Celebrating Jinny

Yesterday we celebrated the 7th year that our Jinny has been with us.

We think she is around 9 years old. 
Yayyy Jinster.

 

Some rabbits are alot of work but Jin has always been a very easy rabbit.

 

 

She's a good and sweet gal & never asks for much past food & snuggles with her buddy Jaks.

 

We celebrated with a long afternoon outside in the yard zipping & popcorning & zooming, yayyy.

 



Jinny, Jaks & The Bed

I have some new pictures to show you all but I feel like today wants to be a rabbit post day...

A few years ago,

when my niece Karly was younger,

Jonathan made a little wooden bed for her dollies...that I was suppose to paint.

 

Well that bed was temporarily put on the floor because my desk was full of stuff...

and well you can only guess what happened to that little bed, ha ha...

 

 

...ha ha..you guessed it!

Jinny and Jaks claimed it as their own.

So, it never got painted for a little girls dollies...

Seriously, who could take the bed away from these two?
We certainly couldn't, not when they are so comfy cozy on it, ha ha.

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend?
We had a delicious 5 days off together with was mostly full of time outside with the 6 buns,
some time with one of my dearest friends
and a Walking Dead marathon in our theatre room...coziness, ahhh.

See you again soon with some new artwork & some awesome rabbit photos from outside.



Bunnies On Stairs

Sometimes Jinny & Jaks have no interest in their yard...

They just spend the whole time going up and down the steps...

Up & Down, Up & Down, Up & Down.

And then they never fail to stop and look right at you to say

"Ta-Da..did you see what I just did..."



I could watch them go up and down up and down up and down all day long, ha ha.
They are such special little creatures.
I am lucky to share my life with bunnies.

Cuteness For A Monday

Just hopping in quickly today to offer up some of Jin & Jak's super cuteness,
Hopefully it'll get your Monday morning off to a good start
It always helps mine anyhow, ha ha...

I am forgetting the fact that they kept me up most of night last night,
for I slept in the living room with my niece
and it would seem that for whatever reason the buns thought that if it was a good night
for a sleepover than it must also be a good night for noisy all night high-speed rabbit races & chases!

I can't believe the weather lately, ugh,
It's +20 one Monday and than -20 the next.  It's pretty chilly here today...brrrr...
The constant up and down is wrecking havoc on my noggin that's for sure,
as change in weather is one of my biggest head pain triggers...
it's been a kinda of tiring past few days of going about life anyways
with thunder lashing about in my head! Today is no different...
So I am going to be gentle on myself today and might sneak in a mid-afternoon nap perhaps,
as well as lots of nourishing peppermint and green tea,
and hopefully lots of time assisting my beauty, Ella Luna
and than the rest of the time with my oldest of friends...my beloved coloured pencils.

We'll see you later in this week with a new felt bracelet and a new painting,
So I do hope you'll have time to hop in again for another visit.

& we hope your Monday is off to a lovely & inspired start.

XO Mandy, Jin and Jaks

Monday Rabbit Dose

I am so glad when Monday hits...cause that always means it's 'back to work' and
well I spend my days with artwork, bunnies and music so I can never really complain about Mondays.
But I know Mondays are abit yucky for many people so
I thought to myself, hmmm what can I do to help...

...well give everyone a rabbity dose of ultimate cuteness...
Yes, that might just be the thing to help some out...
So here's the adorable face of our Miss Jinn....

...She and I hope it helps any Monday blues out there.

Stay cozy warm today everyone, thanks for hopping in, thanks to everyone who spread around my 'Remembrance' illustration on Facebook, and make this Monday a really really great one.

XO Mandy & Jin

Abit Of Time Outside

Jaks has finally started to eat on his own...phew!
SO...
This weekend we were able to take turns being outside. 
One of us was outside making sure Ella Luna and Roo got some fresh air and exercise
whiles the other was inside keeping Jaks company as he continues to heal.
Poor little guy just can't go out for another couple of weeks at least, which really sucks because
the rabbits just love the fall with it's crisp air, cozy winds and falling leaves.

I've been working on this new image and spent abit of time on it outside this weekend...

...The grey squirrels came by to offer some cuteness, to say hello and to collect some peanuts...

...and the flowers seemed extra lovely.

  The nights around here are getting quite cold and we know they won't last much longer now...

