karenika

2013 Sketching – Week 39

My goal for 2013 is to make three sketches a week. If I make more, great. If I don’t, that’s ok. Trying to keep the pressure low while still encouraging myself to draw.

more faces for you:

These are the last of the 31 consecutive ones I made. Apologies for the quiet. It’s been a challenging few weeks here. Nathaniel was sick and then I got sick and then I got sick again and then David got strep. Let’s hope this is the end of it.a

Sketching is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my sketching journey here.

Gratitude Journal – Week 45

Here’s this week’s gratitudes and celebrations:

Before :

it says: choose to keep trying.

and here’s what the page looks like with all the gratitudes and celebrations:

Just another excuse to create art and remember the present that is my life.

Gratitude Journal is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal other details here.Gratitude Journal – Week 39

Weekly Diary – November 23 2013

Here are some photos from this week. Another week very low on photos. I am finally a bit better and now David has strep. It has been a challenging few weeks here. But, alas, that’s how it goes sometimes.:

Nathaniel making cards for his friend Emerson. I love watching how focused he is.

I can’t remember what we loved this week!

and a brief tickle time before the boys were too strong for us.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

SixBySix – Week 47

Before this week’s art here’s the important reminder: Please remember, this is personal and hand-made and thus imperfect. If you want perfect art, do not buy mine. Also one more reminder that these are pretty small. 5.5inches by 5.5inches. That’s about 14×14 centimeters). You will just get the original piece of watercolor paper with my art and signature in the back. No mounting, no frame. I don’t want to misrepresent anything. I will put a paypal button under each (you can pay with credit card or paypal.) the button doesn’t update so you will have to click through to see if it’s sold out. I will try to update them as quickly as I can and remove the button if it’s gone, but just in case. Each piece will be $35. That’s US dollars. If you have questions please leave a comment and I will reply as fast as I can.

With that here’s this week’s art:

it reads: sometimes you have to be silent to hear the whispers of your soul.

sold, thank you

SixBySix is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and other details here.

The Savor Project 2013 – Week 40

More catch up pages:

I love all of these photos so much.

See you next week!

The Savor Project is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and other details here.

A Book a Week – Lean In

I will admit that I resisted reading Lean In for a long time.

I had a lot of my own ideas about the topic. I’d read a lot of articles about Sheryl and I wasn’t sure how much the book could add to what I had already listened to in her TED talk.

But I finally did read it and I am so glad I did.

I really really liked this book. I have no inspiration to be a CEO, CFO, CTO or C-anything. I really like working but I am not sure how much I like the corporate world and a lot of the politics that is invariably a part of that world. While it’s still a struggle, my current balance seems the closest thing to ideal I have at this moment. And I’ve never really thought of myself as a feminist in any way.

I’ve been good at “male-dominated” subjects my whole life. As early as third grade, I went head to head with a boy in my class for which one of us could do math faster. (I won by the way.) I was never told that, as a woman, I wasn’t supposed to be good at math. It truly never occurred to me to question my love of math, computers or anything else. Even though my mom didn’t encourage me to go to college specifically, she and my dad supported me a 1000% and helped me make all my dreams true. Not once along the way did I hear that I was a girl and that I shouldn’t aim to go to the US or study computers or anything along those lines. I personally never felt like being a woman stood in the way of my choices, career and life.

And yet.

Reading this book, I could easily see that I stood in my own way many, many times.

This is not to say that I would have done much differently but I definitely agree with a lot of what’s outlined in this book and it gave me a lot of food for thought. I am still processing much of it.

It is also well-written and easy to read. I recommend it.

2013 Sketching – Week 38

My goal for 2013 is to make three sketches a week. If I make more, great. If I don’t, that’s ok. Trying to keep the pressure low while still encouraging myself to draw.

more faces for you:

that’s it for this week. i have given myself permission to do just one. so be it.

Sketching is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my sketching journey here.

Gratitude Journal – Week 44

Here’s this week’s gratitudes and celebrations:

Before :

it says: life is magnificent.

and here’s what the page looks like with all the gratitudes and celebrations:

Just another excuse to create art and remember the present that is my life.

Gratitude Journal is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal other details here.Gratitude Journal – Week 39

Weekly Diary – November 16 2013

Here are some photos from this week. I’ve been sick for two weeks so this week is very light on photos and the light here was too low all week so our family photos are quite terrible to boot. But, alas, that’s how it goes sometimes.:

Nathaniel was being Nathaniel this week. Jake loved how close his little eyes are in these glasses.

this week, we loved Seven Nation Army.

And Green Day.

and tickle time.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

SixBySix – Week 46

With that here’s this week’s art:

it reads: time is a limited resource, spend yours wisely.

sold thank you

SixBySix is a weekly project for 2013. You can see a detailed post on my goal and other details here.

The Savor Project 2013 – Week 39

Even though I hadn’t posted, I have been making the savor pages. Sorry about falling behind on posting them. I’ve been sick for two weeks straight now and I think everything is just piling up.