Just Me, Marianne

2011-06-28T20:27:00.001-07:00

Busy as a bee lately. Have another early morning tomorrow. Have I every mentioned how much I love mornings???

2011-06-25T19:54:00.001-07:00

Gave the puggers a bath tonight. In the sink as i have no bathtub. Worked ok, i underestimated his size a bit. Hung over each side a bit,lol.

2011-06-24T13:46:00.001-07:00

Made the most yummy homemade mac n cheese for dinner and bbq pork sammies.

Marianne Gilliand Visual Artist and Graphic Designer

2011-03-13T13:40:00.001-07:00

My Official Website

Features new products and holiday specials as well as sales alerts ect.

Marianne Gilliand Visual Artist and Graphic Designer

Fav Shows Loud Ads Tune Out

2010-06-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ya know, I have found I like buying my fav shows on itunes. For the paltry sum of $1.99 I can enjoy them without the obnoxiously loud commercials.

When viewing normal tv programming I find myself using the MUTE button at almost every break. Would be wonderful if the ad companies realized interesting content beats out loud volumes and ringing phones/doorbells/repetitive catch phrases any day. Think about the successful ad campaigns such as the Geico gecko and cavemen. Funny, witty and very memorable.

On the other end of the spectrum you have that horribly loud and catch phrase repeating ad by that topical pain relieving headache stick whose name escapes me at the moment. I hated those commercials so much I swore to never purchase it even if it worked.

A Happy Ending...

2010-04-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

Thought I would pass on a good heart warming story. They are so rare these days.

We were out in the back yard a few weeks ago and we saw a parrot on our fence, which looked much like our parrot. We walked over and it hopped up on our finger and in the house we went.

The bird was extremely well handled so we could tell someone had loved it very much and was likely missing them very much also.

Not really knowing what to do, we decided to post fliers on the neighborhood mailboxes in-case the owner lived close to us. Birds can fly quite a long distance so the possibilities were enormous where this little parrot had come from.

It wasn't hungry so I suspected it had not been out in the wild very long.

Within hours we had a response to the flier, and the next day the sweet little bird was back home with her owner who lives a block away.

The owner was a very nice woman. She was so happy to see her feathered friend that we all got misty eyed. As we were leaving she slipped me a thank you card. She had written a wonderful message thanking me for going out of my way to return the parrot to her rightful owner and not keeping her even knowing how valuable she was. And for also taking such good care of her. I am a bird owner too and had everything needed including the know how. She included a gift card from a pet store.

Last night I used the generous gift card to buy toys and treats for our own bird and dog.

But to be honest the best reward was helping someone who needed it and having that person be kind in return. There are good people left out there, they do still exist!

Who we are?

2010-04-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

I often wonder how much of our being is created by our upbringing and how much is our personal nature. For instance I do not have the same belief system as my family, nor the same political affiliations. Many points of difference in what I think and feel about world issues ect. Creation vs Fate I guess. Probably a mix of both. Just a thought.

Blogging: Learning to Love it...

2009-07-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a long journey for me to make friends with blogging on a regular basis. Being an artist I consider myself to be more of a visual person. Would rather say it with an artwork than express it via text.
However, it is a vital part of promoting my products which I sell my artwork on. It's taken me over a year now to really get into it. Thanks to some tips and hints I have picked up it's getting easier for me to blog more efficiently.

I like to use blogger, livejournal,wordpress and tumblr blogs. Recently Posterous has come along and they have lot's of promise!

New Halloween Website

2009-07-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

Been working on a new Halloween website. I love Halloween so it is a natural fit for me. Been enjoying getting back into html and css again. Was pretty rusty but am finding my way. Using xara extreme 5 which is a WYSISYG editor so it's kinda cheating,lol. I do some old school coding in notepad just to make sure I don't get too dependant on an app.

Have set up a recipe,link,free animation pages. A blog and a twitter for the site. Need to do the store pages and will be adding some more freebie stuff later on.

Should set up a facebook page for it also, I did one for Mega Kawaii a while ago but have forgotten how already,lol. Been meaning to add some things to that site also befor google starts ignoring me.

Hmmm, just need about 2 more of me to get all the business work done!
Halloween Party Site

My Brain...on RSS

2009-05-05T14:34:00.001-07:00

Wow, been on a 2 day bender....lol...no not drinking. Been on an rss feed creation roll. Been mashing and warping rss feeds of various sites into a content stream of a complex nature.

