Super sad wreck post. :(

Sooo much stuff has been going on since my last post. There's been some good stuff, but for now, I need to get the yucky stuff out in the open and out of my brain. So let's start with that and get the negativity out of the way first.

I stayed home from work last Wednesday since I wasn't feeling too well. I was leaving my house to run an errand and was sitting at the intersection to leave my subdivision. It was dark and raining, which already makes me uncomfy to drive in, and traffic was kind of bad. A line of cars had stopped, and the lady in the furthest lane from me left a gap and waved me out. So I checked to make sure no one was coming in the other lanes, and as I pulled out, someone ran right into my side. :( I guess the other lane driver came up around the curve and didn't know that traffic was stopped and someone had let me out, and the girl got me right in the driver's side, crushing my car door closed. I immediately freaked out, pulled off the road, and tried not to cry. She got out, and we made sure neither one of us was hurt and exchanged info. And thankfully, she had no damage on her car at all. But mine was pretty rough looking. So I got home and called my mom, bawling my eyes out. I love my little car. My granny bought me my car right before she passed away because she was proud of me for moving back home and starting college. It's a reminder of how lucky and blessed I am/was for having such an amazing granny, and seeing it all crushed on the side honestly made my tummy hurt.

Here's my silly drawing to show what happened:


I've never been in a wreck in my own car before or alone, for that matter, so I was terrified. The only wreck I've ever been in was one that totaled my ex-best friend's car a few years ago. I was taken to the e.r. to make sure stuff was okay because my neck was really sore after impact, and my back's been all crazy ever since that one. But thankfully this one was super minor, and I wasn't hurt or anything, just scared to death and worried about my insurance situation. I just recently had my car switched over to my name, and my mom and I both were under the impression that my car/I would continue to be covered under the insurance that we've been using. But my mom's insurance person doesn't think I'll be covered. So I immediately went and signed up for my own with Geico as soon as the wreck happened, just to be safe. From what her insurance person told her, Mom's pretty positive I won't be covered, but we seriously both thought I'd continue to be covered under her insurance since it was on the same car. :/

So yesterday I went to get a few estimates, and it was waaay more than I expected. The first place quoted me almost $5,000, and then two more were right around $4,000. I was devastated, because my mom and I both didn't expect it to be near that much. Apparently they have to not only replace a door, but the entire side panel as well, which has to be welded and all kinds of stuff involving lots of labor hours. So I called her to tell her how outrageous it was going to be, and had honestly just planned on not getting it fixed. I can't open my driver's side door since it's crushed shut, so I have to climb over the seats and crawl out of the other side. But I didn't think it was a huge deal. But my mom ended up telling me to stay at Maaco, leave my car there, and that she was going to cover the entire thing for me. I never, ever expected that at all. I know she really can't afford to do that since she's paying for bills and a house note at both her house and my granny's house that we were living in after the flood.

I know she's really not in any position to be doing anything so expensive. She's already helped me so much. So as soon as I start getting checks from my new job, I plan on sending her a big chunk every two weeks until I pay her back. I feel like the worst kid ever for having such awful luck, because I know she feels obligated to help me out. I mean, usually, things go decently well for me, but it never lasts too long! I just have some crappy luck at times, and inevitable things happen over which I have no control. I keep my chin up and try my best not to let things affect me very much. But every once in awhile, something stressful happens that I just don't quite know how to handle. (Especially those that involve super large sums of money!) So I am super, suuuper fortunate that my mom continues to help me out, even as an adult. <3

I got a new job again!

Yessiree! I've officially accepted a new job! I'll be starting on November 28th. Yayayay!

As much as I've loved my almost two months at the gallery, I'm super excited to take this new opportunity. And my boss doesn't really have the foot traffic to need me there as much as we'd both like, so it wasn't a big ol' sad deal for me to leave. She asked me to stay on as a freelancer and keep doing the inventory and updating/redoing the site for her, so I'll still kind of be working there (but from home).

The new job is a contract position (that can lead to full on employment after 3 months) as a customer support rep at a big gaming company. My interview was on Tuesday, and it went amazingly, and it was sooo much fun! They did it speed dating style and had about 7 or 8 potential employees in a room, and we rotated through different higher-ups in the company. Each interviewer spent 10 minutes with each person, and then we'd move on to the next. I loooved every person who interviewed me. They all had such awesome attitudes and seemed to really enjoy their jobs there. I ended up laughing and cutting up with every one of them, and once I left I was honestly afraid they might think I was too goofy for the position.

