Caro http://virb.com/sixhours Virb 2.0 (@sixhours) en the orange bones http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382877 ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:53:50 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382877 the best kept secrets http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382876 ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:53:48 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382876 mother may i http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382875 ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:53:46 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382875 sprouts http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382874 ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:53:44 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382874 tea party http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382873 ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:53:43 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382873 laundry day http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382872 ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:53:39 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382872 bird girl http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382853 ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:31:17 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382853 curiosity's little sister http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382852 ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:31:14 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382852 autumn http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382851 ]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:31:12 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/photos/1382851 random things http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/253116 alt
peel
Originally uploaded by calobee I've posted a bunch of new photos at Flickr! This was a very fun shoot, from wayyyy back in April.

I'm going to try to devote one day this weekend to working on a new Web site design. The current one is grating on my nerves.

I am wondering if I should start offering custom Etsy banner designs in my shop. It would mean extra money and extra practice with Illustrator. Hmmm. Going to think on that some more.

And finally, many thanks to Little Splurge and Poof You're a Frog for the recent mentions!
]]> Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:21:49 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/253116 squirrels, shiny http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/251943 altI've been waiting for this day for weeks, and it's finally here! Jess Goldfond (with help from her boyfriend, of Spray Glue fame) launches The Shiny Squirrel online boutique!

There you'll find a beautifully-curated selection of artists and designers showcasing a variety of gifts and goodies.

And yes, I'm there, too! Presenting five new prints from the dollfood series that I've been sitting on not-so-patiently for just about ever.

So go see, and support independent artists and designers! Go go go!]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:18:07 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/251943 i found the perfect one http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/249075 alt
i found the perfect one
Originally uploaded by calobee What a productive weekend!

I finally got some photos up on the walls and rearranged a bit. It took me a good year and a half to attempt to decorate our last place, so this is progress. The house is definitely starting to feel like home. Photographic proof: My office, the kitchen, and the living room, complete with notes.

I also worked on a doodle that has been floating around in my head for a couple days. At first I was concerned that it was too creepy to be cute, but now I think it's almost too cute to be creepy.

See, I have this problem. I'm really two people. Dark Caroline, who dreams up photos like this, and Pink Caroline, who was single-handedly responsible for keeping the Lisa Frank company in business when she was twelve (Rainbows! Unicorns! Hearts! Flowers! Kittens!)

Sometimes Dark and Pink get into arguments ("That's disgusting." "It's cute!" "Fine, it's disgustingly cute.") and then it's damn near impossible to shut them up, but most of the time they get along. Begrudgingly.

I digress.

I also did some shopping at the local farmer's market - bought fresh apples, pumpkins, squash, and cookies. Yes, sometimes I go to the farmer's market to buy cookies. I'm, uh, doing my part to buy organic.

Speaking of junk food, the hubby took it upon himself to make a delicious double chocolate devil's food cake this weekend. He says he "just felt like it", but I think he knows that PMS week is fast approaching and he wanted to head it off at the pass. Smart man. This is why I married him - brains and cake!

And there were so many other little things... I started reading a new book (Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult), put out the Halloween decorations, watched Memoirs of a Geisha, took a few photos, and did a little cleaning.

And now I am tired and wishing the weekend had just one more day.
]]> Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:00:35 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/249075 choir boy and the pantsless wonder http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/241527 alt
cupcake girl
Originally uploaded by calobee In our old neighborhood, it was quite common to be woken up by the sounds of yelling and shouting, but usually the yells and shouts were death threats. Yeah, it was that kind of neighborhood.

Now we live in a college town, which means we're surrounded by intellectuals and intelligent minds, ambitious young men and women who love learning and seek to expand their horizons and open their minds...

... usually with drugs. Yay! With that in mind, I present to you -

Things one shouldn't have to wake up to early on a Saturday morning:

1. The sound of a drunken college kid belting out "Heyyyyyy guyyyyys!" in perfect show-tune singsong at ample volume.

My first reaction? Jazz hands, everyone! Vaudeville has finally come for me!

My second reaction? Death to the drunken frat boys on my lawn! DEATH!

