25 Random things about me....

So if you're on Facebook, you may have seen this circulating around. It's meant to tell people a little bit about yourself...things that people probably don't know about you. I thought it might be a good idea to put my 25 things here on my blog. You may not be interested, and if not, feel free to skip it. If you are interested, read on:

1. I don't have a lot of patience and get bored easily. On the flip side, give me a tedious activity and I get lost in it. Go figure!

2. I hate my natural hair colour. It's a mousy dark blonde. Thankfully I can get highlights every couple of months.

3. I LOVE animals! I would have a house full of them if I could. As it stands now, I have 3 cats.

4. I really want to quit my job and become a full time artist...but only if I can make lots of money off of each piece, so that I don't have to work that often!

5. I really want to move somewhere warm, but I don't want to be too far away from my family.

6. I love to travel. I have been to 16 countries on 5 continents. I want to see as much of the world as I can in my lifetime.

7. I used to work in a meat packing plant as a quality control technician, and I have never hated a job so much. But two really good things came from my working there: I quit to travel for a year (see #8) and it gave me the incentive to go back to school (see #9).

8. At age 23, I backpacked around Australia and New Zealand for a year...by myself. It was the best thing that I have ever done.

9. I graduated from university in 1997 with a BSc in Biology, then went back to school 4 years later to study Nuclear Medicine, graduating when I was 28. I have been working as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist for 5 years.

10. I used to be a neat freak up until university, but now I just can't seem to tackle the smallest pile of clothes lying on the floor.

11. I used to be extremely shy, but travelling for a year by myself cured me of that.

12. All through grade school I had the same wonderful group of friends, but I felt I relied on them too much because I was so shy. So I decided to go to a university where I knew no one so I could make new friends on my own.

13. I went to the University of Prince Edward Island because of the above reason, and also because I had wanted to be a vet my whole life. But I changed my mind after my first year, probably because of the prospect of going to school for 8 straight years, or maybe because I didn't think I had it in me. To this day, I regret not trying and as it turns out, I ended up going to school for 6 years.

14. I love soccer and play on a women's team in Fredericton.

15. I really want to be able to speak French better, but I am shy about speaking it with French people.

16. I took organ lessons for 7 years and still like to play every once in a while when I visit home. I also played the flute for 3 years in school. I've always wanted to play the violin, but don't want to put the time in to learn.

17. I always have to be doing something with my hands. It is impossible for me to keep them still, try as I might.

18. If a baby and puppy where put in front of me, I'd go to the puppy every time.

19. I sneeze once when I eat Excel Polar Ice gum, fudgy chocolate or strong cough syrup.

20. I am always really keen to try a new hobby, but I very quickly get bored, leaving things half done. Drawing has been the only hobby that has held my interest.

21. I was stung on my ankle by a stinging tree in Australia. [Description: Contact with the leaves causes the hollow silica-tipped hairs to penetrate the skin and deliver a potent toxin. The sting causes a painful stinging sensation which can last for days or even months and the injured area becomes covered with small red spots joining together to form a red, swollen mass. The sting is known to have killed one human, and it can also kill dogs and horses]....I was ok, but the pain and tingling stayed with me for about 6 months.

22. I almost stepped on a (wild) python once.

23. I lived in a house with no outside walls for a week in the rainforest. Every morning I would wake up with bat poo on my book, and a part of me would be swollen. There were ants in the peanut butter, I showered in a tool shed, peed on the ground just outside of my room at night (maybe a bit too much info there!?) and bats would fly over our heads as we ate at the dinner table. It was amazing!

24. I kind of want to own sheep instead of a lawn mower.

25. I've been inside a pyramid, the Cistine Chapel, the Louvre, the Roman Colosseum and up the Eiffel Tower; I walked around Ayers Rock, snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef, climbed a glacier and swam with dolphins in New Zealand, rode in a gondola in Venice and walked the Great Wall of China.

So if you're still reading, now you know a little bit more about me!

Shocking Artwork!

I am a member of GreenNexxus, which is an environmental, social networking site. I received one of their newsletters today and one of the articles really shocked me. Below is the write-up from the newsletter. Click on "Read More" to see the artwork.

Oscar the Grouch Art: Not everything is as it Seems
Rarely do we come across pictures that make us go "Wow". Even more rarely do we come across information that prompts us to change the way we live our lives. We came across this PowerPoint presentation a few days ago and the message it brings concerning garbage hits home. Look closely at the images, once you discover the origins of the materials it leaves you with your mouth open silently miming the word "Wow". Read More. (you will be taken to the GreenNexxus site. Click on "Power Point" to see the artwork).

Unbelievable!!

Simon - Stage 4

"Simon"

8 x 10 Coloured Pencil

Work in Progress

Yet another update of Simon's portrait. I'm really enjoying this one. Last night I kind of lost myself in it and the time flew by! Before I knew it, it was bedtime! I'm still liking the new technique too. Stay tuned for more!

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow or subscribe to my blog.

Simon - Stage 3

New website design for 2009

I've launched my newly designed website! It's at the same address, it just has a different look so please check it out! I'm still fixing problems here and there, but hopefully I'll have the kinks ironed out soon. If you see anything that doesn't look right, links that go to the wrong place, or anything else out of the ordinary, please let me know. Thanks for looking!