Buuuut the main recruiting lady called me back Thursday morning and told me that they all loved me and kept going on about how they wished they could clone me and how excited they were to have me on the team. Super incredible fancy magical ego boost of the century, guys. Seriously! I was sooo worried that I wasn't going to make the cut because every other interviewee had on a white button up and black slacks, and they had briefcases or folders or other important looking accessories. And then I was in there laughing and talking to these people like they were my buddies, because that's just what comes naturally. So I left thinking I wasn't professional enough. But considering that they ended up giving me the job, I guess I was wrong! Phew.

Justin, Matt's best friend, just starting working there, and he showed me around the building after the interview was over. It's a really fun place with lots of people and is super, super relaxed. Everyone was wearing jeans and hoodies and such, and people had toys all over their desks, and some people were riding around on razor scooters through the office. And there was a room for the 2nd floor people that had a bunch of game systems and a big ol' tv. I think it's going to be sooo much fun. I can't wait!

And since I haven't had the time to update as frequently as I'd like, now it's super instagram photo dump time!

This was my Halloween pumpkin! It's a fancy gentleman monster with a top hat, moustache, and fangs.


I had to work on Halloween, but I decided to semi-dress up so I could enjoy it. I was a Nashvillian! :P


I got an awesome package from my mom the next day that proved that she knows me way too well. It contained a little cupcake apron, peeps (my favorite candy/sweets ever!), grape twizzlers (my second favorite!), and coupons for cereal, fruit roll ups, and hot sauce!


My bus was late yesterday, and I had never played with the tilt shift instagram function, so I tried it out and loveeed the way this picture turned out.


I've been excited about the sides of my hair finally starting to get longer, so I've been trying out different ways to wear my hair. So here's a bunch of little gpoy's as well. Click 'em if you wanna see 'em bigger!


Hopefully I can post again before half a month goes by! Pffffft!

Ultimate Bus Adventures!

Welp, all of my friends get super excited when I post about the hilarious, ridiculous, almost downright unreal stories from my bus rides. So I decided to compile some of the best ones (so far) in a post!

• One of my first days riding, I got on the bus and walked right into the middle of a huuuuge yelling match between two gentlemen. They were sitting up front on the sideways bench seats facing one another. I'd say they were both in their late 50's, early 60's. I got on the bus in the middle of it, so I'm not sure what the ordeal was, but one man was mumbling angrily under his breath, I guess to the other man about what had been going on, and he progressively got a little louder. And then the other guy hollered at him "Look, no one wants to hear you. Stop talking." The other one shot back "Listen up, punk! I don't like you, Jack!" And this yelling continued for a few minutes. And one finally said "Driver, this man is harassing me! What are you going to do about it?" And the driver said "You both need to shut up!" And they just continued arguing. Eventually one got off the bus, and it all stopped. Everyone was just dead silent watching the whole thing. It was seriously just like two little kids fighting on a school bus!

• That same bus ride, a little bit later, while stopped and letting people get on, there was a lady leaned up against a sign beside the bus. She was in plain view of every single person on the bus, and there were tons of people walking to and from on the sidewalk around her. And she starts just digging in her nose like crazy. Just going for the gold like no one was around. And a bunch of people from the back started mumbling about it and going on about how gross it was and such. And theeeen, she ate it. And all hell broke loose! Everyone started yelling and ewww-ing And some guy yelled "Are you serious? She just ate it!" And I couldn't control myself because I have what my mom calls gigglebox syndrome, and I busted out laughing and couldn't stop. And that leads to my next story.

• Me laughing apparently freaked out a little old Asian fellow sitting in front of me, because he turned around, looked me dead in the eye, and got up and moved to the seat a row behind me and on the other side. I don't think he knew what was going on or why I laughed. So I thought he hated my guts or thought I was rude or something. Which made me feel so bad, but I just couldn't help it. Everyone was acting like little kids and ewww-ing, and I lost it. So I felt really bad, thinking I had made him mad or he thought I was a jerk. But within a few minutes he randomly leaned up to me as I was standing up to get off the bus and said "You have nice tattoo. How long you make it? One hundred dollar?" And he had a huuuge grin on his face. Ha! So I was just really polite and said yes and smiled at him and told him to have a good day. That was all during one stinkin' bus ride!

• One day something super cute happened before I even got to the bus! I pass a church on my way to my stop, and they have a daycare. And on nice days, the kids are out in the little fenced in playground right by the sidewalk. Well, as I'm walking, I hear this little girl yell "Hiiii!" really loud and see her waving like crazy. So I yelled "Hiiii!" back at her and waved a bunch too. And then she yelled it again, so I yelled it back. And again, and again! And we did that the entire time I walked by. And then she yelled "Byeeeee!", and I yelled "Byeeeee!" And we did that back and forth and waved until we couldn't hear each other anymore. It put me in the best mood.

