Two Achy Steps Back

I put on a couple pounds in the last two weeks. Ugh.

Does anyone else have such a hard time with routine change? I’m FINALLY falling asleep at a reasonable hour most nights, although not every night, but I’m feeling way off these days. My month and a half of funemployment gave me the freedom to maintain my house and eat right, as well as regularly exercise with my mom. I missssss it! Plus its so dark so early right now. I miss summer. I miss working weddings. I miss my free time. <—-whiny tonight.

My new job requires that I stand on concrete for 7 hours straight. My feet are dying right now. Every day I come home and rub them, and rest them on a heating pad, and still they ache. The slower the day, the more they ache. I know it’s just my feet getting use to standing on a hard surface for a long time, and that they WILL get use to it, but right now I’m sad. It also makes me not want to come home and clean my house. Laundry, dishes, they’re all piling up. Sigh. I’m sure everyone feels like they can’t catch up, but I am definitely feeling it this week.  Also I’m going to invest in some Danskos, hopefully soon.

My new weight watchers meeting time is going to be Saturday at 8am. Its the easiest time for me to get there, and it gives me a few days to hopefully shed the couple of pounds I put on. Lets just say there has been a lot of cupcakes in my life recently. Work, baby shower, elections.

Tonight I was not feeling like cheese or carbs at all, so Mr. Gaunt and I went to the grocery store and got salad bar. It was expensive, but it was the vegetables I was craving. Maybe tomorrow Ill actually make dinner (:

So I should stop whining and go do the dishes. Also I need some new blogs to read. I wish some of my friends would regularly keep up with their blogs, I’m bored. (:

I leave you with an iPhone photo dump. (click to make it larger) And plans to have a happier second half of the week.

Mashed Sweet Potatos Made my Week!

My husband made the most amazing mashed sweet potatoes. We added a little cream cheese and maple syrup. They were so good, and have only added to my pretty awesome week!

February has a been a pretty crazy busy month so far. I feel like I check my email 100 times a day. Tonight though, as I was driving home from meeting with a bride, I realized that my life has taken a pleasant turn in a positive direction.

There were a few hard months there. Financially, emotionally, it was getting to me. I told Mr. Gaunt a few weeks ago that I all needed was a few positive things to happen, to keep my spirits up. I really feel like I FEED off of positive reinforcement. I like when things work out, turn out well, when people are happy with me and what I’ve done. I kind of think everyone feels this way, but I know I really strive for this.

I’ve been working really hard on a few projects, and I think I’m finally seeing results. Although our new business is not going to bring in enough money for me to quit my job, it has allowed me to go down to a 32 hour work week. I now spend my Fridays at home working on weddings and future projects, its awesome. Yesterday we also hosted our first Speed Dating, and it went shockingly well! At first I thought it was going to be a total bust, but it turned out great. I might even do another one, or more.

I’ve also booked a number of weddings this month, and I’m feeling more and more comfortable meeting with people and selling our service. I’m on top of my emails and finances, I’m scheduled and prepared, and I feel like it shows. Our website is pulled together, and every day our marketing gets a little more refined. All in all it’s feeling really good, now I’m just excited to actually work these weddings!

This month I also started a book club with some friends on Facebook. This is a really good step for me to socialize with other girls my age, and read…duh.Our first book is “Villages” by John Updike, I’m pretty excited.

I also got two new pairs of jeans at Target and I love them! This alone makes for a good month.

My job is also slightly more interesting these days. It’s not great, but I at least have more freedom and sometimes get to use my brain. I’m also planning to join the Whatcom Young Professionals this next month in hopes to socialize and network with young professionals in Whatcom County.

So I feel good. I feel good about my job, my business, my pants, my plans, my husband, my family, my yard. Everything feels good, which is rare for me, but I’m rolling with it.

I leave you with photos from our Valentines day. Unfortunately I was super busy, but Mr. Gaunt and I did get to have a nice dinner together, he made our traditional heart-shaped pizza. I love him.

My Legs Fell Off

Not true, but they FEEL like they want to fall off! Gah! Yesterday’s Squats did a number on my very weak legs. But I guess that means its working right?

I decided since I couldn’t even walk down the stairs properly at work, that I wouldn’t go running…duh. I also had to go to the bank, and since it is now 4:52 and about as dark as I would want to be out running, I know I need to work out the minute I get home.

So to even out the soreness I will be doing this tonight:

I have managed to keep my house pretty clean over the last few weeks, and stay on top of laundry. This is very good for me (us). I’m so excited for our upcoming trip to Colorado and the Holidays! It’s what I think about while at my very boring job.

We got fancy-pants embroidered business shirts this last week for our business! This is very exciting. I still have a lot to do by January (when we officially launch) but I will have 3 weeks off from work soon, so I will have plenty of time.

My phone is uber-crapped out now, it hardly works.  Verizon has $99 iphones, but it’s so hard for me to justify spending that money…who know why, I’m sure Ill love it. I should just do it…sigh. I’m an over thinker.

Alright, Ive rambled enough. Mr. Gaunt and I are off to get free Chili from my mom!

The Dark and Short

When it starts getting dark at 5pm, my days seem to vanish, cut in half. All summer I was running on such little sleep in order to give myself as much day as I could. I would wake up at 6:30 and wouldn’t go to bed till 1am. Then daylight lasted from 6am to 10pm, it felt like the days went on forever, and even still I felt I needed more time. Now Its dark when I wake up, and dark 2 hours after I get home for work, the days are teeny tiny. We are also on a slightly different schedule, as Mr. Gaunt now works at 5am, so we have to be in bed eyes shut by 10pm. Between 4 and 10 I feel like we GO GO GO.

