Makes Me Happy Mondays

Yeah, this is kind of like Friday Fascinations but I'm doing a Monday one as well now because my last two Mondays have been awful so I'm posting about things that are making me happy so I am forced to think about that.

So here's what's making me happy this Monday:

Lexieken's Sherlolly Fanart:

Lexieken is a deviantart user who is also a Sherlolly shipper. For those of you outside tumblr, this means she wants Sherlock and Molly from the BBC Sherlock to be together. Molly Hooper is a character totally outside the canon, a creation of Moffatt and Gatiss, and EVERYBODY loves Molly whether you ship her with Sherlock or not. And I didn't, but Lexie's art makes me ship it.

Not only that but I will stare at it for hours on end and keep a tab of her deviantart gallery open at work when I need a smile (you need smiles whilst working on a client that provides fast divorce services) and give myself work breaks consisting entirely of looking at her glorious Sherlolly.

Those of you who love Sherlock fanart or are familiar with alicexzhang's art at all may remember this little beauty:

Alice and Lexie are friends, Alice is of course phenomenal with her colors, but the original drawing (pictured here on the right), as Alice acknowledges, belongs to the phenomenal Lexieken

I should be linking to her page (and I will eventually, I promise!) but the wifi I am writing this on does not allow deviantart so I cannot, at least for now.

{UPDATE: Hello, Mom & Dad's WiFi--Okay you all need to follow lexieken like right now!!}

{"Falling" by lexieken}

This isn't her only drawing of these two kissing in the rain, as I said, and it certainly isn't the only one of them kissing. She also does a lot of Shelock, Molly, and the rest of the gang as Disney characters--think Roger and Anita Radcliffe. You've probably seen her Disney!lock character sketches; if you follow me on Pinterest you absolutely have. 

Lexie herself especially noted their resemblance to the famous pet parents in this one, which I love.

Come on, it's Molly in a catsuit dressing Sherlock as a bee, for a costume party--what's not to love?

Lexieken's Sherlolly fanart makes me happy because her portrayal of Molly (did I mention that there are little mini-fics accompanying the drawings on her deviantart and tumblr?) is of a Molly who is, at last, loved and confident, and of a Sherlock who is working, loving, loved, and whole.  The way she draws them together just makes me happy all over. 

Writing:

I've noticed later that I'm happier when I write--so I'm making an effort to journal more, write poetry, make my thoughts into witty personal essays, and try--really try--to progress and finish my novels. 

There are a lot of great, random writing prompts out there that will make you write and imagine things about your characters that have nothing to do with your stories but will help you come to know your characters even more. 

My favorites force you to assign characters numbers and put certain ones in certain situations. 

I've also got a new journal to encourage me to write more. If you go to Barnes & Noble, it's the turquoise (of course) leather journal with the Dorothy Parker quote.

Oh look:

Guns aren't lawful, nooses give/gas smells awful; you might as well live

Yes, it's about suicide. Dorothy's mother died when she was young and her early life was riddled with personal tragedy like a Mobster's car with bullet holes. It isn't too surprising that she tried at least twice. But there is, in this darkly funny little epigram, a glimmer of hope. Parker's commentary on methods of suicide reminds us that what we have here is worth enough to not sit through the horrid, tedious methods necessary to end one's own life.

Blackberry Coke: 

It is delicious. Seriously, put some blackberry syrup in your coke the next time you get the chance, you won't be sorry. Jess and I went to get one today after a capital-M-Monday.

TED Talks:

I won't pretend to know which one is best for you, but these are on YouTube and they offer scholarly thought, not necessarily overblown things but they always make you think. My all-time favorite is Jamie Oliver's talk about the need for better food and food education for kids. But my new current Monday favorite is a discussion of celebrity gossip as social commentary and anthropology.

My Own Friends:

At the end of the day, it was fun with Jess and the good people I work with who made my Monday better. I love you all.