• Another day, a little old lady got on the bus and sat down up front. And within a few minutes, she started randomly talking to everyone in the front area. Not to the people specifically, but just out loud. And I couldn't really understand her too well, but I am almost positive half of it was in English and half of it was in Japanese. And I heard her say "Bill Clinton" at least three times. She continued to ramble and yell to the whole front of the bus, nonstop. No one was responding or talking back to her or anything. She just went on and on for at least 15 to 20 minutes. No one knew what was going on, so they would all just kind of look at each other like whaaaat. When she finally got off the bus, a bunch of people were like "What in the woooorld? Did you know her? Was she talking to you?" But no one knew what the deal was, and everyone just started laughing so hard.

• There's a couple that is always on the bus in the mornings, and they have a baby. And the poor husband is always having to hold the baby, and wrestle with the big stroller, and hold all of the bags and stuff they carry. And the woman is seriously always, alwaaaays passed out. And not just like still sleepy from just waking up kinda drowsy. It's 10:30am, and she is OUT. Well, they weren't able to sit together because the bus was so crowded, so he had everything in his arms, baby, stroller, and bags, and she was knocked out on the bench across from him. He was sitting next to a lady who normally has her baby with her too, but she was alone that day. Well they were kind of talking and laughing back and forth, and I guess this didn't make the wife across from him all that happy (when she would wake up and take notice here and there). So whenever the person next to her got off the bus, she immediately snapped at him that he should move over there with her. So he lugged everything over to her seat, and she passed back out. Well he couldn't hold everything this time, and the baby started slipping, so he asked her to hold something. And she woke up, grabbed the baby, and then started nodding back off. Shortly after that, everything fell over, and I helped him pick up some of the stuff that fell out of his bag and set it upright. And when the bus got near their stop, the wife did the I-just-fell-asleep-and-jerked-back-awake jump and almost dropped the dang baby! Then she angrily stood up and made him carry everything off the bus. I felt so bad for the guy for having to deal with all that mess. Geez Louise!

• A few days ago, the bus was super crazy crowded, and it took a few stops for there to be any seats. So once a few seats became available, I sat down on a front bench seat, right next to the little partition that separates them from the regular seats. There wasn't really enough room for another person, but the person on the other side of me had a bunch of bags and stuff, so she took up a little more room. Well, a man got on the bus, and bless his heart, he didn't have enough shirt to cover his belly. So the whole bottom of his stomach was completely exposed, and once he turned around, I could see that his whole bottom was falling out of his sweatpants. And he decided there was enough room for him between me and that partition, and there clearly was not. So he squeezed in between me and the wall, and his nekkid belly just kinda rested on my arm. And then I got a big ol' whiff of him. And it was very, very... not good. I didn't say a word. I am way too polite to eeeever make someone uncomfy. But I know anyone else in that situation would have been super not happy or would have been rude, so it's a good thing he sat beside me instead of someone else. I just made light of it and pretended to be really into words with friends. Then we he got up to get off of the bus, he grabbed the rail to pull himself up, and his whole butt was just right smack in my face. It was just unreal how funny the whole situation was.

• Not only are there always silly people on the bus, but I also have really crappy bus luck, too! One day I got to the stop to go home. My bus normally comes right around 6:05 every day. And it was running on time according to the little bus app I checked right before I went downstairs into the tunnel. After a good 20 to 25 minutes of waiting, my bus still hadn't shown up. I even got there early, so I knew I hadn't missed it. I can't get reception down in the tunnel, so I was a little paranoid that maybe I wasn't paying attention and it had already come and gone, and Matt was possibly trying to text me to find out where I was. So I ran upstairs, still within eyeshot of the bus (I thought) to call him. He told me it still hadn't come for him either, so I hadn't missed it. So I ran back downstairs and waited for another good 10 minutes and got a little nervous again. He had told me before that I could hop on a different bus and ride it to his stop and we could wait together. So I figured that might be a better idea so I wouldn't be alone. So I rode a different bus to his stop, hopped off, walked around, and I didn't see him anywhere. And since I wasn't in the tunnel anymore, my phone buzzed to let me know I had gotten a text at some point during my ride. It was from Matt and it said "You missed the bus when you were calling me!" Are you stinkin' kidding me? So I ran back to the bus right before the doors closed and jumped back on. He told me to just stay on that one since our bus wouldn't be coming again. So I had to ride it to the mall, walk to the mall, and wait for him to get home, pick up the car, and come pick me up. It was the so ridiculous! In the less than a minute that I ran upstairs, that's when the dumb bus came. Hrmph.

