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| Me on my 34th birthday! I drank whiskey, got the meat sweats and went to bed at a reasonable time! |
Haha, WHOOPS. Looks like time got away from me and I haven't updated my
blog in a while. Fortunately you guys didn't miss too much excitement-
my last show of the year was NYCC and after that I kinda crashed for a
month after some supreme burnout, so there hasn't been much new artwork,
either. There were a few birthdays, Halloween and of course the
holidays to enjoy, and strangely enough I found myself just busy enough to just go ahead and live life for a little bit. I know, WEIRD.
Halloween! Actually going out this year, I just grabbed stuff out of my closet to be a waitress. My
wardrobe has actually become ridiculous enough to have several costume
options right at my fingertips. I'm kinda proud of this fact.
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| "Smoking or non?" |
I got a NEW TATTOO!! A super-cool, super-badass old school scorpion on my left, inner forearm by Hunter Spanks, one of my favorite tattoo artists. I got it because I'm a Scorpio and I need more tattoos of animals and stuff to balance out all these pinups, haha. So this is number 18! You can check Hunter out at Have Fun Be Lucky in Baltimore, Md. I love it! The colors are crazy and it's so super bold.
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| FEEL MY STING! |
My NYC BFF Christy's twin sister Megan (who I used to work at Hot Topic with back in the dizzay) had a surprise baby shower! It was gothy and Edgar Allen Poe-themed! It was great to see a bunch of my Maryland pals all at once!
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| Obligatory bathroom selfie, of course! |
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| My two bibs I made at the bib-making station! Dracula and Wolfman themed! |
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| Such the little over-achiever. I'm was determined to make those fabric paints my bitch. |
For my birthday present to myself, I *finally* ordered the
What Katie Did Morticia underbust corset I had been eyeing for the better part of the year. And OMG it's AMAAAAAZING. I seriously can't wait to wear this at conventions with my costumes. Who needs dieting? (I kid, I started doing yoga after Thanksgiving...)
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| OOTD from when I went out for a friend's birthday in Dec |
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| I had it SUPER tight laced, but then had to loosen it as I wasn't able to sit forward enough to do my makeup properly. |
REAL QUICK CORSET TALK: I
don't screw with overbusts. They can't contain me, haha. I almost
always prefer underbusts because then I can just wear my normal bras,
plus they push everything up adding to how crazy the waist-hip-bust
ratio looks. If you get a shorter one that doesn't come down far on your
hips I've noticed that the more you sit in it, the more it gets pushed
up under your boobs and you can't get it back down again unless you take
it off and re-lace it. Which can lead to an uncomfortable skewering
feeling as the boning goes up into your underboob, which happened at
NYCC in my Marilyn outfit by the end of the day. The What Katie Did one I
wore however has much lower hips (called 'gored hips'...) which seem to
keep it in place better and actually helps with containing the stomach
bulge that I've noticed in other corsets where the lower gut protrudes
out because it's been squeezed out with no here to go. This
Morticia corset is amazing, I read a lot of reviews (all great) and
could tell when I got it that it was of a higher craftsmanship than most
of my other corsets. It's HEAVY. They're def an investment. I justified
that it would take all the dresses and outfits I already have and make
them look better- you can wear this on top of or underneath clothing
easily. I
wear the Spanx hi-cut underwear underneath it if I'm wearing it under
clothes. I read that it's better for you and the corset to have
something between it and your skin while wearing. Keeps it cleaner,
causes less irritation and friction. And if I'm not wearing pantyhose I'll put some Spanx bike short things on over top to help with chub rub, and it smooths out the seams of the corset if you're wearing it under clothes. I'm actually not as crazy as some of the people who's blogs I've read about corsets. I'm
still amazed my burlesque friends can dance around in them. I can
barely make it up steps without getting gaspy. And going to the bathroom in one
is a skill that takes a year or two to master.
With the holidays queued up, Phil and I started work on our second annual holiday card that we send to friends, family and clients! We started this tradition last year after receiving cards from other cartoonist that were drawing their own cards as well. It's a good little end-of-the-year reminder that we exist to people, even if we only see some folks a few times a year at shows and the like. This years was way more of a seamless collaboration than last year's, with my drawing the pencils for the 20's cartoon Phil and I, and Phil drawing in everything else, including the sled, Loki and the colors. This year we sent out almost 100 cards!
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| Phil and I at a Christmas party |
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| Why are bathrooms always so nicely lit? A question for the ages! |
And then we packed our bags for Christmas family time in both Baltimore for my family and Perryville, Missouri for Phil's family!
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| Hanging with my nephew Fionn, showing off our Pumphrey good looks! |
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| After a long day of traveling, Phil and I made it to Perryville in one piece. |
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| Awesome X-Mas present from my in-laws- RAINBOW KNIVES OMG! |
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| Balsman kids-and-spouses dinner! |
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| Ladies of House Balsman |
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| My niece actually took an interest in my process of making Shrink plastic magnets. I'm not a kid person, but this was pretty fun. |
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| New Years! Back home, drinking tea and watching Deadwood. Aaaaahhhhh.... ^___^ |
