A Means to an End

We had our first craft fair yesterday. It was exhausting and long, and we put a lot of work and money into it. In the end we passed out over 100 forms of advertisement, and made one little sale. We really weren’t there to sell, so that’s ok. We got lots of great feedback, and now I’m just waiting to see if any emails come in. They’d have to right?

Today I have to work from 1-5 at my part-time job, and then of course tomorrow i work 6-2:30 and the 4-8. I’m a little overwhelmed to say the least. I just feel sad and tired. I also just got paid on Friday and am broke. I’m trying to put all the money I can into savings, but it just feels like we every month we have to pull it back out to pay some stupid bill.  I feel like I work all the time, and I don’t spend any money, and I’m still completely drowning. I don’t know what to do.

And my real full-time job is awful. I feel like crying most days that I am there. It’s so bad, so mindless, so frustrating.

And I know why we are doing this. I know that if I ever want to be back in Washington that this is what I have to do. And it WILL be worth it. Just the thought of another stupid Holiday season coming up where I am stuck here while my family all gets together and enjoys each others company breaks my heart. I don’t even want to celebrate christmas this year. We really do not have any money to be buying gifts, and we really do NOT need anything in return. I’d rather just pretend it wasn’t Christmas like I did the first year I was here.

I was actually looking through some friends photos on Facebook. They had a bunch of pictures on fun vacations, Europe, New York, mexico, places both Mr. Gaunt and I would like to go. And I realized that the two of us have never really gotten to take a REAL vacation. We always go back to Washington, which is wonderful, but not really a real vacation. And I’m so excited to finally be home and to feel like I’m not wasting precious family time if I go somewhere else. I so want to travel with Mr. Gaunt, he has been so few places. I really wish that we could go on a honeymoon, even if it was a little ways after the wedding. Maybe New York for Christmas or something. It will all depend on money and jobs.

Speaking of jobs. Mr. Gaunt is going to transfer his job to Washington, but for a few reasons, some controlled by me, some not, I will not be able to transfer my job. This is 100% fine with me. I would rather live in a studio apartment than work that job any longer. Mr. Gaunt is planning on going to Nursing school in the Winter of 2011, and maybe taking some pre-reqs before that. I’m not exactly sure what I will be doing. My mom has talked about some possible options for work, and I really do plan to pursue the paintings more. If we move to Bellingham we have a studio space that we can use to store and even sell our paintings out of.

It’s all still a bit up in the air, and I just have to remember that my weekends being cut short and my bank account being empty will all be worth it in the end.  Being home again.

I leave you with a pretty adorable video made about my home town. I pretty much wanna cry every time I watch.

No Rest For The Weary

Evil doings…lol…When did I get so busy?

Seriously, for a girl with little friends and a pretty sweet work schedule, I’m shocked by how little time I have these days.  The weekend was devoured before I even tasted it. And now I’m sitting here running through my huge list of to-do’s trying to decided what will be pushed till later, and when later might be.

Our painting business it really thriving! I’m so stinking happy about this. We sold our 4th custom order this morning and have one more ready to purchase either today or tomorrow. I’m loving it, doing art is so much more motivating when people actually want to buy it! Now I can only hope that things will keep putting along and that one day we can be making a portion of our income off it. For now the money will sit in our Paypal for moving and wedding costs.

We are doing our first craft fair on Saturday November 6th at Smoky Hill High School, and I’ve been making lots of mini paintings to sell as well as lots of examples of our custom work. Because it’s an indoor show we needed to build walls to display our canvas, so yesterday Mr. Gaunt and I went to Buds Warehouse which is a discount recycled building materials store. We bought 3 hollow core doors for $30! Now we have to paint them and hinge them together to make an accordion style wall for display. I also need to order some marketing materials from Moo Cards this week. So it’s all a little hectic. But good hectic.