• Another day, I hopped on that same bus to go ahead and ride up to Matt's stop, which I've been doing pretty regularly now. (It's just better to wait with him instead of waiting alone. And I don't ever have to worry that I might get left again!) Well, the buses have been packed pretty tightly lately with the viaduct being knocked down and more people using them, so some busses fill up and can't take on more people at stops. But the drivers at least stop and let the people know that there's another one however many blocks behind them or another time that one comes. Well, apparently this driver either didn't know to do that or didn't care to. When the bus got to Matt's stop, myself and a few other people stood up at the door, waiting for it to open. The driver stops the bus. We wait for the door to open so we can hop off. The door never opens, and he drives off! A lot of people started yelling, and he just kept going and hopped on the interstate. So I ended up having to ride it to the dumb mall again! No idea what his deal was, but he apparently was like "Ehh, well, peace guys! Vroom vroom."

I know some people hate riding the bus, and I thought I would be one of them, but I seriously love all the silliness that happens. My life has become one big, silly sitcom these days.

Workin' girl (not the hookery kind).

Phew! I feel like I haven't stopped moving since the last time I posted. And besides sleepin', I honestly haven't! Having a job for the first time since February has worn me out. But I was used to having two jobs and going to school, so I know I can do it. I just hafta get back into the swing of things. I work Monday through Friday, and I worked this past Sunday as well. But I do really enjoy it.

A typical day is usually very slow and quiet, which I love. We don't do much business, and I haven't sold anything yet, but my boss told me business has been really slow for awhile now and she hasn't really made many either lately. And I can imagine not everyone wants to drop two or three grand on art right now with the economy the way it is. So I try not to get too discouraged. I normally just greet everyone and answer any questions they have and try to make a sale or at least get some info from them so my boss can get in touch with them.

Since it is so slow, I can get quite a bit of work done on the computer. I update the inventory online when we get new artwork, and I'm currently working on redoing the inventory system to get it more organized. And sometime soon, I want to completely redesign the website. I also make promo stuff for the gallery, like postcards for the Art Walks.

Here was my very first one for a Dale Nally show!


It got really, really stressful the day of that particular Art Walk (which was my very first) because nothing was ready and the artist whose work was being featured didn't fly in to help. So I busted my butt helping my boss get everything done. We hung huge paintings that are taller than me and completely redid the whole front room. Considering that I had never ever set up anything before and she didn't have time to really teach me, I had to just do my best. And I thought a few times that she was frustrated with me, so I got super upset and nervous and stressed out. But I just kept cool and didn't let it show and tried to keep up. By the end of the day, I was dripping with sweat and barefoot because my feet hurt so bad. And the next day, my back was so stiff that I could barely move. But it all got done and it looked really good. And she thanked me for my hard work and told me she was just really stressed all day. Which I definitely knew was the case, but I just wear my heart on my sleeve and get my feelings hurt really easily.

Here's my favorite Dale Nally piece and a gorgeous floral arrangement that a local Ikebana lady brought to display.

Birthday recap: excellence, ice cream, and toys!

I seriously had such an amazing birthday! As if all of those awesome gifts from my mom and getting my new job weren't fantastic enough, the actual day itself was a lot of fun too! I didn't want to do anything too special; just little things that we always do on the weekend like get lunch and ice cream. We started the day off by rolling out of bed and heading to Baskin Robbins for birthday breakfast ice cream. Matt got chocolate donuts, and I had my low-cal peanut butter chocolate frozen yogurt. I cannot get enough of that stuff! Then we came back home and watched Golden Girls while I painted my toenails something that was birthday appropriate.


Then we headed to Blue Fin Buffet, and I had tons of sushi and yummy desserts!
I had two plates of this. Sososo much sushi! I love the seaweed covered ones and the spicy almon ones the most.

I love their teensy, tiny little layer cakes. They have tons of different flavors, but the cheesecake with the cherry pie filling in the middle is the best!


And after lunch, we walked over to Toys 'R Us, and I got Jake and Finn Adventure Time figures and four little Hello Kitty lego toys!


After we went home and let our tummies settle a bit, I opened and set up my new toys and played with the kitties. And then we headed to a new park that was nearby, and it had a playground! I lovelovelove swings, so I was really excited, because most of the parks we find are more for trails and walking areas and never have playgrounds. So we sat on the swings for a bit and Matt pushed me, and then we played the who can go higher game, but he's almost six feet tall, and I am not. Then he pushed me on the merry-go-round until it got too dark and I almost got sick.

