2008 was year of the Rat—that’s me—in the Chinese Zodiac, and it was my year. I graduated from college in May, started a website again in June, officially launched my illustration career in September by mailing hundreds of postcards, officially officially launched this career in October with a job for Cosmopolitan magazine (and not just one, either!), got married to my honey in October, and made the sincere decision to move out of North Carolina in November.

After all this, I’d like to make my resolutions for 2009 as simple as possible—except for the moving thing, which of course didn’t happen in 2008 and will be a wicked start to 2009. I’ve met so many big goals now that I think I should try out some little ones… like making more fruit smoothies for breakfast.

I hope everybody has a happy 2009! Year of the Ox!

I can’t believe I’d seriously say this… but after the calendar, I think I’ll be tired of drawing animals for a while. I know I should probably add more subjects to my portfolio so that not every promotional piece of mine looks like a zoo.

There’s not a whole lot to write about here since things have been fairly quiet for me lately. I’ve just been drawing and knitting and working, sometimes, at my job. I consider this the calm before the storm, though, because I’m about to embark on a crazy journey of long-distance traveling, interviewing and possibly moving. Well, definitely moving, but where we go is up in the air until next year, I guess. Not like that’s a long time now, is it?

Chris and I have been married for two months today and it’s just so nice to have a sweet husband in the back of my mind all the time. I came home to baked goods on Thursday night: chocolate cupcakes and the brownies I’d planned to make but hadn’t had much time for. I know! I could barf too.

Today is my birthday! I am now 24, nearly a quarter of a century old!

I was thinking about how a lot of my interests haven’t really changed since I was little. I still love letters and I still love the color purple. I love writing and drawing and making messes. If little me could meet older me, she’d probably be pretty upset that I quit wearing my retainer, but for the most part, I think she’d think I’m totally cool. Not that either of us ever cared about being cool, though. We’ve just been ourselves for years.