The End (of the Year)

"Don't cry because it's over,
smile because it happened."
-- Dr. Seuss

go confidently

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
Live the life you've imagined.
-- Henry David Thoreau

Opinions

If you listen to neurologists and psychiatrists,
you’d never fall in love.”
-- Timothy Leary

Forgive, Forget

"I never forget a face,
but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception."
-- Groucho Marx

The Man

"Be who you are and say what you feel,
because those who mind don't matter,
and those who matter don't mind."
-- Dr. Seuss

The Day After...

"I do things like get in a taxi and say,
'The library, and step on it.'"
-- David Foster Wallace

Merry Xmas!

Inspired by the spirit of the holidays my family decided to all join in the fun (via my Mom's prompting) and draw their own versions of Peppermint. So like snowflakes here are five different versions of Peppermint.

By Kat Thomas (Moi)

By Kathy Berry (Aunt Kathy)

By Letty Thomas (Mom)

By Kelly Thomas (Little Sis)

By Tony Thomas (Dad)

"Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends."
-- Clarence the Angel

Un Cadeau

"Change always comes bearing gifts."
-- Price Pritchett

Speak Up!

Much unhappiness has come into the world
because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.
-- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Le Monde

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living;
the world owes you nothing;
it was here first!
-- Mark Twain

Time, Forward!

It took me four years to paint like Raphael,
but a lifetime to paint like a child.
--Pablo Picasso

Dominoes

Start by doing what's necessary;
then do what's possible;
and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
-- Saint Francis of Assisi

It's Going to Be a Very Good...

If you're going through hell, keep going...
--Winston Churchill

Counting ducks in a Row

Not everything counted counts.
Not everything that counts can be counted.
--Albert Einstein

A Thousand Kisses

We do not remember days...
we remember moments.
-- Cesare Pavese

It's Never Too Late to Be a Rock Star

Gravity is Only a Theory!

Kickass Rainbows (are there any other kind?)

Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.
--Pablo Picasso

Okay, Totally Done with Cute Titles Involving the Picture Date (14 if you're wondering...)

God, does not play dice with the universe. -- Albert Einstein
Stop telling God what to do. --Niels Bohr
(Two amazing thinkers duking it out over the amazing topic of the Big Picture!)

Lucky Thirteen.

When the pain of being the same
becomes greater than the pain of being different
you CHANGE.
-- Deepak Chopra

Cheaper by the Dozen!

Life
isn't about finding yourself.
Life
is about creating yourself.

-- Unknown

Cheaper by the Dozen!

Life
isn't about finding yourself.
Life
is about creating yourself.

-- Unknown

Stairway to Eleven...

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
-- Willie Shakes.

Perfect Ten!

If you won the lottery tomorrow
and the first thing you did was quit your job,
you're working the wrong job.

Nine... It Really Just Wants To Be Ten

Do
One
Thing
Every
Day
That
Scares
You
-- Eleanore Roosevelt

Is Eight Really Enough?

The only real failure in life is the failure to try.
-- Anonymous

Seventh Minute of Heaven!

The only difference between a rut and a grave
is how deep it is.

Six is the Fix

 Great Minds talk about Ideas.
Average minds talk about Events.
Small minds talk about People

Five Finger Discount

I'm on call, to be there.
One and all, to be there.
And When I fall, to pieces.
Lord you know, I'll be there waiting.
-- Kings of Leon

The Elemental Four

Don't think.
Thinking is the enemy of creativity.
It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy.
You can't try to do things.
You simply must do things.
--Ray Bradbury

(I've had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Ray Bradbury, a total honor. His name came up in a couple conversations in the past few days so I thought he would be a great quote to feature today.)

Two Points For Honesty

The little I know I owe to my ignorance.
-- Orville Mars

The Third Time is Charming...

It is done quickly enough if it is done well.
-- Latin Proverb

The First Step

Two years ago on a rainy day I was at work mundanely typing away.  For no good reason other than I thought I should I deviated from my standard schedule and decided to go deposit my paycheck in the middle of the day.     As I left the deluge that was the parking lot I saw a flash of fur dart in front of me.   On a lark, again, I decided to stop and lower myself straight into a puddle so I could look under a seriously dented Chevy.   There staring back at me was teeny tiny kitten. 

I grabbed this sopping wet feline and walked around seeing if she was anyone's.  Not a chance.  At the mixed martial arts boxing gym next door they categorically informed me "that cat's yours now." Ha ha, yeah right, I thought.  Truthfully it took a month of trying to pawn her off to friends (with only one nibble that was dismissed on the grounds that her last cat had been eaten by a coyote) before I finally acquiesced.   Call it chance or fate, whatever your poison, Peppermint the Cat had arrived into my life.

She didn't become my muse until a year later when in a bid to reclaim my inner child I started drawing pictures.  Usually the most fascinating thing to try and capture through art is a living one, and since she was the only other member of the animal kingdom under my roof it was a perfect fit for sporadic scribbles.

Yet fate, once again, dusted my mind with inspiration prompting me to start the Peppermint Project (aka Pics of Peps).  Starting today, one picture every day for a year (still not sure how vacations are going to fit into this but I've got one coming up so it'll be figured out soon).

Absolute silliness?  Completely.  But as Arthur Rimbaud noted, "Genius is the recovery of childhood at will."

Hope any and all of Peps 365 portraits to come will bring you a smile!  

Kat