Here's a video I took while on the merry-go-round. I think the colors and lights look so fun.


And on the way home, I jokingly suggested ice cream again for dinner, thinking Matt would be like 'pffft, no way', but he said whatever I wanted since it was my birthday. How sweet. :) So after dinner ice cream, we headed back home to relax, and I counted a total of 117 happy birthday's on Facebook. Having that many people just take a second to say that definitely made me feel super loved being so far from everyone this year. I thought it was so sweet, and it definitely added to the awesomeness of the entire day. What an excellent birthday! :D

I got a job for my birthday!

This week has been so great, and it isn't even my birthday yet! Not only did my mom send me that awesome box full of presents, but she ordered me a Harajuku girls gift set, too! It came the day after I got the first box! Amazing present overload!



And here's my whole Harajuku family!


These are the only perfumes I've ever liked and actually worn. I feel like it's mainly because of the bottles being so dang cute. But they smell good, too!

And I used the gift card she sent me to get a few new hoodies! (To me, it's officially fall when I buy new hoodies.) Every year right around my birthday, Mom and I would go to the mall and do some school shopping and I'd get new hoodies and jeans. So even though she wasn't here, it felt just like old times.

So besides getting lots of fun presents, I was given the gift of employment! Earlier this week, I applied for a job that originally was listed as a data entry position. I haven't been finding many graphic design opportunities, and since I'm a quick typer and pretty friendly, I figured I'd cast a wider net and try for something that wasn't necessarily art related. But it turned out to be way more art related than I could've imagined. The job is actually in an art gallery!

The lady that runs the gallery (and makes some of the art) is opening a new location in another city and needed someone to be at that store while she's getting the new one up and running. She also needed someone to update her website and other things like that, so I will actually be doing some graphic stuff! I get to use my retail skills aaaand my design skills! I was really unsure of how I'd feel if I ever got a job where I didn't interact with people and just sat in a cubicle all day, so I definitely lucked out with this one. I am so excited and nervous!

The gallery is in this amazing little spot called Pioneer Square. It's so historic and pretty. It's covered in art galleries and little coffee shops, and the whole little area is paved in bricks. And just about everyone was walking cute pups! I had a hard time not breaking down and hugging every single one of them. They were everywhere! I loved it. I do have to take a bus to and from because parking is so scarce and expensive downtown. But I only had to walk about 5 minutes to get to a bus and then about 5 minutes to the gallery, so it's not that bad at all.

I took this while waiting on Ms. Rhonda to get there.


And here's a photo of the stuff across from the gallery.


After all this excitement, I plan on taking it easy tomorrow. I want to eat Subway, get ice cream, and just having a nice, relaxing birthday. And then get everything ready for my first day on Monday!

Surprise birthday package!

I know I juuuust made a post this morning, but I felt like another one was in order after receiving this wonderful early birthday box in the mail from my mom!


She told me that she was going to grab me a few art supplies because she had a Hobby Lobby coupon and knew I wanted to start painting again, but I didn't expect all of this fun stuff!

She sent me:
• two canvases
• two tablets of watercolor paper
• a tablet of acrylic paper
• a Desperate Housewives cookbook
• two paint palettes
• a do it yourself magazine
• a set of watercolors
• a set of gouache
• two packs of hello kitty socks
• philosophy orange jelly bean lip gloss
• philosophy vanilla birthday cake lip gloss
• a sweet cupcake card
• a visa gift card

And she ordered me a set of Harajuku girls perfume that will be here sometime this week! How stinkin' nice of her to do all of that. And it's not even my birthday yet! I swear, my mom loves me fifty times more now that I've moved away. It's too late to call and say thank you since it's two hours later there, but first thing tomorrow, I'm calling her and giving her so many phone hugs. <3

Weekend(s) recap: pizza, ice cream, and more ice cream.

Holy moly, the past week has been full of all sorts of things. Mostly buying fun things for little monies and some very-bad-for-me-but-oh-so-delicious foods! And lots and lots of pictures.

Last weekend we headed out to Goodwill, and Matt found a keyboard and some records, and I found a stripey yellow and grey t-shirt and a button-up shirt that I plan on dying another color. (Hopefully I can do that without making a horrible disaster of the shirt and the surrounding area.) Then we had Olive Garden for lunch, which I hadn't had since last October, and it was just as delicious as I remembered. I had a never ending pasta bowl, which ended at one bowl because I already knew I needed the apple pie and ice cream as soon as I saw the picture on the table. I wanted to take a picture, but I wolfed it down so fast, I didn't have a chance.