In weight loss I joined weight watchers last week and then never went back…wow I’m lame. Ha! I’m having a hard to with this one, weight watchers is all about getting the most bang for your food points. Which means eating all diet foods. Meh…not the route I want to go. And the silly thing is that I KNEW that and that was why I quit in the first place! So I don’t know what I’m gonna do now. Working out is what I really need to do, I have just never discovered a workout plan that I liked. Im thinking of checking out the brand new 24 hours fitness they just built behind my house. Maybe if they have TV’s in the machines I might be interested in going. Before I found the gym to be so boring, and the tvs were always set to news and sports! But if I could ave my own tv then I could even schedule gym time around my favorite shows (we don’t have cable anymore so we don’t get to watch any new tv) and maybe that would motivate me. I do really like tv.

My current job is a test in my patients every day, and I am counting down the days until we move and I can quit it and find something new. I have already made the decision that I will NOT be transferring. We are still up in the air about where exactly we want to move. I plan on doing a post on this at a later date, not that the masses really care.

Anyways I have some food and other things to do individual posts about today, this is just to catch people up on whats going on!

Buds Warehouse. Much like the RE-Store for you Bham folks

Piles of stuff to dig through

Wearing High heels and dress pants. We had just left a wedding.

LOOK I FIXED IT!

3 Doors, a Bookcase and an easel. Maybe I shouldnt sell this car!

 

Im Back!

Well that was a nice long break, from everything. The worst part of Vacations is that they have to end…sad day. Lots of stuff has happened in the last week, so I’ll break it down for yah:

1. WE GOT ENGAGED!

Oh yes we did! Mr. Gaunt proposed to me the evening of July 10th on the boardwalk at Boulevard park in Bellingham Washington. It was late sunset and their were fireworks across the bay. We also watched the midnight Kayakers in the water just before. It was very romantic. He got down on one knee and I cried a bunch, I’m that kind of girl. At this point I have a temporary ring until we have one made for us. As far as wedding plans, we are thinking Fall of 2011 in Washington. So we have a good 14 months to save up and plan everything. I of course went out and bought my first Bridal Magazine…woop woop! Im very excited to plan it all, I just have to remember to stay calm and pace myself…lol! financially we plan on paying for most of the wedding ourselves, which will be a challenge. Did you know the average American wedding costs $22,000! Obviously we have NO intentions of spending that much money. However I do want it to be very special, and I want all of my friends and family to come and have a great time, so we will have to spend a bit. Traditionally the Father of the Bride pays for most of the wedding, but my father will not be contributing at all. My mom and Grandparents will be doing all of our food which is a big expensive, and I am so grateful that they can help. As for the rest we are just going to have to be creative and money savvy.

I wont bore you with tons of wedding stuff on this blog, so I plan to stick to “Wedding Wednesday” posts. Just updating on what we are planning and making and all that good stuff. So until then we are just enjoying being newly engaged!

2. MOVING

Mr. Gaunt and I had the most fabulous time in Washington. I was so glad that I got to show him some of the cooler sides of the state including a private island where we spent the 4th of July. He got to play in the ocean and eat good food and hike in the beautiful forests of the area. I think he is super excited to move now, at least I hope he is. Our plan at this point is to move in April of 2011 (about 6 months before the wedding) to either Olympia or Bellingham. Each city has its Pros and Cons, so we will just have to figure out which area offers us the best jobs and housing. Again we have 9 months to figure all of that out, including saving money. We figure we will need around $3,000 to move (moving truck, rent, time off work, etc) so that’s going to be a challenge.

3. THE CAR

So about 2 months ago I bought a used car, and after at least 5 trips to the repair shop and over $1500 (payed by the seller) in work, the car gives me bad vibes. It runs fine, but it’s just not what I want, and its caused a lot of stress for a lot of people. Also with all this money we need to save the last thing we want is a car payment. So after talking to our parents we have decided to sell the car. It’s a great car with low mileage (and a bunch of new parts) so I can’t imagine it will be a hard sell. The only problem is that will bring us to one car. Most of the time this isnt really an issue, except for work. I travel anywhere from 30-60 minutes each way to get to my job. Mr. Gaunt does about half that time. We both have to be at work at 6am, posing the problem. Mr.Gaunt is going to talk to his boss tomorrow about me joining his team so we can carpool.