2. Drunken college kid number 2, shouting at an equally loud volume, "I never thought I'd be walking around with you guys, WITHOUT PANTS, at 4 in the morning!"

Emphasis on the part about no pants. And hey, now I know what time it is.

Of course, I immediately went for a look-see, but alas, it was too dark. Which makes sense, because it was, ahem, four-o'clock in the morning. On a Saturday.

Did I mention the part about death?

I considered yelling at them from the balcony of our bedroom, but then I figured that a completely naked lady screaming at the half-naked drunken frat boys for disturbing the peace... let's just say, the irony didn't escape me.

Intellectuals and intelligent minds, indeed!

Anywho, the above doodle has absolutely nothing to do with pantsless, showtunes-lovin' drunk people. Thank the stars for that!

No, actually, three really cool things happened yesterday:

1) I won a contest at the ThisNext blog! If the prize is as cool as my Tovolo goodies are, I'm excited.

2) One of my photos made the front page at Etsy! Yay!

3) Finally, the cupcake girl doodle above was a runner-up in Hey Pretty Cupcake's artist collaboration contest! So keep an eye out for her there in the upcoming weeks.

So, Internets, it's been nearly a month! S'up with you?
]]> Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:55:28 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/241527 so sexy it hurts http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/197587 alt
Caro's very purple office
Originally uploaded by calobee Where have I been? Moving and marrying, that's where! The proof is in the Flickr pudding.

To answer your most pressing questions: The new house is great, the new "well-loved" hubby is great, and diet Barq's is also great. Mmmm, root beer for the calorie-conscious.

This afternoon I looked down at my lap and realized my inseam was missing. As in, ripped. As in, I unknowingly spent a good portion of the morning flashing a whole lotta pasty-white inner thigh at my co-workers.

I'm obviously too sexy for my pants!

(And yes, I did go home to change.)

There was impromptu photo shoot good-ness this weekend, courtesy of the lovely Hannah. We headed to the local ornamental gardens and braved the god-awful-humid-sticky-muggy-gross weather. Oh yes, there was ample sweat involved, but the results are fantastic. I think they're my final set for the gallery/boutique show, which means (again) you have to wait to see them. I break your heart time and time again, dear Internets, I know this. Bear with me.]]> Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:28:18 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/197587 the dance http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/171405 alt
the dance
Originally uploaded by calobee When I was 17, I swore to myself that I would never, ever, ever marry my high school sweetheart. "People who do," I told my haughty seventeen-year-old self, "are asking for a divorce."

At that point in my life, I'd just met Tim, who was this sweet, shy guy who sat behind me in our snooze-worthy high school leadership class. I had absolutely no intention of marrying him at the time, but he had every intention of marrying me, and he made it known.

(To say he came on a bit strong in the beginning is an understatement.)

Nonetheless, I liked him. He learned to cool down, and I learned to open up, and after a few months we found ourselves in one of them thar Serious Relationships.

Proposals became something of an in-joke between us. "What do you want for dinner tonight? And oh, hey, wanna marry me?" We've always talked about our future together, but the marriage part was mostly a formality.

Well, when you buy a house together, you start to see where certain formalities come in handy.

So a few weeks ago, when Tim off-handedly popped the question for the three-billionth time, I turned to him and said, "Sure, let's do it!"... I think he was surprised, to say the least.

All this to say, yes, I'm marrying my high school sweetheart.

Next Friday.

As I've told people the big news, I've found it's best to follow up with "and-no-I'm-not-pregnant," because apparently you can't plan a wedding at the last minute without getting knocked up first. Oops! Sorry to disappoint, but we're skipping the knocked-up part for now and going straight to the wedding.

I know, I know, we're so unconventional!

We're having a small ceremony with family and friends, after we've moved into the new house (because the moving thing alone isn't stressful enough in its own right, and we do love a challenge). It will be simple and quiet, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Yay! :)]]> Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:55:37 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/171405 the etsy obsession http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167279 Okay, so I know I'm a little late to this etsy thing, and I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I'm fascinated and inspired. I'm also getting very little done at the office, but never mind that!

I created a treasury list of some of the neat things I've stumbled across there so far, but that barely grazes the surface. I have a great big fat "gimme" moment at every other shop.

