Brooke: Sorry I’ve been gone for a month! I’ll post a life update soon!
Also Brooke: *Disappears for another month*
Ahem….so anyways! Thanks for sticking with me through this busy summer. I honestly did not expect it to be as eventful as it turned out (in a good way of course). But as a result, my once somewhat established blogging schedule is a little off-kilter. Which for the time being I’m somewhat alright with seeing as how I think I can get it back on track as I start back to college in the coming weeks (it’s much sooner than ever thought. Time flies!). But, regardless, I still miss posting regularly and at least wanted to do a quick life update for all 3 of my blog readers (perhaps I’m being a bit generous).
As many (3) of you are probably aware, the majority of my time has been devoted to my summer internship which has been going swimmingly as they say. I enjoy the work, albeit pretty exhausting work. I do a lot of field research and data gathering so I’m out in the sun for about 30+ hours a week and with the heat wave we’ve had this summer, I’ve found myself rather drained at the end of the day after sweating my brains out. But it’s definitely not all bad. In fact, I’ve quote enjoyed the experience and the variety in tasks that I get to do at work.
And, very honestly, a lot of my exhaustion may simply be in part that this is my first consistently full-time job. I’ve worked full time hours before at other places prior to this, but not on a regular basis. Really I think a lot of my tired can be contributed to everyone’s favorite words: change and adjustment.
Ugh. Sorry to give you cold-chills like that.
Anyway, as I alluded to in the earlier paragraphs of this post, I will be starting back to school however. I am actually looking forward to this semester as my schedule looks a little lighter class-wise so I’m hoping to squeeze in some nice hobby time somewhere in there. At this moment I have a masterlist of posts that I’ve wanted to write these past months that I simply haven’t gotten to so I am delighted at the thought of slowly making my way through said list. I’ve also got a butt-load of digital art that I want to share with you guys as well!
Basically, don’t worry friends! I am not, in fact, dead. Good things are coming!
And I think that will wrap this post up for now! How has your summer been? Despite being on busier side this summer, I rarely find myself lacking time to read comment!
Hey, everyone! Thank goodness it’s the weekend. I started a new job recently as I’m sure some of you have heard about via a blog post of me basically saying “Haha I’m tired because of work so sorry but there will be less posts hahaha”.
But it’s Saturday! And this post has been something I’ve wanted to share and talk about for a week or two now but just haven’t found the time to really MAKE it. Honestly, this post isn’t quite like a normal one for me. I usually splash my blog with writing related posts, a few personal posts, and maybe a FEW art posts here and there but writing seems to be my real bread and butter. I haven’t really had any inspo for writing prompts or tips though so HERE WE ARE.
Wow, that’s a lot of backstory without any real context to the specifics of what I’m talking about. Apologies. Getting to the point is not always my strength. What was I talking about again?
Oh yeah!
I found an interesting though slightly obscure art app that I wanted to talk about with ya’ll. It’s called Wombo Dream. It is an AI art tool that generates pieces based off of your “prompts” which tend to consist of a few keywords and phrases. It’s a fascinating tool and I’ve played with it on and off for a few weeks now. I think the best way to really explain this AI and how it works is to share with you some of the results I got while using it as well as the prompts I used.
The prompt for the image above was “Circus Tent” and, as you can see, the results are pretty trippy yet also recognizable. Let’s try another!
The prompt for this guy was “cozy coffee shop”. You can definitely see it, even if not everything in the picture is completely identifiable.
The prompt for this one was “Rivendell” which is a location from Lord of the Rings. I can recognize this one really well, especially with that waterfall in the background.
The Prompt for this one was “Emerald Castle”. You can really see the AI doing its best here to create a structure that resembles as such.
You might be able to tell the prompt for this one already, but in case this structure doesn’t seem at all familiar to you, the prompt that I used was “Tardis Castle.” As in, the Tardis from Doctor Who.
This one is definitely a little vague but hopefully it seems recognizable when I tell you the prompt. The prompt was “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”. I can see them twirling in a group here, their skirts swirling round them creating such an appealing composition for the image. It’s crazy to think that an AI generated this!
I think you get the idea now so I’m going to stop explaining the prompts and just show you a little showcase of other beautiful images I got from using this tool. Let me know in the comments if you recognize any of them!