Today is technically a 'Back To Work' day,
last week was the official time for that but as you know Jaks got very sick. 
Now, I am having a hard time finding the groove of my studio routine. 
I find myself whirling about in circles and constantly drifting back to
Jaks who I am still worried about and to Ella Luna who is very crickety and quiet this morning.

I still have quite a few summer photos to share with you all.
Shots from a blues festival we went to.  Shots from an airshow.  Shots from a biking excursion.
Maybe today is a good day to edit some photos and get all of those queued up.
But I think I will also work with my coloured pencils and bounce between Jaks and Jins room
and Ella Luna and Roo's room as I work on 2 illustrations.

Hoping your all finding your September groove. 

XO A Bunny Tired Bijou XO

Outside with Babies

So when most people are waking up, driving to work and spending their days

perhaps in an office type of setting with fellow co-workers...

I have a completely different schedule and routine...

I wake up and feed the 4 hungry mess makers right away and
soon after it's time to hop down into the yards to make sure all is safe for all to come out,

Then there's usually a stampede of little rabbity feet

4 little precious bunnies who are anxious to get out to munch grass, dig, dig, dig & sleep...

I drag my coloured pencils and such outside and spend the days outside with 4 rabbits... 

We know not to take this lovely routine for granted, we grab everyday outside that we can...

Some of you may be asking 'where are Jinny & Jaky'...well it's no secret that they strongly dislike Ella Luna and Roo and vice versa...so to keep everyone happy and nip & stress-free we have the two couples in separate parts of the yard....our yard has the priority of being 'bunny-friendly' zones, ha ha. 

Roo Boo gave us quite the scare last week though, whew!

He suddenly was holding his head severely to the right and

jerking it back spasmodically and refusing to eat his most favourite treats!

He was rushed to the doctors...

We were warned that it could be the beginning symptoms of a neuroglical disease (panic enters here!)...

but the symptoms disappeared 4 hours later as quickly as the started, soooo we're hoping really hard that it was just some kind of random ear/neck cramp...Poor Roo...but he's all good now.

It really kind of jarred me, not just because something was obviously wrong with my big boy

but I think that I've been soooo focused on Ella Luna for the last 2 years of dealing with that nasty nasty abscess and now the aftermath of surgeries leaving her legs weak...that I somehow forgot that things will and can go wrong with my other babes too...

I truly think a big part of me is in constant panic/worry mode!

Anyhoo...today, we'll all good...and we are all outside so we're extra good, ha ha.

Have a wonderful day everyone...even if your stuck indoors!

XO Mandy and her 4 grass munching buns XO

Things Making Me Happy

I've hit a few unexpected bumps the last couple of weeks...

I've been feeling really jumbled up,  slightly fed up and I admit a tad grouchy....

I know alot of it is just simply being tired and needing to refuel.

I know I am allowed to feel this way & I have reasons

BUT

I can't take a break right now and need to quickly re-align....

So I've been sitting here thinking on how can I snap out of this funk quickly?...

Perhaps I should take a pause, look around and....

Take in all the things that tickle my heart happy....

Things like...

Other artists and a wall of inspiring art in the bedroom that I wake up to every morning...

or the fact that I actually treated myself to this teeny tiny original by Juliette Crane

or that I won a print of hers ages ago which I'll soon be getting into a frame...

I get happy when I look at this greeting card by my pal Lori Portka

which is perched atop the living room armoire...

I love that we recently celebrated our Jinny's 5th year with us.

(which I am so grateful for, espeacially when my friend just lost her Sugie bun, who was not even 3 yet)

I am so grateful that our Jinster is healthy and happy and in her forever home.

Jin is 7 or perhaps older, we aren't quite sure but she's a sweetie-pie that's for sure...

and very soon we'll have oodles of time outside together.

It cheered me up to have a nice phone chat with my best friend Judit, 

I really needed her help with something and she gave great advice...

I must say I am so proud of my bestie whose oh so talented...

(I love having some of her wallpaper rolls hanging around my studio)...

And I love hearing about her itty bitty Bean.  Who I've not seen since last summer...

so this photo of him and I snuggling makes me smile and makes me happy.

I can't help but get giddy over these new soap dispensers...

I just couldn't resist...

they quench my beauty thirsty eyes quite nicely I find, ha ha...

and are tucked away safely to be revealed again when we finally remodel our 2 bathrooms this summer...

And I feel happy having spent abit of time this past Easter weekend with my family...

I just love this photo of me and my mom from last year, blurriness and all...

(Though I admit, as I sit in my chilly basement studio writing this post,

I do find myself missing my long hair which always seemed oh so warm, ha ha.)...