It's a brain hurting experience. Was trying to figure out how to automate the entire process so I can just concentrate on my image creation and 3d work. And let the bots be my slaves and carry out various processes of data distribution for networking and SEO optimization.

Almost there, still looking for a good way to create a decent looking auto post to my blogs. Maybe in the future something better than Y-Alerts will come along to process an rss feed in a cleaner LESS branded and cluttered manner.

Marianne :o)~

Sweda Memory Foam Mattress

2009-03-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

Just bought a new California King bed. Splurged and got the Sweda Memory Foam Grand Mattress. Glad we did, it feels so good to sleep on.

It took 2 nights to get used to the way you move around on it, as it is very different from a regular mattress. It's more work to move, but the upside is that you don't have to move as much since it is form fitting to your body. Which equals more comfortable sleep.

With all the back issues I have had since C was born I need firm support and this was a 6 or 7 on the firmness scale. My back hasn't felt this good in years!

We feel so much more rested in the morning with less aches and pains since we made the switch.

Bottom line, very expensive, but worth it!

It's Friday The 13th!

2009-03-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

Woot! I love Friday the 13th! I percieve it to be a good luck day as opposed to bad. Just my weird ways showing themselves again,lol!

Just been working away on my stores despite the horrid economy putting a damper on sales. When we pull out of this slump my stores will be full.

Sure is hard work trying to make a living as an artist. However, I adore my work and just can't see not doing it.

Preliminary house hunting has begun! Internet browsing to get a general idea of where we want to look. So lovely back in Michigan!

Hubby is on shoreduty now! WOOT! 17 years of seaduty (on and off ofcourse) are behind us and now getting close to retirement. I have my sweetie home all the time now. Such a massive weight is off my shoulders. Feels great! We sure do enjoy our time together.

Life as we know it...

2009-02-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful xmas and new year! And that winter is finding you happy and healthy. We have just recovered from the dreaded flu bug which had hold of us thru most of January and part of February. Yuck! LOL

Just before the holidays I purchased my own domain: http://www.megakawaii.com/ and have been working on it little by little and expanding my business. I have yes, indeed, opened more shops to sell my art in. Trying to segment my styles into their own stores as you know how organizationally challenged I am,lol. Have just begun work on a specialty store which carries only Organic apparel and tote bags. We have begun to eat organic foods and am loving it. Not 100% organic at this point but working on it slowly.

Been working very hard and trying to grow my business in this horrible economy, working for tomorrow instead of today is how I am looking at it. The little train that could....I think I can...I think I can....WOOT! :o)

In our personal life, T has been gone a lot but in less than 2 weeks will be going over to shoreduty! He re-enlisted earlier this month and this is our last duty station, retirement is just around the corner. Thank Goodness. I sure am eager to be home in Michigan again. To enjoy some of that amazing winter snow! LOL Only 3.5 more years away.

C is a teenager now, AACK!!! Yes, it's true, I am officially OLD. Or that's what she tells me regularly anyways. She is as tall as I am now and into a variety of things, music and video games being the biggest.

Best wishes and happy thoughts,
Marianne

Mega Kawaii Store
All Organic Store
All Organic Blog

Not the cool Mom

2009-01-30T19:25:00.001-08:00

Well, just goes to show ya it doesn't matter how you are personally. Your children will think you are lame.

Now, let me tell you a bit about myself. I am the one with the pink streaks in her hair and Kawaii t-shirt with pink skulls on it. Heart with dove tattoo on my ankle and listens to Korn and Manson on a regular basis.

I am a gothic artist and freelance in other art styles such as kawaii and anime. None of these things makes me the "cool" mom.

Most girls her age would kill to have a mom who offers to dye their hair pink, blue and purple but she says no thank you each time. Sigh.

Maybe someday she will get into the things I am, hopefully before she takes off for college.

Flu....ugh

2009-01-24T16:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I have had the flu for almost 2 weeks now. It's the kind that feels like it will never go away. Just when you start to feel better it brings you back down again.

What's left is just the nagging cough and lack of energy. Feel like a toy that's slowly winding down.

However, I have been able to keep up with work. That is the beauty of working at home. Can always drag butt to the computer and do what I can and crawl back to bed if needed.

Been working on my Valentine's Day Section getting ready for the upcoming holiday. Did well last year and hope this year bears the same fruit.

Today added a bunch of Valentine's magnets.

I think I will try to get go to bed early tonight and take some airborn and hopefully kick this ol'flu bugs butt for the final time.

