I'm Over It.

I take it back.

The Pissy Patty attitude I had in my previous post of not feeling fly.

I needed to vent to get myself through the hump of burnout that happens to me from time to time. Now I am back and as CEO of SLV I have made an executive decision to change my attitude by counting my Be Your Own Boss Blessings:

BE YOUR OWN BOSS BLESSINGS

By Sweet Love Vintage

1. I work with Me, Myself and I. I get along with Me the best and sometimes Myself gets on Me's nerves but for the most part we are all friends and work well together. And we all have the option of online social networking when we get sick of each other and need a break.
2. I can play super loud music that launches f-bombs everywhere if I need to blow off some steam without annoyed co-workers telling me to "turn that sh*t down".
3. I can dance and sing loud shaking my booty without annoyed co-workers telling me to "sit that sh*t down".
4. I can make my lunch at 10:37, noon or 3:12. I can stink it up with as much garlic, onions and canned fish as I want.
5. I can take expressive breaks to draw or write for my art blog or other creative thing around the house such as making something out of deer antlers or turning water into wine. It's really just Kombucha, but wine sounds better.
6. I can wear the same outfit to work 5 days in a row without strange looks.
7. I can drop food and eat it off the floor only getting strange looks from the dog.
8. Oh yeah, I have a furry friend that is doggone lucky not to be kenneled all day. He's my non-judgmental, quiet, nerdy confidante that occasionally takes walk breaks with me when I need fresh air and to clear my thoughts.
9. If I forget to brush my teeth I can walk upstairs or just skip it all together. Options!
10. I have the luxury to get outside for exercise when it's gorgeous out. Major perk.
11. I get to take pictures of things I love on my travels. Like funny vintage taxidermy:
12. And old Fords. I've been obsessed foreva and eva.
13. The flexibility rocks. I work on and off constantly. It does include nights and weekends but there's time off here and there and everywhere. Workin' 9-5 Dolly Parton style just isn't me.
14. Vacation time never runs out. I recently hit New York with Hubby to visit my sister, and we had so much fun! It was glorious soaking in the stimulating inspiration everywhere through my eyes, ears, nose and taste buds. I also played with my food in public cuz I'm classy like that. That would never go over at a "real" client lunch meeting in the conference room.
15. I get to be on the fly. Every day is a new adventure! Sometimes the adventure is nothing more than a trip to the post office, lunch at school with a kid, and a spur of the moment decision to drive somewhere. Not sure where, maybe Jack's Junkyard. Shucks. Forgot to brush. Jack won't notice, he's missing molars.
16. This brings me to the eccentric people I run into. I've run across many-a missing teeth, eye-patches, big beards, strange hats, the creative and colorful, unusual speakers, the creepy but harmless, the creepy and I'm-getting-out-of-here, and your normal run-of-the-mill ordinary. I love this diversity and hearing and wondering about their stories.
17. I learn important information every day from either Google or a fellow picker/antique dealer. Just yesterday at an antique shop when I was examining some old fishing stuff, I met a lady who told me the story of her cousin's friend who knew this guy who died from Tetanus from an old rusty fishing hook that got stuck in his finger and apparently your jaw doesn't lock up until the very end, which I did not know! I thought it locked up right away! See? Important information.
18. I love love love having business lunches with my fellow Etsy friends The Mina Bucket, Mill Street Vintage and Pretty Girl Shop. Here we are at our recent*cough* business *cough* lunch that went from 2 until 8 and involved wine, beer, food and gallons of laughs. You must check out their shops as they are crazy talented!
19. 
    The BEST thing about my job is that I have the privilege of being at home for these two little buggers that have a tight grip on my heart:

I'm over it. The burnout.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going for a hike with those two little buggers and the furry nerdy confidante.

While I count more blessings like these gorgeous fall colors.

Be Fly

fly (fli) , adj. cool; awesome; stylish; fun

The owner and curator of Sweet Love Vintage is so fly.

Truth be told, I haven't been feeling fly.

I'm suffering from a bad case of online-vintage-store burnout.

How do I know this?

Because I came home with a freakin' pitchfork the other day.

That's right. A pitchfork. What in the Hell-man's Mayo am I going to do with an old rusty pitchfork? Use it to bail the imaginary hay on my imaginary farm after I gather the eggs from my imaginary chickens while stepping in imaginary horse poo on my way to the kitchen to fry up said eggs laid by Mavis McMuffin, my favorite imaginary chicken with one leg? (Her hop is adorable by the way.)

I'm certain I could think of something cool to do with the pitchfork, but that's not the point.

The point is, I'm tired. I'm tired of hauling home the 1960s and it taking over my garage and my house. My active mind is exhausting me with it's I'm-gonna-do-something-with-that-so-don't-get-rid-of-it mentality. Like those 5 rusty handsaws leaning against the wall going down to the basement just waiting to give somebody Lockjaw. They've been lurking there, eyeing up my klutzy limbs for months.

