Heading into 2011

Watching: Wild China (6 pt series)

It's Dec. 31, the day that is most known for making resolutions. I've never been a fan of making those but realized I do have some.

First of all, of course, is to reach my weight loss goal. That part I can see happening easily since I'm so close and had already made that a goal. So as my resolution I will draw from that and say that I resolve to remain conscious of what I eat and continue to make healthy decisions about what I put in my body. Alcohol is my weakness, but I think if I eat healthy and start a work out routine, I'll be in good shape.

Another resolution, like always, is to save money. The goal has always been to save money, but my resolution is to learn money management and utilize the skill and have my savings account reflect that. Before 2011 begins, I've already taken a great step to this because I'm registered for a personal finance class.

I will be going to Arizona to see an online friend I've never met yet have been in touch with for over 5 years. Amy Parker. In 2011, I'm taking advantage of 10-days furlough time and turning them into experiences. I will be visiting Amy and her son Dallas (and her husband and other housemates) and we will go out to karaoke. I will then go visit my cousin Sarah who is often in AZ to see her finace (or bf, but I think it's finace) and will be at that time. I bought my tickets a few days ago and so the motion of this plan has begun. This means I cannot turn back. I've chosen my days, I've got my ticket, now I need to collect information on what to pack, how to rent a car and remind myself through the whole thing that I'm brave enough to face my fear! I don't have a fear of flying, I have a fear of doing new things alone. So 2011 will be a big step with this event alone.

Also in my furlough schedule are 3 dates in a row in which Igor Spectre is playing a show each of those nights. So I'm sure everyone knows where I'll be. I used to be scared to go to Igor Spectre shows alone and I got over that. Hope for the future. ;)

Stuart and I are making a list of things we want to do together. We have gone to the aquarium and want to return. We also want to go to the wild animal park, zoo, la brea tar pits, the 'house built by a crazy lady' (he knew what I meant as soon as I said that) and others.

The Holidays - Pt I

Watching: Hoarders

Stuart was more excited than I was about me getting my gifts. It was so cute. So when I finally opened my gifts from him I could see why. He got me a large hookah that I named Loch Ness aka Nessy because it's green. I can buy a different color bowl later if I want. He also got me Sims 3 for my laptop. I've played the game for a few hours and our characters have only 'woohoo'd once. :( Sorry Stuart, there just isn't enough time in the Sim day!

I got Stuart a zombie book, a phone charger/holder for his car, I'm going to buy him some new clothes that aren't plain black t-shirt and black dickies and also the 1-year gym membership that we can start using in January when the place opens. I'm very excited about that one. I feel like I need help in getting him clothes, but I haven't tried to buy him anything yet, so we will see how that goes. One day we'll go shopping together and I'll get to play boyfriend-dress up. :D

Stuart wasn't able to go to the family Christmas Eve party because he had to work, but he didn't make it to his family party either. :( And it turns out that the Domino's he works out got robbed that night! He was in the store getting ready to step out the door with some deliveries and a man came in with a gun and asked for the money. Stuart says if he would have left 5 seconds sooner, he wouldn't be caught up in there and it took 15 seconds to be over. As horrible as it is to be in a robbery (I have no experience, so I'm assuming), I'm glad Stuart was there. It seems it was just him and one other girl in the store and she had no experience with being robbed. Him being there was good for her.

So at the Christmas Eve party with my family everyone was saying how great I look (I was wearing the new shirt I bought the day before and it definitely did look really good on me) and how much slimmer I look. That was a wonderful gift. It is a gift that can last longer than it took to say those words because I am really fueled to continue with my progress. Did I mention I got my hurr did?

I really can't believe how well I've done. I started at 175lbs when I started my gym class in July. It's the end of December and I've weighed in at 149lbs. I feel like I've gotten better eating habits. In the last few months I've had maybe 3 hamburgers. I stick to chicken. I've been eating a lot of soup and since I was counting calories for a few months, I know what items are lower calories at fast food places so I take that into account. Every time I go to Wendy's I get the grilled chicken sandwich that is less than 400cal.

