When I Grow Up...Wait I Already Did!!!

A few days ago a friend sent me a piece of flair on Facebook that said, "We're Adults! When did this happen and how do I make it stop?" Seriously?! I am an adult, what happened? One minute I was a teenager, rollerblading around Wasco with Niki, Deanna and Stephanie, the next minute, I'm 27, married with a house and full time job, with my 10 year high school reunion quickly approaching. We don't have kids yet, just dogs, but as my 30th birthday creeps ever-closer I can't help but wonder how fast the next 30 years are going to fly by?!

I don't regret being an adult, I mean there are a ton of awesome things about being able to make my own decisions, drive, earn a real salary, pursue my dreams, decorate a house the way I want to, be a part of a marriage (which is a whole separate category of adulthood altogether!), and the list goes on and on.

Sometimes though, it would be nice to be able to go back and spend a couple weeks or whatever in a different age, maybe back in high school, during the summer and lifeguarding with my best friends, or preschool where we still got to color and have snack time. :)

On the other hand, it kind of stinks being 27 and feeling like you should have to be act like a grown up all the time. So what if I want to wear socks with frogs on them or have a fun custom license plate? And I'll admit that I still have three stuffed animals in my adult house that occassionally accompany me for a nap!

I know fun grown-up times are still ahead, and I will enjoy watching my kids make their own memories, but it's just not quite the same. I'll continue growing up, because I have to, because I'm supposed to, and it's inevitable. But I will probably always wear fun socks and act like the occasional ditzy teenager.

"Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up, these are the best days of our lives....." - The Ataris

Zoey

My last post in May was about my new puppy - I didn't have her yet but now she's 11 weeks old! Her name is Zoey and she's a Golden Retriever. She's so sweet and has a great temperament, but a she's little mischievous and stubborn at times. Aren't all puppies? We thought she was born potty trained because the first two days at home she was telling us when she needed to go outside by standing at the back door and barking. Well that turned out to be too good to be true. She peed whenever, wherever, the next few days until we learned to recognize her signs. Now she rarely has an accident in the house, except if we're not paying attention or occasionally a visitor will excite her so much (Kevin!) she spray-pees. Hopefully she'll grow out of that.

As far as your stereotypical Golden goes, I think we're doing a pretty good job of controlling the usual antics. Normally they're chewers and diggers, both which Zoey loves to do, but we've gotten her so many toys and bones, she's easily distracted from whatever she isn't supposed to chew. She's dug a couple holes, but I just fill them with her poo and she's discouraged. She does love to run and roll in the mud, yuck, and she has to pick up EVERYTHING on the floor with her mouth. Including hangers, dryer sheets and even my engagement ring, which spent a night in her belly and then showed up via a pile of puke on the floor the next day. At least I got it back.

In spite of her little bad habits, I love her and I think she will be a great dog. Her and Rachel get along great. Here are a few more pictures of them both:

On the first day they met. :)

Proof that even dogs take bad pictures!

Employed and getting artsy...

As you may have noticed, the title of my blog has recently changed - I am no longer unemployed! Since Wednesday, May 21st I have been working as a Marketing Assistant for Processes Unlimited International - an engineering company here in Bakersfield. While engineering doesn't interest me all that much, I love the people I work with and the company seems to treat the employees extremely well. We get 4 wks paid vacation, Profit Sharing (aka quarterly bonuses), we work a 9/80 schedule so we get every other Friday off and each "Team" (I'm on the Marketing Team) gets a shirt and gets to go on fun trips outside work, like white water rafting.

In other news, I'm getting involved in the local art community here, I have participated in two group shows and have a bunch more coming up this summer. At my first show, I was one of the only three artists that sold something out of 15 participants. This is the photograph that was purchased:

My second show was this past Friday, downtown in the Arts District. We set up along the sidewalks on two blocks and there was also food and music and lots of great art. I didn't sell anything this time, but had great interest from a gallery we were in front of. My friend Nyoka set up next to me and she had a lot of people interested in commissioning portraits from her. You can check out some of her stuff at deviantART - she's pretty amazing. I also have a deviantART site, you should check it out here!

I'll keep posting about future art shows here and on my myspace website. Hopefully I'll have some paintings ready for the next show in July, I've spent so much time on photography the past few years, my painting has really taken a backseat, but I'm getting back into it!