I deserve to be called every name in the book!! Flighty, flaky, irresponsible, tardy, negligent, lazy, undependable, unaccountable...you name it! In your lifetime you should hope that none of those words can ever be rightfully applied to your good name. But I'm afraid that in this past month as a blogger (or deadbeat blogger!) I may have earned a couple of those dirty words. And I cringe at the thought of it!
Sure, life happens. People get busy. The weeks fly by like helicopters. And before you know it...I've gone more than an entire month without one word posted to my blog. Some of you may have forgotten that I was ever even here in the first place. I know it as well as anyone does...The internet, and blogland in particular, exists within one giant, very rapid, growth spurt. In my 40 day and 40 night absence I may have been replaced by a dozen other, more dependable blogs. And all I have to say about that is: "I deserve it!" : (
But here's the good news...if you're reading this right now...guess what that means?! ... ?... You've come back to me! ( or you just found me now for the first time and I've yet to let you down!)
But seriously, the aforementioned did occur: I got busy, life happened, and the weeks flew by. And my sincerest thanks to all of you that have returned to welcome me back. I received MANY emails asking me to at least post a sentence or two just to let you all know that I'm still alive and well. That's so sweet! And I'm so sorry for any worry I might've caused.
So alright, I'm back and I don't want to bore you any longer with my reasons for not blogging in so long. Let me just get right down to the task at hand...
This is actually pretty funny. On my last entry...back on Feb.13th...I posted a pic of what I received in a one on one swap with my friend Laurie of Magpie Ethel. It was two, cute as a button little dolls made from vintage cupcake toppers, cupcake wrappers, and a bunch of other adorable tiny supplies. Well those little cuties, all dressed in red and pink with hearts, were perfectly fitting for the Valentines day weekend. And wouldn't you know it...It's 40 something days later, and me and Laurie have swapped again...and this time, the cute as a button little bunny doll is a perfect fit for the fast approaching Easter season! This one knocks my socks off! First off, the vintage bunny topper she used as the head is nearly the exact same one that me and Aaron used when we painted our "Easter Cupcakes" painting. Which, by the way, is listed now as a 5 x 7 mini plaque...I love this size...they're so cute! We have some Easter/Spring stuff up for sale now and more is very soon to come. But back to this adorable bunny gal with her pink cupcake wrapper skirt. My fave part is the platform on which she stands...simply an unaltered spool of ribbon...it's PERFECT. Laurie is super talented...go see what else she's about at Magpie Ethel. Maybe we'll swap for every holiday...but don't worry, I'll post in between holidays as well.
And while I'm glancing back at Valentines I MUST post the pics and a bit of the recap that I actually promised to post on Valentines Day! Laurie's little Valentines gals happen to be in some of the pics I took because they went with the theme for the All Dolled Up Party. I know it's ancient history by now but I'd feel weird if I didn't at least recap a tiny bit about Valentines. Me and Aar stayed in and cooked our fave meal. This is a yearly tradition with us. We decided years ago that we never again want to endure the restaurant crowds on Valentines Day. I mean, on any other night we'd rather go out than stay home. When you work from home and spend 24/7 within your apartment you'll want to eat at a restaurant whenever you can. But on Valentines day it just isn't worth it. Every place is packed and ironically, people are pushy and unkind when they are dead set on having a romantic night out. So me and Aar hit the grocery store, load up on all the essentials, come home to our kitchen and stand elbow to elbow while we prepare from scratch a very classy meal of Spaghetti & Meatballs! It seriously is our mutual fave. But we really do the 5 star version of it. We make everything from scratch except the noodles themselves, though we did get fresh pasta. Oh, and we didn't actually bake the bread...but you know what I mean. Real deal Spaghetti & Meatballs is like a meal from heaven. We ate it while watching the newer classic valentines flick Somewhere in Time, starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve. It was our first discovery of the film...it was hilarious. I know that some people take their romance films very seriously and they wouldn't know what I mean by "hilarious"...but Aaron and me can only see movies like that as "hilarious"! It just so happened to be on TV at the exact moment when our meal was ready to eat...so we set up on the coffee table and enjoyed. We certainly did not PLAN to watch a romantic movie...that is totally not our thing. Ok, what else....we had a couple adorable store bought desserts, because who has the time to bake on Valentines ... a little cherry pie with a heart made from crust on top... and little heart shaped, chocolate covered cheese cake. Both were amazing. The other pics are just some Valentines vignettes with some our fave collectibles. In keeping with the doll theme I thought it was a perfect opportunity to show off a couple of our all time favorite pieces of art made by Danita. They actually hang above our couch, flanking a super distressed mirror. Ever since we got them Aaron has said that they are his favorite out of all that we own. And that mini piano in the pic is just one of many all around our apartment. I can't get enough of 'em! But OK, that's enough of the Valentine's flashback. I'll make my way to the present tense.
My present obsession are these vintage doll skates and shoes. Well, I've always been into doll shoes...not teeny tiny ones...more like a little smaller than real life baby size. But right now it's the roller skates and ice skates that are driving me bonkers. At first I thought I'd never top the red ones that I found but then....GOLD ones...that's right people...GOLD! Oh I could melt. Look at the bells...and the itty bitty space reserved for the toes!
And while I'm on the subject of cute I have to squeeze in this ultra adorable surprise gift from my friend Lori. It's a pin, but I seriously want to cuddle it! And really, I'm looking forward to the fairer weather just so I can go out and wear this everyday! I Love It!
