Password Fail

So, I changed my password not too long ago and I totally forgot it and had to do a little run around to reset it -____- I'm so failtastic when it comes to remembering passwords. Well, now that the crisis has been averted I can update on the going on's lately. Let's see, last month I joined a gym and have been going regularly. I can definitely tell a difference in my energy and strength levels. The scale doesn't show much of a loss but I have noticed that I've gained some muscle in certain areas.

I try to do at least two miles or more on the treadmill everyday that I go, then on to some circuit training for my arms and the parts of my legs that didn't get a workout from the walk. Add all that walking to all the walking that I do at work and my legs should be rocking! 

Speaking of work, lately there have plenty of picture opportunities that have popped up at work. I always love finding amusing things at work that I can share with the general population. Here are a few pictures of the things I've found amusing.

Whenever you leave the freezer door open for a little while, the whole freezer becomes a horror movie with all the foggy that happens. 

This Little Debbie display creeped all of the unsuspecting Kroger employees out until they finally took it down. Think, the store is closed....it's late at night....you're by yourself and you turn the corner and catch this dude out of the corner of your eye. Just starring at you with that creepy smile on his face. Yeah, not a fun time at all. So glad they took it down. 

These poor little alligators are so messed up that it's funny. All of the alligators look like this. Why would you ship out these guys, looking like this? I almost want to buy him so he has a happy home where nobody laughs at him. Poor guy. <3

This is a sticker on the floor by the trash bags. Hello, how you doin' ? Why yes, yes I would like to buy whatever you are offering? That's one way to promote your product I guess. 

Now, I don't know if any of those pictures amused you but they amuse me to no end. Now, on to my latest adventures. I recently purchased my fishing license and have been fishing a few times. The first two times I didn't catch anything (I secretly think the fish don't like me, it's not like I want to keep them and eat them, I just want to catch them, take a selfie and throw them back! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK???) but this last time I caught TWO while my adventure buddy didn't catch anything. I think he was starting to get a little frustrated but he was a good sport about losing to a girl! GRRRR YEAH! TAKE THAT!!! HA! Just kidding. I really had no idea what I was doing so it's really like he caught them too with all the help he gave me. Anyway, pictures. 

On our first fishing trip, we found these. Not sure what they were but they grow in trees and are heavy! I would NOT like if this thing fell on my head while I was walking! Talk about concussion! 

Adventure buddy is a turtle saver. He stopped in the middle of the road to save this turtle. I just hope this guy was actually going that way....otherwise he had to start over. OOPS!

Adventure buddy was tromping through the woods on our second fishing trip and breaking down limbs while saying, "GRRRRR I'M A BEAR." Yes, yes you are. 

These are the two fish that I caught on our third fishing trip. The first one I didn't want to hold but the second one I was forced to hold and take a picture with. The first were very calm about this, more calm than I would be if I had been abducted and forced to take a picture with some alien. It's been so many years that I've been fishing that I really had no idea what I was doing so Adventure Buddy was a good sport and patiently explaining everything and correcting me when I screwed up. I'm slowly learning. All in all, it was a very fun adventure and now I can say that I've been fishing AND caught something other than leaves....apparently I'm a VERY good tree fisher and fishing rod tangler. -___- 

So, that's what has been going on in my little world lately. 

The Marble Mine Trail

Somewhere around Summerville, Ga is a state park called Sloppy Joe Floyd State Park. There is this trail there that leads to an old mine, so being the adventurer that I am, I decided that I wanted to see it. So, my adventure buddy and I decided we were going to hit the trails again on our day off and head on up there. First of all, you have to walk across this bridge that goes across a lake. That was pretty cool (stupid me didn't take any pictures of it) and apparently they have mutant fish there. There was this huge fish we saw that was probably longer than my foot. HOLY COW! The problem with this trail is, it's not marked clearly. But hey, it's an adventure right? So we start on the trail and let me tell you, these woods are some creepy ass woods. It was kind of like something out of a horror movie. Anyway, we go a little ways down the trail and we get to this fork. According to the website I found on this place, going straight was the easy to moderate trail and going to the right was the harder one. Apparently, their easy to moderate is different than mine because this was a straight up the mountain trail with loose rocks and since it had been raining recently, the red clay (better know as sticky georgia clay) made it difficult to find footing without busting your ass. It was a nice little hike and it didn't take us very long to get to the mine. I thought that we would be able to go a little further back into the mine but it doesn't, which was a bit of a disappointment, but it had this little pool and a small little waterfall (of which I took pictures!!) I also apologize because some of the pictures are a bit blurry.

It was a nice little alcove but not what I was expecting. On our way back down the trail it started to rain, but we couldn't feel it because the canopy was so dense that it stopped the rain from reaching the bottom. All in all it was a nice little get away but not much fun because you couldn't even play in the little pool in front of the mine. Oh well. 

ON TO THE NEXT ADVENTURE!

