Kitten reading and dancing toes

If you should think about getting a kitty, definitely make sure that you read this book before you get one. It is the best one on the market in my opinion, as the author Dusty Rainbolt thinks of every possible situation that could happen. Adopting a longhair kitty, adopting a blind kitty, adopting a kitty with behavioural problems. Differences in buying cat litter. (and be sure that there are HUGE differences and many reasons as to why your kitty does not use the poo poo place). Fabulous, funny (I really laughed a couple of times, tears even!) and stuffed with information.



Next is toes. Yes, toes. They deserve attention, as they lead your way all day long without you even taking notice of that fact. Toes need loving. Let them dance, let them mingle with other toes (they need socializing, otherwise they tend to bite) and give them the best socks you can possibly get hold of.

Just saying.
Have fun!

Vanillery Garden wallpaper

So first of all I have to apologize because this Featured Friday is a little delayed due to heavy headache.
But it will be here soon! Promise!!!!

Secondly I would love to spread some positive vibrations to the world.
As you could read in some posts below, I think it is very important to see your friends in real life. Yes, facebook is nice. But I can hug the screen as much as I want to, it feels sooo much better in reality.

So I thought I´d send Mr. Fox out to remind you from time to time, when you take a look at your desktop and see him there. Mr. Fox is a real gentleman, he helps the ladies to sit down, he never slurps and he prefers Jasmin Pearl Dragon tea. He likes to read "Le Petit Prince" and you can see that he is a big fan, as he is wearing his long scarf in the same way as the Little Prince. When he visits his friends, he always puts on his best shoes to show his appreciation for the invite. And he always brings cookies. Preferably english ones, as he heard that they are the best for tea time.
Come and have him over, he will lighten up your day!

Download it here!
Have fun!

XOXO,
Natalie

Oh the crazy weather

These recent weather changes give me heavy headache.
What is a girl to do other than to finish her work and then go to bed.
Hopefully it gets better tomorrow.
Get your sleep, you need it!

The craziest book I have seen in years

So yesterday Mr. Dom Dom and me went to a small book store that sells grapic design books (I have to make photos for you the next time, it is so very hidden, you would think it is an apartment rather than a store).
I had made a reservation on a book that is very special.
It is called "Das Lesikon der visuellen Kommunikation" (i.e "The Readikon of visual communication"....the word "Lesikon" is a wordplay out of the german "lesen" meaning "to read" and "lexikon") by Juli Gudehus.

The book contains every imaginable word, being typically for visual communication or not (for example the word "fast" is in there too, as it is very important for graphic designers, hahaha!)
The pages are made out of very thin paper, the same that you find in the Bible.
The author Juli Gudehus spent a lot of time collecting, researching, writing and being as passionate about her little baby as possible. She kept telling her husband at any stage of the process that it would only take her another six months to complete the book. It took her 9 years to finish her work.

This is where I think that Juli Gudehus is a really good role model for all of us.
If you love something and you passionately want to do it, then do it. No matter if it takes you 2 hours, 3 months or 9 years. As long as you just do it.
Don´t think about the time. If she would have known that it will take her so long to make this book, day after day researching, refining and MAKING the book, do you think she would have even started?
It is about the process and about doing it.

You and your dreams are important. And you are the only one (THE TRUELY ONLY ONE) to make them become real, to make them come to life. You are the magician and the white rabbit is waiting for you in that hat. Don´t make it wait to long or it may nibble its way through the bottom of your hat and be gone.





This week has been the hell of deadlines, but it will be way better after tomorrow ^___^
How has your week been so far? How do you handle time pressure?

Many hugs to you!
Natalie

Featured!

Oh, look look, I got featured on Julee Herrmann´s Artist Spotlight:

http://heartcollective.blogspot.com/2011/01/artist-spotlight-natalie-neumann.html

There I was talking about MY LITTLE PONY and my love for them has not weakened over the years.
I remembered that one sketch I did some months ago:

I am aware of the fact that this is quite an adult version, but they are so cuuute still :)
A friend of mine once said that he would like to marry a girl that is like a my little pony. I wonder what she will be like :D

The weather in Vienna is very lovely, a lot of sunshine these days.
There is lots to learn and to do right now, but Mr. Dom Dom and I had a little stroll while we ate breakfast outside.

