Monday, December 29, 2014

Suprising Friends


As soon as I finished Farrah's drawing, I jumped on my computer and sent her younger sister a Facebook message:

'Hi 'A'! I drew Farrah a little something for the Holidays and I wanted to surprise her by leaving the gift on your front porch this evening and let her discover it. I was hoping you could help me accomplish this by authorizing me at the security gate once I get to your neighborhood on Christmas Eve, so I can swing by your house and drop off the gift. Thanks!' Her sister instantly replied back saying she was game to help me out!

I wrote Farrah a note with every inside joke that I could think of since 2nd grade, taped it to the glass of the frame and wrapped it up. She is one of the funniest human beings I've ever met in my life, so I purposely drew the silliest photo I could find that would reflect her sense of humor...along with one of her favorite quotes.

Check out the entrance to her neighborhood.



After I snuck the gift next to her front door like a professional ninja, I jumped in my car and anxiously awaited a response.

...Six hours later my phone started vibrating while in church and I was greeted by the best text ever...


 
I think she likes it :)

Than a few minutes later, Farrah's sister sends me a FB message, 'I got her on video!' I am forever thankful to her sister for capturing such a special moment for me. Not only did she film it without me even asking, but she did a damn good job at acting haha


This video was the absolute highlight of my Christmas. I've watched it about 50 times already. I can't wait to find a guy that I can love as much as I do my closest friends.

Take care guys.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Homemade Christmas Gifts

I finished the drawings for my friends! I felt like I was back in college, working under a deadline and staying up till the weee hours of the night, but I got it done.

I was a little apprehensive that I wouldn't pull it off while I wrote this post but I couldn't disappoint my friends! Love these ladies:

Anita: 10 year friendship

Angela: 5 year friendship

Patty: 14 year friendship

Sabina: 14 year friendship

Rachel: 10 year friendship

Michelle: 7 year friendship

Farrah: 15 year friendship
 
One thing I'm realizing is that as I get older, my Christmas lists get smaller and I find out that the things I really want can't be bought. I wish you all a very happy holiday and Merry Christmas!
 
Btw, if you enjoy my artwork, visit my website at www.jeremymannino.com for many more! I'll be posting all these drawings within the next few days.


Sunday, December 21, 2014

Norman Reedus is Dating My Best Friend!

Thursday was such a WONDERFUL day filled with giddy excitement!!

I was FINALLY reunited with my best friend Michelle after six months of being apart! She just returned from a life changing WWOOFing trip to Utah, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington and Canada.

Within fifteen minutes, we were back to our typical shenanigans.

 
There's so many snowbirds in South Florida this time of year so we shot them.

Just kiddinggggg. But some of the elderly people could use a nice pop for their disgraceful diving skills.

We were in my backyard doing a 'badass' themed photo shoot. I didn't tell her any other information, besides to look badass. I was photographing Mich for the drawing I'm giving her for Christmas, inspired by one of her favorite shows, the Walking Dead.

She wants Norman Reedus' babies, so I'm gonna rock her world and draw them together wielding their weapons. As you can see, she's killed a lot of zombies in her time, look at that perfect form and the way she's caressing the gun between her middle and ring finger. haha


Monday, December 15, 2014

2015 New Year's Resolutions

Here are my top ten 2015 New Year's Resolutions:

1. Blog more consistently. The past two years I haven't been writing as much and I want to use my blog as accountability to achieve all my goals and inspire you at the same time! There will be much more of me this upcoming year...whether you like it or not haha

2. My most determined resolution is to get my body in shape. I just ordered a 12 lb. bag of mass gainer protein powder to bulk up. I've always been a 'hard gainer' and I've plateaued at around 150 pounds for the last year. I have an ectomorph body type, meaning I'm naturally thin with a high metabolism, so an achievable and healthy goal weight for me is 168 pounds. Here's a picture of what I'm going after:

 
cant. stop. staringggggg. you need help taking those boxer briefs off?

3. Create double the amount of artwork I did in 2014 (70 drawings --> 140 drawings) & make double the amount of money.

4. Experiment more in the kitchen! I'm going to be documenting all my vegan dishes and desserts for you guys! I switched to this lifestyle almost 14 months ago and I feel wonderful!

5. Get my Passport. Something long overdue.

6. Go WWOOFing in Hawaii with my best friend Michelle for a few months...something I would like to turn into a yearly tradition with her.