I know this was sort of an odd post but hopefully you found yourself just as fascinated as I was upon finding out about this app. Just the idea that a AI tool could create things that look so familiar has such neat implications. Will there be a time when this AI is perfected so well that It will be hard to tell the difference between AI art and human art? I don’t know but until then, I definitely encourage you to check out this art tool. Not only is it fun to play around with, but it might be good for art inspiration or even writing inspiration for when you have a fictional place but aren’t sure how to exactly describe it.
Oke doke! I think that’s about it! Thanks for sitting through my rambling review of an obscure art app.
Just wanted to bring y’all a quick life update as it relates to my blog posts. 😅😂
I started a new job (my first full time job/internship position) which has been going great but it means I’m going to slow down a little bit on posts at least until I’m more well adjusted. 😂 As you can probably tell from the haphazard emojis, I’m a little tired. 😂 The job is great, I’m just having to adjust to a new sleep schedule.😂😂😂😭
Posts may appear more frequently on the weekends now but I’m not entirely sure yet.😂 Y’all know how it is. 😂
And here we have it folks! The sequel that everyone saw coming because clearly I cannot cram all my childhood obsessions into one singular post! (There were far too many.) I didn’t know I had so many phases that I grew through but the more I thought about it, the more obsessions I found myself recalling. A red flag of mine? Or perhaps a loveable quirk? Who knows! We don’t have time to unpack now as I need to get on with ranking my various childhood obsessions, part two!
1. Pirates
This was a brief one but it still shows itself even to this day through my love of white, puffy sleeved shirts. Despite this phase not lasting incredibly long, I still find it entirely understandable. The hats. The cutlasses. The gold. The SHIPS. THE FREAKING SHIPS. I remember spending way too much of my spare time sketching pirate ship designs because of this.
I don’t think this obsession was spawned by one singular franchise or piece of media though Pirates of the Caribbean and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader probably aided this fantasy. To this day if someone told me I could make a living by sailing the high seas, wearing magnificent hats, sword fighting, (but not getting scurvy) I would. Alas, I think my fantasies are somewhat unrealistic however that has never stopped me!
Someday I wish to dedicate an entire post to the appeal of pirate costume-ry and fashion however, this is not that day. Instead, have a mood board.
2. Rise of the Guardians
Another brief but still instrumental obsession of my former high school years. This movie was integral for sparking my passion for animation and animated movies. Not to the degree of wanting to make a career by working in such a field, however I did enjoy spending my days design Guardian OC’s because they were just too much fun to create. The whole concept of the movie was ripe pickings for the young imagination. The characters were bright and interesting, the story compelling but never lacking an air of mystery. It was a bit of a tragedy when I found out later in life that this movie had been a box-office failure for Dreamworks, practically ensuring that it would never release a sequel. *weeps*
However, despite the fact that the movie did not make a lot of money at the box office, I still believe it is well-worth a watch and it remains to have, I believe, some of the most shockingly beautiful CGI animation that I have ever seen to date. High school me had good taste.
3. Avatar the Last Airbender
Gosh, I love this show. And yes, it still holds up, even to this day. Even as an 11 year old girl, I could appreciate the amazing and surprisingly mature writing in this show. The jokes almost always landed, the characters felt grounded and real, and I probably don’t have to tell you that it contains one of the most well executed character arcs I have ever seen executed on screen. If you grew up in the 2000’s, you probably have heard people sing this show’s praises. Heck, you might have even heard people sing them recently. It’s a darn good show. However, I was never really a big fan of the sequel show, Legend of Korra. That was a little…disappointing. (It’s hard to follow up greatness you know?)
I still love this show. Even now I like mentally classifying my friends into groups .
“oh they’d totally be a firebender. And so and so gives water bender vibes. And so and so seems like an earthbender and…”
4. Libraries
Okay, hear me out. When I was like, 9, I was convinced my family needed to convert the loft of our barn into a library. My parents, for some strange reason, didn’t agree with me. So I set about doing it myself. I began to author books (stories where the papers were stapled together) and scrolls to fill my “new” library and arranging them neatly into boxes. My heart was all but broken when I found out the paper attracted bugs (specifically spiders) and my dreams of a giant library in the loft of our hay barn were crushed.
This little scheme of mine was a symptom of an obsession that I think a lot of us have. This obsession shows itself when we walk into a library (the older, the better), and want to squeal at the sheer size of it. This is the part of us that loves marble floors and old architecture and the smell of old paper. This is also the part of us that gets strangely angry when we remember that the library of Alexandria was burnt to the ground.
Did I lose anybody? I hope I’m not alone but something tells me I’m not.
