Today is Thanksgiving and I’ve had lots of time in the past week to reflect on how blessed I am and the many things I have in my life to be thankful for.  My life has changed…..and I wasn’t ready….and I so want to crawl into a rabbit hole and curl up until God makes everything right.  Problem is, God probably did get it right and I’m just selfish…but damn….sometimes it just aught to be about me.  I’m thankful for the joys my children have given me, for family that continues to befuddle me, for friends that make me laugh and let me cry, and for Saturday lunches that will never be forgotten.

I knew it would be a tough week, but I set some goals for myself to keep busy and make my brain change gears. My house is clean(ish) (thank you Becca), letters have been written to Santa (thank you Caleb), had some serious talks with God about what he was thinking (thank you Ava) and I’ve taught myself how to paint hair in Gimp…probably the most frivolous….but it does give me a huge sense of accomplishment.

I’ve seen lots of great work on Flick’r and am always in awe of the talent I see.  I am not an artist by any means, but I do recognize the work that goes into a good piece….especially when I try to duplicate it and the results are hilarious.  This generally spurs me on to learn the technique (thank you YouTube) and will not hesitate to ask someone for help and advise (proof that I’m a female).  I’ve seen drawn in hair and it always stupified (not the way you spell it, but thank you Disturbed) me….its amazing and magical and I needed to learn how.  This is where I thank my friend Brie Helstein, who told me quite offhand that there are free brushes just for drawing hair all over the Internet made for Photoshop…and guess what….they all work in Gimp!  I have been a googling, downloading, YouTube watching, muther f***er since then and I’ve messed up a lot….really….a lot.

This is what I started with…not a bad picture at all really.

But this is what I came out with…..it was like having a freaking baby…but isn’t she cute!  The hair I did in Gimp (thank you lpdragonfly for the awesome brushes!), the rest I did in PicMonkey (so freaking user friendly…thank you Yahoo).  I will continue to work on this until I am so good that people ask me for advice 🙂

Thank you Lamb Bellic of !lamb for the fabulous hair called Love Affair…please forgive me for using it as my teething ring.

Thank you Shiloh Lyric for turning me on to these fabulous lashes by Koketka (v. 20)

Thank you Spyder Silverfall for turning me on to this great multi-cross necklace by Cute Poison (can’t see much of it, but trust me or look in some of my previous pics on Flick’r)

Thank you Jarath for telling me I’m better than Stromboli….such a liar

Thank you Darth for having faith in me

Thank you Mae for playing my song and making me cry

Thank you Play for singing a song for my mommy and making me cry

Thank you Isabella for telling me I’m pretty

And thank you Frannie…for asking me to never leave you

Other peeps to thank for what I’m wearing:

ryvolter for the turtleneck tunic…super cute

Mirage for the silver hoop earrings

Pink Acid for the glitter lip gloss

and you can’t see them, but thank you Sax Shepherd for my new favorite Caress shoes 🙂

Stuff I always wear and am so grateful for:

Glam Affair – Cleo Jamaica 10
Redgrave body shape – Vivian (modified)…this is the only shape I have ever worn…I LOVE my face!
Slink mesh hands, elegant
Slink mesh feet, medium height
Redgrave eyes – tealgreen