4. JOB IS  FOUR LETTER WORD

Although I’m not surprised, I am a little disappointed in myself the 9 months into my job, I’m pretty much over it. We just aren’t clicking anymore. It’s a number of things, supervisors, work load, mundane tasks, overall its just not a good match. Of course this isn’t news to me. I have never been good at working a job that I wasnt passionate about. I get bored and lethargic and bitchy. I’ve had a number of people tell me “But you get paid so much to change lightbulbs!” but to me, its just not worth it. This might sound ungrateful or naive, but that’s me. I’m a little extreme in my emotions, I’m always trying to improve my life and spice things up. In the long run I may be falling into unhealthy patterns, but until then I need to strive for more.

Mr. Gaunt and I are putting along on our little painting business. We are working on our 3rd example painting, and have 3 more lined up. WE talked a bit with my mom about prices and other such business topics. I’m really hoping that this will bring in some of the much needed savings we need to build up.

Until then I have to pull myself out of bed every morning and convince myself all afternoon to not walk out on my job. I have a family (Mr. Gaunt) that I need to be there for. I have to do it for us and for our future, I just need to keep my eye on the prize and know that I am capable of doing better if I put my mind to it.

5. WEIGHT LOSS

I need to lose 50 more pounds by my wedding…lol! Thats about all I have to say. We are back on track with a fridge full of healthy choices. I am looking up instant watch workout videos on our Netflix. Its gonna be tough, but I’m not trying on a single wedding dress until I feel good about myself.

For a weight loss blog you would think I would have more to say about that…lol!

WRAP UP:

So as you can see the next year is going to be a bit of a wild ride for us. I’m super excited and super scared. I am so thrilled to have such a wonderful man by my side to help me keep level-headed. I want to thank all of our friends and family for being so supportive of our relationship and life choices, we love you all! And so I leave you with a select few (of the 300 I took) of my favorite pics from our vacation!

Me and a Giant Vegan Hotdog!

On a Boat in Olympia

In the Forest surrounding Evergreen State College

Our hike to the "beach"

My best friend Mallory and I on the 4th at our cabin

The view off our cabins deck of the Puget Sound

making Guac

Aaron and Mr. Gaunt playing the Grand

Mr. Gaunt and My brother searching for sea life

Mom and a starfish

Look what he found!

Our hike on the island

Being brave, I didnt let him go any further

Digging for clams

by the seashore

Getting my grove on

Luvin on me Kells

First time swimming in a lake!

My beautiful fiance!

Just Engaged!

Hello Weekend!

I have LOTS of fun things planned for this weekend. NONE of which involve talking or thinking about work…grr. My Friday the thirteenth ended badly with some major time clock issues that are STILL unresolved…grr! But it is officially the weekend and Im going to forget about all of that until Monday!

Mr. Gaunt took a little weekend trip to New Mexico to visit a friend so I am a single gal for a few days! My lovely Pro is coming over tonight and we are gonna use this sweet coupon and check out some coats at the Old Navy. Last night Mr. Gaunt and I went through our clothes (yes AGAIN) to see what fit and what doesnt. He got rid of at least three pairs of pants (44’s he’s now down to a 38/40) and me a TON of shirts and capris and tanks that are long gone. I must say as exciting as shrinking out of all of your clothing is, its also expensive and frustrating. Especially if your losing quickly like I have and your in a  new size every 2 months. Anyways I still have about 4 cute dresses that I am not willing to part with, last night I emailed a local Tailor on pricing to have dresses taken in. Ill let you know what they say when I hear back. If it’s under $25 per dress then I may do it, over that and I may just toss and buy new.

Tomorrow Pro and I and Mr. Gaunt’s mom are going to the Highlands Ranch community garage sale (WHAT WHAT! I LOVE A GARAGE SALE!) and then Pro and I are having a late lunch in Boulder with an old friend. Should be a good time!