5. Wizards
Did you ever wish you could just start fires with your mind? Or flip a light switch from across the room? Or make something levitate for no real reason? Well you know what would fix these very common problems? MAGIC.
Ladies and gents, I have this theory that like 75% of the population just wants to be wizards and I am one of those people. This desire to be a wizard shows itself in different ways. A Harry Potter phase. A time in your life where you took horoscopes way too seriously. Or even a super hero phase (because after all, aren’t super heroes just specialized wizards in leather suits?). Or trying to use the force to shut a door from across the room.
We all just wanna be wizards, don’t we? I think it’s time we face it. Who doesn’t love starry patterns, pointy hats, cloaks, shiny and potentially magical rocks (THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ITS OWN PHASE. WHY AM I LIKE THIS), wands, staffs, towards away from everybody you hate… the superior lifestyle, clearly.
And yeah. I think that’ll do it. I really don’t know how to wrap up with post except for simply stating that your childhood self is nearly always right. Magic is still cool. Dragons are still the best. Webkinz is still fun. Pirate hats still look like the absolute bomb. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Life is too short not to believe in these things anymore. Hmm… I think my pal C.S. Lewis had a quote for that actually…
“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
C.S. Lewis
Good ‘ol Lewis. He has a quote for everything.
And that’s it! Have a wonderful day and stay young my friends!
Hello, Lovelies! Hope everyone is doing well this fine day!
I just wanted to jump on here real quick and share my latest writing related coding project. I present to you: “Writing Prompts for the squad”
It’s a fun little writing generator where you type in character names and generate a writing prompt. I put a lot of my friends names into the generator and came up with a lot of fun one-shot ideas. I still want to add more prompts but I definitely encourage you to check it out if that sounds like you’re thing. Click here to navigate to it if you’re interested!
The title tells it all. I’m gonna do this on a 1-10 scale. This is 100% a whim but I figured it make a fun post. I am such a huge sucker for nostalgia and, when going through this list, I found that I still have a very warm place in my heart for all these things. For context, I was born in 2002 and, consequently, was raised in this weird era where I wasn’t quiiiite a 90’s kid but I still, largely, enjoyed 90’s kids trends. It’s a weird mix.
1. Horses
Or, more specifically, magical ones. I wasn’t quite a weird horse girl but I still greatly enjoyed wasting hours playing a horse themed trading card game called “Bella Sara”. Anyone remember that? The site has long since shut down but I ADORED this game and still have some of the trading cards to this day.
My horse love grew when I eventually came to own one. I live on a farm and when I was about 10 or so, my parents bought me and my sister a few horses. This hobby was something I greatly enjoyed however my favorite horse, Abby, died under not so unpleasant circumstances (she was an older horse and had some health problems as a result). This didn’t entirely ruin my love of horses but I think my horse phase really diminished after that.
I didn’t mean to dampen the mood….sorry. Here’s a Bella Sara mood board to lighten it!
But let’s not forget the rating! I’d still give this childhood obsession a 8/10 despite the traumatic horse death though that does bring it down a point.
2. Webkinz
Okay, full disclosure, I definitely have Webkinz installed on my laptop. It’s like the only other thing I use it for besides writing and college homework. This game has stood the test of time. It’s so much fun to play with my virtual pets and still enjoy a sweet air of nostalgia. The plush pets that this company sold were super cute too and I still have a lot of mine from my former years. Spoiler alert, this one is going to get a near perfect rating because I STILL enjoy it to this day. This obsession was entirely understandable. Webkinz is so charming, even now, years down the road!
This obsession obviously gets a 10/10 rating. Go play Webkinz right now, I dare you.
3. Fairies
Disney fairies especially. This obsession began when I got “The Tinkerbell Movie” for Christmas. These movies were so magical, my grade school self couldn’t help but admire them. I instantly wished I was a fairy and went about collecting tiny little fairy figurines. I would arrange these and play with them in my own little “Pixie Hollow” for hours on end. I still have this figurines in my closet, carefully tucked away as they are some of my most valuable possesions.
And since it seems to be an ongoing theme that these obsessions would be further kindled by online games, this obsession was no different. There was a little Disney Fairy themed MMO called Disney Fairies where you could create your own fairy, pick your talent, fly around and play games, and decorate your own house. It was an absolute tragedy when the site eventually shut down.
This obsession might be one of my favorites even if it hasn’t exactly stood the test of time as the franchise has been winding down the past couple of years. They stopped making movies and with the shut down of the website, I find it an awful shame that all that is left of this joy of mine are my little figurines which are definitely not manufactured anymore.