So instead, here's a picture Matt took of itty bitty kitty jammin' on the new Goodwill keyboard.


And here's a Cinderella picture I colored while my tummy was way too full of noodles and apple pie.


On Sunday, we made our weekly Baskin Robbins trip, and I had even more ice cream. (Multiple ice cream weekends make me feel like it's a holiday.) They had a flavor that I hadn't tried yet, and it is definitely my new favorite! It's reduced fat lemon cream pie with no sugar added, and it was low-cal and soooo good!


Throughout the week, I found a few cute little things for decorating that I'm really excited about. I got this cute little plushy owl, a wooden acorn, two white leaf dishes, and two yummy smelling candles. And it was all about $30!


And my favorite purchase of all, I bought my very first crock pot, and it was on sale for $21! And it's full of Matt's favorite soup.


I also found two yellow planters, a hello kitty shirt, two tank tops, and a stripey sweatshirt. And I spent maybe $30 total on that stuff too. I was all over some awesome deals this week.


Then, we started off this weekend by having sweets for breakfast! Matt really wanted donuts, and the Baskin Robbins is conveniently attached to the donut place, sooo I had ice cream for breakfast! Being an adult means making grown-up decisions like this.

Sugar-free chocolate overload!


And Matt's donuts! He got chocolate iced, chocolate cake with chocolate icing, and strawberry iced. I tried a bite of the strawberry, and they were so stinkin' good.


And then, Matt decided that we needed a dining room table. Eating at the table is something we have never done together. We always ate sitting on his couch at his old house, and we've always had to eat sitting in the floor here. So we were both super excited to go pick one out. We made a trip to Ikea, and we got this cute birch table and four chairs!


On Sunday, we decided to stay home and get some house stuff done. Matt worked in the kitchen, while I did some unpacking and went through the boxes in the bedroom. I found lots more stuff to sell on eBay and listed some more things. We didn't want to leave to go anywhere for dinner and nothing we had really sounded all that great, so we ended up ordering pizza and wings. I rarely eat pizza, and I never eat hot wings, so it was definitely a treat. I ate waaay too much Hawaiian pizza and ended up rolling around in the floor feeling full and fat for the rest of the night. (Good thing I got a little stretch cord exercise thingy last week, because I will be using the heck out of it this week thanks to all that pizza!)

I went to go review the place on Yelp because it was so yummy and we had such good service, and there were only a few good ones. I was really surprised! Everyone was complaining about how it wasn't that great and being really, really picky and honestly kind of rude. I feel so bad for really awesome places that end up getting crappy reviews because they aren't a five star restaurant. It's delivery pizza, so the expectations shouldn't be so dang high, you know? It was above and beyond big name chains like Dominos or Pizza Hut, but they still had so many people saying "nothing special" and "forgettable". It made me so sad, so I left a really nice review and gave them 4 stars. The only way I would ever leave a place a bad review is if the employees treated me badly, to be honest. My granny always taught me to live by the good ol' polite rule of not saying anything at all if you don't have something nice to say. I feel like the reviews were just so unnecessary and rude. It was delivered really quickly, it was still super hot when we got it, it was a good price, and it was really yummy. Why wouldn't I recommend it? Some people are just big ol' jerks. Hrmph.

So then I went on a reviewing spree and ended up writing one for the post office nearby and the Baskin Robbins that I go to every weekend! I love giving out kind words to places that get overlooked or that other people are too hoity-toity to appreciate. And it makes me feel good to think that someone might look up a place they weren't too sure about going, and they'll see my review about how sweet the employees were among a sea of "ehhh, not impressed" reviews, and they might try it out and love it as much as I do! :)

Cleanin' out the closet clutter.

I've been an eBayin' monster he past few weeks! I've sold so much stuff lately, and I'm so proud of myself for sticking with it. Of course, I haven't made a big ol' chunk of money or anything since eBay is all about finding good deals. But I've made enough to have my own little stash of spending money. I'm used to making my own money and working decently hard for it, standing up for hours and dealing with some crazy customers, so it's really hard for me to spend Matt's money on anything other than groceries or things of that sort. So it's been nice being able to have my own little fund so I don't have to dip into bill or rent money if there's something I just absolutely have to have.

I've acquired so much stuff over the past year or so, especially from trying to restock after the flood. And I ended up buying lots of things I didn't really need, but sure as heck thought I did at the time. I am the worst at buying things that I never end up using or wearing. (I blame a lot of that on working in a clothing store for so long and constantly being stared down by cutely dressed mannequins. My check almost always went right back to the store!) So now I'm getting out of that habit and am doing a serious deep closet cleanin'!