So I was invited to Chantal's mother's house for Christmas morning but because I wasn't going to be able to go to Stuart's family Christmas Eve party, I had to cancel and go to Stuart's parents brunch. I really wanted to go to Chantal's because her mother and brother just sound so interesting, but I did want to give Stuart's parents their presents and I really like them and love feeling like I'm working on our relationship.

Tangent: Cuddling up with Stuart recently, I asked him if he would take care of me. He asked me why wouldn't I want to take care of myself. The next day I watched a comedian say that women only want someone to take care of them. So while I was a little hurt that Stuart's reply wasn't "I want to take care of you," I came to realize that Stuart doesn't see it from my angle. By 'take care of me' I don't mean that I want him to pay for everything and stay at home and do nothing. I want to work, I want to be accomplished but I can't help thinking about how nice it would be to living alone with Stuart, Stryker and a puppy in our own 2bdrm/1ba house, him taking me out to dinner on a whim, being married... it's just a girl thing! I think that's it. It just must be a woman thing to want to 'be taken care of.'

Christmas morning I enjoyed brunch with Stuart's parents and sold my old laptop to my brother Brandon. He apparently broke my mom's laptop so my previous quote of '$50, I'm just kidding' came to be a reality because it wasn't just for my brother. I found out later that my brother Andrew, who got a new laptop last Christmas, hasn't been using his because it's broken! If I was my mother I'd be pissed (and I'm sure she was pissed when she found out).

On the day after Christmas 'the group' (Chantal, Joy, Kevin) and I went to Chanie's house for our holiday meal. She made beef boul... stew, some goopy chocolate desert :P and I brought some broccoli casserole. We exchanged gifts. I got the necklace I had my eye on (and had told Chantal) and a purple flower clip from Chantal, I got some stickers from Joy AND an awesome Tom Petty tour shirt.

So there's those gifts and here's some stuff I got from other folks over the weekend: striped toe socks with a monkey on it, Forever 21 giftcard, $125, soaps/perfumes and a bracelet.

I'm really excited for New Year's Day. My friend Charlie is down from Vegas and he says he'll come to Brandin' Iron (I kinda think he's gunna flake) and Joy and her dancing friends will be there too. I have nothing planned for New Year Eve, but I kinda want to do something with Stuart since our anniversary is the next day and I won't really be spending it with him. It sounds weird but we really don't do anything on our anniversary. I think it has to do with the fact that we already spent so much on presents. We will see, now won't we?

Make up

Listening to: Tik-takking of keyboards around me (at work)

Here's my Sugarpill makeup:


I used all the colors I bought (Stella, Hysteria, Passion Plum) including the sample (Junebug) for the inner corners.

This one is some purples I already had but the lash line is done in Passion Plum. Ignore my lazy lid. That thing makes it so hard to take nice pictures!

Gifts for me :D

WATCHING: Saturday Night Live

Alright so here's an update on some gifts I got myself. For some reason I've been super excited about makeup lately. I don't even wear it often. So I'll introduce my order from Sugarpill (sugarpillshop.com) that came in the other day. I will use their website photos because I don't have a very good camera.

This is Poison Plum. A pressed eyeshadow that has a little shimmer in it. $12

This is Stella. A loose powder eyeshadow that is, at its base black, but has every color in glitter that you can think of. It's like a sparkly rainbow on a black background. $12

This is Hysteric. It's a loose purple eyeshadow that has a lot of glitter in it as well. Pretty much all products from Sugarpill have glitter or a light shimmer to it. $12

I also got a sample size of this loose eyeshadow called Junebug. I haven't tried any of these yet, but I will try them soon.

Here is a necklace I bought from Etsy. It was listed as a Guardian Angel necklace. It is essentially a house key with some intricate wire wound wings behind it.

I also got myself along with Stuart a membership to a new local gym called Anytime Fitness. It's a year membership so... kinda stuck now. I figure Stuart and I aren't going to move out of here anytime soon despite how much I want to and this gym is so close and it's 24hrs which is great for me because I'd rather go workout after work rather than before (and I don't usually get off work until after 9pm).

Another gift for Stuart is clothes. I planned to give him like $100 giftcard to somewhere, but I think it's going to be less since the gym membership wasn't actually planned into my gifts for him. He has 4 gifts now.

