I feel like I'm more than exactly who I would have wanted myself to be right now.  I look back at old posts and, sometimes smiling, sometimes cringing, think about who I was when I was years younger. 
In the end, this question has almost turned itself around. 
I look back and am mostly proud that I was as much of a stand-up kid as I was--enjoying school, doing my homework and basically doing everything a kid my age was supposed to be doing (but still, sorry, Mom for going through my dumb I'm-in-high-school-and-hate-everything-except-my-boyfriend-who-is-terrible-to-me phase). I'm happy I've become a person who has gone through some bad (not bad AT ALL in retrospect) and has come out a better person because of it.

Right now, I couldn't be happier with what I am:
Newly married, childless, employed, fit, well-adjusted and mentally in the right place (KNOCK ON WOOD).
Even with my self-proclaimed flaws (which are freakishly minimal), everything turned out to be exactly what I had hoped for, and better. 

Mary

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

So...

It's Monday. 

And I'm wearing three scarves, which is great because it makes me feel so cozy and warm. 

And it's because of the scarves that I realize that my skin on my neck turns into the palest it can possibly get ever in the winter. A thought that never crossed my mind before ever. 

So during the week, Ben and I have taken to drinking protein shakes instead of eating normal meals (mostly for breakfast and lunch for me.  And also because I can't resist the call of some actual food for dinner... like carrot sticks! Wheeee!). With the shakes, we're also working out for at least an hour every night at Lifetime.  And by working out, I mean that it's MOSTLY free weight training, machine work and resistance training with a little bit of cardio.
It's amazing because over the course of a few weeks I've already seen a lot of improvement in my upper body, which is saying something since I kind of turned to mush after starting MCAD (Sit in class, go to studio, sit in studio for hours, sleep, repeat). 

Last Friday at happy hour, someone said I was the most muscular person at the table! It made me feel pretty awesome. 

Anyway, I think it's time for me to get back into posting regularly.  Like I said before, I've been looking back at my really old posts (way back in 2004) and really like documenting my weird little moments in my life. 

For instance:

My awesome win from the Yankee Swap/Greed game at the office Christmas party.  AWESOME.

I think it'll be nice to get into this again.  I remember the reason why I posted so much before was because I had so many friends with Xangas when I started. 

Now, I look back at their blogs, and all I see is some post saying "Wow! I totally forgot I have one of these!  More posts soon!" from back in 2006.
It feels good to have maintained being so committed to this blog.  And I shall continue!

All the best,

Mary

Well hello!

I've been re-reading a lot of my posts as of late and noticed that I did a lot of "question-and-answer" type of things.  I thought it would be funny to do it again. 
For old time's sake.  Here goes:

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Mary
2. Muffy
3. Mrs. Ross

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. MirageStarre
2. marylikestodraw
3. naturalaruba

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My ability to prioritize (ironic, because I'm doing this at work right now... But ONLY because I have nothing to do at the moment!)
2. My commitment to a routine - like working out and sticking to a diet
3. My constant desire to improve myself and my designs

THREE THINGS YOU HATE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. Cellulite!
2. My teeth, sometimes
3. Sometimes I can be really impatient about certain things.  I'm sorry I'm sorry!
(4.) I always feel like I need to apologize about things... Obviously.

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. German
2. Norwegian
3. Polish

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. Peeping Toms
2. VOICEMAILS
3. Calls from phone numbers I don't recognize. 

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Green tea
2. Music
3. INDESIGN

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. Old black jeans
2. white collared shirt
3. blazer

THREE OF YOUR FAVOURITE BANDS: (for today)
1. Do composers count?  If so, Thomas Newman
2. Iron & Wine
3. Mumford & Sons (Apparently I only like bands with ampersands in the names, ha!)