I made up a few rules to help me stop holding onto things that I don't need and to keep me from adding to the craziness with more stuff.

Getting rid of things:
1. Be realistic. If I didn't wear it last year, I probably won't wear it this year.
2. Just because it looks cute on the hanger doesn't always mean it looks cute on me. Try on everything before putting it back in the closet.
3. Quality over quantity! One awesome piece I'll wear all the time is way better than a few ehh pieces that I'll wear occasionally.
4. Think of the outcome. If I sell an item that I'm not too crazy about, that's at least a little bit of money toward something that I really want. And someone else might get tons of use out of it!

Buying new things:
1. Don't buy on impulse. (I am awful about this.) Go do the rest of the shopping and come back to it. Really think it through.
2. Consider its versatility. I should be able to build at least 5 outfits in my mind using the piece with things that I already own.
3. Is it the same as one I already have? If it's just like one I have at home, then I don't need another one!
4. How bad do I want it? If I think I'll regret not getting it, or if I've been looking for something for awhile, it might be worth it. But if I just saw it and decided I wanted it then, or if I could really go either way, I probably don't need it.

So I made sure to stick to these rules and have sold lots of things so far; hoodies, leather jackets, military jackets, scarves, purses, and belts. And I made about $200 from everything that I sold! Of course, I paid way more for all of it when I bought each thing, but I can't expect to get full price for things on eBay, you know? It's like I'm paying a 'you were dumb for buying this stuff when you didn't need it' tax. So it serves me right! And it makes me more aware of the consequence of buying things I don't need.

With the money I've made from eBayin', I made sure to stick to my buying rules! I've only bought things that are basic and super versatile so I can get lots of use out of them.
• 3 basic, solid colored cotton t-shirt dresses
• 4 wrap scarves with big, pretty roses
• 3 basic sweatshirts
• 2 cardigans
• 2 plaid button up tops
• a pair of black flats

And then today I found this super cute emeraldy/dark tealish colored lighter cotton H&M peacoat at Goodwill for $10!


And here's one of the cotton dresses and one of the rose scarves! This was my weekend date outfit last Saturday when Matt and I went out for Indian.


I can't wait to go on more Goodwill adventures. Finding that coat made me really optimistic. Maybe I can actually find some cute stuff for the house instead of buying more clothes. Pfffft.

Labor Day weekend extravaganza!

Oh, man. The past few days have been all kinds of enjoyable! I was a little unsure of what this three day weekend would consist of since I'm used to spending Labor Day running around with my mom looking for sales, or eating burgers at a family member or friend's get together. Being so far away from both friends and family, I wasn't sure what I'd do. But we ended up filling our weekend with all sorts of fun stuff!

On Friday, I was crazy productive and unpacked and organized my half of the office. I hung my note board, put away all of my art supplies, coloring books, and sketch books, and threw a few of my stuffed animals in some of the empty areas on the shelf. (Yep, I still buy stuffed animals. I loved them when I was a kid, and I still do. I had that huge pink and white pet net hanging in the corner above my bed. And some nights while I was sleeping, a random teddy bear or fluffy puppy would fall out of the net and smack me right in the face. Did anyone else have that problem?)

Here's how it all turned out! Click each one for a larger view!



On Saturday, we ran a few errands, and I finally found a Disney princess coloring book. I've been talking about getting one for a good 2 months, and just so happened to spot one while picking up eBay packaging supplies. Then we made our first trip to the Goodwill nearby, and I found a cute pink lamp and an old chair that had been painted white. It has a "Property of the U.S. Government" stamp on the bottom, so I'm really curious about its history. (They're both in the pictures up above!)

Afterwards, we headed to a new Indian restaurant near the house that was the best! I've only been to maybe 3 or 4, but this one is definitely my new favorite. I had never had Indian food until Matt took me. It's definitely not something I expected to enjoy. I refuse to let my foods touch each other, and I use separated plates if I'm eating anything in a juice or sauce. So the idea of all these runny things mixing all up made me very, very nervous. But most all Indian dishes have some sort of creamy, runny sauce, and when they mix together, it's the perfect mix of yum. It is the one kink in my perfectly constructed food logic, but I'll allow it based on pure deliciousness!

After lunch, we came home and walked around the cemetery at the end of our street. I love that place so much. There are areas that are completely canopied by huge trees, so moss has started covering the headstones. It's gorgeous! And the grass in those shaded areas is so soft and smushy that we'll walk barefoot. I love seeing all of the cute old names like Mabel, Fannie, and Woodrow. I love reading the inscriptions and learning a little bit about each person and remembering people who probably haven't had visitors in years.