Though I do need to use creativity to run my shop, I'm getting bored with the repetition. My item descriptions stink like the horse poo on my imaginary farm. How many more times can I say awesome, fantastic, fabulous, swell, terrific, amazing and any other overused descriptive? The same ol' same ol' is killing me and my lack of effort in adjective-ville is obvious. Since my energy has not been into it, it's very hard to motivate myself to get back in the game, but Curious and Sweet Love are back in school, which means our summer playtime is over and I need to up the ante.

To distract myself from the burnout, and to satiate my craving for a creative project, I started a new blog. A space to post my art, random thoughts, things that inspire me, music I love - a place to catalog my daydreams and express myself. This Sweet Love Vintage blog has taught me that I totally dig this writing thing, but I am the most comfortable and feel my truest self when I do it visually or in my brief, sometimes nonsensical, poetic run-on style. Which is the style you'll find on The Art Blog of Sarah Leu. That's me!

Check it out and if you decide to follow me I'll be happier than Mavis McMuffin when she had two legs. I have no idea of where it will go, or how often I'll post, but Doc Burnout* told me to quit stressing about starting another shop to sell my art, and just have some fun making it for awhile. So that's what I'm going to do, and since I don't have the attention span to spend hours on a single piece, I'm retreating to my 6-year old self again with a single marker and simple drawings. For now anyway.

I think having this new blog will help me to feel fly. Like Superman when he's in the sky.

Maybe my superpower will be to make you smile or inspire you along the way.

After all, that's one of my favorite things to do.

And in case you were wondering, I am going to do something with these old rusty handsaws.

Someday.

Something fly.

*My therapist, whose name has been changed for privacy to something obviously fake, but totally fitting.

Snoozefest Turned Love Shack

This is a before shot of my and Hubby's lame bedroom. Can you say snoozefest? Yawn.

We've been in our house over 3 years and our bedroom was more stale than the popcorn I occasionally find in my bra. The color we chose for the paint when we moved in was not a horrible color but it matched the ugly bedding we had, so we just lived with it. I finally decided I couldn't take it anymore.

This color was too dark and dreary for a hit-the-snooze-button-8-times kinda girl so it was the first to go. I wanted to wake up to something bright and happy. Something that would make me open my peepers with a smile while singing "tra-lalalalalalalalalala!" and put a morning skip in my step so I figured key lime paint would do the trick.

Once again, like Curious' bedroom I had to press my thrifty button into overdrive. I don't make millions with Sweet Love Vintage or my random art endeavors, but even if I did, It's not my style to buy new, trendy, high-end decorating pieces. I need a room to be decorated with fun personality, things I love, pieces that have a story and character, a mix of styles, and always a sense of humor or a surprise tucked in there somewhere.

I found this vintage arm chair at a yard sale for 5 bucks. (giddy-up!) This is my future meditation chair. Neither I, nor my overactive mind have zenned out in it yet, but I'm super awesome at shoving clothes behind it and tripping over it in the dark.

I traveled through my portal to Awesometown where I scored a pair of 1960s sunshine yellow glass lamps for $12. They are perched on an art deco black dresser and on an old table that I layered with a suitcase to match the height of the dresser. I have old suitcases all over my house as side tables and such, and they are great for layering and storing things. I store lots of air in mine. I threw a large thrifted flokati rug on the floor so I can feel soft shaggy fuzziness on my feet when I wake up, but more importantly so I can lay on it and make fur angels.

I invested in new bedding because I'm not a big fan of sharing bed bugs or dust mites with strangers so I picked up a cheap dark brown quilt and new light yellow sheets. The three jewel toned embroidered pillows along with the black and white damask curtains are from Pier 1, and were the only other new purchases (and my biggest splurge) in the whole room. At the edge of the bed sits a vintage lime green and white chenille bedspread.

Old sheet music is right up my eye candy alley when it comes to vintage graphics. The titles and pictures tickle my funny bone and I like to wake up to something smile worthy besides my bed head. I admit I haven't been springing out of bed singing "tra-lalalalalalala!" like I was hoping, but I do sing whatever the latest song stuck in my head is.

The other morning it was "Jimmy Crack Corn".

Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care, Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care, Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care... and how in Jimmy's name did I get this song stuck in my head? Aretha Baby, where are you when I need you?

Then I started thinking about Jimmy and maybe I should care. There's obviously a reason he cracks corn. Maybe I should write my own story about Jimmy and the perils of cracking corn. Maybe I'm just cracked corn. Or just cracked. Cracked and corny.

Yes, these are things I think about. Things I think about while lying in bed waiting for the next time I must sling my arm out and hit snooze again.

