Changes

In an attempt to unify all of my social media under one name, and to minimize the amount of social media accounts I have, I have decided to change the name of this blog.

Although I will still be posting our Life at 314 posts, I will be using this blog for my business. I am excited for this new venture, and all of the opportunities it has already brought to me and my family.

I have also updated all of my pages above, and they will lead you to everything I use, all with my new username: @bearandsper

Thank you for your support, everyone. It means more than you know.

Valentine

I don't know about you, but I've never really been a huge fan of Valentine's day. I always complained, sighed, groaned, and rolled my eyes when February rolled around.

Of course, that was before I met Tay. Our first "vday" together was nothing memorable. (I was 2 months pregnant and he was in school and working...I literally don't remember it.) Our second vday was spent apart, since he was in tech school in California while Bear and I were in South Carolina. From 3,000 miles away, Tay sent me the BIGGEST teddy bear I've ever seen, and I got super dressed up for myself. Bear and I went out shopping and got me some Starbucks, beginning a cute little tradition.

The next year was spent apart again, this time with Tay deployed. Bear and I (4 months pregnant this time) spent the day shopping and drinking Starbucks (he got hot cocoa) and had pizza for dinner. I got flowers from Tay that made me a hormonal mess.

Last year was nothing special. I took the boys for Starbucks/hot cocoa and shopping, and we ordered a pizza. (Or went out, I can't remember. Pizza was definitely involved.) Tay worked, but was home that night. It was a normal night. (I will admit I was upset that I didn't get a gift. For as much as I complain, it had become expected and anticipated.)

Vday this year has been awesome. As per tradition, I took the boys out for coffee and cocoa (not Starbucks this year because there is not a drive through in Oceanside) and shopping. I got a gorgeous necklace this year from Tay, as well as an amazing surprise when I got home. I got to Skype with him for a bit, too. 

I still dislike how commercial everything about vday is, and how much it's pushed. But I love having three amazing guys in my life to celebrate it with in our own unique ways.

(And, yes, I do get Tay something every year. He always gets a card and candy and something obnoxiously covered in glitter, as well as cheesy and slightly inappropriate vday cards on his facebook page. This year I got us matching tags for his keychain/my necklace.)

(Both my necklace and the tags are from Spiffing Jewelry.)

Art and Love

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook, then you might have seen that I've opened a shop to sell my paintings.

Thanks to Annie of Spiffing Jewelry, I have a decent (i.e GORGEOUS) banner, support, and advice. Annie has run her own successful business for over 5 years, and is such an amazing friend. 

I've dabbled in trying to run my own business before, and didn't really get anywhere. I now realize that, like anything in life, you have to give it your all, every single day, to make it work. That's what I'm doing with this.

I love art. Painting, photography, sculpting...these were my favorite classes in school. My art teacher inspired me to go to school for art, and that's what I'm doing now. I'm working on becoming an art teacher, and I hope I can inspire another student the way I was.

But I have a long way to go before I get there. Even so, I still want a way to share my passion with the world. That's where my shop comes in.

I love beautiful, unique works of art, and that's exactly what I offer. I paint each and every single piece of art by hand. I paint what I love, which includes geekery. I'm inspired by shows, movies, comics, books, and places I love or want to visit. The shop itself is named after my babies, two of the most important things in the world to me.

I hope everyone takes a moment to visit my shop, just to browse or buy or share. It would mean the world to me.

I've already gotten some attention on Twitter when an actor from one of my favorite shows (Battlestar Galactica) retweeted and commented on one of my paintings.

Needless to say, I freaked out a little bit.

Thank you all for everything.

Bear and Sper

#studentlife

As most of you know, I've started school! I'm taking online courses and working towards my Associates in Art & Humanities. After that, I hope to get my Bachelors in Education, and become an art teacher.

I've just got to say: textbooks are ridiculously expensive. Just to RENT 2 books cost me over $100 (special thanks to my mother-in-law for renting the third one). And that was the cheapest I found them. I had several people suggest different places, and I looked and compared prices. I just don't understand it.

But so far, I'm loving my classes. Right now I'm taking Art History, Art Appreciation, and Humanities Through the Arts. They are mostly self-paced classes with suggested dates to do things like quizzes and lesson reviews. Which is good, because I couldn't get my books for almost two weeks after classes started.

I wish I could have taken an actual art class (painting, drawing, sculpting, et cetera), but those had to be done in person, and I just don't have the time or gas money (or a babysitter) to fit all that in. 

I'm already trying to figure out what classes I'm going to take next semester. I'm leaning towards another Art History class, as well as an English and a Psychology class. We'll have to see, though.