Masquerade work party!

Yes! That! My work is having their 10th anniversary party, and this year's theme is a masquerade! I've never been to a fancy work party, or a masquerade. A work party at CD Warehouse was us all drinking beer at Chili's. Ha! So I am beyond excited about this event! Can you tell by all of the exclamation points? They are very abundant! Very!

In all of this excitement, I've been racking my brain to figure out some cute ideas for my outfit and mask, so thought I would share my plans to get some opinions and input from you helpful friendlies!

♥ The Mask:

I've been searching high and low for the perfect mask. I wanted something pink and black and girly. But everything I've found is either the wrong shade of pink, or it's a little too big and boisterous with lots of feathers, or it's a little too plain. Or it's really super expensive. I just haven't been able to find a mask that just stole my heart. So I decided to decorate my own! And I decided that I wanted to get extra cutesy with it, so I ordered a plain white mask in the shape of a cat face, with little puffy cheeks and all. If you can't find the perfect one, make your own, right? So here's the nekkid mask that's headed my way:



My plan is to paint it black and then add some white and light mauvey pink stuff to match my dress. I'm still working on the design, but I know I want to put pink roses and maybe a few feathers along the top or sides! I might even try to add some whiskers to those cute little cheeks, too. I plan on making a Hobby Lobby trip next weekend. I can't wait!

♥ The Outfit:

At first, I purchased a ballerina-style dress from Target. But once it arrived, I started thinking that it might be a little too poofy for my liking. It's pretty voluminous, which isn't necessarily bad at all! I love it, and I think it's super cute. But me plus beer plus my already ridiculous amount of clumsiness will not mix well with anything large and obtrusive. I can just see myself knocking things over and catching the fluffy tulle on anything and everything in my path. So in rethinking that dress, I thought about possible backups. I had my eye on one in particular on Modcloth, and since they only had 4 Mediums left in stock, I went ahead and got that one. I think it's going to be a much better choice! But I'm keeping the other for the time being just in case the second one doesn't fit when it gets here.

And in keeping with the me plus beer equals silliness, I knew tights were an absolute must. So I found some super cute polka dot tights that I think will help tie in the cutesy cat mask with the lacy girliness of the dress.

As for shoes, I cannot walk in heels. Just plain cannot do it. I always wear boots, but I knew I needed something a little dressier than that. So I figured I'd compromise and try a bootie!

I'm not 100% sure about accessories yet. I might just try to find a cute necklace and that be that. There's already going to be a lot going on with the mask! But here's the final outcome of the items headed my way for now. Fingers crossed everything fits! (I already own a black 3/4 sleeve sweater, so I just grabbed a similar one for the image.)



I sent this image to my mom, and she loved it. So I really hope everything works well together and fits nicely when it gets here! If not, I still have the ballerina dress, just in case. So I'll be okay either way. :)

Sick, AGAIN! D:

Welp, I'm home sick, yet again! I'll get to the sick stuff here in a second. But first, take a gander at this wonderful care package that I just received from my good friend, Ashlee, back home in Tennessee! I'm so excited!


It included some of the cutest stuff:
♥ a get well card
♥ a super sweet note
♥ hydrocortisone cream
♥ a bottle of aloe lotion
♥ a cupcake notebook
♥ two cupcake pens
♥ a "keep calm and have a cupcake" bookmark
♥ the Kawaii Not book she's been telling me about from her work
♥ an ice cream sandwich keychain that matches hers!

Ashlee's really been keeping me positive through all of my crappy health luck here lately. What an amazing friend to have!

So here's what's been going on. I stayed home Monday because my leg hurt so bad, but my throat and head starting hurting earlier that day, too. I tried to go into work on Tuesday, and I even wore pj pants to keep my leg from getting all irritated. (I'm so classy!) But by about 10am, I was coughing like crazy, my throat was super itchy, my head was all spinny, and my ears were so clogged up that I could barely hear! I was so out of it that I couldn't focus or grasp anything my callers were saying.

And to make it worse, I was squirming in my chair every time my pj pants even grazed my leg. At the risk of sounding like a puny little baby, I also got upset and got all teary eyed and sniffly two different times when people came to my desk and asked me how I was. How embarrassing, I know. :( But I just couldn't handle it. There was so much going on, and I was so miserable! So I came on home and made an appointment with my doctor.

Just like I was afraid of, the doctor told me that I have the exact same thing I had 3 weeks ago! She said it probably never fully went away, and she thinks it was stirred back up from all the airplane travel and all of the allergens and everything blooming while I was in Nashville. And apparently my poor chest has gotten worse. She said she could barely hear any air flow in my lungs, so she gave me a huge inhaler and the same antibiotic. And if I don't get any better, she wants to do a chest x-ray. My luck, I swear!

At least there was this cute old school scale at the doctor's office for me to snap a picture of!


Once I got home and got some medicine in me, I decided to draw a few little sketchy brits.

