click clack

click

clack

click, clack

walking down the sidewalk

click click clack

love the summer

June is back

click

clack

sun on my skin

better than rain

click click clack

don't look back

A new chapter in the "Kara Chronicles" Coming Soon.

I spent Monday & Tuesday of this week working at the office of Webspec Design which is who I work for now.  The office is in Urbandale, and it was wonderful to get out of Forest City.  I was not meant to stay in a small town.  Ever since I was small I have been clamoring to get anywhere that I can stretch my wings and see what I can do.  There are so many more opportunities in Des Moines for a designer & artist. and I am so ready to grab them!  Some people may say "I hate Iowa I want to get out!"  And I won't necessarily agree, but I get where they are coming from.  It would be wonderful to just start over, taking my loved ones and pets with me :)  

And after my visit this week I am absolutely positive that I will be moving this year.  I don't even care if I am working from home (which I won't be) I just need to get somewhere with some opportunity for advancement.  I am sick of being "stuck" here when there is no reason that I can't leave.

Here comes the hard part that I am going to have to suck up & deal with, the sooner the better.  Daycare, rent, where to live, bills, visitation rights, money, insurance, debt.....  The list goes on and on, but you know what?  

It is easy to be broke as hell & happy.  You just have to live within your means.  I know many people who don't get this.  I do, I really get it.  You can find a way to make it work.  A way to make life, love and your dream career work.  Life is easy if you just understand that it's okay to fall on your face once and a while, and sometimes it's okay to take the plunge.  Is the risk worth the reward?

Are your dreams worth sacrificing feeling "safe"?

Mine are.

_________________________

I am ready.

I am ready to accept love.

I am ready to accept my responsibilities.

I am ready to work hard and reap the rewards.

mostly, 

I am ready to be HAPPY.

for the first time in WAY too long.

_____________________

I am so READY to stop being afraid of what might go wrong, and to start being ready for what will go right if I work hard & take charge of my life.

Why I'm Tattooed

My mom, my dad, my brother, random strangers: "why do you get tattoos?"

Here it is:  Well, part of it anyway.

I am an artist.  I love all things unique and beautiful and art in all forms.

Tattoos are very meaningful to me.  They mark friendships, love, breakup, pain, coming of age, ups and downs.  I have some great times in my my life but also so very rough ones and tattoos have seen me though them.  

People ask me won't you regret getting those when you are older?  

I don't know, I doubt it.  I look at them now and feel empowered at everything I have accomplished so far and I am grateful that I have these reminders with me forever.

Plus I will be the coolest old lady @ the nursing home!

Mostly the reason I get them:  it is something that is therapeutic and something that I do for me.  They help to make me who I am.

I will offer that you go out and read a collection of poems that help explain the love of body art.

http://www.amazon.com/Dorothy-Parkers-Elbow-Tattoos-Writers/dp/0446679046

Cake on a Saturday

This idea must be credited to craft-master extraordinaire Ginny Ray who got it from here.  I saw it on her blog & had to try it.  It was supposed to be 3 layers.... that went south but it was still pretty & tasty.

Rainbow cake!

warm chill

windows down

five o'clock friday

light breeze, birds chirping

summer sun warms my skin

driving through an anxious town

hot wind flows by my face

sends a chill up 

and down

a warm

chill

free

ahh

The Karaoke King

Wow! (kayla is right)  It has been more than a week since my last post.  I knew I was feeling a void, and alas it was my lack of blogging.  I plan to write more tonight, but I am just taking a small break in my work day to write a little.

Last weekend, Marcus Kami and I packed up and headed to Des Moines to visit my mother.  Oh poor Marcus, he didn't know what he was getting in to!  My mom can be frustrating (so can I) but there is nothing more annoying than a whistling "king of karaoke" Carl (mom's husband). 

Holy hell.

I do appreciate how hard he tries with Kamryn, but I can even see in her reactions to him, that she is a bit overwhelmed. 

Does he think kids like that? The in-your-face loud babbling and hissing.  (yes hissing, for some reason he hisses at her like a snake.)

I try to talk to kids like adults.  I believe in not infantilizing them, even if not for the child's sake, but for those if us who want to puncture out ear drums so we don't have to hear one more muttering of "baby talk".  

_________

We arrived fairly late Saturday evening, hoping to climb into bed and get some rest before our long day at the Blank Park Zoo.  Marcus and I sat downstairs while carl chased my 18-month old around until nearly midnight.  After finally relaxing and climbing into the guest bed with an exhausted boyfriend, I heard a light tapping on the door.  

It's my mother.

"WHAT?" I said.

Mom pops her head in the door and pleads with me for one of us to go sleep downstairs on the sofa. Because in Carl's house those are his rules.

REALLY!!!??

After a slight argument with mom I try to hold in my anger.  I wanted to bring up so many reasons why this request was so ridiculous, but I didn't I just went down stars and sent my mom a message that I would be staying in a hotel IF we ever visited again.  

What a great start to our weekend.

_______________

After a long restless night on the couch, we were up to start our day.  We had a nice time at the zoo, it's always fun to see a child in awe of something so strange as a Giraffe and to get such joy out of feeding swarms

 of giant fish.  Besides Kamryn having so much fun on our little outing, my greatest joy was having someone with me to endure the torture of putting up with Carl.

That sounds bad, but what I mean is, Marcus was more than willing to go to Des Moines with me, and I could hardly believe it.  

Kami's dad and I dated for nearly 3 years,

 were engaged, and had a child together and he never so much as took a walk with Kamryn and I, let alone travel to my mother's and spend the day at the zoo.  I think I asked Marcus 7 or 8 times before we left if he was really going.

It is such a nice feeling to have someone who truly cares & cares enough to spend the day with the Karaoke King, just to be with me. 

-kgk