Author: Naomi Valdivia

Naomi Valdivia is an artist originally from the South Bay area of Los Angeles County, California. Growing up in a large house that was constantly under construction by her grandfather, using mismatched and often found materials heavily influenced her creative mind. There were always nooks and spaces to hide in and create different worlds from her imagination. Because there was no standard in her environment that looked normal, out of the box thinking was the baseline for her developing brain. Her younger education consisted of strict, evangelical Christian schools until she was dropped into Hollywood for high school at the Fairfax Visual Arts Magnet on Melrose Avenue. This was a culture shock that opened up a whole new world to her creatively, and it was then that she decided to continue her art education with a Bachelors of Fine Arts at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Meeting her husband in college, graduating, then having 3 kids while maintaining a career in graphic design and illustration, she has been quite busy with very little time to create as much personal art as she had originally planned. She has held positions in various areas in the field, including scientific, biomedical, patent illustration, label and package printing, and publishing. This career has spanned almost 20 years. She now resides in the Greater Phoenix area of Arizona, and is excited to work with Aurtistic Zine, as she has only recently discovered that she is on the spectrum. It took all of the time at home during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, away from an office and people that she would constantly mask in front of, for her to be able to research and finally accept the fact that she is Autistic. At first, it was scary, but quickly became freeing. Her mission now is to help educate more people about what Autism actually means and includes; as it is such a broad spectrum, and no two Autistic minds are alike. To be able to combine her identity as an artist and an Autistic person, a truly Aurtistic individual, is extremely meaningful.

Throwback Thursday

Spending this #throwbackthursday #tbt looking at a photo album from my past that, seriously, seems like it was only a year or two ago, but it’s been over a decade! I stopped on one photo of myself and my now husband, Carlos, before we were married and before having my two boys. Alyssa was always in the picture. 🙂 It’s not the typical romantic couple “kissy” picture. He managed to plant a cartoon style SMOOCH on me before I had a chance to realize this was going to happen. I am a mixture of being thoroughly amused and being grossed out. But it’s very obvious that the couple in the picture is very much in love, happy and super silly (and maybe slightly obnoxious). As I look at this picture, I’m reminded of who I used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I have made some strides and grown in a lot of ways as I’ve grown up, but I’ve lost some of THIS along the way. It can really suck a lot of fun out of life when you grow up and start having a laundry list of responsibilities. It’s stressful when you have other people to worry about other than yourself and the person you’re in love with. I love my kids so much, but my anxious personality takes that love and turns it into worry and paranoia half the time. That’s something else I need to work on-a blog post for another time, perhaps. But, whatever happens in life, no matter how stressful, I cannot allow myself to change so much that I lose THIS. The words from Johnny to Ponyboy come to mind when I see my past self. “Stay Gold.” I’m going to try to.

Carlos and I circa 2002

April 24, 2014 0

Priorities, priorities, priorities!

Being a work at home mom, I tend to overwork myself, even when I know it’s unhealthy for myself. Many moms I know tend to put themselves at the bottom of the family totem pole, and I am guilty of that. VERY GUILTY. It’s only when mom gets sick or has a nervous breakdown does she truly realize that she is the nucleus of the family. Without her, things just don’t run as they should. But when she’s overworked, stressed, and has a terrible sense of self, how well can she run that family even when she’s getting by? Not very well. This is the lesson I learned this month.

My son got a cough, then my husband, then me. It was bad-it was more than a cough or a cold. This one led to some respiratory issues and it lasted about 3 weeks before showing any signs of going away. Previous to me getting the bug, I’d been overworking myself with my job, my freelance jobs, guilting myself over housework, guilting myself for not doing my best as a mom, feeling depressed and then feeling guilty about that, trying to fit in laundry and dishes, guilting myself for being unhealthy, dealing with the stress of a difficult teenage girl, a very difficult two year old going through the terrible twos, and an otherwise easy middle son who was feeling ignored and slipping at school. My job and getting more freelance work was something I felt was for myself, and necessary, as working from home hasn’t matched up my old income from working for a corporation yet. But, it was starting to become an escape, and not a healthy one. Finally my mind and body had had enough of my crap, and my immune system shut down. I got that virus and ended up having to go to Urgent Care. I couldn’t breathe or sleep for 3 nights. Truth be told though, I hadn’t been able to sleep right in a long time, and not just because of a nursing child. My mind was riddled with stress of all kinds. The pain in my chest started more mental and emotional than physical, but it was manifesting itself into the physical and grown into pain in my digestive area and then acid reflux. So when I got sick, I realized what I had done to myself.

So shifting my priorities now. Taking care of my health and making sure I eat right again. Being active again-starting a little slow because of the weight gain that all the cortisol from the stress had caused. Reconnecting with the kids-and they in turn have reciprocated my efforts and have been helping me with the housework more, without me having to nag half as much. I even reconnected with my daughter after having been disconnected for about 6 years now (that was a BIG one). Rocky even sleeps through the night! He even had his first 2 night sleepover at the grandparents’ house which was a miracle! I’m not going to say all my problems are solved but they never will all be solved will they? It’s all in how I handle it-and I know if I want to avoid another WORSE physical breakdown, I need to keep my chin up and remind myself why I’m staying at home in the first place. I could get more work done easier in an office, but the reason I decided to stay home and work from here is to be here for my family. And I have to remember that to be truly HERE for my family, I need to take care of myself, too.