I'm also in the process of sending out holiday cards to friends, mostly Gaia friends. :D

Oh, and before I end this, I'll share a few photos from a fun-filled day at Vince's in Ontario to celebrate their 65th anniversary. I went with Erin and we had a blast. I got a pinup calendar, delicious food (of course), saw a spaghetti eating contest, got my hair done rockabilly style and got a photo taken with Erin (who also got her hair done and bought a hair clip).

Kick in the blog

Watching: Little Miss Sunshine

I realize I haven't posted anything in a long time regarding my kickstarter projects (and by 'my' I mean projects I've backed). So this entry is dedicated to them. I haven't backed any new ones lately so it's a good time to introduce ones that have been progressing.

Josephine and the Roach - Dec. 6 J&tR backers were informed that the role of Josephine has been cast and things are going smoothly. As part of my prize pack I received a postcard with a drawing of a cockaroach in a scene of my choice. And here it is:

Mr. Roach getting ready for a hot date. <3

ReMIND: a graphic novel - With my reward bracket I get a copy of the book as well as get is signed. The art looks great and the concept is cute.

Punk Mathematics - This caught my eye real fast. First of all, I hate math but I love learning. Secondly, the project creator just looks crazy and explains the concept of the book well. The price wasn't too bad either so I had to try it out. Part of my prize (including the book) is an index card with a concept from the book on it. I'm really after the book obviously.

PAPER MACHINE: Muster Zine - A cute collection of written work and art by a selection of people. It reminds me of something I used to do as a kid so I thought why the hell not. Still waiting on a copy, but the updates make it seem like it's getting realy close.

Let There Be Letters - This project finished a while ago. I had a letter sent to Chantal and one sent to me. Chantal flipped out because she thought she had a stalker. She called me just about crying. It was very funny afterwards. I received my letter a few days later (written on paper it seems the gentleman made himself). It took me a while to return a letter but I'm hoping to get a second one back (I believe I signed up for the bracket that guarantees a second reply). This project inspired me to do a penpal project with my Gaia friends. A few contributed but it hasn't really gone anywhere.

Caldera - "An animated short film about a girl struggling with mental illness." We all know how I'm into psychology. It caught my eye. I wasn't about to pay $50 for a DVD so I'm hoping it will make its mark so that I can get a DVD cheaper someday. My contribution gave me digital stills (which are still in the works).

Seedbomb Vending Machines - Super cute idea. I got a cool slingshot with seedbombs to plant. I haven't used them but it's cool. Here are some photos:

That's it for now.

Furloughs... again

NOTE: I seem to have unlearned how to color code my damn posts.

This is either the second or third time we've had to do a quarter of furloughs. This one is the worst though. This time it's a total of 10 days. But the bright side of this is that we can choose to take unpaid furlough or paid holiday for those 10 days. 'Furlough' automatically gives off a bad vibe because people associate it with a business not meeting goals, so naturally quite a few of my co-workers (me included) were upset.

But then we started thinking about what to do in this time and we realized how great it will be. Unlike the last time we took furloughs under the reign of my old boss, this time I will feel comfortable asking for multiple days off at a time. When Dobbs was the managing editor, I took pride in being so depended on to get my job done, but since I didn't really have anywhere to vacation (and no money to vacation with), I didn't care about taking multiple days off at a time. The one time I thought about it, I realized it would never happen. But now that I work with people who know how to do my job (granted, at first I was pretty terrified that it meant that I was going to be replaced), I feel like my job will get done without me.

So, a few things planned: a Sunday outing with Chamie, Joy J. and possibly Kevin on this sky tram thingy that we got a coupon to earlier in the year, a few day visit to Sulvang (Sulvane?) with Chamie, possibly a visit to AZ to meet a friend I have only talked to online for over 4 years (she loves karaoke) and an hour drive from there to visit my cousin and her significant other whom I haven't met (her and I have been talking more because of FaceBook - thanks social networking!). There is another trip I might take, but I'm waiting a bit more to really think on that one. As of right now I'm slowly gathering information about a round trip ticket to AZ and car rental.

I'm currently working on my final business project (well, not at this moment of course, because here I am blogging). I need to write a blog on some items I purchased on Etsy recently as well as updates on projects from kickstarter. I will soon. For now, back to that project.