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.

Germ Freak

Sweet Love has pinkeye. Gross, green gunk oozing out of his nearly 6-year old eyes.

Today I had to drag him to one of my most feared places on earth.

The clinic.

I have no problem dumpster diving, digging through a barn scattered with mouse crap or bug infested basements looking for treasures. Hell no. I love that. I just know I'm more likely to catch acute nasopharyngitus from the pen that I used at the check-in counter of the clinic versus the filthy turn-of-the-century pharmacy bottles that I found laying in a dusty basement.

You see, I am a bit neurotic about germs.

I am the girl who quickly analyzes which door handle will have the least amount of sick germs on it before I grab it. {The furthest door on the left because more people enter on the right using the left hand door because more people are right handed} and then wrap my sleeve to grab it or use just my pinky finger. If I had better balance I'd probably open doors with my feet. It's always a good day if I can time it when someone else is going in and I can breeze through 3 inches behind them.

I am the girl who, if you have a snotty nose and phlegmy cough and enter my house, will disinfect the door handle and/or anything else you have touched after you leave.

I am the girl who only touches an elevator button with her knuckle.

I am the girl who would never, ever come close to anything in public that is constantly touched by people. I balance on escalators and cringe when my kids and husband grab hold of the rail. Then I see them touch their nose and I want to die.

I am the girl who goes into cardiac arrest when the kids come home from school and tell me someone threw up in their class. Followed by the question, "Honey, did you play with Suzie Throwup today? How far away do you sit from her?"

I am the girl who will do as much self diagnosing online as possible, so I can remedy the sickness without going into the clinic. Unfortunately, my PhD is in Family Guy episodes and not medicine so I cannot prescribe the drugs necessary to cure what ails me and my family. Since some cases of conjunctivitis call for eye drops, I had to plummet to the depths of germ hell for over an hour with Sweet Love and his green goop.

I scan the waiting room for the safest place to sit.

Not anywhere near the nose blowers.

We will sit in a galaxy far, far away from the lady hunched over with sunglasses on. Something tells me this is not just a hangover.

Sweet Love and I settle down across from an elderly lady with a walker and oxygen tank. Other than her breathing machine, she looks healthy as a horse, so I probably won't get some airborne virus by sitting across from her. She looks adorable dressed in a white nightgown with the predictable curly-white-old-lady-hair complemented by her white pasty skin. As I listen to the rhythmic hissing of her breathing machine, my gaze goes down to her feet.

Right below her age spotted cankles I see the shoes. A pair of killer old school moccasins with a beaded eagle motif. She has no idea the shoes she is wearing are super duper cool. She doesn't give a crap because at this stage in life, she's going for comfort.

I love her. This adorable little old lady with breathing machine and sweet kicks.

I wonder what her life story is.

Then I smile.

And I forget about germs for awhile.

My Play Room

A peek from the entrance to my newly redecorated work and play room.

A 1970 talking Cat in the Hat puppet was the last touch on my studio makeover.

I recently impulsively bought this well used and loved talking puppet and I am completely smitten. His perfectly sly smirk, crazy yellow eyes and non working pull string compliment his ratty tatty dirtballness. He sits on top of my desk lamp.

I am so in love with my new studio.

I did an overhaul and made my messy, unorganized, work space into something more inspiring.

Something that reflects my store aesthetic and my creative side.

A place where I can work and be productive.

But also, where I can play.

My studio (which now resembles Pee Wee's Playhouse on crack) is not only where Sweet Love Vintage happens, but it's where my imagination, inner artist, closet geek side, and quirky sense of humor hang out.

My window valance is made up of old game boards and school flash cards.

My wall of books containing mainly art books, reference books, and includes books by some of my favorite artists/authors: Seuss, Shel Silverstein, Edward Gorey, Brian Andreas, Andy Warhol and Marc Johns.

Vintage toys and tiny things used for my photography props line the blue metal shelves. I wallpapered the wall behind them in vintage piano music.

Sweet Love piano music cover sheet is my welcome sign at the door and an old Cricket chalkboard is hung for little reminders.

Near the ceiling I hung white lights and a teal feather boa. I spray painted cheap paper stencils from a local home improvement store and hung them with mini wood clothespins. Sweet Love and Curious are code for my two sons. The huge bulletin board will have an ever changing display of inspiration.

The flash card with the word neat on my bulletin board is rather ironic. I am a complete mess when I work. I usually have several projects going on at once on my desk. I take stuff out and don't put it away, then I take more stuff out. Repeat. It starts to look like a landfill of art supplies, dust, post-its, and vintage paraphernalia. The state my studio is in right now is heavenly. It's so clean and organized I don't even know where to start. And unfortunately, I can't find anything because it's all put away. This is out of my element. When I wander through the door I turn catatonic. I just sit at my desk and look around as I am mesmerized and instantly inspired by all the colors and silliness. I immediately think of things I want to work on, but I'm scared to take stuff out.

I know as soon as I start one thing, just one little creative endeavor, I'm going to fuck it all up with my messy shenanigans. I am, indeed, like the mischievous Cat in the Hat, and will trash this room in an instant.

My desk will never, ever look like this again. Now matter how hard I try, I know myself better than that. I just want it to look this way a tiny bit longer. I might sit in my catatonic state while drooling and blowing spit bubbles a few more times before I start tearing it up.

If only my Cat in the Hat puppet would have come with a couple of blue haired Things and a big, red, noisy cleaning machine.

His Dynamic Industrial Renovating Tractormajigger.

To clean up after my messy shenanigans.

Much Needed

I needed today. A day with my curious kid.

Curious, myself, and my 4 wheels.

On a spontaneous antique hunting road trip.

No plan, random stops, several treats

and very intellectual conversation

like much we love Pop Rocks

and why they crackle.

Which I couldn't answer.

Here he is drooling over antique coins:

I was busy drooling over a $1500 Victorian mourning shadow box filled with an artistic preservation of human hair. It was so fascinating I couldn't get away from it.

I also couldn't get away from my strange obsession with trying to find vintage marionette puppets. Something I've been looking for since I saw some "dancing" in a perfectly decorated restaurant.

I need them for my studio.

Like I needed that weird looking plush cat with weird looking plush eyeballs. Like something from a plush circus freak show. A force took over and I purchased this lonely weird plush doll.

Maybe it's because sometimes I feel lonely and weird.

"Mom! Come! On! I gotta show you this coin!"

This snaps me out of my looking-for-marionette-puppet-hyperfocus.

Even though I'm not passionate about coins, I appreciate and understand his excitement. I enjoy sharing this with him.

He came home treasuring his new (old) coins.

I came home treasuring the time we spent together.

That kid rocks.

Rocks more than a colossal mountain of Pop Rocks.