A couple weekends ago it was my brother Jay's 22nd birthday and we went into NYC for an all day shopping trip/celebration. The weather was amazing...one of those meteorological magic tricks when it's thirty degrees warmer than it should be. We had one of those days at Silver Bella the year before last. It was like 70 degrees in Omaha, in November!! But I digress, this day's weather wasn't that magical but it was magical enough to completely pack the streets of Manhattan with short sleeved and short skirted pedestrians. Jay is a SHOPPER, so we had a blast going from store to store on foot and hitting up street vendors for deals on knock-off ray bans and cool scarves. You just walk around all day and night and don't realize that you've probably racked up like a dozen miles. We found a new spot for cupcakes down by NYU. The place was the size of a closet but they had some of the best red velvet cupcakes I ever had. And they make cupcakes in Three sizes. We got minis, which were perfect for eating right BEFORE dinner! And Dinner was at our old standby, Yaffa Cafe on St. Marks. Open all night, with great garden seating out back, which the weather was just right for. Oh, yeah, roll call...the trip included Me, Aaron, my sister Missy, littlest brother Walt, and the b-day boy Jay. Whenever I mention Jay here on the blog I get a warm feeling in my heart. A while back Jay was having some scary health problems. So many doctors and tests...so many unanswered questions and mysteries. All the while I was trying to keep you guys updated and the heartfelt response and well wishes I received from all of you guys was overwhelming. I really can't explain how good it makes me feel and that it really meant so much to Jay. Up to this day I still receive emails asking about Jay and how he is in general. Nobody has forgotten...and that's really special. Well, to answer any questions you'd have now...as you can probably see in the pics...he's totally healthy. And in hindsight, it's hard to really nail down the specifics of what he actually went through back then, but no matter...he's fine now. And here's a funny detail. Jay, Missy, and Walt are all currently enrolled in the same community college...and get this: All three of them are actually in the same class. The teacher could not even believe it when she figured out that they were all siblings...ages 18, 22 , and 30. It's so cool. They have study sleep overs at Missy's apartment!
Ok, now...I think I may have partially solved the "deadbeat blogger" problem...one word: Facebook. All too often I fail to promptly update my blog. Most of the times it's because I feel like I have so much to show and so little time to do it. Well now I'm on Facebook and I think this might serve as a great medium for us all to keep in touch during the in between times of each other's blog entries. I'm sure a lot of you other bloggers go through what I go through and you just don't update as often as you'd like. Well now that I'm on Facebook I pop in all day everyday. It's just the perfect way to stay in contact with Everyone...and in up-to-the-minute speed. I'm going to be posting special sales for Facebook friends...so if you aren't yet on Facebook...hopefully that's a bit of an incentive. We are very soon going to be working on and debuting lots of new artwork. And Facebook is where I'll show things first. Simply because it's just so easy and whatever you have to show or tell is instantly put right in the face of everyone you know. All of your obsessions are on Facebook...you fave movies, shows, foods, bakeries, bands, etc...they're all represented on there and you will find a million people talking about the things you want to talk about. It's like a ticker tape version of blogland. I love it. I think it'll be a really great addition to this blog and to us as artists. The whole up-to-the-minute aspect is great. I love to see west coast people reacting to what they're seeing on the current episode of American Idol...and since it's in real time...I've seen it 3 hours prior. I found out real quick that I have to be careful not to spoil the current episode of Lost for the west coasters.
If you're not on Facebook already, please do it...and please get in contact with me. Just look up Jenny Heid. Better yet, here's a link to my page. Jeez, I'm now in contact with people I knew in nursery school...for real! I knew them for one year of my life when I was four...and I'm talking to them now like we saw each other yesterday. It's surreal. I look forward to seeing how my personal life, artistic life, and business life can all blend seamlessly.
I've got a fab site to recommend. A customer friend of ours, Tania, is the gal behind Wilibleu. There are so many fab things for your home and lifestyle...a really unique and fun selection! We first met Tania when she ordered one of our totally handpainted Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake pieces, which she had to wait forever for, and we can't thank her enough for her patience! Well, then she came back to us when she saw that we are now offering our Keep Calm piece as ready to frame prints and wooden plaques. We did a wholesale order with her and we're currently at work on filling it...so very soon, our Keep Calm 8 x 10 plaques will be part of Wilibleu. I mentioned that she's got great stuff and I just so happen to have a tangible example for you. Which, by the way, I received from her as a prize through yet another fun thing going on over on Facebook! Besides just being a fab bag...this bag cares.
If you go over to Wilibleu and buy this bag a tree will be planted in one of our national forests. One bag = one tree. That is so awesome. 
And lastly....Portals Zine, issue # 7...the "Home" issue. You can pre-order it now on Etsy! You know, I'd blog about a new Portals coming out no matter what. But in this case I've got the super-plus-bonus incentive to spread the word because me and Aar are featured in it!! It's a really amazing mag. It's not an e-zine. This thing is real deal, professional, full-color, and will show up at your home. There was one issue of Portals that I severely abused...I carried it with me everywhere and spread it open as reference so many times that it probably ended up in tatters...really! It's scheduled to publish on April 15th. I seriously cannot wait to get my hands on it...being in it is just the icing on top!
Alright, we've once again come to the end of an epic. I will seriously try to keep this blog as current as possible...it was sorta a long hard winter that I'm glad to move on from. Me and Aar are serious about Spring...we view it as an artistic rebirth. So I think you'll see lots more blogging...but like I said above...I'm always reachable on Facebook from here on out. Thank so so much again for reading!!! love ya ta bits!