7. Master the one-handed handstand yoga pose. My goal is to master FIVE advanced yoga poses. That's totally doable.

8. Read the Bible from cover to cover.

9. Go on my first CRUISE!!!

10. Find a cool boyfriend and lose my virginity.

Now I want to hear your Resolutions so we can keep each other accountable and achieve our dreams together!

Much Love Guys. :)

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

HOLIDAY STRESS

So many drawings to finish in so little time! I love making home made gifts because they're more meaningful, but now I'm freaking out that I won't finish them all. I started these drawings the day after Halloween in my free time and on top of finishing these, I still have about five I haven't even started yet. Haha

Panic Mode: Activated







Monday, December 8, 2014

I MADE OUT WITH A SEXY DENTIST

After three years I finally went to a gay club again!

My first gay club experience was so much fun, especially since we pre-gammed and got drunk off Malibu in the dorms and had a designated DD. I was pretty nervous that night, not knowing what to expect, but it ended up being a blast. I didn't really mingle with any guys because we were all drunk and dancing for most of the night but that was exactly what I needed at the time, just to observe.

However, this experience was more exciting.

My single, gay cousin was in town for a few days so we went to Wilton Manors, the land of gays. We intended on going to The Manor, but we got there about 30 minutes before the club even opened up. We stopped by a wine and tapas café (the one that featured my work in the past), followed by a candy store, than the sex store and back to the car to drop off the candy.


On our way BACK to The Manor, we passed a pub called the Village Pub, which was popping! There were so many guys in there, that both the entrances were blocked with people to get in.  We sandwiched our way through the swarm of men. That sentence sounded way more enjoyable than it actually was. With a bar on both ends of the pub, we made our way to the center, accompanied by a dance floor and sweaty bodies....with rows of onlookers behind us.

I got approached by a guy after a few minutes, so my cousin and I mingled with he and his two buddies. They were cool guys, all in their late twenties and in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. The guy who approached me works for Sony in LA, the second one was a Law student in NY and the third friend was sucking lips with different guys throughout the night, so I didn't catch his story. About ten minutes later, I realized my cousin had disappeared from the circle, who left to play on his phone. As I was scanning the pub for him, about 6 or 7 dudes were just staring dead at me.

After about an hour and a half, the pub had basically cleared out, so we all walked down the street to the Manor. There was a drag show going on that night and we were fortunate enough to have caught the tail end of the last performance. I kid you not, this drag queen looked just like Beyoncé and she killed her performance!


Right after she got off stage, the strobe lights kicked in, the music started blaring even louder and the clothes started coming off. These two super jacked studs who must work out two times a day, six days a week, walked on stage in metallic speedos and sneakers. The crowd was squealing, it was ridiculous. You could see everything but I guess that's the point of having these dancers, to turn everyone on and get the testosterone levels as high as possible. One of them was super hot but I started imagining all the guys he's probably gone home with, which averted my attention. I started taking vidoes and sending them to Mich, who I WISH was there with me.

Than I got bear hugged from behind by some random guy but I was more focused on my group who was heading upstairs. We explored a section of the second floor, which had a lounge area and a bunch of cigarette smokers. Making our way back down stairs, some of the guys contemplated about leaving since it was about 2 AM at that time, but my cousin and I decided to head back in and finish exploring the remainder of the club.

And than things got interesting!

I started mingling with a 35 year old dentist named Eduardo who lives in Cancun and was here solely for black Friday shopping. haha so random. He was extremely handsome and only looked like he was 30. He had an amazing sense of humor, a sexy Spanish accent, a perfect smile and a nice body with rock hard pecs. After about twenty minutes of talking....no, more like fifteen, Eduardo started serenading me with that sexy accent, telling me how handsome I was. Haha I was horny and loving it. I saw my golden opportunity and went in for a kiss. Luckily, he was only about an inch taller than me so it wasn't too awkward. Our lips locked and we just started going at it. The sensation I felt as his beard caressed mine was amazing. ughh He kept his beard short and nicely trimmed, similar to mine, which I love on a guy.

We probably looked really romantic, like this:

 

During an intermission from our smooching, I looked up and realized we were standing in the middle of an open area with a few people enjoying the show, so we snuck to the dance floor for some more fun haha

Round two!

There may or may not have been some grabbing involved as he pushed me up against the staircase, but who knows, things got a bit fuzzy. haha What happens at the Manor stays at the Manor. I looked at my watch and realized it was 3:15 in the morning. I grabbed his face for one last kiss, exchanged numbers and left with my cousin.