Me on Tuesday when I tried to go to work (I didn't feel like brushing my hair, and I really did wear this to work):


And me every other day:


I've been trying my best not let all of this sicky sick and hurty hurt get to me. I'm usually so stinkin' positive, but I guess everyone gets down sometimes. I just try so hard to stay super happy through things, but it can all build up and start a big ol' snowball of stuff. I just got a little sad and felt an accumulative effect of a few not-so-positive things all at once, and I'm sure that's what brought on the tears at my desk:

• a ridiculously painful leg and not being able to walk or let anything touch it (impossible!)
• a constant super hurty sinus-pressure headache, coughing all night, a runny nose, clogged ears, etc.
• the frustration of being sick after dealing with the exact same sickness a few weeks ago (are you srs?!)
• the worry of people being upset with me for missing so much work lately
• having to leave Mom and Cupcake after getting used to the comfort of seeing them every day for a week (it makes my heart hurt a little bit, honestly)
• feeling guilty for not being able to see everyone on my trip

I mean, that's a lot to try to deal with all at once for even the most positive person! Thankfully, my leg has eased up a bit, and I'm not limping anymore and can put weight on it. So yay for that! And my doctor's note says I can go back to work tomorrow, and even though I'm not quite feeling 100%, I'm so ready to get back to normal, silly life!

Oh, and all of these little Miffy papers were covering my desk when I got back on Tuesday! And I'm pretty sure I know who it was. Ahem, Gretchen, ahem!



In the meantime, I'm trying to rest a bunch so I feel up to working tomorrow. Here's what my day looks like so far:



The past two days, I've just been taking Benadryl-induced midday naps, watching Ugly Americans on Hulu, snacking on way too much cheese, and loving on Peaches a bunch.

And of course since I've been home and bored, I had to make a bunch of these!







She's been taking care of me all day with a mighty big dose of puppy lovins!

I hope everyone else is having a normal, not-so-sick Thursday! :D

Feeling better and lots of upcoming plans!

I can hear out of my right ear today! And I haven't been coughing like crazy or feeling like I have a bunch of bricks on my head. I think the inhaler and cough syrup from my recent doctor visit have started helping. I can't believe I've been out of work for an entire week. I swear I've been going stir crazy! And I've been so worried that people at work might hate my guts for being gone so long. But I found out that tons of people are sick, so I guess it's just that time of year. And thankfully, my new lead at work has been super understanding and seems to have just been worried about me getting better (and probably not coming in and getting everyone else sick)!

Most of my days looked like this:



And I was super excited to be home when this arrived yesterday!



Since I do feel better today, I figured it was a good idea to actually try to be semi-productive. I hate that I've been here all stinkin' week and haven't done a darn thing. So I started laying out and packing clothes for the trip home! I have to make lists and plan things out, so I started doodling outfits for each day!



Last time, I had no idea what to pack, so I ended up packing way too much stuff. My suitcase probably weighed as much as me! This time around, I'm planning everything out so I don't end up in the same situation. Since the temperature is so unpredictable this time of year in Nashville, I'm trying to cover all of my bases, just to be safe! I'm packing a pair of jeans, a few skirts, a couple of button up tops, leggings, a few cardigans, and boots. Something's gotta work! Mom told me it was 70 one day last week, and then the next day, it was in the 30's! Oh, Tennessee weather, you are so fickle.

I'm really excited about going home. I don't have any big plans this time around (last time I had college graduation), so I'm excited to kind of get a little vacation. Even though now I feel like a big ol' jerk for being out a week with all this sinus crud right before I leave town for a week! But still, being sick doesn't count as a vacation, right?

Doodling those little outfit sketches made me miss being in school and designing and drawing all the time. So I definitely want to get back to doing artsy things again. I have tons of supplies, so I want to buckle down and create at least one thing each weekend. I always have high hopes of doing something productive and creative at the end of the week. But besides going on our weekend dates, I usually just end up being really lazy and eating cereal bars, taking long showers, and playing Fairway Solitaire all weekend. Seriously! I'm an old lady, I swear.

I made a list of all the stuff I've been saying I want to do lately, and I'm going to get started on some of these as soon as I get home:

• create a web comic (I've already made my little character!)
• make some watercolor and gouache paintings to decorate the house
• make terrariums (I already have all the stuff!)
• sew buttons back onto all the one-missing-button coats and shirts I've been ignoring
• list lots and lots of things on eBay
• get my design portfolio and site back up

Another thing I've been thinking about lately is music. I've been listening to Joanna Newsom non-stop. I always bust out her music around this time of year for some reason. And even though I don't really think I have much of a singing voice, I really want to work on some sort of music project. She really inspires me with her "untrainable voice" (as she describes it). I'm so nervous about my young sounding voice, but whenever I listen to her music, I feel less and less insecure. Even though she doesn't like to be referred to as having a child-like singing style, it still makes me feel less self-conscious. I've let a small number of friends hear me sing, and they seemed to like it. And so many of my friends who haven't heard me have told me that if I did some sort of music project, it would be a really unique, fun sound. I'm excited to at least try it out and see if I'm any good at it. I already have a guitar, and I want to start learning simple things. I want to push myself to try this out.

I have so many things to start and do and look forward to! I just have to make the time and stop being so lazy when I have a teensy bit of free time. Time to immerse myself in hobbies and produce lots and lots of wonderful things! :D <3 Oh, and I'll leave you guys with a lazy nighttime picture of me feeling a little better, all cough-syrupped up!