So the Christmas season has come and gone. It was certainly an experience this year, as this was the first time I spent it away from my family. But I had fun with my boyfriend and his family. First, on Christmas Eve, we went to have dinner at Adriatic Cafe in North Houston with his mom, step-dad, brother, and some family friends. I swear, those garlic rolls are sooo addicting! I had to make sure I didn’t eat too much, lest I get too full before the entree. Then we went back to the family home to open presents. Hilarity ensued with the annual trivia that they do. I got 1 question right, so I got a silly joke gift (all in good fun). I did get a couple of gifts from the family: a $25 Visa gift card, and a set of 6 KISS guitar picks.
Then, on Christmas Day, we drove to see Ted’s father at the Giraud family gathering, which they’ve done for years. There were so many people there; at least 25 people, including us. I got a couple of gifts there: a sterling siver bracelet, and a set of KISS figurines (apparently they’ve been told I like rock ‘n roll, lol). We had lunch there, and spent time meeting with the relatives. It was pretty fun, but a bit overwhelming. I’m an introvert, so having to do all that socializing is very mentally taxing, which leaves me physically exhausted. It’s not easy to explain, but it takes a lot of energy to interact with a great deal of people. But, it was worth it, I think. Ted’s dad was asking when we would stop by to visit him next. We’ll have to make some plans for 2019.
Speaking of 2019, I suppose I still need to sit down and think about what my plans will be for the new year. I have a couple of obvious ones, but there’s maybe one or two others I may also have. Will need to sit down and ponder on this some more.
Anyway, that’s all that I have to report for now. Expect another post on New Year’s Eve, and maybe one on New Year’s Day, if I’m motivated enough to post something then.

Alright, we have now entered the final month of 2018. Gosh, where has the year gone? It’s kind of like you blink and it’s suddenly the 12th month.
But anyway, the month has started out on an interesting note. I’ve been taking care of my boyfriend since last night, as he’s dealing with a case of food poisoning (possibly), and when he was hunched over the toilet, he strained his back so badly when his muscles tense, and has been in quite a lot of pain since. I’ve applied Icy Hot to him numerous times, but it seems to offer little relief. He at least took some Tylenol, but again, the pain is significant. He experienced a fever as well, but it broke overnight, which is good, because I don’t want to know what would have happened if it got too high. Hopefully he feels better and his back stops hurting so much.
I suppose I should be glad I haven’t gotten sick like that. We ate food from the same place, and yet he’s the one who got affected. I mean, I’ve dealt with food upsets in the past, but it didn’t get that bad. Ah well, I guess we won’t be eating at that particular McDonalds again…shame. I think we’ll stick to the McDonalds closer to home (I can walk there in about 10 minutes).
In other, nicer news, I got an Advent Calendar, and will be opening it one day at a time. When my bf and I were at this card shop about a month ago, I saw a Yu-Gi-Oh! themed Advent Calendar, and I asked him nicely to get it for me. The basic gist of this calendar is it has holiday themed cards. Which is pretty cool, I think. I can remember playing the card game with my younger brother back in the early 2000’s. I also used to watch the tv show (Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, and also a bit of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s) I also have seen 2 of the movies in theaters, which was quite entertaining. Anyway, the 1st card I got was this one called Ceremonial Bell. And it’s shiny, which is pretty cool. I can’t wait to see what other cards I get.
On an artistic note, I’m doing my December Sale winter themed commissions. So far, I’ve gotten an order for 3 pics with my reideer characters. I’m surprised that they’re as popular as they are. People especially like my gal Vixen, who is a reindeer/arctice fox hybrid. I guess people like her design. Later in the month, I will be doing my Winter Sale, which will feature my other winter themed characters. I have a polar bear character named Polia, which I derived from a stuffed bear my sister used to have when she was little (and it was also a white bear, so it made perfect sense to me at the time.) Her full name is Aurora Polialis, which is taken from the Aurora Borealis aka the “Northern Lights”. Pretty clever, huh?
Anyway, I hopefully will post a few more times during the month. I need to make sure my writing hasn’t gotten bland.

Here in Tomball with my bf. He is grading papers for his classes, while I occupy myself by watching episodes of the new She-Ra cartoon on Netflix. I have to say, I’m enjoying this so far. It’s definitely giving some inspiration for fan art I may or may not draw later. First on that list is definitely She-Ra herself, and maybe Catra.

I also foresee some people asking me to draw some of these characters for a future commission, which would be totally fine. I just hope folks don’t ask for any complicated outfits though…I do not like drawing the super complex outfits. It takes forever!

Alright, let’s get things started, shall we? My name is Blair. I’m 27 years old. I live in Texas with my boyfriend of 9+ years, in a rental house in Hempstead. along with a dog and two turtles. Strange that I started life in Southern California, living there for 20 years. Moved to South Dakota with my family back in 2011, and lived in Sioux Falls up until early August in 2018, when I made the big decision to move in with my boyfriend from Texas. After 2 days of driving, I arrived in Tomball (a city north of Houston). Then we found a place close to where my bf works at Prairie View A&M University. Kind of nice having a house instead of an apartment. Much more room for me to walk around and stretch my legs. I also made sure to set up a room for my office, where I can sit and work on art commissions.
I started out writing stories when I was 8 years old. Interesting fact about that: I submitted a short story to this contest at my elementary school, but I was disqualified because the staff thought that I had gotten someone else to write it for me, because the vocabulary and wording seemed too “advanced” for a 3rd grader. I was upset at this, certainly, but it did not deter me from wanting to express my creativity and story writing. In middle school, it was a little better, as I actually got an honorable mention from the vice principal for a short story I wrote for another event.

The other big thing I am going to talk about here: art. Since I was about 11 years old, I’ve been drawing. Ever since I saw a friend of mine doodle on some paper, I wanted to do the same. Plus, with all the stories and ideas I had, I wanted to bring the characters to life visually. I started drawing on paper, and when I was 19 years old, I purchased a Wacom tablet, and began the foray into digital art. I still occasionally doodle on paper, but generally prefer drawing on the computer these days. I draw humans, fantasy stuff, anthropormorphic animals (animals with human-like qualities), dragons, cute things, silly things, and some other cool things. I still have much to learn and room to improve, but I feel I improve a little each day, since I try to at least do some art every day, even if it’s just a sketch.
So yeah, that’s basically what I’ll be talking about here. One other thing, that I think I should mention because it’s super important: I have autism. Specifically, I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome when I was around 9 years old. I showed signs earlier than that, but I wasn’t properly diagnosed until later, because boys are more commonly diagnosed with autism than girls are. After putting me through a gamut of tests, the results came back with high-functioning Asperger Syndrome. I’m glad I had a supportive family to help me with getting through the years though, because I’ve heard horrible stories of other people on the spectrum not getting support from their families (or even worse, the parents trying to “cure” their kids with various awful methods). So yeah, some of my posts might be a little “odd”, because I still struggle with some things, specifically socializing and expressing myself. But I’m much better at it now than I used to be when I was younger.