On our walk back the car, I pulled my phone out and had three texts, one from each of the dudes I got numbers from that night, including Eduardo. He started sending me 'come back to my hotel' texts but I am not that type of person and I was my cousin's DD.

Once we got home, it was about 3:45 in the morning. I get out the car and my neighbor started whistling at me to come over, who was hanging out on his driveway drinking with a few of his work friends. We had a few drinks, went inside and crawled in bed at 5AM.

Now I need to plan a trip to Cancun! Who wants to join me?!

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Premonition


This drawing of the recently deceased UVA student, Hannah Graham, was inspired from a dream I had about six weeks ago, shortly after she went missing. I had an OBE (out-of-body experience) and I was looking down on myself, from a bird's-eye perspective. I was sitting at an old wooden desk in an extremely bright room, drawing Hannah. I remembered seeing lettering in the drawing as well, along with a dove flying next to her.

When I woke up, I had goose bumps because I knew she had passed away. I couldn't recall what the text said, so after several failed attempts to find the perfect quote to fit this drawing, I came across a statement her parents later said in a news interview, after they had found her body. that I immediately knew was the one. I realized I couldn't remember what the text said in the dream, because that news interview hadn't happened in real life yet.

I know Hannah's spirit was present when I had that dream and I absolutely had to re-create the drawing she showed me. Thanks for the inspiration Hannah.

 
Rest in Peace girl and thanks for the vision. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

I Tried Liquid Pot!

My two homies Anita and Patty were in town two weeks ago. Anita's a super senior at UCF and Patty moved to upstate New York, to find herself. It's a rare occasion when the three of us are reunited, so we had to take advantage of the evening.

I met up with Anita, her boyfriend and her bf's friend at a bar in Mizner Park and spent the entire time reminiscing old times and laughing over drinks. Anita, Patty and I all drove to high school together our senior year and there were mornings where we were not in the mood to deal with all the bullshit that comes with being in high school...so we would get high, hit up McyD's for some hash browns and barely make it to first period on time.

On one occasion, a group of about 8 of us met up at a shopping plaza across the street from our high school to smoke. It was FCAT testing day for the Juniors and all the teachers/staff become neurotic during testing. The seniors are put in the gymnasium for several hours to just hangout. So we decided it would be way more fun to smoke together in Patty's truck (Big Red), behind the loading dock of a Publix.

After we finished smoking, we walked into Student Services to get our passes to the gym...trying to look and act as sober as possible. Anita has the funniest one liners and I'm one of those people who cant stop laughing once I start, so it was a bad combo in that situation. She's cracking jokes, I start laughing and before long we're causing a scene. The front desk lady wasn't amused, buzzed the Assistant Principle and took us back to his office.

That was such a buzz kill, I was terrified in that moment. The A.P. made us sit outside his office and than individually brought us in, questioning our whereabouts that morning. I couldn't even tell you what I said to that man, but he let us off the hook and sent us to the gym. haha

Another time the three of us got high before school, Anita and I decided it would be more fun to skip and go to our ceramic teacher's room and hang out with Rachel, who was in his first period class. He was such a cool teacher and let us skip into his class occasionally, because we were his favorite students. haha the perks of being artsy!

He clearly knew we were baked and quickly pulled us into his office and just stood there staring at us as we chuckled at him...just waiting for his response. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in my life after he blurted out 'What is wrong with you too!?' Anita and I were howling. Rachel later told us that her entire class was watching and laughing along with us, so I'm happy we were able to provide that morning entertainment for them.



After laughing about our high school days, we left the bar and met up with Patty at a house party, which was filled with primarily music festival, hippy kids.

People were taking bong hits off the kitchen counter, a vaporizer was being passed around, most definitely some other drugs and than there was a mysterious bowl with brown liquid in it. I sat down at the kitchen table, which had a mound of crayons and computer paper on it and started doodling, until Anita walked over with the bowl of brown liquid in one hand, a pipette in the other, yelling "it's liquid pot, we have to try it!" haha

Since none of us had ever had liquid pot before, we were super hesitant at first and cautiously squeezed a few droplets into our mouths. One of the guys at the party warned us that it was pretty potent stuff, but we didn't feel anything so we went back for seconds...and thirds. I hadn't smoked in about four months prior to that night, so it hit me pretty hard. haha



The high kicked in but it was a total body high and we were all hysterically laughing the entire night. Such a fun night with beautiful people.





 
 
Much love guys!