The Saturday Six (One)

Now that college is coming to a close, I’ve decided to take a page out of Sarah Dessen’s book and share big, positive, or interesting things that have happened each week. Here is the first of my Saturday Six.

1. I finished my first children’s book for my Children’s Literature course this week! No, I do not plan to get it published, but I do feel accomplished. The most work was the illustrations, because I haven’t drawn in a long time and just jumped right back into it. Great therapy and felt good on the inside to do, but also was painful due to my wrist injury I acquired this semester.  I don’t care though, I will work through the pain.  If I still have some use of body functions, I do my best to push through, and am so happy I did! They weren’t my best drawings ever, and I needed visuals, but for being away from the sketching world for so long, I’m patting myself on the back.

 

 

2. Wednesday evening, the library where I have worked for four years had a pet therapy event happening on our main floor.  There were a few dogs and a couple bunnies, and oh, my word they were so kind and sweet!  I was told by the night desk supervisor to take a few minutes during my shift to stop by, and if it wasn’t for me wanting to get through my shift and all of the people crowded into the room to pet these animals, I would have stayed the whole time.  Aside from my dad’s dog and my best friend’s dog, I haven’t really been able to bring myself to pet a dog since mine passed.  It was so wonderful.  Even for a few minutes, a bit of love from an animal is precious.
   
   
3. Another interesting thing, to cheer me up because of the switch in my mood, a close friend of mine made a bet.  Instead of money though, especially since I am NOT a person that makes bets as a rule, we betted each other whiskey sours.  Which, if you haven’t had one, are delicious. It’s like lemonade and they don’t last long when we get our hands on some.  The bet you wonder?  It had something to do with our inside joke of leprechauns and my job, and covered my last two shifts.  At the end of Thursday, I won the bet, so she gets to pay up come Monday night.
   
   
4. I have some awesome people in my life that are kind and I will miss them.  A good reason why I say this is my friends know that I haven’t been eating much due to my workload, stress levels, and other reasons.  On Tuesday, I hadn’t eaten anything until I managed to choke down a turkey artichoke Panini right before work at four.  Still was hungry and extremely worn down after (and being called a dip-shit by my mother for not eating, when after 21 years she should know my bad habits) friends were so great.  During my shift, two of them stopped by.  One bore a cookie and the other watermelon licorice (which, I LOVE).  They only wanted to say hi and give me a little sugar to get me through.  Later on, when I didn’t get a chance to nab some supper from the nearby food place on campus (seriously, it’s not even ten yards from where I live) until almost eleven at night, I ran into my author friend M. R. Bryant, whose boyfriend gave me a last piece of cake. A giant piece. My heart soared! We all take care of each other, and I have to say, that makes me even more sentimental about this chapter of my life coming to an end.  Note, if you have someone in your life who is a writer, or an artist, or just plain workaholic, if we are in the zone or something else is going on, try to feed us.  We won’t always think about it ourselves unless we feel the hunger pains in our stomachs or the wafting of yummy air drifting under our noses alerting us to eat.  Even if we are getting headaches from lack of food, we keep going.  So place food within our view, preferably something that will perk us up, so that we don’t starve ourselves to death.  Oh, and like animals, we will keep coming back to you and a bit of us will love you.  Seriously, if you’re close to me and do this, I may just honestly purr with contentment.
   
   
5. As a treat, my supervisor from the last three years who I have come to admire brought in jewelry that I had asked her to make this semester.  She is a wonderful artist and I enjoy looking at her handcrafted jewelry every time that I see her work.  The jewelry was a three-piece set, and I am paying for the necklace because it is my graduation present to myself.  I wanted something, that was requested by me that I can pass down to my children along with the special jewelry I received from my parents for my 18^th birthday/high school graduation and my 21^st birthday.  The earrings and the surprise bracelet though, were graduation presents from her to me, and I was absolutely giddy when I received my new jewelry.  I honestly had wanted to cry because this was thought out for me and my supervisor has learned over the years what represents me well.  I could not part ways without a breaking hug and later, when I tried the jewelry on, I didn’t want to take the pieces off.  You know a piece of jewelry is right for you when you don’t want to remove it and it feels so right against your skin.  They are made of silver, turquoise and tiger’s eye.  Three things I love, and they have a mix of a Native American vibe and spiritualism that makes me smile, because…well, it’s just another part of me. Haha.

  
 

Can’t wait to wear them for graduation! Because yes, they do match my graduation dress =)

6. Speaking of graduations, time sure flies! My youngest niece, Ava, officially graduated preschool this past Monday night.  I looked through the pictures that my sister posted, and I dearly wished that I was in Kentucky.  She looked adorable and sophisticated in her little blue cap and gown.  I must admit, I was a little jealous that she, even though she was under the weather, she is probably pulling off the look better than I will a week from today.  Seriously, M. R. Bryant and I were talking not so long ago, about how we can pull off most hats (I wish I had my fedora recently), but we’ve both tried on our caps, and nothing can make those green atrocities look good.  Anyways, I looked at the pictures and couldn’t help reminiscing.  I still remember the day I heard that I was going to be an aunt for the third time when my sister found out that she was pregnant, and that was not long after I turned 15! To think…she is done with preschool and going to be six come October.  I want my nieces and nephews to stop growing, but I am also so proud of all four of them!  Camerin won’t be long behind Ava.  Honestly, seeing how I am as an Aunt, whose heart could not be any fuller on account of these kids, I feel somewhat sorry for my future kids I wish for someday.  I already know I’m going to have some Lorelei Gilmore quirks, just saying. Haha! I cannot wait to see the kids this summer though, even if the oldest, Madison, is now up to my shoulders.  I love them all and as I have said, am so proud of each and every one, for being who they are, and the small and big achievements each of them make.

~Count your blessings, and whether things are bad or you’re doing well, find something good and hold on!

Much love!

~*~Alyse~*~

(Unfortunately, there is a glitch and the photos I have embedded are having problems being viewed, my apologies)