Adventure Time Part 2

Last week I went back to the Keown falls with a friend to try and make it up the mountain to see the falls this time and not be a failure. Well we made it....but with there not being much rain lately, the falls were more of a....trickle. But, it was still a fun time and I feel accomplished that I made it. I ended up having to stop a few times along the way to catch my breath (and try not to pass out) but Bill, my 50 year old friend, didn't seem winded at all. I'm so out of shape. So today, in order to get back in shape, so I can climb a small mountain without almost passing out, I joined a gym. Hopefully I can get in better shape so that it doesn't take too much out of me to go on a small hike. -__- Afterwards, we went to another little spot where kids go to play in the water and waded around and skipped some rocks but then people started coming around so we left. Here are some pictures from our little adventure.


The falls run over this little alcove where you can sit behind it, looks like people mostly go back there to drink and smoke and who knows what else.

 A neat little bridge on up from the falls, there were two other trails once you got past the falls and this was one of them.

 Looking at the mountains behind us as we climbed up to where the falls were.

The overlook that is up past the falls. It's so pretty up there.

This is my friend, Bill. He's a goober. 

The little spot where we stopped to play in the water. The water was nice and cool but the rocks were pretty rough on bare feet. Next time I go somewhere, I'll have to bring some shoes to play in the water with.

Couldn't help but stop and take a picture on the little bridge a few pictures up. Such a photographer. :D

We have decided that we want to go on other hikes around North Georgia, I found some good ones but it's hard to get out when you work full time. Hopefully more adventures come my way and I can post more pictures of the beautiful North Georgia landscapes. 

It's ADVENTURE TIME!!!!

Went on an adventure today to The Pocket with dad. It's mostly just trails and creeks and mountains and all that fun stuff. I love all that stuff. I tried to hike up to Keown Falls but it's a pretty long way up the mountain and it's not all that fun to hike by yourself. My legs are still pretty sore. I did get some pretty awesome pictures though.

                 
                       A tree had fallen across the path and you had to climb over it to keep going.

                When we got back to town, Dad took me to Sonic. Watermelon Slush with nerds. yum.

Happy Birthday/Christmas To Me!!!

So I bought myself a new macbook pro and got it this week! I'm so excited to make the move from Windows to Mac. Everything is very different from what I'm used to using. The only thing is, I don't have any pictures on this computer yet so I'll have to figure out how to get them from my iCloud to this computer so I can post more of the art I've been doing. And while we're on the subject of art, I haven't really been doing a whole lot lately. Work has been crazy with the holidays coming and going (yay for working in food retail. NOT!) and I've recently got into Smash* booking. You can all blame Lauren for that. So I might post some pages of my smash* book on here as well. Technically it's art….I think. Anyway, I'm off to figure out how to get my pictures on this computer, once I've figured it out there will be a new art post! :)

-Niko

Been a few weeks....

So real life has been keeping me busy and I forget to post sometimes...so sorry... anyway, I've been working on a ton of new projects! But, before we get started with that HAPPY HALLOWEEN to everyone! I hope y our Halloween is spooktacular!

On to the art now. To start off we have a painting I did for Halloween. I don't remember where I found this lovely poem/quote but I remember falling in love with it as soon as I read it. It's been on my phone for like 2 years and I finally painted it.

I don't like the spider web (i suck at drawing those btw) but that's the ONLY thing I don't like. The background is orange and splattered with purple. 

Next up is a commission I did for a girl at work, Sara. She gave me my choice of colors but she wanted a passage for the bible. She was going to give it to her dad (a pastor at a church) to hang in his office, so this is what I came up with. 

Again, it's splatter painted but with more colors. I had fun splattering this one.

Ok, next up is a commission I did for a different girl at work, Randa. She wanted the Serenity Prayer and anything pink. I did a basic painting for this one simply because this is all she wanted.

The last commission I did is for, you guessed it, another girl at work, Jillena. She didn't really give me any details of what she wanted but she wanted something Halloween. So after days of trying to come up with something and hounding her to give me any more details (which she didn't) this is what I came up with. This one has to be one of my favorites so far.

I think it turned out VERY nice and she was very happy with it.

My mom has her own beauty shop so I ran across this thing online that is called the Hairstylist's prayer (again not sure where I found it) and I knew she was love it to hang in her beauty shop. The zebra strips will be the DEATH of me and I swore I would never do those again EVER! (too bad I was wrong)

One of mom's customers is a nurse at the hospital and one day she was in mom's shop getting her hair done and she told mom that she LOVED the painting I did for the shop so my mom asked me to do one for a nurse and this is what I came up with.

The lady told my mom that all the nurse's she works with LOVED it so instead of hanging it in her office, she hung it in the nurse's breakroom. That is so awesome! My painting is in the nurse's breakroom at the local ER! :)))))

I have other things that I've been working on but I need to put them on the computer first. I hope you enjoyed this round of 'Art with Niko!'

-Niko