Health wise Im feeling pretty damn lucky that the flu and colds have skipped us! KNOCKS ON WOOD! I do however have a slight post nasal drip that seems to be causing my right ear to be in a constant state of plugged. No amount of popping, Q-tip-ing or wiggling seems to release the air. I can hear myself breathing in my ear. SUPER OBNOXIOUS! Anyone have any tips on getting rid of this?

Ok so Im off to do a bit of laundry before Pro gets here and then my weekend shall start! Im sure Ill have pics by Sunday! Oh and weight loss wise the week has been a bit slow, I wont cry if I dont lose anything on Monday the last two weeks were stellar and I really couldnt ask for more.

Crafting Towards October!

I have my first craft fair in October (3 rd from 9-4) and since I have been a total crafting slacker I decided I better get my horse in gear if I want to have anything to even sell! I also put my Etsy shop on vacation almost two months ago so I really need to get that opened again with some new merchandise (you can click on my sold items to see what kind of stuff I was selling).

Yesterday after hearing that I got a new job (YAY YAY YAY) I hit up Joann’s and stocked up on some much needed supplies. I then spent the evening creating a bunch of these tiny banners, perfect for birthdays or holidays or kids rooms. I have about 5 in mid production but this one I finished this morning and even drug it outside to do a little photshoot in the sun!

Moving on, in job news I did in fact get the position with Mr. Gaunts team (but not working directly with him) and I went in yesterday to drug test and sign some paper work. I have to give my current job notice tonight, and who knows whether they will want me to work next week or not, they may be one of those companies that just says “peace out” after you give notice. Which would be fine because New Job wants me to start asap, but no later than the 28th. Im really excited though becuase this new schedule will be amazing, Monday through Friday 6-2:30! That means I dont have to worry about calling out sick every time I need a day or weekend off! Woohoo!

In weight loss I think the week has gone pretty well (except last night taco salad which I attempted to run off at the gym last night) I go in for weigh in tomorrow at 9am, Ill keep you posted!

i gotta lot to talk about

Ok just a big blabbering of topics, would love comments or advice on any of them:

1. Protein and Bringing Back Eggs: Now about a month and a half ago I gave up eggs. This was after reading Skinny Bitch and deciding that I need to go as close to Vegan as possible. Well since then the weight went downa  good 10lbs, but now it is resting in a slump…boo. My big concern is Im not getting enough protein to help with err…digestion. I mean I eat fiber like its going out of business, but fiber has to have something to stick to (like protein) to work its magic. I tried the whole Greek Yogurt thing and just didnt like it (but please note I have creamy texture issues….do not make me eat pudding…gag) I dont do beans in the AM cause they take too long and that just seems odd. So Im thinking of bringing back the eggs, or egg whites, or Egg Beaters. Opinions on this? I need to do a little diet re vamp in hopes of shocking my body into dropping weight again.

2. Food Processors: I want one. A good-ish one. Easy to clean, under $75. Tell me what you know.

3. Wii Fit and Golds Gym for Wii: Im trying to do my Wii Fit more, trying to boost my working out in all ways. Mr. Gaunt bought me Golds Gym Cardio for Wii so far Im not in love, it seems to pretty much be only boxing with a little jump rope. Im gonna try it with Mr. Gaunt and see if he can figure it out for me. It does play Journey though when your working out so thats at least 5 cool points.

4. Underwear: I finally got new underwear! I bought a number of kinds, but my favorite are these cute ones from American Eagle 5 for $25! Woo hoo! I also got two new bras at Vicki’s. I heart new undies!

5. WORK WORK WORK: So they moved me BACK to the front end, so no more chickens, this is not because I said something, but becuase they are dumb and mixed things up. Although yesterday I got to be door greeater for 8 hours. My feet hurt. I interviewed last Thursday for Mr. Gaunts team and will hear in a week or so. Fingers crossed.

6. Crafts: I have my first craft fair coming up in October. I signed up back in May I think. I have since put my Etsy shop on vacation because I was focusing on all this stuff. The show is over the weekend and my work wont let me have it off, hopefully by then I will have a new job starting shortly and can just quit. I think I should start working on stuff again, get back into the whole crafting thing. We’ll see.