Tomorrow I have a huge marketing test, keep your fingers crossed! >_____<

Many hugs to you and be sure to check out and comment on Julee´s blog!

Thanks to you all!

XOXO,

Natalie

Take a look from the other side

Wanna see how it looks like when I blog and work late at night?
This is somewhere around midnight. We have turned down the lights, so we get tired (still working on that new sleeping schedule, darn it *g*)

I am always in a good mood and up for a joke.
My life and my work are perfect the way they are.
There is such a load of work to do lately, but when I am confident that everything will be ok then magically additional hours show up and time goes by slower, so I can get more work done in less time.
Now some may think that this sounds nice, but probably only works for me.

But that´s wrong.

There isn´t more of this "magic" involved in my life than in everyone else´s.
I think it is all about awareness. Everybody has this special goodie bag of trust, self confidence and believe, but many don´t make use of it. Because science and logical thinking rule these days and if 24 hours can be meassured, well then they have to be exactly the same for every human being.
Again, wrong. Time, if you look at it closely, is more a wobbly thing.

For me time has a behaviour and it behaves accordingly to my feelings.
It is like a little puppy. When you have fun and are all excited, it races around, jumps up and down and passes by like hours were minutes. When you have to wait for something, the puppy goes to sleep and dozes off, stretching even more. When you are afraid, it sits there in the corner, shaking and waiting for you to get it out of this situation.

You have to train your time puppy. When you are with friends, be calm and put the puppy onto your lap and tell him "Look, this is great fun here, right? But you can relax, it is not like this is happening for the last time." Bored puppies like to be entertained and the easiest way for that is to entertain yourself. With that many fabulous magazines and books and art supplies in this world, there has to be something to take your mind off for a couple of minutes.
And for the anxious puppies there are rituals. Move your body, don´t freeze. Make yourself some lovely tea, get orange and lemon oil for your aroma therapy, stretch and breathe.
Or kiss your loved ones, just like this.

Once your puppy understood that there is nothing to be lost, it will be as good as it can be. The most important thing is to enjoy yourself.
Always.
Find magic everywhere and make people laugh. As an example I found some magic in my boyfriend´s toes.

Have a fun puppy time. You are important. Don´t forget that.

Hugs,
Natalie

Need a good laugh?

Here you have our hamster lady Miss Kokoro.
She actually NEVER cared about food. Really never. She has a really delicious taste and if you don´t offer her the best food in creation, she simply won´t eat it. 
But somehow she decided to hoard all the pumpkin seeds from the little bun. She did not eat them, but just took them with her....just in case.
Kokoro is way too kind and cute, she is unafraid and loyal. You´d never think a hamster could be that way. I love her!

Vanillery Garden Tutorials/////A home for the Genius

Elizabeth Gilbert with her speech on TED about creativity has been highly influencial on my thinking of how we set ourselves under pressure and that there are ways out of this mindset. I have enjoyed reading EAT, PRAY, LOVE but listening to her in this video is even better:



She really has a very unique and funny way of talking and I had to laugh really hard a couple of times. I am amazed by the huge amount of research she has done to find out more about how creative people thought  where their ideas came from.
The image of a little fairy or elf sitting on the corner of my desk, watching me and whispering things into my ear is very appealing. Why?

Because the process of creating something is never ever OUT of my head, but rather THROUGH my head. One could call it "to be in the flow". It is the state of mind that every designer, illustrator, writer and artist in general wants to live in all the time. Overflowing with new ideas, happy, bright.
Blissful. But what if you are not having one of those days?
What about those days where you hardly get on with anything, not even to talk about finishing things (because mostly the start is easy and than comes the crappy phase, where you think that you have not developed yourself into any direction). And what if on such a day I could talk to my genius?

When Elizabeth Gilbert said that she "addressed a random corner" in her house, I thought "Well, why not address a little house, where my Genius lives in?"
That would be a kind appreciation: build a house for your little creative helper.
Make him or her feel that you do something in return. Even give and take.



I love that idea and so I made a little template with a video along.
If you want, you can make such a home too and send me the picture of it right here:

blumennelly@gmail.com

I will post the picture here along with your name!
Download the template here.

Invite your genius to live close to you.
Many hugs,

Natalie

little bloggy

2011 has so much in store for us!