Some pics of my cat along with a little of this & a little of that!

Meet, Tigger, the computer cat!

I'm one of those cat people, so I thought it was about time to share some pics of my kitty cat, Tigger (aka-"Tiggy"). I have tons of photos of Tiggy, so this is just a small sampling from the Tigger archives. Anyway, my cat is a sweetie and rascal all wrapped into one. He certainly has some serious sassy streaks in him, but also some adorable and sweet qualities. Any cat lover's out there?

Tigger follows me all around the house and sleeps with me each night purring right next to my face. He is a snuggly cat, but for some reason he will randomly bite me in the midst of his purring snuggling moments. And he's like a little kid, so I constantly need to remember if there's anything left out within his reach that he will think is a toy to bat around. Any pet stories to share?

Here's the Tiggy-lounger!

Tomorrow my sister and her kids are coming to visit for a few days. It will be nice to see them again. My sister is working on building her website to sell her jewelry on and she wants me to help her during the week. I'm no techie expert, but I will try my best to help her with it. I've been reading about SEO optimization, to help my own site make it up higher in the rankings, so I will have some new SEO info to share with my sister. My two nieces, Katrina and Kristin, are planning on going to the big American Girl sale while they're visiting this week. They saved up their allowance money just for the American Girl sale. Also, being Pixar fans, we are planning on seeing the movie "Up" this week. Yay!

One more thing, my last Etsy customer, James of Birdy's Knits, told me that his wife, Birdy loved the bee items purchased from my store. She enjoyed them so much that she posted a blog entry about her newly acquired bee items. Stop by her blog to see what she said.

Summer relaxation . . . need a break?

Take time to relax. Ahhhh...!

I've neglected to blog the last few days. This week was just one of those weeks when I needed to take a break from the normal routine and step back from the computer. Ever have one of those times? Since I was not on the computer as frequently this week, it gave me time to write some letters to friends. Yes, the good ol' fashioned hand-written letter! I'm still a fan of a handwritten message vs. a computer print-out. For quite some time I've abandoned the hand-written letter habit that I used to do regularly. It was nice to look through my collection of greeting cards and pick out a card for each of my friends that I decided to send a message to.

And speaking of greeting cards, I want to find some greeting card companies to send my artwork to. That's always been a dream of mine since I was a young girl drawing pictures whenever I could. Sometimes I'd grab a TV tray with my drawing materials and draw outside on our grassy lawn. I fondly remember those moments of creativity. I also remember the excitement of having a blank drawing tablet ready for new artwork. It's hard to describe the thrill of a new supply of paper and drawing tools, partly due to the anticipation of new ideas and the act of creating. Over the years, I still hang onto the excitement of obtaining new art supplies. It's so exciting anticipating the new creative opportunities and endeavors awaiting in new supplies. Yay!

The photo above is a watercolor I made of my Lilly the Ladybug character relaxing among the flowers. To see other samples of my watercolors, please stop by my website, Lilly Bug Studio.

Sea creatures swimming overhead...Wow!!!

Stingrays, Sawfish, Sharks, Starfish, Jellyfish and many other sea creatures were a site to see at the underground aquarium at the Mall of America. Wow!!! A wonderful, amazing and relaxing visit. :-)

It was so awesome to walk through the tunnel at the aquarium and see the sea creatures swimming above and around us. It was so relaxing to watch them glide through the water. I want a sea tunnel in my house, possilbly where I work on my artwork. Wouldn't that be an inspirational view and surroundings. Ahhh!!!

Look at these beautiful creatures swim, swim, swim!

Look at the beautiful blue.

Watch out, Sawfish above!

Heads up, Shark sighting!!! Look at that mouth filled with sharp teeth!

And here's a wonderful stingray gliding through the water. I can't decide which sea creature is the most intriguing. Two of my faves from the "intrigue" category are the stingray and the seahorse.

Oh, did I say "seahorse"? I just had to add one more pic of a seahorse.

Geesh, this alligator had quite the stinging glare in his eye. Watch out! Not a very friendly, welcoming creature. I was very appreciative of the glass between us.

And Piranhas, they sure have some pretty sparkle on their bodies despite the bad rep they have.

What lovely starfish! :-)

And lookee here, I found Nemo! I love that movie.

And here's another captivating creature, the jellyfish!

Okay, this one isn't as aesthetically pleasing, but still an interesting creature nonetheless.

Giant seahorse outside of the aquarium entrance at the Mall of America.

Okay, being a Lego lover, I had to add one last pic of a sea themed Lego display at the Legoland store in the Mall of America. Well, I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the sites I saw during our mini-trip to Minneapolis. Just imagine if we stayed there longer, I'd probably have enough blog material for the entire year.

To view my seahorse pics from the aquarium click here. They are such amazing critters!

To view pics of Legoland and other Mall of America pics, click here.