5 Favorite Cartoonists

   As I spend a lot of my time scrolling Instagram (actually an embarassing amount of time), I figured I would share a couple of my personal favorite accounts, both because I thought some of you might enjoy knowing more about the artists I admire and follow on social media. I picked cartoonists, who I find to be the most entertaining (on the entire app actually) and decided to present five of them to you.
   I've always enjoyed looking at the work of other artists as I sometimes draw myself and enjoy the craft. Besides, who doesn't consider cartoon strips hilarious and enjoyable? I think it's amazing, and what's even more amazing to me is that there are people daring enough to post their art on the Internet.
   I think these five people are hilarous, and if you're like me and spend a lot of time on the app, or are generally just bored, feel free to go look at these. I think all of them deserve more attention and recognition online.
   My personal favorite of these five is @straycurls, although her comics are mostly aimed towards the audience with curly hair, I find her comics very relatable and most of the time, absolutely hilarious. She also has an amazing artstyle which I admire a lot, and I think her personality is amazing and her humor impeccable. This Thor and Loki comic is one of my personal favorites, and it's made me smile every time I've looked at it. Her comic's characters vary a lot and adds an enjoyable amount of different approaches every time she posts.
   I recently, just a couple of days ago, found the account @bestie_thecomic which is also absolutely hilarious. It pictures the adventures of two roommates, and it makes me both laugh and smile. The style is different from all of the other artists I'm showing you, with very unique facial expressions and a nice color palette. I've only read a few of the comic strips, but I'm already completely in love. The style of drawing is actually unlike everything else I can remember I've seen before which, of course, is another nice detail about this artist.

   The next artist is someone you probably have heard of before, @chrishallbeck which is known all over the internet for his comics and his light drawing style. His drawings, with only a small amount of detail and the colorless drawings still manage to create an enjoyable reading experience. His jokes are unique and his storylines are refreshing. I've followed Chris Hallbeck for several years now, he's been one of my favorite artists for quite a while, and I doubt that will change any time soon. If you haven't yet heard of Chris and/or his work, I highly recommend that you check it out, his drawings are amazing. He also seems to have an amazing personality and he always makes me laugh. He's also the person producing the most content out of all the artists I've included on my list, updating his Instagram about every other day with new, enjoyable comics. Chris is also the one of these artists that has the largest following on Instagram.
   After following @artbymoga for almost a full year, I realize that she is one of my abslute favorite artists ever, and she always amazes me. Her ideas are unique and fresh, her cartoons are amazingly relatable for everyone who has ever enjoyed drawing and a lot more people. Her work often features her boyfriend and her friends, and are full of positivity and humor. She inspires me more than anyone else on this list, and I always love the colors she chooses for her comics. If I got to recommend just one of these artists that deserved a bigger audience, I would definetly say it's her. I love her style of art, and how she's not afraid to joke about herself and her own experiences. She seems like an amazingly kind, confident and driven person, which are the three characteristics that are the most important to me when I decide if I like a person or not.
   And last, but definetly not least, I have decided to feature @adamtots on this list of amazing artists. Because not only is his work inspired, funny, creative and enjoyable, he also has an awesome sense of humor (for example, this year's Halloween he dressed up like @artbymoga for Halloween), a nice personality and of course, a really nice beard. His style of art varies a bit, as illustrated in this comic on the right, which is part of the reason I chose this one to show his talent. His color palette shows a lot of variety and you know I love colors. He also has a tendency to use more shadowing in his work than the other featured artists on this list, and the jokes are often based on things that are happening/have happened in his life. We all know jokes based on the teller's own experience often generates the largest amount of laughs.
   I've been following him for about a year now, and I have no intention of stopping. He always makes me laugh and smile and his comics never disappoints.
   So, there are the five artists I decided to show you today, I hope you enjoyed them and seriously consider checking out more on their work. All these are cartoonists are found on Instagram.