Then we made our weekend Baskin Robbins trip (part one) where I had some yummy Wild "N Reckless sherbet.


On Sunday, we made a trip to the Carkeek park beach. We walked up and down the shore looking for rocks to add to our collection, and I rolled my jeans up and waded through the water. Matt found a jellyfish and a completely intact crab that had washed up and some smooth black stones covered in barnacles. It was so breezy and nice. The lakes and waterfront areas here are completely different than the ones back home. The shores here are covered in rocks, and the water is ice cold. It's a completely different climate, but it's still so much fun to explore.

After our beach adventure, we decided since it was a holiday weekend, we should make another ice cream trip! So we made another Baskin Robbins run, and this time I had Peanut Butter Brownie Frozen Yogurt. I usually try to stick with the lower calorie options, and I was super excited about this one because they had never had it before. It was excellent!


Today, we got up super early to make it to the Goodwill Labor Day sale in hopes of finding a dining room table and a desk for Matt. But apparently, everyone else was just as excited about the sale as we were. The place was packed, and we had a hard time looking for anything with the crazy amount of people everywhere. And since I'm so dang polite, I wouldn't step in front of anyone or get it anyone's way, so I pretty much just stood around overwhelmed by everything! We browsed through the furniture as best we could, but we didn't find anything we needed.

We took a break and came home to rest since we got up so early. Matt flew his remote control helicopter around the living room while the cats chased it, ran away confused, swatted at it, and chased it again. After our silly kitty time, we had a yummy lunch at Qdoba, and we drove around to two more Goodwills that weren't too far away. We still didn't find any furniture at those either. But I did come across a grey stripey sweater that I had a few years ago and absolutely loved but lost when my house got hit by the Nashville flood. And it just so happened to be $3 and part of the 40% pink tag sale! I also found an American Eagle stripey button up shirt and an H&M plaid tunic as well. And Matt ended up finding a handful of really neat old records, two of which are homemade recordings of a college concert from 1950! So we did find a few little treasures!


I forgot how much fun Goodwilling is! My mom and I used to go all the time on the weekends when I'd get off work or on days I didn't have school, and we loved it. I hate that there were just too many people to be able to look around as much as I would have liked, so I'm going to go back sometime this week and take my sweet, sweet time. Hopefully, I'll find something spectacular!

This weekend might not have been the typical ones I'm used to having back home, but it was super eventful and lots of fun. I hope everyone had an awesome Labor Day weekend and did something fun and fancy!

A little introduction!

Hihi! It looks like you've stumbled across my little blog! This is where I share my daily adventures, thoughts and ideas, photos of various things (my dog and food, mostly), and all of my creative endeavors! And to introduce myself a little bit, I figured I'd start off with a few facts about me:

♥ I'm 26, but I still feel 12 years old. And anyone who knows me would probably agree that I act it.

♥ I have a 2 year old Lab/Staffordshire mix named Peaches, who you'll see featured here all of the time. She's my favorite.

♥ I have a big ol' heart; I love puppies, little old ladies, babies, bunnies, and anything else I can hug and/or squeeze.

♥ I am really, really incredibly clumsy.

♥ I love ghost stories! Always have, always will.

♥ I've recently decided to try out a vegan lifestyle, and so far, I'm going strong and loving it.

♥ I still read Seventeen magazine. (I get too antsy when I see the Cosmo covers with all the sexy headlines.)

♥ I'm short, chubby, and sound like a little kid. But it's okay! I am a strong believer of self-love.

♥ I graduated in 2010 with a BFA in Graphic Design.

♥ I enjoy fine art, too. I like working with oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolor, pencil, and colored pencil. I also dabble in photography, sewing, and other arts & crafts. I just plain love creating!

♥ I love baking, and I have a serious sweet tooth. I'd make cupcakes for strangers if it didn't make me seem creepy.

♥ I was born and raised in Old Hickory, Tennessee, which is right outside of Nashville.

♥ I moved to Seattle, Washington in February of 2011.

♥ I love sweet tea, porch swings, and barbecues. Sometimes, I really do miss the south (minus the humid summers), but I love living in the Northwest.

♥ I have a Border Collie named Cupcake that lives back in Tennessee with my mom.

♥ I'm very happy-go-lucky, and I'm almost always in a silly mood.

♥ I love learning, and I enjoy reading books on philosophy, sociology, psychology, astronomy, astrology, science, mathematics, mythology, etymology, and other things that ignite my curiosity! Big ol' nerd right here.

I hope this gave a little bit of insight into who I am! :)