Hhhhmmm.... So I suppose this is where I explain what this is. I guess this is my spot for my ramblings, what's happening, etc. Let's start with Hi! I'm Calicoe or Urtica. Those are my main two online alias that I tend to go by. I'm an avid anime/manga fan and I try to do art in my free time. I'm married and have a one year old son and two cats. I'm here to make friends and hopefully improve my art. On that note I am willing to accept safe for work art requests, but depending on demand and my available free time it might take me a little while to fulfill. I am a stay at home mom so my free time is in short supply. Also I mentioned it once on one of my pieces, but I tend to keep clean line art of most of my drawings so if you are interested in doing a recolor of one just let me know all I ask is for credit for the line art.

Birthdays

Well as of today my kiddo is officially two years old. I honestly find myself already questioning where the time went. We took our first big car trip yesterday to the zoo which is a 3.5 hour drive over the mountains. I honestly was feeling a bit of anxiety about doing this trip. I wasn't sure how he was going to handle being in the car for that long. Not only that, but we came back the same day. Surprisingly the only melt down he had came toward the end of the day at the restaurant where all he wanted was to go back home. Understandable for a 2 year old who got up unusually early and didn't really get a nap.

As for the zoo.... well as you all are well aware we're still kind of in pandemic mode so a majority of the exhibits at the zoo are still closed due to covid. We also didn't really plan for the weather. We had sprinkles mixed with torrential down pours! Given all that we still have a pretty good time looking at all the different animals. The sea lions in particular really seemed to want to put on a show. The lions were actually awake and the cheetahs were on a parade path right by the glass. Most of the animals seemed in a mood to show off. Kiddo was very impressed by the elephants which were and I quote "Awesome!".

After the zoo we got to hit up an Asian shopping mall. Unfortunately where we live we don't have access to one. Got to find all kinds of treats and even a hot pot! I'm really looking forward to breaking that in! Look forward to tales of hot pot adventures! Why do Asian markets have such tasty baked goods!? I ended up spending a goodly amount! Found my favorite spicy ramen too! The place I get it from recently stopped carrying it.

So after being soaked to the bone at the zoo and shopping we stopped for dinner with some family in the area and that's when the small melt down happened. Spent a majority of dinner hanging out in the car watching videos on my phone with the little guy. Then we started the long drive home, I was worried I might fall asleep....well I was worried for absolutely NO reason. While we were enjoying our day the weather decided to work it's way to the mountains... Getting home through a white out was exhilirating to say the least. My husband was pretty much white knuckled the whole time as we tried to discern the road. Long story short though we lived to talk about it! Next time I think we'll aim for a trip in the summer!