems like this has happened before.)

Happy birthday Mr. Finntastic!

Love,

Mom

Smells Like Spring

Pollen stained noses. The result of our daily excursions from the car to whatever activity is going on in our weekly rush. Although stopping 3-10 times on our way from ___(insert activity here)__ to the car isn't always convenient when you're pressed for time, seeing my kids enjoying spring as much, if not more than I do is worth the extra five minutes.

Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful season!

ND