101. Purchase a cool piece of art

It might be a little ridiculous that all of the "art" pieces I own are of New York City. Photographs of the Chrysler building, posters of the park... what can I say? It's beautiful and I love it. Well I've been looking for something a little different and I set my sights on a sketch-ish drawing of New York. (It would also look nice on our awesome new shelves.) I saw one on the street once and have been trying to recreate it ever since. This street artist did adorable drawings of the skyline, skyscrapers, and busy NYC streets in a type of

outline that was reminiscent of a cartoon but more refined. I should have just bought it then and there!

Then about a month ago, I stumbled onto an article featuring the artist

Matte Stephens. His stuff looked exactly like the style I was interested in. After browsing his etsy site, I found exactly what I was looking for. In fact, I found about 5 somethings! He also does great owls which are adorable :)

Receiving the actual print ended up being a crazy process! Since it required a signature, I had it shipped to my school. Well for some reason it shipped out super late and ended up coming on the weekend. Obviously no one was around so they kept it back at the post office. I was tracking the package online so when I saw there was an attempt at delivery, I drove all the way to school to try and get the notice. (They don't let you pick it up at the post office without the notice.) Well of course, no notice was to be found. That following Monday, our school started testing and wouldn't receive deliveries so the package was once again turned away. By now I was getting nervous because after the third attempt, they often return it to the sender! I tracked down one of the front office people and told them I was expecting a package, so if they could please get an "attempted delivery" slip then I'd be able to pick it up from the post office myself. Finally, the next day, she was able to get this slip. Thank goodness for people who help you out! I drove to the post office in some town I had never been to by my school, and finally picked

up my piece.

Since it's an unusual size, I had it custom framed. It's funny how this small step makes it feel unique and your own. I love it! This was also a limited

edition print (only about 100 made) and I got one of the last few offered on the site.

So I have officially purchased a piece of art! Cross it off!

Check the rest of his stuff out at www.etsy.com/shop/matteart