THREE OF YOUR FAVOURITE SONGS AT PRESENT:
1. Everywhere to Me - Michelle Branch (Yes, I'm still a middle school girl at heart)
2. Rhinestone Eyes - Gorillaz
3. Below My Feet - Mumford & Sons

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:
1. Increase my lean muscle - reduce fat
2. Chop my looong hair
3. Find a bigger/better/still reasonably priced apartment/house/duplex

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP (besides love):
1. A best friend (check)
2. Crazy Creative (check)
3. Snuggle-monster (double-check)

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (no specific order):
1. ITBS (Ilio-tibial band sybndrome) is an overuse injury of the knee. 
2. I don't have pierced ears
3. High heels are comfortable

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. Height
2. Build
3. Hands

THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:
1. Hold a grudge
2. Get REALLY into Jersey Shore/Honey Boo-Boo/Dancing With the Stars
3. Cut my fingernails well

THREE OF YOUR FAVOURITE HOBBIES:
1. Road Tripping
2. Sketching
3. Antiqueing

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Get Ben's damn car out of the impound lot
2. Go home and snuggle with my cats
3. Get all of my work done
(Not necessarily in that order)

THREE CAREERS YOU ARE CONSIDERING:
1. Designer - Books (CHECK)
2. A Greenhouse manager
3. Winning the lottery and becoming a boring housewife.

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Iceland
2. Scotland
3. Ireland

THREE WORDS PEOPLE WOULD NEVER USE TO DESCRIBE YOU:
1. Shrewd
2. Animal-hater
3. Insensitive
(I hope!  But you tell me!)

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Write and Illustrate my own children's book
2. Get my MFA?
3. Live in the woods in a cabin without electricity for a year.

There you have it!  That was fun, and... actually really funny when compared to my past answers. 

Mary

Watching Se7en on this cold, cold night with some Bulleit bourbon, blankets and some cute kitties. 

Tomorrow we're gonna make some ramen, I think.  :)

Not too exciting, but, life is good and I'm happy it's all about soup and snuggling and kitties and horror movies.  The perfect life.  

M

I'm obsessed with a few things now.

Mumford & Sons - Below My Feet

Training for This

My new collection: Vintage photos (here are just a couple that I've accumulated)

And bench press.  I can do 85lbs.  Thank you Ben. 

M

Just watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind while drinking gin and grapefruit juice on this Sunday evening.  

Lyle has a cold and I'm worried about the little guy.  

Sylvie sits in the sink and waits for us to turn the water on.  

Today, I painted for the first time in what feels like forever and, even though it wasn't my most amazing piece, I felt whole again. 

Today, I worked out for two hours and I felt stronger than I have ever been.  

Ben worked all day today and whenever he does, I feel more and more like the half of a whole, and... I love that.

Just some... ramblings.

But seriously, I want Lyle to get better.  

Mary

LIFE!

LIFE IS AMAZING!

And the only way I can describe it is in pictures. (The cute little black and white guy is Lyle, and we've had him for about three months... Sylvie hates him.)

more soon!

xoxo

M

Hey again.  We don't have all of the pictures back yet, but I was able to sneak one off of our photographer's assistant's facebook page.

Everything has finally cooled down, mostly ending with Ben's brother getting married only three weeks after us to the lovely Rebekah!  So the Ross family is evened out, three girls... three boys!  We're finishing up the last of the thank you notes and it's SO NICE to just get back to normal life again... Meaning work, gym, Sylvie, and potentially baby #2. (which would be a CAT, not an actual baby...) 

We took our honeymoon up in Bluefin Bay on the north shore and then booked it down to Duluth after a couple of days because the isolation wasn't cutting it.  We spent a week up there and it was amazing, to say the least.   

Anyhoo, just thought I'd share a bit more. 

Thanks guys!

Mary

Oh HEY YOU GUYS!

So... Guess what happened!

I'll give you the details in a bit

Mary Ross

Holy crap there is so much new stuff!

Ben and I got moved into our apartment which is in a snug little neighborhood in Minneapolis.  We were also
honored and excited to bring into our home a lovely kitty who goes by the name of Sylvie.  She was the one "Forget-me-not" cat
in the Humane Societies of Minnesota, and seeing as was so pretty in her picture (a little lopsided due to a missing ear) we decided
to pay her a visit in Coon Rapids.

Well, we can say that we fell in love, and we took her home that following Caturday.  

Now she's been enjoying hanging out in our bed and watching out of our nice big windows while Ben and I are off at work during the day.

I'm still chugging away at Mill City Press, making book covers and interiors, and I'm happy to say that the aforementioned Tooth Fairy book has been
fully designed and is out the door to be printed, which is pretty exciting.  I have illustrations in a published children's book, you guys!

Hopefully, more to come

M