Moving... again!

Here I go again.

Since I went and "moved" my etsy shop, it was sort of inevitable that my blog would follow suit. Darn it all though, I didn't claim "cathypeng" on blogger sooner. I found out that my web hosting service offers a free blog, so I tried it out the other afternoon. Kinda simple and boring to look at though:


Then I tried out typepad very briefly since my name was still available. But I couldn't figure out how to make it all pretty after fiddling with it for about an hour, so I could foresee blogging to be more of a task than fun in the future. Especially since I'd have to pay for it after the 2 weeks free trial period was up. So cathypengart it is. It's shorter than "cathyssweetshop", at least.

Some things I'm working towards for the new blog this year:

- updating more frequently, hopefully more than once a week
- fun giveaways of stuff made by me
- more photos of work-in-progress, our home, the city and other interesting things

Sorry to my readers ...
I hope you'll follow me to my new location.

Today's Post is brought to you by the Letter C...

... for "C" I told you so.
And for Crappy with a capital "C".

I should really learn to take my own advice. Last night, against my better judgment, I decided to drink on an empty stomach. It was only a few sips of wine before dinner and I drank maybe 3 small glasses over 3-4 hours. I felt fine all through dinner and the rest of the evening. And fine when we went to bed.

A few hours into slumber though, I awoke and didn't feel so hot.

So here's a tip for anyone considering drinking alcohol on an empty stomach...
DON'T!!!

Unless you want to wake up in the middle of the night and start hurling.

More than once.

And cap it off by feeling rotten the next morning and the rest of the day.
Yes, I'm still feeling crappy.

At least that's my reasoning as to why I got sick. Either that or alcohol just doesn't agree with me anymore.
Yes, I'm getting old.

This post was going to be longer and more upbeat, but that's just not going to happen today. So I'll leave you with a few more pictures with the letter "C".

this is kinda how I feel - like someone took a bite out of me


and here's a sneak peek of my desktop these days

A New Year & A New Shop

Happy Belated New Year! Hope everyone's year is off to a good start. My first post of 2009 is a bit overdue. Better late than never though, right? That's sort of how I feel about my decision to rebrand my online shop. Back in February of 2006 when I opened my (first) etsy shop, I didn't really give much thought to the username I chose. But almost as soon as I picked the name, I wanted to change it. Fast forward to the end of 2008 and my wanting to turn over a new leaf despite some 800 sales and nearly 700 positive feedbacks. I did a bit of forum reading to see what other buyers and sellers thought about changing shop names and finally just decided to go for it. So my new shop was born a few days before the new year!

It's pretty much the same as before, just under a different name, my name, which will be my new business name soon (as opposed to Cathy Peng Illustration). I'm being a bit more selective about what I list in the shop, making sure there is a cohesive look to everything so I may phase out certain items altogether. I'm glad for not getting rid of these though, since they made the front page the other day and brought me quite a few sales afterwards.


Our holidays were pretty low-key since it was just Matt, me and the cats at home this year. We did make it to a few fun holiday get-togethers though, which is impressive for two rather anti-social creatures. After several weeks of overloading on sweets, mindless tv, and the internet, I'm feeling recharged and more creative these days. But all my hours of surfing the net were not wasted since I discovered and rediscovered some great new blogs and websites:
- Shinzi Katoh - whose art and designs I'm sure I've seen before but just never knew who was behind it.
- A Beautiful Mess - love the name of this girl's blog and the art that she creates and sells on etsy.
- Making it Lovely - a stationery designer whose home renos are amazing and inspiring.
- Apartment Therapy - for a peek inside others' homes and living spaces and for interior design tips.
- The Life Pursuit - another creative spirit who's inspiring me at the moment.

When I wasn't pigging out or vegging out, I was doing some major decluttering and reorganizing around our place. I rearranged my workspace for the hundredth time and finally feel satisfied with the setup. Pictures to come later this week (or month) once I've got art and other stuff hung up.

I'll sign off with our 2008 holiday photo. Three out of four of us were PhotoShopped in since we couldn't get the cats to stay still long enough for one decent shot. Can you guess which three?