Tear Us Down, Build Us Up

   When reading this quote today (on @feminine.fire on Instagram) I realized something. This quote is actually very true. No matter what a woman does, the things she accomplishes never gets the most attention.
    A female neurosurgeon is going to get asked what it's like to be a woman in her field more than she's congratulated for saving a life, a woman getting a Nobel prize is going to be disliked for what she wore to the ceremony more than she gets praised for her accomplishments in literature, a female athlete is going to get asked if her monthlies interferes with her training. This is something I've been thinking about a lot over several years, and despite this partly being a matter of sexist comments from men, it also happens a lot from other women.
   For some reason, when another woman accomplishes something, other women around her will instantly tear her down. "Oh, she won a Nobel prize? And she wore that to the ceremony?" "She got a perfect score on that test? Doesn't matter, I heard she's a complete B-word!" Let's face it, you've all seen it happen. Most women talk crap about each other all the time, and for absolute no reason. This is something I've never understood, and will never understand. I don't talk shit about other people, and I never will.
   Whenever I talk, I try to ask myself three things: Does it benefit me? Does it benefit the person/the people I'm currently talking to? Is it good for anyone else? If the answer is No to one of those questions, I usually don't speak at all about it. I just don't see the need to waste my energy on gossip and harsh talk about other people.
   I just think the world would be a lot better and a lot more productive if women stopped talking complete crap about each other and started building each other up instead of tearing others down.

Day #323

   Yesterday was a special one, marking me and Theo's first half year together, time well spent in great company which has generated a lot of laughs and great memories. And which will lead to a lot more positive experiences. We decided to celebrate small, going for dinner and drinks (asian food and a couple of appletinis).
   We went to Kiinanmuuri, a place with great asian cuisine and both of us had some amazing Kung Pao chicken (I have really missed asian food). We had also been thinking about trying the restaurant for quite a while, as we've walked past it several times. We were not disappointed, the portion sized were great and the food was really tasty.
   We then left right before they closed, and steered towards the centre of town, where we decided to go to one of my personal favorite bars.
   I had never had an appletini before, neither had he, and it did not taste the way I had imagined (I had imagined a lot more of apple taste, and a bit less lime) but it was actually pretty tasty, although very sour and the lime was a bit overwhelming. I liked it, but it's not a new personal favorite, and I doubt I will be drinking it very often, however I don't regret trying it. I had actually been curious about the drink for quite a while, since it's mentioned so often on tv, in movies and in books.
   We also decided to play some Trivial Pursuit Globetrotter edition while at the bar (also total sidenote: how awesome are bar games? I think it's an absolutely amazing idea), and we realised that our geographical knowledge is actually quite lacking. It made me realize that I really do want to travel and learn a lot more about the world that surrounds me, and that I should read more stuff about other countries and their cultures, since I really know a lot less than I thought I did.
   I had a lot of fun celebrating, and I look forward to spending many, many more months with him and creating more pleasant memories and experiences. It made me realize how lucky I am to have a partner who stands by me during everything I go through, who's proud of me when I accomplish things and who cherishes me and supports me, something that a lot of people don't have.
   I'm so grateful to have someone like him in my life and to have his support. He makes me laugh and relax, even when I'm stressed and under a lot of pressure. I enjoy myself more when I'm around him, and we're close enough to be comfortable around eachother even when we don't share an activity, and I can for the first time in a long time be comfortable enough around someone to actually just be quiet around them.
   I also for the first time in a long time see no reason for a relationship I'm in to end. We don't annoy eachother, we like the same kind of music, and we enjoy the same kind of things. We want the same thing in our future, to evolve our relationship and grow together, travel and experience the world together. I feel happy and secure whenever I'm around him.
   I'm so looking forward to spending more time with him, getting to known him further and evolve with him. I have yet to meet a person whos company I enjoy this much.

   Enjoy these pictures from yesterday evening, portraying us, our food and the drinks, and of course, the Trivial Pursuit game.

   I look forward to creating a lot more, equally amazing memories with you, honey. Here's to a lot more half a years to come!

Half A Year

   Today's very important to me. It marks exactly half a year since me and Theo officially became a couple, and while I don't like to celebrate small milestones all the time, celebrating half a year together is something else altogether.
   I had never imagined that I would date someone like him, and through we're still pretty new as a couple, I don't see any reason that our relationship is going to end. Everything is going extremely well, and I don't think I've ever been this happy in a relationship before.
   I hope that I'll be able to spend a lot more time with him. Here's to many, many more half years to come!