Walk @ The Beach

2009-01-08T12:19:00.000-08:00

Just took a break and went for a walk on the beach. Which the puggy loves as you can see. :o)

Tea For Me! :o)

2009-01-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

Lovely tea set xmas gift from my MIL

Xmas Tree This Year.

2008-11-28T22:07:00.000-08:00

Tree is up, yeah!

Domino Time

2008-11-28T18:28:00.000-08:00

Just playing a game on a Friday night. I lost big time,lol.

Our Holiday Cards 2008

2008-11-27T12:14:00.001-08:00

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by DesignerDiva

Ready to write out my holiday cards.

Cards, stamps,and stickers from my store ofcourse. http://www.zazzle.com/mariannegilliand*

Sushi Maki!

2008-11-16T13:53:00.000-08:00

Sushi Maki, homemade sushi! Yummy. Was very good. Hubby made this california roll just the way I like it. He had a spicy tuna roll, he liked it but I had to pass. I am quite surprised at how much I like wasabi. Put it on hamburgers and in coleslaw now. Nice and spicy!

First Batch Of Holiday Cookies

2008-11-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

Double chocolate chunk walnut. Yummy!
Fresh out of the oven. Good stuff! They are a dark chocolate cookie with Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. Not too sweet and crumbly on the outside but moist in the middle, perfect!

Just Another Night...

2008-11-13T19:23:00.000-08:00

...I'm working on a few last graphic concepts for today and C is watching Tv. Hubby has duty tonight so I had toast for dinner. Only posted 6 or so products today. Not too bad but could do better. Received another TBA. Zazzle rocks!
Sold some stamps.
Been working since 6 am. Did get an hour nap in today. It's still pretty warm here. Will be nice when it turns a bit colder. Oldest sister called and chatted with her for awhile. Typical evening over all.

Fall Is Here!

2008-11-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

I love fall :)

Getting taller than Mom

2008-11-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

Ah yes, every childs aspiration...to get taller than Mom. C is close to it and it won't be much longer before she makes that goal.
My baby is getting all grown up! OMG
This is her @ Halloween, the classic witch.

@ the beach

2008-11-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

Taking pic of hubby taking pic of flower while we were at the beach. The flower is an ice plant, they grow very quickly and are often planted on slopes to prevent the soil from eroding. The green leaves are like a succulant cactus type, almost like an aloe vera. The flowers can be pink,purple,orange or yellow.

I Miss Fall Back Home

2008-11-10T09:07:00.001-08:00

Originally uploaded by DesignerDiva

Lovely fall leaf

Fall back home is so pretty, I sure do miss it a lot. After retirement we can move back east and enjoy the seasonal changes.

Sunday Night @ our house

2008-11-09T17:40:00.001-08:00

Originally uploaded by DesignerDiva

Yahtzee

Sunday night at our house, I lost big time. I'm better at poker or mario kart.

Mothers Day Shirt Still Looks Good

2008-11-09T14:22:00.001-08:00

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by DesignerDiva

Still looks good

Well, got this shirt for mothers day from my store on zazzle and after wearing it at least once a week since then it still looks great. I wash it on regular/cold cycle and dry it on a hanger. The dryer can really beat up your clothes and fade prints out so anything like this I just line dry.
It is the basic shirt style in the Mens section and the pink color. My camera phone doesn't do it justice. One of my favorite shirts.

Beautiful Rain Clouds

2008-11-09T07:20:00.001-08:00

.
Originally uploaded by DesignerDiva

Beautiful rain clouds over the water. Got some much needed rain last night. Such a wonderful fresh scent to the air this morning. Always puts me in a calm and peaceful mood when it rains. Everything gets a shower from mother nature and looks squeaky clean again. If I was more poetically inclined I would write a poem, but alas it's not in my nature to do that.

My Fur Baby

2008-11-08T17:06:00.001-08:00

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by DesignerDiva

This is my lil'fur baby Tao, he is a 4 year old fawn pug. He is such a sweetheart. The best nap buddy you could ever ask for. He likes all kinds of food but some of his favs are rice krispy treats and plain hamburgers from McDonalds.
He is always with me and enjoys napping in my office in a rocking chair as I work.
He was born half the size of his litter mates but thanks to a loving and dedicated in home breeder he quickly caught up and surpassed the other puppies. He is 12 pounds over breed standard but is in excellent condition. Just a big boy.
He is such a kind hearted soul, pugs are just wonderful family and companion dogs.