9/10. It was gone way too soon. You will be missed Disney Fairies.
4. The Chronicles of Narnia
Ahhhh… such a classic. I loved these books. Though I’d be lying if I told you the books were my introduction to “The Chronicles of Narnia”. It was but the Disney Movie “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” that captured my 7 year old heart. I wanted to be Lucy soooo badly. I wanted to stumble into a wardrobe and find a magical world where animals could talk. I wanted to fight in battles and go exploring and eat Turkish Delight (even though in real life, it’s actually not that good? The Narnian stuff must be something different because I swear it looked delicious in this movie).
It was such a shame when they stopped making the Narnia Movies. Despite not exactly being true to the books, I GREATLY enjoyed Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader though I was much older when these movies came out. Though if I’m being entirely honest, at age 20, I still want to find a magical world in a closet.
Maybe someday I’ll dedicate a whole post to these movies. They really deserve it. But, until then, I’ll just have to leave this childhood obsession with the rating of 10/10. Still a classic. Read the books. Watch the movies. Cry about your childhood lost.
5. DRAGONS
Alright, so originally that was going to be where I was going to end this post. But then I recalled a memory. A deep memory….
DRAGONS.
This was a relatively shorter phase than any of the others listed but it definitely still existed. I can’t exactly tell you how this obsession started but I think it was definitely punctuated by the books in the series called “The Dragon Codices”. Overall, this phase consisted of me wanting to find a dragon egg, hatch it, and ride it around How to Train your Dragon Style. I also drew a lot of dragon pictures. I mean, a lot.
I would rank this phase a solid 7/10. It’s lower than the others because it was so short-lived but I still enjoyed the world of dragons greatly. And I definitely wouldn’t say “no” to any merchant who offered my a dragon’s egg.
And there! I think we’ve covered the bulk of my childhood obsessions… *thinks for 10 seconds more* okay, that’s a lie. We still haven’t covered my Lord of the Rings phase or my Wizard phase (WIZARD phase. NOT Harry Potter, I must iterate). And there was my mini phase where I made Rise of the Guardian OC’s… ugh, cringe. Okay, I was lying. We’re not done. But I need to go eat supper so I think that will do it for today. Definitely be warned though… a part 2 may be in the future…. beware traveler. Beware.
Hello my lovely readers! Hope you had a wonderful Easter!
It has come to my attention that it has been a hot minute since I’ve done a fun personal post. And it came to me that it might be fun to do a little personal style overview. I enjoy cute clothes and thrifting so this post is right up my alley. So, enjoy this post as I show you the various aspects of my personal tastes in fashion.
School
First off, one of the most important things to me when it comes to clothes is that they’re comfy. I am a college student who spends a lot of time on campus and I refuse to spend that time being itchy or uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the sheer amount that I’m on campus can get in the way of some of the outfits I wish I would wear. Sure, I love the way heels look in this skirt but do I want to tromp around in them for SIX HOURS??? I think not. (Four hours is my limit).
As a result, most of my school outfits consists of a comfy sweater, some jeans and converse. Oh, and lots of cardigans. If I feel real cute I may wear a skirt instead of jeans. And if its a little too hot to wear a full on sweater, I’ll wear a classy, collared button up.
Comfy
Yes, I wear matching pajama sets. They make me happy.
Out to Coffee
We can get a little more fun a creative here. I have a few artsy outfits, a few “edgier” ones (for lack of a better term), plus a few “cottage core” style ones and I adore them all. Really its just a little bit of everything. As much as I wish I could stick to one style I find myself unable to do so as I enjoy them all so very much. I tend to lean into the artsier side of things more than anything but even that’s not a set rule. I wear a lot of blue and black. But again, this isn’t a set rule either.
What I Wish I Wore
Not gonna lie, I wish I had the money to really lean into the artsy, van gogh-esque aesthetic but at the end of the day, I wonder if even if I did, would I really stick to it? Not gonna lie, probably not.
And… yeah! That concludes my fashion overview! Feel free to leave your thoughts down below? What’s your taste in clothing?
Sorry I haven’t been posting as regularly. It’s unfortunately the same culprit as it usually is: college. But I still wanted to share some fun things that have been going on. In this post specifically, I just wanted to show off a few cute jewelry charms I just got in for my etsy shop. Let me know which is your favorite in the comments down below. I’m really loving the dragon charms right now.
Low Expectations 