Even waking up in this bright and cheerful happy place, I still hit snooze.

The good news is it's only 4 and a half times now instead of 8.

Sarah Rebecca Leu. Age 6

This is "My Book About Me", circa 1979.

Written by a 6-year old kindergarten girl named Sarah Rebecca Leu. (That's me.)

The book is full of facts about me including where I lived, my favorite things, how many forks I had in my house, etc. I filled it in with my big fat adorable kindergarten writing. It sits on my studio bookshelf and I get a kick out of perusing it from time to time.

One of the most important things in a little girl's life is her favorite color. Though I still enjoy pingk and all colors, greegn is my preference today. Tomorrow it might be glurple and the next day something different.

Art is still my favorite subject just as "Hurt 101: Introduction to Emotional and Physical Pain" is my least favorite subject. I'm a very good student if it's something that interests me. I am interested in gobs of different subjects at any given moment and it changes constantly, as I get bored quickly and thrive on finding new brain stimulation. A handful of current obsessions include learning yoga, finding inner peace, clean eating, old R&B music, "Friday Night Lights", the victorian era, drawing with a black Sharpie, how to make my bulging arm veins look smaller, raccoons, this blog and this blog. I am an awful student if I have to figure out board game instructions, read a chick lit novel, follow driving directions, talk politics, or organize my junk drawer.

I still have several of my 6-year old girl qualities. This can be good, and not so good.

GOOD (the short, but very important list):

• My imagination

NOT SO GOOD

• Attention span
• Impulsiveness
• Not wanting to shower
• Paint/marker stained hands
• Spilling my almond milk, water, or whatever is in my cup.
• Finding dried food on my face several hours after consumption
• Finding dried food on my face the day after consumption
• Talking in robot voice to my family which used to generate smiles but now annoys them because once I start I can't stop.
• Talking in an English accent so I can feel sophisticated. This too, annoys everyone but me and goes something like this:

"Mom, stop it!"

"Why no dahlings, I'm bloody mahd and I musn't stope untel you clean up yoah bahthroom".

"Pleeeeeeeeease Mom! AAAARRRRRRG!"

"My. superiors. told. me. i. can. stop. if. the. little. human. with. blue. eyeballs. will. push. my. reset. button."

"Not the robot! Stop all the voices!"

Sometimes I am a 6-year old in a body 31 years my senior. Only my family and a select few of my close friends see 6-year old Sarah. If you met me, you would think I was friendly and outgoing and I pull off 30-something very well.

As I said before, drawing has been on my study list so I've been goofing around with a single black Sharpie and learning how to digitally color said drawings, along with writing and letting my imagination wander into the 6-year old world of Sarah Leu.

Because zebras enjoy straws even more than I do.

We would also shoot trap wearing our matching ripped-at-the-shoulder plaid flannels and trim the split ends on each other's mullets. If I can keep my 6-year old attention span focused, I'd like to create a series of "If I Had a..."

Only this blind, wise owl knows when the world is really going to end. And when my PMS is going to start.

Sushi had a difficult time keeping friends because she was such a square. I enjoy making up nonsense like ridiculous names and combining things that just don't go together like Beatles songs and geometry.

Many of the items I sell in my vintage shop come with a story. Some of these become drawings like the one above, inspired by these slippers.

I try hard to see my cup half full as much as possible, but I absolutely have those moments when it is half empty or evaporated. Whether it's full or empty, it's almost always upside-down.

I moonlight as a professional dreamer.

When I wake up with a zit the size of a unicorn horn, I feel like Hattie. Have I mentioned that I love dark humor? Except when it's on my face.

I find the strange quirks, qualities and habits of people so charming. I did this drawing for a friend of mine who is not bipolar, nor a polar bear. She does, however, hate goat cheese and tissue boxes.

For a friend who cannot start her morning without a Mountain Dew.

Purple rain was pouring down all over him in his previous dream. Prince was holding the umbrella.

Old Blue Eyes on the ipod makes me want to croon in front of my mirror wearing my fedora. (Hey mirror, wanna hang out Friday?)

I'm a sucker for dots and plaid. And fuzzy caterpillars.

Totally crushing on Bill Withers lately. "Lovely Day" has been playing on repeat an awful lot. When Bill Withers is singing to me that he is going to have a lovely day just by looking at me, it makes my knees quiver. Drawing people has always been something that scares me.

Now when I get scared to draw people or share my art, I will tell my shadow to back the hell off and go annoy a peacock. And then I will draw people. Take that, scared self.

It would be even more fun if Yes came with.

My name is Sarah.

I think life can be much more inspiring and joyful if you look at the world through the eyes of your 6-year old silly and curious self.

I say put on your best pingk glow and give it a go.