The Edge

Finally got the time to update my cel gallery with a few of the gifts I received for Christmas. I feel super lucky to have such wonderful friends in this hobby. Unfortunately, my Sanzo plushie pictures were on the other computer, so they didn't get added today. I'll have to add them with the next update, instead.

Also, I made a new layout for my Rubberslug gallery. I thought it would be fun to make a series of layouts based on some of the less-visited spots in my gallery. The first one is based on Mahou Tsukai Tai, which is a show I dearly love -- although probably not what most people would think of when (or, if ... LOL) they think of my gallery.

New Stuff:

Yanagi, Flame of Recca
Raven, Virus Buster Serge
Lovely "Crystal-style" Kambei, Samurai 7
"Got it on Ebay" sketch by Dragonnova

My good friend Dragonnnova sent the most amazing, wonderful surprise Christmas giftie to me recently. She had emailed to say she was sending something, but she was very mysterious about it ... and I was super curious and intrigued. I could not figure out what she had up her sleeve. Well ... in about a billion years, I wouldn't have guessed this!!

That's right -- adorable, custom Sanzo plushie showed up on my doorstep a few days ago. zOMG! I love, love, love him ... although "love" isn't nearly a big enough word to encompass the depths of my adoration for this little guy. I adore Sanzo as a character -- probably one of my all-time favorite characters, right up there with Aya from Weiss Kreuz. So to get anything of him is beyond amazing. But this plushie is so, so, so perfect in every single way. From his breast plate to his little crown-hat-thingie to the oh-so-"Sanzo" expression on his face. His eyes are gorgeous and the exact perfect shade of purple. His hair stands up "just so" -- just like it should. His robes are soft and flowing ... and the clothing underneath is absolutely perfect, too! He has the gloves, body suit, and jeans ... and even his little black boots (which I so love ... eeeee!!!). I think he's pretty much the cutest thing ever, ever, EVER!!!

And here are pictures! (woot!!!!!)

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I need to grab a pic of him without his hat on -- which I forgot to do yesterday. >.O

My in-laws are visiting for a few days, so we took a meandering sort of drive out toward Shenandoah National Park ... down through Warrenton ... and, finally, into Clarendon for dinner. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, and I'm glad I was able to go. (I was a bit in doubt in the beginning, as I've been rather sick for the past couple of days with the WORST period cramps ever ... but, as that's slightly TMI, I'll just leave it at that. >.O)

Anyhow, I didn't feel up to getting out of the car and hiking around much. And I'm not sure I was all that inspired, overall, due to not feeling my best. But I still managed to grab a few shots here and there.

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In other news, hubby recently bought LightRoom for me. It looks like a very in-depth (and sort of intimidating) program, but I'm kind of excited over getting to play around with it and learn how to use it. Hopefully, it'll bring more inspiration and creativity to my inner photog!

Rushing, rushing, rushing around this AM. I used to rush quite well. Now, not so much. It makes me feel overwhelmed and a bit surly, to say the least. And leads me to wonder what became of the person I used to be. Or, perhaps I never was that person at all ... but only thought I was. Hmmm. Deep thoughts for this early in the AM.

Got the grocery shopping done. Even got everything put away. I have just enough time (I think) to munch a toasted English muffin with a bit of jelly before dashing off to school to do Book Buddies. Kind of not looking forward to the whole Book Buddy thing this morning, as my cold is still hanging around. I didn't sleep well last night, and I don't feel the greatest today. Plus, my throat is sore, and my voice is nearly gone. Fun times.

Hubby's secretary gave him a gift basket for Christmas. It had some coffee and chocolate liquor candies in it. He's been whining for the past few days about not being able to find the candies. I'm kind of sick of the whining ... but also feel pretty guilty about the whole thing because I'm the one who put everything away. I can't for the life of me remember what the hell I did with that candy, though. Not that it's totally my fault. He has a habit of just plunking everything down on the kitchen counter -- right in the space that I have to use to make dinner -- thus, leaving it for me to "deal with". And then, when I deal with it, he's unhappy and whiny about it. Anyhow, I have a sinking feeling the candies might have been tossed due to being past their expiration date. And I don't know how to tell hubby this. He'll never believe that I didn't toss them maliciously. Ah marriage ... sometimes you suck. >.O

So, I'm watching TV today, and a commercial for some kind of truck comes on. It shows the truck snowboarding down this huge mountain, including doing a flip at the end. At the bottom of the commercial is the following:

Fantasy. Trucks can not snowboard. Do not attempt.

Because, somewhere out there, there's a guy slouched on a sofa ... a beer in one hand and the other hand down his pants ... watching this commercial and thinking to himself: "I gotta try that."

Um ... yeah.

I actually have some new stuffage to scan, but my PC is being a brat. (To the point where I'm going to head off and try to rescue my most precious stuff off of it after typing this entry. >.O) And free time has been in short supply. Consequently, I don't know when I'll manage to get anything scanned. Argh.

But!! Today I updated with some fan art I made for Christmas presents. These are all manga-style fan cels -- based on manga images and done only in black and white. I scanned them some time ago, before mailing. I think everyone should have gotten their packages by now. *crosses fingers* =D

Kenshin
Aya & Ken
Omi & Yohji
Heero & Relena
Tsuzuki & Hisoka
Sanzo
Sanzo
Tsuzuki
Goku, Hakaryu

I got a new camera lens for Christmas, so I headed out to Manassas to test it out a bit. The day was rather cloudy and gray, so I wasn't sure I would get any shots. Luckily, I was happily surprised because the sun occasionally broke through the clouds -- and gave really lovely effects.

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The start of a few photo posts. This one of Christmas stuff, like the dogs opening their gifts and a few scenes from my home.

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Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all my LJ peeps! I hope you all have a wonderful and fulfilling holiday, complete with laughter, family, friends, and lots and lots of love.

My wonderful interweb buddy Dragonnova (kayion here on LJ) sent some fantastic, gorgeous fan art my way recently. I love, love, love these pieces so much. Let's just say there was a lot of fangirl sqweeling involved when I opened this package. This is what I was updating last night when my trusty old PC decided to crash. Luckily, it booted up this morning, and I didn't lose much from what I had done of the update last night. I think I had to rewrite one description.

Anyhow ... I'm so happy and excited to have all this amazing Dragonnova artwork!! I also added pics of the Aya and Yohji plushies that she made, so my apologies for re-spamming those pics here. Hee!!

Aya Plushie
Yohji Plushie
Got It on Ebay
Character Studies of my original character, Wilhelm
Wilhelm & Bog, my original characters
Endgame Sketch
Endgame Print

And I also uploaded a holiday-ish layout today, too. Deck the halls and all that. Hee! =D