Yesterday I came home and immediately went into the kitchen to bake  a pumpkin cake (because I’m crazy…shhh!. Once the cake was in the oven I sat on the couch for another hour finishing a painting that has to ship out today. By 5:45 the cake was cooling and I whipped up some cream cheese frosting (cause I’m god damn Martha Stewart…duh!), changed out of my work clothes, and by 6 we were in the car going to our friends house for dinner (and movie, and invitation making). We got home at 9pm, I spent 30 minutes on the computer, then to bed. It was actually a great evening, and we love doing things like that, but I often feel like every day of the week is similar in busyness, its hard to find balance.

This morning I woke with some anxiety, which after searching my brain

side note: Does anyone else do this? When you feel stress or anxiety but aren’t sure where it comes from, you run through all the things going on in your life until you feel that PANG. Then you know whats causing it.

I determined it was a mix of money, and my job. Money because I have to take a TON of time off (unpaid) in the next few months (4 weeks off to be exact) and I worry that the coattails of wedding funds will be gone and we will be very sad folks. Also because we are switching from a big bank (booo) to a credit Union (yay!) and we got our first credit card (Yay & Boo), but we still havent finished moving all (like there’s a whole bunch…lol!) our money over and closing our accounts. So I feel like we are in banking limbo, and that is scary…ugg. But when the stupid banks all close by 6pm WHEN ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSE TO DO THAT SORT OF THING! I wish banks were open from 6am to 10pm so people could get off work and do banking things, lordy.

As for my job (are you guys sick of me bitching about one shitty job after another for the last 3 years yet? Yeah, me neither.) Its lame, and it pays nothing, and I have ZERO benefits because technically I’m still seasonal, and now they are making me take 5 unpaid weeks off before the end of January. On top of that, it’s just super boring, which I don’t do well with.

Sooooooooo

I have a plan. A business plan! A plan to start my own business doing something I’m good at, and something that’s not too hard. It’s a plan that could maybe be a full-time gig for me, that MAYBEEEEE could even be a full time family gig! That would give me (and my man friend) my own schedule, and wouldn’t cost a million dollars to start-up (except we kind of need a van…of the mini variety). But I’m lazy, and I get scared with business politics, and I’m bad with money, and I worry too much. How could I ever function? I know my mom and Mr. Gaunt will help too, but they are both busy with their own jobs, neither of them feel the DIRE NEED to do something better with their lives (well they do, but not as much as me). So far I have a business name, a logo, a plan, and a lot of ideas and lists. What I need is a business license, a van, a bank account, a website, supplies, brochures, uniforms, and a gig. Which is overwhelming when you have a full-time job, a part-time painting job, and a life cat!

But I NEED it to happen! So I’m just going to wing it. I’m going to go get the things I can get (no van for me…):) and piece together the rest!

Oh! Maybe YOU can help. What is another word for “Execution” or “Executor” in the “get something done” meaning, not the “kill someone” meaning?

So I feel better, blogging always helps me sort out my thoughts a bit. And I’m sooo excited to FINALLY make my bridal shower Thank You Cards tonight and Mr. Gaunt is changing his alternator tonight (the shop quoted him $600…psh! No way) So him and his friend Greg (who helped him change his starter) checked the book out at the Library and are gonna give it a go. I’m so proud of him for attempting to learn these things, and I’m glad he has Greg to help him feel more comfortable under the hood of a car.

Alright. I also NEED some new music! I would love you lots if you would post at least 1 or 2 of your favorite songs at the moment in the comments!

I dont even know where it went!

I’m talking about the whole week that has passed without me posting anything here.

I’m so ridiculously busy that I think my brain might explode, or Ill just fall asleep at work in the bathroom. Ok that last thing has happened at least every day around 10am this week.

I’m trying to be in bed by 11 pm tonight as I have to go in a 1/2 hour early (7:30am) tomorrow so I can get off a 1/2 hour early so I can go babysit for 2 hours, then go to the gym, then come home and paint and then go back to bed. My life is scheduled to a T!

Wedding in 36 days.

At least 10 more pounds to lose.

A list 10 miles long to accomplish.

Zero dolla’s in the bank to spend.

Five paintings to complete and ship out

Such is life.

I have worked out 9 out of the 13 days that have passed since I joined the gym. PATS SELF ON BACK.

I have also managed to not cry for two days! HA! PATS SELF ON BACK EVEN MORE!

Ok I’m off to bed so I can play with this cute boy tomorrow…

 

 

 

’twas a Drive By Blogging!

I’m so busy I can’t even be bothered to find my camera and upload pictures, or even say anything interesting.

A few things to note though:

-I need an extra room for all the wedding shit I have ordered/made. It’s a zoo of Yellow and Grey.

-I also need an extra room for PAINTINGS! Umm I’m currently working on ELEVEN paintings! I might faint.

-My job may actually run longer than I thought.

-I found TO DIE FOR PERFECT wedding shoes and I can’t get over it! I will share pics soon!

-I’m spending my evening painting 3 cat paintings, stenciling 5 cars, and watching a million episodes of Greys Anatomy.

-Mr. Gaunt did AMAZING on his Tech School placement test! He tested out of all the basic classes except algebra. I couldn’t be more proud! Hopefully Math in the fall and NURSING IN JANUARY!!!!

-I have no time to run and this is kind of sad. Next week I will get back to it when my schedule goes to 8-2.