April 23, 2014 0

I will post where you can pick one up as soon as I find out!

March 12, 2014 0

Had Angst, Made Coffee, Painted Zombies.

February 21, 2014 0

What a GREAT LIST. I normally don’t post these, but I just had to share this.

February 19, 2014 0

Growing Wheatgrass

At the Farmer’s Market, we tried a shot of wheatgrass from one of the vendors. She kept telling us how great the stuff is for teeth and gums, which of course made us look right at her mouth. Her teeth and gums looked really healthy! Her skin also looked very clear. You could tell she wasn’t wearing much makeup at all if any. I’ve been reading about growing wheatgrass for a while now, so we ended up buying some seeds from her that were already sprouted. Only $4.50 for a giant bag! I planted quite a bit, but still have a lot left! I need to make more growing trays. Anyway, this is my first time growing this, and I created a makeshift tray out of some leftover tomato plastic containers from Fresh N Easy:

I cut them in half and then poked holes for drainage:

My second tray ended up better.

Filled it with rich soil and compost that i had mixed together earlier. I added water to make sure it was a nice moist mixture, kind of like brownie batter!

Originally I placed too many seeds…

The tray on top of the other half to allow for drainage…

Pretty wheatgrass trays all in a row…

Watered it, and the drainage system looks like it’s working well…

Covered them up for the night…

I’ll post progress pics of success or failure. 🙂

February 16, 2014 0

Hooray! I got to be a big part of this issue, so check it out! In print very soon, but preview it at ISSUU for now: http://issuu.com/artthemagazine/docs/art_themag_issue4_issuu

February 13, 2014 0

From Food Blog to Cookbook: The Domestic Man

You MUST check out his blog. Really enlightening!

WordPress.com News

Russ Crandall established his blog, The Domestic Man, to chronicle his culinary and gardening adventures and a lifestyle modeled after the Paleo diet, which focuses on natural, unprocessed foods. Over the years, his recipes have evolved to focus on fundamental, traditional, and historically relevant meals.

Today, we’re happy to announce the release of his cookbook of the same name, The Domestic Man, which pairs recipes with short histories of dishes — and mouth-watering full-page photographs. The cookbook is for both novice and experienced chefs, Paleo eaters looking beyond the traditional Paleo diet, and people who want to test out the Paleo way.

We chatted with Russ about the blog-to-book process — and his food photography tips, too.

Tell us how your blog was born.

My wife and I moved into a house of our own in 2008. Having spent the past ten years living with roommates or relatives…

View original post 1,061 more words

February 11, 2014 0

Sick Toddler and Self Realization

My littlest one was sick this week. The picture is when he started to feel a bit better, sitting in the cozy and warm “throne” I made him. I’m always busy here at home, often working, which is very difficult when this little guy is in mommy mode. As all you parents know, when a child is not feeling well, he just wants his mommy! Well earlier in the week I was frustrated with this dynamic. I felt bad for him but I was also trying hard I keep up with my schedule. Begrudgingly, I stopped working to nurse him and get him to sleep. I didn’t get any sleep that night, as he kept waking up congested and coughing and crying for milk. I only fell into a deep sleep as the sun was coming up. I must have slept for less than an hour, but the nightmare I had felt longer.
I dreamed that somehow when I had Rocky, drugged up during the C section, I had actually had twins, and that my second baby was taken away without me knowing. I was reunited with him in my dream-now a toddler, looking just like Rocky. I’m pretty sure this “twin” thing was just to protect my heart from the heartbreak that was coming. In my dream I was holding him for a bit but had this pulling feeling if needing to get to an audition. (I’m not an actor, but I guess in my dream I was auditioning for something. But the feeling that I had other things I needed to do was the same as in my real life.) As I was pulling away, he pulled my far toward him. I told him, “I love you!” Like I often tell Rocky. I had sill been waiting for him to repeat it. Then this twin clearly said, “I love you, Mama!” I was so happy and I held him. As I held him and was looking at his face, something went wrong. The life left his face. He died in my arms. I started crying so hard, I felt I couldn’t breathe. I cried so hard that I woke up. And in my bed, I’m holding onto Rocky crying and crying. My older two came in and comforted me when I told them a very short version of what I had just experienced, still not fully realizing that it wasn’t my reality. Even as I type this, there are tears flowing from my eyes.
After that dream, I spent a lot of time with my sick little guy, lots if hugs and kisses, no frustration wen he wanted to nurse, I spent extra attention to keeping him well fed and baked gluten free brownies and made him some more orange juice. Doting on him, wiping his nose and continuously applying kids Cherry Vapo Rub. I still got work done, but I was reminded that I work from home for my kids, that he’s not in the way of work. Sometimes even the best parents need a reminder of what’s important. By the end of the day, he was feeling tons better, and more than just physically better, I could tell that he was happier and felt more loved. I slept much better that night.