I feel happy that I have a honey who brings me awesome Indian food on Friday nights...

and who recently out of blue came home with 18 pairs of Fiskars scissors

just cause he thought I'd have fun with them.

A honey who will give our rabbit physio every couple of hours without any complaint

and a honey who just recently asked me 'So what will be my job in your rabbit sanctuary'

(ahhh swooning enters here, ha ha).

I could go on and on...

which is a really good feeling, ha ha...

HEH, This helped...I DO feel better...

It's all about slowing down in the muddle and re-aligning our perspectives isn't it...

What's making your heart zing and sing today???

XO Mandy and a very happy bucking romping Roo Boo XO

Head Pain Struggles & Bunny Snuggles

I TRY not to complain about my life as a chronic/acute migraine sufferer too much because of 2 reasons a)I know I could have alot worse to deal and b) Unless a person suffers them themselves, they just don't understand what it's like.  But I mention my struggle with them here on this beloved blog of mine from time to time, because well, they really do very heavily weigh into and affect my creative life/business.  The last few weeks, I've really been struggling & at this point (as many many times before) I am feeling extremely fed up and frustrated.  I know my doctors have said time and time again that these migraines are just part of my physiology and something I had to learn to deal with but I am honestly feeling like I've reached the end of my usually very strong & tough tether.  I feel like screaming 'ENOUGH PAIN, ENOUGH NOW'.  I am so jazzed about so many things I am trying to do, but I keep getting pulled back from all this head pain. And, what bugs me almost more than the pain is the nausea that comes fast & furious because the pain is so intense & constant....& I am a trooper when it comes to the head pain trust me, but I am a complete suck when it comes to my tummy turning...UGH. 

The extra crappy thing is that I have many triggers which include: Allergies (especially to smoke) sinus, stress, a shortened muscle in my left shoulder, Osgood Slater's disease in my knees (which is a fancy name to say my knees dislocate very easily), there is the fact that my upper spine is curved the wrong way and that I have arthritis in my neck from the years & years of being bent over artwork BUT the biggest culprit to wreck havoc on my poor noggin is barometric pressure & weather changes, which has been an extra nasty roller coaster lately & which my trusty little codeine pills won't help.

 I find when I endure pain, days on end with no relief in sight, one of the only soothing things that buoys me is oodles of BUNNY SNUGGLES.

Jinster is one of the best snuggle buddies around & I just had to share these photos Jon took of us just last week, for I love them oh so much...



Doesn't she just have the prettiest eyes...

I've been holding this frustration in for awhile, alas I am done holding it in...this blog of my is suppose to be a place of honesty & authenticity after all.

I have a couple new pieces to show you including a Northern cousin of the 'Beautiful Birds' & he's so anxious to say Hello, however, my scanner has decided to revolt, I've not been able to scan any new pieces in & the search to replace it is not going well!

XO a pain-riddled Bijou & My Snuggle Bun Jin

...Lessons From Rabbits...

People often ask me why I love rabbits so much...These recent photos we snapped during some of Jin & Jaks time outside just perfectly captures what completely & totally captures our hearts about bunnies...

...They are not just wise & serene, familiar & beautiful...they are their very own little creationists..they don't have a bad day unless theirs something to be upset about & they enjoy each & every beautiful day right down to every single moment as fully as they can...if only people could learn how to do this with more ease & regularity...

...They love hard...they play hard...they are brilliant...they are pure...they are such a big part of the beautiful essence that makes up my life...thank you honey bunnies, thank you XXOO

Whenever I hear this song (which is almost everyday cause I have it right on my computer desktop) I think of the bunnies...

(p.s. some of these photos will be in my new photo shop.)

Have a great weekend.  XO M & The Buns...

Jinny & Jaks & Their Bivouwack...

I just wanted to hop in quickly today with a speacil hello from Jinny & Jaks...they said that they really wanted to show off one of their favourite things; their super cool fort & bed ala fresco...ha ha.  When Jon and/or I don't feel like we can keep a close enough eye on them out in the yard, we don't let them down but instead allow them to play on the deck, which is just off the kitchen...(Ella Luna & Roo have their own deck off the dining room, spoiled bunnies, yes we know:D) They love going out on the deck because one of us will build them a fort out of old bedsheets...or as Jon has always called them rabbit "Bivouwacks", ha ha...

...and some people think you can only have fun and build forts for human children;D...