I also added some new prints to my shop, in hopes that I'll be able to support the newfound etsy habit. If my total amount sold ever equals my total amount spent, I'll be lucky.]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:34:54 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167279 alphabet soup http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167278 altI spent most of the weekend working on this: A digitally illustrated alphabet poster. I may not have leet illustration skills, but I can draw cartoons well enough (my specialty used to be cartoon chickens - fear the talent) and I thought it might be fun to do a version of the ABC's and print it as a poster. It may not be a work of Art with a capital A, but I think it's cute.

All this stems from the fact that I've been thinking I should try a creative pastime that doesn't involve so much waiting... one of the pitfalls of having somewhat elaborate and wacky photographic ideas is that they often require a good deal of preparation and planning before I see results, sometimes so much that I lose interest in the idea before I've had a chance to pick up the camera. Let no one accuse me of having a long attention span. Digital illustration is something I can play with in the in-between, thereby satisfying my need to create on a more flexible basis. I may even have to take a drawing class soon, and see if my hand-eye coordination is really as bad as I think!

And yes, I put it up at etsy.]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:34:53 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167278 shopcasting my life away http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167277

Since being introduced to etsy, I've also started hanging out some new shopping/social networking sites. I've never been much of a "real life" shopper... crowded shopping centers are not my thing. But online shopping? I can totally dig that. And, with help from stylehive.com and thisnext.com, it's easier to find diamonds in the rough.

See more of my Etsy's Best list at ThisNext.

]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:34:53 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167277 items of disinterest http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167276 Item: Business is booming at the Etsy shop. And by "booming," I mean I've made more than one sale in the month since I opened! I am pleased, especially since I opened the shop on a whim, not actually believing that people might, you know, buy stuff. I've even gone so far as to order some custom business cards, in hopes that I can continue to spread the word.

Item: This weekend was April's photo shoot weekend. Unfortunately, I have little to offer you in the way of proof of said photo shoot, because the results may or may not be part of a gallery/boutique opening in October. The best I can do is this test shot in the ever-popular "bloody egg" motif. The rest of the series has absolutely nothing to do with cheap fake blood, so don't think I'm giving anything away. I shot this solely to prove that I did pick up a camera this month!

If the photos aren't accepted, you will see them soon. If they are, you can congratulate me, and I will debut the series on my Web site in October. Ooh, secrets!

What I can do is talk a little bit about the shoot itself. I didn't arrange anything with any of the girls (aka the models) this month, because it's getting very close to finals time, and everyone is scrambling to finish the semester, and I'm feeling a wee bit antisocial (what else is new?). As a result, April was "Still Life Month," which meant two whole days of fighting with my studio lights and bending/kneeling over my not-so-ergonomically-correct studio setup. It's not ergonomically correct because it's an overturned laundry basket covered with a white sheet. Makeshift what? And why is my back throbbing? Oh, right.

I really love the new photos, despite the back strain, so you'll have to trust me when I say it kills me to keep them from you, dear Internets! It really does! I'm already itching to upload them to my new flickr account. Bear with me, please.

Item: It's 80 degrees outside. 80 degrees! How do we go from snow, ice, and rain to 80 degrees in the span of a week? We live in Maine, that's how. Not that I'm complaining... it just seems wrong to be enjoying 80-degree weather when the trees haven't even shown buds, and the grass is still an unpleasant greenish-brown baby poo color.]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:34:52 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167276 introductions are for sissies http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167275
Either that, or I'm a glutton for punishment. A very forgetful glutton for punishment who will not remember how to log into this blog tomorrow morning.

I have way too many passwords.

Hello, I am Caroline, creator of blogs and forgetter of passwords. And maker upper of word...ers.

I have a Web site. Sixhours.net has been my Internet lover for six-ish years.

I have an Etsy shop full of prints and a shameless love of money. Wanna trade?

I have a blog that isn't this one. It's mostly personal, and by "personal" I mean "me being a wise-ass." But don't worry - there's more than enough wise-ass-ish-ness in me to go around.

In summary... I don't have a summary.

Enjoy!]]> Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:34:52 -0700 http://virb.com/sixhours/posts/text/167275